We investigated perception of social and physical causality and animacy in simple motion events, for high-functioning children with autism (CA = 13, VMA = 9.6). Children matched 14 different animations to pictures showing physical, social or non-causality. In contrast to previous work, children with autism performed at a high level similar to…

Two studies investigated how 5- to 10-year-olds integrate perceptual causality with their knowledge of the underlying causal mechanism, using two devices in which a bell would ring when a ball was dropped in, either immediately or after a delay, depending on the mechanism inside. Findings suggest a link between temporal contiguity and causality in…

Sixty mothers of four- through 12-year-old children rated the (1) environmental versus dispositional basis of their child's behavior; (2) behavior's probable origins, cross-situational consistancy, and temporal stability; (3) child's controllability; and (4) personal responsibility for engaging in each behavior. Findings suggested a positive bias…

The reduced continuing motivation effect is examined with regard to research, theory, and implications for practice. The description of research focuses primarily on studies conducted with preschool-aged or school-aged subjects. Explanations based on self-perception or attributional theory and learning theory are examined. (Author/PN)

Subjects of this study were 144 White, middle-class children in kindergarten, first, second, and fourth grades. Children were interviewed individually about their explanations for both academic and social outcomes and their evaluations of their own outcomes. Self-evaluations became less positive in both domains and less similar across domains with…

Examines abuse-related attributions and perceptions, general attributions, and locus of control and their psychological impact on sexually abused girls. Seventy-seven subjects and 88 controls were administered the Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire and the Locus of Control Scale for Children. Discusses clinical and research implications…

Uses a synthetic family strategy to demonstrate the operation of caregiving transactions with children judged either "difficult" or "easy." A total of 96 elementay-age boys were paired with unrelated mothers for videotaped interactions. Results focused on socially competent child behavior patterns. (CI)