What is locus of control?
Locus of control is a psychological concept describing where a person generally believes the causes of life outcomes are located:
Within themselves—their actions, decisions, skills, preparation, and persistence
Outside themselves—luck, fate, circumstances, powerful institutions, or other people
The concept was introduced by psychologist Julian B. Rotter, who described locus of control as a person’s expectation about whether outcomes are mainly connected to their own behavior or to forces beyond their control.[^1]
Take the Hypnotechs Locus of Control assessment here: https://hypnotechs.com/quiz/locus-of-control
Internal locus of control
A person with a relatively internal locus of control tends to think:
“My preparation affects how I perform.”
“I can improve with practice.”
“My choices influence what happens next.”
“Even if I cannot control everything, I can usually control my response.”
This does not mean believing that a person controls every outcome. It means placing meaningful weight on personal influence.
External locus of control
A person with a relatively external locus of control may be more likely to think:
“Success depends mostly on being lucky.”
“Other people determine what happens to me.”
“There is not much point in trying because circumstances decide the result.”
“Some people are simply destined to succeed or fail.”
An external orientation can also reflect a realistic recognition that many events are shaped by social, economic, medical, environmental, and other forces outside personal control.
Most people are not entirely internal or external. Locus of control usually exists on a continuum, and it may differ across areas of life. Someone may feel highly self-directed at work but powerless in relationships, health, finances, or family situations.
Is an internal locus of control always better?
No. An internal locus of control is not automatically healthier, more accurate, or more desirable in every situation.
A strong sense of personal agency can be useful because it is often associated with:
Greater persistence when facing obstacles
More active problem-solving
Greater willingness to learn and practice
More confidence in making decisions
A stronger tendency to prepare and take responsibility
However, an overly internal orientation can create problems. A person may take excessive responsibility for events they could not reasonably control, such as:
Another person’s behavior
A serious illness
Economic conditions
Discrimination or institutional barriers
Accidents and unexpected losses
The choices and emotional reactions of other people
This can lead to unnecessary guilt, shame, frustration, or burnout.
An overly external orientation can also become unhelpful when it causes someone to overlook realistic opportunities for action. For example, believing that nothing can improve may reduce motivation to seek support, develop skills, set boundaries, or change an avoidable pattern.
A balanced view of control
The most useful position is often a flexible and accurate sense of control:
Identify what is directly controllable.
Identify what can be influenced but not guaranteed.
Recognize what is genuinely outside personal control.
Invest effort where it can make a meaningful difference.
Release responsibility for outcomes that cannot reasonably be controlled.
This approach avoids both helplessness and excessive self-blame.
The question is not simply, “Am I internal or external?” A more useful question is:
“What part of this situation is mine to influence, and what part is not?”
Can locus of control change?
Yes. Locus of control is not necessarily a permanent personality trait. It can be relatively stable while still changing through experience, learning, stress, relationships, therapy, and deliberate practice.
People may develop a stronger sense of personal agency when they repeatedly experience that their actions produce meaningful results. Examples include:
Learning a new skill
Following through on a manageable goal
Improving health behaviors
Practicing assertive communication
Setting and maintaining a boundary
Solving a problem that once seemed overwhelming
Receiving support and discovering that change is possible
These experiences can strengthen the connection between effort and outcome.
The reverse can also happen. Repeated exposure to uncontrollable stress, trauma, coercion, discrimination, chronic illness, or repeated failure may lead a person to expect that their actions will not matter. This can contribute to passivity or helplessness, even when some opportunities for influence later become available.
Ways to develop a more balanced sense of agency
1. Separate the outcome from the process
You may not control whether a particular result occurs, but you may control preparation, communication, persistence, and recovery.
For example:
You cannot guarantee a job offer.
You can improve your résumé, prepare for the interview, and apply strategically.
2. Use small, measurable actions
Large goals can make control feel abstract. Small actions provide clearer feedback:
Practice for ten minutes
Make one phone call
Write one boundary statement
Take one planned walk
Complete one step of a larger task
3. Review evidence rather than relying only on feelings
Ask:
What did I do that helped?
What was outside my control?
What would I repeat?
What would I change?
What did I learn?
This helps prevent both “I caused everything” and “I caused nothing” thinking.
4. Replace global conclusions
Statements such as “Nothing I do matters” are often too broad. A more precise alternative might be:
“I cannot control the final decision, but I can control how I prepare and whether I ask for feedback.”
5. Practice responsibility without self-blame
Taking responsibility means identifying your choices and next steps. It does not require condemning yourself for every unwanted result.
How does locus of control relate to hypnosis?
Locus of control can influence how people understand and respond to hypnosis, but it does not determine whether someone can be hypnotized.
Hypnosis is commonly described as a state involving focused attention, reduced peripheral awareness, and increased responsiveness to suggestions.[^2] People differ in how they respond to different forms of suggestion, and expectations about hypnosis can influence the experience.[^3]
Hypnosis does not require surrendering control
A common misconception is that hypnosis works by taking control away from a person. In ordinary therapeutic hypnosis:
The client remains an active participant.
Suggestions are generally experienced as invitations, instructions, images, or ideas.
The client can reject suggestions that conflict with their values or goals.
The client can usually speak, move, pause, or end the exercise.
Hypnosis does not compel a person to reveal information or perform behavior against their will.
A person’s sense of agency can therefore be an important part of the hypnotic experience. Some people find hypnosis more comfortable when it is presented as an active skill they are practicing. Others may respond better to a slower, more permissive style that emphasizes choice and safety.
Different approaches may fit different agency patterns
The Hypnotechs Locus Control & Agency Profile considers three related areas:
Personal efficacy and skill ownership
How strongly a person connects results with effort, discipline, strategy, and learning.Socio-environmental autonomy
How much a person feels directed by other people, expectations, institutions, or social pressures.Subconscious plasticity
Whether a person views habits and automatic responses as trainable and changeable, or as fixed programming, fate, or unchangeable traits.
These areas can point toward different therapeutic starting points. For example:
Someone with a strong sense of agency may prefer active exercises, goal-directed imagery, and self-hypnosis practice.
Someone who feels controlled by outside pressures may benefit from gentle suggestions emphasizing choice, boundaries, and gradual control.
Someone who feels “stuck” may benefit from small experiments that demonstrate that automatic responses can change.
Someone who doubts their ability may benefit from brief, achievable exercises that create evidence of progress.
These are starting points rather than rigid rules. A skilled practitioner should adapt the method to the individual, their goals, consent, expectations, and emotional state.
Expectation and agency
Research on hypnotic responding has examined the role of expectancy—what a person believes may happen and how they interpret the experience. Irving Kirsch’s response-expectancy theory proposed that expectations can influence subjective experiences and behavior, including responses to hypnosis.[^3]
This does not mean that hypnosis is “just imagination” in a dismissive sense. Imagery, expectation, attention, interpretation, and motivation can all affect real experiences and behavior. It does mean that a person’s beliefs about control and change may shape how readily they engage with hypnotic suggestions.
Self-hypnosis and locus of control
Self-hypnosis can be especially relevant to locus of control because it gives a person a structured way to practice:
Focused attention
Relaxation or activation
Mental rehearsal
Self-directed suggestion
Emotional regulation
Habit-supporting cues
Goal clarification
The purpose is not to pretend that every problem is under personal control. Rather, self-hypnosis can help a person work with areas that are influenceable: attention, interpretation, emotional responses, routines, motivation, and behavior.
For example, someone preparing for a difficult conversation might use self-hypnosis to rehearse calm breathing, clear communication, and a boundary statement. The exercise cannot control how the other person responds, but it may strengthen the user’s preparation and response flexibility.
The Hypnotechs Locus Control & Agency Profile
The Hypnotechs profile is an educational self-assessment designed to explore personal agency across three areas rather than assign a simple “internal” or “external” label. It uses 24 questions and provides an Overall Agency Index along with scores for:
Personal efficacy and skill ownership
Socio-environmental autonomy
Subconscious plasticity
The results are intended for reflection and for discussing what kinds of hypnosis or self-hypnosis exercises may feel most natural. They are not a clinical diagnosis, and they should not be used to identify depression, anxiety disorders, trauma-related conditions, ADHD, personality disorders, or any other medical or mental health condition.
A score is also not a moral grade. A lower sense of agency may reflect current stress, illness, grief, coercive circumstances, exhaustion, or previous experiences in which personal effort genuinely had little effect. Results can change as circumstances and beliefs change.
Summary
Locus of control describes whether a person generally connects outcomes more with personal actions or with outside forces.
An internal locus can support persistence and problem-solving, but it is not always better.
An overly internal view can produce self-blame; an overly external view can reduce action and hope.
A balanced approach recognizes both personal influence and genuine limits.
Locus of control can change through experience, learning, support, therapy, and repeated evidence that actions matter.
In hypnosis, beliefs about agency and change may affect comfort, expectations, and preferred methods.
Hypnosis does not require surrendering control. It can be used as an active method for practicing attention, emotional regulation, mental rehearsal, and behavior change.
[^1]: Rotter, Julian B. “Generalized Expectancies for Internal Versus External Control of Reinforcement.” Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, vol. 80, no. 1, 1966, pp. 1–28.
[^2]: American Psychological Association, Division 30. “Definition of Hypnosis.” International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, vol. 56, no. 4, 2008, pp. 375–377.
[^3]: Kirsch, Irving. “Response Expectancy as a Determinant of Experience and Behavior.” American Psychologist, vol. 40, no. 11, 1985, pp. 1189–1202.