Locus of Control

Locus of Control

The “Little Engine That Could” is a childrens book that most of us have read ourselves or we read it to a child.  The premise is I that I think I can do it so I can do it.  

Locus of control is a term coined by Julian Rotter. He was a prominent social learning theorist.  Locus of control means there is a general expectation of the degree to which individuals control their outcomes. Individuals with and external locus think that luck, fate or chance are responsible for what happens to them. The one with external locus of control think they have no control.  Those individuals with an internal locus feel their success or failure is due to internal or personal factors. Of course most people fall in the middle and under some circumsances believe in themselves in other situations the individual think someone or something else is responsible for their problems.

This concept is very important in analyzing the personalilty. This one simple idea is applied to everything from the grade a student will make on an exam to the personality disorder that may haunt them throughout their lives.

One author of a sociology book named Maghaddam used two quotations attributed to Shakespeare as an example of internal or external locus of control.  In Julius Ceasar act I scene two, it is written “The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.”  Which would be an example of internal locus control. Maghaddam cites Romeo and Juliet as an example of an external locus of control.  He summizes that Shakespeare portrays two “star” crossed lovers that decide to take their own lives as being determined by external factors which are beyond their control.

Interestingly the locus of control may even determine who will vote and who will not cast a vote.  Will the person who thinks they can personally make a difference vote or will it be the person who believes that the government is corrupt and voter fraud rampant and believes they can not make a difference in the outcome of the elections?

Think about health.  Who has the better chance of adding two years to their life span? Is it the individual that believes exercise and good nutrition is a health factor within their control and practice it?  Or is it the individual who believes health is determined by genetic factors and nothing they personally do that will determine the outcome of thier life expectancty or have an impact on the length of their lives.

True a positive attitude or a negative attitude does go a long way in determining the outcome of an endeavor, but it may be an oversimplification and in reality success or failure may be determined by much more complex mechanisms. It would be wonderful if the problems individuals could be changed with an attitude adjustment. If it were as simple for us to succeed as it was for the “little Engine That Could”.