Locus of Control (Rotter I-E)
Psychology: PersonalityReliability: alpha 0.692 sample items
About this scale
A 23-item forced-choice measure of locus of control — the extent to which one believes outcomes are contingent on one's own behaviour (internal) versus on external forces (external).
Sample item(s)
“(a) Many of the unhappy things in people's lives are partly due to bad luck. (b) People's misfortunes result from the mistakes they make.”
“(a) The world is run by the few people in power, and there is not much the little guy can do about it. (b) By taking an active part in political and social affairs the people can control world events.”
Reliability
Reported internal consistency: alpha 0.69. As a rule of thumb, Cronbach’s α ≥ .70 is considered acceptable, ≥ .80 good, and ≥ .90 excellent for established measures.
Notes
Modern researchers often use shorter forms (e.g., Levenson 1981 IPC).
Source & citation
Rotter, J. B. (1966): Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, Vol. 80, No. 1, pp. 1–28.
Rotter (1966): Locus of control. Psychological Monographs, 80(1), 1–28.
Source. Scale details are summarised from the publication cited above. Always consult the original source for the full item set, scoring, and permission to use.
Use it in your research
Need to check the reliability or psychometrics of this scale in your own data? Use the free DrAIStudio research tools:
Cronbach’s alpha calculator
All statistical calculators
Search the full Scale Atlas
Academic writing humanizer