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Subjective Expected Utility, Locus of Control, and Behavior 1
Author(s) -
Bauman Karl E.,
Fisher Lynn A.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1985.tb00904.x
Subject(s) - psychology , locus of control , social psychology , subjective expected utility , control (management) , cigarette smoking , longitudinal sample , developmental psychology , expected utility hypothesis , statistics , mathematics , medicine , management , economics
Although a fundamental assumption of behavior decision theory is that individuals must generally believe they can control their fate if their behavior is to be influenced by subjective expected utility (SEU), the hypothesis that the positive relationship between SEU and behavior is stronger for those with internal locus of control had not been directly tested. That hypothesis was assessed in two separate longitudinal studies of adolescents. The behavior studied in one sample was the initiation of cigarette smoking, and in the other it was the onset of drinking alcohol. The hypothesis received weak support in both studies.