LOCUS OF CONTROL QUESTIONNAIRE

   (This is not an interactive questionnaire -  just note down your score and  plot on the scale at the    

    bottom of the page to see whether you have an internal or external Locus)

                                            Circle the number that best reflects your attitudes:

       1 = STRONGLY DISAGREE               2 = DISAGREE                              3 = UNCERTAIN

       4 = AGREE                        5 =  STRONGLY AGREE

                                                                                                                                  Disagree               Agree

   When things go wrong, I can’t shift my bad mood                                            1      2      3      4      5                        

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   A person’s success is mainly determined by being in the                             1      2      3      4      5

   ‘right place at the right time’

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   I feel that the state of my health is largely down to my                                     1      2      3      4      5

  genetic make-up and luck                                                                                                                               ___________________________________________________________________________

  When people find themselves in bad situations it’s most likely           1      2      3      4      5

  down to making poor choices                                                                                                                                     ___________________________________________________________________________

  Very few people achieve their dreams, it’s too good to be true                        1      2      3      4      5

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  People are inherently lazy, so there is no point in spending                            1      2      3      4      5

  too much time in changing them    

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 I often feel I have no choice in how my life will turn out                                1      2      3      4      5

___________________________________________________________________________

  Leadership qualities are primarily inherited                                              1      2      3      4      5

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  However hard I work, luck and chance play a major role                                   1      2      3      4      5

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  It’s not worth getting involved in a political cause, because in                          1      2      3      4      5

  reality we can’t really make a difference                                          

___________________________________________________________________________

                                              Internal                                            External

                                   10                             30                                50

Plot score :                               I--------------------------------------------------------------------------I

The ‘Locus of Control’ is a concept developed by American psychologist Julian B. Rotter in 1956.  It looks at the extent to which you feel  you have control over your life, whether your destiny depends on you, or on outside forces.  Someone with an ‘internal  locus’ will believe that they themselves are the main influence on how life turns out , whilst if you have an ‘external locus’ you are more likely to believe in luck, fate or circumstance . If you have a strong external locus, there’s a risk of developing a ‘victim’ mentality.