Developments and Social Problems

278 Pages·1983·3.826 MB·English

by  Herbert M. Lefcourt (Eds.)

RESEARCH WITH THE
LOCUS OF CONTROL
CONSTRUCT
Volume 2
Developments and Social Problems
EDITED BY
Herbert M. Lefcourt
Department of Psychology
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
1983
ACADEMIC PRESS
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Research with the locus of control construct.
Includes bibliographies and index.
Contents: v. 1. Assessment methods -- v. 2. Develop-
ments and social problems.
1. Control (Psychology) 2. Interpersonal relations.
3. Psychology, Pathological. I. Lefcourt, Herbert M.
[DNLM: 1. Interna1-external control. BF 632.5 R^32
1981]
BF611.RA7 155-2'32 8I-7876
ISBN 0-12-^3202-6
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
83 84 85 86 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
LIST OF
CONTRIBUTORS
Numbers in parentheses indicate the pages on which the authors' contributions begin.
Virginia C. Crandall (53), Wright State University, School of Medicine, Fels
Research Institute, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387
Beth W. Crandall (53), Wright State University, School of Medicine, Fels
Research Institute, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387
William J. Doherty (155), Department of Family Practice, University of Iowa,
Oakdale, Iowa 52319
Dennis M. Donovan (107), Alcohol Dependence Treatment Program, Veterans
Administration Medical Center, Seattle, Washington 98108
Marshall P. Duke (9), Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta,
Georgia 30322
Paul Harpin (187), Nordli-Wilson Associates, New Haven, Connecticut 06510
Herbert M. Lefcourt (1, 253, 269), Department of Psychology, University of
Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1
Stephen Nowicki, Jr. (9), Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta,
Georgia 30322
Michael R. O'Leary (107), Kiksap Psychiatric Associates, Bremerton,
Washington 98310
Finetta Reese (187), Department of Psychology, Arizona State University,
Tempe, Arizona 85287
Irwin Sandler (187), Department of Psychology, Arizona State University,
Tempe, Arizona 85287
Lee Spencer (187), Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe,
Arizona 85287
ix
PREFACE
Part I of this volume pertains to one realm of locus of control
research that is of signal interest to psychologists concerned with per-
sonality research and theory. If locus of control is an important predic-
tor of behavior, then we should know something about its origins and
the role it plays at different stages of the life span. In various poetic
ways we have often heard that childhood and old age share many
features, especially with regard to helplessness. The scrutiny of such
age-specific proclivities in order to shed light on these commonalities
form a welcome addition to locus of control studies. The chapters in the
first part aid in the development of such a life-span approach to locus of
control research.
Part II of this volume continues the approach of the first volume by
focusing on applications to two clinical-social problems: marital in-
stability and alcoholism. The chapters in this section review the
literature in which locus of control has been used as a predictor of
marital instability and of drinking behavior.
Finally, in the third part, the use of locus of control as a moderator
variable is explored. Here, the response to particular situational con-
straints or milieu characteristics is evaluated vis-à-vis status on locus of
control variables. In this way it becomes possible to speak of the
specific effects of therapy or educational procedures upon persons who
vary in personality characteristics such as locus of control, in much the
way that the advocates of interactionism have always advised.
In covering these three areas this volume may be seen as a con-
tribution toward explaining the nomological network in which the
locus of control construct is embedded. In studying the antecedents,
xi
xii : PREFACE
concomitants, and far-reaching ramifications of the construct we can
come to see its meaning more clearly. In each case the results are not
always affirmative. However, negative results can also help to clarify
the limits of a constructs domain as well as to provide a goad to re-
searchers who refuse to accept findings that run in a counterintuitive
direction.
It is our hope that these chapters will both stimulate future research
and help researchers to see more clearly how and when the construct
and specific measures of it may be used most fruitfully.
1
Herbert M. Lefcourt
INTRODUCTION
In this second volume of the Research with the Locus of Control
Construct series we present reviews of some familiar and some more
esoteric research ventures. Given this admixture there is a likeness be-
tween this volume and the immediately preceding one. However, rather
than focus on new assessment methods, as we had in Volume 1, we turn
our attention to new uses that have been made of the locus of control
construct.
Part I: Early Research Programs
Similar to the first volume in this series, the first part of this book
contains reviews of older research programs, parts of which have been
familiar to psychologists concerned with the locus of control construct.
One of these programs, described by Stephen Nowicki and Marshall
Duke, is unique in that these investigators have been involved in the
construction of sets of locus of control scales that were tailored to the
ages and statuses of various subjects. It would seem a simple and com-
monsensical ambition to create measures that are of immediate rele-
vance to the persons who are to complete them. If people care about
certain goals or experiences, their beliefs regarding their accomplish-
ments would more likely be predictive of relevant behaviors than would
be beliefs about experiences that are of lesser interest. Empirical dem-
onstrations of this sensible proposition have been reported with regard
to locus of control (Naditch & De Maio, 1975).
RESEARCH WITH THE LOCUS Copyright © 1983 by Academic Press, Inc.
OF CONTROL CONSTRUCT (Vol. 2): All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
Developments and Social Problems ISBN: 0-12-443202-6
1
2 : HERBERT M. LEFCOURT
Though this position is appealing, few investigators have con-
cerned themselves about whether the scales they administer are appro-
priate to subjects' interests. For example, questions concerning school
achievement and the making of friendships have been asked of elderly
persons when more pertinent questions might have involved family
commitments, the maintenance of privacy, and so on as are repre-
sented in Reid and Ziegler's (1981) scales.
Consequently, the scale construction by Nowicki, Duke, and their
colleagues is welcomed. Their chapter presents a review of, as well as
norms for, some of these scales. The greater range of choices of scales
now available for locus of control researchers should encourage greater
deliberation and more discriminating selections of assessment devices.
The second chapter, from a mature program of research, is based
on a paper Virginia Crandall wrote in 1973, when she was invited to
address the American Psychological Association at an annual meeting.
In that address Crandall described most of the research available at that
time, pertaining to the familial origins of locus of control orientations.
Crandall presented her own data deriving from the Fels Institute lon-
gitudinal sample, which was, and possibly still is, the most interesting
data set available concerning familial origins of locus of control. Based
on observations of family interactions made during childhood and per-
sonality assessments completed in the young adult years, Crandall's
data provided an exciting addition to this literature. Although those
who heard the address and had copies of her paper have referred to
this study repeatedly, it has not previously appeared in print. Chapter
3 presents the material from the earlier address and contains an update
of the literature pertaining to childhood antecedents of locus of control
orientations. Among the data reported in this chapter, that described
in the literature concerned with contingency awareness among hu-
mans (Watson, 1979) and other primates (Suomi, 1980), and the work
concerning childhood antecedents of competence (Sroufe, 1979), in-
vestigators may be able to bring themselves up to date regarding the
state of knowledge in this area.
Part II: Application to Social Problems
In the second part of this volume, two chapters are presented that
add to the developing literature concerned with clinical applications of
locus of control research. In the first volume, Worell and Tumilty (1981)
described a locus of control measure pertaining to alcohol-related be-
havior. At that time I had not been aware of the extensive research
program about which Dennis Donovan and Michael O'Leary had been
1 INTRODUCTION : 3
writing in journals thai are primarily concerned with the problem of
alcoholism. As well as contributing to the literature linking locus of
control with clinical problems, Donovan and O'Leary present in Chap-
ter 4 the research findings obtained with an area-specific locus of con-
trol device (Drink-Related I-E Scale) that adds to the potential repertoire
of investigators interested in using more-targeted locus of control de-
vices. In this chapter, much of the literature concerning alcoholism and
locus of control is reviewed. This is a welcome contribution, given the
previously reported paradoxical findings to the effect that addicts and
alcoholics often score in a more internal direction on I-E scales than
more normal individuals. This set of paradoxical findings has been dis-
cussed in my previous writings (Lefcourt, 1982). In the Donovan and
O'Leary chapter, some elucidation of these perplexing findings is ac-
complished with the use of locus of control measures that are more
relevant to drinking behavior.
Chapter 5 by William Doherty focuses on locus of control and mar-
ital interaction. Because attentiveness to and wise use of information
has been linked with locus of control expectations in previous research
(Lefcourt, 1982), it would seem that spousal attention to one another
and their tendency to act on their obtained information should likewise
be associated with the degree to which they view marital interactions
as controllable and themselves as responsible for the outcomes of those
interactions. That locus of control may prove valuable in helping to
comprehend the processes by which marriages are strengthened or
weakened is as yet speculative. However, Doherty's chapter helps to
bring the reader abreast of the current literature and also offers sug-
gestions as to where further investigations are apt to be profitable.
Because marriage is one of the few institutions that actively fosters
a sense of intimacy between individuals, and intimacy, closeness, and
social support are so important in helping individuals cope with dif-
ficult life circumstances (Brown & Harris, 1976; Cobb, 1976), the cur-
rent trends toward instability in marriage must be viewed with alarm.
It is hoped that the use of constructs such as locus of control for in-
terpreting the failures of couples to aid and facilitate each other may
both encourage further research in this area and offer suggestions for the
improvement of relationships.
Part III: Locus of Control as a Moderator Variable
In Part III, two chapters are presented that describe the manner in
which locus of control can be used in interaction with other variables
for predicting given outcomes. In Chapter 6, by Sandier, Reese, Spen-
4 : HERBERT M. LEFCOURT
cer, and Harpin, locus of control is described as a variable that can be
used to study the impacts of various procedures that differ in the degree
to which they allow subjects freedom to maneuver on their own. Locus
of control has been found to afford some prediction of outcomes
achieved in response to particular educational and therapeutic ap-
proaches, with internals preferring certain kinds of procedures and ex-
ternals often favoring diametrically opposite procedures. As such, locus
of control can be viewed as a moderator variable, which, in interaction
with given treatment conditions, helps to produce particular results. In
this chapter, Sandier and his associates attempt to review the findings
implicating locus of control as a moderator of different treatments.
In like fashion, in Chapter 7, I describe the literature concerned
specifically with stress. In earlier articles (Lefcourt, 1973, 1980) I re-
viewed the literature suggesting that locus of control could be used to
help explain differential responses to aversive situations. In this chap-
ter I explore how locus of control can be used to predict the responses
of individuals to a number of common life stresses. As with specific
treatment conditions, locus of control is found to act as a moderator
variable; that is, as a predictor of how stress is likely to affect its vic-
tims.
In Chapters 6 and 7, examples are provided to show how situation
and personality variables may be used conjointly, as has been recom-
mended by innumerable advocates of interactionism (e.g., Endler &
Magnusson, 1976). In addition, some evaluation of the effectiveness of
locus of control for prediction of responses to stress, on the one hand,
and to particular treatments, on the other, can be derived.
As was the case in the first volume, it is the hope of both chapter
authors and the editor that the material in this volume will help to bring
readers up to date and in so doing will stimulate and encourage others
to examine further the ramifications of beliefs regarding personal ef-
fectiveness, causality, and the manner in which action and experience
are connected. Though many writers prefer to attend to the distinctions
between various beliefs and perceptions concerning control, causality,
and efficacy, it is my hope that this latter emphasis on conceptual de-
lineations will not detract from the larger issue that concerns the man-
ner in which individuals perceive themselves interacting in their
worlds. It is in the examination of our subjects* phenomenal worlds,
wherein they perceive the connections between their own actions and
characteristics and the events that befall them, that we will probably
obtain our most fruitful results; and this phenomenal world will prob-
ably prove to be neither as atomistic as attribution researchers would
have us believe nor as segmented as those concerned with specific areas
1. INTRODUCTION : 5
of efficacy have suggested. Rather, in viewing attributions, perceived
efficacy, and so on as parts or indicators of one's view of oneself and
one's world, perhaps we will be able to derive more useful statements
about human endeavors.
References
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women. London: Tavistock, 1978.
Cobb, S. Presidential Address: Social support as a moderator of life stress. Psychosomatic
Medicine, 1976, 38, 300-314.
Endler, N. S., & Magnusson, D. Toward an interactional psychology of personality. Psy-
chological Bulletin, 1976, 83, 956-974.
Lefcourt, H. M. The function of the illusions of control and freedom. American Psy-
chologist, 1973, 28, 417-425.
Lefcourt, H. M. Locus of control and coping with life's events. In E. Staub (Ed.), Person-
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Erlbaum, 1982.
Naditch, M. P., & De Maio, T. Locus of control and competence. Journal of Personality,
1975, 43, 541-559.
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834-841.
Suomi, S. J. Contingency, perception and social development. In L. R. Sherrod & M. E.
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