The question of when moral identity first develops in childhood deserves more considered investigation. In this article, we examine the claim that moral identity first emerges in middle-childhood (8-12 years). An approach is taken here whereby a tendency to attribute moral shame under conditions entailing moral identity failure is considered as…

Based on an attributional model of achievement-related behavior, success of a young person and failure of an old person (expected outcomes) were predicted to be attributed to stable causes. Results are discussed in terms of conditions under which negative stereotypes concerning competency of the elderly exert influence. (Author)

This study investigated developmental trends in children's attributions for success and failure in achievement and social situations. Twenty-four second graders, 21 fourth graders, and 24 sixth graders were shown pictures and told accompanying stories depicting either social and achievement success or social and achievement failure. They were then…

The development of attributional patterns for male and female success and failure in sex-typed activities was examined. A total of 243 children in preschool, first, third, fifth, and eleventh grades were given a booklet of eight drawings, each of which depicted a young adolescent completing a task. The drawings varied on sex of actor, sex-typing…

Explored open-ended attributions for success and failure of relatively younger and older men in social and academic situations using between-subjects design. Findings from 109 college students showed that respondents were more likely to make attributions that combined age with other attributional categories than attributions solely to target's…

Age is often used to explain performances by older people that may be judged substandard in comparison with those of younger people. To explore age as a possible causal attribution, descriptions of task performances by young (aged 30) and old (aged 70) women were judged by young (N=352) and old (N=96) female subjects on four attributions, i.e.,…

Children, aged 9, 12, and 15, evaluated successes and failures of other children using information supplied about ability, effort, outcome, and sex. Several sex differences were found, particularly in the extent to which evaluations related to effort and outcome information. Findings are compared to those of American and Iranian studies.…

Two experiments were conducted to examine the role of sex differences in learned helplessness in the generalization of failure experience. Subjects in experiment 1 were fifth graders and subjects in experiment 2 were fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. (MP)

Assessed causal attributions for losing perceived by high school students (N=150). Subjects responded to questionnaire comprising three categories of activities (sports, academic, social) in which they had not won or achieved desired outcome. Found that adolescent girls indicated significantly more internal attributions and boys more external…

Male and female preschoolers and third graders (N=192) were asked to explain the success and failure of girls and boys on feminine and masculine tasks by choosing among four causal factors: ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck. (CM)

Children from a Catholic elementary school were interviewed to determine what they saw as probable causes for success or failure in four situations: a school testing situation an art project, playing football, and catching frogs. Causal explanations were found to differ across the four situations. (Author/GDC)

The relationship of achievement attributions of 34 learning-disabled children (in grades three through eight) to academic progress and developmental patterns of attributional styles was examined in longitudinal studies (continuing for two years). Developmental changes in achievement attributions parallel those of non-disabled peers (n=40), but…

Attribution theory and gerontology would be enriched by the application of a life-span approach to attribution, involving increased attention to the age of the stimulus person and developmental factors associated with self-attribution. In studies on achievement attributions about older people, chronological age appears to be a more salient cue for…

Examined age differences in attributions for self-reported successes and failures in important and daily situations. Attributions and affects were collected from 61 young, 21 middle-aged, and 15 older adults. Middle-aged and older adults were more likely than young adults to attribute failure to external causes and to describe more social than…

The social psychology literature largely ignores attribution patterns made by both sexes of differing generations on an activity with salience for both sexes. "Parenting" is an activity with such salience. In estimating parental success for stimulus situations involving parent-child interactions, undergraduates and their parents were virtually…