My Locus of Control

 

According to dictionary.com, the definition of Locus of Control is: the theoretical contruct designed to assess a person's perceived control over his or her own behavior. The classification of internal locus indicates that a person feel in control over events; external locus that other's are perceived to have that control. In a classroom, a stong internal locus of control would tend to have a firm control of his or her classroom and be so prepared that outside distractions would not be an issue. Students would benefit from this as sometimes attitudes are contagious. A confident and goal driven teacher would absolutely improve student's learning. The teacher would be aware of conflicts in their student's lives, have continuity in their classes, and structure/routine that all children need. Teachers need to be aware of student's learning styles. This task is often hard for large classroom size but in a special education setting, the teacher to student ratio is much lower.

   I have always felt that my internal Locus Of Control is so strong that it would be hard to penetrate! I looked on several sites and took many surveys and was getting the same score. My score was a 5.  I tend to believe that my personality and drive to be the best and ALWAYS take control can be attributed to my STRONG internal locus of control. My competetiveness has always been a part of my life and with age, just becomes more ingrained.  I also believe that as we get older, our internal locus becomes stronger as we become more confident and realize that most of our situational outcomes are the direct result of our actions. This trait also can be viewed as a negative attribute as one with strong internal Locus tend to be viewed as pushy or even neurotic. They feel the need to take over almost all situations and may block others ideas out. My two children are exact opposites so I wonder if Locus of Control is a learned behavior or are our personalities ingrained at birth? I can see how it might be a learned behavior as my husband is more laid back and external (at times) and my son is like him. My daughter is like me and has this overwhelming drive to be the best and succeed at any challenges presented to her.


I found a few questions to be male dominant but would expect this from a 1960's questionairre. On a few of the other survey sights, the questions were basically the same, yet worded differently.  After reviewing the questions over and over, I cannot find one that I could not come up with a definitive answer. There were no gray areas for me.