believe that what happens in their life is largely the result of their own behaviour and that they have control over their life. Rotter proposes that the individuals with an internal locus of control would be better at resisting social pressures
External locus of control
believe that what happens to them is controlled by external factors such as luck or fate. Individuals with an external locus of control are more
likely to conform and obey as they feel that they do not have complete control over their life
Research support - Oliner x2
Interviewed non-Jewish survivors of WWII, and compared those who had
resisted orders, to those who had not. They found that the ‘rescuers’, who had resisted orders, were more likely to have an internal locus of control
Limitation (LOC)
Methodological critiscism - This is because locus of control has typically been assessed using the Rotter scale which was a 23 item forced choice scale.
