Understanding the mechanisms of perceived control: The role of self-efficacy and response-efficacy

The perception of control, which refers to the belief that one's behavior can lead to desirable outcomes, is a crucial factor influencing decision-making. Previous research has recognized the significance of perceived control in impacting emotional well-being, stress-coping abilities, and motivation for positive behavioral change. However, existing studies have predominantly treated perceived control as a unified concept, leaving a gap in our understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved in its formation and how it can be learned and updated in response to social and non-social feedback. This dissertation aims to address this knowledge gap by investigating the behavioral and neural mechanisms that contribute to the formation of perceived control and its subsequent influence on decision-making. Through the utilization of a novel decision-making task that differentiates between self-efficacy and response efficacy within the context of perceived control, this research explores how these two components integrate to shape perceived control. Additionally, it examines how moment-to-moment feedback contributes to the learning of these components and how social feedback influences their updating. The results demonstrated that participants incorporated SE and RE into their decision-making process, with these efficacy beliefs being differentially shaped by feedback valence and social feedback. Specifically, positive feedback was more strongly associated with SE, whereas negative feedback was more closely linked to RE. Social feedback affected SE and performance but had a minimal impact on RE. The collective findings provide valuable insights into the key factors that contribute to the development of perceived control and offer promising directions for translational research and interventions targeting self-efficacy and response efficacy in psychiatric disorders characterized by perceived control deficits.