LOCUS OF CONTROL/BEING
INTERNAL
The Old Rusty Nail
AN E-JOURNAL FOR OLD PEOPLE
Russell Burton, an Old Person
I recently read an interesting book entitled, Choice or Chance by Stephen
Nowicki. It was recommend in the June
2016 issue of Discover. I was fascinated by the title Choice or Chance with the subtitle Understanding Your Locus of Control And Why
it Matters.
Also, I was intrigued by the short write up in the Discover magazine so I went down to my
local bookstore Barnes and Nobles and ordered it. In a couple of days I got a phone call
telling me that the book had arrived. It
is a paperback book costing about $20 which is a bit pricey for a paperback,
but I am glad I bought it. Still to some
degree disappointed because I thought it would be somewhat different than it is.
Now psychology is a type of science in which no
information on a subject ever becomes a theory because there is no way to prove
or disprove it. So, such information
always remains a hypothesis or some organized thought or idea on a specific
subject. I am not arguing that psychological concepts are not useful in
understanding the mind. The subject of this book Locus of Control (LOC) is
about ‘how we understand the world and our place in it’. Who doesn’t want to
know that!!!
Chapter 1 defined the meaning of LOC and why it is
important to everyone. I was fascinated by this chapter and read it thoroughly. It began with a fun quote from Mae West, ‘You
only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough’. Now those are words to
live by and comforting to us old people who think that we are doing it right!
I quickly found out that there are two groups of
people relative to their behavior. One
type of person has control over their lives called Internal and the other type who believes fate has handed them a bad
deal or are unlucky named External. Of course the first group is Choice in
the title and the other group is identified with the word Chance. It
became clear with further descriptions of these two groups it is best to be
Internal.
The author defines the Internal person as one who: (1)
takes responsibility; (2) is persistent; (3) delays gratification; (4) learns;
and, (5) resists coercion. Hey, what can go wrong with being Internal? Well
apparently they are candidates for: stress, increased anxiety, feeling of guilt
and self-criticism when goals are not met, fear loss of control, feeling
insecure, and lonely. You know experiencing the good with the bad. Still, once again it became clear as I read
further that it is better to be Internal than External.
Surprise, surprise what follows is a list of 40
questions with the ability to describe what kind of person the reader is:
Internal, External, or kind of in-between. Since it is best to be Internal as
the author suggests that everyone who is not should work hard to become one, I
took the test with some in trepidation. My score was 5 which made me an
Internal guy. The Internal group had a range of 0 – 8. I guess being a
scientist almost makes a person Internal for we must learn that life is more
than luck or fate or we could never have passed our Oral Exam for our PhD
degree. On the other hand, I suppose
most candidates might offer a little prayer going in to take their Orals.
It soon became clear to me that the author was
intrigued with this subject and one who had most of his life developed this
concept. Consequently, the book began to
investigate this subject in much greater depth than interested me. I imagine that if I was a psychologist I
would have enjoyed how LOC related to achievement in school, business, and
sports. How it related to coping with relating, psychological disorders, and
physical illness and injury. Hey, I just found out that I am an Internal guy at
the top of my game so I will do good in all of those things. And, at 84 years of being an Internal person,
I have fought a good fight and I think winning most of the time. No surprise here, being Internal I should
have succeeded!
I was disappointed in not reading about his take on
religion which by definition relates to the External person. You know, can someone who believes in a God
ever be an Internal? Interestingly, I have friends who are religious with
advanced degrees in science. That
concerned me but they must be able to compartmentalize it for a scientist can’t
really believe in fate or good luck. I guess to them somehow, God rises above
fate and luck.
I had an experience when I was 5 years old which is
relevant to understanding Chance. I was
riding my tricycle on the sidewalk when crossing the opening to an alley a car
coming out of it at a relatively high speed hit me. I was thrown several feet out onto the
street. The car without stopping sped
off. The noise of the impact brought my
mother and several neighbors running to me expecting the worse seeing me lying
in the street on a demolished tricycle. Amazingly, I was not hurt, not even
scratched! I am sure some Believers knew it was God looking over me which I
understand but can easily discount. On
the other hand, this is an example of Chance which can best be described as
involving fate or luck!
So, I assume we all could become External depending on
the circumstance. I have heard that
there are no atheists in fox holes. So, when the Internal is in a life-threating
situation by choice where the outcome cannot be controlled will the Internal
become interested in fate and luck? And oh yes God…
This a good question for, as an old person, I think of
death every once in a while. Now, death is an important event in a person’s
life. In fact, in many ways it could be
called the most important event one encounters after a person is born (no one
remembers that) for it lasts an eternity and life lasted but a few
decades. So, how does an Internal handle
being old and approaching death? For us there is no glorious Heaven, just
death.
The author only address this subject once and that is
on page 51 with the simple statement that in late adulthood, which I guess he
means when we are old, ‘…we stop becoming more Internal and begin to become
more External’. He never explains why he thinks this metamorphosis occurs but I
assume that the prospect of death is a good possibility. Simply death can only
be conquered by an External. He does include a study of older people who should
be becoming more External which addressed his concept of a ‘cognitive training
experience’. This program ‘Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and
Vital Elderly’ (ACTIVE) was tried in people over 65 years of age (not what I
call old). And, yes this program did
reverse the change toward becoming External with age and become more Internal.
So, the more Internal we are the better our life will
be, usually. I suppose that some
Internals try too hard and without the success promised by it, become Externals
thus going from Choice to Chance.
Of course, I wish more information was provided
regarding LOC on old age such as us old people in our 80s are
experiencing. More and more, I find that
once I have lived to be old I have more interest in learning about old
people. On the other hand, I find less
information on being old. This lack of information on us old people occurs in
many subjects. And why not, everyone
thinks we should be dead.
I guess I should feel lucky for more of my colleagues/friends have died than are still
living. Did I just suggest that luck has been involved in living to be this
old? Well maybe… You know, perhaps be more External in our old age and put our
lives in the hands of fate and hope and pray for the best.
5/16
