The authors outline a cognitive and computational account of causal learning in children. They propose that children use specialized cognitive systems that allow them to recover an accurate "causal map" of the world: an abstract, coherent, learned representation of the causal relations among events. This kind of knowledge can be perspicuously…

Discusses and reviews learner control research and presents three theoretical bases to help provide a framework for past research as well as to assist in designing future studies: (1) motivation, (2) attribution, and (3) information processing. Three types of learner control are discussed in relation to the theoretical perspectives: pacing,…

Strategy use, recall, metamemory, and attributional beliefs were assessed in 31 students (age 10) with and 33 students without mild mental retardation over a 3-year period. Although both groups employed effective strategies and increased their strategy use over time, students without mental retardation were more strategic. Attribution beliefs and…

Interrelationships among metamemory, intelligence, attributional beliefs, self-concept, and strategy use were investigated in 102 German and 91 American children. Some were trained to use a cluster-rehearsal strategy on a Sort Recall task. Post-training assessments tested maintenance, near-transfer, and task-related metamemorial knowledge.…

Children's magical explanations and beliefs were investigated in two studies. Found that many four-year olds view magic as a plausible mechanism, yet reserve magical explanations for certain real world events that violate their causal expectations. Parents and culture at large may at first actively support magical beliefs whereas peers and schools…

The relationships between classroom performance and five possible predictor variables were studied. The ways in which these variables relate to performance in a classroom learning situation were examined, with the hypothesis that attributional style and motivation would be the best predictors of classroom performance. The variables were: (1)…

The ways in which teachers' cognitions about classroom practice vary with the developmental level of the children they teach and the subject matter taught were studied through interviews with 40 teachers. Participants were 8 teachers of kindergarten and grade 1, 10 teachers of grade 2, 11 teachers of grade 3, and 11 teachers of grades 4, 5, and 6.…

Introduction: The following study examines gender differences existing in various cognitive-motivational variables (causal attributions, academic goals, academic self-concept and use of significant learning strategies) and in performance attained in school subjects of Language Arts and Mathematics. Method: For this purpose, a sample of 521…