Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Quebec-Us Relations Under The Parti Quebecois, D. Keith Heintzman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Quebec-U.S. interactions frm 1976 to 1980 are analysed in relation to American apprehension over the election of the Parti Quebecois and the P.Q. government’s ability to accommodate the American economic community.Analysis of this interaction is conducted in terms of the risks to corporate operations posed by P.Q. policies and the effect of P.Q. communications on corporate perceptions of this risk. A formal bargaining model—developed using the concept from game theory of “critical risk”—forms the theoretical basis for explaining changes in the American response. Each province’s economic transactions with the U.S. are described along with provincial influences on Canadian foreign policy. …

An Assessment Of Hybrid Poplar Biomass Plantations For Ontario, Peter Caleb Sturrup

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The search for an alternative to oil dominated political and economic thinking during the 1970’s and continues in this decade. In Ontario, one such alternative is methanol, which could possibly be supplied in large quantities from hybrid poplar biomass plantations. While the nature of these plantations has been debated at greath length, the exact quantity and location of land that could be available for plantations in Ontario has not been identified.

Using the Land Evaluation Model (LEM 2) developed at the University of Guelph an inventory of the land resources and the resulting land use patterns is determined. Throughout the …

The Changing Residential Structure Of Toronto’S Core, Ann C. Weiss

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Traditionally, the residential areas of Toronto’s core have housed low-income, working class families and represented a reception area for immigrant groups. Much of this attraction centered around manufacturing and the associated availability of unskilled jobs. The economic base of the city has undergone extensive change in the past two decades. Growth has occurred in the service/commercial sector. In addition, a number of demographic trends have affected housing. Land use activities within Toronto’s core, including residential, have experienced a tremendous amount of change. Due to the city’s prominence, it is important to analyze: 1) changes in the demand for housing; 2) …

An Evaluation Of A Program To Aid Generalization Of Social Skills Training With Grade 3 And 4 Children, Patricia M. Caron

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research evaluated two interventions for aiding children in the generalization of social problem-solving skills training: (1) social problem-solving training with teacher-student “dialoguing”, peer pairing, and self-monitoring, and (2) social problem-solving training with teacher-student “dialoguing” only. These two experimental interventions were compared with a non-equivalent control group. It was found that both experimental and control groups improved in the performance of social skills. However, there were no significant differences between the two experimental groups and the control groups on measures of social skills performance, behavioral adjustment, self-efficacy and peer acceptance. These results were consistent with previous research in the area …

The Relationship Between Long-Term Psychiatric Clients’ Psychological Well-Being And Their Perceptions Of Housing And Social Support, Mary E. Earls

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The present research examined whether quality of housing and quality/quantity of social support were related to long-term psychiatric clients’ perceptions of psychological well-being. The participants were 89 persons between the ages of 18 to 65, who had been hospitalized for psychiatric problems at least twice and who had been diagnosed as schizophrenic, chronic depressive, or manic-depressive. A structured interview schedule was used which incorporated measures of each of the variables. Results indicated that quality of housing was inversely correlated with Negative Affect, but unrelated to Positive Affect. Support satisfaction was negatively correlated with Negative Affect, and frequency of support was …

The Effects Of Expectancy, Task Importance And Self-Attention On Task Persistence, Jim Jewett

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study was designed to examine the relative power of control theory (Carver, 1979) and self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977) in predicting behavioral persistence. This study employed a 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 factorial design. One hundred and twelve undergraduate females were exposed to high and low levels of self-attention and task importance as well as positive and negative self-efficacy and outcome expectancies. Following failure on an anagram task subjects’ persistence in solving in insoluble design puzzle was assessed. Contrary to the hypotheses, the results suggested that self-efficacy expectancies, outcome expectancies, task importance and self-attention do not influence persistence …

Process Evaluation As A Research Model In A School Attendance Program, Charlotte A. Gibson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A preventative one-on-one support program for students identified as “at risk” for school attendance problems utilized university volunteers as support persons, and existing attendance counsellors as supervisors of the program. A process evluation of the program yielded descriptive information on the numerous methods of dealing with attendance in the various Waterloo County Board of Education Schools (e.g. Safe Arrival Program). Results indicated a controversial perception of the Attendance Department and a positive response to the university volunteer program. An unexpected result was that participating area children chose non-school personnel for assistance with problem-solving. There was a positive response to the …

An Analysis Of The Spatial And Economic Variations Of Ethnic Groups, Ontario, Jayati Ghosh

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study is concerned with six ethnic groups in the province of Ontario: the British, considered the “core group”, and the French, Italian, Indo-Chinese, Indo-Pakistani and Caribbean, the “peripheral groups.”

The principal interest of the research has been to study the ethnic mosaic in two ways, both in a core-periphery context. It was hypothesised that there has been persistence of socio-economic stratification between the British core and the peripheral groups. This thesis analyzes variation in the occupation-income between and within the ethnic immigrant groups.

The secondary objective is to examine these groups spatially, that is, in terms of a southern …

Need Fulfillment In A Christian Setting As A Function Of Life Change Events, Social Support, And Christian Beliefs And Activities, Kathleen Fogarty

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study was designed to examine the fulfillment of specific needs of the volunteers and clients of a particular Christian organization, Operation Blessing, as these needs related to Maslow’s (1954) hierarchical theory of motivation, Alderfer’s (1972) theory of existence, relatedness and growth, and Bradburn’s (1969) affect balance theory. Sixty-five participants, 44 volunteers and 21 clients, completed a questionnaire including the following scales: Life Change Events, Social Support, and Christian activities and beliefs, and Positive Affect, Negative Affect and Purpose in Life. As predicted, the experience of Life Change Events was directly related to Negative Affect and the receipt of Social …

An Attributional Perspective In The Study Of Crime Seriousness And Criminal Sentencing, Bikram Dasgupta

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

There is a need at present to understand the basis of seriousness judgments and the following sentence recommendation with respect to judicial decision-making. The defensive attribution model (cf. Jones & Davis, 1965) suggests that assessments of responsibility are strongly influenced by perceived intent freedom and duration factors, along with the material consequences of act. One’s attitude toward punishment has also been implicated as strongly related to the resulting sentencing decision imposed upon the offender. The role of these factors in seriousness and sentencing respectively was explored in the present research. The study also observed the role of three situational factors …

On The Nature Of Phonological Recoding In Early Readers, Thomas Yoannidis

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A major assumption in research on basic processes in word recognition has been that the phonological code which may be utilized to access meaning from printed text is unitary in nature and is always disrupted by articulatory suppression. Recent evidence however, suggests that at least two separate phonological codes are operative in adults. Besner, Davies and Daniels (1981), and Besner and Davelaar (1982) found that while the phonological code which supports the maintenance of information in short-term memory was affected by suppression, the code which supports lexical access was not. A developmental study by Barron and Baron (1977) relied heavily …

The Effects Of Training On The Quantification Of Uncertainty, Stephen P. Claxton-Oldfield

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The use of intuitive heuristics has been put forward as an explanation for people’s assessment of probabilities (Kahneman & Tversky, 1972, 1973; Tversky & Kahneman, 1971, 1974). This phenomenon is seen as robust since “experts” (professional psychologists) make use of the same heuristics as “novices” (laypeople), despite having “had extensive training in statistics” (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974, p. 1130). However, replacing probability calculus with heuristics can lead to systematic errors and biases in probabilistic judgments. This study was designed to investigate the effects of statistical training on how people think about probabilistic judgments. Subjects’ knowledge base of probabilistic concepts, as …