Education Commons^™

Effects Of Instructor Attractiveness On Classroom Learning, Richard Shane Westfall

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Although there have been multiple studies examining the effects of physical attractiveness on a variety of human interactions, one domain has been largely overlooked. The current thesis examined the effect of teacher attractiveness on a learning task. Specifically participants were exposed to a photograph that they believed was their instructor while listening to an audio lecture. Upon completion of the lecture participants then completed a forced choice recognition task covering material from the lecture. I hypothesized that participants would perform significantly better on the learning task when they perceived their instructor to be high in physical attractiveness. Neither the gender …

Interactive Effects Of Working Memory Self-Regulatory Ability And Relevance Instructions On Text Processing, Nancy Jo Hamilton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Reading is a process that requires the enactment of many cognitive processes. Each of these processes uses a certain amount of working memory resources, which are severely constrained by biology. More efficiency in the function of working memory may mediate the biological limits of same. Reading relevancy instructions may be one such method to assist readers in utilizing working memory resources more efficiently.

This study examines the relationship between perspective relevance instructions and participants' ability to regulate their working memory resources. In a 3 x 2 x 2 design the study extended the literature by utilizing a measure of fluid …

The Effect Of Goal Orientation Of Attention, Learning, And Metacognitive Awareness, Ordene V. Edwards

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An experimental study was conducted to examine whether achievement goals affect attention, comprehension, and metacognition. One hundred and twenty undergraduate students enrolled in introductory educational psychology classes participated. Students were randomly assigned to one of four goal groups (mastery, performance approach, performance avoidance, or control group) and one of three question groups (emotions, brain, and no questions). The study was conducted in two sessions. First, students were given a reading test, and questionnaires to measure their prior knowledge and personal goals. Second, students read the text on a computer. Then they completed an interest questionnaire, a manipulation check, a post …