Personality
Do You Control Your Life, or Does Life Control You?
Whether life happens to you, or because of you.
How this is scored
14 forced-choice item pairs inspired by locus-of-control research. Original wording, educational use only.
Academic References & Background
- Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 80(1), 1-28.
Your result
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The 5 possible results
Every answer nudges you toward one of these. Here is what each one means.
Strongly internal
You hold yourself responsible for what happens to you, almost across the board. This belief is linked with persistence, higher achievement, and better health behaviour: people who think effort matters put in more of it.
Leaning internal
You generally believe your actions drive your outcomes, while still recognising that luck and circumstance play a hand. This is roughly the healthiest position: enough agency to keep acting, enough realism to avoid blaming yourself for the weather.
Balanced
You read causes situationally rather than through one lens: sometimes it is you, sometimes it is the conditions. That flexibility is useful, and it means the more interesting question is which specific areas of your life you feel in charge of and which you have quietly written off.
Leaning external
You tend to see outcomes as shaped mainly by circumstances, timing, and other people. That view is often earned: plenty of people have had control taken from them, and reading the world accurately is not a flaw.
Strongly external
You consistently locate the cause of events outside yourself. Where that reflects real constraints, it is simply accurate.
About this assessment
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Do You Control Your Life, or Does Life Control You? measure?
Whether life happens to you, or because of you. 14 forced-choice item pairs inspired by locus-of-control research. Original wording, educational use only.
How is this test scored and how long does it take?
This test contains 14 questions and takes about 2 minutes to complete. All scoring runs instantly in your browser with zero sign-up.
Are my responses and results kept private?
Yes, 100% private. All calculations happen entirely inside your web browser. Your answers never leave your device and are never stored on any server.
Is this a clinical or medical diagnosis?
No. MindType tests are created for self-reflection, personal insight, and education. They do not constitute clinical, psychiatric, or psychological diagnosis.
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