Background Although there is good evidence that autism is a multifactorial disorder, an adequate understanding of the genetic and non-genetic causes has yet to be achieved. Methods Empirical research findings and conceptual reviews are reviewed with respect to evidence on possible causal influences. Results Much the strongest evidence concerns the…

This short-term longitudinal study examined the direct association between relational victimization and relational aggression over a five-month period, and proposed that hostile attributional bias for relational provocations mediated this association. Participants were 140 preadolescents (aged 9 to 11 years) in grades four and five. Relational…

Four experiments examined children's inferences about the relation between objects' internal parts and their causal properties. In Experiment 1, 4-year-olds recognized that objects with different internal parts had different causal properties, and those causal properties transferred if the internal part moved to another object. In Experiment 2,…

The mechanisms underwriting our commonsense psychology, or "theory of mind", have been extensively investigated via reasoning tasks that require participants to "predict" the action of agents based on information about beliefs and desires. However, relatively few studies have investigated the processes contributing to a central component of…

In "Utilization Focused Evaluation" (1997), Patton introduced the term "process use" to describe changes in thinking and behavior, whether at the individual, program, or organizational level, as a result of one's participation in an evaluation, irrespective of the evaluation results. In conversations with stakeholders, Patton found that although…

Since the phenomenon of fossilization in interlanguage is proposed by Selinker in 1972, it has drawn much attention and commonly acknowledged at home and abroad. This paper introduces the definition, classification, presentation, and causal factors of fossilization in an attempt to help Chinese students better understand the phenomenon and avoid…

This study involves the use of methods derived from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to change the attributions for success and failure of school children with regard to learning. Children with learning difficulties and/or motivational and self-esteem difficulties (n = 29) were identified by their schools. The children then took part in twelve…

Experienced managers know that perceptions matter greatly when it comes to working effectively with employees. The task for organizational behavior (OB) instructors, especially in the undergraduate classroom, is to make the perceptions topic come alive for students who may not appreciate at first the application and significance of this subject…

This article brings together, and builds upon, previous scholarship on juvenile delinquency, motherhood, and education in 1950s America, and explores how the widespread contention that inadequate mothering was responsible for a rise in juvenile crime and social deviance helped shape the organization of schooling in the postwar era. In the first…

The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between attribution and selected personality dispositions, as well as self-serving attribution. Four hypotheses were formulated: (1) Attributions for positive events correlate differently with the five personality dispositions than attributions for negative events, (2) factor analysis and…

The present study employed a functional approach to assess the motivations of tutors volunteering at a non-profit tutoring program. Based on the work of Clary et al. (1998), the "Volunteer Functions Inventory" (VFI) was used to differentiate between six different functions or motivations; values, understanding, social, career, protective and…

This qualitative study investigated five elementary classroom teachers' perceptions of, and attributions about the school performance of Asian American students. Using naturalistic inquiry, data were obtained through interviews, classroom observations, document reviews and field notes; and were analyzed using grounded theory techniques. The…

This paper discusses the importance and dangers of causal theories of sexual orientation, noting that, in recent years, the illness model of homosexuality has been thoroughly discredited and replaced with a variety of gay and lesbian affirmative constructs which explore the effects of a disparaging and hostile society on the development and…

Individuals often estimate the probability of future events by the ease with which they can recall or cognitively construct relevant instances. Previous research has not precisely identified the cognitive processes mediating this "availability heuristic." Two potential mediators (imagery of the event, perceived reasons or causes for the…

Some research on attribution processes has suggested that attributional search is exploratory behavior that serves adaptation and mastery motives. This study was conducted to investigate attributional search in reactions to success and failure after quitting smoking, to look for antecedents of attributional search other than expectancy and…