Verbal self-regulation of behavior by children with internal and external locus of control

There was reason to suspect that individual differences in a child's tendency to employ symbolic mediation are predictable on the basis of his/her locus of control status. That is, children who possessed an internal locus of control are those most likely to initiate symbolic mediators for the purpose of controlling their overt behavior. Those individuals who are not certain of their ability to control their overt behavior would seem to be less likely to employ verbal self-instructions even if they had the capability to do so. The reasoning here was that since internal locus of control individuals believe that they have control over their overt behavior, they would exert this control whenever possible via verbal means. On the other hand, since external locus of control individuals believe that they are controlled by factors beyond their control, they would view any self-verbalization as useless in controlling their overt behavior. Hence, the principal question dealt with in this study was whether external locus of control children are those most delayed in their production of symbolic mediation in relation to peers of the same age or grade level with an internal locus of control status