Primary and Secondary Control: A Perspective on Environment

The human being and its relationship with reality have been a topic that has been explored with much speculation. What we do know is that this is a foundation for the establishment of culture. As I have covered in my other posts, many differences in the human psyche exist cross-culturally, with the collective agreement of the culture presumably serving as the causal factor of this variable. Because cultures uniqueness is founded on the unique settings with which the tribe is set, it makes sense that the psyches of individuals would vary. Yet another variable that exists is the individuals place within that reality. This is the topic which we shall explore. Yet again, we find a dichotomous relationship between to variables, known as primary and secondary control.

Let us begin with primary control. This perspective is understood as the individual believing that they control their own reality and that they may dictate events which occur within their lives. This is also known as an internal locus of control, as it is predicated on the belief that ones sense of control stems internally. Individuals believe that they have their own choice in making decisions, and strive to follow their own wishes and desires. Unsurprisingly, primary control tends to be used more often by those in individualistic cultures, such as western society.

In contrast, secondary control is based on the belief that one's agency is dictated externally, hence its other name, external locus of control. When one adopts this perspective, they belief that life, fate or circumstance is what controls the events of one's life. Events happen as they happen, and the individual rarely tries to change or tamper with their environment. Instead, the individual is more focused on accepting circumstances as they come. This perspective tends to arise more from eastern cultures with a collectivist nature.

Yet gain, I feel that adopting an attitude of secondary control may be beneficial in the individuals life. I am not arguing that primary control should be discarded, but I do believe that secondary control could prove helpful to well-being. Acceptance of one's circumstances allows individuals to be at peace while events happen, and to let them pass as they may. This could be nothing but beneficial to the individual. It is interesting that the eastern perspective tends to seem very therapeutic in nature, and it will be interesting to see what else the literature on this may reveal.