Locus of Control- Resistance to Social Influence

• Locus of control is the part of our personality (aka disposition) that refers to our perception of control of what happens in our lives.
• Locus of Control is measured along a continuum from 'internal' to 'external' locus of control.
• Internal Locus of Control:

  • People with internal LOC believe that what happens is down to them, eg personal choice or effect.
  • Believe that they have high levels of personal control, so what happens is due to own ability & effort- so are more likely to resist social influence.
  • Feel personal responsibility so stay autonomous rather than undergoing the agentic shift required for obedience.
  • People are less concerned with what other people are doing & feel confident in their own decisions, therefore do not look to the group for social norms, so conform less.
• External Locus of Control:

  • People with external LOC believe that external factors (eg luck, fate, other people) influence what happens in their lives.
  • Believe behaviour is caused by external forces, so tend to be more passive & fatalistic- so more likely to yield social influence.
  • They see others as having responsibility to readily enter an agentic state & obediently follow orders.
  • Concerned with what others are doing & following them, so less confident.
• Evaluation of Resistance to Social Influence- Strength:

  • Research evidence support for the role of LOC in resisting social influence- Autgis (1998) conducted a meta-analysis of LOC & conformity studies, finding that those with high internal LOC were more likely to resist pressure to conform than those with a high external LOC.
  • This implies that differences in LOC are related to differences in levels of conformist behaviour.
• Evaluation of Resistance to Social Influence- Strength:

  • The importance of LOC in real life resistance to social influence to obey orders has been observed- Oliner (1988) compared German people who had either helped Jews or not during World War 2.
  • Found that 'helpers' tended to have higher internal LOC.
  • Indicates the importance of internal LOC in disobeying direct orders not to help & the potential consequences of such actions.