Psychology Commons^™

The Role Of Cognitive Differentiation In Conceptual Systems Theory, Mary Flume

Student Work

A cognitive approach to theory and research in personality proposes that individuals develop relatively enduring cognitive schemas for experiencing and organizing their .social world. Cognitive schemas are templates through which information is filtered or transformed.

It may be understood that cognitive personality theory emphasises the structure of cognition rather than its content. Such an emphasis is based on the assumption that structural variables are relatively enduring and invariant across situations, whereas the content of personality is expected to fluctuate markedly. Cognitive personality theory should provide the researcher with an efficient basis for describing the actions of a person and lead …

Memory For Persons, Encounters And Sex, William Sturgill

Student Work

Recognition of previously seen persons and recall of the circumstances of their encounter were tested in a situation' where subjects were unaware of the subsequent recognition task. Subjects encountered four: persons, one of each sex. in. two separate encounters. Prior to a lineup one week later, only 51 subjects (N = 145) failed to' recall either the number and/or the sex of the persons encountered, while only 28. correctly recalled both the number and sex and that it was two different persons in each encounter. Results from the lineup confirmed, previous suggestions that subjects (N = 155) are better able …

The Effectiveness Of Various Omission Training Procedures As A Function Of Reinforcement History, Mary Patricia Brockman

Student Work

This experiment analyzed the relative effectiveness of three forms of omission training (OT 20 sec, OT 5 sec, and gradual OT with a time-dependent criterlor) in reducing a bar press response following three different reinforcement histories. Thirty-six children between the ages of 4% and 11 years were initially trained to press a bar according to a VR 35 schedule of reinforcement. The different omission training conditions were introduced directly following the VR 35 baseline, following a lengthened history of VR, and following a DRL intervention condition designed to enhance the effectiveness of the OT condition.

An Analysis Of Generalization In A Parent Training Program From A Laboratory To Home Setting, Carol Mindell

Student Work

A mother was trained in a structured laboratory setting, through written and verbal instructions and daily verbal feedback, to modify specific components of her attention to her 4-yr-old daughter’s behavior during an instruct ion-following task. Examinations were made of the effectiveness of parent training in changing the mother’s behavior in the structured laboratory setting, as well as the extent of generalized change in mother’s responses in three other settings in which no training was conducted: 1) a similar structured period in the home, 2) a dissimilar unstructured period in the laboratory, and 3) a-dissimlar unstructured period in the home. The …

Situational Determinants Of A Crying Response: Their Interrelations With Cognitive Structure And Level Of Sex-Role Identification, Richard Paul Votta

Student Work

An attempt was made to assess the relationships between an individual's level of sex-role identification, degree of cognitive complexity or simplicity, and reported crying behavior. One hundred sixty six students from an introductory sociology class at the University of Nebraska at Omaha were administered three scales: the Bern Sex Role Inventory to assess their level of sex-role identification; the Millimet Rep Test (Version 1) to assess the degree of cognitive complexity, and the Votta Crying Scale-an instrument devised by the author to measure an individual's propensity to crying and the four major types of situations that will elicit the behavior. …

Developmental Aspects Of Nonverbal Communication, Richard Norris

Student Work

Developmental differences in encoding and decoding abilities were investigated in this study with subjects ranging from 5 years to 88 years of age. The 94 white, middle-class males and females were placed into five age groups. Subjects were asked to encode each of six emotional expressions, after which they were presented with three decoding tasks. The video tape mode required subjects to decode the same six common nonverbal expressions of emotion (i.e., anger, surprise, fear, happiness, sadness, disgust). A second decoding task consisted of four expressions (anger, fear, sadness, happiness) which were schematically depicted. Subjects' decoding of affect in a …

The Effect Of Patterned Visual Stimulation On Visual Activity And Feeding Behavior During The Feeding Period In Human Newborn Infants, Robert H. Anderson

Student Work

The relationship between patterned visual stimulation and behavior in newborn human infants has been studied in a variety of situations (Fantz, 196 3; Hershenson, 1965; Haith, 1965; Bruner, 1968; Salapatek, 1968; Wagner, 1972; Friedman 1972; Boismier, 1972). Typically, the effect of visual stimulation on the behavior of newborn infants during the feeding period has not been studied. This omission may in part be related to studies by Haith (1965) and Bruner (1968) who, in the investigation of the effects of visual stimulation on nonnutritive.sucking rates, concluded that newborns are virtually incapable of looking and sucking at the same time. Bruner, …