Publication Date

12-1976

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Retta Poe, Sam McFarland, Clinton Layne

Degree Program

Department of Psychology

Degree Type

Master of Arts

Abstract

Previous research concerning the relationship between locus of control and assertiveness has suggested that internals are more assertive than externals, hut the findings of earlier studies are inconsistent and inconclusive. The present study focused on the social desirability needs of subjects as related to locus of control and assertiveness. It was predicted that individuals who scored in the internal direction on the I-E scale and had a low social desirability need would receive higher scores on a test of assertive behavior than individuals who scored in the internal direction and had a high social desirability need. The Marlowe- Crown Social Desirability scale, Rotter's Internal-External scale, and the College Self Expression scale were administered to 69 male and 111 female college undergraduates. The results of the multiple regression analyses indicated that social desirability did not contribute significantly toward the ability of locus of control to predict assertiveness. Other findings indicated that males as a group were more assertive and more internal than females. However, for females only internals were more assertive than externals. It was suggested that perhaps what was being measured was expected male and female sex roles.

Disciplines

Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Download

Included in

Psychology Commons

Share

COinS