The study of social cognition involves the attribution of states of mind to humans, as well as, quite recently, to nonhuman creatures, like God. Some studies support the role of social cognition in religious beliefs, whereas others ascribe religious beliefs to an ontological knowledge bias. The present study compares these distinct approaches in…

We compared the respective attitudes of pre-service teachers (PST) and in-service teachers (IST) towards bullying. A questionnaire survey was administered to 110 PST and 128 IST. Self-efficacy beliefs, external locus of causality and empathy for the victims were higher in IST than PST. Perceived seriousness of bullying and likelihood of…

Criticisms advanced by Felice and Giugliano (2011) of the thesis that IQs in Italy are higher in the north than in the south are answered and new data confirming the thesis are given from the PISA 2009 study and for math and reading abilities in the recent INVALSI study. New genetic data are given showing higher frequency of blond hair the…

Introduction: The literature highlights that pupils with Specific Learning Disability (SLD) often reveal a poor meta-cognitive system, with low levels of attribution to internal factors like diligence and personal skill, and high levels of attribution to external factors like ease of task, luck or help from others. Methods: This study aims to…

Educational research places emphasis on the fact that individuals who have experienced repeated failures may develop an attribution profile characterized by a bias towards primarily external causes. The aim of this study is to compare the attribution style of adolescents with Down's syndrome with that of normal children and adolescents matched for…