Chemistry Recruitment

Locus of Control 

This term was first used to distinguish between two different types of event:
•    Those mainly determined by skill/ability
•    Those mainly determined by chance/luck

Ability and skill are located within a person
Chance and luck are located outside a person

The term is now used to distinguish between the different ways that people perceive the outcomes and events in their lives.

Internal Locus of Control – individuals believe that most events are the result of their own performance, effort or energy and within their control. Events are self-determined.

External Locus of Control – individuals believe that most events are the result of luck and chance and outside their control. Events are determined by greater beings or by chance.

What’s the history?

The concept was first introduced by Rotter in 1954, as part of his social learning theory of personality. He described it as a perception of control over outcomes. In 1970, Weiner produced work on the locus of control, claiming that the distinction is also between those who attribute the cause of events to a stable cause versus those who perceive there is an unstable cause. In 1975, Rotter cautioned that internality and externality were not two separate states but two extremes on a continuum, with most people sitting somewhere in the middle and less people at the extremes.

What does it mean to be internal or external?

There are a number of traits and attributes associated with being at the internal or external end of control. Analysis has been carried out across a number of key areas including health, age, socio-economic background and attitudes to hard work and gratification. Some of these traits are detailed below.

Traits of Internal and External Individuals

How do we get our Locus?

There are thought to be a number of factors contributing to our perception of events. These impact us throughout our life and our views can change over time.

Family – family style has a huge impact on our views. Internals tend to have grown up in families where parents have been consistent with self-discipline and where effort, education, responsibility and thinking were valued. Externals tend to have grown up in families where there is uncertainty, instability or where their parents are external.

Socio-economic Group – poorer families tend to have a more external locus of control, as they tend to have less choice in their life and feel they have less control. Richer families tend to have a more internal locus of control as they have more choice and tend to believe that this is because of their own efforts.

Society – during periods of disruption, shock or civil unrest, societies as a whole tend to become more external. This is a direct reaction to uncertainty and avoids large sections of society feeling they are responsible for the situation.

Age – as we gain more control over our life, our locus of control becomes more internal. Internality tends to increase up to middle age and then decrease after this period.

Chemistry Results 

On this scale, 0 would be extremely Internal and 13 extremely External. 7 would be a balance of the two.

As you can see from our scores, we tend towards being internals!