Digital Commons Network^™

Backpacking: A Pilot Study Of Hikers, Vincent Bolduc

Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station

No abstract provided.

The Verbal Learning Effect In Recognition And Recall Memory For Verbal Stimuli, E. Chandler Shumate

Psychology ETDs

Three experiments were conducted to test the effects of associative training with representative and nonrepresentative responses upon stimulus recognition and, more importantly, stimulus recall. In Exp. I, is were required to learn, in six study-test trials, one of two P A lists composed of twelve stimulus items (trigram doublets) either high or low in meaningfulness (M). Half the stimuli in each list were paired with representative responses, the other half were paired with nonrepresentative responses. The results, obtained from a two-item, forced-choice recognition test, showed that performance was positively related to stimulus M, and the facilitating effect of associative training …

The Relationship Between Mean Magnitude Of Reward And Partial, Varied, And Continuous Schedules Of Reinforcement, James E. Schroeder

Psychology ETDs

A model was described that combines Grice's variable threshold model for reaction time and Logan's incentive theory for response speed in instrumental conditioning in an attempt to account for the relative performance of rats receiving continuous (CRF), varied (VRF), or partial (PRF) reinforcement. The essence of the model is that incentive motivation depends on the mean amount of reward previously received, as well as upon the S's distance from the goal, that incentive motivation can be interpreted as affecting the mean threshold for responding, and that the greater the variability in reward the greater the variability in the threshold.

This …

Dimensional Preference Effects In Recall Memory, C. Jean Rogers

Psychology ETDs

Dimensional preference in six-year-olds was investigated by the use of a series of recall memory tasks in which the amount of information available in the stimuli and the nature of the feedback provided were systematically varied. The results suggested that low preference does not necessarily imply that the dimension will fail to be processed nor does it appear that the presence of a more preferred dimension prevents processing of a less preferred dimension. Rather, the results indicated that processing and recall of the various dimensions of a stimulus were a function of dimension preference, amount of information available in the …

The Protestant Ethic Effect: A Multiple Dependent Variable Analysis, Ronald Stephens

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

When an organism is allowed to choose "between working for food or receiving "free" food, what will its decision "be? For years such a question would have been addressed within the framework proposed by Clark Hull (1943): the organism would choose the alternative requiring the least amount of effort and eat the free food. However, several recent investigations have cast doubt on the generality of this lav: of least effort. Typically these studies have involved training organisms to respond for a reinforcer, defined as a stimulus that increases the probability of a response (Hilgard ?z Bower, 1966), and subsequently allowing …

An Investigation Of The Influence Of Stress On The Protestant Ethic Effect, April Schnur

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In the past decade researchers have demonstrated that organisms do not always perform according to Hull's "law of less work" (Hull, 1943). In certain situations, some Ss prefer to perform an operant (e.g., bar press) rather than freeload to receive reinforcement (e.g., food). Though it can be argued that this is not behavior typical of all Ss (Taylor, 1972), lack of generality is not the point. As Metze and Craig (1973) point out, data from deviant individual Ss may prove to be the most interesting.

There are two research objectives for the present study. First, an attempt was made to …

Effects Of Reinforcement On The Rate And Generalization Of Play Behavior In Four Severely Retarded Children, Elizabeth Anne Labanowski

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Temporal Separation On Performance Of A Discrimination Task, Stanley Dale Winter

Masters Theses

Test trials, consisting of the selection of two color cubes from a set of three different color cubes, were presented with: (1) a 15-second time delay between trials, (2) a single-color selection task between trials, (3) an unrelated motor task between trials and (4) no interspersion between trials. All Ss performed the task with more accuracy when test trials were separated by the unrelated motor task. The lowest level of accuracy occurred when test trials were presented sequentially with no interspersion. Performance appeared to be facilitated by the temporal separation of test trials.

The Effect Of Fading To Train B-D And P-Q Discrimination In Children With Specific Learning Disabilities, Janet L. Culbertson

Master's Theses

The present study was designed to assess the effective­ ness of a stimulus programming technique, fading, in teaching visual discrimination and name association to the letters b-d and p-q. The Ss were first and second grade children with diagnosed learning disabilities, who displayed a high frequency of reversal errors, particularly to the letters b-d and p-q. The study also provided a means of assessing the benefit of the fading technique in £s ability to read words and phrases, and discriminate b-d and p-q when they appear in the context of a nonsense syllable. The results indicated that the fading technique …

Measuring Attitudes Toward Work Of Males And Females From A Student Population And From A Bank Population, Edward Henry Foley

Master's Theses

An experiment was designed in order to measure the attitude toward work of 50 males and 50 females in a student sample and of 39 male managers and 39 female managers in a bank sample. The attitude scale, presented to the Ss, was designed by the author and contained 50 statements. Each of 44 statements pertained either to a Motivation factor, e.g. achievement, responsibility, etc. or to a Hygiene factor, e.g. salary, status, etc. with the remaining six used as Fillers. All statistical tests were performed at the .01 level of significance. An analysis of variance revealed a significant three …

A Classification And Review Of Group Contingency Procedures Used In Educational Settings, Lois M. De Mersseman

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

A Study Of The Acquisition Of Learning-Set Behavior In Pigeons, E. Jill Moir

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

A Training Sequence Designed To Teach Vocal Imitation To A Retarded Child Exhibiting A Stereotyped Vocal Response Pattern, Patricia Ann Martin

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Negative Reinforcement On The Aggressive Response Of The Squirrel Monkey, Darwin Dwain Stier

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Reduction Of Long Latency Verbal Responding In A Multiplihandicapped Adolescent Utilizing An Avoidance-Positive Reinforcement Procedure, Steven H. Spiro

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Political Verbal Behavior, Paul Richard Shukovsky

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Instructions With And Without Contingencies On Parent’S Attending Behavior, Betty Lou Fry

Masters Theses

Mother attending to appropriate child behavior and accompaning changes in appropriate child behavior were measured to assess the effects of various instructional conditions. Several appropriate behaviors for a group of child subjects were measured con currently under various stimulus conditions using interval recording procedures. A multiple baseline design was used with instructional conditions of (a) no instructions to mother, (b) instructions to mother to attend to all appropriate behaviors and only to appropriate behaviors, (c) instructions to mother to attend to specific behaviors as defined by one-word definitions, (d) instructions to mother to attend to the same specific behaviors as …

Contrast Modulated Schedule-Induced Polydipsia, Thomas L. Fisher

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Token Punishers And Delayed Timeout With Emotionally Disturbed Children, Joel C. Frost

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

A Single Session Design To Assess Schedule Interactions, Thomas J. Edwards

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Concept Acquisition As A Function Of Two Verbal Training Sequences: Nonvocal-Vocal And Vocal-Nonvocal, Kim Thomas Pisor

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Between Self-Paced And Instructor-Paced Instructional Systems, Laura Lee Winter

Masters Theses

Two college level systems of instruction derived from basic behavioral principals were compared. Community college students enrolled in two sections of an introductory psychology course served as subjects. Students in one section experienced a self-paced system of instruction. Students in the second section went through the course under an instructor-paced system of instruction. Students in the self-paced section received higher course grades and performed better on unit quizzes. However, the final examination performance for the two groups was about the same. Suggestions for further research are given.

Behavioral Comparison Of Septal Lesioned And Anosmic Rats, Sharon Kay Suppes

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Of The Components Of Platonic And Romantic Heterosexual Relationships, Philip F. Guinsburg

Theses and Dissertations

During the past twenty years, heterosexual relationships have been studied extensively by researchers in the field of interpersonal attraction without the attainment of consistent results (Wright, 1968). Wright (1968) stated that there were two methodological problems with this past research which are the treatment of variables used to explain attraction as both the independent and dependent variables in the same study and the use of dyadic indices. Also, Wright (1969) noted that past research has generally not examined heterosexual relationships separately for each sex. Finally, Guinsburg (1970a) found that most research dealing with heterosexual relationships has only examined the "romantic" …

The Combined And Differential Effects Of Two Types Of Preparatory Quizzes On College Student Behaviors, Randy Lee Williams

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Assessment Of Remedial Activities In An Instructor-Paced Course, Edward James Barton

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Replicability Of Behavioral Definitions: Implicit Vs Explicit Definitions, Robert W. Dobes

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Observer Reliability As A Function Of The Number Of Behaviors Being Simultaneously Recorded, Response Rate, And Definition Adequacy, Roger Frame

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

A Measure Of The Differential Effects Of Two Language Training Sequences: Expressive-Receptive And Receptive-Expressive, Melbourne Frank Hovell

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of The Effects Of Time And Competing Responses On Data Reliability, Paul B. Williams

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.