Subjective perceptions of outcomes (both success and failure) may vary considerably from those of the experimenter's, and causal attributions are based as much on subject's own perceptions of success and failure as on the experimenter's definitions of outcomes. (Author/MJB)

Causal attributions concerning success or failure by undergraduate students at a motor task followed patterns established by past research in that success is predominantly attributed to internal factors and failure to external factors. (MJB)

This study examined the general importance of similarity in children's causal reasoning and the relation between similarity and the other principles of causal inference. Participants were 16 boys and 16 girls at each of four grade levels: K, 2, 4, and 6. (Author/JMB)

Children aged 5 to 12 years and college students were asked to judge hypothetical persons' ability or effort from information about task outcome, task difficulty, and magnitude of the complementary personal characteristic, effort, or ability. (JMB)

The study investigated differences in causal attributions made by 134 student clinicians taking actor and observer roles in good and poor speech therapy sessions. Clinicians taking the actor role cited client causes more frequently than other causes while clinicians taking the observer role cited clinician causes. (Author/DB)

Children 5 to 15 years old answered questions on causal attributions of their own and their mothers' emotions, and methods for inferring and changing maternal emotion. Parents were asked reciprocal questions. (PCB)

Results indicated that (1) fathers who were less involved in child care attributed lesser competence to infants than did more involved fathers; (2) fathers generally attributed lesser competence to infants than mothers did; and (3) as fathers' involvement in infant care increased, their attributions became more similar to mothers'. (RH)

Examined the attributions made about males and females who have children, remain childless by choice, or who are involuntarily childless. Multidimensional scaling of the similarity judgments revealed two dimensions: the first related to likability, being loving, devoted, and emotionally mature; the other differentiated among fertility-status…

The purpose of present experiments with subjects approximately three, five, and seven years of age was to provide additional evidence for the obviousness of the generative transmission principle and to provide initial evidence for the secondary principles of absence and facility. Empirical support was found for each of these selection principles,…

Surveyed 447 adolescents to determine which model of child abuse was most consistent with their beliefs, attitudes, and opinions. Results indicated that their views were most closely aligned with the psychopathological model, followed by the ecological model. Subjects maintained that parental psychological factors and victim characteristics…

Examined the validity of a cognitive attribution model by studying the reactions of 216 college freshmen to their first-semester grades. Results confirmed the attribution of success and failure to ability and the attribution of failure to task difficulty. Attribution of success to task ease was not confirmed. (JAC)

Assumes that the explanations for the causes of unemployment held by unemployed clients and their counselors influence clients' reactions to unemployment and the counseling provided to them. Identifies contextual factors that influence attributions about unemployment and addresses specific attributional issues. Discusses counselors' own…

An investigation was conducted to determine whether a self-instructional method of attribution training could effectively alter academic task persistence and effort attributions for success and failure. Results indicated that experimental groups of students receiving self-instructional attribution training evidenced significant differences from…

Categorizes common sense as (1) a set of shared fundamental assumptions, (2) a set of maxims or shared beliefs, and (3) a shared way of thinking. Argues that psychology has and should have a different relationship with each. Discusses the role of research techniques such as conceptual analysis in investigating commonsense cognitive schemata. (CMG)

Investigated British attitudes toward the poor as measured by MacDonald's Povery Scale and the Protestant Ethic Scale. Supporters of the British Conservative Party had more negative attitudes toward the poor, and were more likely to blame the poor for their fate than supporters of the British Labour Party. (JAC)