The concept of personal control is now a major theoretical and practical consideration for many areas of psychology. Control was operationalised here in terms of Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) cognitive theory of stress
and control, and Rosenbaum's (1985) theory of Learned Resourcefulness. In the first experiment a state oriented self-control inventory was developed. The psychometric properties of the scale were generally supported. Emotion
focused control emerged as the most significant control response under stressful circumstances. It was suggested that certain minimal levels of emotion focused control were needed before the problem situation's demands could
be addressed effectively. In the second experiment a catastrophe paradigm was adopted in order to examine performance changes and hypothesised switches in the focus of control in relation to certain "critical points" during a stressful situation. Under conditions of high cognitive anxiety and increasing goal difficulty, emotional control was greatest following a negative critical point, after which there was also a withdrawal of effort from direct problem oriented strategies. However, with goal difficulty decreasing, emotion focused
control was relinquished following a positive critical point in favour of problem oriented control once the pressure was perceived to have eased. The third
experiment examined the relationships between dispositional self-control and self-motivation, and health in groups differing in their stress experiences.
In addition, a self-control/self-motivation model was tested in relation to coping, perceived control and mental health. Self-control was found to be significantly related to psychological health, especially under conditions of chronic stress. The proposed model suggested that high self-control coupled .with extensive coping efforts was associated with greater mental wellbeing. The significance of personal control in stressful encounters was underlined in the above experiments.