Based on research indicating the existence of a generalized positive stereotype of physically attractive individuals, the present study was designed to investigate the effects of an individual's attractiveness on attributions about his achievement-related behavior. In the context of an accuracy-of-person perception task, 162 male and female…

This paper describes recent research on causal attribution (ways people construe the events in their lives) and how knowledge of this psychological phenomena can be used to aid students in developing attributional processes that will enhance motivational factors and have positive effects on academic achievement. Four specific suggestions are made…

Beliefs about children's performance in mathematics were examined through interviews with mothers and their sixth-grade children in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and in Chinese-American and Caucasian-American groups in the United States. (Author/LMO)

In spite of recent reforms, minorities remain marginalized, especially if they are poor. Correlations can be measured between schooling, class, and minority goals to show that equal opportunity in schooling is not sufficient to permit social mobility for all. Society must be reformed economically, racially, and structurally to eradicate…

Examined the ability of three-year-olds, four-year-olds, kindergartners, and second graders to predict how certain internal and external conditions affect behavior. In two studies, a forced-choice procedure revealed that even the youngest group could predict the effect of various causes, while a third study examined more complex types of causal…

This study compared the causal attribution by sex for academic failures of 38 learning disabled and 38 nondisabled elementary school students. The relationship between different attributional tendencies and a reading persistence task were also examined. (BS)

Sixteen mother-handicapped infant pairs participated in a study which found that mothers of severely handicapped babies did not attribute less communication to infants' behavior than did mothers of mildly handicapped infants. Through the process of adaptation, mothers' attributions of communication were influenced by factors besides the infants'…

This study investigated effects of preperformance information on actual classroom teacher's expectations and attributions for a hypothetical male student. Teachers were found to have higher expectations for students with ascending performance patterns, and for students labeled learning disabled rather than mildly retarded. (Author/LMO)

Two experiments investigate how attributes of peer models influenced achievement behaviors among children who had experienced difficulties learning mathematical skills in school. Children in the single-coping-model, multiple-coping-model, and multiple-mastery-model conditions demonstrated higher self-efficacy, skill, and training performance,…

This experiment explored the mediating functions of attributional and self-efficacy variables on achievement outcomes for skill training treatments offered in conjunction with attributional feedback. Children who were identified as learned helpless and deficient in division skills received training on division operations either through modeling…

Investigates whether 53 mothers' beliefs about achievement were related to their seventh grade children's sex differences, and the association between these beliefs and their children's performance in mathematics. (HOD)

Investigates children's person-by-situation knowledge of probable causes of emotion in self and in others, and compares this to adults' construals. Shows that children can generate contextual explanations for affective states in self and others that are both shared by other children and adults and selectively related to different kinds of…

Studies of learning disabled students' self concept and attributions suggest that the passive learning style may reflect their beliefs that they are not in control of their destinies. The paper reviews strategies to help LD children acquire more adaptive notions about the causes of their successes and failures. (Author/CL)

Sixth graders (n=124) were tested for their perceptions of self-efficacy with print and TV, perceived media realism, and attributions of failure and success with each medium. The amount of invested mental effort (AIME) and achievement were measured. The roles of a priori perceptions and AIME in learning are discussed. (Author/BS)

Thirty Black, Caucasian, and Mexican-American undergraduates rated photographs of infants of each race on physical attractiveness and 12 bipolar adjectives. Results indicated that strong expectations that "beauty-is-good" are elicited soon after birth for Caucasians and non-Caucasians. Activity in babies appears to be a negative…