Control (psychology)

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Control in psychology means how much a person can influence themselves, others, their surroundings, or a situation—and what they believe about that influence.

Perceived control and locus of control
- Perceived control is the belief that you can achieve desired outcomes, avoid undesired ones, and reach goals. Feeling in control is linked to better health, relationships, and adjustment.
- Locus of control is another way to describe this belief: where you think control comes from (inside yourself or from outside factors).

Primary and secondary control
- Primary control: trying to change the world to fit your wishes.
- Secondary control: adjusting your wishes to fit what the world can provide.

Desired control
- This is how much influence you want over a person, situation, or relationship. People who want less control may have more psychological problems.

Cognitive control
- Cognitive control is the ability to control your thoughts and actions, guided by your goals. It involves maintaining and updating goals and ignoring distractions.
- It develops through learning and experience. Higher cognitive control helps you choose better when faced with conflicting signals.
- Tasks often used to study it include the Stroop task and the Eriksen Flanker task.
- Ironic rebound is a quirk where trying not to think about something can make it come back more strongly.

Emotional control
- Emotional regulation is the ability to manage attitudes and feelings, helping you respond well to training or daily activities.
- It keeps your body and mind balanced in response to emotions.
- Strategies include distraction, rethinking a situation (cognitive reappraisal), and choosing actions that fit the emotion.

Motivational control
- Motivational control is the ability to act on planned, reasoned goals rather than acting on impulse or emotion.
- Example: studying for a test every day for weeks even if you don’t enjoy it.

Inhibitory control
- Inhibitory control is the ability to stop yourself from doing something you would normally do, to favor a better action.
- It has hot (emotional) and cold (abstract) forms.
- Poor inhibitory control can affect motor, attention, and behavior, and is linked to conditions like ADHD and OCD.

Social control
- In learning, social control means using people and social settings to support your learning. It also includes how much society restricts or supports your actions in public.

Ego control
- Ego control is how well you manage thoughts, emotions, impulses, and attention in everyday tasks. Poor ego control is often seen in substance use problems.

Situational control in leadership
- Situational control is how much a situation gives a leader the power to influence group behavior.
- A leader’s effectiveness depends on the situation, their style, and the group’s needs and motivation.

Effortful control
- Effortful control is a broad form of self-regulation that includes working memory and shifting attention.
- It helps you start or stop actions and supports problem solving and regulation of other types of control.
- It often works together with emotional and inhibitory control, relying on top-down processing.