Multidimensional locus of control in sociopolitical activists of conservative and liberal ideologies

Conducted 3 studies to examine the relationship between a multidimensional locus of control measure and sociopolitical activism, controlling for the effects of political ideology. In Study 1, 98 male college students completed an author-developed measure of conservatism-liberalism, Kerpelman's Activism scale, and H. Levenson's (1974) Internal, Powerful Others, and Chance scales (locus of control scales designed to differentiate between 2 types of externals--belief in powerful others vs belief in chance forces). In Studies 2 and 3, 66 female college students who differed in the extent of their participation in leftist political activities or feminist causes responded to the multidimensional locus of control scales. As predicted, analyses of variance and trend analyses indicated that for liberals, increases in expectancies of control by powerful others were positively associated with increases in activism, while for conservatives, there was a negative relationship. The importance of controlling for ideology and implications for the differentiated view of externality for understanding social action are discussed. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).