What is locus of control and how can it work to our benefit
What is locus of control ?
Locus of control is your perception about what influences or controls the outcome of what happens to you or your behavior.
Internal locus of control
When a person believes that they have significant influence on what happens to them, around them in their life, how they behave, their success, failures etc then the locus of control is said to be internal.
Suraj had a difficult conversation with his manager. He had made some critical mistakes in the monthly deliverables that were submitted to the client. The manager had spelt out the issue in a harsh tone. Suraj admits that he had done a mistake and promises to be more careful and focused in future.
Suraj does feel angry about himself making a mistake, and ashamed that he had to hear harsh words from his manager. He was in a disturbed state of mind that previous week and was not focused, when he had a bad fight with his girlfriend. But he also realizes that he needs to take responsibility and take more care about his deliverables. He makes a commitment to himself to manage his own emotions better and to keep the focus intact in his work and he improved quite a lot in subsequent work responsibilities and his relationship with his manager improved as well.
External locus of control
If a person believes that they have no control on what happens to them and their life and it is all determined by external factors, then there’s locus of control is said to be external. These external factors could be luck, fate, timing, someone else or something else.
Rajat was supposed to go to a client meeting at 11 AM for presenting an important proposal. The previous evening he was a party with his friends, had gotten drunk and in the morning couldn’t wake up on time. Driving to the client’s location, it was a mad rush and he struggled, facing a terrible traffic jam. He ended up being late to the client meeting. He was so angry about everybody and everything else that was happening around, that he couldn’t do the presentation well and they lost the proposal.
Rajat was angry at his friends with whom he partied with the previous evening, he was angry about the city’s traffic jams. He blamed his wife for not waking him up on time. He kept blaming everyone and everything in his surroundings for losing the proposal. He believed that circumstances worked against him to lose the proposal. When is manager held him accountable for losing the proposal, he interpreted it as that the manager never like them and was making him a scapegoat. Things only worsened from there.
When you have an internal locus of control, it enables you to take responsibility for what has happened, in both positive as well as negative events. This can make you feel empowered, understand the challenges better and bounce back quickly and effectively when there is a negative event. When there is a positive event, it allows you to acknowledge your efforts, your skills and capabilities. This can make you more resilient, more aware, make clear decisions and can enhance your self esteem. It can make you less prone to depression, anxiety etc, and help you handle stress effectively. Having said that, an extremely high internal locus of control can also make you take responsibility for things which are not really in your control.
When you have an external locus of control, it can make you feel powerless and helpless and make you feel not in control of what really happens to you be it positive or negative. Even when positive things happen to you may not be able to take credit for what really happened and might attribute it to luck or fate, which can result in low self esteem, low confidence, having difficulties managing your emotions and can make you prone to mental health issues like depression and anxiety etc.
Having a realistic understanding of your locus of control and acknowledging specific circumstances where things are beyond your control would be helpful. It is possible to work upon your locus of control. To have a realistic perspective and enhancing your internal locus of control to a fair extent would be the most adaptive approach.
About the Author:
Kala Balasubramanian is certified Counselling Psychologist/Psychotherapist with a Masters in Counselling and Psychotherapy, Diplomas in Counselling and has further certifications specializing in couple/marriage/relationship counselling and family counselling. As a professional counsellor she provides a supportive, understanding, professional and confidential environment to work with clients – Individuals and Couples explore their emotions, help them understand and manage their challenges, relationships and stress better.