In studies examining the influence of recall on judgments, social psychologists have generally concentrated on the content of recalled material rather than on the process of recall. To investigate the impact of recalled behaviors (content) and the ease with which these behaviors came to mind (process) on assessment of one's own assertiveness, 158…

The major task of life is to become masterful. As individuals grow the choice of which tasks to attempt and how best to achieve mastery at them becomes increasingly under their control by the situations they choose to engage in and by perceptions of their abilities. Mastery oriented people tend to attribute failure to unstable, external factors…

Cognitive biases that may affect learning by college presidents and the effects of these biases on the presidency and higher education were studied. Based on a recent study of presidential judgment under uncertainty, data were obtained on the perceptions of 252 campus chief executive officers concerning institutional leadership and quality, and…

Previous research has shown that college students often report problems with procrastination on academic tasks. A study was conducted to investigate factors related to academic procrastination. Subjects (N=379) completed the Procrastination Assessment Scale on measures of test anxiety, attributions, and self-control. A subset of subjects (N=125)…

This paper reviews the literature on the role of mediating cognitive factors in marital functioning and satisfaction. Types and patterns of causal attributions of distressed and nondistressed couples are compared and the effectiveness of various intervention models is discussed. The materials also discuss the role of unfulfilled expectations as a…

Two experiments tested the idea that the means by which children acquire efficacy information can produce different levels of task motivation and self-perception of competence. In Experiment 1, children periodically received either ability attributional feedback, effort feedback, ability plus effort feedback, or no attributional feedback. Although…

Male and female applicants to traditionally masculine or feminine fields of study were rated by 518 college students regarding their attributions of the applicant's skill and of luck as a factor in the applicant's predicted success. A five factor analysis of variance with attitude towards feminism, sex of subject, sex of applicant, sex of field,…

Entrance into college is considered a stressful experience, with many students experiencing depression and maladjustment. A longitudinal study was conducted to investigate three major models of depression among college students, i.e., the life events model, the cognitive-attributional model, and the social support model. Subjects were 134 freshmen…

Students in grades four, five, and six who represented three classifications of ability were compared for their conceptualizations, attributions, and attitudes about school grading practices. Intellectually gifted, learning disabled, and normally achieving students were assessed. Significant differences were found among the three groups,…

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that variables such as social class, sex, race, I.Q. and school achievement influence a child's anxiety through their influence on the child's tendency to attribute his failures to low ability. The research method selected was a survey design in which nearly simultaneous data were gathered on…

Efforts to understand mediating and maintaining factors associated with dysfunction of alcoholics have produced competing explanations and conflicting, overlapping constructs. To clarify the relationship between mental health and attributional patterns among women, the attributional patterns of alcoholic, depressed, and control females in response…

Previous research has suggested that Rotter's concept of locus of control is significantly related to a variety of attitudes and behaviors. To study the effects of sex, race, and social class differences, a projective measure of locus of control was developed to explore the relationship between control orientation and career aspirations for 432…

Research has provided support for the existence of certain actor-observer and self-serving biases in individuals' retrospective analyses about the causes of behavior. A question that has been relatively unexplored deals with whether the findings on actor-observer differences and the self-serving pattern in attributions are generalizable to…

In an impression explanation of counterdefensive attributions, the tendency of subjects is to accept primary responsibility for negative outcomes and to deny credit for positive outcomes. Counterdefensive attributions represent attempts at maximizing the esteem in which observers hold the actor. To test this hypothesis, a 2 x 5 simulation was…

Defensiveness is the most frequently utilized concept to explain inadequate change on the part of consultees. Defensiveness, in this context, indicates a motive to protect a central component of the self-concept, or a motive to present oneself favorably. Another source of consultee resistance to change results from the limitations of the human…