Date of Award

1973

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

College

College of Education and International Services

First Advisor

Ruth R. Murdoch

Second Advisor

Wilfred G. A. Futcher

Third Advisor

Conrad A. Reichart

Abstract

Problem

E. G. White has been one of the most influential persons in the development of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Therefore extremism in church members is likely to crystallize in issues concerning the implications of her writings for today. The purpose of this study was to explore what relation, if any, exists between certain personality traits of an individual, his exposure to E. G. White's writings, and his perception of "E. G. White".

Method

The following instruments were used in the study: (1) The Questionnaire of Exposure to E. G. White; this questionnaire was developed to indicate the extent of an individual's exposure to E. G. White's writings and writings about her. (2) The Scale of Attitudes toward "E. G. White"; this scale was developed for use in this study with the goal to distinguish between healthy positive and extreme positive attitudes toward "E. G. White". (3) The Rokeach Dogmatism Scale. (4) The Edwards Personality Inventory, booklet III.

Two-way analyses of variance—where categories of scores on the Rokeach Dogmatism Scale and/or on the different subscales of the Edwards Personality Inventory were the one independent variable, categories of scores on the Questionnaire of Exposure to E. G. White the other independent variable, and scores on the Scales of Attitudes toward "E. G. White" the dependent variable—were applied to the results in order to analyze the relationship between exposure to E. G. White's writings, the individual's personality structure, and his attitudes toward "E. G. White". Ninety-seven students from Andrews University Seminary, who held American citizenship and for whom English was the basic language, participated in one of several testing sessions.

Results

The only significant interaction effect was that between "Exposure to E. G. White" and "Cooperative". "Dogmatism", "Makes Friends Easily", and "Cooperative" were significantly related to scores on the Scale of Attitudes toward "E. G. White".

Conclusions

Perception of "E. G. White" seems to be partially influenced by the individual's personality structure and also to some degree by his exposure to E. G. White's writings. Further research is needed in this specific area; especially the impact of original E. G. White books, compilations of her statements, and books written about E. G. White need to be investigated with respect to the hypothesis that these different books influence the dogmatic person differently.

Subject Area

White, Ellen Gould Harmon, 1827-1915--Influence; Seminarians--Psychological testing

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/theses/177

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