“Sorry I was late, but traffic was crazy this morning,” or “Sorry I was late, but I needed to pick up my clothes from the cleaners,” are phrases that most bosses have heard from tardy employees. Although each remark might be judged on its own merits, the variances could indicate something else about the personalities of the employees. Despite the fact that most of us think of ourselves as unique individuals, psychologists have spent years identifying patterns in our personality traits that show we share certain very similar characteristics—those who believe they have control over their lives and those who don’t. Here is a short story to explain it.
There were two colleagues, Ajeet and Shekhar, and they worked in the same team. They both started their jobs in the company together, however, Ajeet was attaining promotions and was appreciated by the higher authorities for his hard work. Whereas, Shekhar still had the same job responsibilities he had at his joining.
Since Shekhar had no idea what he was doing wrong and what Ajeet was doing right, he went to Ajeet and said, “I still remember the day we joined this company together. We sailed the same boat, and now I find fate so unfair. You are about to get a big promotion while I am still working my fingers to the bone to get a promotion.”
Ajeet: Yes, I remember the day we began our journey together in this company.
Shekhar: You see, this is where I feel life is so unfair; you are getting promotion after promotion, and here I am, still biting my nails for one.
Ajeet: Can you recall when our team lead called out our names and decided to put some extra responsibilities on us? It was the time you backed out of the hard work our job required, and I did it alone, regardless of the day and night.
Shekhar: Yes, it was taking a toll on me, so I had to withdraw my name. However, the outcome of your hard work was commendable.
Ajeet: The moment our team lead delegated those responsibilities to us, I knew it there and then, no matter how much hard work it would require, I would not back out. So, all my efforts took me to where I am right now. It was all worth it.
Shekhar: I wish I could have pushed myself to do more than I did back then.
Like Ajeet and Shekhar, there are two types of people who either control their situations or who let the situations control them. Have you ever given a thought to the feeling of control over your life? Or does it feel like nothing is beyond your control?
Life is about taking chances and challenging ourselves, rather than being passive bystanders caught up in the flow of life, you have to take action to have a positive outcome. You have to think through the ‘locus of control’ to take charge of your life. The “Locus of Control” refers to your perspective on life and the degree of influence over various life aspects. It is a psychological word that refers to how much people believe they have control over the events and situations that significantly impact their lives.
What is the Locus of Control?
The term ‘locus of control’ relates to a person’s perception of how much control they have over their conduct. An internal locus of control or an external locus of control might exist in a person (Rotter, 1954).
People with a high internal locus of control believe they have a lot of personal influence over their behaviour and are thus more willing to accept responsibility for their actions. For example, I scored well on the examinations because I worked hard on studying.
An individual with a high external locus of control sees their actions as an influence from external factors or luck – e.g. Because the test was simple, I did well on it.
People with an internal locus of control are less conforming and obedient (i.e. more independent). People with an internal locus of control, according to Rotter, are better at resisting social pressure to conform or comply, maybe because they feel accountable for their actions.
What are the Different Types of Locus of Control?
People believe, perceive, and think differently, and they have a unique way of responding or reacting to situations and circumstances. Depending on their beliefs and thoughts, there are two types of Locus of Control – Internal and External. Let us understand them in detail.
Internal Locus of Control
When you feel you are in charge of your own life and environment, you have an internal locus of control. You believe that your achievements are due to your hard work, dedication, and wise decisions. You also accept personal accountability for your mistakes.
The attributes of the people with an internal locus of control are
- They expect that their actions determine their future.
- They believe that they have controlled behaviour and actions and create their destiny.
- People who think like this, on the other hand, rarely expect to act as per their inner selves or control their fate.
One thing to remember about individuals who have an internal locus is that they can only experience their emotions as coming from within. They feel they can change their environment because they believe in having it under control.
External Locus of Control
If you feel that the outside world impacts and moulds your life, you have an external locus of control. You believe that your achievements and failures are the results of forces such as “luck,” “fate,” “chance,” or the actions of those in more powerful positions. And you believe there is nothing you can do to alter or correct it.
The attributes of the people with an external locus of control are
- They usually perceive their life experiences to be under their control, and they act and behave as if they do. Such people believe that nothing changes by their acts, and they cannot change anything beyond their control.
- If individuals believe they have no control over events in their lives, they suffer anxiety, despair, or other unpleasant emotions such as rage, fear of failure, or failure.
- They ascribe advancement and success to themselves and believe that external influences create all good and negative things, success and failure.
- There is no reason for those in positions of external locus of control to create excuses for why things have not gone wrong.
They are more likely to experience emotional distress because they go with the flow and react to more or less everything that happens to them.
What is Your Locus of Control?
Only a handful of us have a total internal or external locus of control, but the majority fall somewhere in the middle. Some people have a wholly internal or external locus of control, while others have a mix of both, which can change depending on the scenario.
It would be simple, even natural, to make external sources liable for your control if your control area is external. If the problem is internal, one will find a method to blame oneself for perceived errors; nevertheless, if the problem is external, one will blame themself.
However, there is a way to determine your locus of control. The questions below will help you identify yours based on your answers. To get to know yourself, answer the following questions:
- Do you have complete control over your life?
- Are you goal-oriented and motivated?
- Are you, or do you try to be, a good leader?
If you answered yes to all of the above questions, you have a strong internal locus of control. You can nevertheless accept most situations over which you have no control. You, on the other hand, can successfully control them.
Let us give it another try.
- Do you have trouble accepting your power or admitting your mistakes?
- Is there a link between failure and anxiety, stress, and even depression?
- If you answered yes to all of the above questions, you have a moderate internal locus of control. Let’s try it one more time: Do you tend to quit when you face setbacks?
- Do you feel that no one can make a difference?
If you answered yes to all of the above questions, you have an external locus of control.
Internal vs. External Locus of Control
It is vital to remember that locus of control is a universal concept. Nobody completely controls their exterior or internal locus of control. However, a majority lies somewhere in between the two extremes.
People with a dominant internal or external locus of control have these traits.
|
Locus of Control |
Internal |
External |
| Destiny | They behave according to their inner self and think that destiny in their hands. | They believe that destiny is predecided and nothing can be done about it. |
| Power | They believe that every individual is powerful and can make a difference in the Government’s decisions. | They think that the world is run by the people in power and an individual can hardly make a difference. |
| Behavior | They believe that their personal decisions and efforts are guided by their behaviour. | They believe fate, other external factors, or luck guides their behaviour. |
| Attitude | They have a positive attitude towards life. | They believe that life is unfair and question their ability to live a happy life. |
| Success | Success to them is the result of hard work, devotion, and sacrifice. | They dedicate their success to luck, fate, and other such factors. |
| Failure | Failure occurs to them because of their bad decisions and in-experience. | They are experts at playing the blame game for the failures. |
| Environment | They have control over their environment and are influenced by it. | They feel that they cannot control their environment and the feeling frustrates and agitates them. |
| Friends | People are lonely because they are not friendly or they don’t like to initiate a talk. | They are not people-pleasers and think if they like someone, they like them. |
The terms “self-determination” and “personal agency” are frequently used interchangeably for internal locus of control. Some study implies that men have a higher internal locus of control than women, while other research suggests that women have a higher internal locus of control. According to another study, as people get older, they tend to have a stronger internal locus of control.
How can a Locus of Control be Helpful?
A person with a high internal locus of control benefits from several factors, and they will be happier and more successful in life. There are a variety of instances in which the internal locus is preferable to the exterior locus.
For example, if a person has a high internal locus of control, he may link that situation to a personal effect.
A person with an external locus, on the other hand, typically assigns failure to situations beyond his control, as well as other undesired or uncontrollable circumstances; a person with an internal locus, on the other hand, generally connects failure to poor personal decision making.
Having a locus of control will assist you in achieving the following goals:
- Working on your self-esteem will help you develop a stronger mind.
- You are in charge of the situations in your life.
- You have better problem-solving and decision-making abilities.
- Setting personal objectives for yourself is a great way to start.
- Put you in a stronger position to manage your professional and personal development.
- Encourages you to have a cheerful outlook on life.
- Inspires you to keep going when things get tough.
- It helps you to stop relying on fate or luck.
It might occur that the internal locus of control is preferable to the exterior because the internal one leads to optimism while the external leads to pessimism. There are a variety of scenarios in which the internal locus of control is preferable to the external locus of control.
It does not imply that the external locus is undesirable or that the internal locus is desirable. In both cases, it is evident that using a locus of control has numerous benefits that no one could overlook.
Individualism and self-determination are intrinsically important, hence, an internal locus of control is likely to be favoured over an external locus of control. If we eliminate the external elements like knowledge, perceived competence, and facts and figures, they appear to be mixed goods.
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Written By: Jimmy Jain
Edited By: Afreen Fatima
Society of Design Thinking Professionals
