AO2 Locus of Control

• Twenge et al carried out two meta-analyses of locus of control studies of young Americans, data included 97 samples of college students and 41 samples of children aged between 9 and 14 years
• Twenge et al found that locus of control scores had become increasingly more external between 1960 and 2002
• Twenge et al found that participants increasingly believed that their fate was determined more by luck and powerful others rather than their own actions
• Twenge's research has positive and negative consequences

  • positive = more tolerant regardless of background -> believe situational factors shape everybody's lives
  • negative = feeling of hopelessness -> high levels of externality lead to this

  Young people increasingly feel that outside forces control their lives
• Research has found gender differences in locus of control

  • Semykina and Linz found that males are more likely to have internal locus of control and women are more external
  • usually attributed to differences in opportunities
  • Sherman et al said that everyone is becoming more external
• Research has found cultural differences in locus of control

  • people in different cultures may also vary in terms of locus of control
  • collectivist cultures are more likely to blame external factors
  • suggests that locus of control may be passed on as part of a cultures tradition, explaining cultural differences in dependent and independent behaviour