Digital Commons Network^™

Establishing Reinforcing Properties In Neutral Stimuli Through Observational Learning With Children, Andrew Waine Gardner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to observe and analyze the factors that lead to a child's increase in responding to a previously neutral stimulus after observing another child's behavior and consequences in the same setting. The effects of five video presentations on rate of button-pressing responses were observed across four students. Rates of button-pressing behavior on an FR3 schedule of reinforcement were collected for each student using a computer and a metal apparatus with two flat push buttons. Each student completed two baseline phases to establish neutrality of stimuli, and viewed a total of five video presentations. Each video …

Sociometric Change As A Function Of Classwide Peer Tutoring, Trina D. Spencer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) procedures have been shown to substantially increase academic performance. Other positive outcomes, incidentally observed, include enhanced prosocial behaviors and increased appropriate interactions among peers. This study examined the direct effects of a CWPT program on peer relations and academic performance. A mixed first- and second-grade general education classroom participated in a CWPT spelling intervention with a comparable control classroom. The study consisted of three phases-Baseline (4 weeks), Intervention (6 weeks), and Follow-up (4 weeks). Dependent measures included sociometric peer rating scales and spelling test scores. Results were analyzed by determining mean change for each participant and …

Internalizing Symptoms Of Children And Parenting Practices: An Exploratory Study, Kristi Lowe Stewart

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Parenting practices are known to be associated with childhood behavior difficulties. Past research has focused on the association between parenting practices and externalizing behavior problems in children. The relationship between internalizing behavioral problems and parenting practices has received less empirical attention. The current study explored the connection between internalizing symptomology in children and parenting practices. Sixty-six parents and children between the ages of 8 and 12 were surveyed regarding internalizing symptomology and parenting practices. Results indicated that parents of children with internalizing symptomology displayed statistically significantly poorer parenting behaviors than did parents of children who were free of internalizing symptoms. …

Predictors Of Satisfaction With Sport Leadership In Small-College Football Players, Derek R. Reinke

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study investigated eight possible predictors of satisfaction levels in smallcollege football players. The sample (N = 442) included eight nonscholarship football programs from the NCAA Division III or NAIA classifications. Measures included Zhang's Revised Version of Chelladurai's Leadership Scale for Sport, and a seven-item subscale of the Scale of Athlete Satisfaction.

The six subscales of the Revised Leadership Scale for Sport each yielded a significant linear relationship with the satisfaction outcome measure: social support (r= .696), situational consideration (I= .665), positive feedback (r = .654), teaching and instruction (r= .627), democratic behaviors ( …

Psychosocial Factors And Their Relationship To Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus Outcome Among The Strong Heart Study Cohort, Brian O'Leary

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Diabetes mellitus is a serious problem that affects 15.7 million individuals in the United States. The complications of this disease are catastrophic and can lead to blindness, kidney disease, lower limb amputations, nerve damage, increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and death. Among Native Americans, diabetes has reached epidemic proportions. A variety of psychosocial variables has demonstrated relationships to diabetic outcome. Past research has shown a relationship between psychological variables and glucose control. The current study of Native Americans shows a similar pattern using the psychosocial instruments to measure the constructs of depression, anger, hostility, social support, and perceived stress. …

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 And Low Back Pain Surgery Outcome, David S. Shearer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Chronic back pain is a serious problem in the U.S. for which about 10% of back pain sufferers will undergo elective surgery. Unfortunately, back surgery is not successful in alleviating back pain in a substantial number of surgery patients. Various psychological and psychosocial variables have a demonstrated relationship to back surgery outcome. The most widely used personality test used to predict back surgery outcome is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Past research has shown that elevations on three MMPI clinical scales (Hs, D, and Hy) are positively correlated with poor back surgery outcome. The current prospective study shows a …

An Evaluative Argument-Based Investigation Of Validity Evidence For The Utah Pre-Algebra Criterion-Referenced Test, Louise Richards Moulding

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study collected evidence to address the assumptions underlying the use of the Utah Core Assessment to Pre-Algebra (UCAP) to (a) measure student achievement in pre-algebra, and (b) assist teachers in making adjustments to instruction. An evaluative argument was defined to guide the collection of evidence. Each of the assumptions in the evaluative argument was addressed using data from a suburban northern Utah school district. To collect the evidence, test content was examined including item match to course objectives, reliability, and subtest intercorrelations. Analyses of correlations of the UCAP with convergent and discriminant measures were completed using student test data …

Assessing The Need For Evaluator Certification, Steven C. Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Professional certification is arguably a means of validating a practitioner's competency within their trade. Certification can also be beneficial for enhancing a profession's prestige, improving academic programs, and helping to define the profession in question. However, certification can be considered not feasible, effective, or perhaps even necessary. Due to the likelihood of these conflicting viewpoints, it is essential for any profession to determine the support level from its members prior to implementing a certification process.

This thesis presents the results from a 1998 survey for the American Evaluation Association, whereby their members responded to items regarding the need, effectiveness, feasibility …

Changing The Role Of Appraisal And Interpersonal Factors In Guilt Induction: Time, Perspective, And Responsibility, Chris Lee Treadwell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Appraisal theories of emotion assert that guilt arises from the evaluations one ill makes about one's behavior. Perpetrators experience guilt when they view themselves as responsible for harm caused to their victims. Interpersonal theories of emotion hold that guilt is a function of relational factors, including the need to repair relationships. Theorists argue that guilty feelings often arise in spite of appraisals, and that perpetrators feel guilty because of a need to communicate reconciliatory messages to their victims. These two views of guilt are generally seen as mutually exclusive. This study proposed integrating both views of guilt into a single, …

The Effects Of Cognitive Strategy And Exercise Setting On Running, Rick A. Lacaille

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The cognitive strategies of association and dissociation have been identified and studied in runners and other athletes. Association is said to involve thoughts that are task-oriented and may include a focus on pace, strategy, or physiological sensations. Conversely, dissociation involves task-irrelevant thoughts and may include thinking about such things as relationships, work, spiritual matters, or scenery. To date, studies have been largely descriptive, methodologically flawed, failed to use manipulation checks, and/or present unclear or differing conclusions. The emphasis with previous association and dissociation research has also been with elite and/or endurance athletes, such as marathon runners. Additionally, only a few …

The Effects Of Parental Modeling On The Health-Related Behaviors Of American Indian Adolescents: A Culturally Specific Investigation Of Social Learning Theory, Amy Jo Williams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Health-compromising behavior is a leading cause of death among American Indian (Al) adolescents. Examples of these behaviors include: smoking, alcohol consumption, drug use, and lack of seatbelt use. Theories that predict which Al youth are most at risk for executing these behaviors are needed.

Social learning theory (SL T) has shown adolescents' behaviors are sometimes highly correlated with their parents' behaviors across different ethnic groups. However, there has been little previous research done with Als.

The present study attempted to determine if SLT was applicable to Al adolescents and their parents with regard to four health-related behaviors: cigarette smoking, alcohol …

A Longitudinal Study Of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms In Preschool-Age Children, Jessica Nicole Greenson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is among the most common reasons for referral to children's mental health clinics, with an estimated prevalence of 3% to 5% in the general population of school-age children. Children who exhibit the requisite behaviors may obtain a diagnosis of ADHD at any age; however, symptom onset must occur before age 7 and persist for at least 6 months. Despite these temporal requirements for diagnosis, little empirical information about the manifestation and stability of ADHD symptoms in preschool children exists. This study provides information about the initial presence and stability over one academic year of ADHD behaviors …

A Correlational Study Of Firefighter Personality Traits And Emotional Exhaustion, Jeffrey P. Mccall

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

The occupational stress of the firefighter has received much attention over the last two decades in a variety of professional articles and studies. Elevated levels of stress may facilitate the onset of occupational burnout within this public service. The emotional exhaustion component of Maslach's burnout theory, which can be conceptualized as the first stage of burnout, will be specifically addressed in this study. The subjects were 81 firefighters from a large urban fire department, with a range in age, years of service, marital status, and ethnicity. A Pearson product-moment correlation was conducted to ascertain correlations between personality traits as noted …

Assessors And Use Of Assessment Centre Dimensions: A Fresh Look At A Troubling Issue, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Previous studies on the construct validity of assessment centres have generally produced puzzling results. The premise of this study is that these prior studies were relatively one-sided. Actually, most previous studies were field studies, which typically used the multitrait-multimethod approach to distinguish between two sources of variance (i.e., exercises and dimensions). Therefore, this study aims to shed light on the issue of assessment centre construct validity by addressing substantive and methodological concerns inherent in previous research. In this study, 85 industrial and organizational psychology students and 39 managers rated videotaped assessment centre candidates in three exercises on six dimensions. Results …

Char Reaction Kinetics In A Transport Gasifier, Jason P. Jacobsen

Theses and Dissertations

In the field of energy generation, coal gasification is one of the burgeoning technologies that are becoming an attractive alternative to conventional coal conversion. This study will provide valuable data to aid in optimizing and understanding this type of technology, in particular the char reactions of a transport coal gasifier that utilizes the M. W. Kellogg process. It has been very difficult to develop an accurate model for this process due to the lack of kinetic/equilibrium data of the coal char re-bum reaction and its effects on the gasification process.

Char reaction data on carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide …

Effects Of Induced Mood On Cognitive Processing In Healthy Older And Healthy Younger Adults, Laura J. Kitzan

Theses and Dissertations

Studies of young adults have shown that in the presence of intense mood states (e.g., sad), the frequency of task-irrelevant, mood-related thoughts increase and interfere with task performance. Gunther, Ferraro, and Kirchner (1996) tested induced-mood effects on long-term-memory (LTM) recognition of young adults as the recognition task became more difficult. The sad group had longer reaction times (RT) and higher error rates at the toughest recognition level than the neutral group. Gerard, Zacks, Hasher, and Radvansky (1991) studied age-related changes on LTM retrieval using the same paradigm. While the younger and older adults had longer RT and higher error rates …

Social Responses To Hiv Positive Suicide Ideators., Saborah Lee Bishop

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present investigation was to examine responses to suicidal ideation by an HIV positive male described as heterosexual/homosexual in a promiscuous/monogamous relationship.

Men (101) and women (137) enrolled in introductory psychology courses participated in the study. Participants completed a short demographic questionnaire, read one of four scenarios, and completed the Attitudes and Helping Behavior Scale (AHBS) designed to measure the participantsÆ emotional responses, attributions, and willingness to help the target subject. Present research involved a 2 (sex of subject) x 4 (scenarios) independent groups factorial. Independent ANOVAS were performed to interpret the significance of the main and …

Socioeconomic Status And Media Exposure As Factors In Empathic Development., David E. Cox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study examined the empathic attainment of young children (mean age 7 years) as a function of the child's socioeconomic status. Further, the potential intervening variable of violent media representations within product advertisements is assessed within and between the observed socioeconomic status groups. Three critical dimensions of empathy were assessed: cognitive, affective and behavioral. Participants were 200 volunteers recruited from public and private schools in a small region in southern Appalachia. Respondents were rated on their response to animated video clips depicting an individual in emotional distress. Results suggest that media exposure has significant effect on measures of affective …

Our Duty, Our Rights, Our America: Women In American Nativism 1830 - 1930, Tanis Lovercheck-Saunders

Theses and Dissertations

This paper assesses the role women played in organizing and maintaining anti-Catholic nativist movements between 1830–1930. It analyzes women's motivations for joining nativist sororities and describes the activities they participated in. It pays special attention to women involved in antebellum nativist sororities, late nineteenth century nativist sororities, and the Women of the Ku Klux Klan. It looks at how nativist women used the concepts of Republican Motherhood, woman's moral superiority, and woman's innate patriotism to justify their activities and campaign for woman suffrage.

Am I The Leader? Resident Assistant's Assessment Of Roles And Training, Renee J. Bourdeaux

Theses and Dissertations

Students attend colleges and unversities across the nation in the hopes of receiving an education. Campus culture not only educates students academically, but socially as well. Once area that focuses on developinng community skills is the residential department. A Resident Assistant (RA) is a student who works in the residence halls. RAs must understand four skill areas in order to be effective in their job performance: Leadership, communication, administrative, and problem solving. The questions that this thesis will address by surveying RAs are: "How do RAs perceive their roles and training?", "How can training be improved?", and "Is there a …

A Review Of Progressive Muscle Relaxation Interventions Used With School-Aged Children And Adolescents, Christopher Laypath

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

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) techniques have been used since the early

twentieth century as a means of inducing relaxation and decreasing muscle tension.

However, only in the last twenty five years have systematic studies of these techniques to

treat children and adolescents appeared with any regularity in the research literature.

The last major review of the literature was published in 1989. The purpose of this

paper was to examine studies published since the last review of the literature. A special

emphasis was placed on studies set in schools or that were relevant to mental health

professionals in those settings. The …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Self-Management Programs For Students With Disruptive Behaviors: A Comprehensive Literature Review, Heidi Kupiec

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

Disruptive behaviors exhibited by children and youth pose a major problem for students exhibiting the behaviors, their peers, parents, and teachers. Disruptive behaviors including shouting, aggression, off-task behaviors, and noncompliance, correlate with poor social skills, low peer acceptance, higher rates of academic deficiencies, and in adulthood instability in relationships and employment. Self-management programs employ traditional behavior management methods and with self-management components to teach students to self-monitor or evaluate their behavior. By teaching students to be aware of and to manage their own behavior students may be better able to generalize appropriate behaviors to other less supervised settings, complete more …

Cognitive And Physiological Processes Underlying Written Disclosure, Leila Setork '01

Honors Projects

The aim of this research was to examine the underlying cognitive processes as well as the physiological outcomes of disclosing traumatic events. Epstein (1973, 1991, 1994, 1998) has argued the existence of two fundamental modes of cognitive processing: a rational mode that involves higher brain functioning and is reason-oriented, and an experiential mode that involves lower brain functioning and is pleasure-pain oriented. We examined the hypothesis that fact-based disclosure invokes rational processing while emotion-based disclosure invokes experiential processing by examining participants' physiological reactivity during as well as their behavior in a decision-making task following written disclosure. Based on previous findings …

Political Psychology In Yugoslavia: An Overview, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article (with minimal editing by IBPP) has been written by a new IBPP Regional Editor, Natasa Bajic, a psychologist who resides in Serbia. In the article, she provides an overview of political psychology within Yugoslavia.

Leader In Love Ii, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article continues the analysis of the political consequences of leaders in love.

Is Science Ever Science? The Politics Of Child Care, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article explores the political behavior of psychologists in the carrying out of scientific tasks.

Trends. The Psychology Of The Only Realistic Alternative: A Problem In The Mideast, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses the conflict between the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the State of Israel.

Increasing Attendance At Voluntary Academic Tutoring Sessions On A Large University, Meghan Sadler

Honors Theses

High attrition rates have become an impetus for colleges and universities to develop programs to help students during the first years of their education. Various services such as supplemental instruction, tutoring, testing, counseling, college success seminars, and remedial help are offered to help students be successful in their university studies. While these services may be offered, encouraging students to voluntarily attend these sessions is a problem. This study was conducted to analyze the effect of prompts on improving the attendance at voluntary content tutoring sessions at a large Midwestern University. The participants were college students enrolled in any course that …

The Effects Of Household Substance Abuse On The Behavioral And Emotional Outcomes Of Child Witnesses To Domestic Violence, Katherine R. Destefano

Theses and Dissertations

Both domestic violence and parental substance abuse are risk factors for childhood developmental delays and emotional problems. The purpose of this study is to determine if child witnesses of domestic violence exhibit greater levels of emotional problems when substance abuse is present in the household, and to determine how both groups of children respond to therapeutic intervention targeting these problems. The results indicate that child witnesses of domestic violence exhibit a greater level of behavioral and emotional problems when alcohol and drug abuse is also a factor. Following treatment both groups show a greater reduction in behavioral and emotional pathology …

Trends. Banning Espionage, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses the psychological aspects of the idea of banning espionage as presented in an article in SECRECY NEWS from the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy.