A highly externalized locus of control may look like:
- “Everything that happens to me is outside of my control.”
- If you are late to work you will blame things like traffic, poor sleep due to noisy neighbours - things that are out of your control etc.
- Positive traits can be: Resilient to change, rolls with the punches, very trusting and willing to ask for help
- Negative traits can be: Blames everything and anything other than themselves because nothing is within their control in their eyes, waits around for things to happen to them rather than motivating themselves, struggle to accept compliments because any success they have is surely luck or some other external reason.
Parenting can contribute to you being on this extreme. The parent may not note any of the child’s accomplishments like “You did good on that test because you’re lucky” or “You’re lucky that that person likes you because there’s nothing good about you.” This child become unable to take ownership of anything in their life. “the world hates me” is the mentality they come away with and that everything is against them and there is nothing they can do about it but accept it. Which leads to a negative sense of self and a lack of self-efficacy.
This is the complete opposite of a 🍃 highly internalised locus of control.
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