Focus of Control:

Jutta Heckhausen:

"In our view, defining primary control as bringing the environment into line with one's wishes (Rothbaum et al., 1982) and secondary control as bringing oneself in line with the environment implies two things: First, that action is directed outward to the external world in primary control and inward toward the individual in secondary control; second, processes of primary control involve direct action on the environment, whereas secondary control processes are primarily cognitive. Thus, one could think of defining characteristics of primary and secondary control in terms of two orthogonal attributes, each with two levels: target (external world vs. self) and process (action vs. cognition). Although this is a useful heuristic for distinguishing these constructs, it is also fraught with some difficulty when we attempt to classify specific behaviors or cognitions as examples of primary or secondary control. For example, making social comparisons with others to raise one's self-esteem is a frequently cited example of secondary control. This is a cognitive process directed at the self. However, the behavioral analogue of this process-seeking out others for social comparison and self-esteem enhancement is more difficult to classify. This behavior involves both action and cognition, its ultimate target is the self, and yet it involves engagement with the external world. Another example of secondary control is taking drugs to change mood states, which involves action targeted at the self. From our perspective, the key distinguishing characteristic of all these examples is that they are directed at the self and therefore should be classified as secondary control. Thus, we base the distinction between primary and secondary control principally on its target (i.e., self vs. external world), rather than on the process involved (i.e., action vs. cognition), because in practice, cognition and action are often so closely intertwined that it is difficult to separate one from the other. To summarize, our distinction between primary and secondary control emphasizes that primary control targets the external world and attempts to achieve effects in the immediate environment external to the individual, whereas secondary control targets the self and attempts to achieve changes directly within the individual. Both primary and secondary control may involve cognition and action, although primary control is almost always characterized in terms of active behavior engaging the external world, whereas secondary control is predominantly characterized in terms of cognitive processes localized within the individual."

Source: Life-Span Theory of Control