Generalizability of Psychological Research from Undergraduates to Employed Adults

To partially assess the generalizability of the use of undergraduate subjects as surrogates for employed adults, 180 employed adult students and 207 undergraduates in the United States were evaluated on measures of need for achievement, locus of control, preference for competitive or cooperative strategies, and need for cognition. There were no significant differences between samples across the measures of need for achievement and locus of control, but there were significant differences for the measures of need for cognition and for preference for competitive or cooperative strategies.