Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-1990

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Education

Major Professor

Charles L. Thompson

Committee Members

Schuyler W. Huck, Lawrence M. DeRidder, Kenneth R. Newton

Abstract

The present study consisted of an investigation of the effects of personal journal writing on the dependent variables of irrational beliefs, internal locus of control, self-deception, and private self-consciousness. Relationships among the intrapersonal variables were also explored for any intercorrelations. Five instruments were administered to predominately freshmen students at a small Christian liberal arts college. The self-consciousness Scale along with the Levenson Locus of Control Scale, Self-Deception Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory (short form), and Rational Behavior Inventory were administered to the three pretested groups and, after the treatment period of 42 days, to all five groups. Two groups received only the posttest to monitor the effects of pretest sensitization and testing. Three different types of journal writing were prescribed for the subjects. One set of subjects was self-focused in their journal writing, another set was other-focused, and the third set was weather-focused. Each subject was instructed to journal write from three to five minutes for a period of 42 days. Using the ANCOVA no statistically significant main treatment effects were found for any of the journal writing groups. However, using a t-test analysis, significant changes were found to occur in self-deception for the person-centered journal writing groups. Self-deception tended to increase from pretest to posttest for subjects who were either self-focused or other-focused in their journal writing. Other-focused journal writing seemed to be related to decreases in self-reported depression. Numerous interrelationships among the variables were discovered which seemed to vary in type and intensity for the various groups. There were correlational similarities between the pretested other-focused and pretested self-focused journal writing groups. Journal writing was not definitively shown to be a situational tool in significantly raising private self-consciousness. However, self-focused and other-focused journal writing groups did show correlational differences for the dependent variables compared to the innocuous weather-focused journal writing group. Suggestions for further research were discussed.

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