Locus of Control

Locus of control is the degree to which people believe that they, rather than external forces beyond their influence, control the outcome of events in their own lives. The concept was developed by the psychologist Julian B. Rotter in 1954 and has since become a standard construct within personality psychology. A person's locus is conceptualized as internal, a belief that one can control one's own life, or external, a belief that outside factors, chance or fate control it instead: someone with a strong internal locus of control tends to praise or blame their own actions and abilities for an outcome such as an exam result, while someone with a strong external locus of control tends to praise or blame outside factors such as the teacher or the difficulty of the exam. Locus of control has generated extensive research across fields including educational psychology, health psychology, and industrial and organizational psychology.