Abstract
Control or control-belief is often viewed as being directly instrumental in facilitating coping mechanisms in aversive situations, and yet the empirical evidence for the beneficial effects of control is inconclusive. In this study we investigated the role of predictability in determining the effects of perceived control during an aversive reaction time task. Fifty-six subjects were allocated to one of four groups; predictable-control, predictable-no control, unpredictable-control, unpredictable-no control. In the predictable conditions, subjects could temporally predict the occurrence of an aversive noise. In the perceived control conditions, duration of the aversive tone was contingent on subject’s performance. All subjects were matched in terms of the nature of the task and in the number and time of receipt of both the warning signal and noise. Heart rate reactivity and two performance parameters were measured, reaction time and performance increase. Both predictability and control-belief led to a reduction in heart rate reactivity, although they appeared to function independently and at different points in the sequence of events. That is, predictability or perceived control was sufficient to mitigate the effects, of an aversive situation. Neither perception of control or predictability led to better task performance. These results are discussed in terms of behavioural uncertainty explanations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baker, S. R. (1994). The effects of control, feedback and predictability on psychophysiological indices of stress. Unpublished doctoral dissertation: University of Plymouth.
Bongard, S. (1995). Mental effort during active and passive coping: A dual-task analysis.Psychophysiology, 32: 242–248.
Bongard, S., and Hodapp, V. (1997). Active coping, work-pace, and cardiovascular responses: Evidence from laboratory studies.Journal of Psychophysiology, 11: 227–237.
Bongard, S., Hodapp, V., Frisch, M., and Lennartz, K. (1994). Effects of active and passive coping of task performance and cardiovascular reactivity.Journal of Psychophysiology, 8: 219–230.
Breier, A., Albus, M., Pickar, D., Zahn, T. P. Wolkowitz, O. M., and Paul, S. M. (1987). Controllable and uncontrollable stress in humans: Alterations in mood and neuroendocrine and psychophysiological function.American Journal of Psychiatry, 144: 1419–1425.
Burger, J. M., and Arkin, R. M. (1980). Prediction, control, and learned helplessness.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38: 482–491.
Carr, A. J., and Wilde, G. J. S. (1988). Effects of actual and potential stressor control on physiological and self-reported stress responses.Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 6: 371–387.
Contrada, R. J., Glass, D. C., Krakoff, L. R., Krantz, D. C., Kehoe, K., Collins, C., and Elting, E., (1982). Effects of control over aversive stimulation and Type A behaviour on cardiovascular and plasma catecholamine responses.Psychophysiology, 19: 408–419.
Corah, N. L., and Boffa, J. (1970). Perceived control, self-observation and response to aversive stimulation.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16: 1–4.
DeGood, D. E. (1975). Cognitive control factors in vascular stress responses.Psychophysiology, 12: 211–228.
Fisher, S. (1984).Stress and the perception of control. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Geer, J. H., and Maisel, E. (1972). Evaluating the effects of the prediction-control confound.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 23: 314–319.
Glass, D. C., and Singer, J. E. (1972).Urban Stress: Experiments on Noise and Social Stressors. New York: Academic Press.
Hodapp, V., Bongard, S., Heiligtag, U. (1992). Active coping, expression of anger, and cardiovascular reactivity.Personality and Individual Differences, 13: 1069–1076.
Hodapp, V., Heiligtag, U. and Stormer, S. W. (1990). Cardiovascular reactivity, anxiety, and anger during perceived controllability.Biological Psychology, 30: 161–170.
Light, K. C. (1981). Cardiovascular responses to effortful active coping: Implications for the role of stress in hypertension development.Psychophysiology, 18: 216–225.
Light, K. C., and Obrist, P. A. (1980). Cardiovascular response to stress: Effects of opportunity to avoid, shock experience and performance feedback.Psychophysiology, 17: 243–252.
Lovallo, W. R., Wilson, M. F., Pincomb, G. A., Edwards, G. L., Tompkins, P., and Brackett, D. J. (1985). Activation patterns to aversive stimulation in man: Passive exposure versus effort to control.Psychophysiology, 22: 283–291.
Lykken, D. T. (1959). Preliminary observations concerning the ‘Preception’, phenomenon.Psychophysiology Measurement Newsletter, 5: 2–7.
Lykken, D. T., Macindoe, I., and Tellegen, A. (1972). Preception: Autonomic response to shock as a function of predictability in time and locus.Psychophysiology, 9: 318–323.
Manuck, S. B., Harvey, A. H., Lechleiter, S. L., and Neal, K. S. (1978). Effects of coping on blood pressure responses to threat of aversive stimulation.Psychophysiology, 15: 544–549.
Miller, S. M. (1980). When is a little information a dangerous thing? Coping with stressful events by monitoring versus blunting. In S. Levine, and H. Ursin (Eds.),Coping and Health, Proceedings of a NATO conference (pp. 145–169). New York: Plenum Press.
Miller, S. M. (1979a). Controllability and human stress: Method, evidence and theory.Behaviour Research Therapy, 17: 287–304.
Miller, S. M. (1979b). Coping with impending stress: Physiological and cognitive correlates of choice.Psychophysiology, 16: 572–581.
Mineka, S., and Hendersen, R. W. (1985). Controllability and predictability, in acquired motivation.Annual Review of Psychology, 36: 495–529.
Myrtek, M., and Foerster, F. (1986). The law of initial value: a rare exception.Biological Psychology, 22: 227–237.
Nickels, J. B., Cramer, K. M., and Gural, D. M. (1992). Toward unconfounding prediction and control: Predictionless control made possible.Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 24: 156–170.
Obrist, P. A., Gaeberlein, C. J., Teller, E. S., Langer, A. W., Grignolo, A., Light, K. C., and McCubbin, J. A. (1978). The relationship among heart rate, carotid dP/dt, and blood pressure in humans as a function of the type of stress.Psychophysiology, 15: 102–115.
Perkins, C. C. (1968). An analysis of the concept of reinforcement.Psychological Review, 75: 155–172.
Pervin, L. A. (1963). The need to predict and control under conditions of threat.Journal of Personality, 31: 570–587.
Peters, M. L., Godaert, G. L. R., Ballieux, R. E., Vliet, M. V., Willemsen, J. J., Sweep, F. C. G. J. and Heijnen, C. J. (1998). Cardiovascular and endocrine responses to experimental stress: Effects of mental effort and controllability.Psychoneuroendocrinology, 23: 1–17.
Phillips, K. C. (1989). Psychophysiological consequences of behavioural choice in aversive situations. In A. Steptoe and A. Appels (Eds.),Stress, Personal Control and Health (pp. 239–256). New York: Wiley.
Phillips, K. C., Evans, P. D., Moran, P., and Price, J. (1986). Psychophysiological consequences of vigilant coping style.Bulletin of the British Psychological Society, 39: A84.
Seligman, M. E. P., Maier, S. F. and Soloman, R. L. (1971). Unpredictable and uncontrollable aversive events. In F. R. Brush (Ed.),Aversive Conditioning and Learning (pp. 347–400). New York: Academic Press.
Siddle, D. A. T., and Turpin, G. (1980). Measurement, quantification and analysis of cardiac activity. In I. Martin, and P. H. Venables (Eds.),Techniques in Psychophysiology. New York: Wiley.
Steptoe, A. and Appels, A. (1989) (Eds).Stress, Personal Control and Health. New York: Wiley.
Svebak, S. (1991). The role of effort in stress and emotion. In C. D. Spielberger and I. G. Sarason (Eds.),Stress and Emotion, Vol. 14 (pp. 121–134). New York: Hemisphere Publishing.
Tomaka, J., Blascovich, J., Kelsey, R. M., and Leitten, C. L. (1993). Subjective, physiological, and behavioural effects of threat and challenge appraisal.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65: 248–260.
Weiss, J. M. (1971). Effects of coping behaviour in different warning signal conditions on stress pathology in rats.Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 77: 1–13.
Winefield, A. H. and Tiggemann, M. (1978). The effects of uncontrollable and unpredictable events on anagram solving.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 30: 717–724.
Wright, R. A., and Dismukes, A. (1995). Cardiovascular effects of experimentally induced efficacy (ability) appraisals at low and high levels of avoidant task demand.Psychophysiology, 32: 172–176.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Baker, S.R., Stephenson, D. Prediction and control as determinants of behavioural uncertainty: Effects on task performance and heart rate reactivity. Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science 35, 235–250 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02688786
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02688786