Dispositional Explanations Of Resistance To SI Flashcards
Who came up with the Locus of Control theory
Rotter (1966)
What did Rotter (1966) argue
That a person’s personality determines whether they will conform/obey or resist social influence, therefore, it’s a dispositional explanation
What does a persons locus of control refer to
The extent to which they believe they have control over their own behaviour
What do people with an internal locus of control believe
That what occurs in their life is the result of their own behaviour & actions, so they can alter what happens to them.
E.g. if they do badly on a test, they consider it to be the result of their own revision
What do people with an external locus of control believe
That what happens in their lives is outside of their control
-> that what occurs is determined by chance / other people so they can’t alter it
E.g. if they do badly on a test, they blame it on bad luck, the teacher etc
Why are people with a high internal locus of control less likely to obey/conform
- They’re more likely to be leaders
- They’re less concerned with social approval
- They’re more self confident
- They believe they control their own circumstances
Locus of control is measured on a dimension from
Internal to external
Locus of control (+) Oliner & Oliner (1988) german people
They interviewed 406 german people who had sheltered Jewish people from the nazis during the 1930s and 1940s.
-> these people had an internal locus of control, allowing them to disobey
AO3 P2 (+) Milgram
Milgram (1974) gave the pp’s a questionnaire to measure their locus of control
- 35% who disobeyed were more likely to have an internal locus of control than those who obeyed
P3 AO3 Internal Locus of control (-) Williams and Warchal (1981)
-> found that conformers were less assertive than non-conformers
But the two groups didn’t score differently on a test to determine locus of control
-> suggests that assertiveness is more important that locus of control in determining whether someone will conform
