McEwan, Jane H.2025-07-042025-07-041989https://hdl.handle.net/1828/22467This study examined how the cognitive performance of adult women could be influenced by socially modelled efficacy and causal attributions. A 2 X 3 independent groups design was employed, with two age groups and three modelling conditions. Female subjects were exposed to one of three peer models who expressed either efficacy and internal causality of task outcomes, or inefficacy and external causality. The model for the control group made no comments about efficacy or causality. Subjects then completed a logical-reasoning task. Those who experienced the positive model persisted longer on the task than did those in the control group. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that the interaction between the experimental manipulation and subjects' beliefs about their own intellectual efficacy and aging were modestly related to task performance.enAvailable to the World Wide WebThesis