Kenney, S Michelle
1.22 MB of textual records
Audience: Undergraduate. -- Dissertation: Thesis (B. A.). -- Algoma University, 1995. -- Submitted in partial fulfillment of course requirements for PSYC 4105. -- Includes figures. -- Contents: Literature review / Thesis.
I investigated the effect of attribution retraining on the locus of control (LOC) and behavior of adolescents aged 13 to 16 living in one of two residential units for at least one month. In a pre-test, participants completed the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale (N-SLCS) and, after reading a problem situation in which they were involved, listed as many "acceptable" attributions for their behavior as possible. In nine subsequent sessions, participants either watched a video or read a scenario about themselves. Both the videos and the scenarios depicted various problem situations and behavioral responses. The experimental group explored reasons why behavior occurred, receiving positive feedback for internal, controllable attributions, and the control group simply explored what had occurred. Following treatment, a post-test identical to the pre-test was administered. Behavioral measures of impulse by counsellors observing the participants' behavior. It was hypothesized that attribution retraining would prove to internalize LOC, and improve behavior.
