Increasing actively caring personal control

Employees at my seminars on actively caring have listed a number of ways to increase perceptions of personal control, including... 

In contrast, certain life experiences can affect positive person states, such as optimism, personal control, self-confidence, and belonging. These, in turn, boost constructive behavior. This was the indirect approach to increasing actively caring behavior discussed in Chapter 16. The woman in Figure 18.6 is in a positive person state referred to as optimism. She might drive her friends crazy, but research has shown that healthier and happier people are more often in this state (Peterson, 2000 Seligman, 1990). Plus, as I discussed earlier in Chapter 15, optimistic people are more likely to actively care for the health or safety of others. 

Continuing with the plant clean-up laborer example, another solution to the exposure problem may be to apportion the amount of clean-up work over a series of days versus trying to do it aU in 1 day. This administrative control will reduce the daily time factor or duration of exposure without affecting the concentration factor. StUl, the result is a lower daily exposure and a reduced hazard and risk. Another example of an administrative or work practice control would be to do the job faster with more employees, thereby reducing the time factor of exposure for one person while allowing a lower exposure to more people. In this approach, care should be taken so that increasing the number of employees doing the task does not result in an increase of exposure because of the increased activity... 

Daily events can elevate or depress our moods. Some events are controllable, some are not. Clearly, the nature of our interactions with others can have a dramatic impact on the mood of everyone involved. As depicted in Figure 14.12, even a telephone conversation can lift a person s spirits and increase his or her propensity to actively care. Perhaps, remembering the research on mood and its effect will motivate us to adjust om interpersonal conversations with coworkers (see Chapter 13). We should also interact in a way that could influence a person s beliefs or expectations in certain directions, as explained next. 

Frustration often provokes aggressive behavior perceptions of helplessness can inhibit constructive behavior or facilitate inactivity. In contrast, certain life experiences can affect positive person states, such as optimism, personal control, self-confidence, and belongingness. This, in turn, increases constructive behavior, including actively caring. 

These later studies that manipulated the outcome of a task illustrated a potential overlap between optimism, self-efficacy, and personal control. It is reasonable to assume performance feedback increases one s perception of self-efficacy and personal control, as well as one s optimism. Indeed, Scheier and Carver s (1985) measure of optimism correlated significantly with locus of control. Optimism, self-efficacy, and personal control determine feelings of empowerment, according to the actively caring model. Thus, these performance-feedback studies support the general hypothesis that we can increase the chances for active caring by boosting individual perceptions of empowerment. 

This principle was mentioned earlier when reviewing the distinction between stress and distress (Principle 33). When people s sense of self-efficacy ("I can do it"), personal control ("1 am in control"), or optimism ("I expect the best") is increased, they are less apt to experience distress and more likely to feel empowered ("1 can make a difference"). In addition, empowerment increases one s inclination to perform actively caring behaviors. 

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