Psychology Commons^™

The Effect Of Aging On Ratings Of Self, Physical Self And Related Body Concepts As Measured By A Semantic Differential, Gary V. Whalen

Master's Theses

Present Study. Although there is considerable overlap between the body image and the self concept, it would be premature to draw any conclusions regarding one based upon the other until the nature and extent of correlation is obtained. This study is an attempt to determine the extent and direction that an individual's body image may fluctuate as a function of growing old. It is concerned with how the human organism may change over time with respect to a single aspect of the constellations of factors that go into making up a person's self concept. More specifically, do body part ratings …

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.

An Investigation Of The Novelty Effect In Programed Instruction, Frederick Sale Jr.

Master's Theses

The present study was designed to overcome, at least to some extent, the problems by using older, experimentally naive subjects am shorter programs. A comparison is made between successive performances by a group of college students on a series of three programs. The null hypothesis is that there will be no significant differences between performances on the three programs. On the other hand, significant decreases in effectiveness of performance by the subjects on the successive program could be taken as evidence that the expected novelty effect operating initially in the learning situation dissipates with increasing exposure of the subjects to …

Creativity And Deviant Set Responding In Third Grade Children, Elizabeth S. Waller

Master's Theses

This study will be an investigation of the relationship between test scores of creativity, according to the Minnesota Tests of Creative Thinking (Torrance, 1960), and teacher ratings of creativity for third grade children. The hypothesis that highly creative individuals tend to give deviant response patterns on the PRT will also be tested.

The Effects Of Age At The Beginning Of Reading Instruction On Reading Achievement, Phyllis G. Wacker

Master's Theses

Hunt (1961) found that in lower socio-economio groups training provided by the child' s natural environment was often too haphazard for the efficient development of ideas of which he is capable. Limited experiences, or few "learning sets" may be the cause of lack of achievement. These questions led the experimenter, a year later, to undertake a study of these children after each had had two years of formal, in school, reading instruct ion, and to test the following hypotheses:

1. Four groups of children who had entered school at the same time, but at four different ages, would differ significantly …

The Behavioral Effects Of Partial Reinforcement As A Function Of The Stimulus Similarity Of The Intertrial Interval, Dennis L. Mclaughlin

Master's Theses

Although Pavlov (1927) and Skinner (1938) had published articles dealing with the effects of less than 100% reinforcement upon acquisition and extinction, it was not until the Humphrey's investigation (1939) that partial reinforcement became an enigma for leaning theorists. Hull's theory came under the sharpest criticism because with a decrease in the number of reinforcement in acquisition there was not a corresponding decrease in habit strength as measured by resistance to extinction. Despite much criticism, Hull did not deet it necessary to consider the problem of partial reinforcement in his Principles of Behavior (1943). Humphreys, on the other hand, proposed …

Cognitive Dissonance In Task-Orientedgroups Under Intermittent And Continuous Success, Arthur Hiram Strock Ii

Master's Theses

In a recent study by Burke (1961), the psychological effects of participation in task-oriented groups were studied. This study incorporated selected communication networks, the wheel, circle, and the all-channel, from a number of experimental arrangements that were conceived and developed by Bavelas (1950). Burke’s eighteen five-man groups were seated at a partitioned table containing slots in a center post through which written messages could be sent. This apparatus was similar in design to the table first used and described by Leavitt (1951). The groups worked on a task that required the members to find one symbol among five that was …

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 …

A Comparison Of The Responses Of Achievers And Underachievers In A Junior High School On A Biographical Questionnaire, Claude Ashburn Sandy

Master's Theses

The purpose of the present study is to discover some of the biographical factors (personal, family, and environmental) which are characteristic of a majority of underachievers in junior high school. The discovery of these factors may lead to the development of an instrument which would assist in the detection, early in school, of an underachieving predisposition. This seems to be a logical possibility in view of a study by Shaw and Mccuen (1960). Their results indicated individual patterns of academic achievement for male and female underachievers beginning early in elementary school. Further, the classification of these factors by content may …

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.

Patterns Of Response As A Function Of Intelligence, Motivation, And Personality, David T. Hess

Master's Theses

The present study will attempt to investigate C and RSR differences, sampling from a broad range of functions, using measures which may be less subject to verbal sets than the more traditional methods used by Couch and Keniston. The differences will be assessed in terms of the subjects' intelligence, general personality function, and test taking motivation.

Emergent Leadership As A Function Of The Leaders Social Distance And The Task Situation, George Stephen Goldstein

Master's Theses

The present study attempts to investigate the phenomena of social distance of the leader as a function of group effectiveness on different tasks. A number of hypotheses will be studied.

An Analysis Of Extreme Response Set As Related To Personality, David L. Hamilton

Master's Theses

The phenomenon that certain individuals have unique and consistent patterns of responding to test items is called ''response set" or "response style". Such a set leads a person to respond to test items differently than he would if the same content were presented in a different manner or form. Thus, when response sets are present, the content of a statement become less important in determining the response. During the last decade, the study of various response styles has been one of the most active areas of research in psychology.

A Comparison Of The Responses Of Achievers And Underachievers In A Junior High School On A Biographical Questionnaire, Claude Ashburn Sandy

Honors Theses

The purpose of the present study is to discover some of the biographical factors (personal, family, and environmental) which are characteristic of a majority of underachievers in junior high school. The discovery of these factors may lead to the development of an instrument which would assist in the detection, early in school, of an underachieving predisposition. This seems to be a logical possibility in view of a study by Shaw and Mccuen (1960). Their results indicated individual patterns of academic achievement for male and female underachievers beginning early in elementary school. Further, the classification of these factors by content may …

The Effect Of Restricted Homogeneous Visual Input Upon Exploratory Behavior Of The Hooded Rat, William Parke Fitzhugh

Master's Theses

During the last decade increasing attention has been paid to the effects of the perceptual variables in the environment of an organism upon the behavior of that organism. The importance of deprivation of exteroceptive stimulation is shown by the study of Bexton, Heron, and Scott (1954). Human Ss were placed in an isolated cubicle and wore equipment restricting visual and tactual stimulation. The Ss reactions included hallucinations, deterioration of intellectual abilities, and inability to tolerate the treatment for extended periods.

Psychometric Correlates Of Deviant Responding: A Factor Analysis, Ernest L. Robinson

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Content Ambiguity On Response Sets In Two Populations, G. Eugene Brown

Master's Theses

The study of response sets in both interest and personality inventories has received a great deal of attention and has caused much controversy concerning some of the related variables. Although response sets have long been recognized, only the last few years or so have witnessed the increased interest they have received as a potentially powerful approach in the study or human behavior.

The present study is concerned with the problem of test item ambiguity in measures designed to reflect two response sets in both student and psychiatric groups. The major purpose is that of determining whether content has the same …

Creativity And The Lowenfeld Mosaic Test With First, Second And Third Grade Children, Shelby Hargrave Cooke

Master's Theses

Based on the findings of the Walker study of the Lowenfield Mosaic test (1957) and the [other] studies of creativity, the following hypotheses may be made. Creative children will make original or novel designs and show complex use of color and shape. Their designs will be more asymmetrical in shape and placement and contain a greater number of places than the designs of noncreative children. They will make representational rather than abstract designs, and their human and animal figures will show motion.

An Investigation Of Card Concepts Using The Holtzman Inkblot Technique Form A As Stimuli, Mildred A. Gilman

Master's Theses

Herman Rorschach's book, Psychodiagnostik published in 1921, introduced what is probably the best known of the projective techniques. Rorschach 's untimely death in 1922 left much of the development of the inkblot technique to others and during the decades that followed, the Rorschach blots "developed rapidly as the method par excellence for assessing the motivation, thought processes and basic personality structure of the individual. Beck, Klopfer and others, presented methods of scoring and interpretation. Both "attracted large followings of psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and others concerned mainly with the psychodiagnosis of the abnormal personality" while "the main stream or academic psychology …

The Effects Of Failure And Achievement Imagery On A Paired Associates Verbal Learning Task, Warren Daniels Bloodsworth

Master's Theses

Concern over the effects of failure on performance has led many researchers to experimental investigation of this problem. However, a review of the literature indicated that the exact effects of failure are still not known. The results of most studies have shown a decrement in performance or learning following failure hill others have found either no effect or an increment.

Food Intake As A Function Of Duration Of Food Deprivation In The Albino Rat, John H. Wright

Master's Theses

The present study is an attempt to investigate food intake as a function of hours of food deprivation for a wide range of deprivation values. On the basis of the existing evidence it is expected that intake will increase for the shorter deprivation values but subsequently decrease for the longer deprivation values. Additional interest lies in the secondary measures of weight loss during deprivation, water intake during the consumption period, and weight gained during the consumption period.

A Comparison Of The Effects Of 23 Hour Food Deprivation And 23 Hour Water Deprivation On The Weight And Intake Of The Albino Rat, Otis Byron Ward

Master's Theses

The present study is designed to make a direct comparison of food and water deprivation schedules both in terms of the animals' adjustment to the schedules and the relative effects of the two schedules on several weight and intake measures. The three groups used are: a control group, a 2) hour food deprivation schedule group, and a 23 hour water deprivation schedule group. The groups will be compared over a period of 50 days in terms of body weight, weight loss and gain, and food and water intake.

The Effects Of Water Deprivation On The Body Weight, Food Intake And Water Intake Of The Albino Rat, Kenneth A. Blick

Master's Theses

A survey of the literature reveals a substantial body of research concerned with the effects of food and/or water deprivation on body weight, food and water intake, and activity of the albino rat. This research is important because many psychological experiments, particularly those studies in the field of animal learning in which motivation is induced by the use of a nutritional maintenance schedule, require some measurement of performance on consecutive days during which the rats are in a motivational state.

The Effect Of Manifest Anxiety And Failure Instructions On Delinquents' Performance On The W.I.S.C. Coding Test, Herbert J. Cross

Master's Theses

It is generally accepted by most researchers that motivational factors are important in the prediction of behavior. The nature of the relationship between those factors and behavior is not well understood but appear to depend at least on such variables as effect the difficulty of the behavioral task and the degree of the motivation involved.

An Investigation Of Variables Differentiating Between Good And Poor Athletes, Leonard Dean Mcneal

Master's Theses

One of the most important problems facing college athletic officials is their selection of player personnel. Each year large numbers of outstanding high school performers enter institutions of higher learning to attain a degree and to gain athletic recognition. In the end, however, success comes to approximately one in five.

A Further Investigation Of The Effects Of Achievement Imagery And Differential Instructions On Maze Learning Performance, Ann Hunter

Master's Theses

One of the personality variables that has been the object of considerable interest in recent years is "need achievement." This variable was first defined by Murray as the need for "success in competition with some standard of excellence." McClelland and his associates, measuring need for achievement from written responses to TAT-type pictures, have reported Significant and useful relationships between this variable and several behavioral criteria.

In order to have a more objective method of measuring need achievement, the Iowa Picture Interpretation Test (IPIY) was developed at the State University of Iowa laboratories. The IPIT obtains scores on four variables: achievement …

An Empirical Study Of Personality Variables Related To Efficiency Of Problem Solving, Sylvia G. Dickerson

Master's Theses

During the last few years there has been an increasing interest in problem solving behavior and closely related area such as concept formation, decision making and creative thinking. This can be seen by the large number of papers published within the last few years. Taylor and McNemar in the 1955 Annual Review state that between 1949 and 1953, in the United States only, 125 relevant doctoral dissertations have been written and about 60 papers presented at the A .P.A . meetings besides the books written on the subject by Bruner, Vinacke, Humphrey, Rapaport. Despite the amount of work which has …

A Validity Study Of The Wonderlic Personnel Test, William Daniel Buckley

Master's Theses

Business and Industry is turning more and more to the use of standardized psychological tests as an aid in the selection and placement of personnel. Many concerns want to have, along with all other pertinent information, a measure of a potential employee's general intelligence. Therefore, some sort of intelligence test is found in their test batteries. Management, in most cases, prefers these various tests to be as simple as possible in their administration and evaluation, thus avoiding unnecessary time am expense. There are a number of short intelligence tests which meet the above requirement One of these, the Wonderlic Personnel …

An Investigation Of The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory As A Predictor Of Adjustment To College Life, John Thomas Drury

Master's Theses

College populations are rapidly growing and many millions or young people will have a chance for college in the future who would not have had an opportunity for such an education some years ago. Factors making for success in college become more important as the population increases and facilities become more limited. The present investigation is directed to the matter of adjustment to college life and the prediction of such adjustment with the use of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.

Human personality has been the object or much re­ search and discussion through the centuries. Many psychol­ ogists have proposed …