PRACTICAL 2

General Problem: On locus of control

Specific Problem: To find out and measure the locus of control of a college student with the
help of Rotter’s Locus of Control Scale

BASIC CONCEPT:
According to French (2014), locus of control is defined as a person’s tendency to see events
as being controlled internally or externally. Crucially, it defines a person’s belief about
whether they are truly self-independent or under the control of others. The concept was used
as a principle originally formulated and proposed by Jullian Rotter in 1954. It is the tendency
of individuals to believe that control resides internally between themselves or externally with
others.
Like other preferences, this can also be categorized into a broad spectrum where some
people have a wholly internal or external locus of control, whereas other might have partially
both and the balance between two. Perhaps it can vary from situation to situation.The
person having internal locus of control feel responsible for what happens in their lives and
takes responsibility for the outcomes, while the people having external locus of control
believe in chance, luck, destiny about the incident occurring in their lives. So, internal locus
of control has many benefits. It offers a degree of protection from depression and harmful
behavior. As a specific example, it can be stated that while an employee with a strong
internal locus of control is more self-satisfied, self-content, typically they are more satisfied
by work, and are more committed to what they are doing and may even perform better at the
task they are given. Rotter (1990) describes the internal locus of control as ‘the degree to
which a person expects reinforcement or an outcome of their own behaviors or personal
characteristics’.
People with high external locus of control believe that control over the events and what other
people do is outside them, and that they personally have little or no control over such things.
They may even believe that others have control over them and that they can do nothing on
it. Rotter (1990), described the external locus of control as ‘the degree to which a person
expects that the reinforcement or the outcome is a function of chance, luck, or fate, is under
the control of powerful others or is simply unpredictable’.

ROTTER’S LOCUS OF CONTROL SCALE DESCRIPTION:

In 1996, Rotter published the internal-external locus of control scale. Respondents were
asked to choose between pairs of internal and external items relating to everyday situations.
The scale has 23 items, force choice questionnaire with 6 filler items adapted from the 60
items from James Scale. It is scored in external direction, i.e., the higher the score, the more
external the individual is. For example, on one item, respondent must choose whether
people’s misfortunates are due to their own mistakes (internal) or due to bad luck (external).
Since its formulation, locus of control has been one of the most frequently researched
personality variables in social sciences. Scores on the locus of control scale have been
correlated with scores on nearly every social and personality characteristic. Among the
areas, the most commonly used the locus of control scale are personality, social,
educational, political, clinical, and health psychology.
This is a 29-item questionnaire scale where 6 of the items are filler items, and the rest 23
items assess the characteristics of internal and external locus of control of the participants.
Scores on this scale range from 0-23 as 6 components are filler items. The reliability
coefficient of this scale is 0.70 and the content validity of the test is also simultaneously
verified by the original authors.
Each item consists of a pair of alternative choices of “a” or “b”. Participants have no option to
leave the question or mark it as neutral. Therefore, it is also known as “forced-choice test”.
Apart from this version of Rotter’s scales, there is also a Bengali version of the locus of
control scale which is adapted by Bose & Chatterjee (1988), which has been under use and
has been standardized from the department of psychology under the University of Kolkata.
For verification of this scale, it was administered on 340 girls and 360 boys.

PRELIMINARIES

MATERIALS REQUIRED:
Rotter’s locus of control scale
questionnaire
Paper and pencil
Eraser
Manual, etc.

CASE STUDY:
In the present study, the subject was a 19 years old female undergraduate student. She is
an extrovert who , and read books and gain knowledge. He is a curious person who loves to
inquire about various aspects of life and the universe. He was very enthusiastic about
answering the questionnaire. He looked forward to answering as accurately as he could. He
faced a problem when answering the part IV of the questionnaire, since it was a little difficult
to relate to the given humor. In the last part, he was very confident as he was aware of
several eminent figures. He was eager to know about the results.

METHODOLOGY:

ARRANGEMENT:
The participant was provided with a table and a comfortable chair, along with necessary
items like pencil, eraser, questionnaire, etc. for recording her responses. After completion of
the questionnaire, the examiner cross-checked if all the items were attempted by the
participant and then asked them to exit the room. Careful scoring was done by the
experimenter after the participant left the room and submitted her responses.

PRECAUTIONS:
1. Thorough reading should be done of the questions before choosing an option for the
answer.
2. Not much time is to be spent by the participant on one question.
3. The participant must be willing to take part in the experiment, otherwise the
responses will be biased.
4. Questions should be understood well and if faced with any problem, must be
informed to the experimenter immediately.
5. Scoring should be done manually and carefully.
6. Filler items of the scale must not be overlooked.
Instructions :
“This is a questionnaire to find out the way in which certain important events in our society
affect different people. Each item consists of a pair of items later A or B. Please select one
statement of each pair which you more strongly believe to be the case with which you are
concerned. Be sure to select the one you actually believe to be more true rather than the
one you think you should choose or the one you would like to be true. This is a major of
personal belief, therefore, obviously there are no right or wrong answers.
Answer either ‘a’ or ‘b’ to each question on this inventory and the answers are to be reported beside
only the question itself. Write your name and any other information requested by the examiner on the
bottom of the page. Read the instructions given on the questionnaire carefully and do not begin until
asked or told to do so. To make an answer, mark on ‘ ✓’ or ‘X’ on the line beside either ‘a’ or ‘b’, the
statement chosen as most true according to you. If you discover and believe that both the statements
are true then choose the more strongly believed one in this case. Response to each item has to be
independent and should not be influenced by any previous choices. It is important to use a soft lead
pencil and no ball pen. Please write today’s date, your name, age, gender and other demographic
details beside the areas where it is asked. Read the questions very properly, answer the items carefully
and do not spend much time on one item.”

Administration :
This questionnaire is a self-administered scale, therefore, according to instructions given,
participants should mark the proper correct statement.

Scoring :
Scoring for this scale in the direction of external locus of control where one point is awarded
or score for each of the following items in accordance with the response items –
2(a) ; 3(b) ; 4(b) ; 5(b) ; 6(a) ; 7(a) ; 9a ; 10b ; 11(b) ; 12(b) ; 13(b) ; 15(b) ; 16(a) ; 17(a) ;
18(a) ; 20(a) ; 21(a) ; 22(b) ; 23(a) ; 25(a) ; 26(b) ; 28(b) ; 29(a).

There are 6 filler items in the scale – 1, 8, 14, 17, 19, 24 which are not scores. A high score
scored by the individual (above the mean score which is 11.5 or 12), indicated external locus
of control and a low score below the mean score of the scale indicated internal locus of
control.

INTERPRETATION:
Locus of control is how much an individual perceive that they themselves have control over
their own actions as opposed to events in life occurring instead because of external forces. It
is measured along a dimension of 'high internal' to 'high external'. An individual's "locus" is
conceptualized as internal locus of control (a conviction that one can handle one's own life)
or external locus of control (a conviction that life is constrained by outside factors which the
individual can't impact, or that possibility or destiny controls their lives). There is a
continuum, with most people lying in between.
The questionnaire contained 29 items, out of which 6 items were filler items. Therefore, the
highest limit was 23 and the lowest limit was 0 (because an individual might not mark a
single answer correctly, where scores would have been awarded). The range and mean
score were calculated by the formula: (Highest score- Lowest score)/2. The participant
answered the questions according to the instructions and the answers were scored. The
participant scored 16 which is above the mean score scale, i.e., 12. Thus, she has an
external locus of control.