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The Journal of Social Psychology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vsoc20
Trust, Anomia, and Locus of Control: Alienation in U. S. College Students in 1964, 1969, and 1974 Raymond N. Wolfe
a
a
State University of New York, College at Geneseo , USA Published online: 01 Jul 2010.
To cite this article: Raymond N. Wolfe (1976) Trust, Anomia, and Locus of Control: Alienation in U. S. College Students in 1964, 1969, and 1974, The Journal of Social Psychology, 100:1, 151-152, DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1976.9711920 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1976.9711920
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 05:59 22 December 2014
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
The Journal of Social Psychology, 1976, 100, 151-152.
TRUST, ANOMIA, AND LOCUS OF CONTROL: ALIENATION I N U. S. COLLEGE STUDENTS I N 1964, 1969, AND 1974*’ State University of New York, College at Ceneseo
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 05:59 22 December 2014
RAYMONDN. WOLFE The importance of interpersonal trust in facilitating the give-and-take of everyday social intercourse, and ultimately in maintaining the social order, can hardly be gainsaid. It has often been suggested that a general attitude of mistrust may arise in the individual as a result of defects in the social structure. If this is so, then it is plausible to argue that trust should be included among the several dimensions of alienation. A report of decreases in scores on Rotter’s trust scale among college students3 between 1964 and 1969, when viewed in the context of alienation studies during the past decade, suggests that trust and alienation have been varying together in a predictable fashion in the college population. The present investigation attempts an explicit comparison of changes in trust with those in more widely recognized dimensions of alienation. Students enrolled in introductory psychology at two campuses of the State University of New York completed identical versions of Rotter’s locus of control scale and Reimanis’s revision of Srole’s anomia scale in 1964, 1969, and 1974, and of Rotter’s trust scale in 1969 and 1974. Sample sizes ranged from 270-728. Rotter’s 1964 trust data from 547 University of Connecticut students were used to complete a nine-cell matrix which was analyzed to evaluate alienation trends and to determine the extent of correspondence between the three measures with respect to changes over time.4
* Received in the Editorial Office, Rovincetown, Massachusetts, on May 22, 1975. Copyright, 1976, by The Journal Press. The research described here was supported in part by the Research Foundation of the State University of New York. The author is indebted to Richard Egelston, Larry Hjelle, and William Wilkins for their constructive suggestions. Findings were presented at the Eighth World Congress of Sociology, Toronto, Canada, 1974. Seeman, M. Alienation and engagement. In A. Campbell 81 P. E. Converse (Eds.),The Human Meaning of Social Change. New York Russell Sage Basic Books, 1972. Hochreich, D. J., & Rotter, J. B. Have college students become less trusting? J . Personal. 6.SOC. PSychOl., 1970, 15, 211-214. The measures and scoring keys used in this study can be obtained free of charge from the author at the address shown at the end of this article. Copies of an extended report, with complete descriptive and inferential statistics, are also available free from the author.
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All measures changed significantly in the direction of greater alienation between 1964 and 1969, and between 1964 and 1974. Between 1969 and 1974, mean scores continued to shift in the same direction, but only locus of control showed a statistically significant change during this interval. Changes in trust corresponded perfectly with changes in anomia, and both showed a pattern quite similar to that of locus of control. From one vantage point, these results clearly confirm other recent reports of increasing alienation among college students. From another, they can be seen as empirical support for the claim that interpersonal trust deserves systematic consideration as one of the subdimensions of alienation. Department of Psychology State University College of Arts and Science Geneseo, New York 14454
The Journal of Social Psychology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vsoc20
Trust, Anomia, and Locus of Control: Alienation in U. S. College Students in 1964, 1969, and 1974 Raymond N. Wolfe
a
a
State University of New York, College at Geneseo , USA Published online: 01 Jul 2010.
To cite this article: Raymond N. Wolfe (1976) Trust, Anomia, and Locus of Control: Alienation in U. S. College Students in 1964, 1969, and 1974, The Journal of Social Psychology, 100:1, 151-152, DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1976.9711920 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1976.9711920
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 05:59 22 December 2014
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
The Journal of Social Psychology, 1976, 100, 151-152.
TRUST, ANOMIA, AND LOCUS OF CONTROL: ALIENATION I N U. S. COLLEGE STUDENTS I N 1964, 1969, AND 1974*’ State University of New York, College at Ceneseo
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 05:59 22 December 2014
RAYMONDN. WOLFE The importance of interpersonal trust in facilitating the give-and-take of everyday social intercourse, and ultimately in maintaining the social order, can hardly be gainsaid. It has often been suggested that a general attitude of mistrust may arise in the individual as a result of defects in the social structure. If this is so, then it is plausible to argue that trust should be included among the several dimensions of alienation. A report of decreases in scores on Rotter’s trust scale among college students3 between 1964 and 1969, when viewed in the context of alienation studies during the past decade, suggests that trust and alienation have been varying together in a predictable fashion in the college population. The present investigation attempts an explicit comparison of changes in trust with those in more widely recognized dimensions of alienation. Students enrolled in introductory psychology at two campuses of the State University of New York completed identical versions of Rotter’s locus of control scale and Reimanis’s revision of Srole’s anomia scale in 1964, 1969, and 1974, and of Rotter’s trust scale in 1969 and 1974. Sample sizes ranged from 270-728. Rotter’s 1964 trust data from 547 University of Connecticut students were used to complete a nine-cell matrix which was analyzed to evaluate alienation trends and to determine the extent of correspondence between the three measures with respect to changes over time.4
* Received in the Editorial Office, Rovincetown, Massachusetts, on May 22, 1975. Copyright, 1976, by The Journal Press. The research described here was supported in part by the Research Foundation of the State University of New York. The author is indebted to Richard Egelston, Larry Hjelle, and William Wilkins for their constructive suggestions. Findings were presented at the Eighth World Congress of Sociology, Toronto, Canada, 1974. Seeman, M. Alienation and engagement. In A. Campbell 81 P. E. Converse (Eds.),The Human Meaning of Social Change. New York Russell Sage Basic Books, 1972. Hochreich, D. J., & Rotter, J. B. Have college students become less trusting? J . Personal. 6.SOC. PSychOl., 1970, 15, 211-214. The measures and scoring keys used in this study can be obtained free of charge from the author at the address shown at the end of this article. Copies of an extended report, with complete descriptive and inferential statistics, are also available free from the author.
‘
151
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 05:59 22 December 2014
152
JOURNAL O F SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
All measures changed significantly in the direction of greater alienation between 1964 and 1969, and between 1964 and 1974. Between 1969 and 1974, mean scores continued to shift in the same direction, but only locus of control showed a statistically significant change during this interval. Changes in trust corresponded perfectly with changes in anomia, and both showed a pattern quite similar to that of locus of control. From one vantage point, these results clearly confirm other recent reports of increasing alienation among college students. From another, they can be seen as empirical support for the claim that interpersonal trust deserves systematic consideration as one of the subdimensions of alienation. Department of Psychology State University College of Arts and Science Geneseo, New York 14454
