To test the hypothesis that women exhibit an externality bias in their performance attribution, male and female college students made effort, ability, luck, and task difficulty attributions for their performance on a recent course examination. Findings suggested an internality bias among men, rather than an externality bias among women. (Author/GC)

Undergraduates in an economics course reported prior grade averages and their final exam predictions. Students rated the influence that ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck had on performance and completed an achievement motivation scale. Regression analyses provided support for the attribution model of achievement expectations. Sex…

Study designed to reveal some of the intermediate skills which might account for the superior academic performance of children who perceive their reinforcements in those situations as caused by their own behavior (internal control). (Authors)

The relationship between a child's assumption of responsibility for intellectual-academic successes and failures and various performance scores was examined in the present investigation. An expanded version of the Crandall, Katkovsky, and Crandall (1967) Intellectual Achievement Responsibility (IAR) Questionnaire was administered to a total of 138…

The achievement behavior of internally controlled college females was more affected by sex of partner and type of competition than that of males. Although internally controlled males achieved more than externally controlled males, internally controlled females performed better when competing against males or cooperating with females. (Author/BH)

Parents, teachers, and athletic coaches have a primary responsibility in attempting to elicit desirable changes in the locus of control of their children, students, or athletes. (JD)

The connection between self-esteem, sex, and attributional style was examined in two studies. Results indicated that for positive events, high self-esteem subjects make more internal attributions than low self-esteem subjects, and for negative events, high self-esteem subjects make fewer internal attributions than low self-esteem subjects. The…

Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale (I-E) and the Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes were administered to 138 undergraduate students in a personalized system of instruction course. Results indicated that the I-E scale is related only to academic attitudes and that study habits are related to two measures of performance. (Author/JAC)

For many years researchers have investigated the relationship between alcohol consumption and human aggression. A "policy-capturing" methodology was used to determine how judgments of responsibility for aggressive behavior are influenced by information about a person's alcohol consumption, sex, and degree of injury to a victim. Male subjects (N=8)…

Examines ways in which social cues, in conjunction with a child's history, influence the child's interpretation of and reaction to failure feedback in evaluative settings. It is suggested that the way in which a child reacts to another's behavior is largely dependent upon subtle but powerful social cues within situation. (JH)

Children from a Catholic elementary school were interviewed to determine what they saw as probable causes for success or failure in four situations: a school testing situation an art project, playing football, and catching frogs. Causal explanations were found to differ across the four situations. (Author/GDC)

Male and female volunteer teachers' attitudes toward student performance is assessed. (DEP)

Each of 91 kindergarten and 79 second grade children attending public and parochial schools were assessed to explore possible relationships between students' performance increments and decrements on experimenter-manipulated puzzle games and their causal attribution for performance, locus of control, and self-concept. The first research question…

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…

Determined importance of transition between a student's initial collegiate science experience and the decision to continue in science, and whether reasons students give to explain their success or failure in their first course are related to that decision. Results demonstrate a sense of competence for students who continue in science. (Author/JM)