Perception of Effort and Grief

How much of our life is determined by personal effort? Without an objective method to measure the impact of our actions, this question is answered by belief. This belief is called the locus of control. Locus of control is classified between external and internal beliefs of control. Internal beliefs are of a strong correlation between personal effort and outcome. External beliefs are of a weak correlation between personal effort and outcome.

A method to better understand the locus of control is by evaluating the perception of luck. A person with an external locus of control believes that luck plays a pivotal role in the outcome of their efforts. In contrast, a person with an internal locus of control would believe that luck has less of a role in their efforts translating into outcome.

So how does the locus of control contribute to grief?

Loss is one of the greatest sources of stress one may experience. After the death of a loved one, life satisfaction suffers a steep decline, an effect that lasts years or even a lifetime. However, there is a correlation between external locus of belief and less decline in life satisfaction along with greater recovery of life satisfaction over time.

Being able to attribute some aspects of loss to chance appears to be a protective factor for coping following loss. In contrast to someone who may place more, or the entire, responsibility of loss upon themselves, this observation follows logical reasoning.

However, there are more differences between external and internal locus of control.

Generally, people with an internal locus of control are associated with stronger motivation, higher satisfaction with success, greater responsibility, and possession of a stronger sense of self-efficacy than their external locus of control counterparts. There is also a casual correlation between internal locus of control and greater success in personal and professional settings. People with an external locus of control tend to be more receptive to their environment and are also better at accepting external factors, such as loss.

Therefore, one would have to weigh the benefits of each belief before choosing one to adopt.

How does one influence or change their locus of control? First, one would have to become more conscious of their thought processes. Take a scenario, for example, a co-worker attains a promotion. Would you attribute the co-worker’s award to a product of their efforts? Or are they simply lucky or favored for factors beyond their work effort? In the aftermath of loss, was it really within your control? Or was it a natural aspect of life that shall pass with time? When presented with failure, do you blame the environment for leading you to failure, or a lack of effort? Once you understand your locus of control, now you would have to consciously alter your initial beliefs toward beliefs more aligned with your target locus of control. However, this is a process requiring great time and effort so one should carefully weigh the benefits before dedicating to a belief.

— William Ouyang