The effects of desire for control on attributions and task performance

The relationships among individual differences in desire for control, attribu-tions for success and failure, and performance on an achievement task were examined. In Experiment 1, undergraduates ' desire for control levels, attri-butions for a midterm exam, and performance on a subsequent exam were assessed. In Experiment 2, attributions for and performance on a laboratory task were examined. In both experiments, desire-for-control level and per-ceived performance on the first task predicted attributions for that task and performance on the second task. However, analyses of covariance suggest that the relationship between desire for control and performance may not be mediated by the attributions. Instead, a reactance interpretation, based on high-desire-for-control individuals ' high motivation to overcome the challenge of failure, seems best able to account for the findings. Several theorists and researchers have discussed the importance of a general motivation to control one's environment and thereby to satisfy a need to feel masterful and competent. White (1959), for example, introduced the concept of effectance or competence motivation, the innate motive to demonstrate one's mastery over the environment. DeCharms (1968) de-scribed the need to control one's environment as "man's primary motiva-tional propensity. " One logical elaboration of this line of thinking is the identification of relatively stable individual differences in the motivation to control the events in one's life. Recent research has found this trait, termed desire for control, to be related to a wide variety of relevant behaviors. For example, individual differences in desire for control have been tied t