Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Shock-Induced Attack On Bar Pressing For Liquid Food Reinforcement, Joseph G. Hayes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Induced attack was studied under three conditions: (1) paired experimentally naive rats were exposed to intense electrical shock; (2) experimental subjects, previously trained to respond on a fixed ratio of six responses for liquid food reinforcement, were paired with target animals with the reinforcement contingency in effect; (3) experimental subjects were given a history of responding on a fixed ratio of six responses for positive reinforcement in the presence of shock, and finally this group was paired with experimentally naive targets when both the reinforcement and shock variables were present.

Pairing experimental animals without shock did not cause attack, nor …

Beards And Their Effect On Dimensions Of Self Concept, Douglas C. Olsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The effects of beards on aspects of self concept were studied. Experimental and control groups were administered measures of "self concept" in pre and post test situations. The experimental group grew beards while the control group continued to shave during the time interim. Results were analyzed using analysis of covariance, but failed to produce any significant differences.

Differences were found, however, in post test results of the within group variability of the experimental group in two areas: feeling reactivity and capacity for intimate contact. This suggests that possibly beards affect people in a wider variety of ways in their sensitivity …

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 …

The Development Of A Vocational Interest Inventory Using "Worker-Oriented" Job Elements, Alma F. Harris

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to develop a vocational interest inventory, using the "worker-oriented" job elements of Dr. Ernest J. McCormick and his associates, and to assess the reliability of the resulting instrument.

The interest inventory was prepared, based on 191 of the questions from the Position Analysis Questionnaire, and the test-retest reliability was calculated for a sample of 71 high school students, over a three-week period.

The mean correlation coefficient for the five over-all "job dimension" scores of the interest inventory was .80, and the average item reliability was .54. These coefficients were considered high enough to justify …

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 …

Behavioral Contrast In Children, Wenden Wayne Waite

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The present study was conducted as a systematic replication of earlier work investigating the phenomenon of behavioral contrast. Behavioral contrast has been consistently reported in alternating two component multiple schedules using infra-human subjects. The present study was interested in answering the question, "Does behavioral contrast exist in humans?"

Two experiments were performed which investigated the behavioral contrast and sequential contrast phenomena in children. In both experiments, lever press responses were analyzed using an ABA single-subject design. The children were instructed to press a lever to obtain as many tokens as possible. In Experiment I, six Ss were equally divided into …

Programmed Interpersonal Relations Training For Small Groups, John Fredricks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of the Human Development Institute's (HDI) new group relationship improvement program on the interpersonal functioning of those individuals who undergo the program. The "California Personality Inventory" (CPI), the "Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior" (FIRO-B), and a semantic differential were used to measure changes.

The two hypotheses of this study are:

1. There will be a significant change towards improved interpersonal relationship skills for all groups, as measured from pre- to post testings.

2. There will be no significant difference in the change in interpersonal relations as measured by the pre-and post tests, between …

   ---

   Go to article

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 …

The Effects Of Response Sets On The Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, Brent L. Andersen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Modified versions of the Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (CMAS) and Marlow-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MCSDS) were administered to 40 normal and 29 retarded elementary school children to determine the effects of response sets upon CMAS scores. The results of the research indicated that CMAS scores obtained from retarded subjects reflect the use of acquiescence and denial response sets. Acquiescence response set did not affect the CMAS scores of normal children although there was a negative relationship between their CMAS scores and social desirability. The higher anxiety scores obtained by normal girls was felt to reflect their lower use of social …

Continuance Vs. Discontinuance In Family Counseling, Katherine Anderson, Alice Dudley, Mayetta Rocks

Dissertations and Theses

The study was designed to examine the social workers' and clients' perceptions of change in the treatment process; specifically to examine the question of why clients discontinue service prior to planful termination. Also, the authors attempted to assess the client's perception of gain and the worker's assessment of gain.

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 …

The Development Of Behavioral Contrast In Human Subjects, Joel Steven Ray

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Polydipsia As Produced By A Multiple Schedule, Joseph J. Vaal

Masters Theses

Polydipsia and contrast effects are two behavioral phenomena produced by manipulations of the reinforcement schedules under which the organisms are behaving. The present study created a complex situation by subjecting rats to a multiple reinforcement schedule. This situation allowed simultaneous examination of both operant and induced drinking behavior. Furthermore, this situation allowed for an examination of possible schedule interactions with respect to the induced and operant drinking behaviors.

It was expected that the results of this study would show that behavioral contrast effects could be obtained in a polydipsic situation. Even though the expected results were not obtained, it is …

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.

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 …

Post-Divorce Visitation Of Minor Children; Development Of A Questionnaire, Viola Cotter, Lorraine Goldenberg, Terry Mcgill

Dissertations and Theses

The present descriptive study was broadly concerned about divorces which have an impact on minor children. It was intended to build on the previous research of Griffith, Hack, Murphy, Wieman, Williams, Van Lydegraf & Glaudin (1970) in describing the relationships between parents and children after divorce. It was the objective of the present research team to come closer to the goal of selecting a representative sample of divorced parents than was possible previously. Moreover, an attempt was made to develop a highly structured questionnaire and interview schedule growing out of the earlier experience with semi-structured interviews. Data to be collected …

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.

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.

A Correlation Between Self-Actualization And Communications Behavior, Joseph Whitney Alexander

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The planned, intensive group experience is the most rapidly spreading social invention of the century and, in the opinion of Carl Rogers, may be the most potent one. He recognizes such groups under varied labels such as T-groups, encounter groups, sensitivity training groups, and also as laboratories in human relations or as workshops in leadership, education, or counseling. Because of the emphasis on the fullest development of human potentials in most of these groups the theories and activities connected with them have come to be known as the Human Potential Movement.

The primary purpose of this investigation is to determine …

Auditory-Visual And Temporal-Spatial Integration Ability Of Good And Poor Readers At Two Grade Levels, N.H. Stevens

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

An investigation was made into the relation between grade level, reading ability and performance on six different auditory-visual integration tasks. The subjects, 38 second grade and 38 fifth grade students selected on the basis of their scores on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, were individually tested for ability to perform on the six tasks. The results showed a significant difference in ability to perform the integration tasks between the grade two and grade five subjects with the latter being better. A relation was found between reading level and certain of the integration tasks, with this relation varying between the two grades. …

Operant Training Of Originality In Hospitalized Adult Mental Patients, David Dennis Holt

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The thesis is a report of a pilot study in the general research area of behavioral originality. In the study operant techniques were used to train originality in hospitalized mentally ill or mentally retarded subjects (Ss). Originality of behavior was defined in terms of the observable behavior of the Ss in the research setting. Original responses were defined as verbal responses different from recorded baseline verbalizations for one subject (S) and motor responses different from previously observed motor responses for each of three Ss.

Solitary Protest, Mary Jones

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

"Alienation, estrangement, disaffection, anomie, withdrawal, disengagement, separation, noninvolvement, apathy, indifference, and neutralism--all of these terms point to a sense of loss, a growing gap between men and their social world." but these terms, which Kenneth Keniston disparages as the current vocabulary of social commentary, are indeed a familiar description of today. The youth on college campuses are especially fluent in the use of the many synonyms of alienations to depict prevalent college attitudes and social values. Even the term "generation gap" seems to cry of separation, estrangement, and alienation between two factions of our society-- young and old. what is …

An Empirical Study Of Measured Closemindedness And Intension As Exhibited Through The Response To Perceived Images, Kathleen A. Humphrey

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Relation Between Tested Intelligence And Length Of Institutionalization In Children, Janet Eileen Sanders

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between the tested intelligence of children in a public children’s shelter and the length of time these children had been institutionalized.

Detection Threshold For Heart Rate Change In Psychopaths, Recidivists And Normals, William K. Volner Jr.

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

To test this a three part study would be required. First, it should be determined if there is a difference between the threshold for perception of increased heart rate in psychopaths and normals in order to see if the problem is an attentional one. If such a difference were not found the next step would be to compare psychopaths and normals on the strength of the cognitive fear reaction to S_arm the source of which in this case is increased heart rate. Finally, if results show no cognitive fear attached to the awareness of their increased heart rate, …

Attitudes Toward The Policeman Among First Grade Children, Rose Mary Zacharia Finnegan

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Individual Differences In Person Perception: Assessment Of A Model, Tulio Peter Ferisin

Dissertations

No abstract provided.