Explain each of the following situations in terms of attribution theory
a. After a history of school failures, Marcus eventually stops trying to do well.
b. A fifth-grade teacher gives her class a difficult mathematics test, and many of her students fail it. She tells her class that she will give them a different test over the same material tomorrow. Many of the boys in the class say they will go home and study again. Some of the girls say that they already studied once, but it didn't do much good, so why bother?
c. Samantha's mother helps her study for a spelling test on Tuesday and a vocabulary test on Thursday. Samantha passes the spelling test and is quite proud of herself. She fails the vocabulary test and blames her mother for not helping her enough.
Answers to the separate parts of the question are as follows:
a. Students with a history of failure are likely to develop the belief that success is beyond their control—for instance, that they lack the necessary innate ability. Marcus is beginning to show signs of learned helplessness.
b. Males tend to attribute their failures to a lack of effort; therefore, they will be relatively optimistic about their chances for future success. In contrast, females tend to attribute their failures to a lack of ability; therefore, they will be relatively pessimistic about their chances for future success. This gender difference is most often observed for traditionally "male" subject areas such as mathematics.
c. Students have a tendency to attribute their successes to internal causes and their failures to external causes. Samantha's reactions
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Piaget spoke of egocentrism in both the thought and speech of the preoperational child. Three of the following are examples of preoperational egocentrism as Piaget defined it. Which one is not?
a. Justin is constantly grabbing objects and pulling them toward himself. b. Kate cannot understand or answer the question, "How do you think Molly feels?" c. Isabel cannot understand why she must share classroom equipment with others. d. Lois tells a story as if her listeners already know many details they can't possibly know.
Which of the following conditions for declining the evaluation?
a. The program lacks sufficient impact to warrant the expense of formal evaluation b. Despite pending decisions, it appears highly unlikely that an evaluation study will produce any relevant information. c. The assumption that every program must be evaluated. d. All of these.
By definition, exceptional children require special education or related services to realize their full human potential
Indicate whether the statement is true or false
Another word or title for an independent worker is:
a) business manager. c) the "organization man." b) the sports star. d) the "free agent."