Individual Differences (Authoritarianism, Empathy, LocOCon, Inter/External) Flashcards
Who suggested locus of control?
Rotter 1966
What does locus of control refer to?
An individuals perception of their personal control over events in their own life & their own behaviour.
How is locus of control measured?
Using a scale that effects a dimension of high internal locus of control of to high external locus of control.
What is a strong internal locus of control associated with? What are they likely to display?
The belief that we can control events to an extent & that what happens to them is largely a result of their own ability and effort. They are more likely to display independence in thought & behaviour & rely less on the opinions of others, which means they are better able to resist social influence.
What does a strong external locus of control reflect?
The opposite disposition/ personality traits such as a strong belief in luck, date, other people & events are out of their control.
They approach events with a passive & fatalistic attitude compared to their internal counterparts, taking less responsibility for their actions and being less likely to display independent behaviour & more likely to accept the influence of others.
What are the traits of a high internal locus of control?
-Seeks of information that is useful to them, so less likely to rely on opinion of others, making less vulnerable to social influence.
-Tend to be more achievement orientates & consequently more likely to become leaders rather than follow others.
-Better able to resist coercion from others. (Hutchins and estay)
What did Spector 1982 find about high internal locus of control?
A relationship exists between locus of control and leadership style, with internals being more persuasive and goal-orientated than externals.
What did Hutchins and Estey 1978 find out high internal locus of control?
In a stimulated prisoner-of-war situation, internals were better able to resist the attempts of the interrogator to gain information. The more intense pressure, the greater the difference between the internals performance and that of externals.
Describe the confounding argument of Oliner and Oliner 1988 for Locus of control.
Interviewed 2 groups of non-Jewish people who lived through the holocaust in Nazi germsny, comparing the 406 who had protected & rescuer skews from the Nazis with the 126 sample who has not acted. O and O found that the rescuers had scores demonstrating an internal locus of control and also scored higher on measures of social responsibility.
Describe the supporting argument of Elms and Milgram 1974 for Locus of control.
Investigates the background of those PPS classes as disobedient in the first 4 of mink grams experiments. Interviews revealed that disobedient PPS had a high internal locus of control & scored highly on a social responsibility scale.
Evaluate Doty et Al 1991 as a weakness of authoritarianism.
Found that in US level of authoritarianism varied in the lte 70s-80s depending on the perceived threat from external sources- Cold War and Russia- with it lower in times where threat was reduced. This supported RCT not authoritarianism.
Evaluate McFarland et Al 1992 as a strength for authoritarianism.
Carried out study in Russia and sound authoritarian personality linked to conservatism, prejudice and people not liking change. Supports it is an innate fixed personality trait and not influenced by external factors.
