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Of critical importance in the way we experience stress,
is our perception of control. According to Harvard Psychologist Ellen Langer: one gambler in Las Vegas blew a deep breath
against the dice before every roll. "Do you think that brings you luck?" the man standing next
to him at the craps table asked. "I know it does," the shooter replied with conviction. "Las
Vegas has a very dry climate, right?" "Right," his neighbor nodded. "So the dice are
usually very dry. I have a very damp breath, and I always exhale against a six and an ace. That not only
gives the six and ace a little extra weight but makes them adhere to the table when they roll across it. The
opposite sides come up--and the opposite sides of a six and ace are an ace and six." "Does it really work?"
his neighboring player asked. "Well, not all the time," the shooter admitted. "The load
of condensation isn't quite heavy enough. But I've been on a hot liquid diet all day, and tonight
ought to be the time I break the bank." In her book The Psychology of Control Ellen Langer goes on to point out: "... perceiving control apparently is crucial not only to one's psychological
well being but to one's physical health as well." (Langer, 1985, p.13). Even chance events, like the fall of the dice, are believed
by people to be under their control. Dr. Langer argues the following: - People are positively motivated
to master their environment
- People don't like to accept that they have no control
- People
fail to make distinctions between skill and chance
Why do people need to feel in control even if they are not? Alfred Adler described the need
for control as an intrinsic necessity of life itself. Thomas Aquinas said that the key difference between mankind and irrational
creatures is that man is master of his own acts.
Research
has tended to support this need for control. In experiments we experience less anxiety, when exposed to electric shock, if
we can control the shock ourselves. Even our cousin, the monkey, when exposed to flashing lights and shock develop psychotic
like symptoms, asthma, ulcers and other symptoms when they cannot control the shock with a lever. When
the lever is returned and they have control the symptoms disappear. Research on the behavior of Swedish commuters found less
stress was experienced when the commuters had choices such as location of seating, with whom to sit, etc. We have also learned
that both mice and men have much higher concentrations of the stress hormone, cortisol, when there is minimal control over
the environment. Those same mice and men have suppressed levels of cortisol, a hormone associated with
stress, when there are high levels of control and predictability. Dr. Langer defines psychological control as the active belief that one has a choice
among responses that are differentially effective in achieving the desired outcome. On the other hand Seligman's concept of control is applicable
when the desired occurrence of the outcome is dependent on the person's responses, or the outcome will not occur without
the individual making some response to bring it about. Clearly control is a vital aspect of human adaptation to life. Rothbaum, Weisz and Snyder,
in a classical article published in 1982, argued that human adaptation involves two processes: - Primary control which referred to direct efforts to change the environment
to suit the self
- Secondary control which involves changing of the self to fit the environment.
This notion of control involves changing either the environment
to suit ourselves or ourselves to suit the environment. Psychologist Suzanne Kobasa has studied the characteristics of executives who seem to
possess resilience to stress. She found that certain managers experienced high levels of stress with low
levels of illness and that their resiliency seemed based on three protective factors: challenge, commitment
and control. The resilient executives were those who were involved and committed to their work, and they
believed that they had control over their lives and saw the demands of work as a challenge and opportunity, rather than a
threat. Those individuals were contrasted with the executives who tended to fall ill, felt powerless to control their own
work lives, felt overwhelmed by the demands of the work place, had an aversion to change and had low self-esteem.
Another
problem is in trying to control things that are beyond our capacity for control. Thus as we approach the task of improving
our own health by improving our ability at self-regulation we can remember this variation of a well known prayer: May we
control the things we can control, Accept
the things we cannot controlAnd grow in
the wisdom needed to know the difference.
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