Experienced locus of control of reinforcement—internal versus external—is theoretically argued to pattern the unique relationship the elderly have to their changing world. Ego functioning, personality, and intellectual correlates of the control dimension are empirically explored. Findings indicate that those who experience an internal (as opposed to an external) locus of control of reinforcement are more coping (flexible, purposive, open), less defensive (compelled, channeled, distorting), cognitively more complex, differentiated, sensitive, and intellectually superior.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Jim A. Kuypers (1972) studied this question.