Do you think a person has complete control over the course of his life? Most people answer this question in the affirmative, citing their life plans, aspirations and goals as evidence. However, in the case of various life difficulties, it is difficult for a person to admit his failures. An example is the following question: “in order to occupy a certain social status, is it necessary to work hard or wait for favorable circumstances?” Or: “during a family quarrel, who initiates the conflict - your environment or you?” Conventionally, people are divided into two types: the first, in the case of failures, look for their cause in the external influence of various factors, the second, prefer to take responsibility for their destiny upon themselves. In order to give the correct answer to the questions above, you should carefully familiarize yourself with the phenomenon of locus of control.
Locus of control is a generalized subjective expectation of the extent to which a person is able to control the events that happen to him
What is locus of control
Locus of control in psychology is a phenomenon that divides all representatives of humanity into two conditional groups. Representatives of the first group blame various external factors for their troubles. Think about how often you hear from people about inadequate management, negative circumstances, bad luck and other negative influences from the external environment. People belonging to the second category are firmly convinced that external stimuli do not have a significant impact on their lives. In various difficulties, they prefer to blame only themselves. It is important to note that such people do not take into account that their difficulties may be caused by the selfish, greedy and other negative actions of the people around them.
As mentioned earlier, representatives of the first group are firmly convinced that their life goals are of little importance. In their opinion, everything is determined by fate, so you shouldn’t “jump out of your pants” and try to achieve the impossible. Representatives of the second category of people believe that perseverance and effort will allow them to achieve their goals no matter what. This division is called the phenomenon of locus of control.
Consequences of the phenomenon
In general, the presence of an internal locus of control indicates a formed and mature personality, capable of both serious decisions and taking responsibility for them. Internals are more self-confident and less anxious, and their activities are more effective. Internals are more loved and respected for their responsibility and reliability, their ability to fight and win. However, excessive confidence in one's capabilities can give rise to a number of negative aspects. Firstly, overestimating your strengths and your influence can lead to sensitive defeats with all their consequences, including psychological ones. Secondly, the tendency to blame yourself for all failures can cause inappropriate feelings of remorse, depression and depression. You must always stick to the golden mean and allow for the possibility of luck and external factors influencing the outcome of the case. But the golden mean is still closer to the internal locus of control.
Theory
For the first time, this phenomenon was consecrated in his scientific works by a psychotherapist from America, Dr. J. Rotter. This scientist in his works says that human behavior is based on two polar aspects. One of them is chosen as the main one, after which the individual begins to adhere to the given attitude. Locus of control is divided into two types:
- External type - which is the external pole. This model of behavior involves shifting the blame for various life difficulties to a fateful combination of circumstances.
- Internal type – which is the internal pole. This behavioral model is characterized as complete control over all actions that can determine the course of life.
It is important to note that locus of control has an important impact on the course of human life.
People belonging to different groups differ in their choice of life position and the productivity of their work. The Rotter locus of control test, developed by the author of this phenomenon, allows you to determine membership in a specific group. Let's take a look at each of them in more detail.
People with an external locus of control are convinced that the events that happen to them depend on their own activity
Internality and externality
"Locus" means "place" in Latin. The external place of control (but they don’t say that, preferring the concepts of “external locus” or “externality”) implies that a person puts everything that happens to him depending on the circumstances. They are predetermined and cannot be changed.
The internal locus or internality suggests that, figuratively speaking, the person himself is the architect of his own happiness. Fate is not something that will definitely happen, but the result of conscious actions, decisions made and a series of choices. And whether they are right or wrong is not the will of chance, but of man.
The difference between these two relationships is clearly visible in practice. For example, people with an external locus blame anyone for their troubles, but not themselves. Low wages, bad work - the government, the country, social conditions are to blame. Internals, on the other hand, tend to blame themselves: I live poorly because I chose the wrong specialty, I am not smart enough to achieve more, etc. We gave this example specifically to show the problem not in the “good-bad” space, but as it really is. External and internal loci in themselves cannot be a completely negative or positive phenomenon. In contrast to the habits and attitude to the surrounding reality dictated by them.
So don’t rush to judge or admire. Rotter created a special questionnaire to determine the locus of control and conducted a series of experiments. For the vast majority of people, this indicator is approximately in the middle - the external and internal loci are developed in a 50/50 ratio.
Lack of clear expression is a characteristic of human nature. Our ability to think will sooner or later rebel if we constantly go with the flow. But we cannot be completely independent of circumstances and other people, no matter how much sociopaths would like it. Based on this state of affairs, the goal for any person who strives for a fulfilling life is to maintain the notorious balance.
External group
People belonging to this group are firmly convinced that their efforts and efforts will not be able to change their usual way of life. In their opinion, forecasting and planning will not be successful, so they can be postponed to the near future.
Individuals included in the external group expect various gifts from life that can change their lives. Most of these individuals are characterized by such qualities as low self-esteem, unreasonable fear and anxiety. Reluctance to take responsibility is accompanied by an inability to defend one’s own interests. Experts note that this category of people is characterized by impulsiveness, causeless aggression and a tendency towards depressive disorder. They often give in to excitement and take risky actions without thinking about the possible consequences.
External locus of control is the desire for conformity. This fact is based on experiments and research conducted on the topic of the phenomenon in question. The basis of such studies is the Rotter test. Based on membership in one of the categories, experts formed a focus group. This group included people with overestimated indicators of belonging to the locus of control of both types.
The purpose of this experiment is to identify individuals who are able to resist public opinion and people who agree with it. Each test participant was given a certain financial amount, which was to be used as a bet on personal opinion or the opinions of others. As a result of the experiment, participants belonging to the internal group made bets taking into account their own opinions, despite the presence of confrontation with others. Individuals belonging to the external locus relied on public opinion, without doubting its truthfulness and correctness.
Causes of the phenomenon
The internal locus of control develops as a result of education aimed at the formation of an independent personality who takes responsibility for his actions. Such upbringing, as a rule, requires persistence and skill from parents and teachers, because it is much easier to force a child to do something, instead of pushing him to make an independent decision. The manner of raising their children to be inclined to recognize and use their own personal power was characteristic of the nobility. For noble upbringing, the concept of honor was of great importance, inextricably linked with the ability to be responsible for one’s words and actions. In the modern world, such education is more often received by the children of entrepreneurs, politicians, psychologists, teachers, as well as all those who are carriers of such qualities or understand their importance for the child.
Internal type
Internal locus of control implies responsibility for decisions made and actions taken. According to experts, taking responsibility increases the power of incentives and the desire to achieve your goals. Based on this, we can say that internal locus of control is closely related to emotional stability. A person who adheres to this behavior is ready to “sacrifice” personal comfort in order to achieve the goal. The life motto of such people is that only work can help achieve success.
This type of locus of control allows an individual to defend his own worldview and interests in various situations, from family relationships to politics. In order to become more familiar with this pole, let's look at another scientific study.
Students from an American college took part in this experiment. The focus group included activists from various groups that fight for the rights of the population. The result of this experiment was quite predictable, since most of the subjects belonged to the internal group. The focus group was provided with information about how cigarettes negatively affect the internal organs and systems of the human body. The internals, having become familiar with this information, made attempts to get rid of their addiction.
Externals did not take any action, counting on magic pills that could solve all the problems that arose. None of the focus group members with this behavior pattern took a single decisive step to resist fate.
People with an internal locus of control believe that they are the ones who create reinforcements for themselves through their behavior and control everything that happens to them.
How to develop internal locus of control?
A short guide on how to stop being a victim
Most often, a person with an external direction consciously and subconsciously considers himself a Victim. He is convinced of the impossibility of influencing his own life.
