The relationships among conformity, locus of control and ideational fluency in the preschool child

The primary purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among ideational fluency, conformity, and locus of control in preschool children. Forty-five children (50 to 61 months) from three child care centers were administered the conformity task, the Preschool and Primary Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Scale (PPNS-IE), the Multidimensional Stimulus Fluency Measure CMSFM), and the Information and Picture Completion subtests of the WPPSI.

The findings from this study were mixed in their support of previous research. Results indicated that children with an internal locus of control were more often males and gave fewer original responses than children with an external locus of control.

Children with high IQ's gave a greater frequency of popular and total responses on the MSFM and were less conforming than children scoring Iowan IQ. No significant relationships existed among the other variables, and no significant interaction was shown to exist between conformity and locus of control as they affected ideational fluency.