Domain specific aspects of locus of control: Implications for modifying locus of control orientation

An examination was made to see if locus of control orientation with respect to intellectual achievement could be changed and to determine whether the change generalized to other types of situations. Goal-setting conferences were employed to improve LOC orientation for academic achievement situations among junior high school students. Significant differences were observed between the goal-setting conference group, the conference only group, and the control group on three measures of LOC orientation pertaining to academic situations: IAR⁺ and IAR- scores from the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire, plus the IA subscale of LOCITAD. No significant differences were recorded on the SA (LOC orientation for social achievement situations) and the PA (LOC orientation for physical achievement situations) of LOCITAD. High correlations were observed between Intellectual Achievement Responsibility scores and scores on the IA subscale of LOCITAD. More moderate correlations were observed between IAR scores and the other LOCITAD subscales. Results were interpreted as supporting domain-specific aspects of LOC. Results implied that educators can design programs to modify LOC orientation with less fear that a more internal orientation for academic situations will lead to maladaptive responses in other types of situations. Results also support the development of more precise measures of LOC.     

A word-association technique as a psychotherapeutic tool

A way of using a word-association technique psychotherapeutically, although not experimental, has been employed as a shortcut "royal road" to understanding a presenting problem.     

A psychotherapeutic technique for mother-child intervention: A case study of a japanese down syndrome child

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate our approach to the activation of mother-child interaction, by presenting a case study. We describe a Japanese mother's adaptation process (consisting of five stages) to her child's handicap through 6 years of continuous therapeutic support for both the mother and her child. In this particular case, the mother suffers from a mild form of cerebral palsy; therefore, the problem involves two generations, because both the mother and her child are handicapped. By analyzing the processes of this case, we also describe our method of intervention for problems in the development of multidimensional relationships. We discuss the mother's psychological maturation and the role of the therapist within the Japanese social and cultural context, under the following headings: (1) Sharing in the Mother's Ambivalence; (2) Natural Melting of the Mother's Frozen Emotional Availability; (3) Sharing in the Mother's Illusion and Disillusion; (4) Transformation of Relationships Between Family Members and Their Relationship to Society.     

Murder: A psychotherapeutic investigation

This paper suggests that it is theoretically necessary and clinically useful to make a distinction between two types of psychic encapsulation within the broader literature. The proposed distinction, as it relates to these psychic structural manifestations, is illustrated here as applied to anorexia. The author suggests that psychic encapsulation is commonly encountered in work with anorexics, and that each type seems to imply a somewhat different therapeutic course. The distinction is made between anorexic patients who appear to display evidence of autistic/autistoid encapsulation as opposed to those who seem to manifest non-autistoid/later traumatic encapsulation – termed secondary adjunctive encapsulation in this paper. Defensive encapsulations are associated with pathological organisations of the personality – both within and beyond these structures, they exert an organising power over central mental processes. Psychic encapsulation and pathological organisations are defensive structural developments – the result of psychic trauma. Clinical material from three cases is presented to illustrate the arguments.     

A mental-health locus of control scale

The purpose of this study was to develop and seek initial validation of a mental- health locus of control scale. Twenty-six mental-health professionals rated each of the 14 statements of a previously-designed mental-health service request form along a 5-point locus of control scale. Six of the 14 items met the study's criteria for inclusion in the mental-health locus of control scale. Discriminant validity of the scale was provided by a study demonstrating that psychotic patients were more external in their perceived locus of control than were a nonpsychotic patient comparison group. Other validation studies and research are suggested.     

Being transformed: Delivering a psychotherapeutic group intervention targeting repeat suicide attempts

Clients who make repeat suicide attempts have complex needs, are at high risk of completed suicide and pose a range of challenges for clinicians. Targeted interventions are required. Acceptability, the perceived appropriateness of an intervention, is associated with successful implementation, engagement and effectiveness of interventions. Despite the advantages of group interventions, there is limited research into the acceptability of groups with this population. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, this paper reports on facilitators’ experiences (n = 9) of the acceptability of a therapeutic group intervention (PISA – a Psychoeducational/psychosocial Intervention for persons who make recurrent Suicide Attempts). Analysis of focus group data revealed how involvement with the intervention profoundly influenced facilitators’ perceptions of and approach to their work with this client group. They embraced the model, developed a deeper appreciation of clients’ resources and became unburdened from sole responsibility for the clients, the therapeutic process and outcomes. PISA provided a model that helped facilitators to work in a focused, compassionate and creative manner as they addressed the central concern of these clients, their suicidal desire, with newly found confidence and eagerness. PISA was experienced as acceptable to facilitators as it was useful to them and deemed appropriate and beneficial to the target population.     

A projective measure for the concept of locus of control

The construction and validation of a projective type I-E Scale was devised to measure locus of control. This scale was designed specially to suit the age and culture of a population of school-going children in Sri Lanka. Results indicate that the general feeling of being in control of one's circumstances rather than that of being controlled by outside factors is related to the attitudes one brings to bear on academic achievement and on other achievement related situations. In addition, there was an overall tendency among these subjects towards greater internality. This was interpreted to support the concept of the moral value and the efficacy of effort and hard work.     

A paradoxical prediction from locus of control

Individual differences in attribution have been little researched. Beliefs about locus of control have been taken to be stable and important differences between people. They may provide some of the background assumptions on which people base their explanations of actions, especially insofar as these explanations imply that the cause of an action was within the agent or his environment, and that the action was or was not under the agent's control. Respondents were therefore asked to fill in Rotter and Levenson locus of control questionnaires and to provide explanations or ask questions about several actions. It was hypothesized that internals would be inclined to go for explanations which were personal and implied high control, while externals would not. However, what emerged was the paradoxical finding that internals provided explanations which implied that the causes of the actions lay outside the agent, while externals provided ones which implied that the causes lay within. This result is discussed in terms of the difference between actions and outcomes, and the possibility that an important difference between people may be in the rigidity and simplicity of their beliefs about causality.     

Individual judgment and group interaction: A variable perspective approach

An extension of the T. M. Ostrom and H. S. Upshaw perspective model (1968, in A. Greenwald, T. Brock, and T. Ostrom (Eds.), Psychological foundations of attitudes, New York: Academic Press) of attitudinal judgments, incorporating a subjective scale range concept, was examined in relation to the effects of group interaction on individual members' attitudinal judgments. Subjects made attitudinal judgments after reading a criminal case history and then, either individually or as members of four person groups, decided on the appropriate sentence for the criminal for two different cases. The results showed that the subjective scale range concept was useful to account for the subjects' attitudinal judgments. Further analysis showed that the group interaction provided both informational and normative influences on the individual members' judgments in different ways. These findings are discussed in terms of judgmental processes postulated by Ostrom and Upshaw.     

A psychotherapeutic computer application: Modification of technological competence

The increasing sophistication of computer technology, combined with increased specification of therapeutic interventions, has facilitated development of computer programs that have achieved marked success in the psychotherapeutic treatment of circumscribed populations. This paper briefly reviews the history of computerized psychotherapy and examines several successful therapeutic computer applications in depth. These applications have attempted to replace the therapist with a computer. Another possible, as yet unexplored, application is the use of the computer as a vehicle for modification of an individual’s perceived competence to effectively operate on his or her environment. Using a computer to successfully manipulate one’s environment can provide a personal mastery experience that has the potential to contribute significantly to an increase in perceived self-competence, an essential component of positive therapeutic change. A study that would provide empirical support for this type of computer application is proposed.