SELF-REPORTED LOCUS OF CONTROL IS BASED ON FEELINGS OF DEPRESSION AS WELL AS ON ASYMMETRY IN ACTIVATION OF CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES

In a sample of 50 patients with primary breast cancer we obtained inte rviews, answers to questionnaires, blood samples, and reaction limes o n two stimulus discrimination tests on the day of admission to the hos pital for a biopsy. Locus of control scores on Rotter's I-E Locus of C ontrol Scale seemed to be directly associated with an indicator of dep ressed mood and one of relative activation of the right cerebral hemis phere. Other variables of which one might have expected a mediating ro le did not show significant partial relationships with the dependent v ariable.