Personal Control in Action Cognitive and Motivational Mechanisms

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 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).

Product details

• Assisted by: Giffor Weary (Editor), Miroslaw Kofta (Editor), Grzegorz Sedek (Editor), Gifford Weary (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Content: Book
• Product form: Paperback / Softback
• Publication date: 22.10.2010
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Psychology > Applied psychology; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine; Non-fiction book > Psychology, esoterics, spirituality, anthroposophy > Applied psychology
• EAN: 9781441932853
• ISBN: 978-1-4419-3285-3
• Pages: 460
• Illustrations: XXVI, 460 p.
• Dimensions (packing): 15.2 x 2.6 x 22.9 cm
• Weight (packing): 701 g
• Series: The Springer Series in Social Clinical Psychology; The Springer Series in Social Clinical Psychology; The Springer Series in Social/Clinical Psychology