Digital Commons Network^™

Cognitive Characteristics As Predictors Of Children's Understanding Of Safety And Accident Prevention (Reflection-Impulsivity, Causal Reasoning, Parent Style), Nina M. Coppens

Doctoral Dissertations

In the present study, children's level of causal reasoning and cognitive style were considered as possible predictors of their understanding of safety and accident prevention. Understanding of safety and accident prevention were operationalized as differentiation of safe and unsafe situations and specification of measures for preventing accidents, respectively. Individual interviews were conducted with 112 children, aged 3 through 8 years, currently enrolled in either a daycare or after-school program.

An accurate understanding of safety and accident prevention was related to an understanding of causal relations and to a reflective cognitive style. However, multiple regression analyses revealed that level of causal …

Judging Control: When Can We Expect Expectations To Predict Judgments? (Contingency, Contrast Effects), Susan E. Newman

Doctoral Dissertations

Two experiments were conducted to test the predictive validity of a model put forth by Alloy and Tabachnik (1984) to account for judgments of contingency. The authors contend that such judgments can be accounted for by determining the interaction of information contributed by "one's expectations" and by the objective "situation." It was argued here that those two components, independently or interactively, are not always sufficient to predict judgments; the same objective data may be judged differently in different contexts and sometimes contrarily to one's expectations. That is, contrast effects may occur. This argument was supported using two different paradigms. In …

A Rate Comparison Model Of Concurrent Schedule Performance, Douglas Stuart Lea

Doctoral Dissertations

A rate comparison model of concurrent schedule performance and foraging is proposed. The model is a molecular equalizing theory of matching, based on results from optimal foraging theory and corresponding data from behavioral ecology. It state that animals leave one concurrent alternative for another whenever their estimates of current local food rates fall below a criterion based on habitat-wide average rates. Linear operator rules are offered as among the most plausible rate estimation strategies. The model may be applicable to both schedule performance and foraging in patchy natural environments, even though differences between these situations may result in variations in …