RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF INTERNAL-EXTERNAL CONTROL AS A PERSONALITY DIMENSION.

EXTENSIVE NEW DATA ARE REPORTED ON THE TEST-RETEST RELIABILITIES AND PERSONALITY SCALE CORRELATES OF THE INTERNAL-EXTERNAL (I-E) CONTROL DIMENSION. I-E IS FOUND TO RELATE CONSISTENTLY TO MEASURES OF MALADJUSTMENT, WITH INTERNAL SCORERS LESS MALADJUSTED. I-E IS RELATED TO A VARIETY OF PERSONALITY SCALES, WITH INTERNAL SCORERS DESCRIBING THEMSELVES AS MORE ACTIVE, STRIVING, ACHIEVING, POWERFUL, INDEPENDENT, AND EFFECTIVE. FOR 2 OF 3 SAMPLES, INTERNAL SCORERS WERE ALSO SIGNIFICANTLY MORE EFFECTIVE AS MENTAL HOSPITAL VOLUNTEERS THAN EXTERNAL SCORERS. THESE RESULTS ARE CONSISTENT WITH THOSE REPORTED IN PREVIOUS REVIEWS, BUT ADJECTIVAL DESCRIPTIONS OF EXTREME SCORERS, AND OTHER DATA, SUGGEST THAT INTERNAL SCORERS ARE A MORE HOMOGENEOUS GROUP THAN EXTERNAL SCORERS. SUGGESTIONS ARE OFFERED FOR DIFFERENTIATION OF THE CONCEPT OF EXTERNALITY. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)