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A Test Of The "Contiguity" And "Generalized Imitation" Theories Of Social Modeling Processes, Gerald R. Adams

Student Work

Imitative behavior was studied using 36 kindergarten children who were either reinforced or not reinforced for imitative behavior prior to observing a male model exhibit aggressive behaviors. The children were tested for imitative aggressive behaviors in an 8-minute freeplay situation using a five category rating scale. The results revealed that the reinforced group emitted significantly more physical, verbal, and nonimitative aggression than the nonreinforced group. A second test examined the retention of the model's aggressive behavior under an incentive condition. The incentive condition diminished the initial differences found in the first test, revealing a nonsignificant difference between the reinforced and …

"Transcendental Meditation: A Vision Of Possibilities", Walter Koch

Special Collections: Oregon Public Speakers

No abstract provided.

Post-Discrimination Gradients: The Averaging Hypothesis, Michael Glenn Grisham

Psychology ETDs

The averaging hypothesis states that intermediate rates in generalization tests represent a composite of two interresponse time (IRT) topographies established during prior acquisition. A short-IRT topography, characteristic of S^D responding, and a long-IRT topography, characteristic of S^Δ responding, occur in different proportions as a function of generalization test stimulus value. Demonstrations of averaging have had limited generality due to departures from the typical discrimination training and test procedures. The present experiment investigated averaging in a context distinguished from typical discrimination training and test procedures only by the use of separate manipulanda for the collection of S^D and …

The Effect Of Labeling Disfluencies As 'Stuttering' And Contingent And Yoked "Wrong" On The Disfluencies Of Normal Speakers, Dennis Ray Staines

Dissertations and Theses

A labeling variable suggested by Wendell Johnson's "diagnosogenic" theory of the onset of stuttering was included in this study of the disfluencies of normal speaking college students in order to explore further the hypothetical relationship between normal disfluency and the onset of stuttering. A total of 60 Ss were randomly assigned to the following groups, each containing 10 Ss: I. Labeling Chastisement plus Contingent "wrong;" II. Labeling Chastisement plus Yoked (non-contingent) "wrong;" III. Labeling Chastisement - No "wrong;" IV. No Labeling Chastisement Contingent "wrong;" V. No Labeling Chastisement - Yoked "wrong;" VI. No Labeling Chastisement - No "wrong" …

The Selection Of Bank Management Trainees: A Validation Study, James G. Overton

Master's Theses

Twelve studies of psychometric prediction using cognitive ability tests with upper level managerial samples are summarized. Of these, only two yield essentially positive results. Meyer (1956) found·a correlation of .27 between Wonderlic scores and overall ratings of 142 supervisors. However, since the raters were free to examine predictor-scores while making their ratings, there is strong evidence that the criterion was contaminated. In an unpublished study, Laurent (1962) correlated ratings of managers with Miller Analogies Test and non-verbal abiliti test scores. With over 200 persons in each sample, he found correlations ranging from .18 to .29, all significant. The majority of …

Effects Of Volition And Justification On The Arousal Of Dissonance During Performance Of A Dull Task, George Roger Schoenhals

All Master's Theses

The present study seeks to add a modest degree of clarification to the present condition of dissonance theory. More specifically, its main purpose is to help define certain conditions for the arousal of cognitive dissonance.

The Effects Of A Behavior Modification Program On The Self Concepts Of Children In Special Education, Barbara M. Scott

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine whether using a behavior modification approach to teaching children will help to raise a child's self concept.

The Effects Of Visual Feedback And Level Of Aggression On The Application Of Noxious Stimuli, Gary W. Rawson

Student Work

Sixty-four male undergraduate students who were enrolled in an introductory psychology course were used as subjects to determine the effect which visual feedback and level of aggression have on the application of a noxious stimulus to another human being. Equal numbers of high and low aggressive Ss, based on Edwards Personal Preference Schedule scores, were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups, defined by type of visual feedback. The Ss were permitted to select the intensity and duration of hypothetical electric shock which they could apply to a male confederate as punishment for supposedly incorrect responses in a learning …

Changing Attitudes By Means Of Classical Conditioning, Larry R. Smeltzer

Student Work

As knowledge of attitude change processes has grown, a wide variety of theoretical analyses have been developed to integrate portions of this knowledge and to guide further research. Many theorists argue that attitude change and formation in the "real world" are produced by the fundamental mechanisms of classical conditioning (Kiesler, Collins, and Miller, 1969) but little research has been done to support such a theory.

Effects Of Prior Experience Of One Group Member On The Performance Of The Wheel Network, Mark Hinterthuer

Student Work

The present study investigated the effects of prior experience of one group member on the performance of the wheel network. Groups participating in the experiment included four experimental groups and a control group. The four experimental groups included combinations of centrally or peripherally trained Ss transferred to a central or peripheral position in naive wheel networks. Dependent variables were measured in four categories: time, number of messages, number of errors, and individual ratings on a post-communication questionnaire. The position occupied by the experienced Ss during training had no apparent effect on their transfer group,s performance. The network position of the …

A Pilot Study For The Development Of A Children's Norm On Hooper's Visual Organization Test (Vot) And An Examination Of Clough's Perceptual Organization Test (Pot), Polly Paul

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology in the Graduate School of Morehead State University by Polly Paul on May 30, 1971.

An Attempt To Find Predictor Variables Which Will Discriminate Between Those Patients Who Seek Aftercare Treatment And Those Who Do Not Seek Aftercare Treatment Upon Discharge From A Psychiatric Ward, Nena V. Johnstone, William D. Lynch, Philip M. Baldwin, John C. Kemp

Dissertations and Theses

This is an exploratory follow-up study of the clientele of the Psychiatric Crisis Unit, a short-term, crisis-oriented inpatient psychiatric ward. The main objective of the research was to test the following null hypothesis: there are no significant differences between those individuals who attempt to gain aftercare treatment as opposed to those individuals who do not following discharge from the Crisis Unit.

A sample of fifty-one voluntary patients who consented to participate in the study was used in testing this hypothesis. Each subject completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (M.M.P.I.) and a sociological questionnaire while in the Crisis Unit, and a …

Using A Participating Relationship To Improve Teen-Age Unwed Mother's Self-Esteem, Linda Gail Reeves

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The study was to provide an approach to help teen-age unwed mothers increase their feelings of self-esteem and thereby attain a conceptual buffer for better coping with life. Self-esteem was defined as individual perception of the worth of oneself relative to that of significant others. The hypothesis tested was that the participating relationship a community health nurse has with a teen-age unwed mother will significantly increase the mother's self-esteem as measured by statistical Q-Sort analysis.

A convenience sample of twenty teen-age unwed mothers was obtained from referrals from San Bernardino County Health, Welfare, and Probation Departments. The girls were between …

N-Achievement Motivation Of Male Navaho Indian Students As Measured By An Acculturated N-Achievement Scale, Rex C. Ivory

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The problem which formed the basis of this research was to answer the question: "Can an acculturated version of McClelland's original n-Achievement scale be significantly more effective in measuring n-Achievement motivation of male Navaho Indian subjects than McClelland's original n-Achievement scale?" An answer to this question would hopefully be reason enough for using an acculturated n-Achievement scale to provide new information relative to the Navaho Indian's need to achieve.

The major underlying objective of this study was to develop a more effective projective scale than McClelland in measuring a Navaho Indian's n-Achievement motivation. This objective was not reached; however, the …

Investigation Of One Aspect Of Initiative That Is Subsumed Under Self-Concept And Its Relationship To Performance, John Edmund Genasci

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Many children fail to achieve academic success despite an average or above average intellectual capacity, unimpaired motor ability, intact sensory functions, and an absence of major emotional disturbance. These same children have been assigned such descriptive terms as "underachievers" and "children with psycho-neurological disabilities."

It may be more apt to assume that these children who are underachieving and obtaining poor grades do so from lack of feeling of personal initiative and personal control over events in their lives.

This study attempts to investigate initiative as clinically observed and its effect upon tasks requiring an active analytical approach to problem solving. …

Conditioning Verbal Behavior: The Effect Of Experimenter Baseline Behavior On The Conditioning Of Opinion Statements Emitted By Undergraduate Students, William E. Greable

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The general purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of the operant conditioner's behavior during the baseline upon subsequent operant conditioning of opinion statements emitted by freshmen undergraduate students. Specifically, the study attempted to answer the following research questions:

1. Is it possible to systematically condition opinion statements in a verbal conditioning situation that resembles a counseling interview?
2. Does the behavior of the operant conditioner during the baseline have any influence on subsequent conditioning of opinion statements in a verbal conditioning situation resembling a counseling interview?
3. Is there a difference in the number of opinion statements emitted in a …

A Validation Of Koppitz's Scoring Method For Children's Human Figure Drawings, William Gary Evans

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to see if the Koppitz objective scoring method for interpreting children's human figure drawings could be used as a valid assessment instrument with elementary school children. Human figure drawings were obtained from two matched groups of elementary school students, a normal and an emotionally disturbed group. The results of the comparison of human figure drawings of the two groups did not support Koppitz's findings. The Koppitz objective scoring method was found to be invalid as an assessment instrument with elementary school children and of doubtful use in diagnosing emotionally disturbed children. Possible explanations for …

A Comparison Of Hyper-Reactivity And Activity In Rats With Lesions Of The Septal Area And The Olfactory Lobes, Roger Clark Marshall

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate School at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Roger Clark Marshall on April 1,1971.

Relationship Of Subjects' Preexperiment Attitudes Toward Psychology And Experimenter Prestige, Sam Quick

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A study is reported which examines the effects of Ss attitudes toward psychological research as measured by the Psychology Research Survey (PRS) (high or low), apparent E prestige (high, medium, or low), and sex of 13 on ratings of success and failure given in Rosenthal's person-perception task. It was found that E prestige interacted with sex of S to significantly affect performance. Several of the pictures used in the person-perception task were also found to be consistently rated as depicting success or failure. Questions are raised concerning the psychometric soundness of both the PRS and the person-perception task. Implications for …

An Investigation Of Differential Reinforcement Effectiveness As A Function Of Type Of Task, Jeffrey W. Erickson

Master's Theses

Two tasks and four reinforcers were used to determine whether or not reinforcer effectiveness is in part dependent upon the type of task involved. An equal number (40) fifth and sixth grade children performed under each task condition

for 20 trials (arithmetic and sequential processing) and received one of four possible reinforcers (candy , "good ", grad e A, no­ reinforcer). The two dependent variables measured were time to complete either task and the number of errors mad e while performing upon one or the other task. A significant F was not obtained for either time or error scores at …

Avoidance And Escape Responses In A Free Operant Avoidance Procedure As A Function Of Avoidance-Shock Intervals, Kathleen M. Krumhus

Masters Theses

Rats were trained on an unsignalled shock procedure, using a two lever apparatus. Responses on one lever postponed the onset of electric shock for a specified time period, the Avoidance-Shock interval. A response on the second lever terminated shock and delayed the onset of the next shock eight seconds, the Escape-Shock interval. Shock was continuous until the subject depressed the second lever. Changes in response rate on both levers were recorded as a function of manipulations of the duration of the Avoidance-Shock interval.

If responses on both bars are summed, data obtained are comparable with findings obtained from the manipulation …

A Comparison Of Three Measures Of Stimulation Seeking, John L. Kasten

Masters Theses

An attempt was made to determine the comparability and construct validity of three instruments: the Sensation Seeking Scale (Zuckermsn, Kolin, Price & Zoob, 1964); the Change Seeker Index (Garlington & Shimota, 1964); and the Similes Preference Inventory (Pearson & Maddi, 1966). These instruments, and a measure of drug use which was constructed by the investigator, were administered to 52 college students and 23 high school students. Product-moment correlations were calculated among these instruments and between each instrument and age, sex, marital status and amount of education. Several sets of partial correlations were, also calculated.

A substantial correlation was found between …

Effects Of A Series Of Nurse-Patient Interactions On Multiple Sclerosis Patients, Lynne Campbell

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The purpose of the study was to learn whether a series of nurse-patient interactions would result in changed psychophysiologic functioning in multiple sclerosis patients.

Psychophysiologic relationships were described in the theoretical framework. Literature, reviewed in the areas of disease description and psychotherapeutic approaches to treatment, indicated that there is a high incidence of multiple sclerosis in the United States; that symptoms often include psychological alterations; that there is an emotional component to the illness; that these patients have a need for a psychotherapeutic relationship; and that psychotherapeutic approaches may have beneficial psychophysiologic effects.

Two groups of multiple sclerosis subjects were …

Trusting Behavior In The Prisoner's Dilemma Task Among Appalachians, Helen R. Ankrom

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) game has been popular in recent years as an experimental tool in investigating social situations, particularly conflict situations. The reason for the popularity of the game is due, at least in apart, to the fact that in the PD, as in real life conflict situations, there is no rational solution. The solution depends on interaction between the players.

Stimulus Selection Under Conditions Of Free Choice By Preschool Children At Baseline And After Adaptation, Andrea Lyn Shields

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The experiments reported in the present paper may be characterized as belonging to the general area of motivation research referred to as stimulus selection behavior. Stimulus selection behavior includes curiosity, exploratory, and manipulatory activities. Generally, the research in the area attempts to determine the relation between changes in the stimulus and changes in the measures of approach behavior in the subject (s). In this research, approach behavior is apparently unrelated to organic need conditions. The experiments presented in this paper were designed to determine a preschool child's stimulus preference as he entered the experimental setting, and whether that preference could …

Behavioral Styles Of Computer Programmers - Revisited, Edward M. Cross

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

This paper describes the second phase of a continuing research project concerned with the attributes associated with membership and success in the computer programming occupation.   The second phase of this research has differed some-what, both in intent and practice, from the first phase. First, the initial purpose of the study was to test an approach to job analysis which included the application of the principal instrument used in the study, the JAIM, or Job Analysis and Interest Measurement.1 The use of computer programmers as the subject group was the result of the investigator's previous career as a systems analyst and …

Proactive Transfer And Acoustic Similarity In Short-Term Paired-Assoicate Learning, Richard James Pittman

Master's Theses

Interference is the most prominent explanation of forgetting in verbal long-term memory (LTM). Interference theory generally holds that forgetting is due to the competition of associations learned during the retention interval rather than to the decay of memory traces. Proactive interference results when the competing associations are learned prior to the criterion associations, and retroactive interference results when the competing associations are learned after the criterion associations. Further explanation of retroactive inhibition (RI) and proactive inhibition (PI) in paired-associate (P-A) learning is found in the extinction hypothesis of interference theory. According to the hypothesis, interference is due to unlearning or …

The Use Of Selected Films And Film Discussions In Modifying Social Distance In Elementary School Children, Stanton C. Baker

All Master's Theses

When conflicts involving interpersonal relationships arise within the school setting, it would appear appropriate to attempt to cope with these conflicts within the framework of the school; particularly the classroom. Many methods of modifying behavior through group procedures have been attempted with varying degrees of success. It was the purpose of this study to investigate the effectiveness of one such method; a fiIm-discussion technique. This program was developed to modify behaviors, attitudes and/or perceptions which interfere with the development of constructive interpersonal relationships within an elementary classroom.

Modification Of Deviant Behavior By Parents, Jeanne M. Gabourie

All Master's Theses

It is the purpose of this study (1) to determine if a child's deviant social behaviors can be effectively modified by his own parents; and (2) to determine if parents can be trained to use behavior modification techniques in the home.

Validation Of The Automated Readability Index For Use With Technical Materials, Leroy John Delionbach

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations (1964–2006)

No abstract provided.