Chapter 9 - Personal Control

This chapter discusses how we are motivated to have personal control over ourselves and our lives. It begins by distinguishing between the two types of expectancy: efficacy expectations and outcome expectations. An efficacy expectation is “a judgment of one’s capacity to execute a particular act or course of action” (pg. 231). In this type, we evaluate whether or not we can perform in a particular way. An outcome expectation is “a judgment that a given action, once performed, will cause a particular outcome” (pg. 231). In other words, we evaluate whether or not our behavior will elicit a particular result. If both of these types of expectations are high, then we exhibit motivated behavior. This chapter also discusses self-efficacy, mastery beliefs, learned helplessness, and reactance theory. Self-efficacy is the judgment we make about ourselves when we are trying to determine how well we will do in different circumstances. It emerges from four sources: personal behavior history, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. Mastery beliefs “reflect the extent of perceived control one has over attaining desirable outcomes and preventing aversive ones” (pg. 242). In other words, those with mastery beliefs feel like their actions control their outcomes, while those without them feel like their actions have little to no effect on outcomes. Those with learned helplessness believe that factors outside of their control produce outcomes. Reactance theory states that when our freedom feels threatened, we react and behave in a more active, aggressive manner, than we would if we felt like we were in control.

The most interesting thing that I learned is that depressed individuals do not have a warped sense of personal control, but rather accurately judge when they do and do not have control. Those of us who are not depressed actually misjudge the control we have over our lives more often! The book says that non-depressed individuals “believe they have more personal control than they actually have” (pg. 253). It also says that non-depressed individuals tend to recall only positive events (or mostly positive events) in their lives, rather than balancing the good with the bad.

Personal control beliefs make us more likely to either approach or avoid certain situations, depending on how well or poorly we think we will perform. Those with strong self-efficacy are more willing to “put forth effort and persist in facing difficulties when activities require such action” (pg. 237) than those with learned helplessness, who are more likely to simply give up. Rather than accepting a challenge, those with low self-efficacy may avoid situations where they know they might become overwhelmed; for example, they may opt out of a difficult class, or choose to avoid dating. Likewise, those with learned helplessness behave more passively, rather than actively trying to obtain a modicum of control, which is descriptive of people who are not helpless.

An encouraged behavior for me is planning for graduate school. I know that I can do it (efficacy expectation), and I hope that the efforts that I put into my applications will get me accepted into the programs that I want (outcome expectation). I have a lot of self-efficacy when it comes to academics, which motivates me to pursue education beyond my bachelor’s degree. Within my personal behavior history, I was accepted into every undergraduate program that I applied to, and obtained a number of scholarships to help me along the way. I watched all of my friends get accepted into undergraduate programs that they wanted, and I also have a lot of friends that were accepted into grad programs last year. Both of these are vicarious experiences. My family, friends and teachers all encourage me and believe in my competence (verbal persuasion), and the application process makes me just tense enough that I am motivated to complete the process in order to relieve myself of that tension, but not to the extent that it causes anxiety (physiological state). All of these sources of self-efficacy motivate me toward a particular behavior: actively pursuing graduate programs.

I experienced a discouraged behavior after high school graduation, when I came to UNI. I danced at a studio for 12 years and wanted to join the UNI dance team, but I had very low mastery beliefs at the time, and did not think that I was good enough to make the team. Instead of working to make myself better so that I might make the team, my negative attitude caused me to shy away from the challenge. I had extreme motivation deficits, and I gave up without even trying out. This is my biggest regret from college, because I know now that I could have made the cut.

Terms: efficacy expectation, outcome expectation, self-efficacy, mastery beliefs, learned helplessness, reactance theory, personal behavior history, vicarious experience

The chapter talks about how well we can or cannot control our actions. We make choices usually because we expect the outcome to be good. If we expect the outcome to be really good the more motivation we will have to make that choice. We ask ourselves if we can do the task or not and if you do, will it work? It’s the efficiency and outcome expectations that help us make our choices. The higher our self efficacy is the more confident we can be with the choices we make. Self efficacy is higher in some people and lower in others. If it is high, people tend to apply the skills it takes to reach their goals. The chapter talks about sources of self-efficacy and how it comes from personal history, vicarious experience (observation), verbal persuasion (couches, parents), and physiological state (pain, tiredness). These are the things that go into self-efficacy, but what comes out of it are the choices that we make, the effort that goes with those choices, what types of emotions can be experienced and how focused you can be. The Mastery Modeling Program helps empower people through self-efficacy training. It recognizes ways of coping as well as how to stay focused even if you fail. This encourages motivational behavior by driving you to persist in your goal. The chapter expresses that helplessness is learned and can happen when an individual expects that life’s outcomes are uncontrollable. It also expressed the deficits that can occur in our emotions, learning, and motivation. We can be pessimistic about an outcome, not want to try anymore or at all, or get depressed. This discourages behavior and can lead to individuals not persisting in their goal or giving up when they fail. When someone does feel that they cannot control the outcome they may act out in resistance to it. This is called the Reactive Theory. For example you may get an F on a test and instead of pushing forward and not giving up you feel you can’t control your abilities after this point and give up. You may act out and say the test was unfair or simply not try anymore, thus reverting to helplessness. Being optimistic about the test allows you to view the F as a learning opportunity. You tell yourself that you will try harder next time thus reverting to the mastery program.
What I liked about this chapter is it made me think about myself and where I fall on the self-efficacy continuum. I realized that learned helplessness is something that I want to steer clear of and being optimistic will bring me more rewards. I found the length of the chapter aversive. I feel it could be cut down a little and still portray the intended information.
Terms: motivation, helplessness, mastery modeling program, aversive, optimistic, pessimistic, self efficacy, reactive theory, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, physiological state, emotions

Chapter 9 was about personal control beliefs, more specifically self-efficacy and learned helplessness. The chapter starts out by distinguishing between two different types of expectancy: efficacy expectations and outcome expectations. An efficacy expectation is described as “a judgment of one’s capacity to execute a particular act or course of action” while an outcome expectation was described as “a judgment that a given action, once performed, will cause a particular outcome.” It is stated that both of these expectancies must be high in order for one’s behavior to become goal directed.

Self-efficacy is the next section discussed in this chapter and is defined as “one’s judgment of how well (or poorly) one will cope with a situation, given the skills one possesses and the circumstances one faces.” There are four sources of self-efficacy and these are listed as 1) one’s personal behavior history 2) vicarious experience (i.e. observations of similar others) 3) verbal persuasion (such as pep talks) and 4) physiological state (such as a racing heart). The first two sources are the stronger sources of where one’s self-efficacy beliefs typically stem from while the later two are less influential, but still important nonetheless.

Next, the effects of self-efficacy on behaviors are discussed. Self-efficacy can influence an individual’s choice such that he/she may choose the activities they want to pursue and the environments they want to spend time in. Self-efficacy also influences effort and persistence, especially in the face of obstacles. Thinking and decision making are also influenced by self-efficacy in that people with high self-efficacy remain “efficient in their analytic thinking during stressful episodes.” Lastly, emotionality is influenced by self-efficacy as well.
The difference between self-efficacy and competence is described in the next section of the chapter while the topic of empowerment follows. Empowerment is defined as “possessing the knowledge, skills, and beliefs that allow people to exert control over their lives.” The book gave the example of women who took a self-defense class because they were afraid for their safety.

Besides self-efficacy, chapter 9 also discusses the concept of mastery beliefs. According to the text, “mastery beliefs reflect the extent of perceived control one has over attaining desirable outcomes and preventing aversive ones.” Within this section, seven ways of coping are listed and discussed. These include approach vs. avoidance, social vs. solitary, proactive vs. reactive, directive vs. indirect, control vs. escape, alloplastic vs. autoplastic, and problem focused vs. emotion focused.

The next big section of the chapter deals with learned helplessness. In order to show the reader what this really is, the authors described the famous inescapable shock experiment that included dogs as the participants. A few experiments that involved the application of learned helplessness to humans were also gone over. Next, the three components of learned helpless were listed and described. These include contingency (“the objective relationship between a person’s behavior and the environment’s outcomes), cognition, and behavior. In addition, the effects of helplessness were discussed. These include motivational deficits (such as a decreased willingness to try), learning deficits, and emotional deficits. The link between learned helplessness and depression was the topic of the following section.
Following that was the description of explanatory styles, namely pessimistic and optimistic styles. An explanatory style is a person’s reasoning for why bad things happen to them. Those with a pessimistic explanatory style react to failures by giving up while those with an optimistic explanatory style increase their effort and try harder in the face of failures.

The last section of chapter 9 talks about reactance theory. This theory says that people experience reactance only if they expect to have some control over what happens to them.

The most surprising thing I learned while reading this chapter was dealt with the link between helplessness and depression. I was shocked to learn that depressed individuals actually hold an accurate judgment over how much control they have over certain situations while those who are not depressed inaccurately perceive themselves as having more control than they really do. I found this shocking because I feel like a lot of the previous literature describes depressed individuals as being the ones who are “misperceiving” their worlds. Instead, it is those individuals who are not depressed who are misperceiving.

Personal control beliefs serve to both motivate and discourage behavior. They motivate behaviors by providing the individual with a sense of hope and agency. They discourage behavior when an individual doesn’t have hope and feels helpless. For example, the personal control belief of self-efficacy would serve to motivate an individual to graduate from college. If this person feels they have what it takes to graduate then he/she will be motivated to do so. This person’s self-efficacy will provide effort and persistence despite setbacks or obstacles. In addition, the person’s personal academic history will greatly influence his/her self-efficacy as well as vicarious experience. If the student sees other people around him graduating from college, he will believe that he can do it too.

If we use the same example of graduating from college, we can begin to see how an individual might be discouraged instead of motivated to graduate. If the person’s self-efficacy is low due to personal academic history (failing classes, not graduating from high school) then he will not feel hopeful of graduating from a college. In addition, if the person is surrounded by people who never graduated college then he will not feel that he can do it either (vicarious experience). The person’s low self-efficacy will not enable the person to persist, especially in the face of obstacles. This individual may not even be motivated to apply to college in the first place as opposed to the first individual.

Terms: self-efficacy, mastery beliefs, learned helplessness, reactance theory, behavior, cognition, vicarious experience, personal history, verbal persuasion, physiological state, empowerment, emotionality, contingency, motivational deficits, learning deficits, emotional deficits, explanatory style: both optimistic and pessimistic

Chapter 9 was centered on personal control beliefs. The big areas of discussion included: motivation to exercise personal control, self-efficacy, mastery beliefs, learned helplessness, and reactance theory.

The first section, motivation to exercise personal control, stated, “the desire to exercise personal control is predicated on a person’s belief that they have the power to produce favorable results” (p.231). People will be motivated to exercise personal control over life’s outcomes when they (1) “have what it takes” to influence their environment and (2) the environment will be responsive to their influence attempts to make things happen for the better. The section then delves into discussing expectancy. There are two different kinds: efficacy expectations and outcome expectations. Efficacy expectations are judgments of one’s capacity to execute a particular act or course of action. They estimate the likelihood that an individual can behave in a certain way. Outcome expectations, on the other hand, are judgments that a given action, once performed, will cause a particular outcome. They estimate how likely it is that certain consequences will follow once that behavior is enacted (p.231). The section states that both efficacy and outcome expectations have to be reasonably high for behavior to become energetic and goal directed.

The next main section is on self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the judgment of how well or how poorly one will cope with a situation, given the skills one possesses and the circumstances one faces (p.233). It means that one is able to make improvisations during stressful or unpredictable situations and yet still have an effective performance. The opposite of efficacy is doubt, and the extent of either self-efficacy or self-doubt is the motivational variable that determines the extent to which a performer copes well or poorly when their skills and abilities are stressed (p.234). The section goes on to discuss the sources of self-efficacy, which are: personal behavior history, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological state. Personal behavior history and vicarious experience are the stronger sources of efficacy beliefs out of the four total. Next, the self-efficacy effects on behavior are discussed. This section states that once formed, self-efficacy beliefs contribute to the quality of human functioning in multiple ways (p.237). If someone believes that they can perform an action adequately, it will make them more likely to put forth effort and persistence. People tend to choose to participate in activities that they know that they will be capable of doing. They will also exert more effort and persistence in the face of adversity if they have strong self-efficacy beliefs. They will also be more stable in their thinking, decision-making, and emotionality.

Next, the chapter begins the section on mastery beliefs. It starts off by getting into different ways of coping and then delves into the topic of helplessness. People with mastery motivational orientations respond to failure by remaining task focused and by being bent on achieving mastery in spite of difficulties and setbacks, whereas people with helpless motivational orientations hold a fragile view of the self during encounters of failure. These people respond to the failure by giving up and withdrawing because they think that the situation is out of their control (p.243). Next, learned helplessness is discussed, which is the psychological state that results when an individual expects that life’s outcomes are uncontrollable (p.244). There have been multiple studies done on both animals and humans in regards to learning helplessness, and there are three components (contingency, cognition, and behavior) that explain the motivational dynamics that unfold as experience teaches people to expect that the events in their lives will be beyond their personal control. The effects of this learned helplessness involve motivational deficits, learning deficits, and also emotional deficits. All of this plays a role in the possible link between learned helplessness and depression and also explanatory style.

Finally, the chapter wraps up with a section on reactance theory. Here, it discusses why people do the exact opposite of what they are told as opposed to learning helplessness. Reactance has to do with reestablishing an eliminated or threatened freedom, and people experience reactance only if they expect to have some control over what happens to them. The chapter then goes on to put all of the pieces together in a section about hope. When people have both the motivation to work toward their goals and when people know ways to achieve those goals, they experience hope (p.259). Individuals with high hope are able to tap into their motivational resources of confidence, self-efficacy, optimism, and a mastery motivational orientation, and in doing so they are able to find the motivational support to overcome life’s challenges and obstacles (p.260).

The most surprising thing that I learned from reading this chapter was when it discussed how results on a study of learned helplessness comparing both depressed and non-depressed college students revealed that depressed individuals accurately judged how much control they had over each situation, whereas non-depressed individuals did not do so in the no-control situation. The depressed people accurately judged that they did not have any control, whereas the non-depressed people overestimated their perceived control. These results tell us that people with depression are not more prone to learned helplessness deficits. Instead, it is the individuals who are not depressed who sometimes believe they have more personal control than they actually have (p.253). This information truly startled me because it means that depressed people see personal control in more of a realistic sense than the rest of us. Their memories for positive and negative events in their lives are balanced and equal, whereas memories of non-depressed people are misjudged. That was crazy to learn!

Personal control beliefs definitely serve to both encourage and discourage behavior in certain ways. For instance, if someone feels as though they have personal control over their life outcomes, they will have more self-efficacy and confidence than one who does not feel that way. They will approach more difficult situations and fare better if they happen to fail. They will be able to keep a cool, calm, and collected self in the face of adverse situations and circumstances. They will have hope for the future and will be able to apply themselves to situations with the knowledge that they have an optimistic outlook and can encourage themselves to push forward. People who do not feel this way, on the other hand, will be more reserved when deciding whether or not to take part in an activity. If they think that they are not capable of doing it, then they most likely will not. If they do decide to do an activity and end up failing, they will be more likely to withdraw themselves and just give up. This leads to learned helplessness, which can be applied to all types of activities throughout life. Learned helplessness hinders one’s ability to be confident and full of self-efficacy, which can be looked at as problematic. When someone believes that they have personal control, the outcomes appear to be much more positive than for someone who does not believe that they have much, if any, personal control in life.

An example of an encouraged behavior would be graduating from college. Personal control beliefs have a lot to do with encouraging this behavior. If someone has the goal to graduate from college, chances are that they will be intrinsically motivated to do so. With this motivation comes a sense of self-efficacy, which means that the individual will put forth a great amount of effort, persist through difficulties and setbacks, and attain a feeling of hope. These characteristics of this individual can be applied to the courses they decide to take, the amount of studying they do, the grades that they achieve, the extracurricular activities they decide to join, and more. With an optimistic explanatory style, this person will most likely be able to attain their goal of graduating from college. It is obvious that personal control beliefs would influence this behavior.

An example of a discouraged behavior could also be graduating from college if a person feels as though they do not have control over the final outcome. Low self-efficacy aids in creating learned helplessness, which would not be helpful if the person feels as though the goal to graduate from college is not attainable. This person may take on a pessimistic explanatory style, which would mean that reactance to failures, such as getting bad grades, not finishing homework, and missing out on class, would entail less effort and deteriorating performance in school. This person is more likely to give up or quit, which is definitely discouraging when it comes to such a great goal like graduating from college. Although this is somewhat sad, it sets up an example that allows you to see how personal control beliefs can influence both encouraged and discouraged behaviors.

All in all, I felt that I really learned a lot from reading this chapter. It was pretty interesting and it held my attention, and I am excited to move forward and learn more in the weeks to come!

Terms: personal control beliefs, self-efficacy, mastery beliefs, learned helplessness, reactance theory, motivation, expectancy, efficacy expectations, outcome expectations, coping, self-doubt, personal behavior history, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, physiological state, effort, persistence, emotionality, mastery motivational orientation, helpless motivational orientation, contingency, cognition, behavior, motivational deficits, learning deficits, emotional deficits, depression, explanatory style, hope, intrinsic motivation, optimistic explanatory style, pessimistic explanatory style

Chapter 9 examined personal control over one's outcomes as to how much or how little influence they have in producing desired events and preventing undesired events. People learn about expectancies in life as they try to control certain events. Efficacy expectations is a judgement of one's capacity to execute a particular act or course of action. An outcome expectation is a judgement that a given action, once performed, will cause a particular outcome. Efficacy expectations refer to our confidence and outcome expectations refer to once we do something, our beliefs on if it worked.

Something common to efficacy expectations is something known as self efficacy in which the individual organizes and orchestrates their kills to cope with demands and circumstances they face. In other words, how well one copes in a certain situation given their skills and abilities one possess. At my internship, I have to have good communication skills and be able to relate or get along with employees and strangers. When problems arise, I have to think quickly and act efficiently as possible. I partake in these situations with confidence when these kinds of situations do arise and I cannot be confused, anxious or doubtful. I would say when it comes to helping others, or just talking in general I am confident and have fairly high self efficacy.

Because of my self efficacy in these situations at work, I am also fairly well at verbal persuasion. When someone comes to me with a problem or needs help, I'm a great pep talker and give pretty good advice to those who need it. Verbal persuasion works to the extent that it provides the performer with enough of a temporary and provisional efficacy boost to generate the motivation necessary for another try. The book states that people who believe strongly in their efficacy for solving problems remain remarkably efficient in their thinking during stressful episodes, and people who doubt think erratically. Strong sense of efficacy allows performers to remain task focused and I believe this is true. With my high efficacy of communication and relatedness to others, I have never felt like I couldn't help someone or relate to someone in stressful situations.

The chapter also discusses mastery beliefs vs helplessness. Mastery beliefs reflect the extent of perceived control one has over attaining desirable outcomes and preventing aversive ones. Helplessness motivational orientation refers to a fragile view of the self during encounters of failure. In other words, those who have a mastery motivational orientation will try harder and change their ways to meet the task at hand and those with helplessness motivation orientation will shy away or give up the task at hand. Helplessness motivational orientation people are scared of failure that they focus too much on why they are failing instead of ways to make the situation better. I have some friends who are like this. To me, these are just people with a pessimistic view while mastery motivational orientation are people with optimistic views.

The most surprising thing that I learned from this chapter was that narcissists hold a grandiose sense of self importance, tend to exaggerate their talents and achievements, and expect to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements. I think I learned this in another one of my classes a couple years ago but it surprises me still because when I think narcissist I think of an angry person who doesn't really get along with anybody, instead they like to brag about their talents and act as superior. I believe my ex boyfriend was a narcissist. Even though he wasn't really angry, he possessed all of these characteristics. He thought he was above everyone else, thought he was super athletic, smart, and talented (yeah right) and didn't even graduate college because he thought getting a job was the most important thing ever for him and thinks he's the shit for having a low-paying job.

Personal control beliefs serve to encourage and motivate behavior because one can feel more in control and confident when it comes to whatever goal or task they are trying to accomplish. When personal control beliefs are strong and resilient, the individual perceives a strong causal link between actions and outcomes. People who realize their self efficacy and strengths are the ones in which personal control beliefs work best for. One example would be Michael Phelps. He loves swimming and has overcome many challenges in the Olympics (and outside of the Olympics). He has gotten into trouble by getting caught smoking out of a bong and because of his outstanding reputation, people were angered by his actions. Because of his discouraged behavior, some people wanted him to fail while others wanted him to overcome the event and because Michael enjoyed swimming and competing, he took control of his life and worked even harder than before, breaking the medal count of 22 medals as an Olympian. He was motivated more than ever in his life because he seeked out a goal and had strong personal control beliefs about swimming. He took control of his actions and had outstanding record breaking results because of it.

When personal control beliefs are weak and fragile, the individual perceives that personal initiatives and actions produce little effect on what happens. Sometimes people think this way when it comes to hard classes and tests. Some people may think it's almost impossible to get an A on a test because of what they've heard from other students or maybe even from their own professor and it makes their beliefs on getting a good grade very weak. This results in people not studying as much because they just think there's no point in wasting their time if you're already going to do bad. This isn't a very great example but I do know of a few people where they have even studied and think they wasted their time for studying and they aren't going to study nearly as much for the next one because of the difficulty. Even so, this is an example of when personal beliefs can be discouraged and of course it results in not meeting an outcome. A lot of the way people think about how little or how much control they have is because of contingency, cognition, and behavior. Contingency refers to the objective relationship between a person's behavior and the environments outcomes. Cognition consists or our biases, attributions, and expectancies in given situations, and behavior refers to how we cope with certain situations to attain or prevent outcomes. All of these are important when it comes to personal control beliefs.

Terms: Personal control beliefs, efficacy expectations, outcome expectations, self-efficacy, verbal persuasion, doubt, mastery orientation, helplessness orientation, narcissist, behavior, contingency, cognition

Chapter 9 discusses our motivation to exercise personal control. The chapter begins discussing the two kinds of expectancy. They are efficacy expectations and outcome expectations. An efficiency expectation is a judgment of one’s capacity to execute a particular act or course of action. An outcome expectation is a judgment that a given action, once performed, will cause a particular outcome. The question is between “Can I do it?” and “Will what I do work?” Efficacy expectations estimate the likelihood that an individual can behave in a particular way and outcome expectations estimate how likely it is that certain consequences will follow once that behavior is enacted. Both efficiency and outcome expectations must be reasonably high before behavior becomes energetic and goal directed.

Self-efficacy is similar to efficacy expectations. Self-efficacy is a more generative capacity in which the individual organizes and orchestrates his or her skills to cope with the demands and circumstances he or she faces. Self-efficacy arises from personal behavior history or trying to execute that particular course of action in the past, observations of similar others as they execute the same behavior, verbal persuasions form others, and physiological states such as a racing hear versus a calm one. Once formed, self-efficacy beliefs contribute to the quality of human functioning in multiple ways. The more people expect that they can adequately perform an action, the more willing they are to put forth effort and persist in facing difficulties. Self-efficacy beliefs affect choice of activities and selection of environments, extent of effort and persistence put forth during performance, the quality of thinking and decision making during performance, and emotional reactions. Also, self-efficacy predicts ways of coping that can be called “competent functioning” or “personal empowerment.” Empowerment involves possessing the knowledge, skills, and beliefs that allow people to exert control over their lives.

The chapter then discussed mastery beliefs and learned helplessness. Mastery beliefs reflect the extent of perceived control one has over attaining desirable outcomes and preventing aversive ones. When personal control beliefs are strong and resilient, the individual perceives a strong causal link between actions and outcomes. Then they are weak, the individual perceives that personal initiatives and actions produce little effect on what happens. Learned helplessness is the psychological state that results when an individual expects that events in his or her life are uncontrollable. Helplessness is learned and depression share common symptoms.

The chapter ends by talking about the reactance theory and hope. Reactance theory explains how people react to uncontrollable life events. When confronting a situation that is hard to control, individuals show an initial reactive response by becoming increasingly assertive in their psychological and behavioral attempts to reestablishing control.
Hope emerges out of an integrated two-part cognitive motivational system. When people have both the motivation to work toward their goals and when people know ways to achieve those goals, they experience hope. The first part of hope involves high agency, or the “can do” belief. The second part of hope involves clear pathways, or the belief that one has multiple and controllable pathways to those goals.

I was surprised to learn that people with depression are not more prone to learned helplessness deficits. Depressed individuals accurately judged how much control they had over each situation, as did nondepressed individuals. I was also surprised to learn that nondepressed individuals overestimate their perceived control. Before reading this chapter I thought that depressed individuals would be bad at judging how much control they have in a situation.

Terms: efficacy expectations, outcome expectations, self-efficacy, empowerment, mastery beliefs, learned helplessness, reactance theory.

Chapter 9 discusses personal control beliefs and the motivation to exercise self-control in different situations. The first topic of the chapter talks about expectancy and the two different types of expectancy. The two different types are efficacy expectations and outcome expectations. An efficacy expectation is how well one thinks they can complete a certain task. An outcome expectation is asking oneself will it work if I can complete the task. Both of these concepts need to be high to actually create motivation that is energetic and towards a certain goal.
Another concept discussed in more detail was efficacy and self-efficacy. Efficacy is how well a person can perform on a certain tasks and different situations that accompany that task. Self-efficacy, however, is how well a person will cope with a situation given the skills they have already. Efficacy could be considered an antonym for “doubt.” I think this analogy makes the concept of efficacy easier to understand. The text discusses four sources for self-efficacy. They don’t arrive randomly, they arise from one’s personal history in trying to execute the behavior, observations of similar others who also try to execute that behavior, verbal persuasions from other people, and physiological states like sweaty palms or a faster heartbeat. The more people expect to accomplish, the easier it is to put forth proper effort towards the task at hand. Avoidance tactics will be used if someone thinks the task will make them unsuccessful. This concept seems similar to competence to me, but the badminton example in the texts explains how the need for competence precedes the measurement of self-efficacy.
The next major portion of the text included discussion on mastery beliefs which is the amount of personal control one believes to have over a situation. If this is high in a person, they will believe their actions make a strong difference in the outcome of a situation and will be more likely to achieve it. Helplessness sometimes overcomes mastery when tasks become more difficult and if this happens, the person is most likely a helpless-oriented person. Helplessness is learned when negative things continually happen that are out of the person’s control. After a while, the person will think they have no control over their fate. The learned helplessness theory has three components. These include contingency (objective relationship between behavior and outcome), cognition (the effect on the interpretation between what actually happened and what was perceived to have happened), and behavior (actions varying from very passive to very active). People must feel like they have some control over their fate in order to be motivated enough to actually set goals and be energized about obtaining those goals.

The part that surprised me the most was the difference between competence and self-efficacy. At first examination it would seem that the concepts would be the same, but the book describes otherwise as I stated earlier.
A person’s belief they can accomplish something is vital in encouraging behavior. Without this belief that a goal can be effectively completed, the person will become discouraged and this comes with many negative effects. An encouraged behavior for me would be writing and thinking creatively. These are things that I am good at and a large reason I decided to become a psychology major. A discouraged behavior for me would be anything to do with numbers and this also contributed to my becoming a psychology major. I prefer to write rather than work with numbers so I am more likely to reach goals pertaining to writing rather than with numbers.
Terms: expectancy, efficacy expectations, outcome expectations, mastery beliefs, helplessness, physiological state, contingency, cognition, behavior, behavior history, avoidance, competence, behavior

Chapter nine was about personal control beliefs. The desire to exercise personal control is predicted on a person's belief that they have the power to produce favorable results. This expectancy is a subjective prediction of how likely it is that an event will occur. Two types of expectancies exist: efficacy expectations and outcome expectations. An efficacy expectation revolves around the question, : Can I do it?" while an outcome expectation revolves around the question, "Will what I do work?" Both efficacy and outcome expectations must be reasonably high before behavior becomes energetic and goal directed. Take away either of these positive forecasts and reluctance and avoidance become rather logical ways of acting. Self-efficacy is a more generative capacity in which the individual organizes and orchestrates his or her skills to cope with the demands and circumstances he or she faces. It is not the same as ability. The opposite of efficacy is doubt. Doubt creates anxiety, confusion, negative thinking, and so on. Self-efficacy beliefs arise from personal behavior history, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological state.Self-efficacy leads to a quick recovery of self-assurance following setbacks such as failure and rejection. High self-efficacy leads to better thinking and decision making processes, determination, optimism, enthusiasm and interest. Any increase in efficiency means a corresponding decrease in anxiety. Self-efficacy expectations provide the cognitive-motivational foundation underlying personal empowerment. Empowerment involves possessing the knowledge, skills, and beliefs that allow people to exert control over their lives. Master beliefs reflect the extent of perceived control one has over attaining desirable outcomes and preventing aversive ones. The main sign of helplessness is how quickly and empathetically someone gives up. Helplessness is learned. Learned helplessness can be understood by the strength of the perceived relationship between the person's behavior and the person's subsequent fate, or outcome. The theory is made up of three components: contingency, cognition, and behavior. It leaves three reliable deficits in its wake: motivational, learning, and emotional. Reactance theory explains how people react to uncontrollable life events. Hope provides energy and direction for on'es coping efforts.
The most surprising thing that I learned was how important self-efficacy is and how many sources it comes from. Self-efficacy is very important to motivation. It is one the main concepts underlying whether or not someone is motivated enough to do something. If one has any doubt in themselves when it come to completing a task, their motivation will decrease because they will make themselves anxious and worried to the point where they over-think things and become questionable of their abilities. Then again, one's self-efficacy comes from four main sources, all of which contribute to the overall efficacy. Past behavior affects self-efficacy because people learn from their interpretations and memories of past attempts to execute the same behavior. Vicarious experience also contributes to self-efficacy because if someone has little to know experience with something, they will rely on what others do and say to form their own opinion. Verbal persuasion is also necessary because it generates enough temporary provisional efficacy to boost motivation. Finally regulating one's own physiological state is important to self-efficacy because it serves as supplemental opportunities to alter pessimistic self-efficacy beliefs.
Personal control beliefs serve to encourage behavior when one has high efficacy expectations. When the efficacy is high, the expectation is high but attainable, and the sources of the efficacy are all present. There are many encouraged behaviors. One would be extra credit for classes. Teachers encourage students to complete this so that they will increase their grade, but they are not requiring it to students. Therefore, it is only optional and encouraged. Some will have a high efficacy to complete this, maybe because they have done it before and seen how much a little bit of extra credit can help. Others may have a low efficacy because they haven't seen the positive effects and don't think that it is worth it. However, when one has a low self-efficacy, they have doubt and are not fully confident in themselves or the task, they are discouraged from that certain behavior and are much less likely to engage in that behavior. An example of a discouraged behavior is staring. Although this is a behavior that happens frequently, whether conscious or unconscious, it can be seen as rude and disrespectful and therefore is discouraged. This is an action that can apply to past experience. If staring had gotten someone in trouble in the past, then one is much less likely to stare at anyone.

Terms: personal control beliefs, expectancy, efficacy expectation, outcome expectations, self-efficacy, doubt, personal behavior history, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, physiological state, empowerment, mastery beliefs, learned helplessness, reactance theory, hope

Chapter nine discusses how personal control over one’s life can alter whether or a not the desired outcomes are achieved. This chapter starts off by talking about the two types of expectancies: Efficiency and outcome expectancies. Efficiency expectancy is how a person judges if a particular action can be executed successfully. Outcome expectancy is whether or not the desired outcome will happen after a particular action is performed. These two forms of expectancy help people determine what they will do and if it will end up working in their favor. Another form of efficiency is talked about in this chapter and that is self-efficiency. This type of efficiency is when a person personal looks at their own skills and abilities to determine is an action is worth doing. This is different from the other type of expectancies because it is only looking at the persons own skills and not about the whole situation in general.

Self-efficiency does not just show up out of nowhere. It is formed from a person’s own behavior history, experiences from others, verbal persuasion and physiological states. These for things play a role in how well a person can control their life situations. Behavioral history is when a person looks back at their past actions to form their new reactions to certain similar situations. An example of this would be a boy riding his horse as a kid and the horse bolts because it is scared. The boy learns that by pulling back on the reigns the horse slows down. Then that same boy encounters a similar situation as a young adult and knows that pulling back on the reigns will make the horse stop. Another part to self-efficiency is experiences of others. This is when a person watches someone else perform the same action that they are about to perform and will hopefully see the correct way to go about doing that action. The third part to self-efficiency is verbal persuasion. Verbal persuasion includes pep talks from others and themselves convincing a person that they can complete a certain task or action. The last part to forming good self-efficiency is the physiological state that a person is in. Some ways of showing an unstable physiological state is trembling, pain, muscle tension, mental confusion and fatigue. These all are expressed by a person who does not have good self-efficiency or control during a particular action. All four of these aspects are ways of showing if a person has formed good self-efficiency.

The other part of chapter nine talks about how helplessness is learned as an unsuccessful way of coping with failure. The term used throughout this chapter is called learned helplessness. There are three components to the learned helplessness theory: contingency, cognition and behavior. Contingency is the relationship between a person’s behavior and environment. A question a person can ask to declare contingency is how a person’s voluntary behavior affects the outcome in a certain environment. The next component is cognition. This takes part in learned helplessness by comparing a person’s actual environmental contingencies and how that person understands their own control in that environment. Such cognitive beliefs can be biases or expectancies the person has, which in turn influence how the person learns their helplessness. The last part to learned helplessness is in a person’s behavior. The way that a person actively copes with a situation is how behavior plays a role in learned helplessness. If a person is assertive and active with coping they are not certified as helpless, but if they are passive and giving up they have become helpless. Overall, chapter nine goes into great detail of how a person can take control of their thoughts and behaviors and how a person can also give up in a certain situations.

The part of this chapter that I found to be the most surprising was on how learned helplessness has many similarities to unipolar depression. I never thought about how much these two aspects of people’s lives are so similar. Usually a person who can see that they have no control over what is happening to them is more likely to fall into a depression. If only those people who feel like they have no control over life got over that feeling of learned helplessness, then maybe they would not fall into a depressive state of mind. Research had found that people with depression are not more prone to learned helplessness, but that those who were not depressed believed that they had more control than they actually had in a certain situation. This is definitely surprising because it is the depressed individuals who are thinking more realistically than the nondepressed.

Personal control beliefs are used by people to either encourage a certain behavior or discourage a certain behavior. When a control belief is strong and the link between certain actions and outcomes strong, this shows an encouraged behavior. When control beliefs are weak and the action and outcome are perceived as not having any affect on one another this shows a discouraged behavior. When a person has a mastery motivational orientation they tend to respond to failure by not losing sight of the task at hand and never giving up on achieving that task which in turn encourages that behavior in the future. On the other side of the spectrum, a person with helpless motivational orientation views a failure as their own fault and gives up on trying to achieve a certain outcome discouraging them from that certain behavior. An example of an encouraged behavior would be when a person does badly on their first test in one of their hardest classes and instead of giving up that person is encouraged to study harder and do better on the next test. That person uses their control belief to encourage positive outcomes for the next time. An example of a discouraged behavior would be someone who played their first high school basketball game and ended up scoring in the other team’s basket. That person starts to doubt how good of a basketball player they are and asks the coach if they can sit out for the rest of the game. This person is using their control belief to discourage themselves from playing basketball again and believes that no matter what they do, their action of playing basketball will never improve.

Terms: Efficiency expectancy, outcome expectancy, self-efficiency, behavioral history, verbal persuasion, physiological state, learned helplessness, contingency, cognition, behavior, mastery motivational orientation, helpless motivational orientation

Chapter Nine is about personal control beliefs. It covers self-efficacy, mastery beliefs, learned helplessness, and reactance theory. The chapter focuses on the motivation to exercise personal control over what happens to you. When people try to control events, they learn expectancies about their control. There are two types of expectations: efficacy and outcome. Efficacy expectations are judgments about one’s ability to execute an act or course of action. Outcome expectations are judgments that predict weather a particular outcome will be achieved once a given action is executed. Both efficacy expectations and outcome expectations must be high before people are willing to put in strong efforts to exercise personal control.

Self-efficacy is someone’s belief that they have what it takes to get together the resources they need to cope effectively with possibly overwhelming demands of a situation. Self-efficacy can arise from a few things. It can arise from personal behavior history of trying to execute that course of action in the past. It can also arise from observations of similar others trying to do the same behavior. It can arise from verbal persuasion by others, or physiological states. One self-efficacy is formed, it can effect someone’s choice of activities and selection of environments. It can also effect effort, persistence, and resiliency. It can effect the quality of thinking and decision-making or emotional reactions.

Learned helplessness is the psychological state when someone expects that events in their life are uncontrollable. Helplessness is a learned behavior. When people learn that their behavior exerts a stronger influence over outcomes than outside influences do, they learn a mastery motivational orientation. When people learn that their behavior exerts little or no influence over outcomes and outside influences control what happens, they learn a helpless motivational orientation.

There are three fundamental components that explain learned helplessness effects. These are contingency, cognition, and behavior. Contingency if the objective relationship between behavior and the environment’s positive or negative outcomes. Cognition is the mental processes that an individual relies on to translate objective environmental contingencies to subjective personal control beliefs. Behavior is a person’s voluntary coping behavior.

Reactance theory explains how people react to life events out of their control. When someone’s expects controllability, reactance is fostered, and expectations of uncontrollability foster helplessness. When confronting a situation that is difficult, individuals show an initial reactance response by becoming assertive. If reactance efforts do not establish control, individuals will then show a helplessness response.

Finally, hope integrates the personal control beliefs by showing how agentic thinking and pathway thinking work together to provide energy and direction for one’s coping efforts.

What surprised me most about this chapter was how personal control beliefs were applied to humans after the first experiments were done on animals. The early experiments on learned helplessness were done on animals because the events used in these studies included traumatic events, such as electric shock. I’m not a big fan of animal experimentation, because animals don’t have the ability to deny such experiments. It was only after animals were tested that later studies found a way to test how helplessness applies to humans.

I think that personal control beliefs serve to encourage and discourage behavior. People are constantly making choices about what activities to pursue and which environments to surround themselves in. When looking at self-efficacy, people will often choose to avoid tasks and environments as a self-protective act for guarding against the possibility of being overwhelmed by demands and challenges. When someone is expecting something to be overwhelming or confusing, doubt overwhelms efficacy and produces an avoidance decision. As I enrolled at UNI, I had first planned on being a Biology major to be Pre-Vet. However, I looked over the course list and expectations and I thought that it was going to be too hard, so I avoiding the situation by changing my major to Psychology. Avoidance choices exert detrimental long-term effects on a person’s development. In my situation, my choice to switch major’s actually turned out to be a good thing, because if I hadn’t switched my major I would have never met my now fiancé in Psych and Law.

Self-efficacy beliefs influence how much effort people exert in the face of a challenge. I am putting forth much effort right now as I prepare to apply go graduate school. I had not planned on going to graduate school in my early years at UNI, so I slacked off. Now I need to make up for it by putting in a lot of effort.

Terms: self-efficacy, mastery beliefs, learned helplessness, reactance theory, efficacy expectation, outcome expectation, self-efficacy, contingency, cognition, behavior

Chapter nine talked a lot about personal control. Personal control is just what it says – having control over yourself and your actions. What motivates our personal control is how much or how little influence we have in making things happen and making sure certain things don’t happen. Through experience, we gain expectations. There are two different types of expectations: efficacy and outcome. Self-efficacy deals with how much confidence an individual has in his or herself. Outcome is the actual outcome that occurs. These two components influence how much personal control we believe we have and exert. When personal control is low, we run the risk of experiencing helplessness. This also puts us at risk for learned helplessness. This is when we believe we have no control over the outcomes of our actions. There are three different components of learned helplessness: contingency, cognition, and behavior. I talked about these with my video blog this week and the example of Angela’s behavior (or lack there of) when talking to Mike about her husband’s whereabouts. Another aspect of the chapter that somehow relates with learned helplessness is the reactance theory. The reactance theory explains how people react to uncontrollable life events. Unfortunately, sometimes learned helplessness comes from people reacting poorly to these particular life events they can’t control. Finally, the chapter ends on a more cheerful note: hope. All you need to have hope is motivation to achieve your goal and to know how to achieve your goal.

Rarely do I ever read the little gray boxes in the chapter. I know that is a terrible thing to admit in a homework assignment, but I am just proud of myself that I’m reading the chapters at all. You have to start somewhere right?! Anyways, for some reason, I read the gray box this time. I think it was the title that caught my eye: Is Personal Control Always Good? Coming from someone who lacks in the self control department BIG TIME, my first thought was “duh”. Therefore the conclusion to this section was the most surprising thing to me in chapter nine. It discussed how people strive to have control. Many studies and books have been written about how the more control you have, the better. However, there is one major problem with this conclusion: they are assuming that the world is a controllable place. We know from this chapter, yet even better from our own experiences that this is not the case. Since we cannot completely control the environment, it is important to realize this and not strive to have complete control since it cannot be achieved.

Personal control, as I stated above, is your views on how much you can control the outcomes of your behaviors. As I just learned after reading the little gray box, this can be a good thing but can also sometimes be a bad thing. There are many situations in life that, fortunately, we are able to control. Here it is important to have high personal control beliefs. However, we also know that there are many situations in life that are uncontrollable. Here is where having high personal control beliefs can become dangerous.

Having high personal control beliefs in situations you can control can be very motivating. Efficacy expectations can be very motivating. When you believe you have control and you have confidence in yourself and abilities, it makes your goal obtainable. Seeing your goal as easy to reach will motivate you to get there that much faster. Outcome expectations can also be extremely motivating. Basic knowledge can give you solid outcomes as to what certain behaviors will produce. When we desire something and outcome expectations tell us exactly how to get it, motivation comes right along with the package. Both types of expectations come with high personal control beliefs, and therefore high motivation. A good example of how personal control beliefs can be motivating is trying to lose weight by eating healthy and exercising. Efficacy expectations can encourage us and provide us with motivation by believing in ourselves that we are able to eat these foods, workout this long, etc. Outcome expectations are very motivating: we know that if we eat healthy and exercise, we will lose weight, guaranteed (to some extent). Having high personal control beliefs is very motivating in situations we can control, and will more than likely motivate us to work all the harder in order to achieve our goal of losing weight.

However, having high personal control beliefs can also be very discouraging. There are some situations we cannot control. When we believe that we have absolute control of outcomes due to our behaviors, motivation can diminish very quickly when the expected outcomes don’t occur. A great example of this would be a hard working teacher. If the teacher works hard and is great at her job, she should keep her job, right? However she can’t control that the school needed to make budget cuts, and she was too new to be kept on. If the teacher has high personal control beliefs, this can be very discouraging. If she reacts poorly, which could easily be the case, she could unfortunately be at risk into falling into learned helplessness.

Terms:
Personal control, efficacy expectations, outcome expectations, learned helplessness, behavior, cognition, contingency, reactance theory, hope,

Chapter Nine is all about personal control beliefs such as self-efficacy and learned helplessness. Expectancy is the projected probability of an event occurring, and is further divided into two categories; outcome expectation and efficacy expectation. An efficacy expectation is an understanding of ones ability to achieve a certain action or actions, the "can I do it?" while outcome expectation estimates the probability of certain outcomes based on ones behavior, the "will it work?". Both of these contribute to an individuals motivation, and gives their actions energy. Self-efficacy is the competence with which an individual attempts to produce effective performances under difficult or trying circumstances. Self-efficacy beliefs are based in 1)personal behavior history- past events and previous outcomes 2) vicarious experience- observations of others performance 3)Verbal persuasion- persuasion and reassurance from another and 4)Physiological State- the physical state at the time of activation. Self-efficacy also effects behavior in a number of ways, from persistence, to decision making, and avoidance.
The text continues to discuss mastery beliefs, which "reflect the extent of perceived control one has over attaining desirable outcomes and preventing aversive ones." Mastery motivation orientation occurs when an individual continues to persevere in their drive towards success, remaining task focused. An individual driven by mastery become re-energized by defeat. On the reverse, helplessness occurs when an individual has a weak and fragile view of themselves and their ability during failures, and expect themselves to fail. An individual driven by helplessness shies away from difficult activities, doubting themselves, and are discouraged easily. Helplessness is learned, and occurs when an individual feels they have no control on the outcome of their life. Learned helplessness is divided into three components according to the textbook: contingency (the relationship between behavior and environmental outcome), cognition (cognitive interpretation of actions), and behavior (passive to active coping actions). Learned helplessness produces three defaults: motivational, learning, and emotional deficits. Explanatory style is a "relatively stable, cognitively based personality variable that reflects the way people explain the reasons why bad events happen to them." When a less than ideal event occurs, an individual reacts differently based on their explanatory style. An optimistic explanatory style exemplifies itself by giving reasons based on unstable and controllable conditions in the face of negative events. Meanwhile a pessimistic explanatory style exemplifies itself by giving a reason of uncontrollable or stable conditions. The reactance theory suggests that when an individuals freedom is threatened, they counter that limitation in an attempt to maintain control.
To me the most interesting part of this chapter was the similarities between depression and learned helplessness. The individual comes to the conclusion that there is nothing they can do about their situation in order to prevent undesirable occurrences. Though there is a relationship between helplessness and depression, there is no causation concerning depression and learned helplessness. Additionally, individuals who suffer from depression actually have a more accurate understanding of their abilities in situations of no control than individuals who do not suffer from depression.
An example of encouraged behavior would be playing soccer. I have personal behavior history playing soccer, and have done well, thus I have confidence in myself and my abilities. Additionally, I have the support of my teammates cheering me on, and verbally persuading me to do well. A discouraged behavior for me would be playing first person shooter video games like Halo and Modern Warfare. I know from my personal behavior history that I do not do well, I do not have the coordination to control my character. Based on this alone I have no confidence in myself and my abilities that I do not even attempt to play first person shooters anymore. Because of my failed attempts in the past, my physiological state concerning these types of activities is low, and thus I fail to feel effective at this activity.
Terms:Self-Efficacy, Expectancy, Outcome Expectation, Efficacy Expectation, Mastery, Helplessness, Explanatory Style, Optimistic Explanatory Style, Pessimistic Explanatory Style, Reactance Theory

The chapter first describes efficacy and outcome expectations. These two terms fit in the model of perceived control. Then the sources and effects of self-efficacy are explained. Figure 9.3 summarizes these elements. By the way, the word "persistence" is misspelled in the figure. Did anyone notice that? Then the methods of empowerment and coping are described.

A large part of the chapter concentrates on reaction to failure. People can be oriented towards mastery or helplessness in their reactions. A section of learned helplessness follows, where the components and effects of helplessness are described. After tapping into depression and explanatory style, the chapter describes the motivation to reestablish freedom in the reactance theory.

I am not really surprised by the content of the chapter, but the section about coping seems to stand out from other topics. There is only one paragraph in the section, but this topic really deserves more attention. Maybe it could be a longer section, or it fits better in another chapter. In any case we could use more information about this topic related to personal control.

Vicarious experience can promote self-efficacy, which in turn encourages approaching choices and efficient decision making. For example, if my friends and relatives graduated from college and found good jobs, I would also think that I can graduate and find a good job. I would be more likely to meet course requirements, and would plan my studying so that I can get into a career I love.

Behavior history can also affect self-efficacy, which may discourage subsequent effort and persistence. For example, if I always get a C in classes I took, I would be less likely to study harder for a better grade. If I encounter a difficult assignment, I would be less likely to put much effort in the task. The lower grades would make me unwilling to go the extra mile toward higher achievement.

Terms: efficacy expectation, outcome expectation, self-efficacy, empowerment, coping, learned helplessness, depression, explanatory style, reactance theory, vicarious experience

Chapter nine focuses on our motivations that we have on our personal control over our lives. It starts off with talking about two types of expectancies. The first one is efficacy, the book states that it’s the judgment of your own capacity to execute a particular act or course of action. Basically this is where we are able to evaluate ourselves whether we will perform in a particular way. On the other hand outcome (the second expectancy) is based on the behavior and how much that behavior gives out to its outcome. The questions of, “can I do it and will what I do work?” come to mind when dealing with these expectancies. If both motivations are high, then the behavior of being energetic and goal directed can come alive. This chapter continues to go unto self-efficacy which is where the judgment of how well or not so hot someone decides to deal with particular situations. It arises and is very crucial when certain events tests our own abilities. However, if the person has doubt, then they will face setbacks, difficulties, negative thinking, and bodily tension. I’ve had a pretty hard time in the beginning of my college life due to certain family matters, so my self-efficacy was low, and my grades definitely showed how much my personal life was getting in the way of my school/college life. But eventually I was able to heal over time and focus on being happy with what I have to live for, which is family and friends. So my self-efficacy has risen to an all-time high, especially since I’m almost done with my college career. This was something that was surprising and refreshing for me to learn more about, especially since the definition of self-efficacy hit a soft spot in me, that I was able to relate to it.

After a few pages of describing more about self-efficacy and how if their beliefs are strong enough, they will be more stable in their thinking, decision-making, and emotionally stances. Then empowerment is brought up to help discuss mastery beliefs. These beliefs are a perceived control that a person has when wanting to attain desirable outcomes and preventing aversive ones. People can cope by either being proactive or reactive. So they either take action upon the event, or walk away and avoiding the problem all together. With mastery motivational orientation the person is able to respond to failing, by keeping focused, despite of setbacks and difficulties. On the other hand a helpless motivational orientation is when the person automatically gives up without a fight, saying it was out of their control. Learned helplessness theory has three components; the first one is contingency, this is the objective relationship with a person and their surrounding environment’s outcome. The second is cognition, here the interpretation of the actual, objective environment and subjective understanding of personal control in environment takes place. There are three elements in cognitive, first is biases, second is attributions, and third is expectancies. Then lastly the third helplessness theory deals with behavior people can vary from being either very passive to very active when dealing with dramatic events.

The chapter ends with explanations of different styles and reactance theory. In explanatory style people are better able to give an explanation of why they believe bad things happen to them. Optimistic explanatory style are attributes that are unstable and controllable. Pessimistic explanatory style are attributes that are stable and uncontrollable. In an reactance theory people tend to do the exact opposite of what they are asked to do when it comes to learning helplessness. Reactance refers to reacting against an threatened freedom. People tend to experience reactance if they expect to control the situation that’s at hand for them. Hope comes alive when people have both the motivation to work toward their goals and when people know ways to achieve those goals. High agency is the first part of the “can do” belief that deals with hope, while clear pathways is the second part of hope where multiple and controllable pathways are goals.

Terms: personal control, efficacy & outcome expectancies, self-efficacy, empowerment, mastery beliefs, coping, mastery motivational orientation, helpless motivational orientation, helplessness, contingency, cognition, biases, helplessness theory, attributions, explanatory style, optimistic explanatory style, pessimistic explanatory style, reactance theory, reactance & hope

“Believe in yourself!” “Try and you will succeed!” There is tons of little saying and posters telling us that we can accomplish our dreams and goals. We just have to believe we can do it. Although we know believe we can do something doesn’t mean we can it is a foundation of where to start. Chapter 9 is about just this Personal Control Beliefs. It talks about self-efficacy, mastery beliefs, learned helplessness, and reactance theory.
The chapter begins with telling us there are two types of expectation. There is efficacy expectation, and there is outcome expectation. Efficacy expectation is the question of can I do it? It questions your ability to be about to a certain task or meet a certain goal. Outcome expectations, on the other hand, is a question like will what I am about to do work. It does not question you but the task you are trying to accomplish.
The next main topic the book cover is self efficacy. This is the question of can I do this? If things go wrong can I still do it? This is not the same as ability. Those are skills we have and can do well. We have to know our limits. The book gives an example of diving we might be good at it, but if the road gets icy it changes things. We have to know if we can do it and then have confidence we can. If a person does not believe they are able to do a certain task they are doubtful. With doubt comes fear, and people will not be motivated to do that task. People we do not have self efficacy will become stress, and not think as clearly making the hard task impossible. But if they stay calm believe in them self the task will be easier.
Where do people get their ideas of self efficacy from? Life experiences are a big factor in this idea of what you can or cannot do or believe you can or can’t do. If you have done a task before a failed you do not want to do it again. But if you can done the task successfully before then you have faith you can do it again. Also you learn from not only your past but the actions of others. If someone tries a task and you see them fail then you will get nervous and think that you cannot do it either. This is called vicarious experience seeing how someone else does. Another way is encouragement from the people around you. You may have your doubts but if people tell you that you can do it! Then you will start to have more faith in yourself. This can be teacher, coach, friends, parents, etc. The last place people get their self efficacy from is from their physiological state. How they are feeling often determines what they think they can do. If they feel sick, tires, stressed, then they might not want to try to climb a rock wall.
Mastery beliefs are the next major topic discussed in this chapter. This is the idea of how much you can control the situation. If person feels more in control of a certain situation they have perceived competence and feel that they can succeed and make the situation change to meet their needs. If a person feels like they have no control, they give up and do not try if there is nothing they can do. When they fell helpless they do not participate in that activity. They stay away from challenge. A person who believes they have control will face challenges, and get energized by setbacks.
Learned helplessness is when people believe that their actions and behavior have little influence on the outcome of a task. They believe that outside circumstances affect a situation more. They feel helpless and do not try to accomplish a task or goal since no matter what they do it won’t matter. They feel like is out of their control. This is a dangerous idea and stops people from trying their best. They are not motivated to try. People with this out look of helplessness, are often depressed.
The last major topic was Reactance Theory. This is a theory of why people do not take the advice of others. They ignore what others are telling them and can make some decisions that are not the best. When they are told no to a task they want their autonomy (they decide what they do, when they do it and how). Their freedom is challenged. This also leads to the feeling of not being in control. These people instead of backing off from the uncontrollable will go toward it with an even greater enthusiasm then before they we were told they could not do the task.
The most surprising thing I learned this chapter was the Reactance Theory. I had never heard of it before and yet have always wondered why people do the opposite of what you tell them. I have a friend who will always ask me for advice and then do the exact opposite. It frustrates me! I always wonder, “What was the point of asking me?” This theory could explain it. She had an idea in her head and when I told her not to do it, she is even more motivated to do that task. It gives her that little extra push. I really like this theory. I plan on working with children and they are always doing what they are told not to. They are just trying to explore and learn. I have always thought it was biased on wanting to be independent and wanting freedom. Now I actually have a theory for it.
Personal Control Beliefs greatly affect how we act. It is a building block for motivation. It we do not feel we can do a task or what will do will do matter, we will not try to accomplish the task. We will let outside forces take over and not hold our actions and behaviors accountable. I think of some people who want to lose weight but have failed. They think it’s too hard, or I can’t do it. They might even blame the food instead of their self eating it. A person who believes they can do the task will try harder, will not be as stressed, and not give up when they have struggles. These people know that what they do matters and they can accomplish what they want to accomplish is they keep trying.
I know for me I am determined to lose weight as I have said in many other assignments. I know they I will not lose weight is I sit around eating scratch cupcakes. My and actions determine if I meet this goal. I have people supporting me. There will be set back, but I will not give up faith in myself. I need to believe I am strong enough and then go to the gym and workout.
A task that is hard for me is public speaking. I have messed up in the past and I know that it is not an action I like doing. I am not motivated to do it. I do not believe I am in control some time. I say I get nervous it is too hard. I blame to task not me. I feel helpless like no matter how much I practice, I will not do better. I have a lisp sometimes, that will never change and I am helpless when it comes to that. I am getting better now. I know that I will be nervous and will make mistakes but practice does help. If I try I can improve. I cannot blame outside factors for me not trying or practicing.
Self- efficacy, mastery beliefs, and learned helplessness as play a major role in rather someone is motivated to do a certain task. A person needs to have faith in themselves and have a positive outlook in order to succeed.
Terms: Personal control beliefs, Self efficacy, mastery beliefs, learned helplessness, Reactance Theory, motivation, autonomy, vicarious experience.

This chapter is tied around the idea of personal control. It breaks it down into the ideas of how me are motivated within our personal self and self efficacy. It starts off by breaking down expectancy into two parts: efficacy expectations and outcome expectations. Efficacy is the judgment of one’s ability to execute a specific act (Can I do it?), while outcome is a judgment that once an action is performed, a particular outcome will occur (Will it work?). Both of these expectations must be high before our behavior becomes energetic and goal directed.

The idea of self-efficacy is a big part of the chapter. Self-efficacy is the thought that organizes and orchestrates his/her skills to cope with the demands and circumstances he/she faces. It is defined as one’s judgment of how well (or poorly) one will cope with a situation, given the skills one possesses and the circumstances one faces. Self-efficacy is just as important as is the ability because performance situations often are stressful, and as one performs, the circumstances continue to change. This is important because you have to keep a level head in distressed times, and another main concern is to think clearly to avoid anymore hardships. Self-efficacy arises from one’s personal history, vicarious experience, verbal persuasions, and physiological state.

Another important aspect of the chapter was learned helplessness. This is the psychological state that results when an individual expects that events in his/her life are out of their control. This happens when people expect desired outcomes or undesired outcomes are independent of their behavior. For controllable outcomes, an established one-to-one relationship exists between behavior and the outcome. On the other hand, uncontrollable outcomes exist with a random relationship existing between the behavior and the outcome. In the end as people begin to acknowledge what their behavior entitles for their outcomes, they learn a helpless motivational orientation.

The most interesting thing that I learned in this chapter was the Reactance Theory. This was very intriguing to read about. The reactance theory states that when our freedom feels threatened, we react and behave in a more active, aggressive manner, than we normally would if we felt like we had control on the situation. In other words, why do people sometimes resist another person’s well-intended favor? Why do people occasionally do the opposite of what they are told? These are two questions that revolve around the idea of the Reactance theory. This theory predicts that people experience reactance only if they expect to have some control over what happens to them.

Depending on how well we perform a task, personal control beliefs makes us more likely to be approaches or avoided in certain circumstances. Those who are determined and willing to put forth an effort have a sense of strong self-efficacy. People with low self-efficacy may be more apt to avoid or be absent during a situation they feel overwhelmed at. For example: When a professor asks a question and the person may not know the answer, they do nonverbal cues that show they do not want to take part in answering it. This means they may lack eye contact at the instructor.

An encouraged behavior that I have set for me is my plan after graduating college this upcoming spring. I hope that all my hard work the last four years ends up paying off (outcome expectation). I only have a semester and a half to go. I know that I can stay focused and not let “senioritis” get the best of me. I have gone for over three years so I know I am capable of staying on task (efficacy expectation). Plus the fact that I have high self-efficacy toward my schooling helps as well. With this, internally I am motivated to stay on-task and achieve this. Not only am I telling myself I can accomplish this, but my family and peers too. My friends and I talk about graduating quite often when we are together. We discuss what is going to happen after we all go our separate ways. My social support is very good for me (verbal persuasion).

I definitely experienced a discouraged behavior a couple semesters ago. It was when I was taking a Humanities III class and I was struggling in it. The first test was not too kind to me and the homework was kicking my butt. There just seemed to be something about that class that I could not accomplish a passing grade. My master beliefs were quite low during my time taking this class, which did not help one bit. With this, I began to quickly have a “BA” toward this class. Eventually, I was afraid of not passing this class, so luckily I was able to drop the class and not let it affect me.

Key Terms: personal control, personal self, self-efficacy, efficacy expectations, outcome expectations, vicarious experience, verbal persuasions, physiological state, learned helplessness, Reactance theory, encouraged behavior, discouraged behavior

Chapter 9 discussed several interesting aspects involving personal control beliefs. I have always wondered what motivates us to do things in terms of our own personality characteristics. For example our expectancies of what will happen and our expectancies of how well we can cope with what happens have important motivational implication. If would be very difficult to complete college if I did not think I would graduate. We are less likely to complete a task if we automatically think it will never happen, thus it is important to think more positively.

No matter what occurs in our lives we have control over it. The desire to exercise personal control is predicted on a person’s belief that they have the power to produce favorable results. If I believe I have what it takes to run a marathon and I am motivated to do so it is very likely that I will accomplish my goal. In more general terms when we anticipate events and outcomes, we rely on our past experiences and personal resources to make forecasts about what the future will hold as well as how we will cope with what the outcome is. I have always done this; I like to know what is probably going to happen so I can prepare myself for any discrepancies.

There are two kinds of expectancy efficacy and outcome expectations. Efficacy is the judgment of one’s capacity to execute a particular act or course of action. While outcome expectations are a judgment that a given action, once preformed will cause a particular outcome. We are constantly asking ourselves can I do this? For example there are situations where I have questioned if I am able to complete the task. Both efficacy and outcome expectations have to be reasonably high before a behavior becomes energetic and goal directed. Self-efficacy is one’s judgment of how well or poorly on will cope with a situation, given the skills one possesses and the circumstances on faces. Self-efficacy becomes very important when circumstance rise to test our abilities. For example driving a car during the winter when the roads are slick, our ability to drive safely is tested. However the opposite of efficacy is doubt, when this occurs we feel anxiety and negative thinking.

Self-efficacy beliefs come from our personal history in trying to execute that particular behavior, observations of similar others who also try to execute that behavior, verbal persuasions from others, and physiological states such as a racing heart vs. a calm one. An interesting aspect of self-efficacy effects on behavior is that the more we expect that they can adequate perform an action, the more willing we are to put forth effort and persistence in facing difficulties when activities require action. If I were to assume that I was not going to do well on a task then it is very likely that I will not put any effort into it. If we really want to complete a task then we will try harder and put more effort into it.

The most surprising thing I learned was the idea of learned helplessness. I had heard of the concept but I did not previously know much about it. Learned helplessness is the psychological state that results when an individual expects that life’s outcomes are uncontrollable. I find this interesting because I think about individuals who have anxiety problems. These people often feel this way and I wonder if we can teach or give those ways to cope or to not learn helplessness.

Personal control beliefs encourage behaviors based on a person’s personality in a way. For example if there is a task that I really want to complete successfully I am more likely to complete it if I feel it is important. Thus I am more likely to put the extra effort in to complete it. An example would be graduating college, if I did not plan to graduate then it is very likely that I would not complete or even try to complete my task because I would not be as motivated. An example of how personal control beliefs discourage behavior are seen when we assume that something is not worth our time. For example if I did not plan to graduate from college and all I wanted to do was take some classes then it is very likely that I will not because I am not motivated to put the extra effort in.

Terms: personal control beliefs, expectancy, efficacy expectations, outcome expectations, self-efficacy, doubt, personal history, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, physiological state, effort, persistence, learned helplessness.

Chapter nine was about personal control beliefs. The chapter first talked about personal control and what motivates people to exercise personal control. People are able to figure out predictable aspects in the environment and are able to exert control over it. People are able to exercise personal control over a situation and the strengths in their expectancies which is a subjective prediction of how likely it is that an event will occur. There are two types of expectancies, one is efficacy expectations, which is a judgment of ones capacity to execute a particular act or course of action and two is outcome expectations, which is a judgment that a given action, once performed, will cause a particular action or outcome. These are casual determinants to the initiation and regulation of behavior. The chapter also talked about perceived control and how self, action, and control contribute to this. Self-efficacy was also talked about in the chapter and how we can use our skills and adapt them in different situations. The chapter talked about the sources of self-efficacy and how they can stem from four different things. The chapter talked about effects self-efficacy has on behavior and how if I person does a behavior more and more the likely hood of them performing the same behavior when presented with the situation will likely do it. The adequate a person can perform an action, the more willing they are to face the difficulties involved in the action and do it. This leads into the next part of the chapter which talks about a person’s effort in a given action and how persistent they will be. The same efficacy expectancies are the same for learned helplessness. I think the dog experiment explained this very well with the three groups performed but it made me sad to think of learned helplessness and how the dogs just got use to the shock and didn’t do anything after a while because they couldn’t, so they just dealt with the shocks. It also makes me think of kids who are constantly abused and they just get use to the abuse. I guess that’s what comes to mind with learned helplessness. I guess I have never been in a situation where there was no way out of stressful situation and I just had to deal with it other than dealing with death. As much as I would like to get away from the stress, there is nothing you can do and you just have to deal with it. I don’t think this is the learned helplessness though that the book is talking about. A part in the book that I didn’t understand was the part where it talked about contingency, cognitions, and behavior. I didn’t understand the contingency part of it. One thing that was very surprising was that they link learned helplessness and depression. I suffer from depression but I guess mine is being treated affectively because I don’t always expect the worst anymore and that I can’t do anything to produce the desired outcome. I can see how these are linked though thinking back to when I was in high school and the lack of motivation and drive lead to a feeling of helplessness in everyday activities. The last part of the chapter talks about hope. There are two parts in hope and when a person is achieving a goal they will first have high agency and confidence and second they will have multiple pathways that they can control to get them to their goal.
Personal control beliefs serve behavior because it is the motivation a person will exercise over personal control on the outcomes in life and the expectations people have about an event or action and whether or not the outcome is desired or not. I think that if we didn’t have personal control beliefs we would all be the same and do the same behavior. I think an example of personal control beliefs and a desirable outcome would be practicing for a marathon and actually running it and finishing it. Not everyone does this so there is a personal control belief for that person to practice and want to run it and when they do run the marathon and finish it is a desirable outcome or if they practice and don’t finish the marathon it is a undesirable outcome. This is also a desired behavior. I think an undesired behavior and personal control belief would be when war happens and you have to kill someone or do something that the outcome is undesired to you personally but you have to do it to live.
Terms: personal control beliefs, expectancies, efficacy expectations, outcome expectations, self, action, control, Self-efficacy, learned helplessness, efficacy expectancies, personal control beliefs, cognitions, contingency, behavior, motivation, and drive.

Chapter nine discusses how as humans we desire the need to control our lives and the outcomes that we want. The chapter discusses how people have two types of expectations, which are efficacy and outcome. The efficacy part of our expectations is that we wonder if we can achieve something or not, and the outcome is whether we will achieve or not. We have developed motivation when we have high expectations of what we want the outcome of our goal to be. The chapter also covers heavily on self-efficacy, which is how well or how poorly one can handle the situations that arise, and how we use our resources to handle the situations we may face. It also states that self-efficacy is important when certain situations rise to sort of test our abilities. Our perceived control is best defined as self, action, and control. When certain obstacles come in our way of achieving a goal we can test our self-efficacy and see where our motivation takes us. Do we give up or do we try harder?
One of the topics in this chapter I found interesting was the self-efficacy effects on behavior. I thought that it was interesting that the more we truly believe we can take on a certain task or achieve a goal; the more likely we are to put forth effort and to work past the obstacles that might come in our way. If a person doesn’t believe that they can achieve their goal, they aren’t likely to try as hard or they may not try at all. It is interesting because I think about certain people in history that have had their odds stacked against them, but it is almost as if they lacked self-efficacy altogether and just ran blindly in the direction of something they wanted, a good example of this might be Martin Luther King Jr. The racist culture he lived in at the time seemed to most people like something that would never change. He didn’t know if he could change it but he just felt like trying anyway.

An example of an encouraged personal-control belief for me is when I decided to get back into school after taking a year off. I had been so burned out from going to school since I was six and felt I needed a break. I wasn’t trying as hard and I didn’t want it as bad at the time. I took time to reflect, figure out how I could improve, and what I wanted to accomplish in my life. I had a lot of voices around me telling me that if I took time off I would never go back. I used those negative voices as motivation to get back into school and not only get passing grades but to do better than I had before. I came back with a goal and a reason and I knew what I wanted and I knew that it was attainable now that I was in the right mind frame.

An example of a discouraged personal-control belief is when I did not apply to any Universities once I graduated from high school. I did not even discuss the option with my parents because I assumed I wasn’t smart enough and that we couldn’t afford it and so I settled for community college. Neither of my parents continued their education after high school and so I did not have anyone pressing me to try. Now I am in my senior year at UNI and I am graduating in May. At the time I lacked the motivation and I did not see a positive outcome for trying to apply to better schools. I only feared rejection.

Terms: personal-control belief (encouraged and discouraged), efficacy, outcome, self-efficacy, motivation

Chapter 9 is all about control. Either learning to take control, staying in control and coping with failures and setbacks. It talks about having the ability to take personal control over the behaviors and actions around you and how that motivates the individual. In this process, outcome expectation and efficacy expectation are extremely important. Outcome expectation is determining if a specific action will have the desired outcome in the end. Efficacy outcome is determining whether or not an individual (whether it is others or themselves) can behave in the necessary way to achieve the desired outcome. Both of these are simultaneously calculated when creating goals or plans. Self-efficacy is correlated with the resiliency, the capacity to achieve the desired function, and the ability to cope with failures. In essence, it is how strong a person is inside. Will they crumble under pressure, under failure or never even try because they don’t believe in themselves enough. Coping with failure is something that all are forced to endure at some point in their lives. The way they cope can depend on their self-efficacy. They can either exhibit mastery where they respond to failure by remaining on task and remaining focused and motivated. They can also cope with learned helplessness. The book says that efficacy expectations are the building blocks of self-efficacy, outcome expectancies are the building blocks of learned helplessness. If they find that something is unavoidable the expectancy of that failure makes them feel helpless and they lose the ability to feel empowered. Empowerment is possessing knowledge, skills, and beliefs that allow people to exert control over their lives. Those high in empowerment feel very in control over the things that are going on around them. They probably have a high perceived control. That is, if they believe in their self then they believe that the action they do will result in the desired outcome. Those high in helplessness can have it effect behaviors and even moods such as depression. I can hypothesize that the feeling of helplessness has a correlation with explanatory style. This style is the way cognitively a person explains the reasons why bad events happen to them. Those that have a pessimistic explanatory style have a higher degree of feeling helpless (they have high academic failure, social distress, physical illness and impaired job performance). On the flip side, an optimistic explanatory style can result in a person feeling higher degrees of empowerment.
These control beliefs affect our behavior by either encouraging or discouraging us. Those that have a high self-efficacy and have an optimistic explanatory style can enjoy more empowerment and perceived control. Those people will strive to make goals and enjoy self-motivating qualities that bring about positive behaviors and because they have these positive behaviors will enjoy positive environmental outcomes. Those that have a low self-efficacy and have a pessimistic explanatory style more than likely will feel higher degrees of helplessness. This can result in more negative behaviors, and can lead to high academic failure, social distress, physical illness and impaired job performance. Granted, most do not experience either one end of the spectrum or the other, but the relationships of one will usually somewhat determine the degrees of another. In this way, self-efficacy, empowerment/helplessness, and explanatory style are highly related. I like to relate all of this to something that I know very well, gymnastics (because I was a gymnast for 12 years and I coach it). Self-efficacy is very important; if you don’t believe in yourself then you’re going to hit a block on progression and achievement. Those that lack high self-efficacy get left behind. If they start getting left behind and they never try something then result in pessimistic explanatory styles. For instance, falling is just something that happens in gymnastics. You’re bound to fall, you’re bound to get hurt, it’s just a part of the sport. Those that can look at it and explain it in a optimistic explanatory style will attempt the skill again, despite what had before because they know the outcome doesn’t always happen that way. If they believe in themselves and they do the desired action, most times the outcome is positive. However, if you look at it from a pessimistic explanatory style, they lose self-efficacy and belief in themselves if they outcome is not what they want. The ability to get back on the horse is very empowering, especially when you do it and achieve the desired outcome. Those that never get up on the horse again to try that skill start to feel helpless because eventually it seems like they can’t do anything because they are too afraid to try the skills that resulted in a negative outcome…even if it is just one time.

Terms: personal control, self-efficacy, coping, perceived control, outcome, outcome expectation, efficacy expectation, empowerment, mastery, learned helplessness, depression, explanatory style, pessimistic explanatory style, optimistic explanatory style

Chapter nine deals with personal control, effectiveness of actions and their influence on the individual. It also deals with coping mechanisms for failure and the effects of helplessness.

Vicarious experience is interesting. Naturally, we model behavior based on what we see. Those without any experience wouldn't understand as many of the subtleties involved. It would look easy, no matter how hard if everyone you saw made it look that easy. I wonder if it would be proportionally disheartening to fail badly at something that everyone else made look easy. It would start the first instance of the activity within personal behaviors history on a low note. A more interesting corollary would be because one's opinion of their skill at the behavior would appear to grow more quickly. There is more improvement to be made. If one got over the initial disappointment of that first failure, they would be quick to accept the term of a fast learner and it would appear to be accurate. It's kind of a subconscious reaction to improve one's perceptions of their own skill. It falls in line with one's tendency to see their own actions as more positive.

Learned helplessness and helplessness in general is also incredibly interesting to me. It's the darkest part of personal control beliefs. The inescapable shock dog experiment is terrifying to me, not just for what it is but for what it means. As painful as those experiences may be, some human beings go through worse. The data that I'd be more interested in with the inescapable shock experiment is the time in which to took to de-condition the learned helplessness from the dogs.

If I had to guess, learned helplessness would be de-conditioned at the point where instances of personal experiences with positively controlled situations outnumbered helpless situations. The number would have to be adjusted according to the instances of highly successful controlled situations or incredibly powerful helpless situations. They would naturally add more weight to their perspective ends. Another important part of this theory would also extend to resurgence of learned helplessness at any time because the weight of the successful controlled situations would be much closer to that of the helpless situations.

Learned helplessness also extends to specific behaviors rather than a mood state. Learning deficits like this happen when one individual repeatedly failed at a task, they could develop a mindset which contributed to their continuing failures. After a certain point, they feel helpless to succeed at a task, and therefore, likely to give up on it.

High self efficacy causes individuals to look for opportunities to engage in behaviors they believe themselves to be skilled in. This generates a loop where the skills they are good at continue to improve while the skills they believe themselves to suck at are rarely exercised. It's an utterly self fulfilling prophecy.

If a person is raised with the idea that their intellectual prowess will be stunted because they come from an area where no one graduates high school, they are less likely to graduate. The idea that they have no control over their environment and that their environment controls their success will lead to a lack of motivation to attempt to exceed that environment in most cases. When that idea changes, and that same youth determines that he is able to overcome his environment if he works hard enough, not only is he more likely to succeed than those with the control belief that they have little to no control, but the environment itself gives that student something to strive against.

Terms:
Personal Control
Vicarious Experience
Learned Helplessness
Learning Deficits