Gentlemen, correct me if I am wrong, but it is not very often you are gazing the magazines and newspapers looking at your daily horoscopes. On your wedding day, you probably did not have “something old, new, borrowed, blue” etc. And unless you are that “guy” in Oregon that had a baby, I am pretty sure that you were not dangling a wedding ring over your belly trying to determine the sex of your unborn child!
In an earlier post, I stated that women are more superstitious than men and superstition intertwine with religion, but the question being asked today is, "Why?" Why is it that women tend to lean more on chance and fate rather than individual actions? The answer may be all in your head, literally.
“The desire to combat uncertainty and maintain control has long been considered a primary and fundamental motivating force in human life and one of the most important variables governing psychological well-being and physical health (Galinsky and Whilson.” The concept of Locus of Control was created by Julian Rotter in the 1950’s. Rotter, former president of the American Psychological Association's divisions of Social and Personality Psychology and Clinical Psychology and winner of the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Contribution award, developed the concept that “[An] individual believes that his/her behavior is guided by his/her personal decisions and efforts (Internal), or [an] individual believes that his/her behavior is guided by fate, luck, or other external circumstances (External) (Neill). “People with a strong internal locus of control believe that the responsibility for whether or not they get reinforced ultimately lies with themselves. Internals believe that success or failure is due to their own efforts. In contrast, externals believe that the reinforcers in life are controlled by luck, chance, or powerful others. Therefore, they see little impact of their own efforts on the amount of reinforcement they receive (Mearns).” Generally speaking, it may be more beneficial to you to be more of an internal believer than external, but there should be some balance between the two.
Females are usually more externally focused. Simultaneously, women tend to me more religious than men as well. Sociologist Rodney Stark believes that there is a biological reasoning behind this hypothesis. By closely studying behaviors of men and women in criminology, Stark concluded that men are more inclined to engage in higher risk activity due to elevated levels of hormones naturally produced by the human male. “If women are more likely to avoid risk-taking, they naturally would be more likely than men not to take chances on the hereafter", Stark reasoned (Wingfield). He pointed to the famous philosophical tool known as Pascal's Wager, which says believing in God is the most logical option available, because even if God doesn't exist and doesn't promise eternal life, the believer loses nothing in the end. But if a person gambles on the belief that God does not exist, there's much more to lose if in fact it turns out God does exist (Wingfield).”
So, how do you know if you are an internal or external believer? The Rotter I-E scale “comprises some 29 items, 23 of which are designed to assess the respondents’ locus of control beliefs… Respondents are required to complete the questionnaire by choosing from a series of two alternatives, the statements that more closely reflect their own beliefs. …The scale is scored by simply totaling the number of externally worded items so endorsed. Thus the higher the score, the more external the respondent, and vise versa (Hodgkinson). If you have the time, take the test. Be sure to read the article relating to your score and how it can help your life. Also, don't forget to come back to my blog vote on your score.
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCDV_90.htm
"Men would never be superstitious, if they could govern all their circumstances by set rules, or if they were always favored by fortune: but being frequently driven into straits where rules are useless, and being often kept fluctuating pitiably between hope and fear by the uncertainty of fortune's greedily coveted favors, they are consequently, for the most part, very prone to credulity (Jahoda)."
Works Cited:
Galinsky, Adam and Whilson, Jennifer. "Lacking Control Increases Illusory Pattern Perception." Science 3 11 Oct. 2008: 115-117.
Hodgkinson , Gerard. "Development and Validation of the Strategic Locus of Control Scale ." Strategic Management Journal 13(1992): 311-317.
Jahoda, Gustav. The Psychology of Superstition. London: Allen Lane, 1969.
Mearns, Jack. "The Social Learning Theory of Julian B. Rotter." 6 Nov 2008 .
Neill, James. "What is Locus of Control?." 06 Dec 2006. 6 Nov 2008
Wingfield, Mark. "Can biology explain why women are more religious than men?." Baptist Standard 06 Nov 2000 6 Nov 2008
3 comments:
First of all, great post. I think this was very informative. With a score of 28, the description fits me. I'm a firm believer that each individual was given the gift of agency to choose. But, as far as the outcome goes, that's not in your control when it involves other parties, because they too have their agency to choose. I'm curious to find out what the average score for men and women alone would be. I hope a good number of people vote. Maybe this will support my blog on the difference between the male and female species :) How much do you think a person's environment can influence anothers' fate/luck? Or does it?
Thanks for being the first brave volunteer to take the "quiz". This is sad to say, but I haven't even taken it yet! I am defiantly hoping a lot more people vote as well so that I can collect the data and prove that women tend to be more to the external side. In response to your question, I am more of the opposite side of the table with your thinking. I do believe that fate plays a small role in ones outcome, but it is the INDIVDUAL (not yelling, but I couldn't find the bold button :)) who ultimentanly guides his own path.
Wow, I just took the test and scored a 33, meaning that I am barely internal. Maybe it due to my age (26)!
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