Locus of Control (LOC)

What is locus of control?

Refers to the sense we each have about what directs events in our lives.

• Internals believe they are mostly responsible for what happens to them (internal locus of control)

• Externals believe it’s mainly a matter of luck or other outside forces (external locus of control)

Who proposed the idea of the locus of control?

Rotter (1966); he designed a scale to measure LOC, assessing the extent to which someone uses a predominantly internal or external LOC.

What is the mindset of someone with an internal locus of control?

• Feels personally responsible

• More independent

• More confident in their own judgement

• Less likely to rely on others’ opinions

‘If you do well in an exam it’s because you worked hard, if you didn’t, it’s because you didn’t work hard (didn’t study)’

What is the mindset of someone with an external locus of control?

• Feels outcomes are outside their control

• More dependent on others

• More likely to look for guidance or approval

If they did well in an exam, it was because they used an excellent textbook, if they failed, they might blame it on bad luck because the questions were hard

How can locus of control affect resistance to social influence?

• People who have a high internal LOC are more likely to be able to resist pressures to conform or obey. This means if a person takes personal responsibility for their actions (as internals do) and experiences, they tend to base their decisions on their own beliefs, resisting the opinions of others.

• People with high internal LOC also tend to be more self-confident, more achievement-orientated and have higher intelligence. These traits lead to greater resistance to social influence (also a characteristic of leaders).

What is a strength of locus of control?

Research evidence supports the link between LOC and resistance to obedience.

• Holland (1967) repeated Milgram’s baseline study and measured whether participants were internals or externals.

• He found that 37% of internals didn’t continue to the highest shock level (i.e. showed resistance) and only 23% of externals didn’t continue

This shows that resistance is at least partly related to LOC, which increases the validity of LOC as an explanation of disobedience.

What is contradictory evidence that challenges the link between LOC and resistance?

Twenge et al. (2004) analysed the data from LOC studies conducted in America over a 42-year period (1960-2002).

• The data showed that over this time span, people became more resistant to obedience but also more external

• This is an issue because if resistance is linked to internal locus of control, we would expect people to have become more internal

This suggests that LOC is not a valid explanation of how people resist social influence.