Resistance to Social Influence - Locus of Control

Proposed by Rotter, the locus of control is the concept of how much a person believes they control what happens in their lives, and can be measured on a scale from high internal to high external.

'Internals' believe they have a great deal of control over their lives, and attribute their successes and failures to themselves personally (for example, 'I failed the exam because I didn't work hard enough'). Internals are more likely to resist influence and demonstrate independent behaviour, as they are less likely to follow the crowd or blindly follow an order they think is wrong.

'Externals' feel that many things which happen are outside of their control, and attribute successes and failures to luck, fate, or other outside circumstances (for example, 'I failed the exam because there were unfair questions on the paper'). Externals are less likely to resist influence, as they are less likely to take personal responsibility for their behaviour and have more need for social approval.

+ Research supports the idea that individuals with an internal locus of control are more likely to resist the pressure to obey. Oliner & Oliner (1998) interviewed non-Jewish survivors of WWII and compared those who had resisted orders and protected Jewish people from the Nazis, in comparison to those who had not. Oliner & Oliner found that 406 'rescuers', who had resisted orders, were more likely to have a high internal locus of control, in comparison to the 126 people who had simply followed orders. These results appear to support the idea that a high internal locus of control makes individuals less likely to follow orders, although there are many other factors that may have caused individuals to follow orders in WWII and it is difficult to conclude that locus of control is the only factor.

- Twenge et al (2004) found that, over time, Americans have become more resistant to obedience, but have also become more external in their locus of control. This weakens the suggestion that having an internal locus of control leads to resistance to social influence.

+ Holland (1967) found that 37% of 'internals' refused to obey to the maximum shock level in a Milgram-type study, compared to 23% of 'externals', showing a link between locus of control and resistance to obedience.

+ Furthermore, research also supports the idea that individuals with an internal locus of control are less likely to conform. Spector (1983) used Rotter's locus of control scale to determine whether locus of control is associated with conformity. From 157 students, Spector found that individuals with a high internal locus of control were less likely to conform than those with a high external locus of control, but only in situations of normative social influence, where individuals conform to be accepted. There was no difference between the two groups for informational social influence. This suggests that normative social influence, the desire to fit in, is more powerful than informational social influence, the desire to be right, when considering locus of control.