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Black and white college students ( N = 194) completed the Internal, Powerful Others, and Chance locus of control scales. Findings indicated that students from low-income families had stronger perceptions that their lives were controlled by chance forces than wealthier students ( p < .05). Analyses of covariance controlling for level of socioeconomic status showed that blacks scored significantly higher than whites in their perception of control by powerful others ( p < .05) and chance forces ( p < .001).

In Study I, 42 undergraduates responded to the Machiavellianism scale and to Levenson's Internal, Powerful Others, and Chance scales. Results indicated that, for females, increases in Machiavellianism were correlated with feelings of personal inadequacy, while for males, the willingness to manipulate others was related to perceptions of a world ruled by chance. In Study II, 75 undergraduates completed the locus of control scales and two scales to measure philosophies of human nature. As hypothesized, the more subjects felt they were controlled by powerful others, the more they perceived people as untrustworthy and the less they saw them as altruistic. Results are interpreted as further demonstrating the usefulness of a multidimensional measure of locus of control.