Theories_of_Personality 7th Ed Feist

Feist−Feist: Theories of

Personality, Seventh

Edition

V. Learning Theories 17. Rotter and Mischel:

Cognitive Social Learning

Theory

(^528) © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
control. Thus, a person with a generalized expectancy for success in one situation
may have low feelings of personal control in another situation.
To assess internal and external control of reinforcement, or locus of control,
Rotter (1966) developed the Internal-External Control Scale, basing it on the doc-
toral dissertations of two of his students, E. Jerry Phares (1955) and William H.
James (1957). The I-E Scale consists of 29 forced-choice items, 23 pairs of which
are scored and 6 of which are filler statements designed to disguise the purpose of
the scale. The scale is scored in the direction of external control so that 23 is the
highest possible external score and 0 is the highest possible internal score. Table 17.1
shows several sample items from the I-E Scale. People must select either alternative
“a” or alternative “b” from each pair of items. Although the internal or external di-
rection of these items may seem obvious, Rotter (1990) reported that scores have
only a modest correlation with a social desirability scale.
The I-E Scale attempts to measure the degree to which people perceive a
causal relationship between their own efforts and environmental consequences. Peo-
ple who score high on internal control generally believe that the source of control re-
sides within themselves and that they exercise a high level of personal control in
most situations. People who score high on external control generally believe that
their life is largely controlled by forces outside themselves, such as chance, destiny,
or the behavior of other people. At the beginning of this chapter, we asked you to
check either “a” or “b” for six items that might assess internal or external locus of
control. Marking “b” for all times except Number 2 might indicate internal locus of
522 Part V Learning Theories
TABLE 17.1
Sample Items From Rotter’s Internal-External Control Scale

1. a. Many of the unhappy things in people’s lives are partly due to bad luck.
   b. People’s misfortunes result from the mistakes they make.


2. a. One of the major reasons we have wars is that people don’t take enough interest
   in politics.
   b. There will always be wars, no matter how hard people try to prevent them.


3. a. In the long run, people get the respect they deserve in this world.
   b. Unfortunately, an individual’s worth often passes unrecognized no matter how
   hard he or she tries.


4. a. The average citizen can have an influence in government decisions.
   b. The world is run by the few people in power and there isn’t much the little guy
   can do about it.


5. a. The idea that teachers are unfair to students is nonsense.
   b. Most students don’t realize the extent to which their grades are influenced by
   accidental happenings.


6. a. No matter how hard you try, some people just don’t like you.
   b. People who can’t get others to like them don’t understand how to get along with
   others.

From J. B. Rotter, 1966. Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological

Monographs, 80(Whole No. 609), p. 11. Reprinted by permission.