AQA A-Level Psychology Social Psychology Locus of Control

1. Social Psychology
Resisting Social Influence (Part 1)

2. Locus of Control
Task: Complete the questionnaire provided by deciding whether you think
each statement is true or false.
Then calculate your total
score using the scoring
system provided.
Question: What do you think
this questionnaire is
measuring and why?
5 Minutes

3. Locus of Control
Questions:
If you had an external LOC do you believe in horoscopes?
If yes, let’s see what you horoscope says about you.

4. Social Psychology
Lesson Objectives:
To outline two explanations of independent behaviour, including:
 Locus of Control
 Social Support
To apply explanations of independent behaviour to everyday scenarios
and consider evidence to support locus of control and social support.

5. Locus of Control
Questions: Referring to the image below, do you agree with the results of
your questionnaire?
How do you think the idea of locus of control relates to conformity and
obedience?
Internal External
I control my own destiny.
Other people or situations control
my destiny.

6. Resisting Social Influence
Questions: What percentage of people resisted the pressure to conform in
Asch’s study?
What percentage of people refused to obey and administer a 450 volt
electric shock in Milgram’s study?
Why do you think these
people refused to
conform or obey?

7. Internal vs. External
Internal Locus of Control – People feel they have control over the events
in their life. They tend to have more confidence and need little approval
from others. These people are less likely to conform or obey.
External locus of control – People feel they have little or no control over
their lives and often believe in ‘luck’ or ‘fate’. They believe that what
happens to them is determined by external factors and therefore these
people are more likely to conform or obey.

8. Internal vs. External
Task: Think about your psychology exam in June 2019 and the different
factors that will affect your success.
List factors that you can control in the column on the left (internal) and list
the factors that you can’t control in the column on the right (external).

9. Locus of Control
Question: Which column has the most factors?
What does this say about your locus of control?

10. Oliner & Oliner (1988)
Oliner & Oliner interviewed two groups of non-Jewish people who lived
through the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. They interviewed 406 people who
had rescued and protected Jewish people from the Nazis and 126 who had
not.
They found that the ‘rescuers’ were more likely to have an internal locus
of control.
Question: While these results appear
to support the idea of locus of control
– are there any issues with using this
evidence?

11. Application Questions
Task: Answer the AO2
application questions on LoC.
8 Minutes

12. Application Questions
Q1. Three students, George, Petra and Dan, have just started in the sixth
form. Dan is a confident person who thinks that his fate lies firmly in his
hands. By the end of the first week, Dan has put himself forward to be
nominated as the class representative. Petra has also put her name forward
to be nominated. She believes it is just luck whether or not she will be
selected and feels that there is not much she can do about it. George did not
put his name forward because his father told him not to.
(i) What type of locus of control does Petra’s behaviour show? (1)
Answer:
 Petra is showing an external locus of control.

13. Application Questions
Q1. Three students, George, Petra and Dan, have just started in the sixth
form. Dan is a confident person who thinks that his fate lies firmly in his
hands. By the end of the first week, Dan has put himself forward to be
nominated as the class representative. Petra has also put her name forward
to be nominated. She believes it is just luck whether or not she will be
selected and feels that there is not much she can do about it. George did not
put his name forward because his father told him not to.
(ii) What type of locus of control does Dan’s behaviour show? (1)
Answer:
 Dan is showing an internal locus of control.

14. Q1. Three students, George, Petra and Dan, have just started in the sixth
form. Dan is a confident person who thinks that his fate lies firmly in his
hands. By the end of the first week, Dan has put himself forward to be
nominated as the class representative. Petra has also put her name forward
to be nominated. She believes it is just luck whether or not she will be
selected and feels that there is not much she can do about it. George did
not put his name forward because his father told him not to.
(iii) George did not put his name forward as the class
representative. Use your knowledge of social influence research to
explain this. (2)
Answer:
 George did not put his name forward as he was obeying his father
(1), someone who he is likely to see as a legitimate authority
figure (1).

15. Q1. Three students, George, Petra and Dan, have just started in the sixth form. Dan
is a confident person who thinks that his fate lies firmly in his hands. By the end of
the first week, Dan has put himself forward to be nominated as the class
representative. Petra has also put her name forward to be nominated. She believes
it is just luck whether or not she will be selected and feels that there is not much she
can do about it. George did not put his name forward because his father told him
not to.
(b) Which one of the three students is most likely to resist
pressures to conform? Use your knowledge of psychology to
explain your choice. (4)
Answer:
 The student who is most likely to resist pressure to conform is Dan (1). He has an
internal locus of control and research has suggested that those people who
believe that they are in control of their environment are less likely to conform
(1).
 Compare Dan to Petra. It is unlikely to be Petra as she has an external LoC (1), as
she believes luck that it is down to luck whether she will be accepted. Research
has suggested that people with an external LoC are more likely to conform (1).

16. Quiz