...LOCUS OF CONTROL AND RELATED THEORIES The Roman Poet Virgil once said: “They are able who think they are able”. This paper endeavours to analyse, from a psychological perspective, the kind of personalities in humans that ask the question of whether or not individuals are in control of their own destiny. What is locus of control? What are its categories and what information is available to determine which category is more practical? How can psychology improve the category that is most practical? How are other theories related to locus of control? Locus of control is defined as the individual’s beliefs about whether the outcomes of their actions depend on what they do (internal control) or on events outside their personal control (external control). This definition was coined in 1966 by the pioneer of this field: Julian Rotter. To develop his ideas, Rotter conceived two kinds of individuals. On one end of the spectrum lie the externals, these are individuals who perceive the events surrounding them as created by external forces such as fate, luck or even a divine entity such as a god. On the other end lie the internals, they are so called internals as they perceive the outcomes of their life as created by themselves. They feel in control of the situations that surround them. A research conducted by P.E Spector (2002) revealed that internals enjoy higher motivation, greater well-being and better salaries than externals. Internals trust their hard work will result...
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...January 25, 2015 Locus of Control 1) How much of a person’s destiny is controlled by personal decisions and efforts and how much is controlled by external circumstances? I believe that a person’s destiny is controlled mainly by their personal decisions and efforts throughout their lifetime. Anyone can pursue to have an amazing life, it just depends on how much effort they put into their life decisions and how hard they are willing to work until they reach their goal. For instance, athletes that have the dream to compete at the Olympic level dedicate their whole lives to training for their sport because they are willing to work and put 100% effort into fulfilling their dreams. An Olympic athlete didn’t get onto the podium by sitting on the couch. External circumstances also come into factor, but it doesn’t control a person’s destiny as much as one’s personal decisions and efforts. External circumstances are a product of life; we aren’t able to control certain factors that can happen to us. For instance, an athlete can train all year for a competition and have an accident that can change their whole career. Rather than letting such events control our personal decisions and efforts, it should make us stronger and push for new goals. 2) What factors contribute to a higher of lower self-esteem, self-efficacy, and locus of control? Can these factors be changed? There are many factors that can contribute to someone’s self-esteem, self-efficacy and locus of control. The one main...
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...Checkpoint: Locus of Control Esther S. Escobar Chavez 04/06/2012 PSY/285-Social Psychology Dr. Thomas King Checkpoint: Locus of Control One example of internal and external locus of control is the situation a person might encounter when changing to a new job, in a different country. In this situation, not only the merits of the person might help her get that job but also, being at the right place, at the right time. The results of my locus of control assessment indicate that I have a strong internal locus of control. There are several outcomes of internal and external locus of control, the positive outcomes include that a person tends to be more responsible for their actions, and he understand that what he does will have results that will make an impact in his life, those results might be positive or negative though. The outcomes of external locus of control is the ability to believe that even when if you do all that it is in your hands, there will always be external things that will influence and possibly change the course of the things you wanted to do. In my opinion, is better to have a strong internal locus of control, because you will most likely make an effort to change your current situation and achieve what you want. However, there are situations in which I have a strong external locus of control, and that include those in which you might trust that destiny or God will decide if you can do something or not. I believe it is good to believe in God and...
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...Locus of Control PSY/285 June 25, 2015 Locus of Control There are many different decisions that are faced that will change the direction of our lives every day. Critical thinking needs to be made before making these decisions. Depending on the situation, we can have either an external or internal locus of control. They both can be beneficial to the current situation at hand. Locus of control also determines whether they believe they have control over certain life events, or if they are determined based on the external forces which surround them. Any outcome when using external and internal locus of control, the outcome can be different. With internal locus of control, when someone feels that they have made the right decision it can have a confident effect in their life. If the decision is based off the influence of others then, this is what you would call external locus. Or they believe that luck, fate, or other external forces are responsible for the quality of their life. Internal locus control seems best because, the way people are today they like making their own decisions in life. The reason for this is because people find it more gratifying in the decisions that they make. When it comes to decisions that will be more life changing or something that is going to be permanent (like plastic surgery) it can be less effective locus of control. It can be tough in situations like this but, if it wasn’t then there wouldn’t be qualified professionals to...
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...Locus of Control PSY/285 Locus of Control Individuals are faced with many decisions that will affect their lives. It is important to use critical thinking before making these decisions. As individuals we can have either an internal or external locus of control and both it just depends on the situation ("Locus of Control", 2013). Both internal and external locus of control can be situational, whereas which one is beneficial to the current situation. Silberstein (2013), “Psychologists call people who take credit for success and the blame for failure ‘internals’ and externals, blame outside forces or bad luck for their failures and attribute their successes to good fortune”. I always have had an outlook on life whereas; I am the one control. Taking the locus of control assessment confirmed this for me. When considering internal and external locus of control the outcome can differ. The outcome of a rewarding feeling when one makes the right decision has a positive effect on their life from internal locus of control. On the other hand, having the outcome of regret and doubt when one has made a decision based off the influence of others; this is an example of external locus of control. Personally, it is better to have internal locus control because everyone should make their own decisions in life. It is rewarding to learn from the decisions that you made. I exhibit less effective locus of control when I have to make important life and death decisions, this is when I consult...
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...Academic Locus of Control of High and Low Achieving Students Syeda Salma Hasan, *2 Ruhi Khalid Email: s.salmahasan@hotmail.com *1 The study investigated the academic locus of control of high and low achieving undergraduate students. It also explored the gender differences in terms of academic locus of control and the relationship between academic locus of control and academic achievement . Sample of the study consisted of 187 (126 high and 61 low) achieving BSc final year students. Independent group research design and purposive sampling technique was used in this study. Academic locus of control scale developed by Trice (1985) was administered. The scale classifies the students having scores from 0-14 as internals and with the score above than 14 as externals. Two –Factor ANOVA, correlation and simple linear regression was used to analyze the data. Results indicated a significant main effect of achiever and gender and no interaction between gender and achiever was found. High achieving students scored low on academic locus of control which indicates their strong internal academic orientation than low achieving students. Interestingly study indicated that high as well as low achieving students both hold an internal academic belief system towards the academic situations. Women are significantly high on an internal academic locus of control indicating less internal academic orientation than men. Results also indicated a significant inverse relationship between academic locus of control...
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...Definition of Locus control would consist of two components, which are internal locus of control, which an individual believes that they are responsible for what happens in their life, and external Locus of Control, which an individual believes that luck, people, or a higher intelligence is the reason why things happen in their life. (Bauer & Erdogan, 2009) Julian Rotten psychologist originated the concept of Locus or Control of Reinforcement to examine and study the characteristic traits with the cognitive and personality of individuals. (wilderdom.com) However, my tested results were high which prevailed that I fall under the category of internal Locus of Control. I believe that the results were somewhat on point, with the exception that I have strong beliefs of a Divine Power. For example, without Divine intervention, who can explain how was the sky, cloud, oceans and the earth was created? That is a question no could answer definitively. Many of us have heard of a scientist come up with different theories, but nothing concrete on how the universe or human life evolved. Furthermore, my results did validate my beliefs of being in control of...
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...The Impact of Locus of Control Score on my Degree Program Anonymous Author University of the People Organizational Behavior BUS 4402 Introduction Life, they say is full of ups and downs. Some attribute what befalls them as practically their own responsibility; whether good or bad, successful or unsuccessful. However, some individual attribute events around them as being mystically originated and claim to have been caused by their luck or blame people around them who probably have bewitched them and, therefore should be blame for their predicament. These two scenarios are referred to as internal and external locus of control. This paper will examine internal locus of control as a determining factor in a successful completion of a degree...
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...The video “Locus Of Control | Psychology | Chegg Tutors” divides locus of control in two parts; first it defines control as “the power to determine outcomes influencing people and events and actions” (video) and then defines lucos as “the position point or place or more specifically the location where something happens. So a person’s locus of control is the extent to which individuals believe they can control events that affect them”(video). Also, the locus of control is divided in two parts, it can be internal or external. Individuals with an internal locus of control tend to “base their success on their own work and believed that they can control their life”(video), while an external “attributes their success or failure to outside influences”...
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...represents internal or external locus of control. (4 marks) A. Children get into trouble because parents punish them too much. – External B. People’s misfortunes are the result of the mistakes they make. – Internal C. In the long run, people get the respect they deserve in this world. – Internal D. No matter how hard you try, some people just don’t like you. – External 2. What is meant by the term locus of control? (2 marks) Locus of control refers to the sense of control people have over successes, failures and events in their lives. It is measured on a scale; people with high internal locus of control largely feel that their actions are their own choice, while those with high external locus of control see their actions are controlled through luck or fate. 3. How does locus of control affect: (2 marks) (A) Conformity It has been proven that those who score higher on external locus of control are more easily persuaded and likely to conform than those with a lower score; this proves that a person’s level of locus of control can affect them when it comes to conforming. (2 marks) (B) Obedience Milgram’s study (1963) highlights the idea of obedience and that people are more likely to follow orders from an authority. Locus of control affects obedience as the participants may have blamed themselves for harming a person if they have a high internal locus of control or they will have a high external locus of control, meaning they blame the authority...
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...to things you have control over, or to forces outside your influence. Which orientation you choose has a bearing on your long-term success. This orientation is known as your "locus of control". Locus of control is concerned with “the question of whether or not an individual believes that his own behavior, skills or internal disposition determine what reinforcements he receives” (Rotter, Change, & Phares, 1972), and refers to a person’s beliefs about control over life events. Those with an internal locus of control believe that the consequences of their behavior are under their personal control and that they are effective in controlling their destiny and determining the occurrence of reinforcement, and feel personally responsible for the things that happen to them; those with an external locus of control believe that the outcomes of their performances in life are determined by forces beyond their control (e. g., fate, chance, luck, powerful others and supernatural forces) and that they determine the occurrence of specified events. As Rotter (1966) pointed out, the effect of reinforcement “depends on whether or not the person perceives a causal relationship between his own behavior and the reward” (p. 1) As cited by Samaei (Samaei, Ramezani, & Semnani, 2012) in his study, to some researchers such as Rotter (1986), Heinrich & Gullone (2006) and Ekwall (2004) one of the researchable and important aspects of personality is the study of locus of control in individuals. According...
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...3. Locus of Control Scoring 40 Appendix 4. Picture-Frustration Test Scoring 41 1. Abstract The present study contributes to the understanding of the causalities of conflicting behaviour in adult males and females. The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between tendency to be involved in social conflicts (conflict potential) and locus of control beliefs (two types: intermal/external) as well as two types of typology (introversion/extraversion). Based on the previous studies (Holloran, Doumas, 1999; Benjamin, 1999; Williams and Vantress, 1969) it is hypothesised that that 1) there will be a significant difference between locus of control, extraversion and conflict potential; 2) introverts will score higher on group adaptation scale than extraverts; 3) externals will score lower on group adaptation scale than internals. Two more hypotheses derived from the earlier findings (Bookwala, Sabine and Zdaniuk, 2005; Harris and Bohnhoff, 1996): 4) the results will differ between age and gender groups; 5) with the increase of age the conflict potential will decrease. The findings of the study suggest that locus of control (β=-1.146, p<0.01) and typology (β=.816, p<0.01) are strong predictors of conflict potential. Despite the fact that results differed between age and gender groups, no significant age (β =1.09, p>0.01) or gender (β =-4.523, p>0.01) effects on conflict potential were found. It was found that extraverts and those with external locus of...
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...CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1. BACKGROUND OF STUDY Generally, researchers have investigated issues relating to aspects of career choice by teenagers (Breakwell, 1988; Dick & Rallis, 1991; Jawitz, 2000; Woolnough, 1994). Southwick (2000), for example: observes the trend toward a decline in graduate enrolments in health-related fields, as well as science and engineering, having recorded enrolment decline from 1993-1997, after four decades of annual increases. A continuing decline of admissions in these areas may lead to a shortage of skilled health and science workers and this could ultimately hurt the society. Palmer (2005) also observes the reduction in the numbers and calibre of students seeking admissions into engineering education in Australia. Poor image of the engineering profession generally and the poor understanding of engineering in schools were identified as contributing reasons for this situation. In Nigeria, many youths make wrong career choices due to ignorance, inexperience, peer pressure, advice from friends, parents and teachers, or as a result of the prestige attached to certain jobs without adequate vocational guidance and career counseling (Salami, 1999). Consequently, many of them are unsuited for their careers, as they usually find themselves in jobs that do not satisfy their value needs. When this occurs, they constitute nuisance to themselves and their employers. They are usually unable to contribute meaningfully to the society, and they ultimately...
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....2.4 Locus of Control: History of Locus of Control: The cognitive-learning tradition in psychology views human beings as independent thinkers. It gives less importance to reinforcement shaping human behaviour unlike the behaviouristic tradition. It focuses on the personal values we attribute to certain outcomes in our life and our expectancies about being able to achieve the set goals. Locus of Control is one of the types of expectancies within the social learning tradition, proposed by Julian B. Rotter in his ‘Expectancy-Reinforcement Value Model.’ While attempting to assess personality in order to formulate a theory of development of personality, Rotter researched into whether there is a difference between people’s learning and performance...
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...The purpose of the Locus of Control and Multiple Intelligence assessment is to discover strengths and learning skills and specifically how you can apply this to crucial thinking I scored a five on the Locus of Control assessment, which means that I am an internal locus of control ("Locus of Control," n.d.). This means I rely on a person’s actions and efforts to rely on success, rather than outside influences or causes. The Multiple Intelligence Survey found key strengths in musical, nature, and social categories. The survey offers ideas on how to use these strengths to succeed ("Multiple Intelligences," n.d.). I was not confident the Locus Control assessment was correct because of the questions asked. In addition, the questions seemed to be more manipulative. The multiple Intelligences survey did help to identify things that I liked or enjoyed. I did agree with the strengths listed and the tips given to improve upon those skills. The information I learned from the assessments were the differences between internal and external Locus of Control. The Internal Locus of Control personality relies on personal performance rather than outside influences. Having this information is beneficial in knowing one’s perspective and how it affects critical thinking process....
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