We tested whether changes in attribution processes could account for the developmental differences observed in how children's use fluency to guide their memory decisions. Children ranging in age from 4 to 9 years studied a list of familiar or unfamiliar cartoon characters. In Experiment 1 (n = 84), participants completed a recognition test during…

In two experiments, one hundred and sixty-two 6- to 8-year-olds were asked to reason counterfactually about events with different causal structures. All events involved overdetermined outcomes in which two different causal events led to the same outcome. In Experiment 1, children heard stories with either an ambiguous causal relation between…

Children rely on both evidence and prior knowledge to make physical causal inferences; this study explores whether they make attributions about others' behavior in the same manner. A total of one hundred and fifty-nine 4- and 6-year-olds saw 2 dolls interacting with 2 activities, and explained the dolls' actions. In the person condition, each doll…

Investigated the relation between kindergartners', second graders', and fourth graders' attributions of intentionality and inferences of disposition for story characters depicted as having intentionally or accidentally caused harm. (JMB)

Tested the hypothesis that older children tend to use motivational attributions in their resolutions of situations in which behavior is incongruent with an actor's more stable attitudes, those relating to his disposition, role, or self interest. (Author/SB)

Seventy-six children ages four to eight were tested first in a reward-allocation task in which they had to divide a reward between two stimulus characters painting a fence. The characters differed in painting abilities, effort put into the job, and amount of fence painted. Then the same children's understanding of causal relationships among…

The purpose of present experiments with subjects approximately three, five, and seven years of age was to provide additional evidence for the obviousness of the generative transmission principle and to provide initial evidence for the secondary principles of absence and facility. Empirical support was found for each of these selection principles,…

Two studies examined the positivity bias in children of different ages. Findings indicated that children from grade two and up selected the correct cause(s) when the effect covaried with only one cause, but only at a later age when covariation with two causes was presented. Ability estimations and expectation of success were more positive in…

The relation between past history of outcomes and achievement expectancies was examined for 72 elementary school students. (JMB)

The hypothesis that, when trying to decide whether the person, stimulus, or circumstance is the cause of an event, individuals increasingly select schema-consistent information with increasing age was tested in 106 Turkish 9-, 12-, and 17-year-old subjects. (Author/RH)

In 2 studies, age differences in children's self-evaluative responses as a function of success/failure outcome and task ease information were explored. (SB)

The role of cognitive development in the formation of social judgments was investigated in 2 experiments examining children's use of task outcome information in attributional judgments of ability and task difficulty. (SB)

Examines young children's preferences and understanding regarding external and internal causes of behavior. Considers research in four areas: (1) knowledge of psychological states; (2) understanding that psychological states can cause behavior; (3) preference for internal versus external causes; and (4) discounting. (RJC)

Examined 3- to 5-year olds' justifications for conformity to physical laws and social rules. Found that children's justifications for social rule conformity involved consequences and permission/obligation, and for physical laws involved physical limitations or impossibility. Older preschoolers, but not 3-year olds, appreciated that social…