ReviewTrends in cognitive sciences2010
Born to choose: the origins and value of the need for control.
Review in Trends in cognitive sciences, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 168 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
168 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Common and distinct brain activity associated with risky and ambiguous decision-making.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2020Pooled it
- Do video animations and 3-D skull models reduce preoperative anxiety in bimaxillary orthognathic surgery patients? Randomized controlled trial.BMC oral health · 2026Trial
- Measuring and increasing the brain health span across adulthood: a public health imperative.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Choose to move: The motivational impact of autonomy support on motor learning.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2015Trial
- Choice and placebo expectation effects in the context of pain analgesia.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2012Trial
- Substance use and the value of control.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Mutual wellbeing in an equine-assisted intervention: experimental evidence for the two-way hypothesis and the importance of interaction method.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Decision-making criteria in polygenic embryo screening: A survey of reproductive medicine physicians.Genetics in medicine : official journal of the American College of Medical Genetics · 2026Article
- Autonomy in learning: Predictability modulates the beneficial effect of choice on memory.Memory & cognition · 2026Article
- Updating the Five Provisions: Aligning Welfare-Focused Care with the Five Domains Model.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Engaging in target choice enhances explicit visuomotor adaptation.Experimental brain research · 2026Article
- Providing choice enhances reading motivation.Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006) · 2026Article
- Beyond Good or Bad: The Four Evaluative Quadrants of Relationships.Personality and social psychology review : an official journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc · 2026Article
- Opportunities for agency in domestic horses: Applying the behavioural domain to increase equine welfare.Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2026Review
- Article
- Effect of dairy calf rearing systems on affective states.Discover animals · 2026Review
- The psychological compensation effect: perceived digital exclusion, perceived lack of control, and their impact on consumption behaviors of elderly tourists.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- A Multimodal Approach to Treatment and Management of Rumination Syndrome in a California Sea Lion (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Single-Neuron Encoding of Learnability in the Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
108 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Belief in one's ability to exert control over the environment and to produce desired results is essential for an individual's wellbeing. It has repeatedly been argued that perception of control is not only desirable, but is also probably a psychological and biological necessity. In this article, we review the literature supporting this claim and present evidence of a biological basis for the need for control and for choice-that is, the means by which we exercise control over the environment. Converging evidence from animal research, clinical studies and neuroimaging suggests that the need for control is a biological imperative for survival, and a corticostriatal network is implicated as the neural substrate of this adaptive behavior.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.