Information-seeking as a function of locus of control and situational control

The hypotheses were tested that internals and externals would not differ in amount of information-seeking in situations in which their degree of control over their outcomes was clear-cut, but that internals would seek more information than externals in situations in which their degree of control was less clear-cut. Ten internals and ten externals were compared in each of three conditions of situational control (High, Moderate, and Low). Subjects were led to believe that the study concerned the relative efficiency of human and computer decision-making. High Control subjects were told that whether they had to return for a second experiment depended on their own score on a prediction task, and Low Control subjects were told that those who had to return would be randomly selected. Moderate Control subjects were told that their score, plus that of two other subjects, determined whether they had to return. The main dependent measure was the number of information cards related to the prediction task requested from an Information Checklist