External locus of control

Write a short essay that explores two specific instances in your life, one when you went along with the crowd and the other when you went your own way. Consider the outcomes of both cases. Were the results favorable to you Describe the ways in which the instances are or are not representative of the way you now generally handle such situations. Do you believe you have largely internal or external locus of control If you could change this aspect of your personality, would you, how, and why ... 

In contrast, persons with an external locus of control believe factors like chance, luck, or fate play important roles in their lives. In a sense, externals believe they are victims, or sometimes beneficiaries, of circumstances beyond their direct personal control (Rotter, 1966 Rushton, 1984). As depicted in Figure 15.6, however, there are times when everyone likes to feel that their successes resulted from their own efforts. 

Locus of Control The tendency of individuals to ascribe events to external or internal causes, which affects the degree of control that they perceive they have over these events. (See also Externals and Internals.)... 

Locus of control, a familiar paradigm in psychology, has been usefully adopted by O Brien and Permutter (1997) and Sprenger and Josephson (1998) to describe that particular point, or locus, in the mind of the child and the family, from which emanates the power to alleviate symptoms. External and internal forces combine to shape the final location, but the clinician is wise to remember that this is a dynamic, organic concept that evolves over the growth of the alliance. 

Internal locus of control. A belief by individuals that they are in control of their future and that other external forces will have little or no influence. 

The discussion below will focus on the relevance of some of the personality-type characteristics that have been linked to crash involvement. The personality concepts that have been studied in the context of driving include accident proneness, risk taking and sensation seeking, aggression, and perceptual style. Although each of these concepts is described separately, it is important to note that various specific personality characteristics are interrelated. For example, Malta et ol. (2005) demonstrated that aggressive drivers can be characterized by multiple distinct medical disorders such as Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders, Conduct Disorder, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, and Intermittent Explosive Disorder. There are also other personality traits that have been linked to driving and will not be discussed here. These include extroversion (the tendency to attend to external events rather than focus internally) (Smith and Kirkham, 1981) and externally-oriented locus of control (the tendency not to assume responsibility for events that happen to a person) (Mayer and Treat, 1977). 

Personal control is the feeling that "I am in control." Rotter (1966) used the term locus cf control to refer to a general outlook regarding the location of forces controlling a person s life—internal or external. Those with an internal locus of control believe they usually have direct personal control over significant life events as a result of their knowledge, skill, and abilities. They believe they are captain of their life s ship. 

Personal control has been one of the most researched individual difference dimensions in psychology. Since Rotter developed the first measure of this construct in 1966, more than 2000 studies have investigated the relationship between perceptions of personal control and other variables (Hunt, 1993). Internals are more achievement-oriented and health conscious than externals. They are less prone to distress and more likely to seek medical treatment when they need it (Nowicki and Strickland, 1973 Strickland, 1989). In addition, having an internal locus of control helps reduce chronic pain, facilitates psychological and physical adjustment to illness and surgery, and hastens recovery from some diseases (Taylor, 1991). Internals perform better at jobs that allow them to set their own pace, whereas externals work better when a machine controls the pace (Eskew and Riche, 1982 Phares, 1991). 

This is a very useful nomogram to determine the performance of a motor with the help of only no-load and short-circuit test results. In slip-ring motors, it also helps to determine the external resistance required in the rotor circuit to control the speed of the motor and achieve the desired operating performance. Slip-ring motors are discussed in Chapter 5. The concept behind this nomogram is that the locus of the rotor and the stator currents is a circle. Consider the equivalent circuit of an induction motor as shown in Figure 1.15, where... 

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