Scant sociological attention has been given to the role of luck within social mobility/reproduction. This paper helps address this conceptual gap, drawing on insights from over 200 longitudinal interviews conducted with 20 working-class young people and 22 of their parents over an 11-year period, from age 10-21. We explore the potential…

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…

The relationship between an affective teacher characteristic (a component of achievement motivation called success orientation) and changes in two affective outcomes of pupils (attitude toward learning and perceived personal control of one's own academic success and failure) was investigated. (Author/PN)

This study investigated the mastery-oriented and learned-helplessness response patterns of children (n=13) with visual impairments in grades 3 to 6 who were divided into two groups, low vision children who were visual learners and nonvisual learners. Subjects were given the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire. No significant…

Explored the relationship between attribution of success and sex role orientation of women (N=114) in graduate school. Results indicated that, among achievement oriented college women, attributional style was related to sex role orientation. Women who were more traditional saw their reinforcers coming from family and social forces. (JAC)

This study investigated the relationship between examinee achievement-specific locus of control and the differences between self-adapted testing (SAT) and computerized adaptive testing (CAT) in terms of mean estimated proficiency and posttest state anxiety. Subjects were 379 college students. A disordinal interaction was found between test type…

Examines the possible influence of locus of control orientation and its relationship to critical aptitudes and developmental variables. Studies six discriminator variables in order to predict an understanding of the nature of science among preservice elementary teachers with respect to locus of control orientation. (CW)

Examined the self-protective role of social attributions by comparing individual attributions made to the self, to one's ethnic group, and to factors external to oneself. Results from 309 Black, Hispanic, and White mothers show they all attributed positive outcomes to themselves, while Whites attributed failure to themselves personally. Middle-…

Examines how people with a high-achievement need attribute success to their ability and effort and failure to external factors such as task difficulty. Contrasts this behavior with people who have a low-achievement need. The measuring device was a multiple-choice questionnaire designed to reveal participant tendencies. (MJP)

This study examined the relationship of dental students' (N=145) perceptions of how much control they have over their environments to their academic achievement and to such demographic variables as age, gender, race, or ethnicity. Subjects were given a questionnaire to obtain demographic information and Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control…

Nearly 140 studies of motivation in African Americans were reviewed. The review is organized around five topics that are subsumed under three assumptions about the relationship between ethnic minority status and motivation. African Americans appear to maintain a belief in personal control, have high expectancies, and enjoy positive self-regard.…

Adolescent determination of behavior can be viewed as the result of perceived locus of control. To investigate adolescent perceptions of control in terms of age, loci of control (internal or external), situations (community and home), and direction of control (from or over the environment), 909 adolescents (345 males, 564 females), aged 11-19,…

This study evaluated locus of control orientations, perceptions of efficacy, and outcome expectancies of 282 adolescents with mental retardation and compared them to students with learning disabilities and at-risk students. Subjects were found to hold unrealistic understandings and perceptions of causality and excessively external global…

The effectiveness of two alternative attitude change strategies--a traditional persuasive strategy and a combined attributional/persuasive strategy--in altering attitudes toward nuclear disarmament were compared. Seventeen male and 39 female undergraduate students at a small university participated. A nuclear disarmament attitude pretest was…