Motivation to control one's environment in individuals with obsessive-compulsive, depressive, and normal personality...

This study investigated whether people are motivated for control and considered both the dispositional and situational factors that affect this motivation. Thirty male and 30 female undergraduates, divided equally among individuals with obsessive-compulsive, depressive, and normal personality styles, were given different levels of information about how to exercise control in an effective manner. Motivation for control was assessed by performance on a task in which the level of performance determined whether a subject obtained control over an outcome. In addition, feelings of self-efficacy were measured. The hypothesis that people are motivated to have personal control was confirmed. Furthermore, this motivation for control could not be accounted for by the variance attributable to feelings of self-efficacy, that is, the expectancy of gaining a good outcome by having personal control. Although feelings of self-efficacy were influenced by the level of information provided to subjects, for most subjects, the motivation for control, per se, was not affected. In contrast, obsessive-compulsive males seemed to respond differently to the information manipulation from other subjects, being motivated for control only when a higher level of information was provided. The effects of depressive and obsessive-compulsive personality styles on the motivation for control were reconsidered.