Research has associated high levels of private self-consciousness (PSC) with accurate self-knowledge and with behavior consistent with one's attitudes. A study by Buss and Scheier reported that privately self-conscious persons are more susceptible to attribution bias, the self-focus of such persons leading them to attribute their positive and…

Factor analyzed combined items from Rotter's Internal-External Scale and Levenson's Multidimensional Internal External Locus of Control scales revealing factors similar to Difficult World, Just World, Predictable World, and Politically Responsive World, and additional factor, Friendly World. Most factors were correlated with masculinity; only…

Measured the effectiveness of rational self-counseling in relation to college students' loci of control as an approach to the primary prevention of mental health problems. Administered pre- and posttest of Rotter's I-E scale to treatment and control groups. Findings suggest college students can learn to be more internally oriented. (Author/RC)

In separate research studies, students who were given a choice of learning materials or who had control over aversive noise, demonstrated higher motivation and better task performance. To investigate the additive effects of choice and control on perception of control, 80 male and female college students participated in a 2 (choice vs. no-choice) X…

This study was undertaken to determine whether external locus of control orientation was significantly negatively correlated with levels of creativity. Subjects were 13 male and 13 female undergraduate students enrolled in psychology classes at a southwestern university. Mean age of the subjects was 28.6. Instruments used were Levenson's (1972) I…

Research has suggested the utility of studying individual differences in the regulation of negative mood states. Generalized response expectancies for negative mood regulation were defined as expectancies that some overt behavior or cognition would alleviate negative mood states as they occur across situations. The Generalized Expectancy for…

Administered items from three locus of control (LOC) tests and the Beck Hopelessness Scale to 197 undergraduates. Factor analyses produced multiple factors for each LOC test; Beck proved to be unidimensional. Each LOC test contained salient dimension describing belief in luck, chance, or fate. Other common themes were internal control and…

Compared the effects of assertiveness training, power-base training, and a discussion-control group on manifest and latent power dimensions in college women (N=39). Results suggest that direct behavioral training in assertive or power-based responses does not increase the latent power of women, but does increase manifest power. (Author/JAC)

Based on a modification of Berglas and Jones' (1978) design, conditions of contingent and noncontingent success and failure were manipulated to determine when and why individuals choose to adopt self-handicapping strategies. Male undergraduates (N=76) were informed that they were participating in a study investigating the effects of music on…

Examined life ownership orientation (extent to which one believes that God, individual, or society has power over one's life) among 117 college students who completed Life Ownership Orientation Questionnaire (LOOQ). Found LOOQ scores demonstrated higher predictive validity with regard to attitudes toward abortion, suicide, doctor-assisted suicide,…

Implications of locus of control expectancy for counselor effectiveness are examined in an intensive case study of two matched counseling pairs. (Author)

Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale has been the focus of much research since its introduction in 1966. To further that research, the relationships among locus of control, level of religious belief, attitudes toward women, attitudes toward feminism, attitudes toward homosexuality, gender, and traditional versus nontraditional…

According to the major attributional hypotheses, egotism and expectancy confirmation, people tend to make internal attributions when successful and external attributions when they fail. In order to investigate the effect of manipulation on egotistical and expectancy confirmation attributions, 190 female undergraduates participated in two series of…

The Internal-External (I-E) Locus of Control scale (Rotter, 1966) was administered to 185 male and 185 female university students. The resulting scores were factored, producing two factors for males and four for females. The male factors were the generally-accepted "luck" and "powerful others"; for women, however, the "powerful others" dimension…

The goal of this study in exploring the relationship between internal-external control and black political activism was to analyze how the belief systems of activists and non-activists differs, in order to develop some tentative ideas about how more activist-orientations can be developed among black people. Eighty-one black undergraduate students…