Implicit motives generally sustain behavior over time because of the pleasure derived from the activities; self-attributed motives predict immediate responses because of social incentives in a structured situation. Implications of these distinctions are discussed. (SLD)

Used classification scheme developed by Marlatt and Gordon (1980) to categorize the highly tempting situations of 596 participants in smoking cessation programs. Relapsers had significantly more situations characterized by withdrawal symptoms and negative affect and fewer situations involving cigarette cues than did temporary lapsers and…

Individual differences in self-attributions in a forced-compliance task and following manipulations of facial expressions were found to relate, suggesting that the self-attribution processes are similar and that variations among individuals in these processes are general across contents and inputs. (Author)

Investigated the implicational relations between dispositional levels and relevant categories of behavior. Findings were consistent with the idea that dispositional labels are used to represent a central tendency in a person's behavior. (Author)

Attribution of a disposition or trait to a person asserts information about the pattern of that person's behavior. Past research has suggested that a moral disposition implies only moral behavior, while an immoral disposition implies both moral and immoral behavior. The effect of these implicational schemata on attributions of morality was…

Systematic investigations have verified the existence of a number of behavioral manifestations of the "Type A" behavior pattern. For example, brief exposure to salient uncontrollable stress has led to enhanced performance by Type A's on a subsequent task, whereas prolonged exposure has lead to performance deterioration. The ongoing experiences of…

Androgyny research has been hampered by a dependency upon traditional masculine and feminine sex roles for definition. Bakan's (1966) concept of agency and communion, which parallels masculinity and femininity, refers to behavioral competencies, involving a style or manner of interacting with the environment devoid of gender designations and…

The effects of actor identity on achievement attributions for success and failure were investigated. Subjects filled out a locus of control scale either for themselves, a neutral other, a liked other, or a disliked other. Within each actor identity variation, the scale items were either (1) unchanged from the original version or specified as (2)…

Pupils at an elementary school in Israel, their mothers, and their teachers were studied to determine how each group would attribute the causes of children's problem behavior. Pupils and teachers were apt to blame external factors. Parents tended to distribute responsibility for problems more evenly. (Author/PP)

Employing measures of attributional styles and metacognitive reading behaviors, a study investigated whether a relationship exists between passive reading behaviors and extreme attributional styles (learned helplessness) in college students on academic probation. Attributional style and metacognitive strategies exhibited while reading college text…

Argues for a greater and more explicit use of evolutionary theory in psychology courses. Provides examples of ways that this strategy can help students think critically about classic psychological theories, understand the importance of narrower domain-specific theories, and comprehend the rationales behind cross-species comparison in psychology.…

This study deals with attributional theory, a factor of special concern in achievement theory, which focuses on specific behavior as caused by the subject's attributions to the perceived causes of such behavior. This study investigated whether an individual's attributional biases were predictive of task selections he or she made. Furthermore, it…