Research in attribution theory has shown that students' causal thinking profoundly affects their learning and motivational outcomes. Very few studies, however, have explored how students' attribution-related beliefs influence the causal thought process. The present study used the perceived control of the attribution process (PCAP) model to examine…

This study explored student teachers views of factors influencing them to choose teaching as a career. A total of 600 student teachers completed a questionnaire. They were asked to rate the importance of 25 factors in influencing their choice of teaching as a career. Using Factor Analysis, we categorized the 25 factors into three main factors…

The history of ideas guiding the development of an attribution-based theory of motivation is presented. These influences include the search for a "grand" theory of motivation (from drive and expectancy/value theory), an attempt to represent how the past may influence the present and the future (as Thorndike accomplished), and the…

Study aim: To determine and evaluate the spectrum of sport motivation of young adults. Material and methods: A group of 600 subjects, aged 17-19 years, participated in the study. An "ad hoc" questionnaire was applied to assess the 4 motivational factors: competition and success-oriented motivation, external accommodation, physical…

Relationships between cultural factors (ethnicity and religiosity) and dimensions of students' attributions for their success and failure (locus of control, stability, personal control and external control), along with motivational goals (learning, performance approach, performance avoidance, and work avoidance), self-efficacy, intelligence…

This study examined the determinants of attributions for success or failure in stopping smoking in a self-help treatment program with and without a drug component. Subjects (N=137) were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: (1) nicotine gum and a self-help manual with an intrinsic motivational orientation; (2) self-help manual…

Tested attribution are driven by control motivation and that attributional activity increases following an experience with lack of control. Subjects were given high, low, or no helplessness training and tested for motivational variations. (Author/SS)

A previous study examined determinants of attributions for success or failure in stopping smoking in a self-help treatment program with and without a drug component. This follow-up study examined the attributions that successful quitters made after remaining abstinent through 12 months, or after they relapsed. Subjects (N=137) had been assigned to…

Drawing from the attributional investigations of Bernard Weiner and colleagues in the area of achievement motivation, this review addresses attribution theory and its implications for labeling of handicapped children. It is concluded that attributions, not the presence or absence of formal labels, may be the critical variable of concern.…

This report presents the results of two experimental studies undertaken to investigate some of the differences in success and failure attributions made by actors and observers in an achievement situation. Causal attributions of a person actually experiencing a success or failure (the actor) and someone who read about the situation (the observer)…

Undergraduates in an economics course reported prior grade averages and their final exam predictions. Students rated the influence that ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck had on performance and completed an achievement motivation scale. Regression analyses provided support for the attribution model of achievement expectations. Sex…

Research has shown that attributing failure to lack of ability leads to lower motivation than does attributing the failure to lack of effort. An attributional model of motivation and performance following failure was tested with college students (N=63), who were preselected on the basis of their attributional styles for interpersonal failures, as…

A total of 141 children, aged 6 to 10 years, were read eight illustrated attribution problems involving play and non-play behaviors and were asked to infer information concerning the story character's intrinsic or extrinsic motivation for the behaviors. Children were grouped into three age levels (mean ages 5.9, 8.8 and 10.3 years) for analysis of…

This study related subjects' perceptions of their causality for task participation to their causal attributions of task outcomes, their task attitudes, and their task motivation. Subjects received success or failure feedback on a creativity task after experimental manipulations had influenced their perception of their causality for task…

Hypothesizes that the growing body of empirical data concerning attribution theory offers insight into the administrative process. To stimulate research to test this hypothesis, presents previous relevant research and a theory entitled Administrative Attribution Theory. Research questions applying the theory to educational administration are…