The Mathematics Attribution Scale-Algebra (MAS) was designed to assess attributions to ability, effort, task, and environment for success or failure in algebra. The study examined the reliability and validity of the MAS with high ability high school students. Results present a complicated picture of the psychometric properties of the MAS. (Author)

Describes research concerned with the way teachers' expressions of sympathy and anger toward failing students influence students' thoughts and self-perceptions. Examines the role that causal attributions play in the understanding and experience of achievement-related affect. (CB)

This article on the research and educational implications of self-concept discusses definitions, methods, theoretical orientations, developmental conditions, correlates, changes and changeability, and pedagogical consequences of self-concept. (PN)

Examined the relationship between popularity and sexual behavior in 1,405 junior high school students. Results showed White males and females with more female friends are more likely to be sexually experienced. There was little relationship between popularity and sexuality in Black adolescents. (JAC)

Examined the similarity between subjects' (N=63) ratings of themselves and others, on various tests of personality. Results revealed that subjects correctly estimated several of their own scores, but only two scores of another person. They believed themselves to be similar to their friend, thereby showing attributional errors. (JAC)

Shows that attributions about the causes of another person's behavior are only moderately good predictors of behavior. Reviews a particular area, showing the effects of a leader's attributions about a subordinate's behavior on the leader's actions towards that subordinate. Other factors are as important in predicting behavior as attributions.…

Examined the relationship among selected ascribed and achieved traits and their relationship to occupational attainment, using a longitudinal sample of males (N=583). Data suggest that achieved and ascribed variables do not operate seperately. Residence in childhood and number of siblings had a significant effect on adult job status. (JAC)

Analyzed data on employment after marriage for a cohort of women born around 1938. Results show a decline in the propensity to follow a conventional pattern of leaving the work force due to marriage or childbirth. The double track pattern of employment during childrearing is more common. (Author/JAC)

Examined data on change in divorce rates in the Old West region where growth is occurring due to energy development. Multiple regression results indicated new immigration had little effect on change in the divorce rate. A more open perspective on social organization and change in rural communities is needed. (Author/JAC)

Investigated the impact of old-age and attractiveness stereotypes on persuasion. College students (N=220) read essays attributed to young or old authors. Attractive authors were rated higher and were more persuasive relative to unattractive authors when the essay was weak. (Author/JAC)

In one study, male college students showed higher grade expectations than females, and grades were attributed more often to ability by males and to effort by females. In a second study, both sexes considered effort a more significant determinant of grades. Sex role orientation influenced academic expectations, attribution, and performance.…

Explored the effects of consistent and inconsistent combinations of paradoxical and nonparadoxical interpretations and directives in brief counseling with moderately depressed college students. Paradoxical interpretations were associated with more symptom remission than were nonparadoxical interpretations. The nature of the directives students…

The theoretical and practical implications of viewing difficult temperament as a characteristic of the individual rather than as a social perception are discussed, with an emphasis on an interactionist view of developmental process. (Author/MP)

Untrained normal achievers attributed failure to adoption of specific task strategies, while untrained learning disabled boys attributed failure to task difficulty. Characteristics of learned helplessness were apparent in the impaired performance of the learning-disabled boys. Normal achievers appeared to have developed active and independent…

Hypothesizes that the growing body of empirical data concerning attribution theory offers insight into the administrative process. To stimulate research to test this hypothesis, presents previous relevant research and a theory entitled Administrative Attribution Theory. Research questions applying the theory to educational administration are…