Fundamental Religion and Locus of Control

Abstract

Locus of control within fundamental religious groups was studied. The fundamentalists' seemingly paradoxical belief in both internal and external locus of control was explored in a discussion of the history, theology and personality of fundamentalism. An empirical study compared locus of control in fundamental and liberal religious populations. On a religious revision of Rotter's Internal-External locus of control scale, fundamentalists were found to be significantly more external than liberals. This finding supports the theory that fundamentalists have a belief in an external locus of control. The results also support the idea that locus of control measures can be effectively adjusted for use with religious populations.