Control-Value Theory

Concerning the control-value theory, Louise Belcher has various perceptions of her control and values relating to her motivations and emotions. These have evolved over time, and also relate to her goals and aspirations for the future. Control-value theory (CVT) is a common theory in education, and stipulates that the relationship between emotions and a personal feeling of control and values is reciprocal. For example, a student who feels they are "forced" to take a class as it is a graduation requirement and who does not value the class (feels that it is a "waste of time") is less likely to enjoy taking the class and feel positive emotions surrounding it. 

Concerning the future, Louise Belcher has vague aspirations of making a lot of money and becoming rich and successful. Louise enjoys feeling like she has high levels of control over a situation, and when she is not able to get her way, she becomes upset. She acts like she has high confidence in herself and her abilities, and tends to have outrageous daydreams about herself saving the world. There are quite a few episodes of the series where she imagines herself successfully working as a spy, outsmarting her school's guidance counselor or other teachers, or running various other schemes. This can be seen in scenarios wherein she runs various "businesses", such as trying to sell paintings or running a casino out of the restaurant's basement. Louise enjoys planning her future where she thinks of herself as cunning, successful, and the future being action-packed; she associates positive emotions and high control with it. These future aspirations and perceptions of CVT also relate to her present because her future goals relate to her current high-confidence levels and faith in her abilities. 

In the present, Louise often suffers from negative emotions surrounding CVT in school. For example, she will argue with teachers when she feels like assignments or projects are "unnecessary" or a waste of time. As she feels that she has lower control in school (can be forced to do assignments, go to class, lose recess privileges, etc.) As she feels school has low-value to her and she has a low sense of control at school, she associates it with negative emotions such as anger, frustration, and boredom. As she has negative emotions with school, she typically has low motivations. This does correlate to her future as I explained she does have a lot of ambitious aspirations (and education is often the beginning of this) and may correlate negatively as if she does not succeed in school, she may not be as successful as she thinks she can be when she is older.