Are you in control?

This test is retyped from The Complete Book of Personality Tests: Learn about and develop your personality quotient. Scale: 1=5(Strongly Agree) 2=4(Agree) 3=3(Not Sure) 4=2(Disagree) 5=1(Strongly Disagree)

1. I am the captain of my ship.

2. You can’t fight City Hall.

3. Government is there to solve our problems.

4. I can achieve anything if I try hard enough.

5. I seldom admit defeat.

6. I do not believe in free will.

7. Fate plays an important part in my life.

8. I prefer to fight my own battles.

9. Issues in the modern world are often too complex to understand fully.

10. I sometimes feel unable to cope.

11. At work I like to be told exactly what to do.

12. I would like to conduct an orchestra.

13. Astrology has a profound influence on our lives.

14. I frequently pray over my problems.

15. I like to be left to get on with things.

16. I am confident about the course my life is taking.

17. Destiny plays no part in my life.

18. Taking orders irritates me.

19. I defer to my elders and betters.

20. If you want something done properly, you have to do it yourself.

21. We often need help and advice from our supervisors.

22. I like to be part of an organization.

23. I admire cats for their independence.

24. I enjoy working independently.

25. I like someone else to check my work before it’s finished.

Reversed the point for questions 2,3,6,7,9,10,11,13,14,19,21,22,25.

Scoring

People with an internal locus believe that they are in charge of their own lives, are frequently optimists, and believe that they can overcome any obstacles. They tend to put very little faith in outside influences or regulating bodies such as governments, or more fuzzy concepts such as luck or fate. By contrast, people who feel their lives are controlled by outside forces and that they are powerless to influence events are said to have an external locus; this is associated with a pessimistic attitude to life. In our test, the higher your score, the more internalized your locus.

Over 110

This shows you have a strongly internal locus. You are certainly not lacking confidence in yourself. But beware, you may overestimate your ability to influence your circumstances.

96-110

You’re pretty sure that you can control your life but are realistic enough to know that some situations are beyond your control. Your optimism helps you overcome difficulties, and you’re wise enough to know when to give up.

75-95

You are inclined to think you have things under your control but you have some serious doubts. You are aware that there are times when you feel overcome by events. You are optimistic but easily dented by harsh reality.

61-74

You seriously doubt your ability to handle events and suspect that much of your life is beyond your control. Any optimistic feelings you have are very fragile indeed, and you are uncomfortably aware that you often fail.

46-60

You have a rather pessimistic outlook and feel that most of the time you are controlled by events rather than vice versa. You would like to be more in control but have little confidence that you could bring it off.

31-45

You lack of confidence in your ability is a serious obstacle to you. It would certainly be worth trying to cultivate a more positive, confident attitude in order to exercise control over many events in your life.

Below 31

You locus of control is almost entirely external. This is a situation that requires some form of help. You lack of confidence in your ability is so pronounced that it is adversely affecting your whole life. You really do need to be helped to see you are not as powerless as you believe yourself to be.