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Problems Of The Multidisciplinary Team, Gladys H. Rumbaugh

Student Work

A review of literature on multidisciplinary teams indicates problems in the teams' functioning center around four questions: (a) Who collects what information for the decision-making process? (b) Is that information based on nonbiased, technically adequate data? (c) Is there active participation by all members in the decision-making process? and, (d) Is there consensus among the team members as to classification, placement, and program planning? In the present paper focus is directed upon question (b). This study assessed the degree of redundancy between the General Reading Comprehension Core of the Test of Reading Comprehension: A Method for Assessing the Understanding of …

Effects Of Friendship Skills Training In An Inpatient Alcoholic Population., Elaine Janis Salzer

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a friendship skills training program on an inpatient alcoholic population. Male veterans, who were inpatients of the Alcohol Dependency Treatment Program at a Veterans Administration Hospital, served as research subjects. The specific aims of this study were to determine if there were any differences between the experimental and control groups on (1) self-report of friendship attitudes, self perception of friendship skills, positiveness of verbal response choices; (2) observed interpersonal behavior changes (or affects) in-hospital; and (3) self-report of interpersonal contact and drinking behavior following hospital discharge. Forty-five male alcoholic …

Skin Temperature Feedback With Autogenic Training And Home Practice In The Treatment Of Childhood Migraine Headaches: A Controlled Group Outcome Study., Elise Elmire Labbe

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Childhood migraine is a prevalent disorder seen in pediatric practice. Preliminary uncontrolled reports evaluating skin temperature biofeedback with autogenic training have suggested that it may be a useful intervention for childhood migraine. The present study used a controlled group outcome design to further evaluate the effectiveness of skin temperature feedback with autogenic training and home practice. Subjects were 28 children, ages 7 to 16, 14 males and 14 females. After receiving a physician's diagnosis of migraine a second diagnosis of migraine was made by the experimenter. Children were matched by baseline headache intensity, sex and age and then randomly assigned …

Impact Outcome At River Region Personal Growth Program., Mark Christopher Michael

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The River Region Personal Growth Program is a preventive mental health organization. Through education, River Region attempts to assist individuals in crisis, to build competency to avoid future crises, increase personal growth, and to channel persons who are in need into other formal mental health care. This study proposed to investigate the impact River Region has upon its participants compared to waiting list controls. Individuals' utilization of formal mental health services following participation was charted, as well as their absence from work. In addition, the Profile of Mood States and four scales from the Vocational Preference Inventory were administered to …

The Effects Of Delay, Signal Placement And Houselight Illumination On Signalled Reversal Learning, Peter Yarensky

Doctoral Dissertations

The control of behavior by prior responses and stimuli was studied using pigeons in a signalled reversal learning procedure. During regular trials, an intertrial interval was followed by illumination of two keys. Initially one key was designated correct. A peck to either key turned off both keys and, if correct, produced food. After a criterion number of consecutive correct responses occurred, a reversal/nonreversal sequence was initiated. Either the reversal or nonreversal signal was presented briefly during the next intertrial interval. Following a reversal signal only, the correct and incorrect keys were reversed. A correct response on the next trial resulted …

Semantic Segmentation Of Print Advertisements, Clifford James Cox

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to construct a comprehensive model of advertisement perception. The model's relationship to persuasion, recall and recognition measures of advertisement effectiveness was explored. The research demonstrated that print advertisements are perceived primarily across three general semantic dimensions. These dimensions were named Evaluation, Potency and Activity. The relationship between the three dimensions and similar semantic dimensions reported in the Semantic Differential literature is discussed.

In this research, 32 liquor, jewelry and perfume advertisements were studied. The relationship between the advertisements' persuasion, recall and recognition scores, and the advertisements' Evaluation, Potency and Activity scores is assessed. The …

Henry A Murray And The Harvard Psychological Clinic, 1926-1938: A Struggle To Expand The Disciplinary Boundaries Of Academic Psychology, Rodney Glenn Triplet

Doctoral Dissertations

The work of Henry A. Murray at the Harvard Psychological Clinic played a major role in shaping the face of modern American academic psychology. Prior to 1930, proponents of pure and applied psychological research debated the inclusion of personality and psychotherapy in the curriculum. Today, it is generally accepted that Murray was instrumental in broadening academic psychology's boundaries to include these topics. This dissertation details how the controversy surrounding Murray's promotion to Associate Professor in 1937 encapsulated the interplay between the intradisciplinary and extradisciplinary forces involved in psychology's efforts to define its intellectual, methodological, and institutional boundaries.

Initially, Murray's work …

A Reconceptualization Of Childcare Based On Comparisons Of Three Childcare Alternatives, Anne Larrimore Oden Law

Doctoral Dissertations

The present study examines three aspects of childcare: the childcare provider, the parent, and the social environment within childcare centers. Providers of family daycare, and directors of group daycare and nursery schools were surveyed regarding the services they provide. Parents whose children attended the surveyed childcare homes and centers were surveyed regarding their experiences with childcare, and the influence of childcare on the child and family. Videotapes were made in five centers, and then analyzed to determine the frequency of certain activities, and the probabilities of various social exchanges in each center.

The data were analyzed to describe each childcare …

Object Representation And The Rorschach: Investigation Of A Continuum Of Object Relations Impairment Across A Broad Spectrum Of Psychopathology., Gary Raymond. Keleher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the quality or maturity of Rorschach object representation in nonpatient controls (N = 20) and in hospitalized neurotic (N = 24), borderline (N = 26), and schizophrenic (N = 26) patients. Inclusion of these groups was based on the prediction, from object relations theory, of a relationship between severity of psychopathology and object representation impairment. Dependent measures were two object representation scales developed by Krohn and Mayman (1974) and Blatt, Brenneis, Schimek, and Glick (1976). Cross-validation of discharge diagnosis by an independent diagnostician, based on patients' clinical case summaries, was the selection criterion for psychiatric subjects. Following …

The Impact Of Sompa Elp Scores On Special Education Evaluation And Placement., Alan Lesley Taylor

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The impact of the use of SOMPA Estimated Learning Potential (ELP) scores as a substitute for traditional IQ scores was examined as it affected students evaluated for special education in a large metropolitan school system. SOMPA is the System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment, an evaluation package developed by Jane Mercer (1979) to address concerns about bias in assessment of minority students and particularly to remove "unfair" labels of mental retardation. ELP scores represent IQ scores adjusted for the effects of sociocultural background and compared only to ethnic peer norms, with the general effect being to raise estimates of intellectual potential …

A Study Of Catharsis (Abreaction, Emotional Discharge), In 4th, 5th, And 6th Grade Students, Drina Miriam Fried-Roberts

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Problem. Catharsis is becoming more widely talked about as a method to get rid of negative emotions, to gain increased achievement, social maturity, and emotional well being. The emphasis on affective education is one example. There have been few controlled studies testing the catharsis hypothesis directly. No formal research is available that uses (randomly chosen) young people as subjects in studying emotional discharge.

Purpose. The purpose of the study is to see whether elementary school students can accept training in this re-evaluation counseling mental health model. Comparisons of those who hear about the model are made with those who hear …

Schedule-Induced Drinking And Escape-Avoidance Behaviour As A Function Of Fixed-Time Schedule, Chamber Size, And Chamber Wall Stimuli., Brian Irvine. Burtt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between adjunctive behaviour, in the form of schedule-induced drinking, and escape-avoidance behaviour was investigated, using rats as subjects. Escape-avoidance behaviour consisted of vacating the site of intermittent food delivery and then staying away from the food site. Independent groups were run on fixed-time schedules ranging from 30 seconds to 240 seconds. Groups were run either in a small chamber that prevented movement away from the food site or in a large chamber that allowed considerable movement away from the food site. Each group was exposed to two types of chamber wall stimuli. Chamber wall stimuli either were the …

An Experimental Study Of Informal Advice Strategies: Benefits, Intentions And Responsibility., Helen Ruth. Avigan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effectiveness of advice for coping with interpersonal conflicts. The focus was on helping with psychological stress and the maintenance of relationships. Recently, advice-giving has been viewed from an attributional framework, a theory emphasizing causality. Brickman et al. (1981), however, suggest the need to consider also the attributions of responsibility for solution. Moreover, strategies focusing on intentions and outcome are quite common but have not been studied systematically within an advice-giving paradigm. This experiment included 320 undergraduate females. A factorial design involved two levels of each of four variables: responsibility for cause, responsibility for solution, outcome and …

The Vroom-Yetton Model Of Decision Making: An Empirical Evaluation In Applied Settings., Elizabeth Shoenfelt Erffmeyer

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

A test of the validity of the Vroom-Yetton model of decision making was conducted using four types of organizational leaders: nurses, university administrators, managers from business and industry, and fraternity and sorority presidents. The present study was designed to avoid some of the methodological deficiencies of previous attempts to validate the model. Specifically, the present research incorporated two important characteristics: the use of naturally occurring decisions that were currently being confronted by the leaders and the use of objective, independent measures of the decision method used and the effectiveness, quality, and acceptance of the decision. The forty-two leaders were each …

A Temporal View Of The Turnover Process: Application Of A Repeated Measures Design To Two Models Of Nurse Turnover., Albert Willard Holland Jr

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The principal objective of the present research was to examine Mobley's (1982) contention that a dynamic experimental design is necessary in order to advance our understanding of the cognitive and behavioral events which precede turnover. The one aspect of Mobley's contention tested here was the extent to which a repeated measures design contributes to the predictive power of existing models of turnover. A second objective was to conduct a competitive test between the Mobley, Horner and Hollingsworth (1978) and the Price and Mueller (1981b) models of nurse turnover. Four non-profit community general hospitals and two government-owned general hospitals provided the …

Children's Perceptions Of The Elderly: An Attributional Analysis., M. Elizabeth. Mcdermott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not children's attributions would vary as a function of the age of the target person about whom the attribution was being made. Sixteen children, 8 boys and 8 girls, from each of grades 1, 4, 7, and 10 were interviewed. Each child was shown 8 photographs, half of which portrayed elderly individuals, and half of which portrayed young individuals. A behavioural description accompanied each photograph. Following the presentation of each photograph, each child was asked an open-ended question which was designed to elicit his/her spontaneous explanations for the behaviour. Responses …

Self-Perceptions And Smoking Behavior, Austin Thomas Deslauriers

Digitized Theses

In order to implement the purpose of this research, it was decided to try to identify a set of self-perceptual variables which distinguished people in terms of their smoking behavior. Smoking behavior was construed as manifesting itself across a continuum from nonsmoking to smoking. This was consistent with the self-orientation of the present research in which smoking is not viewed as a discrete behavior, separate from one's view of self. With the general aim of gathering as much information as possible from a previously unexplored area, a questionnaire was constructed which tapped four aspects of self-perception: general self-description (adjective ratings), …

Comparison Of Four Models For Predicting Person Reliability, Geziena Cynthia Fekken

Digitized Theses

The purpose of this research was to examine the efficacy of four models for predicting person reliability, which was defined as across-session item consistency. Two prediction models were based on item characteristics alone, namely, p-values and social desirability scale values. Two prediction models attempted to take into account both item and person characteristics. These models were based on individuals' latencies for responding to particular items and on individuals' thresholds for answering items in terms of some item characteristics. The latter model was derived from Jackson's (1968) threshold model for responding which describes the response process with reference to a threshold, …

The Role Of Individual Difference Factors In The Efficacy Of Covert Modeling And Self-Instructional Training For Fear Reduction, Terrance Michael Vallis

Digitized Theses

This series of studies examined the role of selected individual difference factors in the efficacy of visual imagery (Covert Modeling) and verbal (Self-Instructional Training) coping skills procedures. Specifically, individual differences in imagery-verbal processes were examined. A variety of individual difference measures were employed in an attempt to understand whether previous inconsistent data were due to assessment issues. Also, these studies employed an 'Aptitude-Treatment Interaction' (ATI) design to evaluate the role of the individual difference variables. This design is more powerful than the typical median split procedure.;Study 1 focused on whether ATI effects could be found between Covert Modeling and Self-Instructional …

The Effectiveness Of Metamemory Instruction In Promoting Generalisation Of The Keyword Mnemonic Strategy: A Developmental Study, Julia Therese O'Sullivan

Digitized Theses

The effectiveness of an instructional programme, consisting of strategy training supplemented by metamemory instruction in promoting generalisation of the keywod mnemonic strategy, was assessed. Three experiments were conducted to investigate three specific issues. In Experiment 1, the effectiveness of the metamemory instructional programme in promoting generalisation was compared to that of other instructional routines. Eleven-year-old students learned a list of cities paired with their products. Children in the four experimental conditions were instructed in the use of the keyword strategy to learn city-product pairs. In addition, children in three of the experimental conditions received one of the following types of …

Marital Shared Problem-Solving: Conceptualization And Assessment, Gary Wayne Austin

Digitized Theses

Marital shared problem-solving has been considered composed of communication and problem-solving skills components. However, the definitions of these components have been confounded by both theories and previous assessment devices. This research project separated the component skills, developed a self-report measure, The Shared Problem-Solving Inventory, and investigated the interrelationship of these skills.;Using a construct approach to test construction, the problem-solving and supportive communication skills were defined, and items were written from those definitions. A novel test format attempted to simulate marital discussions. Two series of multiple-choice items were developed as separate discussions on the typical marital issues of "money" and "contact". …

The Overjustification Effect: An Affective Interpretation, Helena Grace Pretty

Digitized Theses

The purpose of the present research is to investigate the overjustification phenomenon whereby a person who performs an intrinsically interesting activity for an expected, external reward sometimes decreases his or her subsequent interest and engagement in that activity. The determinants of this effect have important implications for the type of contingency payment and reward systems used in organizational psychology and education where sustaining intrinsic motivation is a central concern.;Currently two main explanations of the overjustification process have been given: the self-perception overjustification hypothesis, and cognitive evaluation theory. Research that has been done to assess the validity of these explanations is …

A Study Of The Impact Of The Family Volunteer As A Social Support Intervention With Mothers Of Newborns, Elizabeth Michelle Sullivan

Digitized Theses

The Family Volunteer Project was designed to address two general issues with regard to the area of maladaptive parenting. These were: (1) to contribute to the development of more effective screening procedures for identifying families at high risk for maladaptive parenting; and (2) to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of family volunteers as a promising preventive intervention strategy with respect to parenting problems.;This dissertation focuses upon the second of these objectives. The analyses reported concern the feasibility and effectiveness of volunteer intervention to effect positive change either directly or indirectly upon the psychological well-being, perceived social support and parenting attitudes …

A Cognitive Structural Approach To Uncertainty Orientation In Terms Of Individual Differences In Construct Accessibility, Gillian Alison King

Digitized Theses

This dissertation examined the view that certainty- and uncertainty-oriented individuals are individuals for whom certainty and uncertainty, respectively, are cognitively relevant (Sorrentino, Short, & Raynor, in press). Study 1 examined whether certainty-related behavioral descriptions about another were better remembered by certainty-oriented subjects than uncertainty-oriented subjects, as a construct accessibility model of differences in the relative accessibility of certainty- and uncertainty-related constructs would predict (e.g., Higgins & King, 1981). Distortions of evaluatively ambiguous and evaluatively unambiguous descriptions were also examined. The data supported a cognitive structural view of individual differences in uncertainty orientation in terms of knowledge structures based on past …

Predicting Job Performance Criteria From Interview-Based Impressions Of Personality, Mitchell Grant Rothstein

Digitized Theses

Two laboratory experiments investigated the utility of evaluating applicant personality characteristics in the employment interview for purposes of predicting relevant job performance criteria. In Study One, three target applicants were created from personality information drawn from the two poles of an accounting/advertising factor dimension and a second dimension. Subjects judged the personality characteristics of the target applicants, their suitability for one of two jobs (accounting/bookkeeping or writing and advertising copy), and their probable level of job performance. It was predicted that job applicant targets congruent with the job characteristics would be judged more suitable for the job than targets who …

Models Of Group Productivity And Affiliation-Related Motives, Rodney Douglas Hancock

Digitized Theses

Using Steiner's (1971) model of group performance, an experiment was performed to investigate the relationship among affiliation-related motives, task demands, group size and group productivity. It was suggested that affiliation-related motives may mediate the effects of group size and task demands on group productivity. That is, when task demands were disjunctive it was hypothesized that approval-oriented as compared to rejection-threatened persons would increase their productivity as group size increased. Under conjunctive task demands it was predicted that increased group size would lead to decreased productivity for rejection-threatened as compared to approval-oriented members.;Affiliation-related motives were measured using Short's (1980) measure of …

The Biological, Psychodynamic, Humanistic, And Social Psychological Perspectives Of Athletic Participation, Katharine R. Johnson

Honors Theses

Why become an athlete? Why all the long hours of continuous dedication? Would male and female athletes answer these questions differently?

The following essay is a review of the potential reasons why individuals strive to become athletes as perceived by the biological, psycho-dynamic, humanistic, and social psychological perspectives. Emphasis is placed on differences between the sexes when the perspective under discussion considers these differences to be relevant.