Control Definition
The term control has a long history in social psychology and has been used in a variety of ways. At the most general level, control can be defined as influence, whether it be over internal states (as in emotional control or self-control) or over external aspects of the environment, including control over outcomes (i.e., being able to attain outcomes you desire) or over other people (i.e., making them do what you want them to do). Psychologists from different perspectives have focused on this basic construct in a multitude of ways. Some have focused on understanding the effects of changing circumstances in the environment to permit different degrees of control to individuals. Research also has focused on the subjective experience of feeling like you have control over outcomes you attain. Others have focused on the antecedents and consequences of feeling like you are being controlled—typically by other people. Still others have used the term control (or controlled) to help differentiate between those aspects of cognition and behavior that are consciously, as opposed to nonconsciously, determined. Each of these instantiations of the term control has its own nuanced meaning and place in the history of social psychology. Read more about Control.
Summary
The term control has taken on a variety of different meanings in social psychology. Despite the common thread of all the work on control relating to the degree to which people control their own behaviors or outcomes, each use of this term has its own history and corresponding literature. Some work has focused on the degree to which people feel able to control (i.e., attain) the outcomes they receive. Some has focused on whether people’s behavior is autonomously regulated or is controlled by others. And some has focused on how much of people’s behavior is regulated automatically, out of their awareness, and how much is controlled by conscious, more deliberative processes.
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