Role of Locus of Control on Anxiety & Stress

In today's modern world, stress and anxiety have become well known topics of interest. The ability to handle stressful events can be the make or break factor in many life situations. The role of locus of control examines those who think they're in control and those who think they have no control at all.

Identification

• Locus of control is a concept developed in the late 1970's by Bernard Weiner, a prominent cognitive psychologist of the time. This concept sought to identify how individuals view the events that happen in their lives. It's based on a theoretical framework called attribution theory that addresses the causes for human motivation. According to locus of control, a person perceives the events that happen in her life in one of two ways--caused by self or caused by outside forces. Those who view themselves as the cause are called "internals," while those who view outside events or forces as responsible for their life circumstances are called "externals."

Function

• A person's sense of control over the events of his life indicates where his "locus" lies. Locus refers to where he assigns responsibility. This sense of control is made up of the beliefs a person holds regarding his ability to affect the events in his life. These beliefs, in turn, affect how he thinks and how he beliefs within his everyday life. When stress and anxiety enter the picture, a person's locus of control can determine how well he's able to cope with the circumstances at hand.

External Controls

• Individuals who view external events as the controlling forces in their lives typically feel as if they have little to no control over their life circumstances. Attribution theory identifies "reinforcers" as the events that drive, or motivate human behavior. Reinforcers are the positive effects of a particular action, or behavior. In order to assign control, a person has to connect the outcome of an event to either herself, or to an external cause. Unlike an internal, an external is unable to relate what she does to the reinforcers that are present in her life. As a result, individuals who have an external locus of control may have difficulty coping with stress and anxiety in their lives.

Stress

• When stressful situations arise, the role of locus of control may determine whether or not someone views the situation as stressful, or not. Those with an internal sense of control understand the relationship between their actions and subsequent outcomes. This understanding allows them to work towards solving whatever problem is at hand. On the hand, someone with an external sense of control may rather feel threatened by a stressful situation, which in turn affects his ability to work towards a solution.

Anxiety

• An external's sense of having little to no control over her life can appear in varying degrees. A stressful situation that persists over a prolonged period of time can begin to take on a life of its own within the mind of someone who has an external locus of control. When a person has reached the point where feelings of anxiety are present, this sense of "loss of control" has taken hold within her emotional state. In effect, the amount of anxiety a person experiences is directly linked to the amount of control she thinks she has over her life's circumstances.