locus of control - dispositional variables

• dispositional factors


  individual personality characteristics that affect a person's behavior
• Locus of control

  A belief about the amount of control a person has over situations in their life.
• internal locus of control


  the perception that you control your own fate
• external locus of control


  refers to when consumers believe that fate or other external factors control all outcomes
• Holland 1967 - supporting locus of control

  Repeated Milgram's baseline study and measured participants to see if they were internal or external locus of control. 37% internal and 23% external did not continue to highest shock level. suggests locus of control can be a valid reason for disobedience.
• Twenge et al (2004) - contradictory evidence for LOC

  Meta analysis - analysed data from American locus of control studies, conducted over a 40 year period. Data showed over this life span, people became more resistant to obedience but also became ore external which is not expected, so suggest it is not a completely valid reason and may only tell us about resistance in new situations.