Variations in Locus of Control and Repression-Sensitization in Acute Schizophrenics,Schizophrenic Criminals,and Criminal Psychiatric Offenders

Abstract

A total of 73 male acute schizophrenics, schizophrenic-criminal, criminal-psychiatric persons and university students were compared on Rotter's locus of control and Byrne's repression-sensitization questionnaires. The criminal-psychiatric population and university students appeared more repressed than the schizophrenic-criminal and acute schizophrenic groups on the repression-sensitization measure. No significant differences were observed for the locus of control measure. Results suggest that criminal-psychiatric offenders exhibit greater repression than the acute and criminal-schizophrenic groups. Computation of Internal/External Locus of Control and Repression-Sensitization correlations for groups showed significance only for the criminal-psychiatric group and accounted for 72% of the covariance. These results are discussed in the context of research on criminality.

References

Bell

Byrne

Repression-sensitization. In London

Exner

(Eds.), Dimensions of personality. New York: Wiley, 1978. Pp. 449–485.

Bleuler

Dementia praecox or the group of schizophrenias (1911). New York: International Universities Press, 1950.

Byrne

The Repression-Sensitization Scale: rationale, reliability and validity. Journal of Personality, 1961, 29, 334–369.

Byrne

Repression-Sensitization as a dimension of personality. In Maher

B. A.

(Ed.), Progress in experimental personality research. New York: Academic Press, 1964. Pp. 169–220

Byrne

Barry

Nelson

Relation of the Revised Repression-Sensitization Scale to measure of self-description. Psychological Reports, 1963, 13, 323–334.

Carpenter

W. T.

Stephens

J. H.

An attempted integration of information relevant to schizophrenic subtypes. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 1982, 5, 490–506.

Harrow

Ferrante

Locus of control in psychiatric patients. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1969, 33, 582–589.

Megargee

E. I.

Undercontrol and overcontrol in assaultive and homicidal adolescents. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Univer. of California, Berkeley, CA, 1964.

Megargee

E. I.

Undercontrolled and overcontrolled personality types in extreme antisocial aggression. Psychological Monographs, 1966, 80, No. 3 (Whole No. 611).

10.

Megargee

E. I.

Bohn

M. J.

Classifying criminal offenders. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1979.

11.

Phares

E. J.

Locus of control in personality. Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press, 1976.

12.

Rotter

J. B.

Social learning and clinical psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1954.

13.

Rotter

J. B.

The role of psychological situation in determining the direction of human behavior. In Jones

M. R.

(Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation. Lincoln: Univer. of Nebraska Press, 1955. Pp. 245–269.

14.

Rotter

J. B.

Some implications of a social learning theory for the prediction of goal-directed behavior from testing procedures. Psychological Review, 1960, 67, 301–316.

15.

Rotter

J. B.

Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs, General and Applied, 1966, 80, No. 1 (Whole No. 609).

16.

Sappington

Reactive schizophrenia and perceptual sensitization. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1977, 45, 807–810.

17.

Scarpetti

W. I.

Autonomic concomitant of aggressive behavior in repressors and sensitizers: a social learning approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1974, 30, 772–781.

18.

Schwartz

M. S.

Krupp

N. E.

Byrne

Repression-Sensitization and medical diagnosis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1971, 78, 286–291.

19.

Soskis

D. A.

A survey of psychiatric opinion on schizophrenia. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 1972, 13, 573–580.

20.

Stephens

J. H.

Long-term prognosis and followup in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 1978, 4, 25–47.

21.

Tolor

Reznikoff

Relation between insight, repression-sensitization, internal-external control and death anxiety. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1967, 72, 426–430.