"Will" is defined in this paper as the capacity to decide how to behave based on a processing of relevant information. A sequence of motivated behavior begins with informational inputs or stimuli. These come from three sources: the environment, one's physiology, and one's memory. These inputs lead to the formation of motives or awareness of a…

Existing research indicates that particular study strategies are deployed with differing success according to certain critical personality factors, most notably a syndrome of characteristics related to internal or external locus of control. Institutional factors that have an effect on study behaviour include Faculty membership (Arts/Science), mode…

This paper presents a study in which three separate factors with substantial face validity were replicated, factor analyzing 74 attitudes-toward-women items with two college samples of 159 and 195 subjects. Three sex-role attitudes scales based on the factor analyses were related to 10 personality variables. The relationsips supported the…

A two-part study was undertaken to determine whether the experiencing of limits to control in areas for which people are known to seek psychological help would be perceived as differentially stressful by characteristically internal and external individuals. A group of 237 nonclient students indicated their degree of perceived personal control over…

Observed 45 fourth- and fifth-grade boys and their parents in structured interaction situations. Boys selected for the study were highly internal and external in locus of control and were observed to assess the parental influence on their locus of control. (LLK)

Results support Sherman's hypothesis that sex differences in tests of field independence, such as Witkin's Rod-and-Frame Test and Embedded Figures Tests, are artifacts of the well-known sex differences in space perception and are therefore not evidence that females are less analytical than males. (Author/BJG)

Surveys were completed by 469 special education teachers to investigate the relationship of locus of control to teach burnout. Locus of control was found to correlate significantly with four of six dimensions on the Maslach Behavior Inventory. As teachers reported more external orientation, they also reported a greater degree of burnout. No…

Although some people fantasize about their spouse's possible death, the literature contains no reports of research on widowhood fantasies. The incidence, characteristics, and possible function of these fantasies were examined in individual interviews with 28 divorced and married men and women. Interview data were analyzed by calculating chi-square…

Since measurement errors exist in panel surveys, LISREL (a procedure for controlling measurement error by the analysis of covariance structures) was used in this investigation to determine the stability of the social-psychological concept of locus of control expectancy change with the aquisition of post secondary education. The National…

Studies using unipolar models of sex role identity in conjunction with an attributional approach to female achievement prediction have found that androgynous women tend to consider ability to be a more feasible explanation for success than do either feminine or undifferentiated women. Androgynous, masculine, feminine and undifferentiated males and…

The research literature on learned helplessness in exceptional children is reviewed and the authors' efforts to identify and retrain learning disabled (LD) children who have characteristics typical of learned helplessness are reported. Twenty-eight elementary aged LD children viewed as "learned helpless" were randomly assigned to one of four…

An attempt was made to determine what factors are important in a person's decision to engage in regular, vigorous activity. An Exercise Behavior Model was developed for the purpose of explaining exercise behavior. The model assumes that a person has four major predispositions or inclinations, which influence a readiness to exercise: (1) locus of…