Obedience: Locus of control

Question 1

Who introduced the idea of ‘locus of control’

Answer 1

Rotter (1966)

Question 2

Define ‘internal locus of control’

Answer 2

• someone who feels as they’re in control of their own actions and takes responsibility for consequences
• they are less influenced by others

Question 3

Define ‘external locus of control’

Answer 3

• someone who feels as they’re not entirely in control of their own actions and that things happen due to fate as well as believing in luck
• takes less responsibility for their actions

Question 4

Is locus of control situational or dispositional?

Answer 4

Dispositional

Question 5

Suggest 2 traits of those with an internal LOC

Answer 5

• cope well in stressful situations
• less reliant on others

Question 6

Suggest 2 traits of those with an external LOC

Answer 6

• helpless in stressful situations
• they are superstitious

Question 7

What LOC is more likely to be affected by authority figures?

Answer 7

External

Question 8

What is the alternate theory to LOC?

Answer 8

Authoritarian personality
- contrasts as it says we obey due to believing in following an authority figure because we were brought up with strict parents and learnt to displace hostility on minorities
- therefore obedience may be due to multiple personality types

Question 9

What is a strength of locus of control?

Question 10

What is a weakness of locus of control?

Answer 10

P - A weakness of LOC is that it does not predict defiance
E - In a task similar to Milgram’s original study (Schurz 1985) Austrian students were ordered to give painful doses of ultrasound to a female student
E - Ppts who were fully obedient did not differ significantly from ppts who resisted in terms of their scores on a questionnaire measuring LOC
L -