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Noninformative Conditioned Reinforcers In Observing Response Training, Arnold Wellman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The goal of this research was to ascertain if information per se is a necessary condition to establish a conditioned reinforcer. Five pigeons were given observing response training in a two key Skinner box using free choice and forced trials procedures and a chain VI FI reinforcement schedule. The percentage of free choice noninformative trials was the observing response measure. A time correction procedure equated actual and programmed reinforcement frequencies in informative trials and noninformative trials if a difference occurred. For one bird a discrimination reversal of the informative and noninformative stimulus presentations occurred in the last five sessions.

All …

Strengths Enhancement Training: Self-Concept And Self-Actualization, Tony J. Strelich

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The strengths enhancement training program was developed and evaluated in order to determine empirically if a group method designed specifically to assist subjects in the identification of personal strengths, resources, and potentials, would be effective in broadening their perceptions of themselves in a positive direction.

The strengths enhancement training program was based primarily on the work of Herbert A. Otto, using the Multiple Strengths Perception method as the central component of the training program. That method was pilot tested, and program modifications were made on two occasions.

A pretest-posttest control group design was used to assess the 80 Introductory Psychology …

Some Characteristics Of Female College Students Who Select Academic Majors In Fields Of Exact Science And Non-Exact Science: A Longitudinal Follow-Up, Paul David Warner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The present study, conducted in 1974, was a longitudinal follow-up of two groups of female subjects who had participated in an earlier study (Wright and Johnson, 1960) while the subjects were university students. One group of the subjects had majored in fields considered at that time to be traditionally feminine majors, i.e. social sciences, art, music, education, homemaking, etc. The other group had majored in fields of exact sciences, which at the time were considered more traditionally masculine. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether differences noted in the 1960 study will exist between these two groups …

The Development And Validation Of A Life-Change Checklist For Juvenile Delinquents, Paul G. Kulcsar

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A method generated by psychophysics has been used to develop a Checklist consisting of 58 life-events that require varying degrees of readjustment on the part of adolescents experiencing them.

A very high degree of concordance was found to exist among psychologists, social workers and probation officers with regard to the relative value of life-change required by those events.

Information about the occurrence of the amount of life-change was subsequently gathered from a sample of 334 juvenile delinquents and 104 nondelinquents by administering the Checklist. A measure of the degree of severity of delinquency was also obtained for each delinquent subject. …

Telephone Crisis Intervention: Empathy And Conceptual Level, Paul J. Seymour

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The telephone crisis intervention service at Utah State University (Help-Line) was evaluated in order to make the training program accountable and to produce recommendations for improvement in volunteer training.

Help-Line training teaches a "non-directive" counseling model and incorporates experiential sensitivity type exercises, didactic discussion, and role playing.

Help-Line volunteers were assessed by two methods. The first was a pretest-posttest control group design. Training was the independent variable and the discrimination of core conditions (as measured by the Crisis Center Discrimination Index) and the communication of empathy (as measured by the Crisis Center Communication Index) were the dependent variables. The Indexes …

The Persistence Of Negative Intra-List Cueing Effects, Charles R. Grah

Psychology ETDs

This thesis discriminates between two hypotheses which have been proposed to account for the recall decrement frequently produced by recall cues when the cues are selected from the study list (intra-list cues). One hypothesis suggests that the recall decrement is produced by changes in the relative strengths of words in memory. The other hypothesis suggests that the recall decrement results from additional recall requirements that are placed upon the subject when recall is cued with intra-list cues. These hypotheses make different predictions about the persistence of the recall decrement. The first hypothesis predicts that the recall decrement should persist when …

Employment Qualifications For Community Service Agencies And Organizations In Midland And Odessa, Susan Garfield Edwards

Graduate Theses

The terms "social work," "casework," and "counseling" signify similar but separate professions, occupations, and techniques. Their places within the spectrum of community or helping services are clarified by a discussion of relevant literature. Based on these perspectives, a survey of 104 local helping service agencies and organizations was under taken to establish employment qualifications (educational, experiential, professional) for the helping professions. Follow-up was done in 10 situations where Master's Degrees in Social Work, Counseling, and Psychology were required for employment—to determine the particular value of the degree for the specific position. Indications from this study are: that, most positions available …

Reduction Of Free-Floating Anxiety As A Function Of Emg Biofeedback Or Deep-Muscle Relaxation Training, Gregory Brown

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In an attempt to assess the effect of relaxation training on anxiety levels, a population of 350 students enrolled in Introduction to Psychology classes at Western Kentucky University were administered the Institute for Personality and Ability Testing (IPAT) 8- Parallel- Form Anxiety Battery to screen for 36 high anxiety subjects. These subjects were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: biofeedback, deep muscle relaxation, or control. The biofeedback group received electromyograph training over a three-week period, while the deep muscle relaxation group listened to relaxation tapes. Alternate forms of the IPAT were administered to all subjects at specified intervals to …

The Effect Of Reinforcers On The Verbal Behavior Of Headstart Children, Deloris Floyd

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study attempted to assess the effect of a speech contingency reinforcement, administered by an interacting adult, to increase the number of word units uttered during test administration. More specifically, the experiment attempted to see if lower class children when given a reinforcer would take more time in giving elaborated and scorable responses on specific items, thereby raising their score on those items. Their performance was compared to lower class children who were not given the reinforcer. Fifty children from the Warren County 1973 summer Headstart program were used as subjects. The treatment conditions included a control group given no …

Sex And Marital Status Differences In Death Anxiety, Michael Cole

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Previous research in death anxiety has suggested that marital roles, and especially the male’s role as the family provider, influence the sex differences in death attitudes (Diggory & Rothman, 1961; Tolor & Murphy, 1967). The present study attempted to directly investigate the effect of marital roles by comparing the sex differences in death anxiety scores (as measured by the Templer Death Anxiety Scale) of married persons, with and without children, and single persons. In addition, 20 demographic covariates were investigated to observe their possible effect on death anxiety. The results of the multiple regression analysis indicated that marital status was …

Employment Qualifications For Community Service Agencies And Organizations In Midland And Odessa, Susan Garfield Edwards

Graduate Theses

The terms "social work," "casework," and "counseling" signify similar but separate professions, occupations, and techniques. Their places within the spectrum of community or helping services are clarified by a discussion of relevant literature. Based on these perspectives, ad survey of 104 local helping service agencies and organizations was undertaken to establish employment qualifications (educational, experiential, professional) for the helping professions. Follow-up was done in 10 situations where Master's Degrees in Social Work, Counseling, and Psychology were required for employment - to determine the particular value of the degree for the specific position. Indications from this study are: that most positions …

The Effects Of Central And Peripheral Graphics On Personal Disclosure, Louis C. Saksen

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Forty-eight college students, twenty males and twenty-eight females, were used to assess the effects of central and peripheral graphic environments on personal disclosure and subjective evaluation. Scales developed by Cash (1972) were used to determine the type and amount of subjects' disclosure and non-disclosure; scales developed by Nehrabian and Russell (1974) were utilized to assess subjective evaluation of the environmental space in terms of information theory and approach-avoidance.

Results replicated a previous study by Cash (1974), indicating that females made more positive self-references than males (p < .01) . Hales also chose to disclose less often than females (p < .05) . No significant differences resulted from the graphic environmental conditions.

The data did produce substantial variance between the sexes in response to the environments. …

The Effects Of Shock Intensity On Discriminative Punishment Of Consummatory Licking Behavior In Rats, Jose Gualberto Martins Angerami

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Attending Behavior Training On Performance Of A Paired Color Discrimination Task, Stephen Michael Aggas

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Behavioral Community Psychology: Encouraging The Community-Based Elderly To Participate In A Nutritious Meal Program, Theodore J. Bunck

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

A Validation Of Tests For Selection Of Office Workers At Western Michigan University, Allen E. Doolittle

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of An Interdependent Group Contingency Contract On Weight Loss In Women, Carol Daisley

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Mixed Cs₁-Cs₂ Interval Effects On Sensory Preconditioning With Rats, V. Alan Spiker

Psychology ETDs

Previous within-subject manipulations of the CS-US interval (ISI) in classical conditioning have shown that if two ISIs are randomly presented, conditioning rates will be directly related to the proportion of trials during which the more optimal ISI is presented. The present study was designed to extend this finding to sensory preconditioning (SPC). Ten groups of rats were trained to bar press on a Variable­Interval 30 sec. schedule prior to the introduction of a three phase SPC paradigm. The first phase consisted of 16 pairings of light and tone, while Phase 2 established a conditioned emotional response to the tone through …

The Yiptis Common Belief Scale: A Psychometric Evaluation, John Linden

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The basic psychometric characteristics of the Common Belief Scale (CBS) of the YIPTIS, Your Irrational Personality Trait Inventory Score, were investigated. The CBS was formulated within Ellis's conceptual framework of Rational Behavior Therapy. Designed for use with adults of at least normal intelligence, its purpose is to evaluate the strength of identification with a specified set of common irrational beliefs which are hypothesized to lead to emotional disturbance.

Subjects taking part in this study were volunteers ranging in age from seventeen to twenty-seven. The total sample of 186 subjects was composed of 105 female- and 81 males. Approximately one half …

An Exploratory Study Of Runaway Female Adolescents In A Residential Treatment Center, Mary E. Cook, Stan Jasper

Dissertations and Theses

If correctional institutions are to function according to established criteria, that is, to "correct" the deviant behavior of juvenile delinquents, then one obvious requirement is to have continuous contact with that individual over a period of time. This research project is one attempt to study runaways from the juvenile delinquent girls institution. This study specifically focuses on what factors influence a girl to run away and what factors encourage her to stay at Villa St. Rose.

Both researchers discovered in working at Villa St. Rose that one the biggest obstacles for the treatment program was the number of runaways that …

A Test Of Conservation For Continuous And Discontinuous Quantity In The Very Young Child, Nancy Patrick Kaye

Dissertations and Theses

The development of mathematical concepts in children has been studied by many researchers. Much of this research has focused on the concept of conservation which was introduced by Piaget. It has generally been assumed that children under the age of five years are not capable of such conservation. Some recent evidence suggests that children Wlder this age do conserve on particular tasks. In this study one hundred children from age two years four months to three years seven months were tested for conservation of discontinuous and continuous quantity. Although some evidence of conservation in this age range was obtained, no …

Effects Of Verbal And Pantomime Stimulus Input On The Short Term Sequential Recall Of Aphasic Adults, Lauryl Suzanne Ivers Grotting

Dissertations and Theses

The question posed in this investigation was: Which stimulus input mode, verbal, pantomime, or combined verbal and pantomime, is more effective in facilitating short term sequential recall of language material with aphasic adults?

Preferred And Nonpreferred Color As Irrelevent Background In Paired Associate Learning, Margaret Ann Kenner

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the School of Education at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Psychology by Margaret Ann Kenner in January of 1976.

Audio Tape Induction Of Juvenile Delinquents Into A Group Living Milieu, Philip J. Blende

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Ua35/11 Student Honors Bulletin, Vol. Iv, Wku Honors Program

WKU Administration Documents

The articles, all papers done for classes in the university honors program, are divided into three groups. The first group deals with science, especially the area of health care, one of the more practical applications of science in the modern age. The second group consists of three papers done for honor courses in which the major purpose was to expose the student to new areas of consciousness and have them respond orally and verbally to what they read, creative writing. The last group deals with the humanities, literature and religion, two of the more popular fields of the humanities today. …

Women's Prejudice Toward Women In Untraditional Sex Roles, Dolores D. Lackey

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Covert Scanning And Serial Encoding In Visual Short-Time Memory, Robert C. Olson

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of A Drug-Induced Stress On The Contrafreeloading Phenomenon In Rats, Jeanne Bennett

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this experiment was to determine if stress, induced by intraperitoneal (IP) injections of epinephrine, influenced rats' preference to freeload (drink sucrose solution from a drinking tube) or to work for a liquid reinforcer (obtain sucrose solution by barpressing). Furthermore, the order in which stress was introduced was investigated.

Following two weeks of water deprivation, 6 female and 6 male Hooded rats approximately 90 days old were divided into two experimental groups. The first group (S-N) was stressed the first and second experimental testing days in which a choice was presented between barpressing and freeloading for a 10% …

The Nursing Posture Of Domestic Sows And Related Behaviour, D. Fraser

Rearing Behavior Collection

The nursing behaviour of the sow commonly involves upward rotation of the udder, movements of the head and legs, and rhythmic grunting. Aspects of this behaviour were studied in several experiments with pregnant females, juveniles males, and suckling piglets. Many pregnant females lay down and assumed the nursing posture when their udders were first rubbed by hand. Those which initially appeared agitated in the experimenter's presence often failed to do so until after some habituation to the procedure. When the upper and lower rows of teats were rubbed alternately, the udder was usually rotated toward the stimulation. This rotation, like …

Effects Of Attitude Toward Women In Management And Applicant Information On A Male And Female Applicant For A Management Position, Arlette Ada Steinberger

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

An in-basket exercise was used to investigate the effects of sex-role stereotypes on selection evaluations of applicants for a management position. The independent variables consisted of (a) sex of the applicant (e.g. Janet N. Davis, James N. Davis) (b) the raters attitude toward women in management positions as measured by a questionnaire, and finally (c) the quality of information (e.g. biographical or behavioral). On the basis of information provided, 28 male and female subjects evaluated the applicants performance potential and suitability for a particular management position. The results confirmed the hypothesis that attitude toward women in management creates a discriminatory …