A Perceived Control Analysis Of Decision-making Behavior (locus Of Control, Learned Helplessness, Employment).

Much of the research on decision-making has taken a cold cognitive approach to investigating the manner in which people negotiate the decision process. Flaws or short-comings in decision-making tend to be viewed as information processing errors or as cognitive compromises made to simplify complex choice tasks. The logic behind any rational decision-making process, however, is that certain normatively prescribed behaviors such as information gathering and careful review of alternatives will be instrumental in improving or controlling decisional outcomes. This suggests that such behavior can be viewed as an attempt to exert control over rewards and that the decision-maker's perceived locus of control for reinforcement may play a central role as a motivational variable influencing the rationality of actual decision-making behavior. Hypotheses regarding the effects of perceived lack of control over outcomes (externality or helplessness) at each stage of the decision process are formulated and discussed. Essentially, it is argued that an external locus of control will lead the decision-maker to systematically violate normative prescriptions since such behavior is perceived as non-instrumental in securing valued outcomes. A subset of these hypotheses are tested in the context of summer job hunting and decision-making among a sample of undergraduates at a small, liberal arts college. Perceived locus of control is assessed using both the Rotter Internal-External scale and a new, domain-specific Vocational Locus of Control (VLOC) scale developed and evaluated as part of the present research. The VLOC proves to be a psychometrically sound instrument, and its obtained relationships with information preference and search, aspirations, generation of alternatives, range of evaluative criteria, future orientation, and contingency planning provide broad support for the perceived control analysis of decision-making behavior. The VLOC exhibits a predictive advantage over the more general I-E scale, although the magnitide of relationships is consistently low. Several methodological limitations of the study are discussed as possible explanations for relationship size. Implications of these results for decision counseling as well as potential drawbacks associated with excessive perceived control are also discussed.Ph.D.PsychologySocial psychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/127683/2/8502815.pd