Personal Control in Action Cognitive and Motivational Mechanisms |
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| Editor:
| Kofta, Miroslaw
Weary, Gifford
Sedek, Grzegorz |
| Series title: | The Springer Series in Social Clinical Psychology Ser. |
| ISBN: | 978-1-4419-3285-3 |
| Publication Date: | Dec 2010 |
| Publisher: | Springer
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| Book Format: | Paperback |
| List Price: | USD $169.99 |
Book Description:
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Human beings are agents: They may exert influence over their own fate. They initiate their actions, experience a considerable degree of freedom and control in their mundane activities, and respond adversely to external constraints to their agency; they are able to monitor and modify their moti vation, affective states, and behavior. Since the sixties, the notion of person-as-agent has become increas ingly accepted in scientific psychology. Nowadays, personal control is a standard...
More DescriptionHuman beings are agents: They may exert influence over their own fate. They initiate their actions, experience a considerable degree of freedom and control in their mundane activities, and respond adversely to external constraints to their agency; they are able to monitor and modify their moti vation, affective states, and behavior. Since the sixties, the notion of person-as-agent has become increas ingly accepted in scientific psychology. Nowadays, personal control is a standard topic in research on personality, motivation, and social behavior. The most popular approach identifies personal control with a feeling or judgment: To have control means to perceive the self as a source of causa tion. Within this perspective, such consciously accessible contents like perceived freedom and self-determination, feelings and expectations of control, or perceived self-efficacy and competence emerge as natural tar gets of research (see e.g., Alloy, Clements, & Koenig, 1993; Bandura, 1977; OeCharms, 1968; Oeci & Ryan, 1985; Harvey, 1976; Rotter, 1966; Thomp son, 1993; Wortman, 1975).