Some people ascribe successful language learning to an innate aptitude that cannot be further developed, at least after a certain young age (i.e., an entity mindset), while other people believe that language learning ability can be improved (i.e., an incremental mindset). The purpose of this research is to (a) introduce the Language Mindsets…

The present study developed and examined a conceptual model of working through self-defeating patterns. Participants were 390 college students at a large midwestern university. Results indicated that self-defeating patterns mediated the relations between attachment and distress. Also, self-esteem mediated the link between self-defeating patterns…

In order to discover the effects of success and failure on subsequent aggressiveness, 26 male and 55 female college students were randomly assigned to success, failure, and neutral conditions. Those in the success condition were led to feel they were superior to other college students on a task, those in the failure condition were led to feel they…

The hypothesis that success influences task preferences was tested. Results supported the hypothesis: the probability of change in task preference was greatest under high success reinforcement ratio conditions. (Author)

This study examined the context within which subjects (students) selected one of the following failure management strategies: silence, concession, excuse, justification, and refusal. Contextual variables included: relationship with the reproacher, the students' communicative goal orientation, moral severity of the failure, character of the…

Patterns of student performance were examined in a personalized instruction (PSI) course. Introductory psychology students (N=65) were randomly divided into a completely self-paced group and a group that had an early, instructor-imposed deadline. It was hypothesized that the early deadline group would respond at a more even pace throughout the…

Past research has produced conflicting results concerning the manner in which Type As and Bs make attributions following success and failure. Some studies find that Type As are more likely than Type Bs to blame themselves for all outcomes, particularly failure. Other research indicates that Type As are more self-serving in their post-performance…

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)…