ABSTRACT
Control beliefs are regarded as primary in determining people’s decisions to act. They are important for at least two reasons (cf. Flammer, 1995). First, they are prerequisites for the planning, initiation and regulation of goal-oriented actions. If people believe they have power to produce results, i.e., beliefs about control over actions and outcomes, they will attempt to make things happen. Second, control beliefs are part of the self-concept, and they largely determine feelings of self-esteem, causing such emotional states as pride, shame, or depression. This chapter focuses on this second aspect of control beliefs and particularly on how losses and gains in beliefs about behavioral control are related to identity threat and this affects social influence processes.
