Locus of control and social support Flashcards
who explored the locus of control?
Rotter
what were the two main theories expected to affect social influence?
- locus of control
- social support
what did rotter do?
created a questionnaire
-if you scored higher on a set of questions you were considered to have an internal locus of control in comparison to an external locus of control
what is meant by a locus of control?
people differ in their beliefs about whether the outcomes of their actions are dependant on what they do (internal locus of control) or on events outside their personal control (external locus of control)
what is internality?
individuals who tend to believe that they’re responsible for their behaviour and experiences rather than external factors.
what is externality?
individuals who tend to believe that their behaviour and experience is caused by events outside of their control
what is meant by social support?
the perception that an individual has assistance available from other people (Allie) and that they are part of a support network.
what is evidence to support social support?
Allen and Levine (1971)
provides support for how social support may not have to valid to be effective.
In a study, the Confederate providing support wore glasses with very thick lenses- therefor providing an invalid social support, given that this was a test of visual discrimination. In the second, the supporter had normal vision so provided valid social support.
both conditions resulted in a reduced amount of conformity, but the valid social supporter had more of an impact.
this shows that any Allie is helpful in resisting conformity, but only more so if they are perceived as offering valid social support.
what is evidence to support the idea of the locus of control?
Avtgis (1988)
carried out a meta-analysis of studies of the relationship between locus of control and different forms of social influence including conformity.
This showed a significant positive correlation for the relationship between scores internally/externally and scores on measures of persuasion, social influence and conformity. Those who scored low on the locus of control test (external) tend to be more easily influenced in comparison to those who scored high (internal).
This shows that the locus of control does effect conformity and social influence.
what is evidence to act as a commentary on the locus of control?
Tweng (2004)
raises the issue of historical validity as he believes people are more external than they used to be.
He carried out a meta-analysis where he found that young Americans increasingly believed that their fate was determined more by luck and external factors rather than themselves.
he found that the locus of control scores had become substantially more external than internal in students and child samples between 1960’s-2002. he interpreted those trends as being the result of alienation and the tendency to explain misfortunes of outside forces experienced by young people.
this, therefore, provides commentary on the historical validity of locus of control as it has progressively become dominated by externalities.
