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,…

Teachers' explanations for students' low achievement were reliably classified using Cooper and Good's (1983) attributional coding system. Teachers most frequently attributed low achievement to typical pattern of low effort. They viewed acquired student characteristics (low motivation, poor work habits) as more important than either teacher…

Assessed causal attributions for losing perceived by high school students (N=150). Subjects responded to questionnaire comprising three categories of activities (sports, academic, social) in which they had not won or achieved desired outcome. Found that adolescent girls indicated significantly more internal attributions and boys more external…

Discusses the Just World Scale (JWS), a construct which measures the attributional processes allowing individuals to believe people get what they deserve. Reports findings from a study involving 375 undergraduates that re-examined the JWS factor structure and internal consistency. Reveals significant gender differences with men showing a stronger…

Discusses the self-serving bias effect and its motivational explanation, which suggests individuals minimize other group member's responsibility for success and maximize it for failure. Reports findings of a study, involving 96 undergraduates, that demonstrates only partial self-serving bias. Considers how minimal feedback on attributions…

Identifies attitudes of professionals toward the attribution of responsibility for sexual abuse and strategies for case management. Variables that influence professionals' attitudes are discussed. (NH)

This article describes three dimensions of attribution (locus of causality, stability, and controllability) and discusses the importance, with regard to athletic performance, of assigning appropriate attributions to success or failure. Guidelines are provided to help students and athletes choose appropriate attributions. (IAH)

Assessed were second grade students to determine whether their beliefs about causes of success in mathematics were related to their personal goals in mathematics. One class that experienced mathematics instruction consistent with a constructivist view rated higher than traditional classes on Task Orientation, attempting to gain understanding.…

Examined whether the relationship between selected affective variables and mathematics achievement was different for nontraditional college students (more than 25 years old) than for traditional students. Reports no significant differences for pretest/posttest between traditional/nontraditional students. Lists affective predictors for mathematics…

Examined social cognitive skills in aggressive and nonaggressive delinquent youths with high or low behavioral functioning. Found significant interaction on problem-solving skills, with higher functioning, non-aggressive youths performing better than lower functioning counterparts; no differences occurred within aggressive groups. (Author/NB)

Forty elementary-school learning-disabled children completed a design assembly task and a vocabulary task. Results indicated a significant performance (success and failure)-by-maternal involvement (presence and absence) interaction for children's attributional ratings of effort, task difficulty, and luck, and for mothers' attributional ratings of…

Students (N=340) at the University of Manitoba (Canada) with internal and external loci of control (LOC) received no training or received either contingent or non-contingent feedback. Student achievement and achievement attributions were measured against variations in expressiveness in a videotaped lecture. Training and LOC influenced students'…

Supervisors and managers (N=108) reviewed cover letter and resume of job applicant with low back pain (source of which was systematically manipulated) and job description for simulated position. Found that, regardless of qualifications and source of injury, participants made more negative hiring recommendations for applicants with pain than for…

Reviews the 1989 report, "A Common Destiny: Blacks and American Society," which examines the anticipated and unanticipated consequences of initiatives since 1940 to improve the Blacks' social position. Criticizes the report for omitting evidence concerning racial differences in intelligence and criminal activity at the individual level. (FMW)

Studied similarities and differences in views of 69 high school students and their parents regarding delinquency causation. Found beliefs of two groups to be similar; both groups regarded variety of causative factors to be relatively unimportant. Certain factors (parental indifference) were considered relatively important by parents; certain…