Locus of control

• Locus of control


  A measurement of an individual's sense of control over their lives, i.e to what extent they feel that events in their lives are under their own personal control, versus under the control of other external powers like fate
• Internal locus of control

  conform and obey less - take more responsibility for their own actions and see themselves as having more control
• External locus of control

  People are particularly susceptible towards obedience, since they believe that the majority of their life events are beyond their control, this means that they are more likely to act on behalf of another (i.e. as their agent) and shift responsibility onto this individual
• Internal locus of control thought


  • I won the award because I worked hard for it
• External locus of control thought


  • I won the award because it was meant to be – it was my destiny
• Atgis (1998) meta-analysis of LoC

  locus of control and likeliness to conform,

  finding that those who scored highest on the external locus of control were more easily persuaded and more likely to conform
• Oliner and Oliner (1988) - holocaust

  interviewed two groups of non-Jewish people who had lived through the holocaust

  rescuers were found to have an internal locus of control and also scored higher on measures of social responsibility
• Rutter - The LoC explanation is only valid for new situations

  LoC is influential when ppl face new and unfamiliar situations. (EXTERNAL)

  When dealing with familiar situations, previous experiences and learned behaviors are more decisive factors in determining how individuals will act increase (INTERNAL)

  highlights the importance of context in understanding the impact of psychological constructs like LoC on behavior.
• 37% of internals did not continue to the highest shock level (showed independence), only 23% of externals did not continue
• Spector (1983) 

  participants with high external LoC conformed more when there was normative social influence
• Moghaddam (1998)


  Japanese people have a more external LoC and are more likely to conform
• Schurz (1985) 


  
  

  people with internal LoC are more likely to take responsibility for their actions