Perceived and actual sex differences in attributional style for affiliative behavior

Abstract

The objectives of this thesis were threefold:(1) to review the concept of attributional style, (2) to demonstrate its applicability to affiliative behavior, and (3) of the main effect and two-way interactions were significant and one approached significance. Examination of the means revealed that of the eight significant main effects six were in the expected direction; of the four significant two-way interactions three were in the expected direction. Although the results were not totally supportive of the hypotheses they did support the thesis that affiliation is the female sex-role appropriate analogue to male achievement behavior.