The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of choice and environmental control on perceived control. A paired associate choice task was presented to all subjects and they were allowed to choose the response terms to be learned. When each of the response words was chosen aloud, the screen on which the words were printed went blank in the 100% implicit control and 100% explicit control groups. In the latter group, the subjects were informed a priori that the words would be removed from the screen, while in the no-control group, the screen did not go blank when the subjects responded. In the 50% implicit control and 50% explicit control groups, the screen went blank upon responding on a random half of the decision trials. Half of the subjects received an uncontrollable continuous white noise (90 dB) throughout the decision trials, while no noise was presented to the remainder. Upon completion of the choice task, subjects were presented with a dice game, which measured the generalized effects of perceived control. The relationships between environmental control and perceived control were different in the explicit control and implicit control conditions. In the presence of noise, environmental control produced an increment in the perception of control. Finally, consistent environmental control produces greater perceived control than does random control. The motivation model and applications of environmental control were discussed. / Ph. D.

Evidence suggests that individuals cope with stressful life events more effectively if they believe that they are in control of their environment. Rotter's Locus of Control is a measure of this belief about personal control. An individual with an internal locus of control would be more likely to believe that events are contingent on his or her behavior, and could thus be expected to feel more in control of his or her environment than an external locus of control individual. In addition to locus of control, it has been shown experimentally that allowing subjects to make a choice about outcomes also leads to enhanced perception of control in individuals. To test the hypothesis that perceived control will lead to better performance on a stressful memory task, and that individuals who believe they are in control will employ more problem-focused and fewer emotion-focused coping strategies, 60 undergraduate students from introductory psychology were given three lists of words to memorize and recall. Subjects were assigned to one of four groups: Internal/choice, Internal/No choice, External/Choice, External/No Choice. Blood pressure and heart rate were taken for a behavioral reference. While subjects in the internal locus of control condition and the choice condition performed better than those in the external and no-choice condition, as predicted, results did not reach statistical significance. However, it was shown that internal locus of control subjects used significantly fewer avoidance coping responses than external locus of control subjects, and that there were significant differences in the number of coping responses recalled from memory and from immediately after the task. / Master of Science

..."there was less similarity between the response pairs comprising the PA list than there was between the response alternatives presented during the practice trial. Consequently, the anticipation of control developed from experience with the practice trial could have been reduced when the subjects chose the response words for the PA trials. It is this reduction in perceived control which is assumed to be responsible for the failure to obtain the predicted differences in PA performance between Choice and Force subjects. One method of testing the above explanation would be to introduce the experimenter's request to choose only preselected response words during the practice trial, thereby reducing the possibility of subjects experiencing a reduction in perceived control later in the experiment." / Master of Science

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1985 R69 / Master of Science

In order to fill the gap in existing research on the topic, this study was undertaken to establish whether a relationship exists between five sources of power and five conflict handling styles. A theoretical study regarding the concepts of power and conflict was undertaken. In the empirical study these variables were measured using the Power Base Index and Thomas-Kilmann Conflict MODE questionnaires. Reward power was significantly related to the competing and avoiding conflict handling styles; expert power was significantly related to the compromising style; and legitimate power was significantly related to the collaborating conflict handling style. The research contributes towards a better understanding of power and conflict in organisations and in supervisors' day-to-day management. However, the results indicate the importance of wider, more sophisticated research. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial Psychology)

Modern organisations are facing many challenges that are threatening their survival. These challenges come in the form of social, political, economic and rapid ongoing technological change. As organisations search for appropriate designs for the nineties and beyond, clear schools of thought have developed, vehemently supporting either the organic or mechanistic approach. While these debates rage on, several critical considerations are being ignored. One such consideration is the effect of organisational design on organisational climate, utilisation of power and group cohesiveness. This research sets out to explore this consideration. Various questionnaires were utilized to measure employees' perceptions of climate, power utilisation and group cohesiveness within organistic and mechanistic orientated organisations. A systematic research and design process was undertaken within two business units of a large financial organisation, from which the sample for the study was drawn. Statistical analyses revealed that organisational design does have a significant effect on job satisfaction, work group support and employee support. The employees which perceived the organisation to be more mechanistically inclined reported higher levels of employee empowerment; workgroup support and job satisfaction than their counterparts who perceived the organisation as more organistically inclined. / Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)

published_or_final_version / Mental Health / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The purpose of this study was to describe the relationships among perceptions of privacy, powerlessness, and subjective sleep characteristics in hospitalized adults with coronary heart disease. Thirty subjects, 48 to 92 years old who were hospitalized for suspected or confirmed coronary heart disease, completed three questionnaires. Negative relationships were found between patient privacy and powerlessness (r = -.44) and between powerlessness and the subjective sleep characteristics of sleep effectiveness (r = -.30). Feelings of powerlessness were negatively related to total number of days of (r = -.50) and number of days in the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) (r = -.41). The number of days in the CCU was positively related to sleep disturbance (r =.30). Age was negatively related to patient privacy (r = -31) but positively related to powerlessness (r =.33) and sleep supplementation (r =.35). A better understanding of the hospital environment enhances the planning of nursing care for hospitalized patients.

Self-regulation and self-control are motivational constructs involved in the process of goal pursuit (Karoly, 1993). Although investigators within and across various fields of psychology have used the terms interchangeably (e.g., Hofmann, Rauch, & Gawronski, 2007; Lord, Diefendorff, Schmidt, & Hall, 2009; Wood, 2005), theoretical work stemming from the clinical field suggests that they are distinct yet related constructs (e.g., F. Kanfer, 1970, 1977; F. Kanfer & Karoly, 1972). However, until now, the relationship between self-regulation and self-control had not been investigated empirically. In the current program of research, I delineated their relationship in two ways. First, I developed and evaluated new self-report measures that better match theoretical models of self-regulation and self-control. Participants (N = 199) completed a battery of self-report questionnaires regarding personality, motivation, self-regulation, and self-control. The new measures had acceptable internal consistency and test-retest reliabilities, and displayed relationships expected for convergent and discriminant validity. Modeling techniques indicated that self-control and self-regulation are not strongly enough associated to fall under one higher-order factor, and that the relationship between the two constructs was best represented by a model in which self-control was associated with the self-regulatory stage of goal striving. Second, I evaluated the efficacy of a training session that included self-control techniques in addition to self-regulation skills, and compared outcomes to those from a self-regulation only training group, and a control group. One sample of undergraduate students (N = 49) and one sample of day-shift employees (N=41) were included. Participants completed questionnaires twice daily for a period of three weeks to report sleep-wake behavior, fatigue, affect, and productivity. Objective sleep measures also were obtained through the use of actigraphs, which monitor sleep-wake activity. The self-regulation training groups showed better goal adherence following the intervention compared to the control group, and the combined training groups had even better goal adherence than the self-regulation group. Positive affective changes were also reported among the training groups following the study period. The development of new measurement and training techniques, which better align with the theoretical formulations of self-regulation and self-control, will help to advance the theoretical work concerning these constructs, and could lead to improvement in workplace outcomes.

The personality characteristic locus of control internality is widely-accepted as a trait possessed by women entrepreneurs. Recent research also suggests the presence of a coexisting attribute of similar strength, characterized as influence of a significant other. The presence of one personality characteristic implying perception of self-directed capability, together with indication of need for external assistance, poses a theoretical paradox. The study's purpose was to determine the nature and extent of direct and interactive effects which these and related variables had on entrepreneur return on investment. It was hypothesized that dimensions of significant other, as operationalized for this research, would support internality of locus of control and also modify constraining effects of educational and experiential disadvantage which the literature cites as pertinent to women entrepreneurs. This was nonexperimental, exploratory research of correlational cross-sectional design which examined hypothesized variable linkages. A convenience sample from a women's entrepreneur networking group was surveyed. Significant other elements were derived from factor analysis, resulting in four common dimensions. These factors, together with Rotter's Locus of Control instrument scores, reports on levels of education and experience, and hypothesized interactions, were independent variables. Hierarchial multiple regression was used to test a proposed path model. Two interpretable four-factor solutions derived from significant other variables were tested in two models. Although neither model attained overall significance, individual variables were directionally as hypothesized, and locus of control and certain factoral dimensions attained bivariate significance. Significant other factors appear to influence locus of control through statistical suppression as they interact with other variables. Results point toward a possibility that significant others who most affect female entrepreneur performance are those who give specific advice and aid, rather than moral support. Further research to explore what seems a strong relationship between return on investment and locus of control internality is recommended.