External and internal LOCUS of CONTROL

The degree of control a person perceives they have over their life can positively or negatively influence their health. This factor is known as the locus of control that can be internal, considered a protective factor for emotional and physical symptoms, and external, referring to a predictor of disease. Thus, depending on whether they have an internal or external locus, people deal with life events in different ways.

In this Online Psychology article, you will find what is external and internal locus of control and examples from each of them. In addition, we also show you how to work the locus of control with different psychological techniques.

Index

1. What is locus of control
2. What is the internal locus of control
3. What is external locus of control
4. How to work the locus of control

The locus of control is a concept that was exposed by Julian Rotter in 1966 through his Theory of Learning. In it, the locus of control is considered a personality trait that refers to the

Thus, locus of control is a person's belief in the power of their own abilities to control and guide the important events of their life. The degree of control we perceive influences the type of behavior that we adopt and how we interact with the environment.

The locus of control is a resource that helps predict behavioral variables, affective and attitudinal. There are two types of locus of control, internal and external.

Internal locus of control refers to the perception of self-control of life events. In other words, it is the belief that we are able to control and decide freely about our lives, that is, we control our reality. The degree of control can be attributed to our skills, abilities, competencies or behaviors.

Some examples of internal locus of control are when we achieve work success thanks to our work, when passes an exam and is attributed to having studied, or when you are happy and is associated with having work in our care staff.

What are people with internal locus of control like?

People who present an internal locus of control are focused on action, since they are more independent, responsible and conscientious individuals of her abilities. In addition, they are people who have greater security and the ability to manage errors, for example. In this article, we show you the different skills of a person: list and examples.

The external locus of control is the subjective belief that the events that happen in our lives are due to external agents, that is, when we perceive that we do not control vital events because they are the responsibility of external factors.

The external locus of control can be observed in situations where attributed to God, luck or outsiders the successes or failures that we experience throughout life. One of the examples of external locus of control would be when a person manages to overcome a depression and the power of God is associated. Similarly, another example could be when a race is achieved and attributed to luck.

What are people with external locus of control like?

People who have an external locus of control are most insecure people, since they feel that life is uncontrollable and consider it more threatening. They are individuals who perceive that they do not have control and that negatively affects their self-esteem, for example. In this article, we tell you how to improve self esteem with different exercises, techniques and books.

As noted above, locus of control is a relatively stable personality trait. so you can work with the aim of improving control management and modifying beliefs maladaptive. Next, we will see different psychological techniques to work the locus of control:

• Meditation: technique that favors relaxation and mindfulness, which is very useful to focus attention on the real causes of vital events. This technique favors clairvoyance about the event in which the degree of control is analyzed. In this article you will see what is meditation for.
• cognitive restructuring: consists of the modification of dysfunctional thoughts or beliefs through their identification in order to consider possible more adaptive alternatives. For example, when you think that you pass an exam by luck and not because you studied. In this case, it is important to be aware that it has been studied and that the study has had positive results.
• self-knowledge activities: they are based on knowing oneself to be able to identify strengths. The activity “I am” consists of defining oneself through qualifying adjectives, both negative and positive. Subsequently, the beliefs related to the negative adjectives would be worked on and the reason for the positive adjectives would be pointed out to highlight the positive qualities.
• self esteem work: it is key to increase confidence and the level of security in oneself. This work can be carried out through pleasant activities that make us feel satisfied. Another way to work on self-esteem focuses on creating healthy routines that promote well-being, both physical and emotional. In this article, we tell you how to have self confidence.

Apart from these psychological techniques aimed at working on the locus of control, you should bear in mind that if the type of locus of control that you present is interfering with your daily life, or causing you discomfort, the best it is go to a psychologist that can help you deal with this situation.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is internal and external locus of control and examples, we recommend that you enter our category of cognitive psychology.

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