Question

External vs Internal Locus of Control

Answer 1

Have you ever met someone who seemed like everything was happening to them? Anything going wrong in their life and they would blame everyone else, except for themselves? On the flip side. Have you ever met someone who was way too hard on themselves for even simple mistakes or even things out of their control entirely. With this question thread I hope to explain what Loci of Control are and how we can recognize what kind of Loci we are and how we can relate to others of the same and differing personalities.

Answer 2

First we'll begin with External Locus of control. It should be noted that I'm going to use extreme examples and that the total truth is much more nuanced and complex. External Locus of Control is someone that believes that they have no control over what happens to them or in their life. This can both be beneficial and harmful. It can be harmful in that people will often not do certain things like for instance apply for a job because they don't believe it matters if they do or not. This is harmful because they could possibly get that job, but by not applying at all they have eliminated themselves from contention without even trying. It can be good to have an External locus of control when tragedies or other negative events happen. This is because the External person knows that they are not in control of everything so they have an easier time accepting when things out of their control don't go their way.

Answer 3

Internal Locus of control is almost entirely opposite to External. Someone with an Internal Locus of control will automatically blame themselves or think that they could have done something better to change an outcome of an event. This is helpful because an Internal person will continually try to improve themselves or improve their work. They're constantly getting better. However, it can be a negative because an Internal person will blame themselves for things even if they're totally out of their control.

Answer 4

Both of these Loci have potential to start a negative spiral of poor mental health. It is important for us to recognize what Loci we have. When things don't go our way what is our first reaction? Is it to blame ourselves? If so you likely have an Internal Locus. If you instantly think about what someone else did or other factors contributed to it. You likely have an External Locus. It is important for us to recognize which kind of person we are, but to not let that define us. When we start to blame ourselves or others we should take a step back and look at what happened and look at where we could have done better and where things were totally out of our control.

Answer 5

When relating to each other it's important for us to understand that someone might be blaming themselves for something or someone might think everything is out of their control. So if you get into a fight with a friend and they said something mean to you. They might feel like you pushed them to say that mean thing even if you don't necessarily feel like you did. That could explain the break down in communication that is taking place between you. Or they could be feeling really bad about what happened and when you bring it up it might make them feel worse about themselves and spiral them into a depressive episode. Even if you're not trying to do that. It's important to know how our words and actions might make someone else feel. In anything in life perspective is important and Internal/External Loci of control is no exception.

Answer 6

Isry do you think that this is a nice way to find out how people think?

Answer 7

This concept is backed up by numerous studies. It's very scientifically supported. It's important to know what side we fall on as it helps us relate with others and ourselves.

Answer 8

I have actually searched this up and all you have said makes sense, apparently, I have

\[Internal Locus of Control (moderate):\]

"You likely see your future as being in your own hands. As a result, you engage in activities that will improve your situation: you work hard to develop your knowledge, skills and abilities, and you take note of information that you can use to create positive outcomes.

However, few people have a wholly internal or external locus of control: most of us fall somewhere between the two ends of the spectrum. Your locus of control may vary in different situations – at work and at home, for example – and it may change over time. People often tend toward a more internal locus of control as they grow older and their ability to influence the events in their lives increases.

Having a moderate, rather than strong, internal locus of control may make you more able to accept situations that you can’t influence, and to manage them effectively when they arise."

[ https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCDV_90.htm ]

Answer 9

Very nice!

Answer 10

Whoa... unfortunately, I suffer from Internal Locus of Control pretty often-
Thanks for the information, pal!