Several theories of the alcoholic personality have been devised to determine the relationship between the clusters of personality characteristics of alcoholics and their abuse of alcohol. The oldest and probably best known theory is the dependency theory, formulated in the tradition of classical psychoanalysis, which associates the alcoholic's…

Although research suggests that men and women are perceived as differing significantly on a number of traits or characteristics, little research relates these traits to observable behaviors. The trait-characteristic issue, when carried over to employment, serves to justify discrimination against women. Research on attribution theory also supports…

Tests the hypothesis that individuals are more likely to view their own behavior as caused by the situation and the behavior of others as caused by underlying personality dispositions. Subjects were 100 undergraduate students. (MP)

This study deals with attributional theory, a factor of special concern in achievement theory, which focuses on specific behavior as caused by the subject's attributions to the perceived causes of such behavior. This study investigated whether an individual's attributional biases were predictive of task selections he or she made. Furthermore, it…

Many theories have been proposed to explain the blaming the victim phenomena and to predict who is most likely to engage in this behavior. This study hypothesized that since behavioral blame of a victim is self-protective for an observer, this type of blaming will be evidenced more by those who are personally and situationally similar to the…

Assessed whether subjects' ratings of taped interactants, whose gender was ambiguous, would be determined mainly by what gender the subjects thought the interactants were or by the interactants' behavior. Results showed that the causes of sex differences in assessments differed depending on what type of assessment was being made. (Author/JAC)

Considers the following dimensions of attributional models: (1) responsibility for causes of problems, and (2) for solutions to problems. Finds a significant association between femininity and low internal attribution of responsibility for problem solving. Discusses results in terms of sex role and gender differences in help seeking. (Author/LHW)

The effects of success and failure on task performance, and attributions about performance, were compared for high and low instrumental college women. For the high instrumental group, success facilitated task performance, whereas failure had no debilitating effect; for the low instrumental group, success had no effect on subsequent performance,…

Results indicate a positive relationship between talking rate and leadership choice. People show the greatest liking for those with moderate levels of talking. (Author/BEF)

College students rated stimulus persons after reading paragraphs that varied the sex, ages and the order of presenting the stimulus persons. When tested first, female stimulus persons received favorable ratings on masculine as well as feminine traits. (Author/JAC)

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of sex of subject, stated sex linkage of task, and task outcome on causal attributions of an actor's performance. Suggests that the differences between males and females in performance evaluation and self-attribution occurs most strongly in response to failure and on masculine tasks.…

Observed 18- to 30-month-olds' use of force against peers. Found no sex differences in average aggression levels or in mothers' aggression ratings. Rate of hitting peers and mothers' ratings were stable over 6 months for girls only. Toddlers especially sensitive to peers' possible intentions hit peers more and were more likely than to use force…

Tested and extended Deaux's expectancy model of sex-linked differences in attribution for success. Finding's indicated that female occupational subjects, relative to males, tended to attribute success more to unstable causes of effort and luck. Male subjects attributed success more to the stable causes of ability and task ease. (Author/RC)

Used vignettes to investigate children's integration of information on behavior, body weight, and sex when forming peer impressions. Found that positively behaving peers were liked more and attributed more positive traits than negatively behaving peers. Also found that boys, but not girls, believed that peers would evaluate average weight,…

A meta-analysis of 97 studies published since 1950 that assessed sex differences in scores on objective and projective dependency tests indicated that women consistently obtained higher dependency scores on objective tests, and men obtained higher scores on projective tests. Findings are discussed in terms of sex role socialization. (SLD)