Locus of control

Overview

Internal and External Locus of Control image source

Based on Martinez, locus of control can be explained in two contrasting styles–internal locus of control and external locus of control. Internal locus of control refers to a person who thinks he/she has control over whatever happens to them–either good or bad. On the contrary, external locus of control refers to someone who believes he/she is being controlled by external forces and has no power over their circumstances.

Martinez explains that internal locus of control is associated with the term ‘origin’, and external locus of control associates with the term ‘pawn’. Martinez further explains that those who are extremely passive about their lives are victims of what is called ‘learned helplessness’. Locus of control is important among the psychology community because it impacts our daily lives and influences our thoughts that may affect our actions.

[Top]

Evidence

In a study related to health from CDC, a research was done for a group of youths of ages between 6 and 17 with chronic diseases to discover the relationship between locus of control and their health conditions. The results of the research discovered that a stronger internal LOC(locus of control) was associated with improved outcomes, and a stronger external LOC was linked to poorer outcomes. This research also states an example of implementing a pain management program as a way to increase internal locus of control which allows patients to shift their beliefs toward feeling more in control of their own health condition.

This suggests that identifying the type of Locus of Control is highly valuable in regards to health care because knowing the outcomes of a type of locus of control may provide possible countermeasures for health care organizations that can be taken to improve health conditions of their patients.

Internal Locus of Control

^source
Research study shows that employees with higher internal locus of control are likely happy about their career and are likely to recommend their company to others. Based on the study, it also shows that employees are more likely to put much effort toward at work with higher internal locus of control. Having a high internal locus of control suggests a better health condition, lower stress level, and greater confidence in self ability to influence outcomes. To read the full article, visit here.

External Locus of Control

In an article from Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication, having a level of external locus of control is normally associated with negative health conditions such as obesity, cancer, depression, to name a few. While research views external locus of control as negative, an article from Verywell Mind argues that having an external locus of control could possibly lower stress. This article uses a loss in a sports game as an example and explains that if the person applies external locus of control and pushes the responsibility to an unpleasant weather or a strong opposing team, the person may feel more stress free and less depressed.

Characteristics

According to Mind.help, most people fall under a combination of both internal and external locus of control. However there are several characteristics that are dominant by a particular type of locus of control. Mind.help addresses these characteristics in the following table:

Internal Locus of Control	External Locus of Control
Takes responsibility for their own actions	Places blame on external forces
Less influenced by the opinions of others	Tends to credit luck or chance for any successes
Does well in tasks when they work on their own pace	Refuses to believe that their situation can change through their own efforts
Physically healthier	Feels helpless or powerless in different situations
Works hard to achieve the things they want	More susceptible to experiencing learned helplessness
Has a strong sense of self-efficacy	Physically unfit
Are more happier and independent	Doesn’t work towards success or change
Achieves greater success at workplace	Less happier and dependent

^{From: https://mind.help/topic/locus-of-control}

The table shows that people with internal locus of control tend to be more responsible about themselves and seem to be more in control of their own actions. On contrast, people with external locus of control tend to push responsibilities to external forces and do not believe they are in charge of their own actions and outcomes.

Discover Your Locus of Control

For those who are interested in knowing what type of locus of control you possess, below is a link to a quick quiz that helps you understand your current locus of control:
Locus of Control : Are You in Charge of Your Destiny?

[Top]

Origin and Pawn

Image of the Princess from Prince of Persia (DOS ver.) image source.

Gameplay of Prince of Persia 1 DOS version.

Similar to internal and external locus of control, the notion of ‘origin and pawn’ refers to people who believe they have control over their destiny (origin) versus those who feel powerless over the control of their destiny (pawn).

Example

A quick example of origin and pawn is described in Martinez, where the prince believes his abilities affect the outcome of his quest. On the other hand, the princess patiently believes she can only be rescued due to her own powerlessness. In the case of the prince, he is the origin; and the princess is the pawn.

The example above resonates with the game ‘Prince of Persia’ (DOS version), where the player plays as the prince who controls all the movements to rescue the princess, who is being held captive. In this game, the princess is the perfect example of a pawn because she feels powerless and can only hope to be rescued.

The prince, in which is controlled by the player, is a perfect example of an origin, due to the fact the player has full control over the strategies, movement and combat of the prince.

[Top]

Learned Helplessness

In the research from Maier & Seligman, learned helplessness are instances in which an organism has learned that outcomes are uncontrollable; by his responses and is seriously debilitated by this knowledge. It is a learned behavior over the course of repeated exposure to uncontrollable stressors in which the learner fails to find a reliever solution to that stressor and eventually gives up trying even when the situation becomes reasonably solvable. It is important to note that learned helplessness may further have a negative impact on the motivational, cognitive, and emotional level. On a motivational level, the willingness to even try or respond to a situation becomes weaker; on a cognitive level, the learner finds it difficult to learn that a response worked if the response were to succeed; on an emotional level, depression and anxiety are likely to occur. These are referred to as Motivational Deficits, Cognitive Deficits, and Emotional Deficits.

Evidence

Motivational Deficit

In an experiment mentioned in the research article by Maier & Seligman, three groups of people were tested in three different environments: the first group–escape group–were to escape from loud noise by pushing a button; the second group–inescapable group–were not able to escape noise regardless of what they do; and the third group–no-noise group–received no noise at all. Later all groups were taken to a hand shuttle box where they needed to move their hands from one side to another to escape noise. The experiment found that the escape group and the no-noise group successfully escaped noise with ease, while the inescapable group failed to escape. Instead, most of them sat and accepted the noise. This suggests that the inescapable group had a decline in motivation to even try to escape. The experiment further analyzed that people with “external locus of control” develop learned helplessness more easily than those with “internal locus of control”.

Cognitive Deficit

In the experiment that was previously mentioned in the research article by Maier & Seligman, the same groups were given 20 anagrams of the same arrangement pattern to solve. The results showed that the inescapable group needed 7 consecutive successes before picking up the pattern; whereas the other two groups only needed about 3. This suggests that the group who developed learned helplessness have more difficulty in identifying that a certain response would produce a certain outcome because they find the response and outcome to be independent of each other.

Emotional Deficit

In the article by Maier & Seligman, an experiment with rats was conducted in a similar fashion as the human groups mentioned previously. Two groups of rats were shocked while eating, with one group being able to control the shock by jumping in the air and the other group not able to control the shock. The results showed that the uncontrollable group of rats lost their appetite over time. In a similar experiment with humans performing a matching task while being shocked at a timed interval, the uncontrollable group showed high blood pressure consistently. The article argues that uncontrollable circumstances such as the shock experiment in this case results in the eruptions and modifications of emotions.

Examples

In the Learned Helplessness Video1 below, Ph.D Developmental Psychologist, Charisse Nixon, used an anagram activity in her class to induce learned helplessness. The result showed that in a very short amount of time, the group who were given two ‘unsolvable’ words and failed to complete the task gave up on the last word on the list; whereas the group who were given two rather easy words were also able to solve the last word which was the same last words from the unsolvable group. The teacher then asked the unsolvable group about their feelings (Learned Helplessness Video2) and her students answered with many negative emotions such as frustration, confusion and stupid. Later the teacher went on to discover why it was more difficult for the unsolvable group to complete the third word, and one student exclaimed that his confidence was shot.

See also: Learned Helplessness Full Video

• 

  Learned Helplessness Video1
• 

  Learned Helplessness Video2
• 

  Learned Helplessness Full Video

Story: The Elephant Rope
image from: The Elephant Rope

Another great example can be seen in the story 'The Elephant Rope' where it talks about the cause of learned helplessness and finishes with a touch of encouragement.

The summary of the story is about elephants that were chained and confined at their young age developed a belief that they were not able to break free and yet gave up on trying, even when the elephants grew bigger and stronger while the confinements remained the same. The author then asks the readers to reflect on their own experiences based on the story.

In this example, the elephants in their young ages were in an uncontrollable state where they were not able to break free from the chains and ropes. Over time the elephants lost the will to even try to break out from the confinements. The results showed that even when the confinements remained the same, because the elephants developed learned helplessness, they did not attempt to escape.

The full story can be found here.

Consequences and Treatment

In the article What is learned helplessness?, impacts are listed among children and adults. Based on the article, some indications of learned helplessness may include the lack of motivation, the feeling of powerlessness over the outcomes of situations, and passivity. Consequences of learned helplessness may lead to poor performance academically and professionally, and may cause severe mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and PTSD.

A valid treatment of learned helplessness could be Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that focuses on the change of thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes that affect feelings and behaviors. Other strategies include exercising, stress management, healthy diet, and getting social support.

[Top]

Challenges and Further Consideration

Taking a critical stance at Locus of Control and Learned Helplessness, it seems that external locus of control is mostly considered a negative influence on our daily lives. However, would there ever be instances where having an external locus of control is considered positive? Are there circumstances where putting responsibilities on external factors serve as a valid stress reliever as seen in the article from Verywell Mind? On the other hand, could having an internal locus of control possibly foster a negative attitude or personality, such as arrogance or over-confident, toward surroundings and situations?

On the notion of learned helplessness, it is probably valid to say that countermeasures should be implemented seeing the consequences and impact it has on people’s beliefs. The critical question may be, how does one truly identify themselves as a victim of learned helplessness, and how motivated are such individuals to take courage and seek help? Also how effectively can Cognitive Behavioral Therapy serve as a treatment for learned helplessness? Perhaps further explorations are still needed to measure the willingness of the people who seek help and the effectiveness of the therapy in order to fully prevent and avoid the cause of learned helplessness.

References

Return to [Motivation Theory] | [Main Page] | [Top Page]