Are You The Master Of Your Fate? -J.B. Rotter (1966)

1
Are You The Master Of Your Fate? -J.B. Rotter
(1966)

• Generalized Expectancies for Internal Versus
  External Control of Reinforcement

2
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

3
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

4
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

5
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

6
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

7
Sample Items for I-E Scale

• A. Many of the unhappy things in peoples 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

8
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

9
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 hasnt been up in a
  while, a number thats due

10
Results (Count)

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

11
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 wasnt mentioned)
• Both groups were asked to persuade other
  students to change their minds about these
  organizations, however, internals were more
  successful in changing others minds about these
  organizations

12
More Results

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

13
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.

14
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 Aschs 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

15
DiscussionAre There Other Reasons for Internal
and External Orientation

• Cultural differences?
• Socioeconomic differences?
• Variations on parenting styles?

16
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

17
More Research

• Sims and Baumann (1972) applied Rotters
  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

18
More Research

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

19
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)

20
Follow up studyParental antecedents of
internal-external control of reinforcement

• -Davis, William Phares, E.
• Psychological Reports
• (1969)

21
Method

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

22
Results

• Internals believed their behaviors are separate
  from reinforcements
• Also it reports internal children felt parents
  showed less rejection and positive involvement
  in their lives

23
Results

• No direct relationship between parents and their
  childrens I-E scale
• However, those who were similar expressed less
  discipline then those who didnt share same I-E
  scale results

24
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

25
Conclusions and Thoughts

• If someone tries to change situations that
  arent changeable, frustration and depression
  occurs
• When outside forces are in control, its better
  to be an external

26
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?