Social Cognitive - Locus's of control

Some of the ideas put forth by social-cognitive theorists, including Bandura's concept of self-efficacy, are almost like traits that describe an individual's characteristic way of thinking. An example is Julian Rotter's concept of locus of control. A person can be described as having either an internal or an external locus of control. People with an internal locus of control feel as if they are responsible for what happens to them. For instance, they tend to believe that hard work will lead to success. Conversely, people with an external locus of control generally believe that luck and other forces outside of their own control determine their destinies. A person's locus of control can have a large effect on how a person thinks and acts, thus impacting their personality. A number of positive outcomes have been found to be associated with having an internal locus of control. As compared with externals, internals tend to be healthier, to be more politically active, and tend to do better in school. Of course, these findings are strictly based on correlational research (no cause & effect relationship), so we can't conclude that locus of control causes such differences.