locus of control (LoC)

what is locus of control? who coined this term?

• refers to a person’s perception of personal control over their own behaviour

• Rotter (1966)

is locus of control a situational or dispositional explanation of social influence?

dispositional explanation

what are the features of an internal locus of control?

• belief in a high level of personal control over lives and behaviour, taking large amounts of personal responsibility

• can resist social pressure from others ∴ less likely to obey

what are the features of an external locus of control?

• belief that life is determined by external/environmental factors e.g. luck

• do not believe they exercise personal control over lives → more likely to obey/be influenced by others

summarise Spector (1983):

• used Rotter’s (1966) LoC scale on 157 students

• found individuals w/ a high external LoC were less likely to conform, but only in cases of NSI (found no differences in cases of ISI)

summarise Holland (1967):

• repeated Milgram’s (1963) study and measured whether ppts had internal/external LoCs

• 37% of internals did not continue to highest shock level, 23% of externals did not continue to highest shock level

• ∴ shows resistance is related to LoC, increasing LoC’s validity

which type of LoC helps people to resist pressure to conform and why? what evidence is there for this?

• people w/ an internal LoC are less likely to conform - more independent

• Spector (1983)

which type of LoC helps people to resist pressure to obey and why? what evidence is there for this?

• people w/ a high internal LoC are less likely to obey - can base decisions on own beliefs and are more self confident

• Holland (1967)

summarise Oliver and Oliver (1998):

• Jewish WW2 survivors who compared the LoCs of those who resisted orders to those who followed orders

• 406 who resisted orders were likely to have a high internal LoC in comparison to the126 who followed orders

• ∴ suggests that those w/ a high internal LoC are less likely to follow orders

summarise Twenge et al. (2004):

• analysed data from American LoC studies between 1960-2002

• showed people have become more independent but also more external LoCs

• → unexpected as if resistance is linked to internal LoC, it would be expected that people are becoming more internal

• ∴ LoC may not be a valid explanation of resistance to social influence

what are the strengths of LoC?

• research support - Oliver and Oliver (1998)

• findings of Twenge et al. (2004) cannot be generalised due to culture bias - only American studies were analysed

what are the limitations of LoC?

• Oliver and Oliver (1998) - cannot be generalised e.g. WW2: many other factors causing people to obey/resist orders other than LoC

• Twenge et al. (2004)