Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Effect Of Dominance Level When Using Mediated Generalization To Facilitate Concept Formation, Delbert Smith Mchenry

All Master's Theses

This investigation was concerned with demonstrating differences in order of concept attainment as a function of the degree of association between a concept instance and concept response, using mediated generalization.

An Experimental Analysis Of Superstitious Behavior In College Males, Nancy Alice Metzler

All Master's Theses

The possibility that superstitious responses would occur when aversive stimulation was randomly presented was investigated. There were three groups of 20 male introductory psychology students each. The Shock Group (SG) was given 45 unavoidable shocks. The Reinforcement Shock Group {RSG) was given 100 positive reinforcements and then 45 unavoidable shocks. The Reinforcement Punishment Group received 100 positive reinforcements and then 45 response contingent shocks and served to test the effectiveness of the shock as a punishing stimulus. Superstitious responses seemed to occur, but Ss of SG showed response patterns typical of punishment, while Ss of RSG showed increases in rates …

The Effects Of Positive And Negative Reinforcement On A Learning Task In Hospitalized Patients, Gary Robert Lancaster

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

A number of writers have suggested that in comparison to normals, schizophrenics are less responsive to positive records or reinforcers (e.g., Hunt & Cofor, 1944) and overly sensitive to punishment or social censure as compared to normals (Fromm-Reichman 1954). Garmezy & Rodnick (1957) have proposed that schizophrenics are highly sensitive to any censure or disapproval, arising from their interpersonal contacts. They further say that such intolerable levels of anxiety are aroused that schizophrenics are held to be much more strongly motivated than normals to reduce the anxiety by acting to avoid or escape the censorious aspects of the situation.

Operantly Conditioning A Boy’S Classroom Behavior, Daniel Lee Mcivor

All Master's Theses

It was hypothesized that (a) if attending and correct responses were followed by approving attention from the staff, then the rates of attending and giving correct responses would significantly increase; (b) if yelling, rocking, and hitting were immediately followed by a command to stop, or by placement in a time-out room, then the rates of those behaviors would significantly decrease; and (c) if the above conditioning procedures were dropped, then the rates of all behaviors under study would return toward their operant levels.

Suggestibility And Its Relationship To Instructional Set In Serial Learning, Richard Walter Giroux

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to attempt to determine the influence of two variables, suggestibility and instructional set, upon the individual's performance in a serial learning task. The attempt was made to find whether it is the instructional set that affects the outcome of a serial learning task or whether it is suggestibility that is the primary variable. The approach to this problem was based upon past studies in three different areas of psychological research. These were the areas of set, serial learning, and suggestibility.

The Effect Of Electroconvulsive Shock Following One-Trial Avoidance Learning In The Rat, Richard H. Lovely

All Master's Theses

It is hypothesized that (1) If rats are given electroconvulsive shock, following a footshock to condition an avoidance response, they will display initial retrograde amnesia and that this amnesia will diminish over time as manifested by recovery of the avoidance response; (2) This recovery is not a pure function of time but involves re-exposure to the original learning situation.

Conservatism In A Bayesian Probability Situation As A Function Of The Sex Of The Subject, Paul Frederick Miller

All Master's Theses

The present study was designed to examine whether the conservatism present in a Bayesian probability situation could be partially attributable to the sex of the subjects performing the task. The experimental design required that the subjects estimate the probabilities of occurrence of two independent events. They were then given an opportunity to revise their estimates as additional information was experimentally introduced into the situation. These estimates were compared to estimates calculated from Bayes’ theorem.

The Effect Of Overlearning And The Associative Value Of The Stimuli Upon Reversal Learning, Ralph Daniel Marken

All Master's Theses

In this experiment the relevance of the associative value of the stimuli in an overlearning reversal task will be examined as well as the persistence to respond to the former positive stimulus after reversal. That is, (1) Does the associative value of the stimuli have an effect upon the occurrence of the ORE, and (2) Do human Ss who have received overlearning tend to respond to the former positive stimulus upon reversal for more trials than do subjects receiving no overlearning as has been found for animals?

The Relative Efficiency Of Auditory (Social) Reinforcement Vs. Food Reinforcement With The Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri Sciureus) In An Operant Situation, David R. Mcmurray

All Master's Theses

Research using non-deprivation and sensory or food reinforcement has received little attention to the present time. It is possible that, at least in the laboratory, sensory reinforcement under non- deprived conditions may be a much more economical and efficient reinforcer than food reinforcement under deprived conditions, which is traditionally used.

Effects Of Delay Of Reinforcement On Problem Solving Behavior, Verne R. Bacharach

All Master's Theses

This study was designed to investigate the effects of delay of feedback in a programmed instruction task, retention, and subsequent problem solving behavior. The instructional material in symbolic logic was specifically presented in such a way as to introduce certain basic logical concepts and mechanical procedures in a logically coherent body of knowledge.

Revision Of Subjective Probabilities Under A Bayesian Model, Gary A. Sterner

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which subjective probability judgments conform to the Bayesian model of mathematical probability theory; more specifically, the degree to which subjective probability estimates for intersections of events approximate the product of the subjective judgments for component events.

Personality Characteristics Related To Volunteering, Pseudovolunteering And Non-Volunteering For Different Kinds Of Psychological Experiments, Donald S. Sale

Master's Theses

Volunteer subjects are utilized in a large portion of experiments concerned with human behavior. Yet the use of volunteers is a form of systematic sampling bias which may well distort research findings. This study was undertaken to explore some of the factors related to volunteering for psychological experiments at Richmond College in the hope of providing future researchers with insight into reasons why the use of volunteer subjects may bias their research results and of stimulating them to use more representative, albeit less convenient sampling procedures.

Relationships Between Jungian Typology And Value-Orientation, Thomas Richard Funkhouser

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study hypothesizes that there exists between a person's value orientation as measured by the Study of Values and his function-types as described by Jung. It is the E's assumption that there is some kind of correspondence between the value processes and the function-types because of their similar approaches. For example, the sensing function is identical with perception of stimuli being received through the sense organs while the aesthetic value seeks form and harmony in an experience. Each is concerned with an impression as it is perceived. The thinking function and the theoretical value are concerned with cognition, logical analysis …

Authoritarianism And Proposition 14, Herbert Henry Foster

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In November of 1964, California voters approved by a very substantial margin the legislative measure known as Proposition 14, a hotly contested constitutional amendment which abolished all then-existing Fair Housing Legislation and prohibited local levels of government from acting in such matters in the future. This legislation was sponsored by the California Real Estate Association and essentially was a response to a recently passed Fair Housing Law known as the Rumford Act, which prohibited discrimination in the sale and rental of housing and assigned enforcement responsibilities to the State Fair Employment Practices Commission.

During the year preceding the election, the …

Motivation And Its Effects On Auditory Detection Thresholds, Gregory Peter Thomas

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine the relative influence of reward and punishment upon auditory detection threshold.

A Study Of The Occupational Pattern Of The Presbyterian Ministry Of The Synod Of North Carolina, James F. Hubbard

Master's Theses

The Synod of North Carolina of the Presbyterian Church in the United States operates a Guidance Center on the campus of st. Andrews Presbyterian College at Laurinburg, North Carolina. Similar centers are in operation in other states by the appropriate Synod of the church. It is the task or these centers to provide a program or testing and counseling for high school Juniors and Seniors from local churches throughout the state. Candidates for the ministry are also examined and reports made to the Presbytery in charge. The emphasis is upon vocational and educational guidance. The Guidance Center in North Carolina …

Presentation Factors As Critical Variables In Learning By Program, Guide, And Self Study, Charles Holman Jennings

Master's Theses

Visionary suggestions for improving formal education are now at last becoming realities. More and better equipped plants are rising. Teachers' salaries are on the increase. More updated text books are available. Ability grouping is Widely practiced. A wider range and greater depth or course offerings enhances the high school curricula. Increased alumni contributions and government grants are leading to expansion of staff and facilities at the college level. However, none of these consider how a student learns. Thus none copes directly with the most basic o! needs, that of making the teaching-learning process itself more effective and efficient. The approach …

Effect Of Successive Training Of Different N-Lengths Under Partial Reinforcement On Resistance To Extinction, Edward Dale Walters

Master's Theses

This experiment was designed to teat a theoretical interpretation based on Capaldi's modified aftereffects hypothesis. It held that the conditioning successively of different S^Ns to the lever-presaing response would lead to increased resistance to extinction.

A Comparison Of A Selected Group Of Lds Seminary Teachers In Relation To Nine Criteria For Measuring Religious Maturity, Gilbert W. Hull

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis was designed as a follow up of a study completed in 1959 which developed nine criteria for measuring religious maturity. The objective of this study was to develop a scale based on the nine criteria and administer it to seminary teachers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to explore the possibility of measuring differences in religious maturity. It was assumed that younger teachers who obtained a degree in a human behaviorally-oriented field of study would show the greatest level of religious maturity.

Anxiety And Fear In Personality Structure, Robert Robert Mickelson

Graduate Student Research Papers

The problem to be studied is the effect of anxiety and fear on the personality. Concern with this problem stems from the fact that on many occasions anxiety and fear blocks a person's free approach to experience and often anxiety and fear prevent one from building sound interpersonal and intergroup relations.

The Effects Of Signal Rate, Schedule Variability, And Observing Response In Visual Monitoring, David W. Bessemer

Psychology ETDs

The present experiment was designed to study the independent effects of signal rate and intersignal interval variability upon detection performance in a visual monitoring task.

The Cortical Destruction Necessary To Produce A Transfer Of A Forced Practice Function, Patricia E. Barnett

Psychology ETDs

The present study is aimed at mapping the cortical region which controls forced practice of the handedness function, in the hope that such delineation may provide a specific region for the study of the neural equivalent of practice.

A Comparative Study Of The Problem Of Abstraction Versus Experience Between East And West (As Exemplified In Selected Eastern And Western Sages), Leo Jacob Zeff

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a comparative study of the teachings of a number of Eastern sages and a representative of modern Western depth psychology in connection with the problem of abstraction versus experience (or, thinking about instead of experiencing}. This problem is considered by the writer as the central cause in the suffering of mankind everywhere.

The introductory chapter will present the problem being investigated, why and how it is considered significant, and how it will be dealt with in this study. The second chapter will contain a presentation of the various sages to be considered here, how and why they …

A Study Of Factors That Discriminate Between Different Degrees Of Religiousness In People, Stuart W. Omohundro

Master's Theses

The first question that will probably confront the reader of this paper will be, what is meant by religiousness, be measured or compared between personalities or groups? The same question has been asked of psychologists about other terms such as intelligence and emotion, either of which could be substituted in the title of this paper and still not make it any clearer. The answers to this question have varied except where operational definitions have been demanded, which, of course, boil down to emotional or intellectual behavior as measured by a given test in relationship to others taking the test. Religiousness …

An Investigation Of Certain Personality Factors Of Two Groups Seperated On The Basis Of A Color Association Test, Paul Raymond Binner

Psychology ETDs

It would be of interest to explore, in greater detail, further possible differences between these two groups, the "high orange" and "low orange." Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to seek possible differences between the two groups with respect to certain more specific personality variables. The importance of such a study, in addition to shedding light upon the characteristics of groups separated by means of the color association test, is also seen in the fact that it might provide information bearing upon the understanding, prediction and control of behavior-problem cases.

An Investigation Of Relationship Between Personality Adjustment And Disparity Of Verbal And Performance Intelligence, Herman Edward Frick

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The problem of the thesis was as follows: On a selected group of children, to what extent are differences between scores of verbal and performance intelligence tests useful as group and individual measures of adjustment? Adjustment was measured by A Test of Personality Adjustment by Carl Rogers. Verbal and performance intelligence were measured by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. Differences between scores of verbal and performance tests were measured by a specified criterion, disparity. The problem, findings, and interpretations were limited to these criteria.

Sound-Induced Seizures In Rats Reared On Diets With High Sugar Content, Lois L. Benedict

Psychology ETDs

The present study was not designed to investigate the controversy on carbohydrate metabolism. For experimental purposes, the second possibility mentioned above was assumed to be true, i.e., that, somehow, ingested galactose might possibly be transported through the circulatory system. As long as this theory remains tenable, experimentation based upon it is necessary.

Transfer In Handedness In The Rat Induced By Acetylcholine And Forced Practice, Charles A. Baker

Psychology ETDs

This study was designed to discover the effects of local applications of acetylcholine to the cerebral cortex of the rat in conjunction with forced reaching on handedness.

An Analysis Of Academic Achievement In Psychology, Charles Spital

Master's Theses

Some kinds of educational tests have been in use for centuries, dating back to oral tests of Socrates. It was not until 1845, however, that the brilliant Horace Mann first pointed to the advantage of written essay examinations over oral. And even then he could not precipitate any great rush toward the use of written tests.

Possible Factors Influencing Music Preference, Isabella M. Pinto

Psychology ETDs

The purpose of this study is to determine factors influencing musical preference. The most important factor related to preference for classical music is thought by some to be the cultural background of the listener. According to Lazersfeld, "there is probably no question so sensitive to socialize differences as listening to serious music." This is consistent with the opinion of musicians and music critics who state that discriminating musical taste is a result of frequent listening to good music.