Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Outline and evaluate/discuss individual differences on independant behaviour

I really need this to be marked out of 12 and need feedback on this essay!! Is the A01/A02 right..? Did I write too much? does anything need to be changed...? Thanks!

The term locus of control refers to a persons perception of personal control over their own behaviour. It is measured along a scale of high internal to high external. High internals perceive themselves as having a great deal of personal control over their behaviour and are therefore more likely to take personal responsibility for it. High externals believe their behaviour is caused primarily by fate or luck. Locus of control research has stated that those who are highly internal are more likely to display independant behaviour. Some of the findings are that high internals are active seekers of information that is useful to them so they are less likely to rely on the opinion of others. They are also more achievement orientated and are therefore more likely to become leaders. High internals are also better able to resist force from others. Another explanation for individual differences in independant behaviour is attributional style. This is a personallity attribute that indicates how people explain to themselves why they experience a particular event. Psychologists have identified three components in attributional style; Personal - an individual may see themselves the cause of an event or the result of a situational factor the cause. Permanent - an individual may see a a situation as changeable or unchangeable. Pervasive - an individual may see the situation as affecting all aspects of their life or just that particular event.

The concept of locus of control applied to independant behaviour is supported by research by Anderson and Schneier who found that group members possessing an internal locus of control were more likely to emerge as leaders in their group. A meta analysis by twenge et al found that people are becoming increasingly external; this is worrying as high externality is associated with decreased self control, poor achievement and depression. Twenge et al suggested that the reason for this trend is that over the years there has been an increase is social factors such as higher crime and divorce rates and this had led many young people to believe many aspects of their life are out of their control. There are two types of attributional styles, positive and negative, the former does not let negative events affect other aspects of their life and the latter blames them selves for negative events and lets them affect other aspects of their lives. Heaven et al conducted research on attributional style; students who were more rebellious at school were found to have experienced more negative experiences and had consequently developed a negative attributional style.

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It's really good and full of information - just make sure that you have an equal knowledge:evaluation ratio. You clearly understand what you've got to write about though and evaluating is much easier than regurgitating knowledge so I'm sure you will be fine if this comes up in the exam - well done :smile: