Seligman speculated that when people experience lack of control over outcomes in their environments, they tend to develop a chronic condition, referred to as learned helplessness, which he suggested was closely related to depression. Subsequently, in the 1970s, Martin Seligman used the concept of having control over outcomes as the centerpiece for his theory of helplessness and depression. People with an external locus of control are hypothesized to be unmotivated to act, because they believe their actions will not lead to the outcomes they desire. In other words, the outcomes are controlled by forces external to them. By contrast, when people expect that they cannot control the attainment of desired outcomes (i.e., that the outcomes are controlled by fate or chance), they are said to have an external locus of control. People with an internal locus of control are expected to be more motivated to behave in an attempt to attain the desired reinforcements. When people expect that they can control the procurement of desired outcomes (i.e., that their behavior will lead to the outcomes), they are said to have an internal locus of control. Specifically, Rotter differentiated between two sorts of expectations, which he referred to as loci of control. Rotter’s social learning theory asserted that behavior is a function of one’s expectations about future reinforcement. Each of these instantiations of the term control has its own nuanced meaning and place in the history of social psychology.Īmong the earliest authors to use the term control as a central construct was Julian Rotter in the 1950s. Still others have used the term control (or controlled) to help differentiate between those aspects of cognition and behavior that are consciously, as opposed to nonconsciously, determined. Others have focused on the antecedents and consequences of feeling like you are being controlled-typically by other people. Research also has focused on the subjective experience of feeling like you have control over outcomes you attain. Some have focused on understanding the effects of changing circumstances in the environment to permit different degrees of control to individuals. Psychologists from different perspectives have focused on this basic construct in a multitude of ways. At the most general level, control can be defined as influence, whether it be over internal states (as in emotional control or self-control) or over external aspects of the environment, including control over outcomes (i.e., being able to attain outcomes you desire) or over other people (i.e., making them do what you want them to do). The term control has a long history in social psychology and has been used in a variety of ways.
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