About the test
Locus of control test
Do you believe your life is steered by your own actions, by powerful other people or by chance? This free test uses public-domain IPIP scales for Hanna Levenson’s three dimensions and shows how your beliefs balance between internal and external control.
Questionnaire / instrument: IPIP Locus of Control (Levenson)
The test at a glance
- Price
- Free, including your results
- Registration
- No account required
- Length
- 21 statements
- Time
- About 3 minutes
- Format
- Self-report · five response options
- Your report
- Orientation · three scales
Levenson’s three scales
Julian Rotter described locus of control as a single dimension from internal to external. Levenson split the external side in two, so the report scores three scales separately, and you can be high on more than one:
Internality
Believing that your own ability and effort decide what happens. The statements concern hard work paying off, knowing why you do things and being able to stand on your own feet.
Powerful others
Believing that other people and institutions decide what happens to you, such as feeling that a few powerful people control the world or that life has short-changed you.
Chance
Believing that luck and fate decide what happens, for example that some people are born lucky or that you are resigned to your fate.
What your results show
Your result is calculated as soon as you have answered the last statement. You can preview the layout with an example report before taking the test.
- Your orientation: mostly internal, mostly external or balanced, with an explanation of what it can mean.
- Internal and external control side by side on a 0–100 scale. External control is the average of the Powerful others and Chance scales.
- When Powerful others and Chance differ clearly, a note on which external belief weighs more for you.
- Your score on each of Levenson’s three scales, marked low, average or high, with a description.
- Suggestions for strengthening internal control and background facts about the concept.
What does it measure?
Your beliefs about what shapes events in your life: your own actions, powerful other people or chance. The three dimensions can coexist rather than forming a single either-or trait.
Where does it come from?
The test uses IPIP scales based on Hanna Levenson’s distinction between internality, powerful others and chance. The source provides three overlapping ten-item scales.
How is the result calculated?
There are 21 unique statements because some contribute to more than one scale, and each scale is scored with its own key. Scale means are shown on a 0–100 answer scale. External control is the average of Powerful others and Chance, and your orientation is internal or external when one side leads by at least 15 points, otherwise balanced.
What can the result tell you?
The result describes your beliefs about control, not how much control you actually have. Circumstances matter, and an external explanation can be realistic. The summary labels are our own, without population norms.
Languages and adaptations
Some item translations are reused from our existing IPIP banks; other wording was translated for this site with AI assistance. Translation does not by itself establish that a scale has the same measurement properties in another language.
Frequently asked questions
Is the test free, including the results?
Yes. You can answer all the statements and read your full report without paying or creating an account.
What is the difference between an internal and an external locus of control?
With an internal locus of control, you see outcomes as following from your own effort and choices. With an external one, you see them as decided by powerful others, luck or fate. Levenson’s model treats these as separate beliefs rather than two ends of one scale, so you can believe both that effort pays off and that powerful people set the limits.
How is my orientation decided?
Your orientation is internal if your Internality score is at least 15 points higher than external control on the 0–100 scale, external if it is the other way round, and balanced otherwise. External control is the average of Powerful others and Chance. The 15-point rule is our own reporting choice, not a published cut-off.
Why are there only 21 statements for three ten-item scales?
The three IPIP keys overlap. Several statements count towards two or three scales, sometimes in opposite directions: “Feel comfortable with myself” counts towards Internality and against both external scales. Each scale is scored with its own key, so every scale still uses ten answers.
Who am I compared with?
Nobody. There are no published norms for these scales, so a score shows where your answers fall between 0 and 100. Low means an average answer below 2.5 on the five-point scale and high means above 3.5, the same limits as our Big Five test.
How accurate is the test?
IPIP reports internal consistency (alpha) of .71 for Internality, .81 for Powerful others and .72 for Chance, which is moderate. Several statements, such as “Dislike myself” and “Feel that my life lacks direction”, are about how you see yourself and also appear in our self-esteem and optimism tests, so the scores partly reflect self-esteem. Our translations have not been validated separately.
Is an internal locus of control always better?
Not always. An internal locus of control is linked to taking initiative, persistence and better wellbeing, but the effects are modest. It can also lead you to blame yourself for things outside your control. Many researchers see a realistic mix, taking responsibility where you can make a difference and accepting real limits, as the healthiest position.
License and reuse
Public domainIPIP places its items and scales in the public domain. They may be used, copied, adapted and translated for commercial and non-commercial purposes without a fee or separate permission.
The terms below apply to the test materials. Articles, translations, software and our result descriptions may have separate terms.
Sources and further reading
Levenson, H. (1981). Differentiating among internality, powerful others, and chance. In H. M. Lefcourt (Ed.), Research with the locus of control construct (Vol. 1, pp. 15–63). Academic Press. IPIP scales: https://ipip.ori.org/newSingleConstructsKey.htm