Lecture 33- Role of Attribution Style and Locus of Control — Transcript

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1. 0:17Namaskar friends, I'm Shubra Sha, your
2. 0:20course instructor and this is lecture
3. 0:23three of module 7 of the stress
4. 0:26management course.
5. 0:28In this module, we are learning about
6. 0:32how chronic health problems can be a
7. 0:35source of a stress and what can be done
8. 0:39in order to alleviate that stress.
9. 0:44In this particular lecture, we will
10. 0:46learn about two important cognitive
11. 0:49factors that is locus of control and
12. 0:55attribution style.
13. 0:58Both these factors have a lot to do with
14. 1:03how we perceive our stress and how do we
15. 1:08perceive the possible outcomes of our
16. 1:12actions that we take in order to manage
17. 1:17our disease condition. Attribution style
18. 1:20and locus of control are two important
19. 1:24cognitive variables
20. 1:26which have their roles in almost all
21. 1:29kind of cognitive assessments no matter
22. 1:33where we do them.
23. 1:35First of all, if I talk about the locus
24. 1:38of control, it means
25. 1:41where the control point lies. Control
26. 1:46point of what?
27. 1:49Control point of the events which are
28. 1:52happening in your life.
29. 1:55Whether the control is in your hands,
30. 1:59whether whatever is happening is an
31. 2:02outcome of your own actions or
32. 2:07everything is in the hands of some
33. 2:10external factor.
34. 2:14Making this distinction between the
35. 2:17internal factors being responsible for
36. 2:21the life events or external factors are
37. 2:25responsible for whatever is happening in
38. 2:28the life is something very important as
39. 2:33it has a long-term impact
40. 2:36on the way we deal with the situation.
41. 2:41We will talk about it more but here let
42. 2:45me introduce a closely related factor
43. 2:49known as attribution style.
44. 2:52Attribution style is basically
45. 2:56how we interpret
46. 2:58the actions happening in front of us.
47. 3:03What kind of reasons are we going to
48. 3:06attach with whatever happens in our
49. 3:08life.
50. 3:10Again these factors can be internal,
51. 3:14they can be external or they there may
52. 3:18be a mix of both internal or external
53. 3:21factors.
54. 3:25What happens
55. 3:27that attribution style is the way in
56. 3:31which people make sense of the causes
57. 3:34behind the various outcomes
58. 3:37positive or negative, successful or
59. 3:40unsuccessful,
60. 3:42desirable or undesirable.
61. 3:46Mostly
62. 3:48we have a tendency to attribute positive
63. 3:52things to our internal factors and
64. 3:55negative things to the external factor.
65. 3:59However,
66. 4:01the relationship is not that simple.
67. 4:04Rather, it is very much complex when we
68. 4:08start discovering deep about these
69. 4:12things.
70. 4:13Still if we look at it in a very simple
71. 4:16manner then attributing positive things
72. 4:20to oneself and negative things to the
73. 4:23environment helps in maintaining one's
74. 4:25self-esteem and self-confidence.
75. 4:29For example, if I get good grades, this
76. 4:33is due to my efforts which I have put
77. 4:37while preparing for the examination.
78. 4:40If I do not get good grades, it is
79. 4:44because of the unexpected level of
80. 4:47difficulty of the paper or maybe the
81. 4:50examiner was too strict to give good
82. 4:53marks to students.
83. 4:56On the other hand, if I start
84. 4:59attributing negative incidences to
85. 5:02myself and positive to external factors,
86. 5:06it may lead to a sense of helplessness
87. 5:10and depression.
88. 5:13This is one of the major causes of the
89. 5:15clinical depression. So people who
90. 5:18suffer from this kind of situation they
91. 5:21usually attribute all negative
92. 5:23incidences to themselves viewing them as
93. 5:27being too much incapable completely
94. 5:30helpless in managing anything almost
95. 5:34anything.
96. 5:35Now how does it apply to health related
97. 5:39psychology?
98. 5:41If I develop a disease, whether this
99. 5:45development is an outcome of my own
100. 5:48faulty lifestyle or my own actions which
101. 5:53somehow went wrong or it is a result of
102. 5:57the gene pool which I have inherited
103. 6:00from my parents or it is a result of my
104. 6:04past kmas.
105. 6:07If it is a result of my own lifestyle
106. 6:10problems, I can take corrective
107. 6:13measures. I will be more motivated to
108. 6:17take corrective measures because if
109. 6:19faulty lifestyle can lead to diseases,
110. 6:22healthy lifestyle must bring it back at
111. 6:26least to some extent if not fully. But
112. 6:29if it is a result of my past kmas, what
113. 6:32can I do about it? I simply have to
114. 6:37bearer it, tolerate it and instead of
115. 6:40sticking to medical treatment, I may
116. 6:44turn myself towards offering worships,
117. 6:48observing fasts, trying to get connected
118. 6:51with the Almighty so that the influence
119. 6:55of my KMAS can be mitigated and I can
120. 6:59overcome the disease I have developed.
121. 7:03My attribution of the disease condition
122. 7:08leads me to two different course of path
123. 7:11course of uh treatment.
124. 7:15One goes towards hospital another goes
125. 7:17towards temple or both the things can be
126. 7:21done simultaneously.
127. 7:23And in India we find mostly the two
128. 7:27interpretations coexist. That is why you
129. 7:31find people observing fast and
130. 7:34performing various kind of rituals while
131. 7:37also taking medicines prescribed by the
132. 7:41doctor. So this particular phenomena is
133. 7:44known as coexistence. However, what I
134. 7:48was trying to highlight here was the way
135. 7:50I attribute the development of disease
136. 7:54means the potential cause which I like
137. 7:57to suggest
138. 8:00as a basis of that particular diseased
139. 8:04state will tell me what to do in order
140. 8:08to
141. 8:10manage the situation nicely.
142. 8:14Similarly, locus of control is another
143. 8:17such things.
144. 8:20If I continuously attribute
145. 8:24important happenings of my life to
146. 8:28internal factors, I will develop a style
147. 8:32which is called internal locus of
148. 8:35control. That means I have a habit or uh
149. 8:39a predisposition
150. 8:41to find my own self being responsible
151. 8:46for whatever happens to me in this life.
152. 8:50On the other hand, if I'm predisposed to
153. 8:53attribute the significant happenings to
154. 8:56the external factor, which could be
155. 9:00almighty, which could be any situational
156. 9:03factor or even my past kmas, I am more
157. 9:08inclined towards having an external
158. 9:11locus of control where the things which
159. 9:15are happening in my life are being
160. 9:17regulated by external agencies and not
161. 9:21by my own actions.
162. 9:24These two different locus of controls
163. 9:28can give me different insights for
164. 9:33future actions.
165. 9:35If I find myself as the in charge of my
166. 9:39life, I will be taking steps proactively
167. 9:44and reactively in order to rectify
168. 9:47things to put them back into normal
169. 9:50state or at least try to reduce the
170. 9:55suffering and stress as much as
171. 9:57possible. On the other hand, if I find
172. 10:02external agencies
173. 10:04as the control power
174. 10:08in my life and whatever happens in my
175. 10:11life is simply an outcome of the
176. 10:15interplay of those external factors.
177. 10:19I may develop a sense of helplessness
178. 10:23and hopelessness.
179. 10:25If I can't do anything, if nothing is in
180. 10:28my hands, why to take action
181. 10:33by and this can further lead to a
182. 10:36passive style of coping where I focus
183. 10:40more on tolerance
184. 10:43where I focus more on beering whatever
185. 10:46happens in my life without being very
186. 10:50active in changing the situation. I will
187. 10:54focus on changing myself especially the
188. 10:58cognition and emotional part associated
189. 11:01with the things which are happening.
190. 11:06Uh
191. 11:07this is what is exactly given here that
192. 11:10is an inner locus of control can empower
193. 11:14individuals to handle stress more
194. 11:17effectively as it fosters a feeling of
195. 11:20autonomy and empowerment.
196. 11:24However, these conclusions can be taken
197. 11:27with caution in different situations and
198. 11:32with different individuals.
199. 11:34the interaction of locus of control and
200. 11:39attribution style can come up
201. 11:43differently.
202. 11:44So sometimes for example when we suffer
203. 11:49from and god forbid but if someone
204. 11:52suffers from a terminal illness then
205. 11:55connecting oneself to the supreme power
206. 11:59gives him more relief than continuously
207. 12:03taking actions and getting disappointed
208. 12:07with their outcomes. Okay. So when the
209. 12:11disease is in a state which is very
210. 12:14severe and there is almost no hope or
211. 12:17very little hope for to recover from
212. 12:20that state. U just releasing everything
213. 12:25and trying to yield to some sort of
214. 12:28supreme father usually gives better
215. 12:32relief to people. So it depends upon
216. 12:35what kind of disease is there at which
217. 12:38state the disease is and the individual
218. 12:43psychological, social and cultural
219. 12:47backup, values, belief systems. They all
220. 12:52taken together will decide what kind of
221. 12:56locus of control would be better able to
222. 13:00reduce the stress in the present
223. 13:03condition.
224. 13:07So when it comes to coping,
225. 13:11we find that internal attribution for
226. 13:16negative events
227. 13:18is usually connected with an external
228. 13:22locus of control. That is one one
229. 13:26himself or herself is not able to
230. 13:28control the life events which are of
231. 13:33importance for the person and therefore
232. 13:36the ability to cope uh with the
233. 13:40situations may suffer. On the other
234. 13:43hand, if a person has an internal locus
235. 13:47of control and he attributes successes
236. 13:50or positive things of life to the
237. 13:53internal factors
238. 13:55uh usually more than what he or she does
239. 13:58with the external factors, then u a
240. 14:02sense of control, a sense of empowerment
241. 14:05is there in the individual. It leads to
242. 14:09increase in the self-esteem and uh
243. 14:12self-confidence thereby making the
244. 14:15individual better able to cope with the
245. 14:20situation.
246. 14:21Now what happens when uh we have a
247. 14:25particular type of attribution style or
248. 14:28locus of control? It has a deep
249. 14:31correlation with the
250. 14:34uh futuristic
251. 14:36outlook of a person also. For example,
252. 14:40and an attribution style which is uh
253. 14:45attributing negative events to internal
254. 14:47factors and positive events to external
255. 14:51factors
256. 14:52along with an external locus of control
257. 14:56predominantly
258. 14:57can lead to a pessimistic future
259. 15:02uh outlook of the individual and vice
260. 15:05versa. That is attributing positive
261. 15:08incidences to internal factors and
262. 15:11having an internal locus of control can
263. 15:16encourage or support an optimistic
264. 15:19future outlook of the individual.
265. 15:23Stress can be better managed by taking
266. 15:26into account the attribution style, the
267. 15:29locus of control and the specific
268. 15:33condition of the disease.
269. 15:36So accordingly we can plan an
270. 15:39intervention program which is based on
271. 15:42the cognitive behavioral therapy and
272. 15:46this may be able to manage the stress
273. 15:50nicely in an individual.
274. 15:53One must remember that designing the
275. 15:57intervention program
276. 16:00is a highly individual specific matter.
277. 16:04We cannot think of designing a common
278. 16:08program for different individuals
279. 16:10suffering from different diseases or the
280. 16:13same stage or the same disease but they
281. 16:16are at different stages of the disease.
282. 16:19So customization is necessary. Basic
283. 16:23principles can be adopted but the
284. 16:26package must be highly customized to
285. 16:29suit the need of the patient and the
286. 16:32need of the R.
287. 16:35So that was all for this part and here
288. 16:38is the recap of what we have learned
289. 16:41today
290. 16:42friends. We have learned about
291. 16:45attribution style, locus of control and
292. 16:49their dynamic interplay in regulating
293. 16:53how we perceive our disease condition
294. 16:56and the level of a stress we are going
295. 16:59to experience out of it. Moreover, we
296. 17:03have also discussed how these two
297. 17:06factors determine what kind of action we
298. 17:09are going to take and how genuinely how
299. 17:14sincerely we are going to adhere to
300. 17:16those action plans.
301. 17:20Here are the references
302. 17:22and the recommended readings for you.
303. 17:27A few more books as always are also
304. 17:31provided. Thank you very much for your
305. 17:34kind attention. Thank you.