Locus of Control and Ipc

                                                                                Melissa Hank

                                Locus of control and IPC

Construct Definitions

Locus of control:

        Locus of control measures the degree to which individuals perceive their outcomes from their own behaviors, or from forces that are external to themselves. This test describes two measures: External locus of control and internal locus of control. 12 or below equals internal and 13 or above equals external. People who test high on external locus of control believe that outcomes are outside of their control, and outcomes are determined by fate and luck. They are also protective from potentially damaging attributions. People who score high on internal locus of control believe their outcomes are within their control and success determined by their hard work, attributes or decisions. Correlations of less risk of obesity higher credit ratings and complete degrees more timely are found with people who measure internal locus of control.

IPC Scale:

        IPC measures internality, powerful others, and chance. Internality measures the extent to which people believe that they have control over their own lives. Some associations include, emotional intelligence, higher expression of anger, dominance and sleep better. Powerful others is the belief that other persons control the events in ones life. Some associations include, social phobia, major depression, mixed anxiety, avoidance and comforting cognitions. Chance is the degree to which a person believes that chance affects his or her experiences and outcomes. Some associations include lower reading achievement, major depression, panic disorder and agoraphobia.

Comparison and Critique:

        Some similarties between locus of control anf IPC scale include that both measure the extent to which people believe that they have control over their lives. Both measures are related to variables such as academic performance, socioeconomic status, self-confidence and expectancy measures. Both scales measure cognition which is a general term referring to awareness and thinking, as well as to specific, mental acts such as perceiving, attending to, interpreting, remembering, believing, judging, deciding and anticipationg. Both measure self-Efficacy which is the beliefs in ones performance on a task. Some differences between locus of control and IPC is that IPC does not differ across cultures the way locus of control does. Locus of control also measures learned helpness which is when animals and humans when subjected to unpleasant and inescapable circumstances, often become passive and accepting of their situation.