AO1 - Locus of Control

• Locus of control: Personality trait which refers to a person's perception of personal control over their own behaviour. (1) There is a scale of locus of control with internal at one end and external at the other. (1)
• Internal LOC:

  • individuals believe they control what happens to them and their behaviour is caused by their own personal decisions and effort (1)
  • trust their own judgement more than others, those with a strong internal LOC are more likely to remain independent in their behaviour and rely less on the opinions of others, meaning they are more able to resist social influence (1)
• External LOC:

  • individuals believe that what happens to them is determined by external factors such as luck or fate (1)
  • put more trust into the judgement/decisions of authority figures, those with an external LOC take less personal responsibility for their actions and are less likely to remain independent in their behaviour so are less able to resist social influence (1)