As Psychology Locus of Control Essay

Discuss the role of venue of decl be on independent behaviour. (12 marks) Locus of program line refers to a persons perception of personal control over their own behaviour. There argon two types of locus of control midland and external. Internal locus of control occurs when individuals savour they are in control of their behaviour and are responsible for their actions. External locus of control occurs when individuals feel their behaviour is controlled by external forces (e. g. luck or fate) and they are not responsible for their own actions.Those with internal locus of control are more likely to show independent behaviour and resist the pressures to conform or obey whereas those with external locus of control are more likely to obey and conform. lofty internals do not rely on the opinions of others. They are better able to resist coercion and are more achievement-orientated. High internal locus of control has been bring togethered to leadership and individuals with high int ernal locus of control are more likely to become entrepreneurs. Anderson and Schneier comprise that group members possessing an internal locus of control were more likely to emerge as leaders in their groups.This whitethorn be because individuals who take responsibility for their own actions feel that they can cause changes in their environment, including the behaviour of those around them. There is lots of research evidence to clog locus of control. Oliner and Oliner tack together that race who had g ace against the majority and protected the Jews from the Nazis take to the woodsed to score higher on measures of internal locus of control. This means they believed they had influence over events in their life including success and failures. It may be this that do them independent.Also, Elms and Milgram anchor that the people that were disobedient in Milgrams see of obedience shows higher internal locus of control and social responsibility. Avtigis did a meta-analysis of studi es investigating the relationship between locus of control and ossification and found high scores of external locus of control were more likely to conform than those with a meek score. The average correlation between locus of control and conformity was 0. 37. This suggests that there are higher judge of conformity shown in external locus of control when compared to internal locus of control.There are a number of problems with using a meta-analysis. The studies are secondary data that the police detective has compiled. This means the study could gather from researcher bias as they may have only found studies that supported their view. Also, as the study is correlational, cause and effect cannot be established. It does not comment on why there is a link or which factors were most important it only states that there is a relationship between the two variables. However, as the data is secondary data there are no ethical issues linked to the use of a meta-analysis to study the patt erns between locus of control and conformity.On the other hand, Williams and Warchal gave 30 students a range of conformity tasks based on Aschs study and assessed them using the Rotters locus of control scale. They found that those who conformed were the least assertive but did not score differently on the locus of control scale. This suggests that boldness may be more important in conformity than locus of control. There are in any case research studies that suggest that independent behaviour can be fostered or encouraged through modelling.Nemeth and Chiles found that those who had been exposed to a minority (four participants, one confederate) who gave a different answer were more likely to al-Qaeda their ground and defy the majority in the second part of the experiment when they became a minority (four confederates, one participant). This study implies that exposure to a model of independent behaviour can influence the individuals ability to stand firm against the majority and resist the group pressure to conform. However, there are problems with research into locus of control.Many of the studies that support locus of control are carried out in laboratories. This means they overlook ecological validity and the results may not be applicable to real life situations. Also, demand characteristics may be present. The participant may have guessed the aim of the experiment and acted accordingly to fit the results they assume the researcher wanted. Also, it is difficult to measure record. The use of questionnaires could mean that the studies suffer from social desirability bias as people may have altered their answers to appear more normal or to fit with what they assume the researcher wanted.Lastly, situational factors may be more important as personality is not always consistent. McGuire found that conformist behaviour differed across situations. If conformists and independents are not consistent in their behaviour it is hard to conclude that it is their per sonality that solely affects their choice whether or not to conform. Situational factors may influence behaviour too as they tend to conform in certain situations but not in others.