High Desire For Control Research Articles

Perception of Control and Information-Search Strategy in an Investment Decision Game

An investment decision game was developed to analyse differences in information-search strategy between internally and externally oriented subjects. We hypothesized that the more internally oriented subjects would use more information and would engage in a more varied search behavior, given their higher desire for control, than the externally oriented. As the subjects had to perform 10 trials, the experiment allowed us to take into account task uncertainty or task novelty as suggested by Rotter. Contrary to expectations, the relationships only became apparent in the second part of the game. Additional analyses suggested that the desire to control by internal subjects may have led to “situational blindness” or some kind of “illusion of control.” Implications for further research are discussed.

PERCEPTION OF CONTROL AND INFORMATION-SEARCH STRATEGY IN AN INVESTMENT DECISION GAME

An investment decision game was developed to analyse differences in information-search strategy between internally and externally oriented subjects. We hypothesized that the more internally oriented subjects would use more information and would engage in a more varied search behavior, given their higher desire for control, than the externally oriented. As the subjects had to perform 10 trials, the experiment allowed us to take into account task uncertainty or task novelty as suggested by Rotter. Contrary to expectations, the relationships only became apparent in the second part of the game. Additional analyses suggested that the desire to control by internal subjects may have led to “situational blindness” or some kind of “illusion of control.” Implications for further research are discussed.

Desired control and felt control as mediators of stress in a dental setting.

Control-related variables have clearly affected stress responses in previous research (Thompson, 1981). Prior work, however, has primarily emphasized the amount of control that subjects perceive they have. In the three studies reported here, we examined the added predictive utility of assessing subjects' desire for control. Data from all three studies indicate that subjects who have a high desire for control coupled with a low feeling of control are characterized by particularly high degrees of dental distress. These results were found both in settings where patients anticipated immediate dental treatment and where treatment was not imminent. In addition, the results indicate that this "at risk" group reported greater distress before and immediately after actual dental treatment. Furthermore, they remembered their dental treatment as being more aversive 1 week after treatment. The practical implications and theoretical significance of these data are considered.