(Nolen-Hoeksema, 2000). By frequently thinking about the circumstances
leading up to their depression, people may re-experience the helplessness-inducing events. Recall that even imagining oneself in an uncontrollable
situation sometimes is sufficient to generate learned helplessness. Occasional
reminders about the initial helplessness event can also reactivate depression.
When rats in one study were exposed periodically to the location in which
their initial learned helplessness experience had occurred, researchers found
no decline in learned helplessness over time (Maier, 2001).
In short, learned helplessness has become an important model for under-
standing some kinds of depression. Experiences with uncontrollable aversiveevents can be the first step into a downward spiral of helplessness. Fortunately,research also suggests a treatment. People who experience success at control-
ling outcomes soon overcome feelings of helplessness (Klein & Seligman,
1976). Thus, all the failing student may need is a good grade in another classto appreciate that she still has the ability to succeed in school, make friends
and generally control her life. Moreover, as you ’ll discover in Chapter 16,
whether people fall into learned helplessness may depend on how they explain
their lack of control.
LOCUS OF CONTROL
If you’ re in good health, is it because you take care of yourself or because
you’re lucky? Are lonely people without friends because they don ’t try to
meet other people or because they don ’t have many opportunities? When
you win in a sporting contest, is it because you did your best or because of
some lucky breaks? These are the kinds of questions researchers ask when they
investigate individual differences in locus of control . The key is not whether
your health habits actually contribute to your good health, but whether youbelieve this to be true.
Research on locus of control developed out of Julian Rotter ’s concept of
generalized expectancies, described in Chapter 13. In a new situation, we
have no information upon which to draw an expectancy of what might hap-pen. In these cases, Rotter argued, we rely on general beliefs about our ability
to influence events. If you answered that good health comes from taking care
of yourself, that loneliness is caused by not trying, and that winning a sport-ing contest is the result of effort, you probably maintain an internal locus of
control orientation. Your generalized expectancy is that people can affect
what happens to them and that good and bad experiences are generally ofour own making. However, if you feel that health is a matter of luck, that
people are lonely because of the circumstances they find themselves in, and
that winning means you got some lucky breaks, you probably fall on the
external end of the locus of control dimension. More than most people, you
believe that what happens to you and others is outside of your control.
Because locus of control represents a generalized set of beliefs, it can potentially
play a role in many areas of your life. In this chapter, we ’ll look at how indi-
vidual differences in locus of control affect your psychological well-being and
your physical health.Locus of Control 401