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Defensive externality and its relation to academic performance.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|March 1, 1975
Summary
Internals outperform externals in academic achievement. Defensive externals, particularly females, show higher academic success, suggesting mediating variables influence locus of control and performance.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Locus of control significantly impacts academic performance.
- Defensive externals have been a confounding factor in prior research.
- Mediating variables' roles in locus of control and academic success require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the relationship between locus of control and academic performance.
- To evaluate the academic achievement of defensive externals.
- To investigate the effect of mediating variables on locus of control and academic performance.
Main Methods:
- Administered the Internal, Powerful Others, and Chance scales.
- Utilized the Fear of Negative Evaluation scale.
- Employed the Achievement via Independence/via Conformance scales with 160 college students.
Main Results:
- Internals demonstrated superior academic performance compared to both defensive and congruent externals.
- Defensive externals achieved higher GPAs than congruent externals.
- Female defensive externals outperformed male defensive externals academically.
Conclusions:
- Locus of control is directly linked to academic achievement.
- Defensive externality is associated with higher academic success, especially in females.
- Mediating variables may modify the relationship between locus of control and academic performance.