This document is a literature review discussing research on locus of control, particularly as it relates to early childhood education. Some measures of children's sense of locus of control are discussed, including the Optimism-Pessimism Test Instrument and the Stanford Preschool Internal-External Scale. A discussion of how an educator's sense of…

This report discusses a study of 31 postsecondary students (20 males and 11 females) with learning disabilities (LD) and/or with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that examined college achievement and attributional styles. Students completed a combined Academic Attributional Style and Coping with Academic Failures Questionnaire.…

This experiment investigated: (1) relationships among locus of control, attributional style, and depression; (2) if a depressogenic attributional style could be empirically isolated; and (3) if reliable relationships existed between attribution and depression when depression was operationalized using different instruments. Subjects completed the…

This study was conducted to compare causal attributions for success and failure response across four school subject areas (English, Mathematics, General Music, and Physical Education) using a "critical incident" methodology. Students (N=205) from a midwestern junior high school completed a questionnaire in which they identified important…

A study examined the relationship between change in daycare children's classroom behavior and the teacher's socialization behavior. Various behaviors of 69 children in 24 classrooms were observed and coded in the fall and spring of the school year. Observers coded teacher behavior according to the Caregiver Interaction Scale, which assesses…

The study of causal attributions at the interpersonal level has been an integral part of attribution research. Unfortunately most attribution research has involved persons unfamiliar with each other. The marital relationship is an example of the need for understanding causal attributions among intimates. A striking feature of marital interaction…

A study of "causal" communication, the communication of attribution-related information, investigated the relationship of exposure to mass media (especially film) depictions of Vietnam veterans to perceived causes for the problems facing a number of Vietnam veterans. The study further extends attribution theory to social interaction and…

An investigation was conducted to describe the context of distance learning by examining the factors to which first-year distance learners attribute their success and failure and the influences on those attributions. It tested the attribution theory of achievement motivation in a distance learning setting. The method was a qualitative case study:…

Researchers have begun to recognize that because Type A and Type B behavior patterns represent pervasive lifestyles, they may have general implications for various psychological phenomena. One area of interest concerns the influence of Type A and B behavior on the quality and functioning of interpersonal relationships. A study was conducted to…

Three hypotheses were tested regarding the attribution of causation for successful behavior by kindergarten children: (1) self concept--children with high self esteem make internal attributions and those with low self esteem make external attributions; (2) locus of control (LOC)--children with internal LOC make internal attributions and those with…

Two major topic areas related to the affective half of prescriptions in mathematics are explored. The first area focuses on stationary or general information about motivation which provides an important backdrop as a prelude to formulating useful individual affective prescriptions. Several observations about stationary motivational variables…

This experiment tested the hypothesis that the sequence of ability and effort attributional feedback influences children's attributions, self-efficacy, and skillful performance. Children deficient in subtraction skills received training on subtraction operations and solved problems over four sessions. During the problem solving, some children…

In self-adapted testing, examinees are allowed to choose the difficulty of each item to be presented immediately before attempting it. Previous research has demonstrated that self-adapted testing leads to better performance than do fixed-order tests and is preferred by examinees. The present study examined the strategies that 29 college students…

This literature review focuses on the problem of lack of student motivation to learn. The purposes of this review are described as an exploration of factors that influence classroom motivation and suggestions of strategies for promoting students' desire to learn. Annotations are provided in these areas: student/teacher interaction and classroom…

This paper lends support to Richard E. Clark's position that media make no difference in student achievement, but also argues that alternative ways of thinking about media--i.e., about the differences media do make along with the differences they can make--are necessary and important. Two major areas of study are examined. In discussing the first…