Locus of control

• Rotter proposed locus of control as a concept concerned with internal vs external control

  internal LOC- believe things that happen to them are controlled by themself

  external LOC- believe things that happen to them are outside their control

  continuum- this is a scale
• Resistance to social influence

  people with a high internal LOC are more able to resist pressures to conform or obey as they take personal responsibility for their actions so they tend to base their decisions on their own beliefs.

  They may also be more self-confident, more achievement oriented and have higher intelligence, these traits lead to greater resistance to social influence.
• The strength is that as research support of the link between LOC and resistance to obedience

  Holland repeated milgrams study and measured by the participants were internal or external

  37% of internals did not continue to the highest shock level compared to 23% of externals

  so internals showed greater resistance to authority

  this suggests that resistance is at least partly related to locus of control
• A limitation is evidence the challenges the link between locus of control and resistance

  an analysis of data from American locus of control studies conducted over a 40 year period showed that over this time span people became more resistant to obedience but more external

  If resistance is linked to an internal locus of control, we would expect people to have become more internal