Internal Locus of Control

I completed an assignment filling that asked questions, such as, which one of these do you believe?

"a. One of the major reasons why we have wars is because people don't take enough interest in politics.

b. There will always be wars, no matter how hard people try to prevent them."

This was to see whether I had more of an internal locus of control or external locus of control. Locus of control is the belief about who or what controls your life. If you have more of an internal locus of control, you believe that you have more control in shaping your future whereas external locus of control means that things just happen to you and you don't have control over them.

On the Internal Locus of control assignment, I scored a 15/23. This means that I fall towards having more of an external locus of control versus an internal locus of control. I believe if I took this questionnaire even year ago, my score may have been different. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has happened, I have realized or remembered that I don't have as much control over things as I sometimes think I do. While some people may think that this is not a good thought process to have because it will cause someone to not try as hard, I believe this is a good thing to remember so you are not completely caught off guard when things "out of the ordinary" happen. As a future OT, this will help me be adaptable to a situation.

However, I think it is also good to have an internal locus of control. It is good to accomplish goals and work towards something in order to cause a good change. As a future OT, I believe it is good to try your hardest towards a goal in hopes that accomplishing can cause a change.


I think it's also important for therapists to help their clients or patients understand the balance between having an internal and external control. It's important for them to understand that their hard work in therapy can pay off and help them getter better and get discharged faster. At the same time it is important for them to understand that the reason they are in the hospital may be something that is out of their control (ex. a health client who had a stroke) and that they shouldn't feel responsible for why they are in the hospital.

*While I think this questionnaire is good to think on, there were several questions where I either agreed with both choices or disagreed with both choices. For this reason, I'm not sure if my score truly reflects what I believe.