Abstract
To investigate differences between Internals' and Externals' characteristic views of figures in authority, the Authority Figure Perception Test, a paper-and-pencil test, was constructed (scale reliabilities ranged from .82 to .33) and administered along with Rotter's I-E Scale to 76 male preparatory high school students. As hypothesized, Internals more than Externals perceived figures in authority (a) as more encouraging of constructive environmental manipulations (r = .36), (b) as more supportive when difficulty is encountered (r = .41), (c) as more positively reinforcing (r = .26), (d) as having more predictable standards (r = .53), (e) as acting more upon issue-oriented reason (r = .43), and (f) in a generally more positive light (r = .55; ps < .025, 1-tailed tests). As age increased in the present sample, the tendency to perceive authority figures (a) as positively reinforcing (r = .25), (b) as having predictable standards (r = .23), and (c) in a generally positive light (r = .25) decreased (ps < .05, 2-tailed tests).
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