Effects Of Control Beliefs Research Articles

Effects of Age and Control Beliefs on Resource Allocation During Reading Abstract

Past work suggests that a strong sense of control over one's cognitive ability is associated with higher levels of cognitive performance and that control beliefs may be even more important in later life, due to age-related declines in cognitive processes. However, less is known about the effects of control beliefs on encoding strategies, and whether these effects are comparable for younger and older adults. Participants were divided into high- (HC) and low- control (LC) beliefs groups based on their scores on the Personality in Intellectual-Aging Contexts Inventory. Participants then read relatively easy and difficult passages word-by-word on a computer for subsequent recall. The data suggest that among older, but not younger adults, control beliefs are particularly important when reading difficult passages. Findings as they relate to models of self-regulation and to implications for everyday functioning are discussed.

Work stress, control beliefs and well‐being in Greater China

Towards the end of the twentieth century, the world has witnessed an amazing economic take‐off in the East Asia, especially within the territory of so‐called “Greater China”, encompassing the PRC and Taiwan. Against this economic and cultural background, this study surveyed 258 and 189 employees respectively in Taiwan, and the PRC (Shanghai), to examine generalizability of a generic work‐stress model to the Chinese societies. It further examined the sub‐cultural differences in the work‐stress processes, by drawing contrast of the PRC and Taiwan. In addition, roles of emic constructs of Chinese primary and secondary control beliefs were also examined. Results showed that the generic work‐stress model could be reasonably applied to Chinese urban work contexts in the PRC and Taiwan. Work stress related as expected to strain effects. At a more refined sub‐cultural level, it was found that different sources of work stress became salient contributors to strain outcomes in the PRC and Taiwan. These differences reflect the diverse political, social, and economic characteristics of the two Chinese societies. More importantly, emic constructs of Chinese control beliefs were found to have rather consistent direct effects on strain outcomes. However, indirect (moderating) effects of control beliefs were not strong and inconsistent.

Predictors of subjective stress in a sample of new parents

On the basis of Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) cognitive-phenomenological theory of stress and coping, it was poposed that the level of strain (or subjective stress) associated with new parenthood is related to a person's generalised control beliefs, their appraisal of the event on several different dimensions (importance, anticipated difficulty, familiarity, and ambiguity), and a number of event-related characteristics (delivay complications. infant temperament, and the accumulation of recent and concurrent stressors). Langitudinal data collected from a sample of 123 couples during the transition to parenthood provided some support—even when the level of initial distress was controlled—for the proposed effects of these variables. Importance of the event, anticipated difficulty of the event, familiarity with the event, infant temperament, and the experience of recent and concurrent stressors emerged as distinctive predictors of at least one of the measures of strain (postnatal anxiety and appraisal of the event's stressfulness). There was also evidence to suggest the event was appraised as more stressful by females than males and that effects of control beliefs. anticipated difficulty of the event, accumulation of recent and concurrent stressors, and infant temperament an postnatal anxiety, differed for the two sexes.

Effects of control beliefs and attributions on memory self-assessments and performance.

Individual differences in memory performance among elderly adults be due, in part to variability in personality and metamemory variables. We examined whether control beliefs, attributions, and depression were related to memory self-assessments, performance, and change in these variables across two trials. Participants were 47 elderly adults (M age = 69.72 years). Results of multiple regression analyses were consistent with predictions. Those individuals with stronger internal control beliefs made higher self-assessments at the first trial. Those who made higher assessments and those younger in age had higher performance at the first trial. Those with higher performance at the first trial and those who attributed this performance to internal, stable, and global causes were less likely to show decrements in self-assessments and performance across trials. Implications of the findings for enhancing memory performance are discussed.

Effects of control beliefs and attributions on memory self-assessments and performance.

Individual differences in memory performance among elderly adults be due, in part to variability in personality and metamemory variables. We examined whether control beliefs, attributions, and depression were related to memory self-assessments, performance, and change in these variables across two trials. Participants were 47 elderly adults (M age = 69.72 years). Results of multiple regression analyses were consistent with predictions. Those individuals with stronger internal control beliefs made higher self-assessments at the first trial. Those who made higher assessments and those younger in age had higher performance at the first trial. Those with higher performance at the first trial and those who attributed this performance to internal, stable, and global causes were less likely to show decrements in self-assessments and performance across trials. Implications of the findings for enhancing memory performance are discussed.