Abstract
A considerable amount of research has been generated linking attributions for achievement success and failure to expectations about and production of future behavior (cf. Dweck, 1975; Weiner, 1979). Very little effort, however, has been directed toward studying the relations between attributions and success and failure in the realm of social relationships. It seems likely, as Weiner (1979) has suggested, that the same or similar cognitive mediators as those that have been identified as being important in the achievment sphere would also be important in determining reactions and behavior in any situation where one can succeed or fail. As has been previously noted in this volume, one set of situations that has crucial implications for children is social relationships. By examining children’s attributions for social success and failure the causal and maintenance conditions of sociometric status should become more apparent.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Ames, R., Ames, C., & Garrison, W. (1977). Children’s causal ascriptions for positive and negative interpersonal outcomes. Psychological Reports, 41, 595–602.
Anderson, C. A., Horowitz, L. M., & French, R. D. (1983). Attributional style of lonely and depressed people. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 127–136.
Asher, S. (1978). Children’s peer relations. In M. Lamb (Ed.), Social and personality development. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.
Asher, S., & Renshaw, P. (1981). Children without friends: Social knowledge and social skill training. In S. R. Asher & J. M. Gottman (Eds.), The development of children’s friendships. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Baer, D. M., & Wolf, M. M. (1970). The entry into natural communities of reinforcement. In R. Ulrich, T. Stachnik, & J. Mabry (Eds.), Control of human behavior (Vol. 2, pp. 319–324 ). Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.
Bandura, A. (1977). Self efficacy: Towards a unifying theory of behavior change. Psychological Review, 84, 191–215.
Bierman, K., & Furman, W. (1984). The effects of social skills training and peer involvement on the social adjustment of preadolescents. Child Development, 155, 151–162.
Bugental, D., Whalen, C., & Henker, B. (1977). Causal attributions of hyperactive children and motivational assumptions of two behavior-change approaches: Evidence for an interactionist position. Child Development, 48, 874–884.
Dodge, K. A. (1983). Behavioral antecedents of peer social status. Child Development, 53, 1386–1399.
Dodge, K. A., Murphy, R. R., & Buchsbaum, K. (1984). The assessment of intention-cue detection skills in children: Implications for developmental psychopathology. Child Development, 55, 163–173.
Dweck, C. (1975). The role of expectations and attributions in the alleviation of learned helplessness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 674–685.
Dweck, D. (1981). Social cognitive processes in children’s friendships. In S. R. Asher & J. M. Gottman (Eds.), The development of children’s friendships (pp. 322–333 ). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Dweck, C., & Repucci, D. (1973). Learned helplessness and reinforcement responsibility in children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 25, 109–116.
Earn, B. M., & Sobol, M. P. (1984). A categorical analysis of children’s attributions for social experience. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Elig, T., & Frieze, I. (1975). A multi-dimensional scheme for coding and interpreting perceived causality for success and failure events. The coding scheme of perceived causality (CSPC). JSAS: Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 5, 313.
Forsyth, D. R., & McMillan, J. H. (1981). Attributions, affects and expectations: A test of Weiner’s three-dimensional model. Journal of Educational Psychology, 73, 393–403.
Goetz, T. E., & Dweck, C. (1980). Learned helplessness in social situations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 246–255.
Gronlund, N. E. (1959). Sociometry in the classroom. New York: Harper.
Kelley, H. (1967). Attribution theory in social psychology. In D. Levine (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (Vol. 15, pp. 192–240 ). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Kirby, F., & Toler, H. (1970). Modification of preschool isolation behavior: A case study. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 3, 309–314.
Kokenes, B. (1974). Grade level differences in factors of self esteem. Developmental Psychology, 10, 954–958.
Ladd, G. W. (1981). Effectiveness of a social learning method for enhancing children’s social interaction and peer acceptance. Child Development, 52, 171–178.
Ladd, G., & Mize, J. (1983). A cognitive-social learning model of social skill training. Psychological Review, 90, 127–157.
O’Connor, R. D. (1972). Relative efficacy of modeling, shaping and the combined procedures for modification of social withdrawal. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 79, 327–334.
Puttalaz, M., & Gottman, J. M. (1982). Social relationship problems in children: An approach to intervention. In B. Lahey & A. Kazdin (Eds.), Advances in Clinical Child Psychology (Vol. 6, pp. 3–43 ). New York: Plenum Press.
Raviv, A., Bar-Tal, D., Raviv, A., & Bar-Tal, Y. (1980). Causal perceptions of success and failure by advantaged, integrated and disadvantaged pupils. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 50, 137–146.
Russell, D. (1982). The causal dimension scale: A measure of how individuals perceive causes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 1137–1145.
Silver, R. L., & Wortman, C. B. (1980). Coping with undesirable life events. In J. Garber & M. E. P. Seligman (Eds.), Human helplessness: Theory and applications (pp. 279–340 ). New York: Academic Press.
Sobol, M. P., & Earn, B. M. (1985). What causes mean: An analysis of children’s interpretations of the causes of social experience. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 2, 137–149.
Weiner, B. (1979). A theory of motivation for some classroom experiences. Journal of Education Psychology, 71, 3–25.
Weiner, B. (1983). Some methodological pitfalls in attribution research. Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 530–543.
Wheeler, V. A., & Ladd, G. (1982). Assessment of children’s self-efficacy for social interactions with peer. Developmental Psychology, 18, 795–805.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1985 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sobol, M.P., Earn, B.M. (1985). Assessment of Children’s Attributions for Social Experiences: Implications for Social Skills Training. In: Schneider, B.H., Rubin, K.H., Ledingham, J.E. (eds) Children’s Peer Relations: Issues in Assessment and Intervention. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-6325-5_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-6325-5_6
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-6327-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-6325-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive