Negative Reactions to Personal Control

Abstract

Three experiments were conducted to explain why increases in personal control sometimes have been found to lead to negative reactions, such as lowered self-esteem and increased negative mood. In Experiment 1, subjects either were allowed a choice or had no choice of experimental tasks. Further, subjects had been led to believe that they were either fairly competent or incompetent on the chosen task. Increases in negative mood were found among subjects in the choice conditions, but, contrary to prediction, the level of competence on the task had no effect. In Experiment 2, subjects again were allowed either a choice or no choice of tasks, but half of the subjects were led to believe that their performance on the task would be unknown to the experimenter. Lower self-esteem and increases in negative mood were found only among subjects given a choice of tasks who also believed that the outcome of their performance would be known. In Experiment 3, subjects given a choice of two tasks at which they believed they were competent did not display the increases in negative mood found among subjects given a choice of a task at which they believed themselves to be competent and one at which they believed they were incompetent. It is suggested that impression-management concerns may be responsible for the negative reactions to increased control found in some situations.