Digital Commons Network^™

Retention Of Content Material As A Function Of Mode Of Presentation And Preconceived Degree Of Difficulty, Richard S. Velayo

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The effects of the mode of presentation and the preconceived degree of difficulty on the retention of academic content material were measured. The design of the experiment was a 6 x 3 x 2 split-plot factorial. The levels for the mode of presentation were: (a) print-only, (b) pictorial-plus-print, (c) audio only, (d) pictorial-plus-audio, (e) print-plus-audio, and (f) pictorial-plus-print-plus-audio. The levels for the preconceived degree of difficulty were: (a) very easy, (b) neutral, and (c) very difficult. The participants were 112 undergraduate students (24 males, 88 females) randomly assigned to the experimental conditions. The dependent variables were the immediate and delayed …

Temporal Stability Of Earliest Childhood Memories In Relation To Naturally Occurring Mood States, Peggy Wingo

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Oral And Written Context As A Function Of Number And Distribution Of Presentations Of Vocabulary Acquisition, Ernie J. Hill

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Mechanisms Of Tolerance To The Effects Of Clozapine And Pimozide On A Multiple Fixed Interval 60-Second Fixed Ratio-30 Food Reinforcement Schedule In Rats, Heidi Freese Villanueva

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the behavioral and biochemical effects of two neuroleptic drugs. Clozapine (10 mg/kg), an atypical neuroleptic, and pimozide (1 mg/kg), a typical neuroleptic, were administered acutely, chronically (10 days), or in a behavioral tolerance paradigm (9 days of post-session administration followed by 10 days of presession administration) in order to assess the mechanisms of tolerance. Behavioral Effects were measured on a multiple FI 60-second FR-30 operant response schedule; HPLC was used to measure the biochemical effects of clozapine in the blood plasma, frontal cortex and striatum.

Presession administration of clozapine and pimozide both produced initial disruptions of response …

Mineral-Deficient Diets And The Pig’S Attraction To Blood: Implications For Tail-Biting, David Fraser

Abnormal Behavior Collection

In two experiments, individually penned growing pigs were exposed daily to two "tail models” (lengths of cotton cord about the size of a pig's tail), one of which had been impregnated with pigs' blood. When fed a balanced "control" diet, the pigs chewed significantly more on the blood-covered model than on the plain one, but with Iarge individual differences between animals. Four weeks of receiving a diet lacking all mineral supplements (iodized salt, dicalcium phosphate, limestone, iron, zinc, manganese, copper, and selenium) caused a pronounced increase in chewing the blood-covered model, and 4 wk of recovery on the control diet …

Hemispheric Brain Laterality Of Perception Of Tachistoscopically Presented Erotic Stimuli By Male And Female College Students, Randall Warne Stewart

Masters Theses

The effects of hemispheric asymmetry on the perception of erotic stimuli presented in either of the two visual fields was investigated. Freshmen and Sophomore college students, 20 males and 27 females, were used as subjects in the study. Subjects were bilaterally presented with combinations of erotic, neutral, and blank visual field stimuli using a "split visual field" procedure for a total of 96 200 msec. presentations. Subjects were asked to rate the presentations on a scale of 1 to 5; 1 was equal to neutral and 5 was equal to very erotic. Males and females rated erotic stimuli presented in …

Restrained Eating : The Effects Of Privacy And Perception Of Having Overeaten On Subsequent Food Consumption, Geraldine T. Merola

Theses and Dissertations

Herman & Mack (1975) theorized that "restrained eaters," conflicted between social pressure to be thin and biological pressure to be fat, tend to alternately eat very little or a great deal, as they respond to one or the other constraint. According to restraint theory, restrained eaters' chronic dieting induces physiological and psychological states that make them highly susceptible to external disruption of eating controls. Research has shown that when led to believe they have already overeaten (i.e., when they are "preloaded"), restrained eaters will loosen restraints and "counterregulate" (i.e., binge-eat). In contrast, "unrestrained eaters" (i.e., normal eaters) will compensate by …

Effects Of The Presence Of A Same-Sex Friend Or Stranger On Coping With Stress, Scott B. Harrison

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

To induce stress, subjects were told they would be maneuvering a tarantula spider through a decision maze. While waiting to perform this task subjects were randomly assigned to one of five experimental conditions. In four conditions subjects were paired with either a friend or a stranger, and they were instructed to either communicate or not. In the fifth condition subjects waited alone as they anticipated performing the task. Negative mood state and blood pressure measures were obtained before and after the treatment conditions. A behavioral fear measure was obtained after treatment manipulation. Higher amounts of anxiety were reported between friends …

Similarities Between Human And Animal Spatial Memory: Item And Order Information, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Human subjects, sitting at the center of a circle of eight lights, were tested on analogues of radial-maze item-recognition (Roberts & Smythe, 1979) and order-recognition (Kesner & Novak, 1982) tasks. Subjects in the item-recognition condition saw a list of seven lights, and then the nonlist (eighth) light was tested against the first, fourth, or seventh light from the list. The sub- jects were required to point toward the non list light. Subjects in the order-recognition condition saw a series of eight lights, followed by a test of the first and second, fourth and fifth, or seventh and eighth serial positions. …

Dietary Induced Weight Gain And Recovery Of Body Weight In Mongolian Gerbils, Maryann Mccarthy

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the capacities of male and female gerbils for recovery from increased weight gain produced by ingestion of high fat food. Thirty-six gerbils, assigned to either 20% or 40% groups with nine males and nine females in each percent weight gain group, were fed powdered chow under baseline conditions, then switched to a high fat diet until they reached target weight increase, and then returned to powdered chow. The 40% group was eliminated from the comparisons due to the failure of the gerbils to reach criterion. No sex differences were found in the …

The Effects Of Magnitude Of Extrinsic Reinforcement On Intrinsic Interest: An Experimental Analysis, Brian Howard Gribler

Masters Theses

The present study examined the effect that three magnitudes of extrinsic reinforcement had on wheel running following the termination of reinforcement. After an initial baseline period, three groups of rats were assigned to one of three conditions: a variable interval 60 second schedule of reinforcement, a variable time 60 second schedule of reinforcement, or a control condition. Each subject in the reinforcement groups was exposed to three different magnitudes of reinforcement. Each reinforcement phase was followed by a return to baseline. The results indicated that contingent reinforcement increased wheel running although rates were comparable for all magnitudes of reinforcement. No …

Using Music In Teaching Social Skills To Mentally Retarded Subjects, Tamara Barron-Johnson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which Melodies to Assist Social Interaction (MASI) would affect the social skills performance of the educable mentally retarded.

The study employed a pretest-posttest control group design with an N of 27 mentally-retarded subjects. It also employed a one-group pretest-posttest design with an N of 8 non-mentally retarded subjects.

All of the subjects received a pre- and post-score for their social skills performance level. Nineteen of the mentally-retarded subjects and all eight non-mentally retarded subjects received the MASI social skills teaching program as part of their regular curriculum.

The pre- …

The Effect Of Reinforcer Type On The Resurgence Of Responding, Lori Light-Richter

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of the study was to determine whether a previously reinforced response would resurge following the reinforcement and subsequent extinction of a second response when the two responses were established using two different reinforcers, and when both responses had been equivalent training. Rats were trained to press either a lever or a key with either food or water as the reinforcer. After this response had been extinguished, the alternative behavior was trained with the alternate reinforcer. Finally, this second behavior was extinguished. Little resurgence of the original response was noted for either subjects trained under same- or different- reinforcer …

Multiple-Stimulus Discrimination And Stimulus Overselectivity With Preschool Children, Maria C. Quintero

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Stimulus overselectivity is said to occur when behavior is under the control of a restricted set of stimuli from a stimulus complex. Three studies investigated the effects of specific multiple-stimulus training histories upon the overselective responding of normal preschool children.

In Experiment 1, eight children 3 to 5 years of age, were trained to discriminate forms presented on cards. Each form was labelled with a nonsense syllable, and each card (multiple stimulus) consisted of two forms. A time-delay training procedure was used. Four subjects were trained using Concurrent training in which two of the three S- response choices contained components …

Academic Achievement Of Bereaved Children: Comparison With A Nonbereaved Population, Rebecca W. Valcarce

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this research was to study the effects of bereavement on the academic achievement of secondary school students who had lost a parent through death by comparing them with students attending the same schools but who were living with both natural parents. The subjects in both groups were matched on pretest scores and demographic characteristics at the beginning of the study. Achievement posttest scores and overall high school grade point averages of both groups were compared using ANCOVA and multiple regression analyses. None of the analyses were found to be statistically significant, implying that academic achievement is not …

Attraction To Blood As A Factor In Tail-Biting By Pigs, David Fraser

Abnormal Behavior Collection

Canvas models, about the size of a pig's tail, were impregnated with pigs' blood or left plain, and were presented to pigs for 12 days in a 2-choice preference test. The pigs showed large, consistent, individual differences in response: some pigs chewed the models continuously while others chewed only slightly; some chewed much more on the blood-covered model, while others showed no preference. On average, the pigs chewed considerably more on the blood-covered model than on the plain one. In a second experiment, pigs presented with a choice test involving a blood-covered and a plain model showed a significant increase …

Out Of Control: An Exploration Into The Dynamics Of Anorexia Nervosa And Bulimia And The Consequences For The Sufferer And Those Around Her, Shenandoah M. Cardwell

Honors Theses

A theoretical and personal exploration into the dynamics of anorexia nervosa and bulimia was conducted with reviews of literature, interviews, and personal accounts. A basic definition of the problem according to the DSM-III was stated. Discussed in detail are factors which contribute to a possible predisposition for developing an eating disorder; these include the physiological/biological, psychological, familial and societal. The effects of eating disorders on those persons around an anorexic or bulimic were explained along with a special section emphasizing the epidemic of eating disorders on college campuses. Emphasis was placed on the importance of the role of helper in …

Learned Helplessness And Masculinity In Women: Performance Effects And Attributions About Success And Failure, Sherry B. Rabinowitz

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study attempted to examine the relationships among learned helplessness, masculinity, and attributions about success and failure. The Bern Sex Role Inventory was used to generate a masculinity score for 120 college women. Learned helplessness was induced by exposure to problems that had no solution. Subjects in the experimental conditions were asked to solve one, two, or three different types of problems, seventy-five percent of which were unsolvable. Subjects in the control condition were given three types of solvable problems. After each set of tasks, subjects completed an attributional questionnaire and were asked to rate how well they perceived …

7. Structure And Process In Cognitive Psychology Using Multidimensional Scaling And Related Techniques, Edward J. Shoben, Brian H. Ross

The Influence of Cognitive Psychology on Testing

INTRODUCTION

The goal of cognitive psychology is to provide a general understanding of human cognitive processes through the development of general, formal models of cognition. Although it is clearly true that some areas (such as memory) have been more highly developed than others, it is undeniable that cognitive psychology has witnessed a proliferation of models in the past decade. Perhaps researchers are finding it increasingly difficult to discriminate among competing memory models because the constraints are so weak. One possibility that will be explored in this chapter is the prospect of using multidimensional scaling (MDS) and related procedures as a …

Wheat And Tares: Responding To Vande Kemp And Other Revisionists, James D. Foster, Mark F. Ledbetter

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

In her reaction, Hendrika Vande Kemp ( 1987) joins other critics of psychology in arguing for a new psychology. The authors believe, however, that psychology developed as a science because it was productive and that more subjective methods will gain respectability only through similar productivity. In her critique, Vande Kemp creates a circular argument by suggesting that the authors' position Jacks a proper historicaVphilosophical perspective, and she underestimates the sophistication of those with whom she disagrees. Finally, the authors disagree that there is no point in arguing with the most conservative anti-psychologists, since they may be having a disproportionate influence …

Reinforcing Functions Of Androgyny Delay Of Reinforcement, Kimberly Faye Helzer

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Physiological And Psychological Variables Contributing To Sexual Dysfunction In Female Insulin Dependent Diabetic Patients, Linda D. Rice

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Behavioral Confirmation In The Assessment Process: The Effects Of Clinicians' Expectancies On Tat Card Selection And Perceptions Of Tat Protocols, Robert Jeffrey Jackson

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Explanatory Power Of Radical Behaviorism, Barry Schwartz, Hugh Lacey

Psychology Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Sensory Modulation Of Juvenile Play In Rats, Stephen M. Siviy, Jaak Panksepp

Psychology Faculty Publications

A series of experiments was conducted to determine the extent to which somatosensory stimulation is necessary for the elaboration of juvenile play in rats. Anesthetization of the dorsal body surface of juvenile rats with xylocaine reduced the frequency of pinning, an indicator variable for play, by 35% to 70%, while motivation to play, measured by dorsal contacts, an index of play solicitation, remained largely intact. These data suggest that dorsal body surface anesthetization impairs the ability of juvenile rats to perceive and/or respond to playful gestures. When untreated animals were paired with xylocaine-treated animals, the xylocaine-treated animals consistently pinned the …

Risk Taking, Impulsiveness, And The Age-Crime Relationship, M Elizabeth Copeland-Teschner

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study's purpose was to determine the influence of risk-taking and impulsiveness on criminal behavior, the factors' relationship to each other and their relationship, to age. It was hoped that the data would help explain the phenomenon of criminal burnout. Subjects were three groups of males aged 18 to 44, classed by their criminal history. Group One was 83 prisoners; group two, 53 subjects who had never been arrested; group three, 28 who had been arrested or incarcerated in the past, but who were not incarcerated at this time (the "erstwhile" group). Measures utilized were the Self-control (Sc) scale from …

Person Perception And The Employment Interview: The Impact Of Facial Features In The Employee Selection Process, Susan C. Muller

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has found that the structural makeup of the face influences the manner by which individuals perceive others and attribute characteristics to them. In addition, support has been provided for the hypothesis that nonverbal cues significantly influence an interviewer's perception of a job candidate and the pending hiring decision. Taken together, this study hypothesized that the nonverbal cues emitted from the structural makeup of the face would impact the decision to hire and the perceptions of the job applicant's personality. It was also expected that variations in facial structure would influence an employer's decision in hiring the applicant for …

Cognitive Appraisals And Motive Patterns In Depressed And Nondepressed College Students, Denise B. Lensky

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Behavioral Problems Among Sexually Abused And Nonabused Children, Kelli B. Mills

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the level of social competency and presence of behavioral problems associated with young sexually abused children ages 4 to 8, as compared to those among a comparable sample of nonabused young children. Thirty-two parents or guardians, 16 in each group, completed the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist for each child. Characteristics of the abuse were addressed on an additional questionnaire. Data was collected on 12 female and 4 male children in each group. The results indicated that the amount and severity of behavior problems was greater and social competency levels were lower among the sexually abused children than …

The Influence Of Sex Role Stereotypes On Coping With Depression: Are There Perceptions Of Gender Appropriate Ways To Cope?, Mary M. Pfeiffer

Dissertations

No abstract provided.