26 June 2015

Do you have an internal or external locus of control?

Locus of control refers to the extent to which individuals believe they can control events affecting them. The concept was developed by Julian B. Rotter in 1954, and has since become an aspect of personality studies and an issue that is often discussed in therapy.

When individuals have an internal locus of control (LOC) they believe that things happen in their lives predominantly due to their own input and actions. This makes them feel a sense of control over their world and a sense of self-efficacy to achieve things and to change aversive situations. They are able to take responsibility for their actions and responsibility for taking actions to help themselves.

On the other hand, those with an external LOC tend to blame things on others and feel that things happen TO them, not BECAUSE of them. They tend to feel that they are the victims of the whims of others or the universe and feel a sense of ineffectiveness and helplessness. They often attribute things to luck, chance or others, and find it hard to take personal responsibility for their actions. This often leads to them giving up easily and blaming others for their shortcomings, which can result in their own suffering and lack of achievement in life. It also makes it much harder to solve problems effectively.

For example, a person with an external LOC who fails to get a promotion may attribute this to be due to an unfair workplace and may feel disgruntled but do nothing to change the situation. On the other hand, a person with an internal LOC may respond to the same situation by reflecting on the reasons that they might have missed out on the promotion, speaking to their boss about how they can improve their performance and make changes to do this, which may result in increasing their chances of a promotion in the future.

On the other hand, attributing some negative things in life to an external LOC may be adaptive.  People that are not depressed tend to attribute more negative things to an external LOC than those that are depressed, which helps them maintain a positive self-image.

Most people use both an external and internal LOC at different times. Have a think about what your own default LOC is and what affect this might be having on your life.