Multiple Intelligence and Its Influence on Locus of Control

INTRODUCTIONSelf-awareness and Self-attribution has been associated with making right choices, improved relationships, mental health, positive coping skills and even managing addictive behaviors. Heider (1958) was the first to study this and asserted that people tend to locate the cause of behaviour either within a person or outside a person (attributing it to environmental factors). Self-attributions are inferences that people draw about the causes of their own behaviour. He established the dimensions along which attributions are made: internal versus external; stable versus unstable; controllable versus uncontrollable. Various theorists later elaborated on Heider's concept (Jones & Davis, 1965; Kelly, 1967; Weiner, 1974). Heider's Concepta) Internal versus External: Internal attributions ascribe the causes of behaviour to personal dispositions, traits, abilities and feelings. External attributions ascribe the causes of behaviour to Situational Demands, Environmental Demands and Environmental Constraints. Such attributions have tremendous impact on one's personal adjustment (Riso et al., 2003). b) Stable versus Unstable: Intelligence and Sense of Humour would be Stable Internal causes of behaviour. While Unstable Internal causes would be Mood and Motivation. Stable External causes of behaviour would be Laws and Rules. While Unstable External causes of behaviour would be Weather and Presence/Absence of people.c) Events under one's control Versus Events not under one's control.Binet's first attempt to create an Intelligence test included items of 'self-critique'- a critical understanding of oneself. Bandura created a concept called 'Self-efficacy' (a person's belief about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives) which is built on our varying degrees of self-awareness. Self-awareness affects social and emotional development (Foley, 2006). Linked to it all was the concept of Locus of Control. Rotter (1966) developed a scale for measuring Internal and External LOC. This construct was considered to be unidimensional. Internals believe that their successes and failures are governed by their actions and abilities. While Externals believe that their successes and failure are governed by fate, luck, chance, powerful others and unpredictable environmental forces. His core approach was called Expectancy Value Theory. Internal Locus of Control people (with High General Expectancy) believe that they can control the likelihood of receiving reinforcers. External Locus of Control people (with Low General Expectancy) don't see much link between their behavior and the likelihood of being rewarded.Levenson (1981) proposed a multidimensional conceptualization of LOC with three scales: The I, P and C, each scale comprising of 6-item questionnaire in a 7-point Likert format. The I scale measures the extent to which people believe that they have control over their lives. The P scale deals with Powerful Others. C scale is concerned with perceptions of Chance Control. She proposed that there are two types of External orientations: belief in the basic unordered and random nature of the world; and belief in the basic order and predictability of the world (where there is potential for control). The major implication was that to be 'External' was not always undesirable or bad. The scale was developed with the concept that those who believe in Powerful Others (P- where potential for control exists), will behave and think differently than those who feel the world is unpredictable and based on Chance factor (C- where potential for control does not exist). Factor Analysis conducted later also confirmed that each of the three factors of I, P & C were composed entirely of their respective scale items. There was no overlap and the three orientations were developed theoretically and emerge empirically.Earlier to Levenson's concept of multidimensionality of Locus of Control, some other Psychologists had also proposed similar concepts (Collins, 1974; Gurin, Gurin, Lao & Beattie, 1969; Mirels, 1970). …