Editing Locus of control (section)

{{Short description|Concept in psychology}}
{{About|Locus of control|other uses| Locus (disambiguation){{!}} Locus|}}
[[File:External academic locus of control.png|thumb|A person with an external locus of control attributes academic success or failure to luck or chance, a higher power or the influence of another person, rather than their own actions. They also struggle more with procrastination and difficult tasks.]]
'''Locus of control''' is the degree to which people believe that they, as opposed to external forces (beyond their influence), have control over the outcome of events in their lives. The concept was developed by [[Julian Rotter|Julian B. Rotter]] in 1954, and has since become an aspect of [[personality psychology]]. A person's "[[wiktionary:locus|locus]]" (plural "loci", Latin for "place" or "location") is conceptualized as internal (a [[belief]] that one can control one's own life) or external (a belief that life is controlled by outside factors which the person can not influence, or that chance or [[Destiny|fate]] controls their lives).<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1037/h0092976 |title=Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement |journal=Psychological Monographs: General and Applied |volume=80 |pages=1–28 |year=1966 |last1=Rotter |first1=Julian B |issue=1 |pmid=5340840 |s2cid=15355866 }}</ref>

Individuals with a strong internal locus of control believe events in their life are primarily a result of their own actions: for example, when receiving an exam result, people with an internal locus of control tend to praise or blame themselves and their abilities.  People with a strong external locus of control tend to praise or blame external factors such as the teacher or the difficulty of the exam.<ref name="Carlson, N.R. 2007">Carlson, N.R., et al. (2007). Psychology: The Science of Behaviour - 4th Canadian ed.. Toronto, ON: Pearson Education Canada.{{page needed|date=August 2018}}</ref>

{{anchor|Summary, critique and the future}}
Locus of control has generated much research in a variety of areas in [[psychology]]. The construct is applicable to such fields as [[educational psychology]], [[health psychology]], [[industrial and organizational psychology]], and [[clinical psychology]]. Debate continues whether domain-specific or more global measures of locus of control will prove to be more useful in practical application. Careful distinctions should also be made between locus of control (a personality variable linked with generalized expectancies about the future) and [[Attribution (psychology)|attributional style]] (a concept concerning explanations for past outcomes), or between locus of control and concepts such as [[self-efficacy]].

Locus of control is one of the four dimensions of [[core self-evaluations]] – one's fundamental appraisal of oneself – along with [[neuroticism]], [[self-efficacy]], and [[self-esteem]].<ref name=Judge1997>{{cite journal |last1=Judge |first1=T. A. |last2=Locke |first2=E. A. |last3=Durham |first3=C. C. |year=1997 |title=The dispositional causes of job satisfaction: A core evaluations approach |journal=Research in Organizational Behavior |volume=19 |pages=151–188 }}</ref> The concept of core self-evaluations was first examined by Judge, Locke, and Durham (1997), and since has proven to have the ability to predict several work outcomes, specifically, [[job satisfaction]] and [[job performance]].<ref name="dorman2006">{{cite journal |last1=Dormann |first1=C. |last2=Fay |first2=D. |last3=Zapf |first3=D. |last4=Frese |first4=M. |year=2006 |title=A state-trait analysis of job satisfaction: On the effect of core self-evaluations |journal=Applied Psychology: An International Review |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=27–51 |doi=10.1111/j.1464-0597.2006.00227.x }}</ref> In a follow-up study, Judge et al. (2002) argued that locus of control, neuroticism, self-efficacy, and self-esteem factors may have a common core.<ref name=pmid12219863>{{cite journal |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.83.3.693 |pmid=12219863 |title=Are measures of self-esteem, neuroticism, locus of control, and generalized self-efficacy indicators of a common core construct? |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |volume=83 |issue=3 |pages=693–710 |year=2002 |last1=Judge |first1=Timothy A |last2=Erez |first2=Amir |last3=Bono |first3=Joyce E |last4=Thoresen |first4=Carl J |s2cid=18551901 }}</ref>