Locus of Control in South Africa

Does the Womanist Identity Model Predict Aspects of Psychological Functioning in Black South African Women?

This article's area of inquiry is the reactions of black South African women to gender oppression. It also examines whether Helms's Womanist Identity Model is useful in predicting self-related personality characteristics, specifically Locus of control and Self-efficacy. The Womanist Identity Model was predictive of self-efficacy, with Immersion-Emersion and Internalisation subscales making unique contributions to its prediction, but in opposite directions. The Womanist Model was also predictive of Locus of control among black South African women. The findings therefore demonstrated that internalised gender oppression can differentially contribute to this South African sample's perceptions of personal empowerment.

The Resilience of Naval Specialists: Their Sense of Coherence and its Relationship with Measures of Personality

The occupational demands placed on naval specialists require them to be individuals with high levels of resilience. In this study, I firstly measured the sense of coherence (SoC) of naval specialists, which included 97 divers and 318 submariners, and the results confirmed the high scores hypothesised. Secondly, I explored the relationship between sense of coherence and certain personality traits known to be important for naval specialists, as measured by the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), the IPAT Anxiety Scale, and Rotter's Intemality-Externality Scale (RIES). The hypothesised correlations on the 16PF, however, were not demonstrated. Instead, the personality traits associated with high SoC scores — the so-called resilient profile — differed from the typical profile of naval specialists. The expected significant negative correlation with anxiety was shown, as was the significant correlation between high SoC scores and more internality on the RIES. The results clearly point to the value of resilience indicators when screening for vulnerable individuals in high-demand environments.

Structural and Mean-Level Analyses of the Five-Factor Model and Locus of Control

This study examines the Five-Factor Model of personality and locus of control in French-speaking samples in Burkina Faso ( N = 470) and Switzerland ( Ns = 1,090, 361), using the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and Levenson’s Internality, Powerful others, and Chance (IPC) scales. Alpha reliabilities were consistently lower in Burkina Faso, but the factor structure of the NEO-PI-R was replicated in both cultures. The intended three-factor structure of the IPC could not be replicated, although a two-factor solution was replicable across the two samples. Although scalar equivalence has not been demonstrated, mean-level comparisons showed the hypothesized effects for most of the five factors and locus of control; Burkinabè scored higher in Neuroticism than anticipated. Findings from this African sample generally replicate earlier results from Asian and Western cultures and are consistent with a biologically based theory of personality.

Perception of Personality and Social Behaviour in Different Racial Groups by Black and White University Students

One hundred and eighty-six white and 225 black first-year psychology students at the universities of Rhodes and Fort Hare completed a modified form of Wrightsman's Philosophy of Human Nature scale as a measure of perception of one of five race groups. Black respondents perceived their own group as more Trustworthy, Conventionally Good and Variable and as more Altruistic (male respondents only). Blacks were most Cynical about the white group and rated them lower than blacks or coloureds on Trustworthiness and on Altruism. Unexpectedly, white respondents had a relatively unfavourable perception of their own group, rating it lower than other groups on Trustworthiness, Altruism (female respondents only) and Conventional Goodness and having the highest Cynicism scores for their own group. Whites perceived indians particularly favourably, rating them high on Trustworthiness, Altruism, Conventional Goodness, Independence and Strength of Will/Rationality, and being least Cynical about them. Whites rated blacks low on Strength of Will/Rationality which was interpreted to mean that blacks were perceived to have low internal locus of control (a perception not shared by the black respondents themselves).