Locus of control and behavior in treatment groups.

Studied the Rotter Locus of Control scale for effective prediction of behavior in small groups. Subjects were 205 male VA Hospital patients participating in self-directed groups who completed the AGCT, Psychological and Somatic Symptom Scales, and Rotter's I-E measure of locus of control. Group behavior was measured through sociometry and a Group Member Evaluation form. Three hypotheses were not supported: (a) Persons scoring high in the direction of internal control (internals) will be more likely to act to influence their social environment; (b) internals will be more active than externals in gathering and processing information in group discussions, and (c) internals will be more self-directed and less susceptible to being influenced by others. Two hypotheses were supported: (a) externals will express more somatic and psychological complaints than internals, and (b) externals will be perceived as behaving more defensively than internals. In contrast, intelligence was correlated with a large number of group process measures. Locus of control and intelligence measures predict different kinds of behavior in groups.     

Learned helplessness and learned effectiveness: effects of explicit response cues on individuals differing in personal control expectancies

Female undergraduates (n = 62) who scored as extreme internals or externals on the Mirels Personal Fate Control Scale participated in a partial replication of Hiroto's learned helplessness experiment. Lights were added to the treatment apparatus, which made explicit to subjects the contingency or noncontingency between their responses and the termination of an aversive tone. As predicted, the performance of internals was significantly impaired by uncontrollability (learned helplessness), while that of externals was facilitated by controllability (learned effectiveness). Externals performed as well as internals in the "escapable" condition, but their performance was inferior to that of internals in the control condition. Following "inescapable" treatment, internals performed worse than externals. These results are supportive of Lefcourt's theory of cue explication. Implications for locus of control and learned helplessness research are discussed.     

Wepman test of auditory discrimination: What does it discriminate

This study investigated auditory discrimination as a function of ethnic group membership within the same socioeconomic status (SES). Subjects were 126 randomly selected six-year-old students attending schools in the lower SES community of southeast San Diego. Only students with no known speech or hearing defects and of normal intelligence were included. They were assigned to one of three categories: Black, Chicano, or Anglo.Subjects were administered four tests in a counterbalanced design: the Wepman, the Gross, and the Ott. The latter two were developed for use with Black dialect and Spanish-speaking youngsters, respectively. The ANOVA results indicated a reliable difference between the main effects of the groups (F=40.34,p<.001) and tests (F=72.82, p<.001), with a significant interaction between tests and groups (F=44.91, p<.001). Interaction effects were evaluated with the Dunn theorem. Significant differences were found among Anglo, Black, and Chicano students on the discrimination list for Spanish sounds (Ott) and a significant Anglo/Black difference on the discrimination test for Black dialect (Gross). Contrary to previous findings, there were no differences between the groups on the Wepman Test of Auditory Discrimination (WTAD). However, there are significant differences between groups on separate items of this test.     

Cultural variation in the motivational standards of self-enhancement and self-criticism among bicultural Asian American and Anglo American students

Recent work on biculturalism has made theoretical and methodological inroads into our understanding of the relation of cultural processes with psychological functioning. Through the use of cultural priming methodologies, investigators have demonstrated that biculturals, or individuals who have experienced and identify with more than one culture, can switch between various "cultural frames of reference" in response to corresponding social cues (Hong, Morris, Chiu, & Benet-Martinez, 2000). Drawing on this work on the cognitive implications of biculturalism, the purpose of the present study was to examine the assumption that independent and interdependent self-construals are associated with the motivational standards of self-enhancement and self-criticism, respectively. More specifically, the effects of differential primes of self on ratings of self-enhancement were investigated in a sample of bicultural Asian American (N = 42) and Anglo American (N = 60) college students; overall, more similarities than differences were noted between the two groups. It was hypothesized that Anglo American students would display marked tendencies toward self-enhancement. However, this hypothesis was not supported. Nevertheless, consistent prime effects were observed for a selected number of ratings related to academic virtues, with those who received an independent-self prime often exhibiting greater self-enhancing tendencies than those who received an interdependent-self prime. For example, participants in the independent-self condition reported on average significantly higher ratings for self-discipline and initiative, as well as the degree to which they perceived themselves to be hard working. Implications for the work on self-representations, motivation, and acculturation are discussed.     

Activating Culture Through Persuasion Appeals: An Examination of the Bicultural Consumer

In this research, I examined how biculturals, or individuals who have been equally influenced by an East Asian and Western cultural orientation, respond to various types of persuasion appeals that promote values unique to a particular culture. In the first experiment, I found that biculturals, relative to monoculturals, tend to react favorably toward both individually and interpersonally focused appeals due to their having 2 equally developed and accessible cultural dispositions. In the second experiment, I identified boundary conditions under which having relatively equal access to both cultural dispositions leads to favorable responses. Results indicate that biculturals who tend to compartmentalize each culture react less favorably toward appeals that are both individually and interpersonally focused than biculturals who tend to integrate the 2 cultures. In other words, the former type of bicultural prefers appeals that activate one cultural disposition, whereas the latter type of bicultural favors appeals that activate both cultural dispositions. These findings are discussed in light of the growing trend toward multiculturalism and the increasing need for researchers to understand the impact of this trend on various consumer behavior issues.     

Factorial similarity of the WISC-R for Anglos and Chicanos referred for psychological services

Two- and three-factor principal factor solutions to the WISC-R (Wechsler, 1974) were compared across race for referred Anglo and Chicano children. Additional comparisons of these factor solutions were made with those for normal Anglo, Chicano, Black, and Papago students (Reschly, 1978, Note 1) and the WISC-R standardization sample (Wechsler, 1974). Substantial congruence occurred across race for both the two- and three-factor solutions, though the two-factor solution was clearly most appropriate for the present sample.     

Bicultural identities: The interface of cultural, personality, and socio-cognitive processes

This paper presents recent work examining the meaning and impact of individual variations in the way bicultural individuals organize their two cultural identities, a construct that we call Bicultural Identity Integration (BII). While biculturals high on BII describe their two cultural identities as ‘compatible’ (fluid and complementary), biculturals low on BII experience them as largely ‘oppositional’ (i.e., conflicting and disparate). We first report experimental evidence for how variations in BII moderate biculturals’ socio-cognitive behavior, specifically, the way in which bicultural individuals process cultural knowledge and use it to interpret social behavior. We then report structural equation modeling findings that elucidate some important personality, contextual, and performance predictors of BII. Finally, we conclude with a brief discussion of how the study of bicultural identities provides an ideal ground for the integration of cultural and personality psychology.     

Competition-cooperation as a mediator of locus of control and achievement

To test the hypothesis that internals will achieve more than externals in situations where competition is preeminent but not where cooperation is required, 300 children completed a digit-symbol task and a locus of control scale. Children were divided into internals and externals, placed in situations varying in competition and cooperation, and readministered the digit-symbol task. While the general hypothesis was supported, it was found that externals increased from their significantly low performance in the competitive situation to equal performance with internals in the cooperative situation. These findings are discussed in terms of their meaning for social learning theory and their relevance for the potential development of classroom teaching methods for increasing achievement behavior.     

Intrinsic motivation as a function of extrinsic financial rewards and subjects'locus of control

Two studies investigating the effects of pay on the intrinsic motivation of subjects varying along the dimension of locus of control were conducted. It was hypothesized that internals, who should assign greater weight to the competency aspect of rewards they receive, would manifest increasing intrinsic motivation as pay increased. Externals, who should be more likely to focus on the controlling aspects of rewards, were expected to show decreases in intrinsic motivation as rewards increased. In Study 1, where both the controlling and competency aspects of the rewards offered were deliberately kept vague, the hypotheses were supported. In Study 2, where the controlling aspect of the pay offered was made salient by making pay contingent upon performance, high pay undermined the intrinsic motivation of both internals and externals. It was suggested that only when the controlling aspect of pay is not salient will the intrinsic motivation of externals and internals be differentially affected. Support for the hypothesis that internals and externals differentially weight available information when making causal attributions was also noted.     

Authoritarian dynamics and unethical decision making: high social dominance orientation leaders and high right-wing authoritarianism followers

When dilemmas require trade-offs between profits and ethics, do leaders high in social dominance orientation (SDO) and followers high in right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) make decisions that are more unethical than those made by others? This issue was explored in 4 studies with female participants performing managerial role-playing tasks. First, dyads comprising a person who was either low or high in SDO and a person who was either low or high in RWA negotiated for a leadership position. People high in SDO were more likely to obtain leader positions than to obtain follower positions. No other effects were significant. Second, leaders high in SDO partnered with an agreeable (confederate) follower made decisions that were more unethical than those of leaders low in SDO. Third, followers high in RWA were more acquiescent to and supportive of an unethical (confederate) leader than were followers low in RWA. Fourth, high SDO leader-high RWA follower dyads made decisions that were more unethical than those made in role-reversed dyads because leaders had more influence. Implications of these results for conceptualizing SDO, RWA, and authoritarian dynamics are discussed.     

Locus of Control and Implicit Memory

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of locus of control on implicit and explicit memory. We hypothesized that internals would rely on semantic processing, externals on perceptual processing. In Experiment 1, 80 college students studied 36 words and completed an implicit memory test in either a consistent or cross-modality condition. The results revealed that externals had higher priming scores than did internals, regardless of modality. In Experiment 2, 80 college students took either an implicit or explicit test. The results again revealed that externals showed higher priming scores than internals. The higher priming scores exhibited by the externals do not necessarily mean that they are more perceptually oriented than the internals are.     

Locus of control and the learning of an artificial language

An experiment was conducted to explore the cognitive processes associated with locus of control beliefs. Internal and external subjects were instructed to remember as much as they can from an array of 21 letter strings generated from a finite state grammar. Although internals and externals did not significantly differ in their ability to recall these items, internals were better able to discriminate grammaticality and nongrammaticality in a new set of letter strings. Thus, although both groups attended to the exemplars, internals extracted more invariance and hence learned more about the underlying structure than externals. These results were discussed in relation to those of Wolk and DuCette (1974) on I-E and incidental learning.     

Effect of locus of control,expectancy confirmation-disconfirmation,and type of goal on causal attributions of failure

Two experiments demonstrated interactive effects between locus of control and expectancy confirmation-disconfirmation in determining attribution of failure. Experiencing an expected versus an unexpected failure significantly influenced the performance attributions of internals but not externals. The first experiment also demonstrated an interaction between locus of control and type of performance goal (self-determined versus other-determined) in determining failure attribution. When the performance goal was other-determined, there were significant differences between internals and externals in their attributions of failure, but these differences did not materialize when the performance goals were selfdetermined, in the absence of any externally defined standard. Interpretation of results focused on the differences between internals and externals in regard to information processing and certain cognitive characteristics as they are related to the attribution of outcomes.     

Locus of control and effects of failure on perfomance and perceived competence

Reactions to related performance feedback of 117 internal and external eighth-grade children were investigated under conditions which made denial of personal responsibility for outcomes difficult. Both internals and externals were equally pleased by success feedback and displeased by failure and their competence judgement was influenced by the feedback received. However, internals exhibited more effective coping with failure than did externals. They improved their performance following failure feedback relatively more than after success and no external feedback conditions, and their percieved competance did not decrease in comparison with externals.     

Excuse-making and blaming as a function of internal—external locus of control

Two studies examined differences in excuse-maktg and blaming by subjects with internal or external locus of control. In Study I, 39 internals and 30 externals judged acceptability of various excuses in three situations and also assigned blame for cheating and lying in other situations. Externals were uniformly more prone to use excuses than internals, both for other actors and for themselves. Also, externals tended to assign less blame for cheating and lying. In Study II, 24 internals and 32 externals divided blame among themselves, another person, and ‘no one to blame’ in 10 joint-responsible situations. Externals assigned more blame to the other person and less to themselves, but approximately the same blame to ‘no one’ Externals also had higher tendencies to blame others and were more sensitive to being blamed. These results point to a ‘missing dimension’ of interpersonal relations in studies of excuse-making and blame.     

I. Validity of WISC-R factor scores in predicting achievement and attention for four sociocultural groups

The predictive validity of WISC-R factor scores was examined with samples from the four sociocultural groups of Anglo, Black, Chicano, and native American Papago. The Full Scale IQ and Verbal Comprehension (VC) factor scores were significantly better predictors of achievement as measured by teacher ratings and the Metropolitan Achievement Test. The Perceptual Organization and Freedom from Distractibility (FD) factor scores were also significantly related to achievement, but at a lower level than Full Scale and VC. The correlations of the WISC-R and achievement measures were nearly the same for three of the four groups (exception was native American Papago). The relationship of the FD factor score to ratings of attention was statistically significant, but relatively low. Cautions in interpreting FD as a measure of attention were recommended due to overlap of distributions and low proportion of variance in attention accounted for by FD.     

The effect of standard, motivation, and strategy instructions on the facial processing accuracy of internal and external subjects

In the present study, it was hypothesized that poorer performance of externals in cognitive and interpersonal tasks also would be found in the processing of nonverbal information in the form of a facial affect recognition task. It was further hypothesized that the poorer nonverbal processing performance of externals was due to either their lower motivation or their use of less effective processing strategies. Subjects (N = 70) were divided into internal and external groups and then further subdivided into groups that received standard, motivational, or strategy instructions. Analysis of subjects' responses to the facial affect recognition task showed internals performed significantly better than externals under standard conditions. However, neither motivational nor strategy instructions improved the performance of externals. The implications for interpersonal functioning of the poorer nonverbal processing ability of extenrals was discussed from both theoretical and methodological perspectives.     

Locus of Control and Voluntary Heart-Rate Change

Summary: Investigated the effects of locus of control on voluntary control of heart-rate change. The 32 subjects were randomly assigned to one of two heart-rate change groups: Increase or decrease. The groups were counterbalanced for locus of control and sex. No heart-rate feedback was provided to subjects, and all subjects performed the appropriate task for two sessions. Results indicated that during the initial session, internals were better able to increase their heart-rates than externals; the externals were better able to decrease their heart-rates than internals. This association, however, diminished to nonsignificance in the second session.     

Locus of control and voluntary heart-rate change.

Investigated the effects of locus of control on voluntary control of heart-rate change. The 32 subjects were randomly assigned to one of two heart-rate change groups: Increase or decrease. The groups were counterbalanced for locus of control and sex. No heart-rate feedback was provided to subjects, and all subjects performed the appropriate task for two sessions. Results indicated that during the initial session, internals were better able to increase their heart-rates than externals; the externals were better able to decrease their heart-rates internals. This association, however, diminished to nonsignificance in the second session.     

Cultural chameleons and iconoclasts: Assimilation and reactance to cultural cues in biculturals’ expressed personalities as a function of identity conflict

Bicultural individuals vary in the degree to which their two cultural identities are integrated versus conflicting—Bicultural Identity Integration (BII). Past research on attribution biases finds that BII influences the way that biculturals shift in response to cultural primes: integrated biculturals shift assimilatively, whereas conflicted biculturals shift contrastively. Proposing that this reflects assimilation versus reactance responses, we tested whether it extends to shifts in self-perceived personality. In two experiments with Asian-American participants, we found that BII influences the direction of cultural priming effects (assimilation versus contrast) on the personality dimensions of need for uniqueness (Experiment 1) and extraversion (Experiment 2). As hypothesized, high BIIs shifted in a culturally assimilative direction, perceiving the self as more uniqueness-seeking and extraverted following American versus Asian priming, whereas low BIIs shifted in the reverse direction. Implications for research on bicultural identity, priming, personality, organizational and consumer behavior are discussed.