Examined factors that freshman (N=161) used to explain their first-term performance and the relationship between these attributions and affect, expectancy, and future performance. Results showed that successful students rated most items higher than unsuccessful ones, and positive affective responses to achievement were associated with internal…

Student attendance at help sessions before an examination indicated by attitudinal and behavioral data that those most likely to seek academic help had performed poorly in the past, attributed their performance to remediable factors and received information about session usefulness. Ability, effort and external attribution significance are…

Used three experiments to test skill-chance activity preference. Men and women (N=368) opted to perform either skill or chance versions of masculine and feminine tasks. Results showed that while men's skill preferences are higher on a masculine task, women prefer skill on a feminine task. (Author/JAC)

Studied evaluative dimensions of how recruiters and future employees (students) view the importance of appearance. Examined differences of focus (students versus recruiters), sex, and occupational area. Respondents recognized appearance as an influence on an individual's effectiveness. Generally, extreme styles were deemed unacceptabe. (Author/RC)

Examined whether reading the Darley and Batson study served to change subjects' understanding of the determinants of helping, and if subjects would come to regard degree of hurry as an important predictor in similar helping situations. Found subjects predicting helping behavior in similar situations were influenced moderately by hurry. (RC)

Two experiments investigated the relationship between the magnitude of motivation for control over the environment and tendency to derogate victims. Manipulated situational controllability and uncontrollability within a learned helplessness procedure and assessed derogation of a victimized stranger. Results indicated that motivation and need for…

Evaluated the hypothesis that depressed students would tend to make more internal and stable attributions of causality in potentially problematic social situations than nondepressed students. Depressed and nondepressed students rated vignettes for internal/external causality and along a stable/unstable dimension. Results supported the hypothesis.…

Investigated the allocation of positive and negative outcomes of joint work. College students (N=94) allocated gain or loss based on information about their own and partner's ability and effort and differences in performance. Allocations to discount differences in contributions were based on differences in ability rather than effort. (RC)

Reports on a study which investigated the utility of an American self-report measure used to assess masculine and feminine qualities of West German high school and university students. Compares results with data from studies of United States sample populations. (MK)

Concludes little relationship exists between the three substances marihuana, alcohol and tobacco. Youthful subjects tend to overestimate the relationships between the three substances and cannot be generalized to other populations. Suggests an explanation of this youthful association focuses on simultaneous experimentation rather than causal…

Two pilot investigations using college fraternity members present alternative viewpoint to Jones and Nisbett's proposal that negative relationship exists between familiarity with actor's behavioral history and tendency to attribute traits to him. Concludes that attribution of personality traits provides attributors information both veridical and…

Assessed whether subjects' ratings of taped interactants, whose gender was ambiguous, would be determined mainly by what gender the subjects thought the interactants were or by the interactants' behavior. Results showed that the causes of sex differences in assessments differed depending on what type of assessment was being made. (Author/JAC)

Evidence for discrepancy in mathematics performance between boys and girls is examined. Arguments suggesting that spatial ability is a primary genetic factor in mathematical achievement are considered, as are arguments based on social conditioning. It is concluded that cultural and social attitudes are the likely factors in girls' mathematical…

Sixth-grade children classified as high or low in self-concept were given an achievement task on which they succeeded or failed. High, more than low, self-concept children attributed their success to the skill cue. High self-concept children also engaged in more self-reward for success. (Author/RD)

Locus of control subjects' incorrect responses by frustrating or nonfrustrating confederates were punished by electric shock. Data indicated increased aggression after frustration by externals and less aggression by internals. Results indicate aggression is cognitively regulated by a personality-related belief in uncontrollability; the less the…