Feelings of internal control, grade point average and social action participation.

Abstract

Previous researchers have linked feelings of internal control (2, 5) and high intellectual or academic achievement (3, 4, 6) to participation in social action. These studies, however, did not distinguish berween verbal and behavioral participation. Students attending two second-year education classes were asked to complete and sign their names to Rotter's internal-external scale. Following this task students (N = 55) in one class were asked to commit themselves verbally to participation in social action by indicating their willingness (yes or no) on a questionnaire to attend a future meeting concerning university decision-making processes. Students in the other class (N = 77) were asked to commit themselves behaviorally to participation in social action by remaining in the room after class was dismissed to discuss university decision-making processes. The grade point average for each student was obtained from university records. A 2 (male and female) by 2 (~es/no verbal commitment to participation in social action) fixed model analysis of variance performed on I-E scores and on grade point