The concept of an individual's perception of control was applied to the classroom performance of university students. The initial approach was to use a laboratory simulation of a university classroom to explore the following: (1) whether it is possible to induce feelings of helplessness in a university classroom; (2) effects that feelings of helplessness might have on student achievement and attributions; and (3) effects that teacher's behavior might have on students who are feeling helpless. The experiments revealed that students' perception of control and certain teaching behaviors affected student outcomes. Sometimes teaching behaviors reduced students' bad feelings about perceived lack of control. A second research phase focused on students' perception of control in actual classroom situations. A questionnaire measured students' responsibility for their academic achievement, their attributions about success and failures, and certain classroom behaviors. Most students felt they had control of their academic performance; however, up to 10 percent had perceptions of little or no control. The latter group spent less time studying, attended fewer classes, and felt it was not important to do well academically. Questionnaire items and response data are included. (SW)