A method for controlling a synchronization object of a computer processing system that includes executing a plurality of processing threads, each of the processing threads having a priority level within the computer processing system. At least one of the plurality of threads requests a lock to the synchronization object. The priority of lower priority processing threads that have a lock to the synchronization object or are waiting in a waiting queue for the synchronization object are promoted. The lower priority threads having a priority lower than the lock requesting thread are promoted to a priority level that is at least as high as that of the lock requesting thread. Upon a release of the lock by a promoted processing thread, returning the promoted processing thread to the original priority level from which the processing thread was promoted.