Causal attributions are defined as the way people describe and evaluate their or others' behaviors. In the literature, it was found to directly and indirectly affect academic achievement as they influence parents' expectations about their children's future success, their parenting styles, and, therefore, the social and physical environment that…

Previous research shows that children effectively extract and utilize causal information, yet we find that adults doubt children's ability to understand complex mechanisms. Since adults themselves struggle to explain how everyday objects work, why expect more from children? Although remembering details may prove difficult, we argue that exposure…

Children of teen mothers have worse academic, labor market, and behavioral outcomes in the United States, but it is not clear whether these poor outcomes are caused by having a young mother or driven by selection into teen motherhood. Understanding the reasoning behind poor child outcomes is important for designing effective policies to improve…

We estimate the equilibrium effects of a public-school grant program administered through school councils in Pakistani villages with multiple public and private schools and clearly defined catchment boundaries. The program was randomized at the village-level, allowing us to estimate its causal impact on the market. Four years after the start of…

Higher levels of student achievement are required to meet the needs of a changing workforce. The effect increases in education spending have on student learning gains among algebra students in Florida was unknown. Most research on per-pupil funding and student achievement is qualitative and measures opinions on the long-term effects of increased…

This qualitative case study involved addressing rates of general education elementary school teachers with 0 to 5 years of teaching experience who referred students with disabilities to the office for their behavior, which were twice as often as nondisabled students. Based on the conceptual framework of Weiner's Attribution Theory, teacher's lack…

Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) is an influential methodological approach motivated by set theory and boolean logic. QCA proponents have developed algorithms to analyze quantitative data, in a bid to uncover necessary and sufficient conditions where causal relationships are complex, conditional, or asymmetric. This article uses computer…

In this exploratory study, we considered the method of combining event-related potentials (ERPs) and source attributions as a means for examining the explicit or implicit nature of second language (L2) knowledge and processing. We recorded electroencephalograms while L2 Spanish participants judged phrase structure and subject-verb agreement…

Learning from others allows young children to acquire vast amounts of information quickly, but doing so effectively also requires epistemic vigilance. Although preschool-age children have some capacity to engage in such processes, they often have trouble resisting information from misleading informants. The present research takes a "novel…

Social media platforms like Instagram are often used as venues for discussing relationships, making them ideal channels for promoting healthy relationships and preventing intimate partner violence (IPV). This is particularly relevant for IPV, which has been historically understood as a personal issue and lacked support for consideration as a…

Objective: Previous studies have linked ADHD with self-harm, but the processes underlying this association are not fully understood. This research aims to investigate the role of sleep disturbances as a potential pathway between ADHD diagnosis and self-harm behaviors. Materials and Methods: The study included 90 youth aged between 11 and 18 years,…

Current research in science education and the cognitive sciences has highlighted the importance of epistemic tools in scaffolding learners to think in ways consistent with scientific practices. However, recent studies on epistemic tool have mainly focused on epistemic cognition, but not epistemic metacognition. Epistemic metacognition, which…

Critics often cite the "Moynihan Report" to illustrate how cultural diagnoses of poverty blame the victims and ignore the structural roots of inequality. This paper considers how the tendency to attribute such dangerous analyses to researchers' individual shortcomings leaves the underlying analytical elements that generate cultural…

The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award (as it is named in Australia) is an extremely widespread and popular youth development program. Participants (14-25 year olds) navigate the Bronze, Silver and Gold Award levels by completing: (1) Service, (2) Skills, (3) Physical Recreation, and (4) Adventurous Journey (recognising that at Gold level…

Beliefs about the controllability of positive or negative events in the environment can shape learning throughout the lifespan. Previous research has shown that adults' learning is modulated by beliefs about the causal structure of the environment such that they update their value estimates to a lesser extent when the outcomes can be attributed to…