The resource elasticity of control
The ability to determine how much the environment can be controlled through our actions has long been viewed as fundamental to adaptive behavior. While traditional accounts treat controllability as a fixed property of the environment, we argue that real-world controllability often depends on the effort, time, and money we are able and willing to invest. In such cases, controllability can be said…
The capacity to assess how much our surroundings can be regulated through our actions has long been considered a key aspect of adaptable behavior. While conventional theories view controllability as an unchanging feature of the environment, research suggests that in reality, controllability is often influenced by the resources we allocate, such as effort, time, and money.
In these situations, controllability can be thought of as flexible or "elastic" in response to the resources we invest. The authors argue that recognizing this elasticity is crucial for optimizing the use of our limited resources, and therefore, errors in estimating this elasticity can lead to counterproductive behavior. To investigate this idea, the researchers created a new game task where participants navigated through environments with different levels of controllability and elasticity.
In two separate studies involving a total of 514 participants, the team found that individuals were able to recognize elasticity and adjust their resource allocation accordingly. The researchers then developed a computational model to explain how people make this recognition and discovered individual differences in the way elasticity is estimated, which can result in suboptimal resource allocation.
Finally, the study revealed that people who tend to overestimate the elasticity of control are more likely to experience psychological issues related to a reduced sense of control. These findings establish elasticity of control as a unique cognitive mechanism that influences adaptive behavior and serves as a potential indicator of control-related maladaptive behavior.
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