Cited by 479Social and Intergroup PsychologyDeath Anxiety and Social ExclusionFree Will and Agency

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Compensatory control and the appeal of a structured world.

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Landau, Mark J., Kay, Aaron C., Whitson, Jennifer A.·2015·Psychological Bulletin

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Abstract

People are motivated to perceive themselves as having control over their lives. Consequently, they respond to events and cognitions that reduce control with compensatory strategies for restoring perceived control to baseline levels. Prior theory and research have documented 3 such strategies: bolstering personal agency, affiliating with external systems perceived to be acting on the self's behalf, and affirming clear contingencies between actions and outcomes within the context of reduced control (here termed specific structure). We propose a 4th strategy: affirming nonspecific structure, or seeking out and preferring simple, clear, and consistent interpretations of the social and physical environments. Formulating this claim suggests that people will respond to reduced control by affirming structured interpretations that are unrelated to the control-reducing condition, and even those that entail otherwise adverse outcomes (e.g., pessimistic health prospects). Section 1 lays the conceptual foundation for our review, situating the proposed phenomenon in the literatures on control motivation and threat-compensation mechanisms. Section 2 reviews studies that have demonstrated that trait and state variations in perceived control predict a wide range of epistemic structuring tendencies, including pattern recognition and causal reasoning. We posit that these tendencies reflect a common desire for a structured understanding of one's environment. Accordingly, a new meta-analysis spanning the reviewed studies (k = 55) revealed that control reduction predicts nonspecific structure affirmation with a moderate effect size (r = .25). Section 3 reviews research on individual differences and situational moderators of this effect. The discussion addresses the interplay of compensatory control strategies and practical implications.

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Multitasking as Consumer Compensatory Control
Han, J. J., & Broniarczyk, S. M. (2021) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1093/jcr/ucab029 · Cited by 42
In and out of control: Personal control and consumer behavior
Cutright, K. M., & Wu, E. C. (2022) · Consumer Psychology Review · doi:10.1002/arcp.1083 · Cited by 36
Mass shootings and the salience of guns as means of compensation for thwarted goals.
Leander, N. P., Stroebe, W., Kreienkamp, J., Agostini, M., Gordijn, E., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2019) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspa0000150 · Cited by 33
Authoritarianism Beyond Disposition: A Literature Review of Research on Contextual Antecedents
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SARS-CoV-2 Threat Perception and Willingness to Vaccinate: The Mediating Role of Conspiracy Beliefs
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Innocence versus Coolness: the influence of brand personality on consumers’ preferences
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Falling Back on Numbers: When Preference for Numerical Product Information Increases after a Personal Control Threat
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“…behavior literature related to the effect of personal con-trol losses (Chen, Lee, and Yap 2016; Cutright 2012; Cutright, Bettman, and Fitzsimons 2013; Cutright and Samper 2014) and general literature on compensatory control theory (Kay, Gaucher, and Napier 2008; Landau, Kay, and Whitson 2015).”
The Sharp Spikes of Poverty: Financial Scarcity Is Related to Higher Levels of Distress Intensity in Daily Life
Jachimowicz, J., Frey, E., Matz, S., Jeronimus, B. F., & Galinsky, A. D. (2022) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/19485506211060115 · Cited by 41
“A wide range of research in turn suggests that lacking control may increase distress intensity (Chou et al., 2016; Landau et al., 2015).”
Background
Economic Anxiety and the Performance of SMEs during COVID-19: A Cross-National Study in Kuwait
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The social-safety system: Fortifying relationships in the face of the unforeseeable.
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Structure-seeking as a psychological antecedent of beliefs about morality.
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“…have been widely used in the literature to increase structure-seeking tendencies (e.g., Cutright et al., 2013; Friesen, Kay, Eibach, & Galinsky, 2014; Kay et al., 2008; Landau et al., 2015; Ma & Kay, 2017; Rutjens et al., 2010; although, see Hoogeveen, Wagenmakers, Kay, & van Elk, 2020).”
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Environmental stress increases out-group aggression and intergroup conflict in humans
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Persistent beliefs: Political extremism predicts ideological stability over time
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“…ideologies hence offer epistemic clarity through a worldview that oversimplifies complex problems (Greenberg & Jonas, 2003; Kruglanski et al., 2006; Landau et al., 2015; Tetlock et al., 1994; Van Prooijen & Krouwel, 2019; Van Prooijen, Krouwel, Boiten, & Eendebak, 2015; Webber et al., 2018).”
Background
The Psychological Appeal of Fake-News Attributions
Axt, J. R., Landau, M. J., & Kay, A. C. (2020) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797620922785 · Cited by 28
Self-citation
Liquid Consumer Security
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The Highs and Lows of Hierarchy in Multiteam Systems
Matusik, J. G., Mitchell, R. L., Hays, N. A., Fath, S. B., & Hollenbeck, J. R. (2021) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2020.0369 · Cited by 26
Lab- and Field-Based Approaches to Meaning Threats and Restoration: Convergences and Divergences
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Wronska, M. K., Bujacz, A., Gocłowska, M. A., Rietzschel, E. F., & Nijstad, B. A. (2018) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2018.09.018 · Cited by 28
Science and religion: a rocky relationship shaped by shared psychological functions
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Is the Effect of Trust on Risk Perceptions a Matter of Knowledge, Control, and Time? An Extension and Direct-Replication Attempt of Siegrist and Cvetkovich (2000)
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“More specifically, trust in authorities (but not in the industry or consumers) predicted risk evaluations only in people who experienced a lack of personal control over outcomes, which is in line with compensatory control theory (Kay et al., 2009; Landau et al., 2015).”
Influential
Is Covid-19 a natural event? Covid-19 pandemic and conspiracy beliefs
Pellegrini, V., Giacomantonio, M., Cristofaro, V. D., Salvati, M., Brasini, M., Carlo, E., Mancini, F., & Leone, L. (2021) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2021.111011 · Cited by 27
“As outlined by Landau et al. (2015), individuals are generally motivated to perceive themselves as able to have control over the surrounding reality.”
Background
An empirical analysis of self-service technologies: mediating role ofcustomer powerlessness
Cao, Z., Xiao, Q., Zhuang, W., & Wang, L. (2021) · Journal of Services Marketing · doi:10.1108/jsm-07-2020-0271 · Cited by 27
An analysis of the relationship between risk perceptions and willingness‐to‐pay for commodities during the COVID ‐19 pandemic
Li, O., & Qian, D. (2021) · Journal of Consumer Affairs · doi:10.1111/joca.12407 · Cited by 24
“In other words, “engaging in a certain action can reliably generate an expected outcome” and, consequently, restore a person's lost sense of control (Kay et al., 2009; Landau et al., 2015).”
BackgroundInfluential
AI-based multidisciplinary framework to assess the impact of gamified video-based learning through schema and emotion analysis
Vidanaralage, A. J., Dharmaratne, A. T., & Haque, S. (2022) · Computers and Education Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.caeai.2022.100109 · Cited by 32
Picking on immigrants: a cross-national analysis of individual-level relative deprivation and authoritarianism as predictors of anti-foreign prejudice
Yoxon, B., Hauwaert, S. M. V., & Kiess, J. M. (2017) · Acta Politica · doi:10.1057/s41269-017-0067-8 · Cited by 27

Authors: Landau, M. J., Kay, A. C., & Whitson, J. A.
Affiliations: University of Kansas (US)
Duke University (US)
The University of Texas at Austin (US)
ORCID: Landau, Mark J.
Kay, Aaron C.
Whitson, Jennifer A.
Venue: Psychological Bulletin
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Published: 2015-05
Volume: 141
Issue: 3
Pages: 694-722
ISSN: 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
1939-1455
DOI: 10.1037/a0038703
OpenAlex: W1980775666
Cited by: 479
References: 164
Citations by year: 2026: 58 · 2025: 65 · 2024: 63 · 2023: 57 · 2022: 54 · 2021: 47 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 6
FWCI: 82.75
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: hybrid
doi.org
Licence: other-oa
www.apa.org/pubs/journals/resources/open-access.aspx (am, 291 d)
Locations: Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion, other-oa)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders: National Science Foundation (BCS-1222047)
Social Science and Humanities Council of Canada
Topics: Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Free Will and Agency
Keywords: perceived control, control motivation, pattern recognition, causal reasoning, individual differences, situational moderators
MeSH terms: Defense Mechanisms, Humans, Meta-Analysis as Topic

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Compensatory control and the appeal of a structured world.

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