Years ago, researchers did a study that separated residents of a nursing home into two groups of equal age and condition. Then they gave each of these nursing home residents a houseplant.
Half were told they were in control of the plant’s care and feeding. Researchers called this group the “high control” group. The high control group cared for and fed the plant.
The other half were told a staffer would take care of the plant. These were called the “low control” group. They didn’t control the health of the plant. A staffer took care of it.
After six months, the low control residents had double the death rate of the high control group. Not plant death. People death. 30% of the low-control residents died. But just 15% of the high-control residents died.
Just having a plant to care for cut the high control group’s death rate in half.1
What does this reveal? Several things. One is that we’re wired to control our lives. To make good things happen. We’re more alive when we’re in control and making good things happen. Control, in this positive sense, is fundamental to who we are as human beings.
1R. Schulz and B.H. Hanusa, “Long-Term Effects of Control and Predictability-Enhancing Interventions: Findings and Ethical Issues,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 36: 1202-12 (1978).