There appears to be a tendency for people who have not been victimized by negative life events to perceive themselves as less vulnerable to victimization than others. Research has revealed this unrealistic optimism in risk perception. A study on rationales for risky behaviors was conducted to identify reasons other than this illusion of…

In research on media depiction of violence against women, two variables that have been identified as important in predicting affective and attributional responses are the sex of the subject and the victim's affective reaction to the outcome of sexual aggression. In most previous research the act of sexual aggression has involved rape. In this…

Theories of socialization have developed independently of established facts against which to measure their adequacy. Studies showing low levels of skin conductance and slow latency of response among criminals have supported a bio-social theory that criminals inherit neurological systems that impede reduction of fear and interfere with learning.…

Although recent reviews of the effectiveness of male versus female leaders reveal little evidence of male superiority, evaluative and perceptual biases (beliefs about what constitutes good leadership, and stereotyped beliefs about men and women) among group members persist. To examine attributional biases against female leaders, 85 college…

To investigate reactions to violence between intimate partners, 125 undergraduates (68 males, 57 females) completed a three-part questionnaire. The instrument assessed general attitudes about violence between intimates, respondents' personal history as victim or abuser, and their willingness to use the label "battering". In addition, 24…

Self-serving biases in attribution have been widely explored; however, the effects of motivational factors on observers' causal attributions have been neglected in attribution research. To investigate these effects, observers' liking and perceived similarity toward a target person were manipulated. Subjects were 80 college students. The observer…

Although social gerontologists recognize the heterogeneous nature of elderly populations, they have relied on the use of aggregate data and chronological age rather than sociological variables in their research. The notion of stigma, as developed by Goffman (1963), applied to the elderly focuses on social relationships rather than individual…

The "Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: II, Affective Domain," which was published in 1964, is examined. The study was undertaken to: (1) determine what alternatives to the idea of the process of internalization and the focus on values used in the taxonomy are suggested by present psychological theories; and (2) assess the implications…

Many surveys of school psychologists have documented their desire to devote more time to consultation--an indirect service delivery system in which the school psychologist interacts with a consultee (teacher, parent, other professional) for purposes of solving a client problem. To expand the work of Martin and Curtis (1981) on school…

Research assessing sex-role characteristics has been derived from personality assessments or interests and has often reflected the conceptual biases of the researchers. A study was conducted using common but unselected attributions by requiring absolute judgments and by using factor analysis on the data. The 367 adjectives were selected by methods…

Written in German, this article demonstrates the influence of different types of contingency information on the development of infant's locus of control and causal attribution, and discusses empirical models for calculating contingency parameters of the microsocial environment of infants, toddlers, and preschool children. Models discussed include:…

Previous research has shown that students often overestimate their performance levels on course examinations. A model of motivation was applied to an individual's predictions and postdictions of his/her own performance levels in course examinations to obtain actual predictions and postdictions for 111 college students over a period of three…

The authors in this volume propose expanding the topic of motivation in the preservice teacher education program by including contemporary research. Margaret W. Cohen reviews a body of research and theory concerned with the effects of extrinsic reinforcers on intrinsic motivation. She notes that contemporary research in the area of intrinsic…

The potential for feelings of hopelessness and depression in the aged is well documented. Although studies have examined the role of perceived control in ameliorating depression in the institutionalized elderly, no research has actually measured the perceived causal attributions among depressed, hopeless and/or institutionalized elderly…

The reformulated learned helplessness model for the prediction of depression has been investigated extensively in young adults. Results have linked attributions made to undesirable, controllable events to depression in this age group. This reformulated model was investigated in 97 elderly women and was contrasted to the original learned…