Control Theories

Almost everything you do is affected by control theories, and whether you realize it or not, many aspects of the environment control you. Control Theories revolve around our perspectives of control and the actions we take from the perspectives.

Behavioral Control Theory

The ability to change an environmental event is behavioral control, also known as theory of planned behavior. Sometimes in architectural settings specific behaviors can be targeted with design interventions such as line directors in a store, or bright flashings lights on store signs to draw customers in. These interventions affect where people walk and whether or not a business has customers.

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Numerous amounts of vendors are at festivals competing for customer's attention. Instigators such as balloons, lights, samples, or bright colors can control buyers behaviors by catching their attention and drawing their interest in.

Cognitive Control Theory

Cognitive control is how your mental perception will guide you to a behavior. An example would be your emotional response to an environment. Everyone’s perception is different. While person A is uncomfortable at a sketchy run down gas station, person B might not be. Because person A felt uncomfortable, they left and went to the brand new seven-eleven down the street. Since person B was not affected by the appearance of the sketchy run down gas station, they stayed.

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What would your instincts be telling you as you drive up to this gas station in the middle of the night? Would you feel unsafe and leave? The feelings you get when you see something that makes you uncomfortable is your cognitive perception. These feelings might come in a different environment setting for someone else.

Decisional Control Theory

Your ability to choose a response is decisional control. The menu at a fast food restaurant provides decisional control because you have multiples choices of what you can buy.

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You have decisional control of what you buy at stores. Retail store Victoria's Secret has multiple perfume scents filled into the walls and on tables to offer a variety of options for purchase.



References:

http://carterlab.ucdavis.edu/research/control.php Cognitive Control. (n.d.) Retrieved October 18, 2018.

Theory of Planned Behavior. [HC3 Research Primer] (2018, October 18).