Attributional retraining--a therapeutic method of reinstating psychological control--of 198 Canadian college students through a videotaped lecture enabled external locus of control students to learn more and make better use of homework study materials but offered no advantage to internal locus students. Results are interpreted in a social…

Three causal attributions--ability, effort, and test difficulty--were examined for 223 University of Manitoba (Canada) students in relation to perceived performance and the quality of instruction. When instruction was good, causal attributions produced less variability in achievement and control. Implications for teaching are discussed. (SLD)

Tests Weiner's (Bernard) attribution-affect-help judgment model in the context of nine stigmas and ascribed each to either a controllable or uncontrollable factor. Finds that higher controllability was linked to greater anger and less pity, greater pity was predictive of a greater willingness to help, and anger did not predict help judgments. (CMK)

Educational seduction, in which a charismatic, entertaining instructor obtains favorable student ratings while presenting insufficient lecture content, threatens the validity of student ratings and teaching effectiveness research. To examine the effects of one educational seduction variable, instructor expressiveness, on student achievement…