Locus of Control, Causal Attributions, and Self-Esteem: A Comparison between Prisoners

• Published date: 01 February 2000
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X00441009
• Date: 01 February 2000
• Author: Catherine Blatier
• Subject Matter: Journal Article

InternationalJournalofOffenderTherapy and Comparative Criminology

ControlandSelf-Esteem

Locus of Control, Causal Attributions,

and Self-Esteem: A Comparison

Between Prisoners

Catherine Blatier

Abstract: In France, prisoners can be employed in building sites controlledby the peniten-

tiarysystem butoutside theprison. Prisonersinvolved inthese specialsentence-serving condi-

tionswere askedto fillout questionnairestesting theirself-esteem, attitudestoward conformist

and nonconformist behavior,attributions about their crime, and the locus of control. In this

article,Weiner’sattributional theoryof motivationand emotionisdiscussed. Inaddition tothe

three basic dimensions he proposed—locusof control, stability, and controllability—the con-

tributionof self-esteemis examined.The answersgiven bythese prisonerswere comparedwith

answers provided by prisoners in jail. The resultsmay have implications for the treatment of

criminal and delinquent behavior, because knowledge of prisoners’attributions and beliefs

about whether people are capable of changing their own behavior can help social workers,

judges, therapists, and prison wardens achieve moresuccessful psychological rehabilitation

in prisoners.

Some data are now available for approaching criminal and delinquent acts from a

cognitivestandpoint. Ithasbeen shown,for example,thatcognitivefactorscan act

as mediators of anxiety and aggressive behavior (Bandura, 1983; Beck, 1976).

Research suggests that there may be a variety of factors behind any offence.

According to Debuyst (1985), all crimes involve an attribution process. In an

attempt to understand the cognitions underlying crime and delinquency, it is

hypothesized here that there is an attribution style specific to criminals, one that

could even predispose an individual to different and specific types of delinquent

behavior.However, not only can we approach criminal acts from a cognitivepoint

ofview, wecan alsotakea cognitive,or moreprecisely a sociocognitive,approach

to the processes likely to change the way confirmed criminals perceive social

behavior, including their own prior delinquent acts. The present study was con-

ducted in this framework: It looks at the bases of the process of internalization of

values in prisoners.

Attribution theories are aimed at understanding how individuals explain their

ownbehavior andthebehavior ofothers. The explanationsin questionarea poste-

riori, that is, they explain events (behaviors and also reinforcements) that have

already occurred. Accordingly, individuals can attribute an action to the actors

themselves (internal attribution), or they can consider the source of the action to

lie in situational factors (external attribution) (Kelley, 1967). Causal attribution is

International Journal of Offender Therapy and ComparativeCriminology, 44(1), 2000 97-110

2000 Sage Publications, Inc.

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