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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“…personal control feel that they can influence and control their outcomes, while people who lack control believe that their outcomes depend on chance (DeCharms, 1968; Fiske, 2003; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Landau et al., 2015; Presson & Benassi, 1996; Rotter, 1966; Skinner, 1995; White, 1959).”
Background
The interplay between individual and collective efforts in the age of global threats
Klackl, J., Stollberg, J., Fritsche, I., Schindler, S., & Jonas, E. (2021) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2021.104256 · Cited by 4
Compensatory control in public emergencies
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“00 04 5v 1 et al., 2015)。虽然近几年也开始有一些研究从更现实的时代背景出发，来考察控制感威胁激发个体补偿性控制的效应(e.g., Fritsche et al., 2017; Kakkar & Sivanathan, 2017)，但总体而言，这样的研究在该领域中比重不大。结合本文的分析，可以看到补偿性控制理论其实对于理解突发公共事件中的非理性心态具有广泛的解释力。因此，未来结合突发公共事件来进一步挖掘补偿性控制理论在现实社会情境下的表现及规律，对于补偿性控制理论自身的发展、丰富和完善具有很好的理论价值。并且，建立在这种理论价值的基础之上，研究也可以也有助于应急管理部门在现实层面有针对性地基于控制…”
Influential
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“Thus, secondary control can be achieved via specific attributions of control to powerful others and also by affirming nonspecific structure (Landau et al., 2015; Whitson & Galinsky, 2008).”
Background
The Impact of Shared Information Presentation Time on Users’ Privacy-Regulation Behavior in the Context of Vertical Privacy: A Moderated Mediation Model
Zhuang, L., Sun, R., Chen, L.-J., & Tang, W.-L. (2023) · Behavioral Science · doi:10.3390/bs13090706 · Cited by 3
“In addition, the lack of sense of control makes it easier to believe or recall exaggerated opinions and news, such as conspiracy theories and negative news, and users tend to seek an explanation for the chaotic outside world to make it feel more understandable and controllable [58,61].”
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Li, Y., & Zhu, D. (2024) · Psychology Research and Behavior Management · doi:10.2147/prbm.s450973 · Cited by 4
“41,42 As a positive and effective compensatory mechanism, negotiable fate helps individuals to maintain their subjectivity agency by achieving adaptation to a restricted environment through positive self-regulation and favorable evaluation of the environment.”
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“…defense mechanisms are activated, prompting individuals to adopt proactive coping strategies—such as enhancing subjective agency, aligning with powerful external control systems, or affirming the consistency of behavioral outcomes—to preserve internal order and stability (Landau et al., 2015).”
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Liying, X. U., Feng, Y. U., Kaiping, P. E. N. G., & Xuehui, W. A. N. G. (2022) · Advances in Psychological Science · doi:10.3724/sp.j.1042.2022.01905 · Cited by 3
“…Murashov et al., 2016 ），这使得机器人能够胜任的人类工作越来越多、能够进入的职场领域越来越广，由此对人类造成的威胁也愈加严重。然而，虽然一些社会调查显示公众已经对机器人的威胁感到担忧（ e.g., Smith, 2016; Smith & Anderson, 2017 Yanagawa et al., 2015 Frey et al., 2018; Im et al., 2019 ）。然而新近研究却发现，机器人员工的增加有助于减少人际偏见，这是因为机器人增加了人们的泛人类主义，突出共同的人类身份，从而减少对外群体的偏见（ Jackson et al.,…”
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“Indeed, in the initial shock triggered by traumatic events, people experience a perceived loss of control over their lives (Landau, Kay, and Whitson 2015) and this perception is powerfully associated to psychological discomfort (Janoff-Bulman 1989).”
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“This is consistent with research that demonstrates that people with less internal locus of control—that is, who are less likely to believe that they control their destinies and lives—may embrace astrology (Clobert et al. 2016; Landau, Kay, and Whitson 2015; Padgett and Jorgenson 1982).”
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“As a fundamental psychological need (Skinner 1995), perceptions of control require a balancing act between the self and the external world (Landau, Kay, and Whitson 2015).”
Background
Who's To Blame for the COVID-19 pandemic? Perceptions of responsibility during the crisis using text mining and latent Dirichlet allocation
Chevalier, M., de la Sablonnière, R., Harel, S.-O., Ratté, S., Pelletier‐Dumas, M., Dorfman, A., Stolle, D., Lina, J., & Lacourse, É. (2024) · Social Sciences & Humanities Open · doi:10.1016/j.ssaho.2024.100825 · Cited by 3
When advisors do not know what is best for advisees: Uncertainty inhibits advice giving
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“Previous studies imply that people under uncertainty are more likely to believe in the power of social institutions and high-status members as a strategy to obtain sense of power (Landau et al., 2015; Melamed et al., 2019).”
Background

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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