In 1998, a series of studies have been conducted at Columbia University by Professor Claudia M. Mueller and Carol S. Dweck. The study participants include over 400+ fifth-grade students.
In the studies, the students are separated into two groups (Group A and Group B) and are given a few tests which include puzzles to solve. Regardless of how the students did, they were all informed that they did great on those tests. The only difference is – Group A was told that they can solve the tests because they are “smart”, and Group B however, was told that they did well because of “hard work”.
The study was then resumed by having the students solve more puzzle tests, this time with various difficulties (from easy to complex).
Guess what’s the outcome?
For Group A (the “smart” group), it was found to have less excitement in solving the tests. Another finding was that they will attempt the easier puzzles first – those that they are confident they can solve. As the study highlights – “After failure, they also displayed less task persistence, less task enjoyment, more low-ability attributions, and worse task performance than children praised for effort.“
For Group B (the “hard-working” group) however, the opposite happened. Instead of going for the easier puzzles, they are more eager to challenge those with higher complexity. It was also reported that they enjoyed the puzzle-solving process more than the other group.
From the study, we can conclude that:
Praising the students by emphasizing their efforts gives a positive motivational impact, whereas praising them for their intelligence had negative consequences.
Locus of Control
“Locus of control is the degree to which people believe that they, as opposed to external forces (beyond their influence), have control over the outcome of events in their lives.” – Wikipedia.
Developed in 1954 by Julian B. Rotter, this concept has since become an aspect of personality psychology.
A person’s locus of control is divided into:
Internal Locus of Control – A belief that one can control his/her own life and fate.
External Locus of Control – A belief that one’s life and fate are under the control of external factors which the person cannot influence.
Going back to Mueller and Dweck’s study, the students who are told that they are “hard-working” are lead to believe that they did well because of the efforts they put in – They believed that they are in control (internal locus of control). The “smart” group, however, was made to believe the opposite – that they were born smart (external locus of control) and their achievements have no relation to their effort.
Some simple examples to elaborate the difference between the two as below:
| Internal Locus of Control Response | Scenario | External Locus of Control Response |
| “Sorry about that, let me fix it quickly” | Made a mistake at work | “I can’t be blamed, it was a joint decision” |
| “I credit it to all my hard work and efforts” | Achieved success | “Must be my lucky day” |
| “I am in control of my budget, time to save more” | Handling personal finances | “Why bother? All my money will be gone by end of the month anyways” |
| “All investments have risks, I’ll manage it” | Handling investment | “Investments are too risky, I might lose all my money” |
| “It’s ok, I got this” | Facing challenges | “Why me… I feel so hopeless” |
A person’s locus of control will never be fully internal or external, we all lie somewhere in between.
Key Motivational Factor
Having an internal locus of control in our lives does indeed positively influence our motivation. We have the benefits of “certainty” (the belief of certainty) on our side. If something doesn’t go our way, we would do something about it. We believe we can change our future outcomes.
Better effort = Better results
If we think that in whatever we do, the outcome will all be determined by external factors – will we take pleasure in doing it? Would we even try? Don’t think so.
Knowing this, a general shift in mindset from an external locus of control to an internal one will keep us motivated to take action. We ARE in control of our lives!
If we don’t put in the hard work, don’t expect success to come to us on a silver platter.
In Moderation
One thing to bear in mind tho – isn’t putting everything on ourselves a little bit… Stressful?
Keeping the momentum high is good and all, but we all know that sometimes, life does occasionally throw us curveballs, and we will never know where to swing. In this case, are we to blame ourselves for missing the ball?
Everything good in life, is only good in moderation. We all know that drinking more water is good for our health, but do you know what happens if you drank too much water? Intoxication.
Some days, we ought to take the load off our shoulders, take a breather, and then pick up the slack. The universe will not conspire against us every day (The universe needs their off-days too you know… Just kidding).
Don’t Forget to Credit Lady Luck When We Do Succeed
“Credit lady luck? Isn’t it self-contradictory to what you have said earlier?”
The thing is – it is quite paradoxical.
Internal locus of control is important to have someone take charge and responsibilities of one’s life. However, when one achieves a certain success and goes on by boasting that they are “self-made”, are they really?
Hard work does contribute to the success factor, but they should never deny the fact that to get to where they were, they must first participate and win in a lottery – The Ovarian Lottery.
Luck does play a part.
What the Layman is trying to say is:
Have an internal locus of control when working on our goals – To keep ourselves motivated. Have an external locus of control when we succeed – To keep ourselves humble.
Be motivated, stay humble.
This is post #11.
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