In two experiments, one hundred and sixty-two 6- to 8-year-olds were asked to reason counterfactually about events with different causal structures. All events involved overdetermined outcomes in which two different causal events led to the same outcome. In Experiment 1, children heard stories with either an ambiguous causal relation between…

This study tested the prediction that, with age, children should rely less on familiarity and more on expertise in their selective social learning. Experiment 1 (N = 50) found that 5- to 6-year-olds copied the technique their mother used to extract a prize from a novel puzzle box, in preference to both a stranger and an established expert. This…

This meta-analytic review of 42 studies covering 8,009 participants (ages 4-20) examines the relation of moral emotion attributions to prosocial and antisocial behavior. A significant association is found between moral emotion attributions and prosocial and antisocial behaviors ("d" = 0.26, 95% CI [0.15, 0.38]; "d" = 0.39, 95%…

Investigated the relation between kindergartners', second graders', and fourth graders' attributions of intentionality and inferences of disposition for story characters depicted as having intentionally or accidentally caused harm. (JMB)

The study was to determine when the patterns of causal evidence proposed by Orvis, Cunningham and Kelly (1975) begin to function as schemata in the attributional process. One hundred forty-four subjects took part in the study. (RH)

Children 5 to 15 years old answered questions on causal attributions of their own and their mothers' emotions, and methods for inferring and changing maternal emotion. Parents were asked reciprocal questions. (PCB)

Two studies examined the positivity bias in children of different ages. Findings indicated that children from grade two and up selected the correct cause(s) when the effect covaried with only one cause, but only at a later age when covariation with two causes was presented. Ability estimations and expectation of success were more positive in…

The hypothesis that, when trying to decide whether the person, stimulus, or circumstance is the cause of an event, individuals increasingly select schema-consistent information with increasing age was tested in 106 Turkish 9-, 12-, and 17-year-old subjects. (Author/RH)

Three- to eight-year-old children were asked to make causal attributions for performance on a motor task, reward allocations for the performance outcome, and state expectations for future success. (Author/DB)

Explores some attributional determinants of third and fourth graders' self-punishment following transgression in a moral situation. Results were interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that children who are told by adults that they possess desirable moral characteristics experience particularly strong remorse when they fail to exercise…

This study evaluated the intent attributions and feelings of emotional distress of relationally and physically aggressive children in response to instrumental and relational provocation contexts. Findings indicated that physically aggressive children exhibited hostile attributional biases and reported relatively greater distress for instrumental…

Assesses the information used by 5- to 13-year-olds to make dispositional attributions. Children were shown a boy interacting with others harmfully. Results of trait adjective ratings and predictions of causal responsibility for subsequent property damage revealed that the use of frequency and covariation information differed with age. (Author/CB)

Studied children's attributions and evaluations concerning defense mechanisms used by other children. Children negatively evaluated the blame-externalizing defense of projection and viewed it as a masculine characteristic. The internalizing defense of self-blame was evaluated more positively and viewed as a feminine characteristic. (Author/DB)

Assessed the causes ascribed by 60 Israeli 4th- and 9th-graders for the Arab-Israeli conflict and the relationship of these attributions to their expectations and emotions. Found that adolescents tended to view causes as more constant or less fluctuating over time than did younger children. Results support an attributional model for understanding…

Examines whether parents of children ages 5 through 13 are able to recognize the impact various socialization techniques have on their own child's interpretations of prosocial behavior. Additionally investigates parents' beliefs about causal attributions made by their children. (MP)