Now listen to part of a talk in a psychology class.
Ok, ever thought about the things that happen to you and what's responsible for them? We psychologists have a term Locus of Control. Locus of Control refers to...um…where people think control over their lives comes from. Whether it comes from themselves or from somewhere else. People who think that control is in themselves are internals, and people who think it comes from somewhere else are externals.Lets say there are two people going for job interviews. One of them is an internal, she has an internal locus of control. Since she thinks that control comes from within herself, she'll believe that her success and her preparation are really her responsibility. So she's likely to really work on her interview skills ahead of time. Then, if she gets the job, she'll believe it's because she's worked so hard, and if she doesn't get it, well, she'll probably be disappointed with herself, and uh…try to figure out how she can improve for the next time.Ok, and another job candidate is an external, heperceives other things, say…his interviewers to have more influence, after all, it’s their decision. It depends on what mood they're in and, you know, luck. Now, with his external locus of control, his not as hard on himself, so he’s more likely to take risks. He might interview for a job that he’s not completely qualified for. And if he gets it, he’ll think he’s really lucky and because he believes external forces are in control, he might think it's because the interviewers were having a good day. And if he doesn’t get it, he’ll probably blame the interviewers or bad luck rather than look at himself and try to figure out what he could have done better.
Using points and examples from the talk explain internal and external locus of control.
Internal locus of control means the belief that the control comes from oneself rather than external force, and thus the person who has it will attribute their success to their personal effort. For example, if a woman with internal locus of control goes to a job interview, she'll work very hard to prepare for the interview ahead of time. If she gets the job, she'll attribute it all to her own effort. But if she doesn't, she may be upset about herself and try to figure out why she fails and how to improve the next time. However, external locus of control is different. The person with it believes in the decisive role of external forces. For example, a man with external locus of control will attribute his success of a job interview to the interviewer's good mood and luck rather than his own effort, or blame his failure for bad luck or the interviewers instead of his own problem. And he won't even try to improve himself for the next time. (183 words)
