how much a person belives they have control over events in their life.
External locus of control
belive that events are controlled by external factors and other people. (luck and fate)
Internal locus of control
what happens to them is a consequence of their own behavior and they take responsibility themselves.
Conformity - Internal locus
have more self-confidence and less need for approval and more likely to have their own opinions
Obedience - Internal locus
more likely to question authority and stay in autonomous state.reduces agentic shift.
Locus of control - Evaluation
Positive - Holland (1967) repeated Milgram's study 37% of internals did not go to max voltage opposed to 23% of externals.more internal=less obedience= more able to resist pressure to obey.
Positive - Spector (1983) found high external LOC did conform more thnan those with high internal LOC but only with tasks involving NSI
Negative - Jean Twenge (2004)young people became more external and more resistant to obedience, criticizing the validity of this explanation of resistance to social influence.
We are not victims of the enviroment, we make a choice.
