Personal Relative Deprivation and Locus of Control

Mitchell J. CALLAN*, Robbie M. SUTTON, Phatthanakit CHOBTHAMKIT, Victoria Wai Lan YEUNG, Florence Y. N. LEUNG, Ryosuke ASANO, Peter BEATTIE, Allan B. I. BERNARDO, Chinun BOONROUNGRUT, Jen-Ho CHANG, Anindita CHAUDHURI, Chin-Lung CHIEN, Hoon-Seok CHOI, Lixian CUI, Hongfei DU, Alexander Scott ENGLISH, Kei FUJI, Hidefumi HITOKOTO, Junko IIDA, Keoko ISHIIDing-Yu JIANG, Yashpal JOGDAND, Hyejoo J. LEE, Nobuhiro MIFUNE, Aya MURAYAMA, Jingkyung NA, Kim ONE, Joonha PARK, Kosuke SATO, Punit SHAH, Suryodaya SHARMA, Eunkook M. SUH, Arun Tipandjan, Michael Shentao WU, William J. SKYLARK

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

Abstract

Objective
We investigated the relationship between personal relative deprivation (PRD)—resentment from the belief that one is worse off than people who are similar to oneself—and locus of control.

Background
Research has yet to comprehensively investigate whether PRD is associated with a tendency to favor external (vs. internal) explanations for self- and other-relevant outcomes.

Method
Eight studies (Ntotal = 6729) employed cross-sectional, experimental, and (micro)longitudinal designs and used established trait and state measures of PRD and loci of control.

Results
Participants higher in PRD adopted more external (vs. internal) explanations for others' outcomes while controlling for socio-demographics (e.g., socioeconomic status; Studies 1–4). This relationship was mediated by a lowered sense of personal control (Study 1) and evident in a cross-national sample of participants in Asia (Study 2). PRD is more robustly associated with external than internal explanations for self and other-relevant outcomes (Studies 5–8), and within-person changes in PRD are positively associated with within-person changes in external explanations (month-to-month and day-to-day; Studies 7–8).

Conclusions
PRD is positively associated with external locus of control independent of socioeconomic status, within and between people, and across cultures. This research highlights the implications of PRD for people's construal of the causal forces that govern their lives.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages21
JournalJournal of Personality
Early online date22 Oct 2024
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 22 Oct 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Personality published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Keywords

  • locus of control
  • personal relative deprivation
  • sense of control
  • social status

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