Personal Control Expectancies and State Anxiety

Abstract

This study examined relationships among generalized expectancy for internal or external control, situational expectancy of control over aversive stimuli, and state anxiety. 80 male subjects, selected from the upper and lower thirds of the distribution of scores from Rotter's 1-E scale, were randomly assigned to one of four conditions of expectancy of control over electric shock. Repeated measures of state anxiety were taken at three points in the experiment, and subjects were asked to rate the degree of control they expected to have in avoiding shocks. Results, based upon analyses of variance, were interpreted as challenging traditional conceptions of a simple, inverse relationship between degree of control and anxiety. Findings were discussed in terms of relationships to the interactional model of behavioral prediction.