Research with the Locus of Control Construct (PDF)

Research with the Locus of Control Construct, Volume 1: Assessment Methods was created to serve two purposes. The first is to fill the researcher's need for information about the application of appropriate locus of control scales to their particular purposes or samples. It presents a variety of locus of control scales and describes the relevant research and applications. The second purpose for this book involves the general field of personality psychology. Often personality constructs emerge, occupy center stage for the better part of a decade, and then almost silently disappear from view. By contrast, the locus of control construct has occupied a central position in personality research for a decade. The contributions to this volume represent some of the innovations that extend the utility of the locus of control construct to different areas of concern. It illustrates a simple principle-that a construct continues to be viable only as long as it continues to inspire innovations; if it remains static the construct will eventually disappear.
This book is intended to provide information regarding new developments and to encourage new questions and applications that may allow the locus of control construct to outlive the brief life span that is common among personality constructs. It is assumed that the reader is already familiar with the basic literature on locus of control research.