Digital Commons Network^™

Some Effects Of Changes In The Feeding Schedule And Weight Of Squirrel Monkeys In A Non-Contingent Electric Shock Situation, John Edward Bushong

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Educational Ability, Practice And Short Term Memory, Barbara Jean Arthur

Master's Theses

Thirty-six fourth grade students were selected and classified into one of three groups on the basis of participation in the DISTAR Reading Program, educational ability as measured by the STEA and a reading readiness factor, Each group received two tests of short term memory (STM ) involving auditory presentation and either auditory or visual recall after a retention interval of 4, 8 or 12 seconds. Analysis verified previous research in this area with respect of task difficulty, retention as a function of interval length and acoustic similarity of response errors. Neither educational ability nor practice elevated the students' performance on …

Test For A Learned Drinking Response : Support For Appetitive Preparedness, Brian L. West

Master's Theses

Seligman, Ives, Ames and Mineka (1970a) have suggested that by the nature of the stimulus-response association in appetitive states a prepared mechanism using "mild" deprivation cues exists which will activate an appetitional resolution. Pairing of a neutral stimulus with this prepared mechanism results in a conditioned stimulus capable of electing the drinking response. Contrary to this hypothesis, Mowrer (1956) posited that a water deprived state induces an emotional reaction or "thirst fear." It is assumed that reduction of this stimulus may be accomplished by means of alleviating the deprived state. A conditioned external stimulus can therefore elicit the drinking response …

The Relationship Of Resting Cardiac Activity And Locus Of Control To Impulse Control, Carol Kress Coukos

Master's Theses

The relationship between the autonomic nervous system and various personlity characteristics has become a popular area of scientific investigation with the advent of accurate means of measurement of autnomic nervous system activity. The act of measuring autonomic nervous system activity carries great clinical value. Clinicians practicing systematic desensitization use the galvanic skin resistance -as an indication of whether the stimulus in question produces too much· anxiety for the client. The clinician, of course, also relies on the client's verbal response. Measurement of galvanic skin resistance provides additional information for the clinician. The clinician can draw from more than one response, …

The Effect Of Pairing A Stimulus With Food On Pellet-Controlled Licking In The Rat, Wendell Stone

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Traffic Speed Control By Speed Feedback, Sanford M. Reece

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Modeling Vs. Instruction On On-Task Behavior, Noel Wehrung

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Free Shocks On A Free Operant Two Lever Discriminated Avoidance Procedure, Glenda Denise Brown

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Status Of The Dominant Cognitive And Operant Theories Of Motivation In Industrial Psychology, Walter M. Baker

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Coeducation On Occupational, Educational And Social Aspirations Of Adolescent Girls, Mary Ellen Lynch

Student Work

The sexual composition of the high school environment may have a significant effect on the educational and occupational aspirations of adolescent girls. Although the coeducational environment may provide adolescent girls with more opportunities for social encounters and development of social skills, it may not facilitate the maintenance of high educational and occupational aspirations among them.

On the other hand, the emphasis in the same-sex all-girl high school may be academic rather than social. These girls are subject to a minimal amount of feminine-role conflict because they are not in direct competition with males. Same-sex peer influence may place emphasis on …

The Effectiveness Of Verbal Instruction On Teaching Behavior Modification Skills To Nonprofessionals, Harvey J. Sepler

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Reduced Remediation In A Personalized System Of Instruction (Psi) Styled Psychology Course As A Function Of Prequiz Discussion Of Study Questions, Paul Hubert Selden Iii

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Dogmatism And Mental Health: A Study Of Perceived Relationship, Anees A. Sheikh, L. Martin Moleski

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Self-Concept And Reinforcement: Two Paths To Achievement For Black And White Elementary School Children, Kirby L. Throckmorton

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Conditioning Model For The Mccollough Effect, Andreas D. Lord

Dissertations and Theses

A model based on the laws of classical conditioning is posed as an explanation for the McCollough Effect, an orientation-specific color aftereffect. This model stands as an alternative to the color-coded edge detector hypothesis. Background and relevant issues are presented. Two experiments were performed. The first demonstrated that an auditory stimulus causes the effect to appear stronger to some subjects, a disinhibiting effect. It was also shown that some subjects experience spontaneous recovery of the effect after it has been extinguished.

The second experiment demonstrated that the after-colors will generalize to lines of varying orientation, including 45°. Subjects adapted to …

The Development Of Attitudes Toward Work Through "Career Education", Lonnie Fred Mcdonough Wheeler

Dissertations and Theses

Attitude measurement problems are discussed within the context of a contemporary movement in the field of education. A restricted definition of the alienation construct is suggested as a theoretical framework within which research in this area could be conducted. Construction and validation data on an instrument designed to measure attitudes toward work are reported. Pre and posttest scores (using the above measure as well as the Rotter I-E Scale) of two high school Career Education programs were compared. Neither program produced significant mean attitude change in terms of these measures. However, change detected by increase in the variance on the …

Development Of An Observation Instrument To Assess Behavior, Scott Marshall Nay

Dissertations and Theses

The Vernon-Nay Category Instrument was developed as the result of an experimental project in an inner-city school. The effects of the reorganization of the administration of the school and the total staff participation in a workshop about human relations and communications were evaluated by the change of behavior of fifth- and sixth grade students in the classroom. The Flanders’ Interaction Analysis (assesses teacher-student verbal behavior) would measure change that occurred: however, the Vernon teachers wanted an assessment instrument that could, also, be used in the future, without professional assistance. The F.I.A. observation system was too complex for the staff's, unassisted, …

Added Cue Contribution To Discrimination Learning, David A. Governski

Psychology ETDs

The primary purpose of this experiment was to investigate the rate of discrimination learning in adding a cue to a designated reinforced stimulus as compared to adding a cue to a designated nonreinforced stimulus after prior nondifferential training had been given. It was predicted that the efficacy of adding a cue to either a positive or negative stimulus would depend on the type of nondifferential pretraining given. The results of the experiment demonstrated the following: first, after equal reinforcement pretraining, adding a cue to a designated nonreinforced stimulus facilitated subsequent discrimination learning more than adding a cue to a designated …

Moving Toward Integration: A Study Of Theory And Practice In Feminist Therapy, Susan Amelia Thomas

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis describes a study designed to explore the emerging field of feminist therapy. The goal was not to test the validity of feminist therapy, to probe the assumptions on which it is based, or to compare it to other forms of therapy but to characterize the theory and practice of feminist therapy as it now exists. Feminist therapy was seen as growing out of the cultural and historical context of the feminist movement, which includes a critique of society with emphasis on the particular psychological consequences for women, and a critique of psychotherapy, particularly Freudian psychotherapy, as oppressive to …

Influence Of Sex Role Stereotypes On Ratings Of Male And Female Behavior, Constance Barclay

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

An attempt was made to investigate the extent to which individuals are unknowingly influenced by a sex role stereotype in their evaluations of men and women. It was hypothesized that subjects would describe a character in more potency-related, “masculine” terms if that character had been identified as a male than if the character had been identified as a female. Subjects taking part in this study were an equal number of male and female students in introductory psychology classes. The semantic differential technique was employed as a descriptive tool for the subjects’ evaluations of a character they read about in a …

Secular & Ministerial Counseling In Bowling Green, Kentucky, Henry Darke

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Samples from two populations, community ministers and secular counselors, were surveyed to develop and analyze a description of the perceptions between and among these groups concerning their roles as counselors in the total community. Five questions were the focus of the research. The results of these questions may be summarized as follows: 1) both sample groups agreed that there seemed to be a need for additional ministerial counselors; 2) almost unanimously, the secular counselors indicated that they would welcome a more active ministerial counseling involvement within the total community setting, although a considerable portion (41%) of the ministers expressed doubts …

Cognitive Reflection-Impulsivity & Susceptibility To A Primary Illusion, Maureen Murphy

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The relationship between the reflection-impulsivity dimension of cognitive style and susceptibility to the Mueller Lyer illusion was investigated in nine year old children. Forty-four subjects, classified as either impulsive or reflective on the Matching Familiar Figures Test, were presented the Mueller Lyer figure under two viewing conditions, unrestricted exposure time and restricted exposure time of .1 second. It was expected that reflective children would be less susceptible to this illusion under the unrestricted condition than the impulsive children. Less difference between reflective and impulsive children was expected when exposure time was restricted. Results confirmed earlier studies that restricted exposure time …

Effects Of Intervention Programs On The Self Concept Of Rural Preschool Children, Virginia Miller

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The effects of intervention programs on the self concept of rural preschool children were examined using 86 children, ages 5 to 6 1/2 years, who had and had not had preschool experience. The relationships between the Total Self Concept and the subscales of Body Image, Competence, and Social Interactions to the variables of socio-economic level, sex, and preschool experience were determined. Significant differences (p <.001) were found between the different population variables and the Total Self Concept score, and the subscale scores of Body Image, Competence, and Social Interactions. The locations of these differences were determined by a Newman Kuel analysis. Significant effects (p<.05) on sex differences were found on Total Self Concept scale and on the Competence subscale. There were no significant (p <.05) interaction effects. Implications of these findings were discussed.

The Effects Of Manipulation Of Examination Results On Locus Of Control Beliefs, Douglas Doyle

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The present study investigated the effects of manipulated feedback concerning examination performance on locus of control beliefs. Brecher and Denmark (1972) found that students given manipulated feedback concerning results of a recent examination exhibited a significant increase in their I-E scores. In the present study, 84 students enrolled in one of three classes of a lower level, undergraduate Psychology course at Western Kentucky University, taught by the same instructor, were used as subjects. These subjects were administered the I-E Scale and about one month later took a regularly scheduled examination over course material. The first clans session after the exam, …

Intimacy And Content Of Self-Disclosure As A Function Of Target-Status, John Richard Mccallum

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

No abstract.

The Subculture Of The Aging: An Empirical Test, William C. Lane

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

During the past twenty-five years the discipline of social gerontology has emerged as a major field of interest among sociologists. A number of theories concerning the social aspects of the aging process have been proposed, but few have been empirically tested.

The central concern of the present study was to conduct an empirical test of the subculture of the aging theory developed by Arnold M. Rose. The subculture of the aging theory proposed that there is a growing awareness among many older people that they are not merely members of a social category, but are members of a social group …

Exteroceptive Influence On A Marihuana Induced Conditioned Taste Aversion, Albert William Greenwood

Dissertations and Theses

Forty-five male, Sprague Dawley rats were used to determine if external stimuli could influence the length of a conditioned taste aversion. Animals were given a novel taste (sucrose), and then injected with one of three different substances, marihuana, LiCI, or saline. The animals were then placed into either a stimulation condition, a non-stimulation condition, or returned to the home cage. The stimulation condition contained aversive stimuli in the form of bright, flashing lights and loud noises. The other conditions had no aversive stimulation. It was expected that the animals receiving injections of marihuana would have an increase in their responsiveness …

Measurement Of Dimensional Stimulus Control: Steady-State Generalization Testing, David K. Billings

Psychology ETDs

A procedure for steady-state generalization testing was developed and evaluated. Following a suggestion made by Farmer and Schoenfeld (1966), generalization gradients were constructed from responses occurring in the presence of test stimuli interpolated on a fixed interval schedule of reinforcement. Given appropriate modifications, the procedure was successful in maintaining generalization gradients for individual subjects. Evaluation of the steady-state procedure necessitated the adoption of a generic function. A search was conducted for a polynomial to approximate the response functions obtained for one of two groups of pigeons during one phase of the experiment. An initial ANOVA of the trend of orthogonal …

The Role Of Extraversion And Introversion In An Instrumental Avoidance Task, Steven Finkelstein

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

An instrumental avoidance conditioning task was used to test Eysenck’s theory of personality and conditioning, which is based upon levels of cortical inhibition and expectation, characteristic of extraverts and introverts. Based upon Eysneck’s theoretical stance, it was hypothesized that introverts would condition more effectively than extraverts. Several criteria defined by Eysenck Personality Inventory was administered to 125 undergraduates at Western Kentucky University for purposes of separating personally types into classification groups of extraverts, introverts, and ambiverts. Thirty-six subjects were presented a series of 48 index cards on which were typed for pronouns and three verbs of neutral impression level. Each …

Relationship Of Elderly Subjects' Death Attitudes & Existential Meaning In Life, Thomas Sowder

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A study of 100 subjects over the ape of 60 was reported which investigated the correlation between purpose in life as defined by existential philosophy and death anxiety. It was designed to examine the effect of group affiliation and sex on subjective self-appraisal death anxiety and purpose in life questionnaires. The results indicated that: (a) the greater perceived purpose in life, the lower the death anxiety, (b) females in the socially oriented group had a greater negative correlation between death anxiety and purpose in life, (c) there were variables associated with the occurrence of both sex and group affiliation which …