466 ChapTER 13 Emotion, Stress, and Health
Conscientiousness is related to another
important predictor of health, having an inter
nal locus of control. Locus of control refers to
your general expectation about whether you can
control the things that happen to you (Rotter,
1990). People who have an internal locus of con-
trol (“internals”) tend to believe that they are
responsible for what happens to them. Those
who have an external locus of control (“externals”)
tend to believe that their lives are controlled by
luck, fate, or other people. Having an internal
locus of control, especially concerning things
you can do right now rather than vague future
events, is associated with good health, academic
achievement, political activism, and emotional
wellbeing (Frazier et al., 2011; Roepke & Grant,
2011; Strickland, 1989).
Most people can tolerate all kinds of
stressors—including pain, crowding, and noise—if
they feel able to predict or control them (Evans,
Lepore, & Allen, 2000). That is why people
who have the greatest control over their work
pace and activities, such as executives and man
agers, have fewer illnesses and stress symptoms
than do employees who have little control, who
feel trapped doing repetitive tasks (Karasek &
Theorell, 1990).
Feeling in control affects the immune sys
tem, which may be why it helps to speed up
recovery from surgery and some diseases, helps
people resist infection by cold viruses, helps
people tolerate pain, and offsets even the health
impairing effects of poverty and discrimina
tion (Cohen, Tyrrell, & Smith, 1993; Krieger &
Sidney, 1996; Lachman & Weaver, 1998). As with
optimism, feeling in control also makes people
more likely to take action to improve theirlocus of control A gen-
eral expectation about
whether the results of
your actions are under
your own control (internal
locus) or beyond your
control (external locus).
health and deal with medical issues. In a group of
patients recovering from heart attacks, those who
believed the heart attack occurred because they
smoked, didn’t exercise, or had a stressful job
were more likely to change their bad habits and
recover quickly. In contrast, those who thought
their illness was the result of bad luck or fate—
factors outside their control—were less likely to
generate plans for recovery and more likely to
resume their old unhealthy habits (Ewart, 1995).
Overall, then, a sense of control is a good
thing, but critical thinkers might want to ask:
Control over what? It is surely not beneficial
for people to believe they can control absolutely
every aspect of their
lives; some things,
such as death, taxes,
or being a random
victim of a crime,
are out of anyone’s
control. Health and
wellbeing are not
enhanced by selfblame (“Whatever goes wrong
with my health is my fault”) or the belief that
all disease can be prevented by doing the right
thing (“If I take vitamins and hold the right
positive attitude, I’ll never get sick”).Culture and Control. Eastern and Western cul
tures tend to hold different attitudes toward the
ability and desirability of controlling one’s own
life. In general, Western cultures celebrate primary
control, in which people try to influence events by
trying to exert direct control over them: If you
are in a bad situation, you change it, fix it, or fight
it. The Eastern approach emphasizes secondary
control, in which people try to accommodate to aprimary control An
effort to modify real-
ity by changing other
people, the situation, or
events; a “fighting back”
philosophy.
secondary control An
effort to accept reality by
changing your own atti-
tudes, goals, or emotions;
a “learn to live with it”
philosophy.
Who has more stress: corporate managers in highly competitive jobs or assembly-line workers in routine and predict-
able jobs? People who are bossed usually suffer more from job stress than their bosses do, especially if the employees
cannot control many aspects of their work (Karasek & Theorell, 1990).About Control and HealthThinking
CriTiCally