Locus of Control- Do you think that you are in control of events in your life; or that other people are the cause of events in your life?   People tend to assign their chances of future successes or failures either to internal (causes inside of them)  or external causes (due to events outside of them). The Locus of Control is a concept in psychology, originally developed by Julian Rotter in the 1950s.

Persons with an internal locus of control see themselves as responsible for the outcomes of their own actions and events in their life. These individuals usually believe that they control their destiny, and are often observed to excel in educational or vocational realms. An example would be “The more I study, the better grades I get”.

Adults/children with an external locus of control, on the other hand, see outside causes and situational factors as being more important than anything to do with themselves. These individuals are more likely to see luck rather than effort as determining whether they succeed or fail in the future, and are more likely to view themselves as the victim in any given situation and express more unhappiness with life in general.  These students might say, “It doesn’t matter how hard I study, the teacher just doesn’t like me, so I know I won’t get a good grade.” These students generally don’t learn from previous experience. Since they attribute both their successes and failures to luck or chance, they tend to lack persistence and not have very high levels of expectation.  As a consequence, an external Locus of Control might lead to a rather fatalistic and passive attitude toward life.  Feeling that you have a lack of control over your life can lower motivation, initiative and willingness to take risks. Under such circumstances, chance of success can be diminished.

Some articles I read on the subject stated that it is very good for an individual’s self esteem to believe that their successes are due to internal causes while their failures are due to external causes. However, for an overall healthly outlook it is best to remain fully grounded; that is, to take responsibility for events, recognize your contributions and to learn from ‘failures’.

Locus of control is a very interesting psychological concept; examining yourself in relation to this concept can lead to personal growth.  While, it is important to understand and accept one’s own limits, it is equally important not to give up without doing one’s best!!  I found a short locus of control quiz on the web at: http://discoveryhealth.queendom.com/lc_short_access.html (I won’t tell you how I scored J).