Developmental Study of Causal Attributions and Judgments of Achievement by Japanese Children

Abstract

This article has two purposes, developmental changes of causal schemata are examined and developmental shifts in judgments of achievement are tested. The developmental changes of causal schemata are measured by two methods. (1) Extent of an effect is inferred from the facilitative causes and (2) the degrees of a facilitative cause are inferred from an effect and another facilitative cause. Developmental shifts of causal schemata ate noted among children in Grades 2, 4, and 6. Judgments of achievement are measured by asking subjects to provide “evaluative feedback” to an hypothetical school pupil's grade. The judgments of achievement are affected by the perceived expenditure of effort, independent of performance on the examination.