Three models of achievement motivation in the classroom are contrasted. Results with 155 high school students suggest that the model of C. S. Dweck and E. S. Elliott offers a better explanation of the relationships among achievement motivation, attributions, emotional reactions, expectancies, and performance than do the other models. (SLD)

Determines the relative degree of five personal (academic) attributes and five motivational variables found in a sample of successful Mexican American students. Subjects possessed all five personal attributes and four of the motivational variables. Concludes that Mexican American students possessing these attributes and variables can enjoy…

How self-serving bias affects evaluations of college courses was tested for 691 students by comparing a model predicting that evaluations reflect actual grades with a model predicting that evaluations reflect confirmation or disconfirmation of expectations. Results support course evaluation validity by indicating a minimal effect of self-serving…

Undergraduate students (n=480) responded to a vignette describing a sexual interaction between a father and daughter (either 7 or 15 years old). More causal and moral responsibility was attributed to victims who responded passively. Older victims were perceived to be more morally responsible than younger victims but only in situations involving…

Tests the strength of the gender role stereotype regarding competitive behavior. Measures gender differences in its attribution for 48 male and 54 female undergraduate juniors and seniors. Results from a Prisoner's Dilemma game setting reflect the prevailing sentiment that competitive behavior is considered more characteristic of men than women.…

Assessed children's beliefs about the effectiveness of five causes of school success. At the age of 7-8 years, children differentiated the factors into "unknown" and "other"; at 9-10, "other" was differentiated into "internal" and "external"; at 11-12, "internal" was differentiated into…

Uses a Hebrew version of the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) to assess the attributional style among 120 Israeli undergraduate students. Students were asked whether their performance of a cognitive task was a result of personal or situational factors. Findings suggest that attributional style and situational cues contribute to the quality…

Investigated influence of prolonged deprivation on responses to uncontrollable outcome among 104 Indian students in the tenth grade. Finds high-deprived and female students displayed greater helplessness than did their low-deprived and male counterparts. Females and high-deprives students attributed uncontrollable outcome more to internal, stable,…

A survey of 423 medical students assessed (1) authoritarianism, self-esteem, locus of control, self-blame, belief in efficacy of high-tech medicine, and depression; and (2) attributional styles toward patients with psychological or emotional problems. A variety of findings and directions for research are discussed. (MSE)

Attributional retraining, the restructuring of an individual's explanations for events in his environment, is proposed as one method of enhancing college student motivation and achievement, particularly for high-risk students. Drawing on previous research and theory, the most promising strategies for using attributional retraining with this…

Compared behavioral, self-evaluative, and attributional responses of boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to those of typically-developing boys on a social success and failure laboratory task. Found that ADHD boys rated their own performance more favorably than controls, were more likely to attribute success to external…

Twelve elementary students with learning disabilities and 42 students at risk for special education referral served as tutors for younger children. Half the tutors were trained to make statements attributing success to ability and effort, as well as strategy suggestions for errors. These tutors became more positive in their self-perceptions than…

Background: Higher education is facing a number of problems: adjusting to larger and more heterogeneous student populations, increasing the number of graduating students, and preparing for lifelong learning. Improving learning competence can make a substantial contribution to solving each of these major concerns. The growing knowledge base on…

The frequency of judgment effect is a special case of Response Mode effect in human covariation and causal learning. Judgment adjustment -to [Delta]P-, depends on the trial type preceding that judgment, but that effect is restricted to situations in which participants are asked to make their judgments with a high frequency. Two experiments further…

High-risk drug use is prevalent among UK prison populations (Lipton, 1995) while recovery in prison is both complex and variable. Grounded theory methodology was employed to gain a greater understanding of the perceptions and conceptualisations of "risk," "need" and "motivation" in relation to prisoner drug abusing…