Kelley's cube model of causal inferences was investigated by relating high and low students' attributions to reported affect and expectations. Low and high scoring students clustered in different cells of the cube. Predictions concerning estimates of distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus and their relation to affect and expectations were…

Most theories of attributions are multidimensional, suggesting that specific causal factors can be classified along such dimensions as internal-external, stable-unstable, or controllable-uncontrollable. To examine the dimensions underlying causal attributions in an educational setting, 345 students who had just received a grade on a major course…

College students learning they had done well or poorly on an examination were asked to evaluate the cause of the outcome, describe affective reactions, and estimate expectations about future test performances. Results support the contention that academic failure needn't lead to losses in achievement motivation, depression, or frustration.…

If overattribution--the tendency for observers to think actors' attitudes match their behaviors even when behaviors are not freely performed--results from the fundamental attribution error, then observers must believe the coerced behavior is attributionally informative. This assumption was tested by (1) investigating the extent to which attitude…

In analyzing various moral and legal philosophies, two perspectives emerge, absolute moral rules/higher law, and situationally-specific moral rules/legal positivism. From these two perspectives, four types of individuals emerge in accordance with their degree of adherence to ideological tenets: (1) situationists (high on idealism and relativism);…

The hypothesis that students who cheat will externalize the cause of this behavior was tested by contrasting the causal inferences of cheating and noncheating college students. Results supported Kelley's attributional model. Uninvolved observers also indicated that students tended to formulate self-serving attributions. (Author/BS)

Although recent reviews of the effectiveness of male versus female leaders reveal little evidence of male superiority, evaluative and perceptual biases (beliefs about what constitutes good leadership, and stereotyped beliefs about men and women) among group members persist. To examine attributional biases against female leaders, 85 college…

Tested the theoretical basis for using attributional interpretations by giving individuals who had received a negative social evaluation no information or information that stressed internal/controllable, internal/uncontrollable, external/controllable, and external/uncontrollable causes. Results indicated stressing internal/controllable causes…

An attributional approach to social behavior traces problems in personal adjustment back to the assumptions individuals formulate about the causes of behaviors and events. Attributional information presented during counseling may have therapeutically beneficial consequences. The effectiveness of attribution therapy was investigated in a factorial…