Internal versus external control of reinforcement and decision time.

Abstract

Previous research has shown generality of individual differences in an expectancy that reinforcement is contingent on one's own behavior (internal control) versus an expectancy that reinforcement is determined by luck, chance, fate or powerful others (external control). The hypothesis was investigated that and differ in the value placed on the same reward depending upon whether it is perceived as contingent upon chance or skill. To test this, decision time was measured in a difficult matching task, and described to 1 the Ss as skill, and to 4 as chance determined. Results show significant interaction between internal-external control and chance vs. skill instructions. As hypothesized, internals take longer with skill instructions, externals with chance instructions. The study extends the construct validity of the internal-external control variable and has implications for personality, cultural differences, and decision theory. A series of previous investigations has demonstrated that the perception of a situation as controlled by chance, luck, fate, or powerful others will lead to predictable differences in behavior, in comparison to situations where a person feels that reinforcement is controlled by his own behavior (Holden & Rotter, 1962; James & Rotter, 1958; Phares, 1957, 1962; Rotter, Liverant, & Crowne, 1961). Other studies have indicated that individuals differ reliably in the degree to which they perceive reinforcement in a variety of ambiguous social situations to be controlled by their own characteristics and/or behavior versus by external forces. Such differences have been observed in children and adults and appear to be generalized over a wide variety of social situations. Results of these investigations have shown