ABSTRACT
The word locus comes from the Latin word for place. Locus of control, therefore, refers to an individual’s feelings about the placement of control over his or her life events, and who is responsible for those events. Locus of control describes an individual’s belief regarding the causes of his or her experiences (causal attributions), those factors to which an individual attributes his or her successes and failures. These attributions may include mood, knowledge, effort, help, task requirements, luck, skill, chance, competence, ability, and biases. “With the locus of control construct, we are dealing with a person as he or she views him or herself in conjunction with things that befall him or her and the meaning that he or she makes of those interactions between his or her self and his or her experiences” (Lefcourt, 1982, p. 35). Locus of control in relation to learning and instruction is an affective learning style, specifically an expectancy or incentive style (Keefe, 1987). That is, locus of control does not mediate learning directly, but it affects learning outcomes through the learner’s expectations of success and the resulting motivation to perform. Many factors, such as ethnic group, gender, education, and socio-economic status interact with internality/externality to produce various effects.
