PAPER 1 - SOCIAL INFLUENCE - locus of control

Question 1

what is locus of control?

Answer 1

individual differences in peoples beliefs/expectations about what controls events
- persons perception of how much personal control they have over their behaviour, events & future

Question 2

what is internal locus of control?

Answer 2

what happens to them is largely a consequence of internal factors: effort, personal decisions, their own ability - they try to control events in their life

Question 3

what is external locus of control?

Answer 3

people that believe that what happens to them is controlled by external factors e.g. luck/fate and actions of others - largely uncontrollable

Question 4

what can be concluded from research into locus of control?

Answer 4

evidence is mixed, harder to draw conclusions

Question 5

what evaluations points are there of the research into locus of control?

Answer 5

many studies were artificial - relying on Asch/Milgram - limited mundane realism/ecological validity
data was correlational- unable to establish causality
some were natural experiment - high ecological validity

Question 6

what was the Avtigs study?

Answer 6

• SUPPORTS LOCUS OF CONTROL
• meta-analysis
• found those who scored high on locus of control were more easily persuaded and conform than to a low score
• internal locus of control indicates higher levels of resistance

Question 7

what was the Williams and Warchal study?

Answer 7

• CRITICISES LOCUS OF CONTROL
• 30 students (small)
• did a range of conformity tasks
• Williams found those conformed the most were much less assertive but didn’t score differently on locus of control scale

Question 8

what was the Spector study?

Answer 8

• PARTLY SUPPORTS
• measured locus of control and relationship to NSI & ISI
• 157 undergraduate students
• found correlation between locus of control and NSI, external locus of control more likely to show NSI than those with internal locus
• no correlation between locus of control and ISI