Locus of control: Internal or External?

Human has this very interesting habit of finding defense mechanisms as part of ‘flight or fight’ reactions to every stimulus that poses threat to their existence. This ‘existence’ can be perceived in many ways including physical, psychological, organizational and more. The most common defense mechanism opted to resolve conflict is to place a blame on other individuals, circumstances or constraints. This brings feeling of not being responsible for blunders, mistakes, chaotic situations and more. Though, this looks like easiest way to get rid of mess, it is the worst choice.

To dig into this more, let’s discuss something more interesting in this article. Back in 1950s, American psychologist Julian Rotter came up with one amazing theory called, “locus of control”. He stated that different individuals have different ‘locus of control’. Locus of control is a degree to which people believe that they have control over the outcome of events in their lives. He further stated that individuals who possess strong internal locus of control always believe that their own actions are responsible for series of events that occur in their lives. They understand and believe that if they are not able to be successful, it is because of their mistakes or actions that resulted in such consequences. Similarly, they are proud of their success when they achieve it, and they don’t really like to place credit for that to someone else’s support or technological tool that enabled them to do what they did. People with external locus of control tend to place blames to external objects, circumstances, people’s actions which are perceived as ‘not in my control’. These people also tend to give away all the credit for things that they have achieved through efforts and use of talent to external factors like accidental chance meetings, destiny, coincidences and more.

To measure and find out if you are an individual with internal or external locus of control is easier thing with help of internet. Most common test used to find out mentioned trait is forced-choice scale. In this test, only certain number of answers are available to choose from. Once you finish up with test, automated test platforms give you results. 

Find out your locus of control!