The Journal of Genetic Psychology Research and Theory on Human Development
ISSN: 0022-1325 (Print) 1940-0896 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vgnt20
Relations among Psychosocial Development, Locus of Control, and time Orientation Richard Baldo , Michael Harris & James Crandall To cite this article: Richard Baldo , Michael Harris & James Crandall (1975) Relations among Psychosocial Development, Locus of Control, and time Orientation, The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 126:2, 297-303, DOI: 10.1080/00221325.1975.10532345 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00221325.1975.10532345
Published online: 04 Sep 2012.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 11
View related articles
Citing articles: 1 View citing articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=vgnt20 Download by: [Nanyang Technological University]
Date: 06 November 2015, At: 22:19
The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1975, 126, 297-303.
RELATIONS AMONG PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, LOCUS OF CONTROL, AND TIME ORIENTATION*’ Department of Psychology, University of Idaho
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 22:19 06 November 2015
RICHARD BALDO, MICHAEL HARRIS, AND JAMES CRANDALL SUMMARY The research concerned relations among development at Erikson’s first six stages of psychosocial development, locus of control, and several measures of time orientation. The investigation involved 68 female and 65 male high school and university students. Development at Erikson’s Stages 1, 3, 4, and 5 was significantly related to the I-E Scale, with positive development being associated with internal control. Locus of control was also related to sex and age. Women were found to be more externally controlled than men. Internal control was associated with increasing age over the range from 15 to 25 years. Development at each of Erikson’s first five stages was significantly correlated with one or more measures of temporal relatedness, or integration of perceived past, present, and future time zones. Other measures of time orientation failed to show consistent relations to psychosocial development.
A. INTRODUCTION Erikson ( 7 , 8, 9) has developed a comprehensive scheme of psychosocial development relating to eight stages of life. Each stage involves a psychosocial crisis which may be more or less successfully resolved by the individual. Erikson proposes that successful crisis resolutions result when certain characteristics, generally considered desirable, are relatively stronger than their undesirable counterparts. The psychosocial alternatives for the eight stages are as follows: ( a ) Basic Trust vs. Mistrust; ( b ) Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt; ( c ) Initiative vs. Guilt; (d) Industry vs. Inferiority; (e) Identity vs. Identity Diffusion; ( f ) Intimacy VS. Self-Absorption; (g) Generativity vs. Stagnation; and (h) Integrity vs. Despair (7). A variety of measures of Erikson’s psychosocial stages has been developed recently (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 10). These measures, by showing significant relations
*
Received in the Editorial Office, Provincetown, Massachusetts, on January 14, 1974. Copyright, 1975, by The Journal Press. 1 Requests for reprints should be sent to the third author at the address shown at the end of this article.
297
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 22:19 06 November 2015
298
JOURNAL OF GENETIC PSYCHOLOGY
with a variety of social, personality, and behavioral variables, have helped to establish the meaningfulness and potential predictive value of Erikson’s developmental scheme. The purpose of the present research was to investigate relations between psychosocial development and two other areas of burgeoning research : locus of control, and time orientation. With regard to the former, an internal sense of control would appear to be closely related to successful outcomes of Erikson’s Stages 2 through 4, where the emphasis is upon autonomy, initiative, and industry. A broader consideration, however, is Erikson’s (8) proposal that successful adjustment at any stage involves what he calls an active attitude, or a sense of active mastery, as opposed to a passive dependence on external influences. Consequently, it is hypothesized that the positive psychosocial alternative at each stage is associated with an internal locus of control on Rotter’s ( 1 2 ) scale for internal-external control of reinforcement (I-E Scale). Negative psychosocial alternatives should be associated with perceived external control. Erikson (9) has also offered a number of suggestions concerning the effects of psychosocial adjustment upon various aspects of time orientation. I t is possible to generate a number of hypotheses concerning relations between these two variables. However, since the present research was designed primarily as an exploratory study, only two hypotheses will be offered. The first of these concerns a recurring theme in Erikson’s discussions of identity: viz., the sense of inner sameness and continuity of the individual over time. Ego identity involves the capacity to synthesize and integrate experiences from both the past and present, and to anticipate a tangible future. Thus, it may be hypothesized that positive resolution of Stage 5 (Identity) is correlated with an integration or overlapping of one’s perceptions of past, present, and future. The hypothesis may be extended to include earlier stages as well, since the resolutions of earlier crises involve rudimentary or anticipatory aspects of identity formation ( 9 ) . Successful resolution of the developmental crises has been held by Erikson to be accompanied by increased confidence and anticipation of the future ( 7 , 9). The last hypothesis is that positive resolutions among adolescents and young adults are positively related to the relative size of the individual’s perceived future.
B. METHOD 1. Subjects Sixty-eight females and 65 males participated in the study. Twenty of the Ss were students in a high school Sociology course, the remainder were
RICHARD BALD0 ET AL.
299
university student volunteers from Introductory Psychology. Ages ranged from 15 to 25 for both sexes. Mean ages were 18.61 for men and 18.22 for women.
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 22:19 06 November 2015
2 . Psychosocial Development Scale
Wessman and Ricks (14) developed the Psychosocial Development Scale (PDS) a Q-sort to measure development at Erikson’s first six stages. Since Stages 7 and 8 extend beyond young adulthood, a measure of the first six stages only was appropriate for the present subject population. The positive and negative alternatives at each stage are represented by 10 items and are scored separately. The present measure involved a slight modification of the Wessman and Ricks procedure. Rather than have Ss sort the items, the PDS required that each item be rated on a five-point scale, ranging from “not a t all true of me,” to “very characteristic of me.” A similar modification of the Wessman and Ricks measure has been used by Constantinople (3, 4) and Waterman (13). 3 . Time Orientation Measures
Four measures of time orientation were used. Since Cottle ( 5 , 6) has provided more detailed discussion of these measures, they will be only briefly described here. a. Lines Test. Ss were presented with a seven-inch line and requested to mark the points of their birth, death, beginning and end of the present. This provides six scores, in terms of length to the nearest centimeter: Historical Past, Personal Past, Present, Personal Future, Historical Future, and total Life Space. b. Experiential Time Orientation. Measures of the relative importance of five time zones (Distant Past, Near Past, Present, Near Future, Distant Future) were derived by asking Ss to list the 10 most important events in their lives, and then to assign them to the five zones. t. Circles Test. This involved drawing three circles to represent past, present, and’ future. Time ’ Zone Dominance scores were derived from the relative size of each circle. The degree to which a circle touched, overlapped, included or was included within other circles was reflected in four Temporal Relatedness scores: Past, Present, Future, and Overall. 4. Locus of Control
Rotter’s (12) 29-item Internal-External Control Scale (I-E Scale) was Used.
300
JOURNAL O F GENETIC PSYCHOLOGY
5. Procedure Each S was given a booklet containing general instructions and the above test materials. The time orientation measures were arranged to counterbalance order effects. The I-E Scale and the PDS were always presented last.
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 22:19 06 November 2015
C. RESULTSAND DISCUSSION 1 . Effects of Age There were few significant relations between age and other variables, perhaps because of the rather restricted range of ages involved here. However, consistent with previous research ( 1 1) , older Ss were more internally oriented than younger Ss on the I-E Scale ( r = -.18, p < .05, two-tailed tests were used throughout). Low scores on the I-E Scale indicate more internal control. The only PDS score to correlate with age was Stage 5, Identity ( r = .22, p < .02). This finding is especially meaningful, in that the present Ss bracketed the age range a t which one would normally expect identity problems to come into focus and then to be resolved by the majority of people. The fact that Identity was the only PDS subscale to relate to age is consistent with Constantinople’s ( 3 ) research. In different studies using both longitudinal and cross-sectional methods of investigation, she found that Identity scores were the only ones that consistently increased from the Freshman to the Senior year in college. Age was significantly correlated with only one of the 18 time orientation measures, size of the Near Past on Experiential Time Orientation ( r = .23, P < .01). 2. Sex Differences Means on the I-E Scale were 11.08 for men and 11.78 for women ( t = 2.06, d f = 131, p < .05). This difference is consistent with Rotter’s (12) finding that women usually feel more subject to external control than do men. However, the obtained difference is too small to be of much practical significance. The only other sex difference related to Stage 6 of the PDS. Women scored higher on the positive subscale, Intimacy, than men ( t = 2.43, d f = 131, p < .02), and lower on the negative subscale, Self-Absorption ( t = 1.82, d f = 131, p < .lo). 3, Psychosocial Development and Internal-External Control Support was obtained for the hypothesis that scores on the positive alternatives a t each stage of development are associated with an internal locus
RICHARD BALD0 ET AL.
301
of control. All six correlations between the I-E Scale and the positive subscales of the PDS were negative, indicating an association between perceived internal control and successful development. Consistent with this, the six correlations between the I-E Scale and the negative subscales of the PDS were positive, revealing an association between perceived external control and unsuccessful development. Seven of the 12 correlations were significant ( p < .05). Significant correlations occurred a t Stages 1, 3, 4, and 5.2
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 22:19 06 November 2015
4. Psychosocial Development and Temporal Relatedness
Since men and women showed highly similar correlations among the various PDS and time orientation measures, the data from the two sexes have been combined for the following analyses. There was considerable support for the hypothesis that psychosocial development is related to an integration of different time zones. Scores on the positive subscales at each stage of development were positively correlated with all four Temporal Relatedness scores (Past, Present, Future, Overall) in each case. Similarly, scores on the negative subscales at all stages were negatively correlated with all four Temporal Relatedness scores. Although the correlations were only moderate (the largest was .34), there was perfect consistency throughout. Twenty-five of the 48 correlations (12 PDS scores by four Temporal Relatedness scores) were significant ( p < .05). Significant correlations were found at each of the first five stages, but not a t Stage 6. The meaningfulness of the obtained relations between psychosocial development and temporal integration is enhanced by the difference in measurement methodology involved in the two measures. Method variance would not seem to be a problem here. However, there is the possibility that correlations between the two variables might be influenced, or mediated, by social desirability response set. The PDS is not a subtle scale, and could easily be influenced by the desire to respond in a socially desirable fashion. A supplementary study was conducted to determine whether or not Temporal Relatedness scores might be increased by a social desirability response set. Twenty-three male and 20 female university students participated. Each S was administered the Circles Test with two different sets of instructions. The “neutral” set involved the standard procedure. For the “social desirability” set, Ss were instructed to draw the three circles in such a way as to create the best possible impression. The order of the two conditions was counterbalanced . 2
A more detailed presentation of results is available from the third author.
302
JOURNAL OF GENETIC PSYCHOLOGY
The set to respond in a socially desirable fashion produced slightly smaller scores on Temporal Relatedness, though the difference from the neutral set condition was not significant. Consequently, the obtained correlations between psychosocial development and perceived integration of different time zones do not appear to be due to a social desirability artifact.
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 22:19 06 November 2015
5 . Psychosocial Development and Other Measures of Time Orientation The hypothesis that psychosocial development is related to the way one perceives the future received minimal support, at best. Stage 1 Basic Trust was positively related to the Personal Future on the Lines Test ( I = .20, p < .05), and Stage 3 Initiative correlated with Future Time Dominance on the Circles Test ( r = .24, p < .01). No other correlations were significant. Disregarding Temporal Relatedness scores, discussed above, there were 168 correlations that resulted from comparison of 12 PDS scores and 14 measures of time from the Lines Test, Time Zone Dominance, and Experiential Time Orientation. Of these, only 13 were significant ( p < .05). Since there was no discernible consistency in the pattern of correlations, they will not be reported in detail. I t seems safest to conclude that, with the presently used measures, there are no reliable relations between psychosocial development at different stages and perceptions of the relative size and importance of different time zones.
REFERENCES 1.
2.
3. 4.
5. 6.
BOYD,R. D., & KOSKELA, R. N. A test of Erikson’s theory of ego-stage development
by means of a self-report instrument. J . Ezper. Educ., 1970, 38, 1-14. COHEN,H. A,, & MILLER,R. Mobility as a factor in adolescent identity problems. Psychol. Rep., 1969, 25, 775-778. CONSTANTINOPLE, A. An Eriksonian measure of personality development in college students. Devel. Psychol., 1969, 1, 357-372. ____ . Some correlates of average level of happiness among college students. Devel. Psychol., 1970, 2, 447. COTTLE,T. J . The circles test: An investigation of perceptions of temporal relatedness and dominance. J . Project. Techn. & Personal. Assess., 1967, 31, 58-71. ___ . Temporal correlates of dogmatism. J . Consult. 6. Clin. Psychol., 1971, 36, 70-81.
7. ERIKSON, E. H. Identity and the life cycle. Psychol. Zss., 1959, 1, 1-171. 8. . Insight and Responsibility. New York: Norton, 1964. . Identity: Youth and Crisis. New York: Norton, 1968. 9. 10. MARCIA, J. E. Development and validation of ego-identity status. J . Personal. 6. SOC.Psychol., 1966, 3, 551-558. 11. PENK,W. Age changes and correlates of internal-external locus of control scale. Psychol. Rep., 1969, 25, 856. ~
~
RICHARD BALD0 ET AL.
3 03
12. ROTTER, J. B. Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychol. Monog., 1966, W(1,Whole No. 609). 13. WATERMAN, A. S. Relationship between the psychosocial maturity of entering college freshmen and their expectations about college. J . Counsel. Psychol., 1972, 19, 42-46. D. F. Mood and Personality. New York: Holt, Rinehart 14. WESSMAN,A. E.,& RICKS, & Winston, 1966.
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 22:19 06 November 2015
Department of Psychology University of Idaho Moscow, Idaho 83843
ISSN: 0022-1325 (Print) 1940-0896 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vgnt20
Relations among Psychosocial Development, Locus of Control, and time Orientation Richard Baldo , Michael Harris & James Crandall To cite this article: Richard Baldo , Michael Harris & James Crandall (1975) Relations among Psychosocial Development, Locus of Control, and time Orientation, The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 126:2, 297-303, DOI: 10.1080/00221325.1975.10532345 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00221325.1975.10532345
Published online: 04 Sep 2012.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 11
View related articles
Citing articles: 1 View citing articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=vgnt20 Download by: [Nanyang Technological University]
Date: 06 November 2015, At: 22:19
The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1975, 126, 297-303.
RELATIONS AMONG PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, LOCUS OF CONTROL, AND TIME ORIENTATION*’ Department of Psychology, University of Idaho
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 22:19 06 November 2015
RICHARD BALDO, MICHAEL HARRIS, AND JAMES CRANDALL SUMMARY The research concerned relations among development at Erikson’s first six stages of psychosocial development, locus of control, and several measures of time orientation. The investigation involved 68 female and 65 male high school and university students. Development at Erikson’s Stages 1, 3, 4, and 5 was significantly related to the I-E Scale, with positive development being associated with internal control. Locus of control was also related to sex and age. Women were found to be more externally controlled than men. Internal control was associated with increasing age over the range from 15 to 25 years. Development at each of Erikson’s first five stages was significantly correlated with one or more measures of temporal relatedness, or integration of perceived past, present, and future time zones. Other measures of time orientation failed to show consistent relations to psychosocial development.
A. INTRODUCTION Erikson ( 7 , 8, 9) has developed a comprehensive scheme of psychosocial development relating to eight stages of life. Each stage involves a psychosocial crisis which may be more or less successfully resolved by the individual. Erikson proposes that successful crisis resolutions result when certain characteristics, generally considered desirable, are relatively stronger than their undesirable counterparts. The psychosocial alternatives for the eight stages are as follows: ( a ) Basic Trust vs. Mistrust; ( b ) Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt; ( c ) Initiative vs. Guilt; (d) Industry vs. Inferiority; (e) Identity vs. Identity Diffusion; ( f ) Intimacy VS. Self-Absorption; (g) Generativity vs. Stagnation; and (h) Integrity vs. Despair (7). A variety of measures of Erikson’s psychosocial stages has been developed recently (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 10). These measures, by showing significant relations
*
Received in the Editorial Office, Provincetown, Massachusetts, on January 14, 1974. Copyright, 1975, by The Journal Press. 1 Requests for reprints should be sent to the third author at the address shown at the end of this article.
297
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 22:19 06 November 2015
298
JOURNAL OF GENETIC PSYCHOLOGY
with a variety of social, personality, and behavioral variables, have helped to establish the meaningfulness and potential predictive value of Erikson’s developmental scheme. The purpose of the present research was to investigate relations between psychosocial development and two other areas of burgeoning research : locus of control, and time orientation. With regard to the former, an internal sense of control would appear to be closely related to successful outcomes of Erikson’s Stages 2 through 4, where the emphasis is upon autonomy, initiative, and industry. A broader consideration, however, is Erikson’s (8) proposal that successful adjustment at any stage involves what he calls an active attitude, or a sense of active mastery, as opposed to a passive dependence on external influences. Consequently, it is hypothesized that the positive psychosocial alternative at each stage is associated with an internal locus of control on Rotter’s ( 1 2 ) scale for internal-external control of reinforcement (I-E Scale). Negative psychosocial alternatives should be associated with perceived external control. Erikson (9) has also offered a number of suggestions concerning the effects of psychosocial adjustment upon various aspects of time orientation. I t is possible to generate a number of hypotheses concerning relations between these two variables. However, since the present research was designed primarily as an exploratory study, only two hypotheses will be offered. The first of these concerns a recurring theme in Erikson’s discussions of identity: viz., the sense of inner sameness and continuity of the individual over time. Ego identity involves the capacity to synthesize and integrate experiences from both the past and present, and to anticipate a tangible future. Thus, it may be hypothesized that positive resolution of Stage 5 (Identity) is correlated with an integration or overlapping of one’s perceptions of past, present, and future. The hypothesis may be extended to include earlier stages as well, since the resolutions of earlier crises involve rudimentary or anticipatory aspects of identity formation ( 9 ) . Successful resolution of the developmental crises has been held by Erikson to be accompanied by increased confidence and anticipation of the future ( 7 , 9). The last hypothesis is that positive resolutions among adolescents and young adults are positively related to the relative size of the individual’s perceived future.
B. METHOD 1. Subjects Sixty-eight females and 65 males participated in the study. Twenty of the Ss were students in a high school Sociology course, the remainder were
RICHARD BALD0 ET AL.
299
university student volunteers from Introductory Psychology. Ages ranged from 15 to 25 for both sexes. Mean ages were 18.61 for men and 18.22 for women.
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 22:19 06 November 2015
2 . Psychosocial Development Scale
Wessman and Ricks (14) developed the Psychosocial Development Scale (PDS) a Q-sort to measure development at Erikson’s first six stages. Since Stages 7 and 8 extend beyond young adulthood, a measure of the first six stages only was appropriate for the present subject population. The positive and negative alternatives at each stage are represented by 10 items and are scored separately. The present measure involved a slight modification of the Wessman and Ricks procedure. Rather than have Ss sort the items, the PDS required that each item be rated on a five-point scale, ranging from “not a t all true of me,” to “very characteristic of me.” A similar modification of the Wessman and Ricks measure has been used by Constantinople (3, 4) and Waterman (13). 3 . Time Orientation Measures
Four measures of time orientation were used. Since Cottle ( 5 , 6) has provided more detailed discussion of these measures, they will be only briefly described here. a. Lines Test. Ss were presented with a seven-inch line and requested to mark the points of their birth, death, beginning and end of the present. This provides six scores, in terms of length to the nearest centimeter: Historical Past, Personal Past, Present, Personal Future, Historical Future, and total Life Space. b. Experiential Time Orientation. Measures of the relative importance of five time zones (Distant Past, Near Past, Present, Near Future, Distant Future) were derived by asking Ss to list the 10 most important events in their lives, and then to assign them to the five zones. t. Circles Test. This involved drawing three circles to represent past, present, and’ future. Time ’ Zone Dominance scores were derived from the relative size of each circle. The degree to which a circle touched, overlapped, included or was included within other circles was reflected in four Temporal Relatedness scores: Past, Present, Future, and Overall. 4. Locus of Control
Rotter’s (12) 29-item Internal-External Control Scale (I-E Scale) was Used.
300
JOURNAL O F GENETIC PSYCHOLOGY
5. Procedure Each S was given a booklet containing general instructions and the above test materials. The time orientation measures were arranged to counterbalance order effects. The I-E Scale and the PDS were always presented last.
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 22:19 06 November 2015
C. RESULTSAND DISCUSSION 1 . Effects of Age There were few significant relations between age and other variables, perhaps because of the rather restricted range of ages involved here. However, consistent with previous research ( 1 1) , older Ss were more internally oriented than younger Ss on the I-E Scale ( r = -.18, p < .05, two-tailed tests were used throughout). Low scores on the I-E Scale indicate more internal control. The only PDS score to correlate with age was Stage 5, Identity ( r = .22, p < .02). This finding is especially meaningful, in that the present Ss bracketed the age range a t which one would normally expect identity problems to come into focus and then to be resolved by the majority of people. The fact that Identity was the only PDS subscale to relate to age is consistent with Constantinople’s ( 3 ) research. In different studies using both longitudinal and cross-sectional methods of investigation, she found that Identity scores were the only ones that consistently increased from the Freshman to the Senior year in college. Age was significantly correlated with only one of the 18 time orientation measures, size of the Near Past on Experiential Time Orientation ( r = .23, P < .01). 2. Sex Differences Means on the I-E Scale were 11.08 for men and 11.78 for women ( t = 2.06, d f = 131, p < .05). This difference is consistent with Rotter’s (12) finding that women usually feel more subject to external control than do men. However, the obtained difference is too small to be of much practical significance. The only other sex difference related to Stage 6 of the PDS. Women scored higher on the positive subscale, Intimacy, than men ( t = 2.43, d f = 131, p < .02), and lower on the negative subscale, Self-Absorption ( t = 1.82, d f = 131, p < .lo). 3, Psychosocial Development and Internal-External Control Support was obtained for the hypothesis that scores on the positive alternatives a t each stage of development are associated with an internal locus
RICHARD BALD0 ET AL.
301
of control. All six correlations between the I-E Scale and the positive subscales of the PDS were negative, indicating an association between perceived internal control and successful development. Consistent with this, the six correlations between the I-E Scale and the negative subscales of the PDS were positive, revealing an association between perceived external control and unsuccessful development. Seven of the 12 correlations were significant ( p < .05). Significant correlations occurred a t Stages 1, 3, 4, and 5.2
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 22:19 06 November 2015
4. Psychosocial Development and Temporal Relatedness
Since men and women showed highly similar correlations among the various PDS and time orientation measures, the data from the two sexes have been combined for the following analyses. There was considerable support for the hypothesis that psychosocial development is related to an integration of different time zones. Scores on the positive subscales at each stage of development were positively correlated with all four Temporal Relatedness scores (Past, Present, Future, Overall) in each case. Similarly, scores on the negative subscales at all stages were negatively correlated with all four Temporal Relatedness scores. Although the correlations were only moderate (the largest was .34), there was perfect consistency throughout. Twenty-five of the 48 correlations (12 PDS scores by four Temporal Relatedness scores) were significant ( p < .05). Significant correlations were found at each of the first five stages, but not a t Stage 6. The meaningfulness of the obtained relations between psychosocial development and temporal integration is enhanced by the difference in measurement methodology involved in the two measures. Method variance would not seem to be a problem here. However, there is the possibility that correlations between the two variables might be influenced, or mediated, by social desirability response set. The PDS is not a subtle scale, and could easily be influenced by the desire to respond in a socially desirable fashion. A supplementary study was conducted to determine whether or not Temporal Relatedness scores might be increased by a social desirability response set. Twenty-three male and 20 female university students participated. Each S was administered the Circles Test with two different sets of instructions. The “neutral” set involved the standard procedure. For the “social desirability” set, Ss were instructed to draw the three circles in such a way as to create the best possible impression. The order of the two conditions was counterbalanced . 2
A more detailed presentation of results is available from the third author.
302
JOURNAL OF GENETIC PSYCHOLOGY
The set to respond in a socially desirable fashion produced slightly smaller scores on Temporal Relatedness, though the difference from the neutral set condition was not significant. Consequently, the obtained correlations between psychosocial development and perceived integration of different time zones do not appear to be due to a social desirability artifact.
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 22:19 06 November 2015
5 . Psychosocial Development and Other Measures of Time Orientation The hypothesis that psychosocial development is related to the way one perceives the future received minimal support, at best. Stage 1 Basic Trust was positively related to the Personal Future on the Lines Test ( I = .20, p < .05), and Stage 3 Initiative correlated with Future Time Dominance on the Circles Test ( r = .24, p < .01). No other correlations were significant. Disregarding Temporal Relatedness scores, discussed above, there were 168 correlations that resulted from comparison of 12 PDS scores and 14 measures of time from the Lines Test, Time Zone Dominance, and Experiential Time Orientation. Of these, only 13 were significant ( p < .05). Since there was no discernible consistency in the pattern of correlations, they will not be reported in detail. I t seems safest to conclude that, with the presently used measures, there are no reliable relations between psychosocial development at different stages and perceptions of the relative size and importance of different time zones.
REFERENCES 1.
2.
3. 4.
5. 6.
BOYD,R. D., & KOSKELA, R. N. A test of Erikson’s theory of ego-stage development
by means of a self-report instrument. J . Ezper. Educ., 1970, 38, 1-14. COHEN,H. A,, & MILLER,R. Mobility as a factor in adolescent identity problems. Psychol. Rep., 1969, 25, 775-778. CONSTANTINOPLE, A. An Eriksonian measure of personality development in college students. Devel. Psychol., 1969, 1, 357-372. ____ . Some correlates of average level of happiness among college students. Devel. Psychol., 1970, 2, 447. COTTLE,T. J . The circles test: An investigation of perceptions of temporal relatedness and dominance. J . Project. Techn. & Personal. Assess., 1967, 31, 58-71. ___ . Temporal correlates of dogmatism. J . Consult. 6. Clin. Psychol., 1971, 36, 70-81.
7. ERIKSON, E. H. Identity and the life cycle. Psychol. Zss., 1959, 1, 1-171. 8. . Insight and Responsibility. New York: Norton, 1964. . Identity: Youth and Crisis. New York: Norton, 1968. 9. 10. MARCIA, J. E. Development and validation of ego-identity status. J . Personal. 6. SOC.Psychol., 1966, 3, 551-558. 11. PENK,W. Age changes and correlates of internal-external locus of control scale. Psychol. Rep., 1969, 25, 856. ~
~
RICHARD BALD0 ET AL.
3 03
12. ROTTER, J. B. Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychol. Monog., 1966, W(1,Whole No. 609). 13. WATERMAN, A. S. Relationship between the psychosocial maturity of entering college freshmen and their expectations about college. J . Counsel. Psychol., 1972, 19, 42-46. D. F. Mood and Personality. New York: Holt, Rinehart 14. WESSMAN,A. E.,& RICKS, & Winston, 1966.
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 22:19 06 November 2015
Department of Psychology University of Idaho Moscow, Idaho 83843
