Thirty kindergarten children, 30 third graders, 30 sixth graders, and 30 college students were told two stories in which an actor behaved either generously or selfishly. Subjects then predicted and rated the actor's behavior in 10 life-like situations that provided opportunities for generous behavior as well as behaviors similar to generosity…

Two studies are described in which the causal attributions of unemployed school-leavers are studied. The leavers who were out of work favored more external attributions. Prior to leaving school the groups did not differ, but the employed shifted toward more internal causal ascription. (Author)

Undergraduate subjects were given an opportunity to cheat undetected on puzzle problems. The hypotheses were confirmed that more cheating occurred under ability attribution conditions than under luck attribution conditions; this effect of performance attribution was greater among self-aware subjects than among non-self-aware subjects. (Author/MH)

A study of 104 students (ages 16 to 22) with mental retardation (n=32), learning disabilities (n=34), or no disabilities (n=38) examined variables that contribute to perceptions of self-determination and increased student motivation. The students with disabilities were found to have more of an external locus of control orientation. (CR)

This qualitative study analyzed the retrospective attributions of adult sisters (five abused sister dyads, and five abused and nonabused sister dyads) who grew up in incestuous families. It examined the attributions of subjects regarding the general sibling group; victim selection and nonselection; and attributions regarding jealousy, protection,…

This study compared the motivational orientations and metacognitive abilities of 143 Grade 7 intellectually gifted students in an Australian selective school with 133 average-achieving age peers attending comprehensive schools. Gifted students had greater confidence in their own control over successes or failures in school tasks, demonstrated more…

Results of a questionnaire completed by 985 secondary school students in England (180 Asian females), indicate that Asian females enjoy school as much as or more than their counterparts, and enjoy subjects along sex stereotypical lines regardless of ethnicity. Grouping students by ethnicity for studies of motivation is questioned. (SLD)

Associations among children's beliefs about intelligence and effort, goal orientations, self-reported learning strategies, and academic achievement were studied with 319 children in grades 3 through 6. Results revealed a coherent set of beliefs about intelligence and academic performance, and that beliefs are powerful predictors of achievement…

Conducted two studies to evaluate the efficacy of attributional retraining as a career-counseling technique for college students. Results reveal that participants who received attributional retraining exhibited significant changes in career beliefs and attributional style, and engaged in significantly more career exploration behavior than the…

Participants (85 women and 30 men) responded to measures pertaining to careers. Findings reveal that a larger proportion of women than men perceived past barriers as associated with family-related issues. Results also reveal a significant negative relationship between perceived occupational barriers and career maturity for some individuals.…

Three experiments explored the conditions under which inductive inferences about people were made by children and adults. Results indicated that children often predicted that people would behave differently in the future than they did in the past. Younger children limited predictions of consistency to non-psychological events. Older children…

Relationships among locus of control, academic program, and sex of 267 ninth-graders were studied. As hypothesized, students in the advanced level program were more internally controlled than were general or basic level students. Although locus of control was related to academic level, its relationship to gender was not consistent. (SLD)

A research review of ability and effort studies in the United States and Japan finds: (1) effort considered the primary determinant of achievement in Japan; (2) different concepts; and (3) the Japanese fostering task involvement through cooperation. Social structure may account for the attributional patterns of Japanese children. (SLD)

Beckman's rating scale for antecedents of alcohol use was administered to 212 high school freshmen and juniors, including equal numbers of American Indians and Euroamericans. Compared to other adolescents, American Indian males felt that heredity and fate played a greater role and their environment played a lesser role in their use of alcohol. (KS)

Two studies explored preschool, second-, and fifth-grade children's moral and dispositional judgments as influenced by an actor's efforts. Findings indicated that older children's judgments and predictions reflected coordination of the actor's effort with information about the actor's anticipated goal. Preschool children focused more on the…