Abstract
James and Rotter suggested that Ss may bring personality-determined sets to the choice situation which would lead them to prefer outcomes determined by skill or by chance. Further, the work of Child and of Witkin suggests that those individuals who prefer skill-determined outcomes would: show greater ego strength and be more field independent than Ss who prefer chance-derermined outcomes. Preferences were determined using the Skill-Chance Preference (SC) Scale. The relative strengths of impulse, ego, and superego were measured with the IES Test. A single figure drawing and the Thurstone Figures were used as indices of field dependence. Using two groups of institutionalized male Ss, six significant differences in IES Test performance were found between the two groups using one-tailed tests. These differences suggested that chance-oriented Ss avoided situations in which their capacities might be tested. Since there was an age difference between the two groups, this avoidance might be interpreted as a continuation of a life style or as evidence of a disengagement concomitant with age. Of the measures of field dependence only the figure drawing yielded a significant difference, suggesting that personality rather than perceptual-cognitive aspects of field dependence were most important. These results seemed to be relevant to investigations in decision theory and in social behavior.
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