In the first study, children's ability attributions following teacher blame was assessed for 218 Tamil-speaking children in India between 6 and 12 years of age. Indian children of all ages attributed low ability to the child that was blamed and high ability to the child who was not blamed by the teacher. This finding does not conform to expectations based on studies conducted in the West. In the second study, children between the ages of 6 and 12 were given questionnaires that attempted to explore their conceptions of ability and effort. It was found that the Indian sample did not clearly distinguish between ability and effort. Studies conducted in the West have found that older children clearly differentiate between ability and effort and value ability more than effort. The reasons for these culturally different findings in children's attributions is examined, and several possible explanations are offered.