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Courtroom Factors And Jurors' Decision-Making In Cases Involving Child Witnesses, Debra Schwiesow

Student Work

This study examined the influence of expert witness testimony and jury instructions on mock jurors' final verdicts of guilt in a case where the sole eyewitness to a murder/abduction was a five-year-old-child. One hundred and ninety-two college students heard an audio-taped trial proceeding in which the testimony of an expert witness and the jury instructions were varied (both supporting or discrediting of a child witness' testimony or mixed testimonies). Individual judgments of guilt and judgments after group deliberation were recorded. It was hypothesized that expert witness testimony and jury instructions would significantly influence verdicts. Contrary to predictions, neither expert witness …

Psychosocial Correlates Of Drug Use In Adolescents, Earl H. Faulkner

Student Work

The purpose of this study was to examine adolescent drug involvement in relation to a variety of psychological and social constructs. One hundred ninety-nine adolescent high school students and 67 adolescents receiving drug treatment served as subjects. A battery of questionnaires was administered to assess a participant’s: involvement with drugs (i.e., reported drug use index, intent to use drugs in the future, exposure to drugs, and level of drug use prior to abstinence); self-concept/self-esteem; social skills; and anxiety and depression levels. Degree of drug involvement, both within the student sample and between student and treatment samples, was related differentially to …

Effectiveness Of Screening Procedures To Determine Delay Versus Regular Kindergarten Entrance, Janet Benton Gaillard

Student Work

This study evaluated education outcomes of a psychological screening procedure used by the Omaha Public Schools to assist in entrance decisions for summer and fall born children who were eligible to attend kindergarten. From the available sample of children tested from 1975-1979, 115 were chosen based on availability of a complete set of required scores. There were 71 males and 41 females, with 75 from the suburban area and 26 from the city. Racial composition was 107 Caucasian, 3 Black, 3 Hispanic, and 1 Indian student. One hundred five students had average or above intelligence. Discriminant analysis showed several significant …

Peer Ratings Of First-Grade Thumbsuckers, Keith Martin Mcpherson

Student Work

The purpose of this study was to investigate the social attitudes of school-aged children toward thumbsucking. Behavior during school-aged years contributes to the development of peer perceptions which may influence a child's self-concept and behavior for years to come. The hypothesis of the present experiment is that children who suck their thumbs are perceived less favorably by their peers. Thumb or finger sucking (hereafter referred to as thumbsucking) is a common and often enduring behavior that typically develops in infancy (Klackenberg, 1949). It is considered developmentally appropriate in infancy because sucking is an adaptive behavior infants use to nourish and …

A Power Greater Than Ourselves: The Commodification Of Alcoholism, John S. Rice

Student Work

Hospital-based treatment of alcoholism and other, so- called "chemical dependencies", has become common practice in the U.S. In 1983, 4,465 facilities, including hospitals, halfway houses, and outpatient treatment programs and agencies, provided chemical abuse treatment (Denzin 1987: 17). This increase in facilities is mirrored by the increase in people receiving treatment.

The Relation Of Compliance To Quality Of Life In Dialysis Patients., Linda S. Dietz

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The goal of the current study was to gain knowledge of the impact that dietary compliance has on quality of life for end-stage renal disease patients receiving chronic in-center hemodialysis. As a result of this type of research, health care professionals may better understand the individual and collective influence that various aspects of dietary compliance have on quality of life. This knowledge may be helpful in making future recommendations about the necessity of the dietary regimen. This study investigated the relation between three commonly employed physiological parameters of dietary compliance (blood urea nitrogen, potassium, and intersession weight gain) and four …

Effects Of Cocaine Use And Withdrawal On Clinical Memory And New Learning., Madeline Uddo-Crane

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This project was conceptualized as an exploratory examination of the neuropsychological sequelae of cocaine abuse, specifically the drug's effect on new learning and memory. The experimental groups were composed of 30 veterans enrolled in a drug treatment program for cocaine abuse. This group was divided equally by route of administration, i.e., group one included 15 individuals whose preferred route of administration was intravenous injection; group two included 15 individuals whose preferred route of administration was smoking. The comparison group consisted of 15 individuals enlisted in the National Guard. The groups were essentially homogeneous, with a mean age of 34.6 ($SD$ …

Adolescent Alcohol Expectancies And Alcohol Use As Functions Of Familial Factors., Andrew Ward Millar

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

In an extension of Brown, Creamer and Stetson (1987), this study investigated the relationships between components of family life, adolescent drinking and alcohol expectancies. Alcohol expectancies are defined as the learned associations between alcohol consumption and the results of drinking. Out of 73 adolescent (12- to 18-year old) subjects screened, 55 met criteria and participated in two comparisons with multiple dependent variables. In the first of these, 15 subjects who were exposed to alcoholics for at least 75% of their lives were found to have stronger expectations that alcohol would provide cognitive and motor enhancement than did 15 matched subjects …

Factors Affecting Supervisors' Use Of Corrective Actions Following Poor Performance., Wanda Ann Trahan

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The present study examined the relationships between supervisor, subordinate, and contextual variables and corrective action severity. Hypotheses were tested using questionnaire data from 103 nursing supervisors in 15 hospitals. Supervisors were asked to describe an incident of subordinate poor performance, indicate the corrective action used, then complete questions measuring incident severity, attributions, initiating structure and consideration leader styles, intent of the supervisor, effectiveness ratings of the corrective action, influence of contextual variables, and subordinate likableness. Analyses confirmed that severity of the incident of poor performance, supervisor attributions, and supervisor intent were related to corrective action severity. Also, corrective actions rated …

Ambiguity And Sexuality: The Effects Of Advance Organizers On Memory Of An Ambiguous Text., Cathy Orman Castille

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Thematically ambiguous written text was presented to 269 subjects in an examination of the role of cognition in sexuality. Information in the form of a title and a descriptive sentence (advance organizer information) was varied according to experimental condition, and this information reflected either a sexual or a non-sexual theme. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of 9 experimental groups, which varied in the amount and type of advance information given prior to the story. After reading the story and performing an intervening task, subjects completed two memory tasks. Both recall and recognition memory tasks were utilized to determine the …

Illness Behavior And The Preoperative Prediction Of Postoperative Pain In Cholecystectomy Patients., Lannis Lee Tynes Jr

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Eighty (80) elective cholecystectomy patients volunteered to participate in the present study which assessed the relation between past illness behavior and the report of pain following surgery. A review of the literature indicated that demographic variables (e.g., sex, age) and general psychological variables (e.g. state anxiety) have been the subject of many studies attempting to predict postoperative pain, yet learning and behavioral factors such as past illness behavior and familial modelling of illness behavior have not. Preoperative assessments included the Illness Behavior Inventory (IBI; Turkat, 1983), the Familial Illness Behavior Inventory (IBI-F; derived from the IBI), the State Trait Anxiety …

Physical Attractiveness: Effects On Trained And Untrained Observers' Ratings Of Heterosocial Skill And Anxiety In Female College Students., James Douglas Calvert

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Physical attractiveness has been shown to be an important interpersonal variable. Physically attractive persons are perceived by others as possessing high levels of positive characteristics such as intelligence, competence, and warmth. Although research from social psychology has suggested that physical attractiveness has a major impact on peoples' perceptions, research on the behavioral assessment of social skill and anxiety has given little attention to the effects of physical attractiveness on ratings of skill and anxiety. The present study was designed to assess the effects of physical attractiveness on ratings of heterosocial skill and anxiety. A 4(groups) $\times$ 2(Observers) factorial design that …

Persuasion Via Audiovisual Transmission: Is The Persuasiveness Of A Message Affected By Whether The Audience Believes The Message Presentation Is A Videotaped Recording Or Is An Unrehearsed Live Telecast?, Charles Laurier Dufour

Doctoral Dissertations

One hundred and fifty-nine university students participated in a study examining the effect on persuasion of believing that an audiovisual message presentation was a videotaped recording or was an unrehearsed live telecast from an adjacent room. Participants were also assigned to one of two other groups, one instructed to focus its attention on the information being presented (i.e., a centrally focused group), the other instructed to focus on the message source's physical appearance (i.e., a peripherally focused group).

A 2 (Believed Live vs. Believed Recorded) x 2 (Centrally Focused vs. Peripherally Focused) Analysis of Variance was performed on the data. …

Priming Access To Natural-Object And Trait Category Hierarchies On Pronunciation, Lexical Decision, And Category Verification Tasks, John F. Calabrese

Doctoral Dissertations

Lexical decision, pronunciation, and category verification response times (RTs) to natural object and trait hierarchies were measured. Prime and target words consisted of both superordinate and subordinate object and trait category members. Trait words were categorized as desirable and undesirable (Hampson, et al., 1986). Subjects' RTs to object and undesirable trait words displayed similar patterns. In all experiments, RTs to natural-object subordinate target words were significantly more rapid compared to superordinate words. This same pattern was also true for the undesirable traits, but reached significance in only the lexical decision task. The facilitation effect of the prime reached significance for …

Assertiveness, Family History Of Hypertension And Other Psychological And Biophysical Variables As Predictors Of Cardiovascular Reactivity To Social Stress, Kim Marie Mooney

Doctoral Dissertations

This study was conducted to assess whether certain personality characteristics and a positive family history of hypertension are associated with excessive cardiovascular reactivity. Subjects (M = 28, F = 37) engaged in a laboratory task designed to serve as a social stressor. Subjects were separated into three groups based on their self-reports of assertiveness in social situations. It was hypothesized that high and low assertiveness groups would exhibit greater heart rate and cardiovascular reactivity than subjects with average assertiveness tendencies. This relationship was not supported although significant correlations were found between low assertiveness scores and increased systolic and diastolic reactivity …

The Effect Of A Readiness Year On Children's School Achievement, Self-Concept, And Teacher Expectations, Maria White Mckenna

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of a readiness year on children's later school performance and self-concept. An examination of teachers' attitudes towards readiness and expectations for students' performance was also included.

School records of fourth graders in two New Hampshire school districts were examined. Classroom grades, standardized test scores, Gesell School Readiness Test results, age, and sex were recorded for each participating student. A self-perception scale was administered to the students near the end of the third grade.

Teachers in the two districts completed a questionnaire composed of a series of vignettes. Five variables …

The Concept Of Conscious Pleasure In The History Of Modern American Psychology, David C. Devonis

Doctoral Dissertations

The concept of pleasure is acknowledged by historians of psychology as one of psychology's principles. Because the details of the concept's development are not well known, however, diverse views of pleasure's place in the history of psychology arise. Some historians see pleasure or hedonism as issues which were important only in psychology's distant past. Others believe that pleasure, understood as a conscious and valuable personal experience, vanished from psychology's conceptual vocabulary during the behaviorist period. Some have equated pleasure only with behavioristic theories and with psychoanalysis, two systems which have characterized pleasure as unconscious. These views, along with tendencies within …

Task Characteristics And Individual Differences In Task Design For Computer-Based Clerical Work., Christian Andrew. De Keresztes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It was proposed that the principal effects of computerization on job content in clerical work can be described in terms of increasing or decreasing task complexity and job decision latitude. The purpose of the study was as follows: (a) to investigate, in computer-based clerical tasks, the effects of variations in task complexity and job decision latitude on performance, subjective workload, and perceptual and affective responses to the work; and (b) to assess the effects of individual differences in abilities, personal control beliefs, and work preferences on reactions to task characteristics. One hundred and thirty-four female undergraduate students performed proofreading, text …

Type And Level Of Psychopathology And Object Relations In Eating-Disordered Females., Sally George. Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract Not Available.Dept. of Psychology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1990 .W775. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-11, Section: B, page: 6103. Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1989.

The Effect Of Characteristics Of The Data Distribution On Subjective Probability Judgments., Stephen H. Kleiman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Accuracy in making probability judgments about the characteristics of data distributions was examined in this study. In particular, the effects of four characteristics on probability estimation: problem type, variability of the data distribution, amount of information, and anchor point were investigated. Previous research has examined the impact of single factors on single measures of subjective probability (usually the mean), but has not studied the interaction of factors or used more than one dependent measure. A questionnaire containing two problem scenarios was given to 747 introductory psychology students. One scenario dealt with the amount of rainfall in cm. per year in …

An Evaluation Of Multiple Aspects Of Asthmatic Functioning: Stress Responders Versus Stress Nonresponders., Anthony Joseph Goreczny

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to differentiate between asthmatics whose daily symptoms are related to daily stress level (stress responders) and those whose symptoms have no apparent relation to stress (stress nonresponders) and to indentify differences between the two groups. Using correlational procedures, 15 stress responders and 19 stress nonresponders were identified and compared along various dimensions. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and covariance (MANCOVA) procedures revealed no significant differences between the two groups with respect to affective/emotional responding, clinical symptomatology, or cognitions about illness and asthma. In addition, regression models using the Asthma Symptom Checklist Panic-Fear subscale, a …

The Relation Of Cognition, Emotion And Behavior To The Prediction Of Depressive Symptomatology In Referred And Nonreferred Adolescents., Tracy Lynn Cole

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Researchers have shown an increased interest in depression in children and adolescents in the last few years. As a result, a body of research exists which has focused on the cognitive and behavioral aspects of depression in children and adolescents. Few studies, however, have examined the relation of emotion to depression. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to examine the relation of cognition, emotion and behavior to depression. Eighty adolescents (nonreferred) from public schools in a southern city and seventy-three adolescents (emotionally disturbed) from a psychiatric facility in the same area participated in the study. Each adolescent completed self-report …

The Affective Variant Hypothesis: How Is Bulimia Nervosa Related To Depression?, Rita C. Prather

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Bulimia nervosa patients frequently score from mild to severe on measures of depressive symptoms. This association between bulimia nervosa and depression led some researchers to hypothesize that bulimia nervosa is a variant of the affective disorder of depression. The main purpose of this study was to provide further evaluation of the affective variant hypothesis of bulimia nervosa. It was postulated that bulimia nervosa patients with and without depression would differ from each other and from depressives without eating disorders on specific measures of cognitive, behavioral, and somatic symptoms associated with depression. Secondly, it was hypothesized that the nondepressed and depressed …

Psychological Aspects Of Spontaneous Abortion., Sally Anne. Bloch-Rosen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Investigations of women's reactions following spontaneous abortion are sparse in the professional literature. The purposes of the present study were: (1) to examine differences in self-esteem, marital relations, and coping resources between women who experienced a miscarriage and those who had given birth to full-term infants; (2) to determine if the bereavement response is significantly different for women who miscarried and who have no children than those who miscarried after reproductive success; (3) to investigate differences between women who recently gave birth and who had never had a pregnancy loss or who had a history of prior loss; and (4) …

Social Drinking And Sober Cognitive Functioning., Keith Alan. Mcfarlane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study used a quasi-experimental design to test the hypothesis that social drinking at greater than usual levels of consumption produces decrements in sober abstract functioning. The Shipley Institute of Living Scale (SILS) Vocabulary and Abstraction subtests and the Employee Aptitude Survey (EAS) Symbolic Reasoning and Verbal Reasoning subtests were utilized to assess cognitive functioning. Thirty-six participants (19 male, 17 female) were assigned to either a non-drinking control group (n = 18) or an alcohol consumption group (n = 18). Alcohol group participants attended four Saturday evening parties on a bi-weekly basis. On two of these occasions they were allowed …

Adolescent Sexual Offenders: Social Isolation, Social Competency Skills And Identified Problem Behaviours., Catherine M. Rowe-Lonczynski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine social isolation, social competency skills and areas of problem behaviours in non-incarcerated adolescent males who have committed sexual offenses against children and compare them to two groups of non-offending adolescent males. The comparison groups were made up of: (1) Boys in outpatient treatment for a variety of emotional and behavioural difficulties and (2) Boys from two large community churches with no history of outpatient psychological treatment. Adolescent sexual offenders and clinic treatment participants reported a higher incidence of emotional and behavioural difficulties than the community control group. Included in this were reports …

Evaluation And Validation Of A Self-Report Scale Of Irrational Beliefs., Jonathan. Douglas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The growth of cognitive behavioural techniques in therapy seems to have outstripped the development of suitable assessment techniques to aid in the practice of that therapy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and validate the YIPTIS (Your Irrational Personality Trait Inventory Score) test, developed by Maultsby (1980) for use in his self-help therapy. A more general goal was to develop a scale suitable for three important applications: the assessment of irrational thinking, the facilitation of therapy aimed at cognitive restructuring, and research into methods of cognitive change. Reliability of the YIPTIS and its subscales proved to be quite …

The Role Of Conflict And Inconsistency In Schizophrenic Thought Disorder., Richard J. Galgan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study tests (1) Katan's (1960) theory that psychic conflict is critical in the development and manifestation of thought disorder and (2) Bannister's (1962) and Shakow's (1962) common tenet that inconsistency is a general characteristic of schizophrenics. The author used the Picture-Preference Test (PPT) to address these issues. To assess Katan's theory, the author created two picture-preference scales: (1) a Conflict Scale, containing pictures that were highly provocative of conflict and (2) a Non-Conflict Scale, containing pictures low in provocation to conflict. The author also used the original Thought Disorder Scale that had been developed by Rudzinski (1979). In …

Jung And Whitehead: The Living Symbol., Steven Robert Hanson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The living symbol, as the generative order of personality, can be understood as a process of recursive imaginative reversion. This thesis is derived from a comparative study of works by Alfred North Whitehead and Carl Jung. The kind of symbolic reference that I refer to as a process of recursive imaginative reversion is, I maintain, the vital pattern of symbolization that allows for the extension of any meaningful human order, and more particularly, for the development of personality. My approach, though indirectly based upon the phenomenological observations of psychic imagery as accounted for in Carl Jung's works, is an analytical …

Intergenerational Transmission Of Violent Behavior In Adolescent Males., Derek. Truscott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether violent behavior in adolescence is transmitted intergenerationally and, if so, what the mechanisms of that transmission are. From a review of published empirical research potential mechanisms were identified as parental identification, role-modelling, low self-esteem, psychotic personality traits, externalising defenses, and social difficulties. Also examined was the role of emotional overcontrol. From the review a need was identified for a research design whereby a model of the intergenerational transmission of violence can be tested. Seventy-five consecutive male admissions to a Young Offenders Unit and twenty-five male high school students were administered an …