Internal-External Scale Research Articles

Internality vs Externality and Personal Adjustment: A Factor Analytic Study

This study compared three tests to determine the degree to which they might be measuring a single construct: Rotter's Internal-External Reinforcement Scale, Rest's adaptation of Kohlberg's test of moral development, and selected scales from Shostrom's Personal Orientation Inventory. All three scales were expected to show positive relationships with a measure of personal adjustment, the Tennessee Self-concept Scale. Numerous significant correlations were found among these instruments, suggesting some commonality in the personality dimensions being measured. There were enough differences to suggest continued refinement and to mitigate against substitution of one test for another without loss of information.

The Interrelationship of Measures of Locus of Control, Intelligence, and Achievement in Juvenile Delinquents

To test the reported relationship between locus of control and academic achievement, the Children's Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External scale, the Peabody Individual Achievement Test, and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children were administered to 45 male juvenile delinquents. All intercorrelations between the three tests were positive and significant. Subjects were then divided into three groups on the basis of their locus of control scores and analyses of variance and covariance were performed. These analyses revealed that, with the effects due to IQ partialed out, achievement did not significantly vary for the different levels of locus of control. Results were discussed as being non-supportive of previous research and indicative of greater specificity in the delineation of the locus of control/academic achievement relationship.

A Note on the Relationship of Internality-Externality, Self-Acceptance, and Self-Ideal Discrepancies

To correct deficiencies in an earlier study testing the hypotheses that externals, compared to internals, exhibit a larger self-ideal discrepancy, lower self-concept, and lower self-acceptance, 55 male and female art and theatre undergraduate majors were administered the Adult Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Scale and the Index of Adjustment and Value. Findings by analysis of variance indicated support for all hypotheses.

The Stanford Preschool Internal-External Scale: extension to kindergarteners.

To investigate whether the characteristics of the recently developed Stanford Preschool Internal-External Scale (SPIES; Mischel, Zeiss, & Zeiss, 1974) would remain stable for older children of apparently different socioeconomic status than the normative sample, the SPIES was administered to 104 kindergarteners of essentially middle class background in an ordinary elementary school. The findings indicate that the SPIES may be useful in research on perceived locus of control in kindergarteners as well as preschool children.

Relationship between Certain Personality Characteristics and Ability to Concentrate in Common Noise Situations

Four groups of college students ( ns = 17, 14, 15, and 16) performed a letter-cancelling task under quiet conditions. The quiet was suddenly interrupted for 6 min. by human, mechanical, or white noise; or there was no noise (control). Task efficiency was compared with scores on the Rotter Internal-External Control Scale and the Maudsley Personality Inventory. No significant relationships between personality characteristics, noise conditions, and task efficiency were found.

Replications of association between internal locus of control and leadership in small groups.

An internal locus of control, as measured by Rotter's ( 5 ) internal-external (I-E) scale has been associated (2 ) with sociometrically determined task-leadership in researchergenerated small groups of students ( N = 96; leaders' M = 7.72, followers' M = 10.54; t = 2.93, p .05 ) . Likewise, a more rigorous replication ( 1 ) , using Ss matched and placed in groups by the researcher, yielded negative results; indeed, leaders tended to be more external than followers, although this was not statistically significant (N = 128; leaders' M = 12.46, followers' M = 11.64; t = 1.26, p > .05). Further analysis, using subscales based on Mirels' ( 4 ) and Joe and Jahn's ( 3 ) investigations into the multidimensionality of Rotter's I-E scale, did not alter this result substantially. These failures to replicate do not appear related to differences in method or to multidimensionality in the I-E scale. However, Ss were generally freshman and sophomore students, and changes in samples might account for the negative results. Indeed, if Ss' definitions of the psychological situation have changed so that assuming leadership in classroom-task groups is no longer rewarding, then the obtained results would be the expected ones. It is suggested that the internality-leadership association be explored further, especially with non-student populations, and that Ss' definitions of the psychological situation, which determine expectancies and reinforcement values, be carefully incorporated within the research design ( 6 ) .

Hopelessness, internal-external locus of control, and depression.

This research examined the relationship between hopelessness, defined as a system of negative expectancies about the future, and two theoretically relevant constructs: internal-external locus of control, and depression. Two samples of 67 and 44 undergraduates were administered the Beck, et al. Hopelessness Scale, the Rotter Internal-External Scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory. The data of both samples supported the predictions that hopelessness would be positively related to external locus of control and to depression.

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

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

Risky and safe contraceptors: some personality factors.

Female university students (N = 191) categorized as users of risky or safe contraceptives were compared on the following personality measures: Rotter's Internal-External Scale, Cantril's Self-Anchoring Striving Scale, Rosen's Value Orientation Scale, and Srole's Anomie Scale. Safe contraceptors had significantly higher levels of striving for the present and for five years hence than risky contraceptors. There were no significant differences between the two groups on the remaining measures.

Validity of the Internal-External Scale in Its Relationship with Political Position

The study was designed to interpret previous reports of a relationship between left wing political position and externality on Rotter's (1966) Internal-External (I-E) Scale. I-E items phrased in the first person were associated with a criterion measure of locus of control, and externality on the scale predicted inferior performance in a skill-controlled task. However, political position was related to neither the criterion measure of locus of control nor to successful performance in a skill-controlled task. Thus, there was no evidence that political position was related to locus of control in spite of its relationship with the I-E Scale. There was discussion of implications for the validity of the I-E Scale and for studying relationships between personality and political variables.

A Test of the Dimensionality Assumptions of Rotter's Internal-External Scale

Examined two assumptions about the dimensionality of Rotter's I-E scale: First, the bipolarity of the two statements within each item pair; second, the unidimensionality of the overall construct. A revised I-E scale was constructed in which each of the statements from the original I-E scale was presented separately and the 367 subjects could accept or reject them independently. Correlations between statements within item pairs were low anti negative with only seven exceeding a value of -.20. The responses to the statements were factor analyzed resulting in six interpretable factors when rotated. Of the 23 item pairs, there were 11 pairs which loaded on the same factor in opposite directions while the other 12 loaded on different factors or on the same factor but in the same direction. A subsample consisting of 152 subjects also took the original I-E scale. The correlations between factor scores on the 6 factors and the original I-E score varied from .15 to .52. Both assumptions regarding Rotter's I-E scale were found untenable. Instead, it is suggested that the forced choice format be abandoned and the construct be thought of as a second order factor.

Professorial Internal-Control Orientation, Academic Rank, and Tenure

The present study explored the relationship between internal-control orientation as measured by Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale and academic rank and tenure for 211 male faculty members from seven public community colleges. Professorial internal-control orientation was not significantly related to either academic rank or tenure.

Locus of Control as a Determinant of Information Seeking

Rotter's (1966) internal-external control scale was administered to 182 students enrolled in introductory psychology. The data supported the hypothesis that the amount of task relevant infor mation sought by internals and externals would not differ in situations in which the degree of control was specific, but that internals would seek more information than externals when the degree of control was vague. The hypothesis that subjects who were informed that their outcome depended entirely on their own task performance would seek more information than subjects who were informed that their outcome was a function of chance was not supported.

Ethnic Differences in Beliefs About Control

A set of widely used measures of personal control taken from Rotter's (1966) internal-external scale failed to demonstrate an adequate degree of internal consistency for the Black subsample of a survey of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The unreliability of the personal control dimension among Blacks was pervasive: it was present within tall ge and educational groupings; it occurred regardless of the particular interviewer involved; it was equally prominent in both sexes; and, finally, it recurred in most respects in a comparable survey. Such unreliability was specific to Blacks: the personal control dimension did show satisfactory internal consistency for corresponding subsamples of Anglos and Chlcanos. The theoretical and methodological implications of these findings are discussed, and their ramifications for social indicator research noted.

I-E locus of control, selected Edwards Personal Preference Scales and task persistence.

This study assessed scores of the Internal-External scale, and Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (EPPS) order, endurance, and autonomy scales in relation to subjects' willingness to persist through a two-part experimental design. Convergent validation of the Janis-Hovland self-esteem scale with the EPPS abasement scale was also attempted. Data showed EPPS order, endurance, and autonomy scales differentiated between “persistors” and “nonpersistors” whereas Internal-External scale scores did not. Also Janis-Hovland self-esteem scores correlated significantly and inversely with EPPS abasement scale scores.

The Identifiability and Consistency of the Factor Structure of Locus of Control

Summary The variable of locus of control as assessed by Rotter's Internal-External Scale was examined for a theoretically identifiable and consistent factor structure. Four female college samples, three current ones comprising 360 subjects and a previously reported sample of 157 subjects, were selected to vary two population characteristics: race and professional curriculum. In the light of recent literature suggesting a multidimensionality to expectancy for control, responses to the Internal-External Scale were factor analyzed, and the derived factors of each sample were statistically compared for level of agreement. Not only did the analyses fail to support the existence of several identifiable factors, but the obtained factors, weak in accounted for variance, failed to evidence consistency between groups. Given the consideration of locus of control in recent years as an important social-psychological expectancy variable, the failure in the present study to establish identifiable and consistent factors ...

Effects of personality-situation locus of control congruence.

The effects of combining personality and situation differences in locus of control on cheating behavior were tested. Eighty college students (36 male and 44 female) were classified as having relatively high internal or external locus of control beliefs using Rotter's Internal-External Scale. In subsequent individually conducted sessions, subjects were given the opportunity to falsely report success (i.e., to cheat) when success was objectively impossible and when the outcome was described as due to either skill or chance. A significant (p less than .001) Personality X Situation locus of control interaction found cheating more prevalent in congruent personality-situation combinations (internal-skill and external-chance) than in incongruent combinations (internal-chance and external-skill). Additional significant effects involving task persistence and postoperformance effort ratings suggested accounting for the results in an achievement motivational framework. As the Personality X Situation Locus of control interaction accounted for a large proportion of the variance, the results were considered to be supportive of an interactionist position regarding behavior prediction.

Relationship of internal-external control to work motivation and performance in an expectancy model.

Internal-external control represents the extent to which a person perceives himself to control the events around him. Internality (perception of much control) was hypothesized to be positively related to the following: (a) the concept of instrumentality from expectancy theory, (b) work motivation as measured by ratings and by expectancy theory measures, (c) job performance as measured by ratings, and (d) rank. Data were collected from naval personnel comprising 52 work groups of four each; ratings from their supervisors were also obtained. These hypotheses were confirmed at or beyond the .05 significance level. A multitrait-mul tirater matrix showed convergent but no discriminant validity for ratings by supervisors, peers, and the subjects themselves on the subjects' job effort and performance. The Internal-External Scale (Rotter, 1966) measures a person's perception that the events which happen to him are contingent upon his behavior. An internal person essentially feels in control of the things which happen to him; an external person believes that the events in his life are for the most part beyond his influence. Commonly used terms for designating the two ends of this continuum are the belief in skill and the belief in chance. Perceptions of Internal-External control

Control orientation in alcoholics related to extent of treatment.

The self-perceived locus of control of three groups of alcoholics who had had varying amounts of exposure to treatment was measured on the Internal-External (I-E) scale. Alcoholics who had had more treatment perceived themselves in greater control of their behavior in general and of their drinking in particualar than those who had had less treatment.

Internal-External scale correlated with Edwards Personal Preference Schedule.

Internal-External scale correlated with Edwards Personal Preference Schedule.