LOCUS OF CONTROL,TRUST, AND DECISION MAKING*

A theoretical connection was proposed between certain social personality variables, namely locus of control (Internal or External) and trust (High and Low) and the formal decision-making model of Subjective Expected Utility (SEU). Rather than adopting the traditional definition of these variables as “generalized expectancies” for behavior of self and others, locus of control and trust were reconceptualized as intrapersonal tendencies to favor, prefer, or otherwise bias the subjective probabilities entering into a decision computation. S's high in external control orientation did not differ from internals overall, but external males were more risk averse under certain choice conditions (female-sex-role appropriate dilemma, probability-estimate form). Low-trust S's were also more risk averse than high-trust S's, overall. Low-trust males generated maximally risk-averse choice solutions under the choice condition of feminine role problem appropriateness and probability estimation. In general, female S's made choices that were more consistent with SEU-predicted solutions than males.