Semantic differential placement of attributions and dimensions in four different groups.

Validated the classifications of 50 undergraduate education majors, 50 graduate education majors, 50 undergraduate psychology students, and 50 naive Ss (over 35 yrs of age) of 11 attributions (mood, skill, knowledge, chance, effort, competence, help, ability, task, bias, luck) according to dimensions of locus, stability, controllability, predictability, and globality. Attributions were placed on separate pages of a questionnaire, followed by a random ordering of the 5 dimensions presented on 7-point scales. Results show that Ss' dimensional assignment of 5 of the original 8 attributions of B. Weiner (see record 1979-28688-001) differed significantly from Weiner's assignment of those attributions. In 62% of all possible instances, the results of the present study were in agreement with the theoretical assignments of attributions from the literature. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)