Cross-linguistic typological studies of causative constructions demonstrate that languages typically utilize one or more of the generally recognized causative types: morphological, analytical, and lexical (Shibatani 1975, Comrie 1981, Comrie and Polinsky 1993, Song 1996). In this paper, I focus on morphological caustives from a cross-linguistic perspective using the GRAMCATS sample put together by J. Bybee et al. Specifically, I examine the polysemous morphemes that mark causation, intensity, and reciprocity, and attempt to ascertain the direction of change of the functions of the markers in question. I accept the view that the semantic features of FORCE and CONTROL are central to a causative construction, and argue that the weakening of those features determines the path of change. Evidence is provided to show that Intensive--->Causative--->Reciprocal form a chain of grammaticization as the semantic feature FORCE is bleached and the degree of CONTROL residing in the participants of an event is weakened over time.