The Paradoxical Role of Perceived Control in Late Life Health Behavior.

ABSTRACT: Research has established the health benefits of psychological factors, including the way individuals appraise outcomes. Although many studies confirm that appraising outcomes as controllable is adaptive for health, a paradoxical possibility is largely ignored: Perceived control may be detrimental under some conditions. Our premise was that appraising health as controllable but at the same time ascribing little value to it might signal a dysfunctional psychological mindset that fosters a mistaken sense of invincibility. During face-to-face interviews with a representative sample of older adults (age range = 72-99), we identified individuals with such a potentially maladaptive "invincible" mindset (high perceived control and low health value) and compared them to their counterparts on severa

SUBMITTER: Chipperfield JG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4790945 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature