Who’s in Charge? Examining Locus of Control

A Psychologist’s Perspective on Choice

“Claire” came to my office reporting a familiar collection of problems: she was miserable, stuck and felt powerless to make any changes in her life.

Her boss is a jerk. Her husband doesn’t listen. Her friends don’t return her calls, and no one will give her a loan. “How did things get to this point?” I asked, but I already had a hunch. “It’s always been like this,” she said, “things never go my way.”

As a psychologist, I’ve been trained to distinguish symptoms from root causes. It’s a difficult task at times, but an essential tool for my work.

In Claire’s case, it would feel tempting to agree with her that the roots of her problems are just as she reported — her boss, her husband, her friends, her bad luck. But I see these as symptomatic of a deeper, much more pervasive problem: Claire has an external locus of control (eLOC).

Let me sift through the jargon first. The question is, who is in control?

From a scientific point of view, research shows that those with an iLOC tend to manage their finances better than those with an eLOC.

Claire believes other people, or external forces, have control of her life — she thinks control is located externally, therefore she has an external locus of control. Others believe they’re ultimately in control of what happens in their lives. They design, take charge of, and grow through their experiences. Whether they succeed or fail, it’s up to them. In the words of Charles Swindoll (or Lou Holtz, depending on which website you visit): “Life is 10 percent what happens to me, 90 percent what I do with it.” They have an internal locus of control (iLOC).

Why is This Important?

I can tell you what I’ve seen anecdotally in my practice, but for the hard data I asked my colleague Dr. Kate Nolan, a data scientist who conducts research on locus of control:

Me: Level with me. Do I control the events of my life or does life happen to me?

Dr. Nolan: Ryan, the answer to that question is located within yourself. But I can tell you that I believe I have complete control over the outcomes in my life.

Me: What impact does LOC have on our finances?

Dr. Nolan: All the impact in the world.

I know I have control over my finances (not my boss, not my husband, not the IRS), and therefore, I budget, I save, I manage whatever abundance comes my way.

From a scientific point of view, research shows that those with an iLOC tend to manage their finances better than those with an eLOC. If there comes a time when I’m without a job (which I have been), or I unexpectedly need a new car (which has happened recently) or if an expensive appliance needs fixing (my boiler just broke), I know I can focus my mental energy on solving the problem. I take responsibility for the next steps (iLOC) rather than focusing my mental energy on who caused the problem and how hard it is going to be to fix it (eLOC). This simple change in my mindset, while not always easy, makes all the difference in how we experience our world.

Me: Why’s this? Does personality have anything to do with it?

Dr. Nolan: Sure. Conscientiousness is considered by many researchers to be an integral component of our personality (among four other components for those who espouse the Big Five model). Those who are highly conscientious tend to plan head, organize their world, maintain structure and discipline, and are deliberate in making decisions. High conscientiousness may play a part in maintaining an iLOC. Why would I plan head, organize, and maintain structure in my life if I ultimately believe that what happens to me is out of my control? eLOC has also been linked to neuroticism and self-esteem issues.

Me: So can I do anything about it, or is locus of control hard-wired?

Dr. Nolan: What’s great about LOC is that it is not considered a fixed trait but is instead malleable and in our power to manipulate. While many may believe that we are born with certain personality traits, such as organizational skills or creativity, research shows that LOC can be “primed,” or in other words, with practice we can modify our LOC.

…unlike fixed traits like age and eye color, we actually have control over our locus of control.

Me: How might I go about changing my LOC?

Dr. Nolan: There is a vast amount of research that demonstrates the importance of our thoughts on the body. In many ways, we are what we think about.

Research on modifying LOC has shown that by simply calling to mind a time when participants felt in control, powerful, proud or successful lead them to make more positive behavioral changes. Research also shows a decrease in stress, improved health and higher self-efficacy with a focus on iLOC. When I find myself feeling stressed or worried about upcoming events, I repeatedly focus my thoughts on positive feelings of success and visualize the outcome I desire. It is truly amazing the difference this can make.

Me: Thanks for the explanation, Dr. Nolan.

Shift Your Focus Inward

Simply believing you’re an active agent in your own life makes a tremendous difference in the long run. According to Dr. Nolan, unlike fixed traits like age and eye color, we actually have control over our locus of control. It’s possible to change eLOC to iLOC. And if we can, we should.

Take, for example, the many people who have been so unfortunate as to experience trauma or abuse.

Those who identify as a victim, pointing to the evil of others and their helpless rage and fear tend to have a lot of difficulty moving forward. They’re slowly dying from eLOC. Many helpful support systems and therapists encourage these people to simply change their terminology from “victim” to “survivor,” and the impact is often immediately positive. “I’m not just a passive recipient of evil. I’m someone who endured it and came out the other side. I’m in control of surviving hardship.” Welcome to iLOC.

This is not glossing over tragedy and hardship, though. There are horrific things that happen to people, and it seems like some get a disproportionate amount of pain and suffering in their lives. I don’t want to minimize that. These people deserve empathy and support and patience, and I’m glad to give it.

But at some point beyond the initial impact of the hardship there is a fork in the road. One path (eLOC) leads to identifying with passivity, entitlement, victimhood and all the emotional side-dishes that accompany them. While the other path (iLOC), leads to learning, growing, taking responsibility, surviving and identifying new mountains to climb.

Back to Claire

After listening to her story and sincerely empathizing with all the pain, betrayal and frustration she feels, I have a choice to make as well — collude with her eLOC status or encourage her budding iLOC strivings. I choose the latter:

• “After all that, you’re still standing. You must be a real survivor.”
• “Betrayal after betrayal, and yet here you are willing to reach out for help. That shows a lot of courage.”
• “It’s great to see you’re still fighting for yourself.”
• “This is a good first step. Let’s talk about your next steps.”

These little nudges of encouragement may help Claire see she really can gain control of many parts of her life, in fact, she’s already doing it.

Later in the work, we may look at helping her take responsibility for many of the choices she made that led to negative outcomes (a hasty career decision, choosing a husband who lacked social skills, seeking snobby friends, etc.). And while there may be some bitter pills to swallow, she’ll eventually see she was in control of those choices and can make other decisions in the future, hopefully ones that serve her better.

It’s time we took a closer look at what we can control in our life, given how many factors are beyond our control.

We can’t always stop intentional or random external forces from doing their damage. That’s an unfortunate part of living in a chaotic world. But we can take control of our mindset and act according to our own values. At the very least, we’ll be empowered to see ourselves as a survivor.