THE INTERNAL-EXTERNAL SCALE CONFOUNDS INTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL WITH EXPECTANCIES OF POSITIVE OUTCOMES

Julian Rotter's Internal-External (I-E) Scale forces choices between s tatements expressing internal locus of control and those expressing ex ternal locus of control. However the statements appear also to differ in the confidence they convey that desired outcomes will occur Subject s in Study 1 viewed bogus responses agreeing or disagreeing with eithe r internal or external statements from the I-E Scale Agreement with in ternal items (compared with disagreement) was seen as implying confide nce that desired outcomes would occur Disagreement with external items (compared with agreement) was seen as implying confidence that desire d outcomes would occur Subjects in Study 2 rated their own agreement w ith either internal or external items and their confidence of the desi red outcomes. Agreement with internal items was positively related to confidence about the outcomes; agreement with external items was unrel ated to confidence. Discussion focuses on theoretical implications.