Arab Educational Information Network

This study aimed at exploring if moral thinking and locus of control (internal/external) may predict the dimensions of self-deception variable and it's total score among (507) male and females students at the faculties of Education and Humanities, Al–Azhar University in Cairo. The researcher designed Self-Deception Scale and utilized Locus of Control Scale (designed by Rotter and translated into Arabic by Kafafy, 1982) and Moral Thinking Scale (designed by Abd-elfattah, 2001). After analyzing the data statistically, the study results revealed that moral thinking and locus of control predicted the dimensions of self-deception and it's total score among the male students sample, except for the distortion of facts dimension of which locus of control did not predict. In addition, moral thinking did not predict the dimensions of self-deception and it's total score among the female students, but external locus of control predicted the two dimensions of self-deception (distortion of facts – justification). Also, moral thinking and external locus of control predicted the total score of self-deception and hypocrisy as one of its dimensions among the male and female students, and locus of control predicted the distortion of facts dimension among them also. Moreover, the results revealed that there were differences between high and low-moral thinking students in the total score of self-deception and the distortion of facts dimension in favor of low-moral thinking students. Furthermore, there were differences in favor of those who have external locus of control in the dimensions of self-deception and it's total score, except for the justification dimension. In addition to that, there were differences between the male and female students in the total score of self-deception and the two dimensions (hypocrisy – justification) in favor of the male students, but there were no differences between the male and female students in the distortion of facts dimension. (Published Abstract)