Dimensions of the I-E Scale and their Relationship to Other Personality Measures

Abstract

The 46 alternatives in the original 23-item forced-choice format of the I-E scale were administered in a Likert agree-disagree format. The intercorrelations of the 46 alternatives were subjected to a principal components analysis. A varimax rotation of four factors yielded four subscales comparable to those reported by Collins (1974): Belief in a difficult world, a just world, a politically responsive world, and a predictable world. Subjects' responses were factor scored and correlated with five measures: Skill-chance task preference, an achievement test, a political efficacy test, the Mach V scale, and a Just World scale. The pattern of correlations suggested that the difficult world factor, and to a lesser extent the predictable world factor, are relatively general in that they related to most of the five scales. The political world factor related only to (a) political efficacy and (b) Mach V (among males only), and appeared to be more specific in nature. The correlation with the Mach-V suggested that external responses to I-E political items indicated suspiciousness and anomie as well as belief in external control. The just world factor related only to the Just World Scale among males, and appeared to be somewhat inconsistent with the concept of belief in internal/external control. The correlations of the four factors with the five scales added some new meaning to the factors and suggested some ways of improving the I-E scale.EDUCATIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT 1977, 37, 159-175. ROTTER (1966 developed the Internal-External Locus of Control scale (I-E scale) to measure individual differences in the generalized belief regarding control of individual destinies. The scale consists of 23 forced-choice items. Each of the items offers an internal and an extrnal alternative from which the respondent must choose. Two factor analyses of the scale by Rotter (1966) andFranklin (1963) failed to produce at Purdue University on June 15, 2015 epm.sagepub.com Downloaded from

Cross-Cultural Research With the Locus of Control Construct

“…Although Zuckerman and Gerbasi (1977) found no overall gender difference on the Collins I-E scale for US White college students, females were significantly more external on the Difficult World and Just World factors. Females, however, tended (p < .10) to be more internal on the Predictable World factor.…”

“…Silvern and Nakamura (1971) found that externality was related positively to overall involvement, to protest actions, and to left-wing and counterculture views, but only for males. Zuckerman and Gerbasi (1977) found that Belief in a Difficult World was correlated significantly and negatively with political efficacy for males but not for females. No such relationship existed for females.…”

An Attribution Analysis of the Locus of Control Construct and the Trent Attribution Profile

“…However, we first attempt to show that there are two separate issues. This finding was replicated by Zuckerman and Gerbasi (1977). For example, Collins (1974) found that the I-E scale actually contains four subscales: belief in an easy-difficult world, belief in a predictable world, belief in a just world, and belief in a politically responsive world.…”

“…Several studies (e.g., Collins, 1974;Gurin, Gurin, Lao, & Beattie, 1969;Mirels, 1970;Sanger & Alker, 1972;Zuckerman & Gerbasi, 1977) have shown that Rotter's I-E Scale was not unidimensional as claimed by Rotter (1966). However, we first attempt to show that there are two separate issues.…”

Revisión del constructo lugar de control a partir de sus instrumentos de evaluación sobre poblaciones infantiles

“…sobre lade Rotter: Collins, 1974;Mirels, 1970;Perez Garda, 1984;Strickland y Haley, 1980;Zuckerman y Gerbasi, 1977;etc. Sobre la de Levenson: Fleming y Spooner, 1985;Levenson, 1973Levenson, , 1974Levenson y Miller, 1976;Stanley, Hyman y Sharp, 1983), cuyos resultados son interpretados por la mayor{a de los autores como prueba de la multidimensionalidad del mismo.…”