Anxiety, Discrepancy between Need Value and Expectancy, and Internal-External Control

Abstract

3 groups of Ss differing in degree of internal-external control were administered measures of anxiety, need value in the academic recognition area, expectancy for success in the academic area, need value in the area of love and affection, and expectancy for success in the love and affection area. All measures were paper-and-pencil ones and were administered in an academic setting. It was predicted and generally demonstrated that external control of reinforcement is associated both with greater anxiety and with the discrepancy between need value and expectancy in the academic area. As expected, similar relationships did not obtain for the love and affection measures. Similarities between the anxiety and academic discrepancy scores were noted.