Personality Psychology- Rotter

The study of personality within the discipline of psychology, focuses on individual differences; traits, motives, culture etcetera and how these integrate to form a distinctive being and hence pattern of cognitions, affects and behavior (Pervin & John 2000). Personality research and theories thus seek to understand and explain what differences have the greatest bearing or influence in anyone context, how such differences are developed and perhaps most important, how the latter can predict future individual functioning. One such example is the Locus of control construct as developed by Rotter. The construct, which has been utilized in many studies and areas within personality (social learning, attitudes to health, helping behaviors) attributes ones behavior to their perceived expectancy about whether a given reinforcement is under external or internal control (Morris & Maisto 2001). Given the past and growing interest in the latter as a variable within personality research, it is necessary to evaluate the usefulness of the locus of control construct as a valid scientific theory. The purpose of the essay at hand is to complete this very task with reference to a variety of research articles that hypothesize that ones locus of control

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Locus of control, one of the most prominent variables studied within the field, fulfills each of these to varying degrees; hence research relevance very well, parsimony quite good and comprehensiveness arguably middling. A comprehensive construct requires the concepts of bandwidth and fidelity; that is the ability to encompass and account for a wide variety of data whilst specifically dealing with applicable events and phenomena.

As has been highlighted, the above construct has been a key variable in many personality based studies. As is evident in just a small number of research studies, the construct lends itself to a broad range of applications. 2001), medical professionals could seek to intervene and develop this orientation through education prior to operating. As is evident in the selection of research studies, the construct is broad enough to lend itself to a range of theoretical and practical problems; health issues in the study of the frequency of illness in individuals (Kendell et. In studying issues of concern to society; that on marital quality (Myers & Booth 1999) being the most obvious given the increasing rate of divorce in the western world, research findings can clearly be utilized to develop education programs or inform appropriate parties. With regards to the current, locus of control is obviously lacking in how specifically it deals with those events or concepts to which it relates. The question of which, if any, psychological factors are involved in the latter is hence still needing to be addressed. Thus in Ginsberg (2000); an external locus of control would predict stuttering behaviors whilst an internal locus of control would predict fewer stuttering behaviors or likewise in Van den Akker et. Individuals with an internal locus of control believe they can control their own fate and outcomes are the result of hard work, skill and personal effort, thus behaving accordingly; for example studying for a psychology exam to attain a high grade or exercising regularly to aid health and fitness. In contrast, individuals with an external locus of control believe that outcomes are due to outside forces including chance, luck and the behavior of others; essentially they perceive they have no real control over the attainment of reinforcements. The hypothesis, which is notably supported, is that there exists a direct association between marital quality and martial locus of control and furthermore individuals with an internal orientation have less incidence of marital strain than do external orientated individuals.

Approximate Word count = 1950
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

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