Week 10 - Contemporary Approaches Based On Cognitive Flashcards
Overview of Rutter’s Locus of Control
- Looks at amount of control
- The degree to which we control our outcomes
- Individuals source / reasons for outcomes in our life
- Refers to personal attribution system + how much responsibility
Features of somebody with an Internal Locus of Control
Attribute the outcomes to yourself
- Influence / control over outcomes
- Take blame and responsibility
- Success and Failure determined by their actions
Features of somebody with an External Locus of Control
Attribute things to other people
- Fate , people in authority who are more powerful determine outcome
-External factors , outcomes out of control
- No responsibility taken
How is Locus of Control a general / stable trait?
- Continuum (1st view = stable and general)
- Later work shows not general but varies
- People can be E or I depending on situations
How do we measure Locus of Control?
- Indicate level of agreement for each question (Disagree strongly to Agree Strongly)
- Higher score = more internal
- Questions such as people are just lucky
Is it better to be Internal or External ? And Why?
- Generally Internal if dealing with success ; take credit
- If dealing with failure External ; blame on bad luck , others
How does LoC predict personality?
Internal = Better academic , positive attitude , more effort , lower hypertension and heart attack , less likely to smoke
External = Lower efforts to deal with health , lower levels of psych adjustment (more prone to depression / anxiety ; lack of control) , greater sense of satisfaction
LoC and academic performance / achievement
- Internal get higher grades than External [Findley and Cooper]
- Externals make more excuses for poor performance [Basgall and Snyder]
LoC and health
- I are more likely than E to seek infomation about health and take preventative steps to maintain health
- Smokers tend to be E
- I more likely to quit when knowledge of danger arises
TB study linking to LoC
- Each ppt given a knowledge score : rating about knowledge of illnesss (attitude scale score)
- I knew more , rather higher , got better
- E patients didn’t make as much progress as getting better and knew less (assumed doctor = best)
- I showed more active coping
Lefcourt - link between psychological disorders and LoC
- External more likely to develop psychological disorders : no control
How do I and E develop (LoC)
1 = Shaped by interactions of others , especially parents
- Nurture , control , independence to learn consequence (behaviour = outcome)
[Cranadall , Katovsky , Preston]
2 = Relates to social class : pre-school children from disadvantaged homes are more E than middle class
[Stephens and Delys]
Define Bandura’s Self Efficiency Theory
- Self efficiency refers to ones perceived expectations of success
- Ones ability and belief to perform a task
- Based on reciprocal determinism
Levels of Self Efficacy and success
HIGH = confident we can carry out task , succeed
LOW = worry skills are beyond our ability
How does self-efficacy and behaviour link together?
- Major determinat of people’s choice of activities
- How much effort / how long they sustain dealing in stressful situations and perceive
HIGH = more likely to give up smoking , better academic and athletic performance
