Traditional accounts of sequential behavior assume that schemas and goals play a causal role in the control of behavior. In contrast, M. Botvinick and D. C. Plaut (see record 2004-12248-005) argued that, at least in routine behavior, schemas and goals are epiphenomenal. The authors evaluate the Botvinick and Plaut account by contrasting the simple…

Implicit motives generally sustain behavior over time because of the pleasure derived from the activities; self-attributed motives predict immediate responses because of social incentives in a structured situation. Implications of these distinctions are discussed. (SLD)

This article reviews self-fulfilling prophecies in three sequential stages: (1) teachers develop expectations, (2) teachers treat students differently depending on expectations, and (3) students react to treatment in expectancy-confirming ways. The focus is on social and psychological events at each stage, causal processes linking stages, and…

A formal model is presented that decomposes the attribution of personal dispositions into identification and dispositional inference processes. Two illustrative experiments trace the processing of behavioral and situational information at the identification and dispositional inference stages and examine attributions as a joint product of the…