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Locus of control test

Do you believe your life is steered by your own choices, by powerful others, or by chance? Three scales from Levenson's classic model, with your orientation explained.

  • 21 questions
  • About 3 min

Questionnaire / instrument: IPIP Locus of Control (Levenson)

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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 questions because some contribute to more than one scale. Each scale uses its own scoring direction. We show three response-scale scores and a summary of internal versus external orientation.

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.

License and reuse

Public domain

IPIP 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

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