Gestalt therapy theory considers speech to be a reflection of one\u27s personality, and consequently psychological adjustment or maladjustment is expected to be manifested in one\u27s speech habits (Levitsky & Perls, 1970; Passons, 1975). The use of personal pronouns is an indicator of the psychological distance taken from one\u27s own feelings and actions. Healthy speech, or speech that is integrated with one\u27s feelings and actions, involves the use of the first person singular when referring to self. Working with people to change speech patterns (changing it-statements and you-statements to I-statements ) may help an individual integrate his speech with his feelings and actions and to assume responsibility for them. If this is true, people who frequently use I-statements would tend to assume responsibility for their actions more than people who do not use I-statements as frequently.
The literature concerning locus of control indicates that internally controlled individuals demonstrate a greater tendency to accept responsibility for their behaviors (Davis & Davis, 1972; Krovetz, 1974; Phares, Wilson, & Klyver, 1971) and are better psychologically adjusted (Phares, 1976) than externally controlled individuals. Consequently, if use of I-statements demonstrates a tendency to assume responsibility for one\u27s behavior and indicates better psychological adjustment, internally controlled individuals would be expected to use I-statements more frequently than externally controlled individuals.
The present study investigated the relationship between internal locus of control and the use of I-statements. The hypothesis of this study stated that there is a positive correlation between internal locus of control and the use of I-statements. Fifty-nine graduate and undergraduate students from Charleston, Illinois and Columbus, Ohio were administered the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale. To elicit representational personal/social, academic, and family information the subjects were then interviewed by a trained interviewer on these three topic areas. There were a total of twelve questions--four questions on each of the three topic areas. Each topic area included two positive questions and two negative questions. The percentage of I-statements used by each subject in response to each question was then computed. The Pearson product-moment coefficient of correlation (r = .10, p = n.s.) and the Spearman rho coefficient (Rho = .04, p = n.s.) computed for this study were non-significant, indicating no significant correlation between internal locus of control and use of I-statements. Implications and limitations of the study were discussed
