Digital Commons Network^™

Matching With Compound Sample Stimuli In The Pigeon, Richard G. Marriott

Psychology ETDs

The role of attentional and stimulus encoding factors in animal memory processes has recently received increased discussion. Central to the assumed processes of selective attention and stimulus encoding is the role of selective training or practice. The present experiment addressed the possibility of attentional or encoding factors in the appearance of differential retention effects between stimulus dimensions and the reversal of these effects by selective training. Four pigeons were trained to perform a 3-second delayed matching-to-sample task in which some trials began with a compound sample stimulus, i.e., a geometric form superimposed on a color. When the choice stimuli appeared, …

Mexican American Acculturation: Its Relation To Self-Report Anxiety And Attitudes Toward Counseling And Psychotherapy, Olivia Go

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Leveling As A Developmental Phenomenon In Visual Memory, Nancy B. Lee

Psychology ETDs

Leveling has been described as a process of reducing irrelevant detail to a conceptual image in children's visual memory when presented pictorial stimuli. In Experiment 1, a complex stimulus, consisting of nine stimulus items arranged within three spatial positions, was presented to 7-year-old children and adult subjects during a study period of either 30 or 60 seconds in length. In a forced choice recognition task, each of the original nine stimulus items was presented along with three distractors. The distractors varied along a continuum of irrelevant detail addition. Age, amount of study time, sex, position of item, and type of …

Latency For Meaning Recognition And Picture Verification Of Syntactic And Lexical Ambiguity, Richard Ney

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Letter Frequency And Versatility Retrieval Constraints On Thinking Of A Word, Gene E. Topper

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Selected Student-Initiated Change At Harvard University, 1725-1925, Paul Hartman

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

"Project Dial": An Early Childhood Screening Program, Lewis S. Sarff

Masters Theses

This field study addressed the problem of "actively seeking" out and identifying children (ages 3 to 5 years) likely to develop late learning problems upon school enrollment. The procedures developed and reported in this paper deal with initial public relations, facilities, personnel, an evaluation instrument Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning (DIAL), hearing and vision testing, and reporting of results to parents and school personnel.

The paper also includes means and standard deviations for DIAL subtest scores by one year age groups and by sex, as well as simple and multiple r's for each of the DIAL variables individually …

Self-Defeating Characters, Milton R. Cudney

All Books and Monographs by WMU Authors

For some time I have been aware of a need to have additional ways of helping people open up to see what they do to defeat themselves. The need is to help people see, and honestly face, what they do to bring about defeating results in their lives. When people can see what they do to defeat themselves, they are in a better position to make non-defeating choices. The various characters in this book have been created by me to serve as vehicles to fulfill this need. The characters themselves do not represent real individual people, but the information contained …

Relationships Among Therapist Empathy And Authoritarianism And A Therapist's Prognosis, Carol Dubnicki

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Societal Complexity And Moral Development: A Kenyan Study., Carolyn P. Edwards

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study examines the moral judgment levels (as measured by Kohlberg’s 6-stage moral judgment interview) for two Kenyan samples. The first sample includes a culturally and racially group of 35 young men and 17 women studying at the University of Nairobi, while the second sample consists of 44 males and 14 females living in seven communities in the Central and Western Provinces of Kenya who were interviewed by a cadre of trained University students on their school vacation. The moral judgment interview included four hypothetical moral dilemmas and a standard set of probing questions. Three of the dilemmas were standard …

An Application Of Operant Conditioning To Absenteeism In A Hospital Setting, Tedd Andrew Stephens

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Effects Of High Speed Dental Drill Noise On Heart Rate In Normal Hearing Adult Males, Thomas T. Bunn

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Influence Of Irrelevant Cues And Alternate Forms Of The Graphic Rating Scale On The Halo Effect, William A. Rizzo

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Runaways From Six Residential Treatment Agencies, Loris Colbath, Carolyn Krugel Graf, Carol Mckinnon, Jean Newcomb

Dissertations and Theses

The purposes of this study were: (1) to examine a select sample of both runaways and nonrunaways at six Oregon residential treatment facilities; (2) to determine the amount and type of preplacement visitation and counseling done within these agencies; (3) to determine the effect preplacement visitation and counseling has upon the studied sample of runaways and nonrunaways in decreasing or controlling the number of runs from the agencies involved; and (4) to determine significant characteristics between runaway and nonrunaway populations.

Testing materials included a two-part questionnaire, part of which was developed with girls from one of the participating agencies.

Running, …

A Preliminary Evaluation Of The Independent Living Subsidy Program In The Model Cities Area, W. Patrick Frawley, Mary Goodwin Gossart

Dissertations and Theses

This is a descriptive and analytical study of the twelve adolescents who have participated in the Independent Living Subsidy Program (ILSP) in the Model Cities area of Portland. It is an assessment of the program’s impact on the adolescents in working toward the goals of independence and self-sufficiency.

The concept of a program which would subsidize out-of-home care for certain adolescents in living facilities of their own, with a measure of independence, was conceived by a caseworker at the Children’s Services Division (CSD) and an administrator of a children’s residential care facility.

Pretesting A Questionnaire At The Solo Center On The Impact Of Divorce On Children And Parents, Shirley Anne Paetzhold

Dissertations and Theses

This study was concerned with the impact of divorce on parents and children. The writer spent a minimum of sixteen hours per week from September, 1974 to May, 1975 in field work at the Solo Center, as part of the requirements for a Master’s Degree in Social Work at Portland State University. Multiple areas of interest for research at the Center narrowed to a focus on the closely interwoven problems of child custody, child support, and visitation.

Recent Role Changes Made By Women And The Effect These Changes Have Had On Marital Adjustment, Nancy L. Scolar

Dissertations and Theses

Sex Roles, A History. From Insects to humans, gender is associated with specific behavior. Below the mammals there are sex differences in dominance that are correlated with androgen function on the inside, and with certain types of stimulation on the outside. In higher forms, the increasing complexity of brain development means increasing capacity for modification through experience and learned modes of adaptation to the environment.

By the time the primate level is reached, social influences have become so intricate and compelling as to clearly foreshadow culture.

According to Elizabeth Janeway in her article Reflections on the History of Women, in …

An Exploration Of The Feelings And Attitudes Of Women Separated From Their Children Due To Incarceration, Dorothy Lundberg, Ann Sheekley, Therese Voelker

Dissertations and Theses

Although significant research has shed light on what happens to children when they are removed from their parents, few studies have explored the effects on parents undergoing separation from their children. Discussions tend to be confined to separate dimensions exploring child's needs on one side and parental obligations on the other. Much of the planning and prolonged care provided for children in placement reflects a traditional child-centered focus. This has led to a lack of attention to parental needs, and a gross ignorance about their lives, feelings and aspirations.

When women are involuntarily separated from their children through incarceration, a …

Structure Vs. Meaning In Subliminal Perception, Margaret Anne Callan Hoisington

Dissertations and Theses

Subliminal perception is defined as a process whereby a subject reports no awareness of a visual stimulus, and yet his/her verbal behavior, subjectively experienced as “guesses”, is influenced by the stimulation. Various studies have found evidence for and against subliminal perception using discrimination tasks and subjective judgments. Explanations of subliminal perception include the partial cue hypothesis, the theory of perception of structural differences, and the theory that responses to subliminal stimuli are of a semantic nature.

This study was conducted to determine whether subliminal perception involves a discrimination of structural characteristics or a discrimination of the semantic quality of words …

Shaping Of Marital Interaction: A Clinical-Research Approach, Cynthia Luders Clay

Dissertations and Theses

In the last ten years, a number of behavioral approaches to marital therapy have been developed and applied to married couples. Intervention techniques have included selective reinforcement, extinction, modeling, aversive consequences, and contingency contracting. The present study investigated the use of the bug-in-the-ear (BITE) instrument as an aid in shaping marital interaction. The BITE has been applied in several child behavior modification programs, but no applications in marital therapy have been reported.

The use of the BITE has been demonstrated and is considered clinically feasible. Since the N of this study was small and since the raters evaluating progress were …

Self And Ideal-Self Concepts In A Prison Population: (1) Self And Ideal-Self Patterns Of Violent And Non-Violent Offenders, (2) Self And Ideal-Self Concepts In Relation To Time Served Within A Prison, Alison Prince Berman, James W. Kushmuk

Dissertations and Theses

Two interrelated studies explored the self and ideal-self patterns, two important components of the total personality, of a male prison population using the Interpersonal Adjective Checklist (ICL). Both studies used the same prison subjects (n=38), who were divided equally between violent and non-violent offenders. Study I also used a normative sample (n=38) of male students. All subjects filled out two ICL forms, one with self and one with ideal-self instructions. Study I investigated the ICL patterns of the prisoners in terms of type of crime (violent vs. non-violent) and also compared the ICL scores of the prisoners (violent and non-violent) …

A Study Of The Relationship Between Overt Behavior And: I) Tat Fantasy Aggression And The Stimulus Properties Of Selected Tat Cards, Ii) Self-Report Measures Of Aggression And Guilt, Iii) Tat Fantasy Aggression, Self-Report Measures And Personal Data, Christine Ruth Bauman, David James Leitner

Dissertations and Theses

Past research has shown that there are many factors that influence projective test responses. This is especially true of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Certain variables that have been found to influence the TAT response were studied in this experiment. These variables included the subjects’ scores on purported measures of the personality trait of aggression, and various parameters of the TAT cards themselves.

This experiment included three studies which investigated the relationship between test measures of aggression and aggressive behavior. The three studies were conducted concurrently using the same subject population: forty-two male inmates at the Oregon State Penitentiary. They …

A Study Of The Relationship Between Self-Concept, Public Image, And Consensus Rorschach Performance, Dale Sherman Walhood

Dissertations and Theses

Four measures of dominance were taken on college roommate pairs. Three of the measures were derived from Leary’s interpersonal system for diagnosing personality. The fourth measure was derived from the consensus approach to Rorschach administration. Dominance scores for self-concept, public image, predicated image (a new measure in which a person attempts to predict how a significant other sees him) and consensus Rorschach performance were computed. Predicted image correlated higher with self-concept than public image as predicted. Results suggest that dominance as measured by the Rorschach is related to both public image and self-concept. Submissive members appear to understand the structure …

The Effect Of Diagnostic Labeling On Perception Of Behavioral Abnormalities, Clifton J. Saper

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Experimenter Bias Effect And Its Relation To Submission To Authority, Anat Rutenberg

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Scientific researchers are expected to control the “Experimenter” or “Rosenthal” effect, in which the experimenter’s (E’s) expectations somehow induce the experimental results. Some seventy studies dealing with experimenter bias effect (EBE), many of them recent, were critically reviewed. Contradictory results and failures to replicate were reported. The most plausible explanation involved the personality characteristics of, and the dominance relation between, E and S. Accordingly, the present study examined one personality trait which seems to underlie the EBE, namely, submission to authority.

To elicit EBE, students serving as Es administered Ss Rosenthal’s Photo Rating Test (RPRT), a series of photographed faces …

Obesity : Two Behavioral Approaches To Weight Reduction, Albert Blake Davidson

Dissertations and Theses

Much of the research on obesity has been designed to explore its relationship to the behavior of overeating. Although a number of physiological, societal, cultural and family background variables have been detailed, researchers have sought an approach that does not rely heavily on these considerations. Most weight reduction programs fail to recognize and concentrate on empirically demonstrated differences between obese and normal subjects. Researchers have shown that obese subjects seem to be more sensitive to external than internal stimuli. A behavioral approach to weight reduction that emphasizes and uses these external stimuli was hypothesized to be the treatment of choice. …

An Analysis Of The Effects Of Individual Counseling And Group Process Techniques Upon The Behavior Of Children In A Juvenile Detention Facility, Robert Arthur Struble

Dissertations and Theses

A three month project was designed to study the effects of individual counseling combined with group process techniques upon the behavior of children in a short term detentional facility. The length of stay was also a primary variable. In the study of this behavior.

The behavior of 282 males, 14 to 17 years of age, whom had been to the juvenile detention facility in Portland, Oregon, was analyzed via three separate instruments. The Behavior Activity Inventory was utilized to obtain daily observations concerning four separate areas of interest. An attitudinal rating scale was devised to obtain the staff’s assessment as …

Maturity Of Adolescent Unwed Mothers, Sarah L. Claiborne

Dissertations and Theses

Adolescence traditionally has been recognized and accepted as a period of exploration of an occasional rebellion against the adult world. Explorations are viewed by behavioral scientists as a quest for identity expansion, and as such, a necessary phase for attaining maturity. Several tasks have been identified which each adolescent must complete if he is to reach maturity. For the present these tasks can be summarized as character formation, attainment of sexual identity, establishment of mature relationships and emancipation from parental control.

Society's attitude towards the rebellion and exploitation of youth is mixed. This confusion seems related to a general breakdown …

An Investigation Of Possible Relationships Between Sex-Role Orientation, The Motive To Avoid Success And The Inhibition Of Aggression In Women, Joan Dayger Behn, Barbara Mcduffee Mecca

Dissertations and Theses

In this study, it was proposed that the extent to which an individual accepts the collection of attitudes, mannerisms, and abilities the culture endorses as being feminine or masculine (which we are referring to as sex-role orientation) is related to the appearance of inhibiting fears of social rejection and uneasiness about one’s femininity (which we refer to as the need or motive to avoid success). We further hypothesized that women interested in achievement, being less strongly sex-typed, would feel deviant and exposed as women and would be likely to place a premium on the maintenance of other feminine attributes.

Ever …

The Role Of Context Cues In Recognition Memory, R. Reed Hunt

Psychology ETDs

Four experiments were conducted to further examine the role of context cues in recognition. The basic rationale underlying this research was to compare the relative effects of the same contextual manipulations in recognition and recall memory tasks. If the effect of context cues is upon the same theoretical process in recognition and recall, similar manipulations should result in relatively similar performance in the two paradigms. In Experiments I and II, recall and recognition tasks respectively, the effect of repetitions of the to-be-remembered item in the old training context upon subsequent memory for the item in a new context was examined. …