Item mood-level as a determinant of I-E test response

Mood Connotations of a Locus of Control Questionnaire

This study investigated the role of possible mood connotations in the frequently found positive relationship between external locus of control and depression. A sample of 247 “normal” subjects completed a short Dutch Locus of Control scale, mood ratings of its items, and the Depression Symptom Inventory. Results indicate that the mood connotations did not affect the correlations between depression and both the internal and the external locus of control scales.

Self-reports and CEO Locus of Control Research: A Note

The body of knowledge in organizational and management research is based, to a large extent, on same-source self-report data. Although several scholars seriously doubt the validity of such findings, this methodology has also been used, without exception, in a specific research area focusing on the relationship between the locus of control of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and firm-level entrepreneur ship. In the present study, we try to evaluate the validity of these findings by using multiple sources (i.e., respondents) to obtain data on the independent and criterion variables. We present empirical evidence that the published correlations between the CEO locus of control and firm-level entrepreneurship cannot be interpreted unambiguously due to two, not necessarily mutually exclusive, methodological problems, that is: (1) a fallacy of the wrong level and (2) common method variance.

Locus of control and depression: that confounded relationship

Two studies were conducted to clarify the relationship between locus of control and depression. In the first study, 157 students rated the mood level of Rotter's I-E items. As predicted, the external responses were rated as significantly more depressive in tone than the internal responses. This result suggested that the frequently found relationship between depression and external locus of control might be artifactual, resulting from the mood level rather than the content of the external responses. In the second study, 108 students completed the Beck Depression Inventory and the I-E; as predicted, the scales were significantly positively correlated. However, also as predicted, the correlation was no longer significant once the mood level was partialed out from the I-E items.

Perceived locus of control as a function of level of depression among alcoholics and nonalcoholics

This study investigated perceived locus of control as a function of level of depression among 39 alcoholics and 39 matched nonalcoholic controls. Ss completed the Rotter I-E scale and the Beck Depression Inventory. Initial analyses of variance indicated a lack of difference between groups on the I-E scale; however, alcoholics were significantly more depressed than were controls. A correlational analysis indicated a significant relationship between an external locus of control and higher levels of depression. When level of depression was controlled statistically, an alalysis of covariance indicated that the alcoholic samples was significantly more internal than the nonalcoholics. These data tend to cross-validate Lamont's (1972) findings of an item-mood response bias in the I-E scale. These data further support the contention that caution must be used in interpreting comparative locus of control results derived from samples that have differential base rates of depression.

Internal-external expectancy, maladjustment and psychotherapeutic intervention

This paper reviewed research on the relationship between internal-external expectancy, maladjustment and psychotherapeutic intervention. The implications drawn from the studies reviewed were: (a) externality is related to poor psychological adjustment and (b) psychotherapy can be effectively utilized to modify expectancy.