Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of Three Training Techniques On The Swimming Abilities Of Trainable And Educable Mentally Retarded Children, Richard Abramson

Senior Scholar Papers

The acquisition and incorporation of physical skills are a necessary and desirable part of our everyday life. Requisite to our contact with children, students, patients, and adults in the teaching of physical skills is the ability to communicate effectively. Verbal instruction may often be very effective in teaching physical skills, but there is some significant evidence to indicate that children and slow learners do not always have the necessary verbal skil1s. Much of human behavior, including concept learning, has often been represented by a single unit S-R theory. For Kendler and Vineberg (1954), this single unit S-R theory is inappropriate …

Anxiety Level Of Graduate Students In Social Work, Sophia Kouidou-Giles, George Albert Mckee

Dissertations and Theses

This study was designed to determine (1) the trend of anxiety level of social work students, term by term, over the academic year; (2) the cyclical trend of anxiety level of social work students within each term and (3) the effects of age and sex on level of anxiety among social work students.

Anxiety was measured with the IPAT - 8 Parallel Form Anxiety Battery. This test was administered to twenty randomly selected first year students in the School of Social Work during the 1969-1970 academic year at Portland State University. Data was collected from six test administrations which …

Sub-Aversive Response Contingent Foot Shock As A Positive Reinforcer, Robert Lea Fulwiler

All Master's Theses

Forty-eight rats were divided into 8 groups; four were maintained under normal conditions and the other four under sensory deprivation and tested at o, 3, 6, and 9 days after condition institution. The response was placing the head through a hole in the operant chamber and the stimulus (0, 1.2, 4, or 12 Vac) was contingent upon the response. Analysis ot variance disclosed significant differences (p<.01) between the deprived and the non-deprived groups at days 6 and 9; and a significant interaction between deprivation condition and time of test. No differences were shown between the stimulus intensities indicating that the stimulus did not have a reinforcing effect.

Using A Participating Relationship To Improve Teen-Age Unwed Mother's Self-Esteem, Linda Gail Reeves

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The study was to provide an approach to help teen-age unwed mothers increase their feelings of self-esteem and thereby attain a conceptual buffer for better coping with life. Self-esteem was defined as individual perception of the worth of oneself relative to that of significant others. The hypothesis tested was that the participating relationship a community health nurse has with a teen-age unwed mother will significantly increase the mother's self-esteem as measured by statistical Q-Sort analysis.

A convenience sample of twenty teen-age unwed mothers was obtained from referrals from San Bernardino County Health, Welfare, and Probation Departments. The girls were between …

The Changing Role Of The Secondary Counselor In Career Guidance, Norman D. Devries

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

Work can be viewed as man's aim in life, or as his instrument to achieve other goals. Whatever the view, it is wrong to allow the vagueness and error that many individuals frequently face when choosing a career. If we are going to meet this demand, it will be necessary to make vocational guidance available to all those who are making or will make a vocation choice.

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.

Contrast Effects : Incentive Value Of N-Lengths, F. Douglas Cummins

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

E.J. Capaldi has developed a sequential explanation of the partial reinforcement effect. The central assumption of this explanation is that non reinforced trials occasion a specific and distinctive internal stimulus and that this stimulus is progressively modified by successive non reinforcements.

In this experiment, forty, male albino Holtzman rats traversed a straight alley runway under different patterns of partial reinforcement. Group One received an N3-length, i.e., three successive non-reinforced trials followed by a reinforced trial. Group Two received an N1-length, i.e., one non-reinforced trial followed by a reinforced trial. Group Three received an N3-length for the first ten days of …

The Effects Of Cs Habituation And Duration Of The Directional Modification Of The Cardiac Response In The Guinea Pig (Cavia Procellus), Ray Charles Larson

All Master's Theses

The present experiment examined the effects of CS habituation and two different levels of CS duration (60 versus 6 sec) on the directional modification of the conditioned cardiac response in the guinea pig. The results indicated that the only reaction to the CS, regardless of prior habituation or CS duration, was a decelerative conditioned HR response. However, habituation to a CS prior to classical aversive conditioning was found to attenuate the magnitude of the bradycardia CR that developed. The bradycardia CR was discussed in terms of being a cardiac component of the orienting response.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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. …

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 …

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

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 …

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 …

A Comparison Of Hyper-Reactivity And Activity In Rats With Lesions Of The Septal Area And The Olfactory Lobes, Roger Clark Marshall

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate School at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Roger Clark Marshall on April 1,1971.

Relationship Of Subjects' Preexperiment Attitudes Toward Psychology And Experimenter Prestige, Sam Quick

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A study is reported which examines the effects of Ss attitudes toward psychological research as measured by the Psychology Research Survey (PRS) (high or low), apparent E prestige (high, medium, or low), and sex of 13 on ratings of success and failure given in Rosenthal's person-perception task. It was found that E prestige interacted with sex of S to significantly affect performance. Several of the pictures used in the person-perception task were also found to be consistently rated as depicting success or failure. Questions are raised concerning the psychometric soundness of both the PRS and the person-perception task. Implications for …

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 …

Stimulus Control And The Effects Of Stimulus Change On Aggression In Children, Marilyn S. Arnett

Masters Theses

Five children has the opportunity at programmed intervals to shock a rat during daily 10 min sessions. An aggression response was defined as producing rat shock and reinforcement was not made contingent on any response within the experimental chamber. Response increment occurred for all subjects upon introduction of a visual cue which signaled shock period onset. A discrimination between shock and no-shock periods developed for all subjects and response increment occurred for all subjects due to a change in the manipulanda. Two subjects who initially preferred shocking the rat, also produced visual feedback when available, although average shock rate was …

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.

A Comparison Of Three Measures Of Stimulation Seeking, John L. Kasten

Masters Theses

An attempt was made to determine the comparability and construct validity of three instruments: the Sensation Seeking Scale (Zuckermsn, Kolin, Price & Zoob, 1964); the Change Seeker Index (Garlington & Shimota, 1964); and the Similes Preference Inventory (Pearson & Maddi, 1966). These instruments, and a measure of drug use which was constructed by the investigator, were administered to 52 college students and 23 high school students. Product-moment correlations were calculated among these instruments and between each instrument and age, sex, marital status and amount of education. Several sets of partial correlations were, also calculated.

A substantial correlation was found between …

Short Term Retention Of A Positioning Movement Under Three Levels Of Interfering Task Conditions, Mark E. Conklin

Masters Theses

This study is concerned with the short term memory of a simple arm-hand motor response. The response is studied under three task conditions: (1) visual kinesthetic interference (’2 ) kinesthetic interference and (3 ) a rest condition generating no sensory interference. Five movement amplitudes (2, 6 , 12, 18 and 24 cm) and four intervals (0, 20, 40 and 60 seconds) are compared in this study. A total of thirty-six right-handed subjects were used; twelve subjects were tested under each of the three task conditions.

The findings do not support an interference theory of forgetting which has been theorized to …

Strength Of Conditioned Reinforcement In Chain Schedules: The Effect Of Altering Minimum Time To Reinforcement, Robert P. Ludlow

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Chlorpromazine On Escape And Avoidance Behavior, Susan E. Bohlmann Lapato

Masters Theses

The present study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of a two lever escape avoidance paradigm as a potential drug evaluation procedure. In this procedure responses on one lever postponed the onset of shock for a fixed period of time while responses on the other lever were effective only in terminating shock. This procedure effectively separates the escape and avoidance behaviors of a single organism and should provide a sensitive baseline upon which to measure the specific effects of drugs upon these two behaviors. The specific and differential effects of three dose levels of chlorpromazine upon escape and avoidance behaviors …

Avoidance And Escape Responses In A Free Operant Avoidance Procedure As A Function Of Avoidance-Shock Intervals, Kathleen M. Krumhus

Masters Theses

Rats were trained on an unsignalled shock procedure, using a two lever apparatus. Responses on one lever postponed the onset of electric shock for a specified time period, the Avoidance-Shock interval. A response on the second lever terminated shock and delayed the onset of the next shock eight seconds, the Escape-Shock interval. Shock was continuous until the subject depressed the second lever. Changes in response rate on both levers were recorded as a function of manipulations of the duration of the Avoidance-Shock interval.

If responses on both bars are summed, data obtained are comparable with findings obtained from the manipulation …

Conditioned Punishment Of Self-Injurious Behavior, George Hunt

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.