The purpose of this study was to determine if students' gender was related to their own and their perceived parental motivational orientations in school achievement. Motivational orientations in school achievement were measured by a number of items focusing on the meaning of success in school, preference for school feedback, school task…

This paper presents basic principles and theories of motivation, attempts to provide a better understanding of the concept, and explores the role motivation plays in learning. Basic theories of motivation are reviewed including: Freud's belief in motivation by the id, unconscious forces, and sexual stages; Jung and Adler's belief that people are…

The nature and extent of variations in student attributions about performance in their courses were studied, and the relationships between the attributions and responses on certain items of a student ratings questionnaire were determined. Causal or predictive relationships among these variables were also investigated. Data were collected using:…

School achievement attributions for success and failure were examined for American and Polish preadolescents between the ages of 12 and 13 years. The American sample included 115 preadolescents (53 males and 62 females), and the Polish sample included 64 children (34 males and 30 females). The American subjects came from a suburban racially…

Hierarchical linear modeling allowed the indentification of specific school characteristics and policies which help explain the relationship between social class and minority status with mathematics achievement, the relationship between social class and minority status with mathematics course enrollment, and school means for achievement and for…

This paper explores various procedures of panel data in the estimation of causal models. The reported analyses are from the Monitoring the Future study, a nationwide questionnaire survey of 16,000 to 17,000 high school seniors conducted annually since 1975. First, the parameters of causal models are estimated in which the dependent variables are…

The relationships between teachers' attitudes toward responsibility and locus of control and other characteristics such as stress, educational attitudes, and attitudes toward change were studied in 54 (35 female and 19 male) experienced primary and secondary school teachers taking a course on classroom-based research. Attitude toward…

Research indicates that most women continue to avoid achievement or excellence in careers considered to be "masculine" fields. One reason for this appears to be that even highly motivated women lack confidence in their abilities and are discouraged from seeking demanding careers by others. Recently, a growing number of older "reentry" women are…

The development and validation of the Multidimensional-Multiattributional Causality Scales (MMCS) are described. The scales are distinctive because they measure locus of control specific to two goals--achievement and affiliation. Half of the items concern success, and half concern failure experiences. Results of four validity studies with under…

The self serving effect (SSE), the tendency to accept responsibility for one's own successes but not failures, was examined in three studies with adolescents. Results showed individual differences in SSE size were logically related to differences in: (1) academic self-concepts; (2) academic self-concepts inferred by significant others; and (3)…

Examines explanations used by children (ages five-14) to explain academic success and failure; frequency of their use; and developmental variations in types of explanations used. It was found that patterns of attribution categories vary by age, and that the attribution process involves a complex interaction of subjective and objective reality.…

This article discusses using attributional retraining techniques with gifted girls to reduce gender differences in mathematics and science performance. Following an overview of the most important retraining techniques, two studies with extremely promising results are described, the first with 42 German high school students in mathematics, and the…

Argues for a greater and more explicit use of evolutionary theory in psychology courses. Provides examples of ways that this strategy can help students think critically about classic psychological theories, understand the importance of narrower domain-specific theories, and comprehend the rationales behind cross-species comparison in psychology.…

Sixty-two French-Canadian women undergraduates participated in a study analyzing the effects of private self-consciousness on attribution. Shows women with high private self-consciousness, when told they performed well, attributed success to more internal, stable, and controllable factors than other subjects. In no-outcome conditions, no…

Psychological and behavioral characteristics of poor performing students and research-based strategies are presented as a starting point for educators making improvements to benefit the at-risk low achiever. Metacognitive strategies and refocusing student failure attribution to lack of effort rather than lack of ability are among effective…