Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Cognitive Learning Styles Of International Students, Shelley L. Smith

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this research was to examine the usefulness of David A. Kolb's Learning Styles Inventory (LSI) as a tool for categorization and analysis of systematic differences between American and International students. The research addressed five primary questions:

1. Are the learning styles of the International students tested different from those established by Kolb in previous studies of American students?

2. Do the learning styles of the International students tested differ among the various groups?

3. Are there differences among the groups of International students tested that can be related to gender?

4. Do the learning styles of the …

The Effect Of Feedback On Low-Goal Task Performance, Jeffrey David Klawsky

Student Work

This experiment was conducted to study the effect of feedback on task performance under a low performance standard (goal). Fifty-two undergraduate students were presented with the task of mentally summing seven single-digit numbers to solve a problem. Subjects either received a high or low goal for the number of problems to solve in 15 minutes, and continuous feedback or no feedback about how many problems they had solved. It was predicted that feedback would result in higher performance for high goal subjects and lower performance for low goal subjects. A marginal main effect of goal difficulty (p<.067) in the predicted direction was obtained, but no goal difficulty-feedback interaction. Possible explanations for the observed results are discussed along with implications for future research.

Roberts' Apperception Test For Children: Referred And Nonreferred Student Profiles, Evelyn Harm Headen

Student Work

The present study examined a recently published projective test, the Roberts Apperception Test for Children (RATC; McArthur & Roberts, 1982). The subjects were 58 students, grades 1-8, from a midwestern suburban school district. One-half of the students had been referred to the school psychologist for an evaluation, either because of behavioral problems or a suspected learning disability, or for routine three-year reevaluations (as required by law). The second group of students were randomly drawn except for the stipulation that they not have been previously referred for a psychological evaluation. All subjects were given the RATC; in addition, the majority of …

The Effects Of Acculturation And Age On Spiritual Well-Being Among Ethnic Chinese Church-Goers, Stephen T.C. Jang

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

This research investigated the effects of acculturation and age on Spiritual Well-Being among ethnic Chinese church-goers. Subjects consisted of 169 ethnic Chinese church-goers and English readers ages 18 - 55 from four Chinese churches in the Northwest United States. The response rate was 93.9% of the 180 initially selected subjects.

The subjects completed a survey questionnaire that included demographic information, background information, and the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWB). The SWB consisted of two subscales: the Religious Well-Being (RWB) Scale and the Existential Well-Being (EWB) Scale.

born had significantly greater (_E.<.05) EWB than subjects who had lived in the U.S. 5 years or less. Age was significantly related to SWB and EWB; and subjects 26 years old or above had significantly higher SWB and EWB scores than subjects 18 - 25 years old.

Religious commitment, and importance of religion were related to greater …

Making The Most Of Volunteer Help: A Handbook For Parents And Teachers, Janet Lynn Bond

Student Dissertations & Theses

This project is concerned with the importance of parental involvement in children learning to read. Research shows children who view reading as an important and valuable process develop a more positive attitude toward learning to read. Children involved in reading activities at home learn to read earlier and have improved comprehension over children who have no experiences reading in the home. Parent involvement can take place in the home or at school as classroom volunteers. This project contains a volunteer handbook for parents and teachers. Included are characteristics of a volunteer, tips for teachers, suggested activities for the classroom and …

A Time-Management Procedure For Helping Graduate Students Accomplish Academic Tasks, Yousef Abdulwahab Abuhmaidan

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of time-management and a task checklist on task completion, the amount of study time and students' grade point average (GPA). A package consisting of a time-management calendar and a task checklist was provided to five Jordanian students. A multiple-baseline across subjects design was used. Individual weekly meetings were conducted to assess the progress of the students on the use of the time-management calendar and task checklist. Students were asked to bring proof of accomplishments for the completed tasks. During the study the completion of tasks went from 64.6% to 92.2% …

The Deaccelerator: A Behavioral Application Of A Differentially Imposed Force Schedule To The Accelerator Pedal Of A Motor Vehicle To Control Unlawful Highway Vehicle Speed, Richard Schulman

Dissertations

The Deaccelerator is a behaviorally designed speed control device that utilizes punishment and reinforcement by way of a differentially imposed force schedule to the accelerator pedal of a motor vehicle when vehicle speed exceeds the preset speed. Specifically, increasing and decreasing accelerator pedal resistance is a negatively accelerated function of respective increases and decreases in vehicle speed as speed moves in excess of 1 mph beyond the preset speed. A lesser force schedule generates linear increases and decreases in accelerator pedal resistance as a function of respective increases and decreases in accelerator pedal depression once vehicle speed moves in excess …

Loneliness And Graduate Students: A Descriptive Study, Mary Zirpoli

Dissertations

The major purposes of this study were to identify the lonely among graduate students, the types and degree of loneliness they experience, and the possible variables associated with graduate student loneliness. The Belcher Extended Loneliness Scale (BELS), and a second questionnaire about the causes of loneliness, were administered to 337 graduate students in 23 classes at Western Michigan University (WMU).

The BELS identified two types of loneliness that some graduate students experience as well as 104 significant differences which were found to relate mostly to an unspecified type of loneliness. The following variables were found to be very important in …

Curbing Noncontractual Absences In A Mental Health Setting Through The Application Of Contingent Rewards, Craig A. Crawford

Masters Theses

In this study, the effects of contingent rewards on attendance behavior of direct care staff in a psychiatric institution were investigated. The intervention consisted of a letter of commendation and an opportunity to win a lottery for the staff exhibiting perfect attendance for a two week pay period. A multiple baseline analysis of three units failed to show significant declines in absenteeism although there were areas of significant improvement.

An Ethnographic Study Of Punk Rock In Western Michigan: Identity In A Youth Subculture, Robert P. Pomeroy

Masters Theses

This thesis presents an ethnosemantic analysis of the punk rock subculture of western Michigan. Assertion of personal identity is demonstrated to be the underlying principle which organizes punk terminology for their music, cultural environment, and members of the subcultures. An analysis of punk song lyrics, visual style, and verbal style demonstrates that this assertion of identity is accomplished through opposition to the dominant American culture. Punk rock can then be understood as a subculture of cultural rebellion which allows its members to assert their individuality through violation of culturally accepted aesthetic values.

Analysis Of The Effects Of Goal And Feedback Specificity On Subsequent Task Performance, Gregory Mark Van Dahm

Masters Theses

The effects of goal and feedback specifically on subsequent task performance were examined to text the hypothesis that specific goals and feedback facilitate performance to a greater degree than general goals and feedback (Ilgen, Fisher, & Taylor, 1979). Ten subjects, in each of the four conditions, were assigned one of two levels of goal specificity and feedback specificity and were then required to perform a simple assembly and sorting task utilizing multiple size and color fasteners. No significance was discovered between correctly assembled and sorted products of the four groups although there was a general trend in the hypothesized direction. …

Use Of A Changeover Key To Train Serial Learning In The Pigeon, Rhoda Kay Yutzy-Ryan

Masters Theses

Three pigeons were presented with a serial learning task involving a sequence of three colors: yellow, green and red. The colors appeared on a lit key one at a time in random order. The pigeons were required to peck the colors in the correct order and to use a second lit key (the changeover key) to change the color when it was incorrect. The data show that the pigeons were able to learn the task and generalize to novel arrays at a high level of accuracy. This extends the findings on serial learning with pigeons to a type of sequence …

Faunal Resources, Butchering Patterns, And Seasonality At The Eastman Rockshelter (40sl34): An Interpretation Of Function, Bruce Louis Manzano

Masters Theses

This study presents a model on the role the Eastman Rockshelter (40SL34) played in settlement-subsistence systems of prehistoric human groups who once occupied northeastern Tennessee. Expectations generated from the model are tested through the analysis of a faunal sample recovered from the shelter. These remains date from the Late Archaic to Mississippian time periods. The fauna is well preserved and represents a variety of species including the first archaeological occurrence of an extinct fish, the harelip sucker.

The model assumes a shift in shelter use from earlier residentially mobile hunter/gatherer groups to its later use by task force hunting groups. …

Increasing The Participation Rate For International Behaviorists At The Convention Of The Association For Behavior Analysis, Marsha Lee Benz

Masters Theses

This is a descriptive study that reviewed past participation of International behaviorists at the Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA) convention, to provide sore help to these presenters to improve the experience, and to disseminate behavioral information outside of the United States by trying to Increase International participation at the ABA convention.

These methods were used to Invite the behavioristsi (a) call for papers, (b) personalized invitations, and (c) poster invitations. Procedures used to improve the convention experience weret (a) an interest questionnaire, and (b) pre- and post-convention surveys.

Comparisons were made between the number of International presenters from years 1981 …

The Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home's Foster Shelter Care Unit: Toward An Evaluation, Michael John Underwood

Masters Theses

A formative evaluation of the Foster Shelter Care Unit was conducted in order to analyze the success/failure of the program during its firs t year of operation. Data on 77 cases were analyzed, and nine Independent variables and one dependent variable were bivariately tested 1n order to provide a theoretical explanation of the success/failure rate.

The evaluation was conducted 1n order to supply the Foster Shelter Care Unit with recommendations to enhance its success/ failure rate and to modify its existing policies.

The success rate for the unit was 48.1%, and it was found that the only significant association with …

An Investigation Of The Effects Of An Applied Behavior Management Program On Selected Measures Of Worker Performance In A Financial Institution, Daniel A. Schroeder

Masters Theses

Twenty CRT operators from an operations department at a financial institution were used to evaluate whether a behavior management program utilizing feedback and incentives would improve their work performance on real job tasks. In accordance with predictions, results revealed that the group performed significantly better (p<.05) under the behavior management program than they did during a baseline period. Behavior management was significantly effective for most, but not all, work areas. The program also produced some unexpected, but positive, side-effects.

Performance Contracting As A Support System For Minority Graduate Students: A Feasibility Study, Monica Porter

Masters Theses

This study analyzed the feasibility of implementing a performance- contracting program for black graduate students so they could achieve or maintain a grade-point average of a 3.0 or above. Students attended weekly contracting meetings where academic tasks and deadlines were identified and task completion was monitored. The total number of tasks assigned per student for the entire study ranged from 12 to 44, with a mean of 32.6. Task completion ranged from 42% to 100%, with a mean of 68.4%. Nine of the ten students achieved a semester grade point average of 3.0 or above, although the present study did …

Detection Of Deception In The Laboratory As A Function Of Motivation And Set Size, Daniel Mark Tuckett

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of the polygraph in a controlled laboratory setting. The Guilty Knowledge Test (GKT) was the procedure employed in conjunction with the galvanic skin subjects over the two trial each. Overall the polygrapher was correct 44 times, out of 80 trials. This number of detections exceeded chance (p<.001) levels. The manipulation of subject motivation with a monetary reward increased detection rates significantly (p<.05) in comparison to those offered money. With each subject being tested over two trials, there appears to be a habituation effect as indicated by a decrease in detection from trial one to trial two. The relationship fell slightly short of significance at the (p< .05) level. In general the level of the subject motivation may play a major role in the detection of subjects who attempt deceit.

The Incidence And Nature Of Dating Violence Among Never-Married Students At One Junior College, Nancy Cole Masterson

Dissertations

The subjects were a convenience sample of 151 never-married junior college students who completed the Violence Index Schedule (VIS).

Analysis of the VIS indicated that 30.5% of the subjects had been the victim of at least one incident of dating violence, and that the majority of those victims, 67%, reported receiving no injuries. Of those who were injured, bruises and welts were the most common form of injury. Significant differences were found in nonassaultive partner behaviors present in the relationships of the victims and nonvictims of dating violence, t = -10.55 (149), p < .001. Chi-square analyses of the Nonassaultive Index items revealed significant differences for 24 of the 25 nonassaultive characteristics. Partners of the victims displayed significantly more jealously, coercive anger, verbal abusiveness, and controlling behaviors than did the partners of nonvictims.

An analysis of the quantitative and qualitative …

A Comparison Of The Personal Values Of A Sample Of Unemployed American Males And A Normative Sample Of American Males As Measured By The Rokeach Value Survey, Timothy J. Howard

Dissertations

Problems of the unemployed and unemployment are evidenced in personal, social, and economic areas. The measurement of the personal values of unemployed American males may yield information that could be useful to individuals in the helping professions.

Seventy-seven unemployed Job Training Partnership Act male participants were administered the Rokeach Value Survey in their employability skills sessions. The Median Test was applied to compare the unemployed sample of American males and the Rokeach Value Survey normative sample of American males. The Kruskal-Wallis One-Way Analysis of Variance was calculated with several demographic characteristics of the unemployed American male sample (age, education, ethnicity, …

Effects Of Cued Intertrial Intervals On Response Latency In Pigeons, Franklin Paul Whitley

Masters Theses

Six White Carneaux pigeons were exposed to fixed-ratio schedule components in a systematic replication of a study by Michael et al. (1981). Separation between median latencies for the two schedule components was demonstrated consistently, reproducing the general features of that research. In a subsequent manipulation, differential stimulus conditions were introduced into the intertrial intervals preceding onset of schedule components in an effort to enhance the likelihood that differential "waiting behaviors" would develop. Two subjects demonstrated a clear decrease in the magnitude of the latency splits following introduction of the cued ITI condition, while other subjects evidenced a similar but less …

Peyote And Peyotism, Brian P. Akers

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study is to provide a general comparative discussion of the native use of peyote, past and present.

Historic sources and ethnographic accounts are reviewed in light of relevant botanical, pharmacological, and ethnological considerations.

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Self-Esteem And The Ability Of The Family Of Origin To Promote Autonomy, Expression Of Feelings, And Trust Development In Adult Children Of Alcoholics, Paula Andrasi

Dissertations

Several theories have been proposed in the last 5 years suggesting that adult children of alcoholics (ACAs) comprise a unique population in need of specialized treatment services. The purpose of this study was to test two of the basic assumptions underlying the various theories. The first assumption considered was that ACAs have poorer self-esteem than adults who are not children of alcoholics (non-ACAs). The second assumption was that an alcoholic home is less facilitative in the promotion of trust development, autonomy, and expression of feeling than the nonalcoholic home. The researcher proposed that poor self-esteem in ACAs would be positively …

The Value Of A Videotaped Storyboard In A Non-Broadcast, Client Oriented Video Production: A Case Study, Clifton Duane Willard Ii

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the value of using the videotaped storyboard in the pre-planning and pre-production approval of a client oriented, corporate videotaped training program.

The methodology in this study is as follows: (1) to undertake the production of a corporate videotape training program; (2) to gather the necessary pre-production information about the topic, the audience, the manner in which the videotape program will be used; (3) to develop a storyboard based on the information obtained; (4) to present this storyboard for production approval; (5) to videotape the storyboard; (6) to present this videotaped version of …

A Comparison Of Interpersonal Behavior Traits And Spiritual Well-Being Among Eating-Disordered Patients And Medical Outpatients, Deborah B. Sherman

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

A diagnosed eating disorder sample was compared with a sample of medical outpatients on interpersonal behavior traits and spiritual well-being. Instruments used included the Interpersonal Behavior Survey and the Spiritual Well-Being Scale. A demographic questionnaire was also administered to explore the relationship between demographic variables and the measures of interpersonal behavior traits and spiritual well-being. The sample included all Caucasian female subjects between ages 17-60, representing a range of financial conditions, educational levels, and marital status. Data analysis using an ANOVA with Scheffe post-hoc test demonstrated that the eating disorder inpatient group differed significantly from the medical outpatients in assertiveness, …

An Empirical Examination Of The Construct Validity Of The Spiritual Maturity Index, Rodney L. Cooper

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

In order to do empirical research on religious constructs, various testing instruments have been developed. Yet, many of the instruments developed have not been empirically tested for construct validity to see if they are actually fulfilling their stated purpose. One such instrument which has been developed is the Spiritual Maturity Index. It was the purpose of this study to do an empirical examination of the construct validity of this instrument. Pastors and seminary students from the Conservative Baptist denomination participated in a study to assess the capability of the Spiritual Maturity Index (SMI) in distinguishing levels of spiritual maturity. Also, …

A Correlation Study Of Self Concept And Spirituality In Seminarians, Judith C. Colwell

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

This study investigated the relationship between self concept and spirituality among 55 adult male Master of Divinity students, all of what attended Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland, Oregon. It is one part of a larger research project which addressed the issue of psychological adjustment in seminarians (1'tleller, 1986; Neder, 1985; Powers, 1985). The sample was given a demographic questionnaire, a self concept scale, and three operational measures of spirituality. These were the Tennessee Self Concept scale (TSCS), the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWB), the Spiritual Maturity Index (SMI), and the Religious Orientation scale (ROS) • The analysis of the data …

Decreasing Allied Support For Anti-Soviet Strategic Embargoes A Demonstration Of The Declining Hegemony Of The United States, Tracey A. Johnstone

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This thesis evaluates the declining hegemony of the United States over its allies since the end of World War II. Robert Gilpin and Robert Keohane's theories about the decline in U.S. hegemony are discussed as are the hegemonic theories of Gramsci as interpreted by Robert Cox. The three progressively hostile reactions of U.S. allies to U.S.-initiated embargoes against the Eastern Bloc are used to illustrate the decreasing control of the United States over the economic and strategic policies of its allies. The conclusion states' that Ronald Reagan ignored historical trends and contemporary international politics when he decided to force U.S. …

The Mascot Model Of Human/Companion Animal Interaction: Its Effects On Levels Of Loneliness And Depression Among Residents Of A Nursing Home, Mark E. Reed

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Pet-facilitated therapy has been hailed in recent years as an effective means of bringing about psychosocial benefits for elderly people in institutions. However, empirical investigations are relatively recent and more are needed.

The primary objectives of this dissertation were: 1) to conduct an empirically sound study of the mascot model of pet therapy, focusing specifically on its impact on levels of loneliness and depression among nursing home residents, 2) to identify the relationship between existential well-being and loneliness and depression, and 3) to address the use of pets to meet the social/emotional needs of humans from a framework of biblical …

The Mascot Model Of Human/Companion Animal Interaction: Its Effects On Levels Of Loneliness And Depression Among Residents Of A Nursing Home, Mark E. Reed

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Pet-facilitated therapy has been hailed in recent years as an effective means of bringing about psychosocial benefits for elderly people in institutions. However, empirical investigations are relatively recent and more are needed. The primary objectives of this dissertation were: .1) to conduct an empirically sound study of the mascot model of pet therapy, focusing specifically on its impact on levels of loneliness and depression among nursing home residents, 2) to identify the relationship between existential well-being and loneliness and depression, and 3) to address the use of pets to meet the social/emotional needs of humans from a framework of biblical …