Read the given case-study carefully and answer the question that follow.

According to Lazarus and his colleagues, people have a tendency to appraise any situation as positive, negative or neutral. When Vikram lost his job as event manager, he perceived the situation as negative but he didn't lose heart and decided to start a food joint as he was handling similar projects in the past. Whereas Vikas who also lost his job as a marketing manager, started feeling helpless and hopeless and consumed alcohol regularly. He started coming up with excuses for not doing anything. He could not even think of starting his own venture as he had no money to invest. He would often become very angry or would start crying bitterly.

In the above case study, Vikram was able to take a decision of starting his own venture on the basis of :

Past experience

The answer is Past experience.

Vikram's past experience in handling similar projects gave him the confidence to start his own food joint. Vikas, on the other hand, had no relevant experience and therefore felt helpless and hopeless.

Intensity of problem (Option 1) and complexity of problem (Option 2) refer to the characteristics of the problem itself. Controllability (Option 4) refers to the extent to which we believe we can influence the outcome of the situation.