Internality, controllability, and the effectiveness of attributional interpretations in counseling.

Investigated an attributional approach to counseling in 2 studies. In Exp I, with 58 female and 24 male psychology students, the theoretical basis for the use of attributional interpretations was tested by giving Ss who had just received a negative social evaluation no information or information that stressed 1 of 4 types of causes: internal/controllable, internal/uncontrollable, external/controllable, and external/uncontrollable. Stressing internal/controllable causes produced more positive affective reactions and performance evaluations among internal locus of control respondents (Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale), whereas externals were more variable in their responses. Exp II (24 Ss) assessed the generalizability of these findings by administering causal counseling to Ss who identified themselves as interpersonally anxious. Utilizing a quasi-counseling design, Ss were exposed to 1 of 2 interpretations emphasizing internal control or coping. Results of Exp II confirm initial conclusions that the effectiveness of causal counseling may depend on the individual's locus of control. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)