Locus of control
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The Locus of control is a concept in psychology, originally developed by Julian Rotter in the 1950s. The two 'loci', as established by the theory, are the internal and external loci. The locus of control represents a how a person's decision making ability is influenced; essentially, those who make choices primarily on their own are considered to have internal loci, while those who make decisions based more on what others desire are said to have external loci. People with external loci are generally more apt to be stressed and suffer from depression as they are more aware of work situations and life strains. Women tend to have more of an external locus than men. A more internal locus of control is generally seen as desirable. Having an Internal locus of control can also be referred to as "personal control", "self-determination", etc. Males tend to be more internal than females; As people get older they tend to become more internal; People higher up in organizational structures tend to be more internal. Internal locus protects against submission to authority- more resistant to others influence(but tend to be more premature and less sympathetic than externals). Locus of control is related to, but distinct from, several other social psychological constructs related to control.
Attribution Theory, also developed by Rotter, describes the process of people crediting forces outside the self as key factors in determining thoughts or behavior. Example; One may believe cocaine is necessary to complete tasks. In this case, the person is attributing personal accomplishments to the effects of cocaine, rather than their own will. Similarly, one may think that they NEED coffee to pay attention. Attribution theory also applies to non-addictive, less concrete concepts such as lovemaking: if the music was different I would have performed better! This thought on sex would not apply to a physical addiction as in the case of cocaine or caffeine, but Rotter's theory as a whole warns of a progressively habitual process that ultimately renders any personal sense of control meaningless. This can become dangerous as a perception of powerlessness and reliance on particular conditions for every situation may result. Meaning; if you constantly attribute your own impact to outside factors, particularly non-human ones, you may become dependant on excuse-making. Attribution theory is also prevalent in gauging the abilities of others.
Self-efficacy is another related concept, introduced by Albert Bandura. Although someone may believe that how some future event turns out is under their control, they may or may not believe that they are capable of behaving in a way that will produce the desired result. For example, an athlete may believe that training 8 hours a day would result in a marked improvement in ability (an internal locus of control orientation) but not believe that he or she is capable of training that hard (a low sense of self-efficacy).
