Most current statistics courses include some instruction relevant to causal inference. Whether this instruction is incorporated as material on randomized experiments or as an interpretation of associations measured by correlation or regression coefficients, the way in which this material is presented may have important implications for…

This study investigates the influences of early and intense L2 exposure on children's L1 causative verb production, assessed by an experimental causative verb production task. Turkish expresses causality by morphological and lexical means, whereas English does so by periphrastic and lexical means. Learning L2 English might enhance L1 Turkish…

The present studies (N = 159) investigated children's and adults' preferences for label and property conjunctions for cross-classifiable toys. In Study 1, 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds, and adults participated in a labelling and property attribution task involving experimental toys that belong to two categories and control toys that belong to only one…

There are two dominant strains in the literature on academic performance, the attribution studies and the self-efficacy studies. The present study attempted to incorporate these two strains while examining the academic performance of engineering undergraduate students in India. Time management and perceived stress were included in the model to…

The study of anthropomorphism in adults has received considerable interest with the development of the Individual Differences in Anthropomorphism Questionnaire (IDAQ; Waytz, Cacioppo, & Epley, 2010). Anthropomorphism in children--its development, correlates, and consequences--is also of significant interest, yet a comparable measure does not…

In a sample of 50 verbally fluent adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders (age: 16-31 years; verbal IQ: 72-140), we examined the pattern of response and associations between scores on common measures of depressive symptoms, participant characteristics, and clinical diagnosis of depressive disorders. Beck Depression Inventory--Second…

In an examination guided by cognitive developmental and attribution theory of how explanations of wealth and poverty and perceptions of rich and poor people change with age and are interrelated, 6-, 10-, and 14-year-olds (N = 88) were asked for their causal attributions and trait judgments concerning a rich man and a poor man. First graders, like…

Attributional style models of depression in adults (Abramson et al. 1989, 1978) have been adapted for use with children; however, most applications do not consider that children's understanding of causal relations may be qualitatively different from that of adults. If children's causal attributions depend on children's level of cognitive…

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, throughout their careers, college graduates change multiple jobs and several careers, often remotely related to one another or to their major field of study. Experts project that the majority of newly created jobs requiring college education would involve extensive and prolonged on-the-job training of…

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…

Objective: To determine if adults with ADHD differed from children with ADHD, in assessing their performance on the Conners Continuous Performance Test (CPT). Method: ADHD-diagnosed adults (n = 13) and adults without ADHD (n = 17) were tested twice on the CPT and then completed self-evaluation and attribution surveys. Results: Nonmedicated…

The present study compares the attributions of young children 5 to 6.5 years of age with those of adult subjects 20 to 30 years of age, who were engaged in the same competitive situation. It was hypothesized that sex differences would occur in the sample of adults but not in the sample of children. Believing outcomes to be determined by either…

This study investigates attribution of responsibility in a rigorous factorial design involving ethnicity, sex, and age. The cultural factor was highly significant. Explanations for the strong findings are suggested in terms of different family structures among minority groups as well as their subordinate status within the U.S. (Author/AM)

Concludes little relationship exists between the three substances marihuana, alcohol and tobacco. Youthful subjects tend to overestimate the relationships between the three substances and cannot be generalized to other populations. Suggests an explanation of this youthful association focuses on simultaneous experimentation rather than causal…

Examined depressive symptoms and achievement attributions in 51 attention deficit-disordered (ADD) and 51 normal school children. Found that ADD children acknowledged having more depressive symptoms and displayed more external attributions both for positive and for negative achievement than did normal children. (Author)