Are You The Master Of Your Fate? -J.B. Rotter (1966) Generalized Expectancies for Internal Versus External Control of Reinforcement

Julian Rotter Behaviorist Individuals differ in how they interrupt situations based on their responsibility for them External locus of control – belief that consequences of behavior are controlled by luck, fate, or powerful others Internal locus of control – belief consequences of behavior are controlled by own behavior

Examples of External and Internal Locus of Control External – An external person scores an A on a test and concludes they got that grade because the teacher graded it wrong, someone switched the tests, it was just by chance, and/or it had nothing to do with them Internal – An internal person scores an A on a test and concludes they got that grade because they studied all week for it, they are good in the subject, and/or it was earned because of their behavior

Social Learning Theory Rotter felt children have different types of reinforcement, which result from actions These learned generalized expectancies demonstrated internally or externally controlled behavior Generalized expectancies result from different conditions in specific situations

Theoretical Propositions Rotter predicted that tests could be developed to measure reliability of individuals internal or external locus of control outlooks on life Secondly he hypothesized individuals will present their differences of the reinforcements in the same situations

Method A scale was developed containing a series of pairs of statements – commonly called the I-E scale Each pair contained an internal and external answer and participants were told to choose the one that applies to them, keeping in mind there are no right or wrong answers, and not allowing them to choose both or neither

Sample Items for I-E Scale A. Many of the unhappy things in people’s lives are partly due to bad luck B. Peoples misfortunes result from mistakes they made A. Becoming a success is a matter of hard work B. Getting a good job depends mainly on being at the right place at the right time

Method ( Count…) Original tests consisted of 60 pairs of statements but now down to 23 items and 6 filler questions designed to hide the true purpose of the test Next step is to apply these answers and results to every day life, that show correlations, including gambling, political activism, persuasion, smoking, achievement motivation, and conformity

Results Gambling – Internal people placed bets on ‘sure things’ and stayed away from long shots External people wagered more money and place riskier bets – also engaged in gamblers fallacy – betting more on a number that hasn’t been up in a while, a number that’s due

Results (Count…) Political activism- Rotter questioned African American college students living in the south in the 1960’s Those who participated in marches and civil rights groups were more internal locus of control oriented

More Results Persuasion – Rotter used the I-E Scale to chose 2 groups of students, one very internal, the other very external Both shared similar attitudes about fraternities and sororities (the ‘attitude’ wasn’t mentioned) Both groups were asked to persuade other students to change their minds about these organizations, however, internals were more successful in changing other’s minds about these organizations

More Results… Smoking- Externals are more likely smokers More internals quit smoking after the Surgeon General’s warnings appeared on cigarette packages, even though both externals and internals believed it was true

More and More Results Achievement motivation – Internals have more motivation to achieve goals and success than externals who believe its just fate Study of 1000 high school students conducted – positive relationship between internal scores on I-E scale and amount of motivation, including plans to attend college, time spent on homework, etc.

Last of the Results Conformity – Internals conform less than externals Subjects were exposed to a test showing how willing they were to agree with incorrect judgments (Solomon Asch’s test) Subjects betted on the correctness of their judgments with money provided for them Internals bet more money on themselves when making judgments than the externals

Discussion Are There Other Reasons for Internal and External Orientation Cultural differences? Socioeconomic differences? Variations on parenting styles?

Subsequent Research Strickland (1977) wanted to see how locus of control effected health – found internals are healthier because they feel they have more control of it. They eat better, exercise more and practice avoiding accidents Internals have lower stress levels also

More Research Sims and Baumann (1972) applied Rotter’s theories to why more people die in tornados in Alabama than Illinois After eliminating the obvious factors such as location, results from a questionnaire showed people from Illinois are more internal, feeling they have the power to save themselves in event of a tornado

More Research… Yang and Clum (2000) stated Childhood stress from abuse and family issues promotes low self esteem D’yakonova & Yurtaikin (2000) correlated authoritarian attitudes and internal locus of control in American students opposed to Russian students where no correlation was made

Recent Applications Externals are more depressed due to their feelings of helplessness Fate in god, according to Rotter would be external (Welton, Adkins, ingle, & Dixon, 1996)

-Davis, William & Phares, E. Psychological Reports (1969) Follow up study Parental antecedents of internal-external control of reinforcement -Davis, William & Phares, E. Psychological Reports (1969)

Method Conducted two studies – Children report parental behavior, Internal or external attitudes, and their beliefs of the consequences of their behavior

Results Internals believed their behaviors are separate from reinforcements Also it reports internal children felt parent’s showed less rejection and positive involvement in their lives

Results No direct relationship between parents and their children’s I-E scale However, those who were similar expressed less discipline then those who didn’t share same I-E scale results

Conclusions and Thoughts Locus of control is relatively stable in predicting behavior Internals may shift to external thinking in times of stress Externals may become more internal when they gain more responsibilities Internals are better off than externals

Conclusions and Thoughts If someone tries to change situations that aren’t changeable, frustration and depression occurs When outside forces are in control, its better to be an external

Conclusions and Thoughts Are external or internal behaviors genetic/innate? How consistent is locus of control? Can an individual be external in one situation and internal in another?