locus of control

• locus of control

  whether a person will change their behaviour because of internal or external factors
• internal LOC

  the belief that your own efforts and skills will determine things in your life
• external LOC


  the belief that things happen to them because of other things such as chance and luck
• ROTTER

  found that those of internal LOC are harder to persuade than those of external LOC

  people with internal LOC conform less to a majority and are more sure in their own judgements
• eval

  + there are practical applications such as therapy which can help people to retrain themselves so that their efforts and skills have a positive effect on their health
• eval

  --LOC may be limited in terms of understanding health related behaviours

  e.g a person may habitually resort to drinking alcohol when they have been doing so for many years
• eval

  --research in locus of control may be subject to social desirability bias as the research is based upon questionnaires