Imagine that your life is a car and you had to the choice to either be the driver or passenger. Which would you pick? Being the driver ensures that you are in control of the car and you pick the destination. If an obstacle is approaching, you have the opportunity to evade it. Passengers do not share this same luxury. Passengers are at the mercy of whomever or whatever is controlling the car. In a bad situation, this can be terrifying. When accessing an individual’s perception of control: who is in control of their life, we use the term locus of control. Locus of control is defined as an individual’s perception of control that they maintain over their own lives (Aspelmeier et al., 2012). Individuals with an internal locus of control feel that
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Findings from previous research have indicated that individuals with an external locus of control tended to have lower levels of well-being (Bostic & Ptacek 2001). In a study consisting of 60 undergraduates from a private university in the northeast United States, Bostic and Ptacek concluded that feeling as if you have control over events that happen to yourself can be an indicator of a healthy mental state. Similarly, Hortop and colleagues (2013) found that a combination of high levels of motivation and high levels of perceived control was associated with accelerated goal progress after 6 months, which mediated 6-month increases in emotional well-being. In their study, researchers used 162 young adult students from Concordia University to examine the hypothesis that autonomously motivated participants who also perceive high levels of control would make accelerated progress with the pursuit of their most important goal and experience associated increases in emotional well-being. Students were recruited to complete a questionnaire and were contacted for a follow-up questionnaire, for both assessments participants were compensated $10. These findings suggest that young adults with low levels of perceived control could have difficulty achieving self-motivated goals and reaping the emotional benefits of such goal attainments. Also, individual differences in perceived control may not matter if young adults pursue activities for controlled
Findings from previous research have indicated that individuals with an external locus of control tended to have lower levels of well-being (Bostic & Ptacek 2001). In a study consisting of 60 undergraduates from a private university in the northeast United States, Bostic and Ptacek concluded that feeling as if you have control over events that happen to yourself can be an indicator of a healthy mental state. Similarly, Hortop and colleagues (2013) found that a combination of high levels of motivation and high levels of perceived control was associated with accelerated goal progress after 6 months, which mediated 6-month increases in emotional well-being. In their study, researchers used 162 young adult students from Concordia University to examine the hypothesis that autonomously motivated participants who also perceive high levels of control would make accelerated progress with the pursuit of their most important goal and experience associated increases in emotional well-being. Students were recruited to complete a questionnaire and were contacted for a follow-up questionnaire, for both assessments participants were compensated $10. These findings suggest that young adults with low levels of perceived control could have difficulty achieving self-motivated goals and reaping the emotional benefits of such goal attainments. Also, individual differences in perceived control may not matter if young adults pursue activities for controlled