Internal-External Locus of Control and Its Effect on Interpersonal Relationships

Abstract

"She's my favorite teacher … He scares me so much I never say a word in class … She's really a nice person once you get to know her … He never seems to be able to explain the problem correctly." Statements such as these might be overheard in any school corridor, or cafeteria, wherever students get together to talk about school, classes, and their teachers. But what prompts students to make such statements? Is it just the school system and teachers which effect such remarks? What about a student's attitude towards the school? What about the teacher? Does the way in which an individual feels about his family manifest itself in the classroom? Do students see teachers as parental replacements? The present study was begun to try and answer some of these questions. The idea that a student's attitude toward others affected his feelings toward school and the teacher, and how his associations with such gave rise to the question of measurement of interpersonal distance and how different students react to different situations. The purpose of this study is to investigate students' interpersonal relationships in the family and in school, and his perception of personal control in a situation. It seeks to test the assumption that student attitude towards others, himself, and his environment is measurable through the use of circle placement and through the use of an internal-external locus of control scale.