Locus of Control

• Internal Locus of Control

  These people believe that what happens to them is largely down to their own behaviour. They hold the belief that one can control much of one's life and succeed in dificult or stressful situations, because they can control these events.
• External Locus of Control

  These people believe that what happens to them is largely controlled by external factors. They hold the belief that things are largely uncontrollable and that luck or fate are important factors.
• External Locus of Control

  More likely to obey/conform
• Internal Locus of Control

  Less likely to obey/conform
• Strength


  Atgis carried out a meta-analysis of studies, which considered locus of control and conformity, and found that those who scored higher on external locus of control were more easily persuaded and likely to conform than those with a low score. There was an average correlation between the locus of control and conformity of 0.37.
• Weakness


  The research was analysed using correlational methods, which means that cause and effect is not shown in the results. Therefore, it cannot be guaranteed that a high or low score for locus of control has an effect on persuasion or conformity.
• What does the concept of locus of control refer to?

  Control over one's life
• People with an internal locus of control believe they have control over their own lives
• Individuals with an external locus of control believe external factors control their lives.
• According to Rotter, which type of locus of control is more likely to resist social influence?

  Internal locus of control
• Oliner & Oliner's research in 1998 found that rescuers during WWII were more likely to have a high internal locus of control
• Oliner & Oliner's study proves that locus of control is the only factor influencing resistance to social influence.

  False
• What did Spector's research in 1983 investigate?

  Conformity and locus of control
• Spector found that individuals with a high internal locus of control were less likely to conform in situations of normative social influence
• Normative social influence is more powerful than informational social influence when considering locus of control.
• Match the researchers with their key findings:

  Rotter ↔️ Proposed the concept of locus of control

  Oliner & Oliner ↔️ Rescuers in WWII had high internal locus of control

  Spector ↔️ Internal locus of control reduces normative conformity