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The Quality Of Mother-Infant Interactions In Families At Risk For Maladaptive Parenting, Anne Krupka Jan 1995

The Quality Of Mother-Infant Interactions In Families At Risk For Maladaptive Parenting, Anne Krupka

Digitized Theses

Two related studies of mother-infant interactions during the first year were carried out. In Study 1, the process of attachment was examined from a developmental psychopathology perspective. In Study 2, an intervention program based on attachment theory was evaluated. The findings revealed a possible pathway to insecure attachment relationships, and provided a rationale for theory-based early prevention.;Study 1 was cross-sectional and longitudinal with 68 high-risk mother-infant dyads (mean maternal age, 17.9 years). A multimethod approach including home observations, questionnaires, interviews, and coding of key episodes, was used to measure cognitive and socioemotional characteristics of the infants and different aspects of …

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Depression And Vulnerability: The Role Of Mood And Depression History On Cognitive Processing, Scott Bradley Mccabe Jan 1995

Depression And Vulnerability: The Role Of Mood And Depression History On Cognitive Processing, Scott Bradley Mccabe

Digitized Theses

Cognitive theorists hypothesize the existence of a causal cognitive vulnerability for depression that exists as either a continuously observable trait-like difference (i.e., the main-effects model) or a latent factor observable only in interaction with life events or mood (i.e., the interaction effects model). The current investigation examined the main-effects model and one form of the interaction-effects model that emphasizes current mood as the activator of latent cognitive vulnerability, the Differential Activation Hypothesis (DAH). When primed by sad mood, vulnerable individuals purportedly process environmental information in a manner similar to currently depressed individuals, making them more vulnerable for depression.;Studies of cognition …

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Traits, Situations, And Managerial Behaviour: Test Of A Trait Activation Hypothesis, Robert Preston Tett Jan 1995

Traits, Situations, And Managerial Behaviour: Test Of A Trait Activation Hypothesis, Robert Preston Tett

Digitized Theses

Results supporting the predictive validity of assessment centres (e.g., Gaugler, Rosenthal, Thornton & Bentson, 1987) are at odds with widely reported findings that behavioural consistency among assessment centre exercises is low (e.g., Sackett & Dreher, 1982). Lack of behavioural consistency raises doubts as to how assessment centres work. Drawing from principles of person-situation interactionism, a trait activation hypothesis is proposed to help explain the conflicting findings and direct development of valid simulation exercises. The hypothesis holds that the behavioural expression of a trait requires arousal of that trait by trait-relevant situational cues. Cross-situational consistency in behaviour is thereby conceived to …

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The Effects Of Preadministration Of Nmda Antagonists On Kindling With Carbachol, Deborah Michelle Saucier Jan 1995

The Effects Of Preadministration Of Nmda Antagonists On Kindling With Carbachol, Deborah Michelle Saucier

Digitized Theses

This thesis evaluated the hypothesis that N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor activity is essential for the development of kindling and/or the maintenance of the kindled state in male hooded rats. Kindling was produced by the infusion of carbachol, a muscarinic cholinergic agonist, directly into either the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala or the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. The infusions of carbachol took place over 70 seconds and were given every 2 days. At a previously determined time before the infusion of carbachol, either APV (DL-aminophosphonovaleric acid, infused into the site of recording) or NPC 17742 (2R,4R,2S-(2-amino-4,5(cyclohexyl)-7-phosphonoheptanoic acid, i.p.) was given. Both …

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Binocular Vision And The Kinematics Of Human Prehension, Philip Raymond Servos Jan 1994

Binocular Vision And The Kinematics Of Human Prehension, Philip Raymond Servos

Digitized Theses

A series of experiments was devised to examine the contribution of binocular depth and distance cues to skilled reaching and grasping movements in humans. These movements were monitored using a high resolution opto-electronic recording device.;In the initial experiment, subjects reached out and grasped oblong blocks under conditions of either monocular or binocular vision. Kinematic analyses revealed that grasping movements made under monocular viewing conditions showed longer movement times, lower peak velocities, proportionately longer deceleration phases, and smaller grip apertures than movements made under binocular viewing. In short, subjects appeared to be underestimating the distance of objects (and as a consequence, …

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The Impact Of Value Priorities And Organizational Commitment On Likely Responses To Work-Related Ethical Problems, Jonathon David Kovacheff Jan 1994

The Impact Of Value Priorities And Organizational Commitment On Likely Responses To Work-Related Ethical Problems, Jonathon David Kovacheff

Digitized Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to conduct preliminary research concerning how a manager might resolve a work-related ethical problem. In a series of three experiments, subjects were asked to determine how a manager might respond to a superior's request to dump chemical wastes. Based on the work of Tetlock (1986), Seligman & Katz (1988), and Randall (1987), it was proposed that information regarding the manager's value priorities and organizational commitment might help determine the manager's likely responses to this request. In Study 1, subjects were told that a manager was either a value monist (i.e., he valued either an …

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Nonreductive Materialism And The Computational Theory Of Mind, Wayne Ian Henry Jan 1994

Nonreductive Materialism And The Computational Theory Of Mind, Wayne Ian Henry

Digitized Theses

This dissertation is a project in the philosophical foundations of cognitive science and inquires into the prospects for a materialist theory of mind which is scientifically respectable and realistic about intentional phenomena. This requires at least two things: (1) A materialistic solution to the mind/body problem; and, (2) a naturalistic solution to the problem of intentionality. With respect to the first, I argue that Computationalism holds out what is, at the present juncture, the only prospect for a materialistic theory of mental processes. And, with respect to the naturalization of intentionality, I argue that it is at least possible to …

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The Influence Of Intervening Activities And Testing Conditions On The Accuracy And Confidence Of Source Memory, Joanne Louise Harbluk Jan 1994

The Influence Of Intervening Activities And Testing Conditions On The Accuracy And Confidence Of Source Memory, Joanne Louise Harbluk

Digitized Theses

The research in this thesis investigated factors that influence a particular type of source memory decision, the discrimination between memories that originate with others and memories that originate with ourselves. In their reality monitoring model, Johnson & Raye (1981) characterize the source decision process as an attribution based on an examination of memory rather than the retrieval of a label or tag that specifies a memory's source. Their research demonstrated that subjects rely on information from initial encoding to guide their decisions about the origins of their memories. The present research examined the influence of events occurring after encoding on …

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A Direct-Realist Alternative To Inferentialist Theories Of Perceptual Knowledge, Zhaolu Lu Jan 1994

A Direct-Realist Alternative To Inferentialist Theories Of Perceptual Knowledge, Zhaolu Lu

Digitized Theses

The thesis title, "A Direct-Realist Alternative to Inferentialist Theories of Perceptual Knowledge," aptly describes what I have attempted to achieve in this dissertation: I have sought to develop and defend a strong direct-realist alternative to the traditional inferentialist model, the model called the Establishment by its two most prominent contemporary defenders, Jerry Fodor and Zenon Pylyshyn.;My research project has been motivated by the conviction that the development of a correct epistemology lies in the acceptance of the possibility of a direct, noninferential, epistemically unmediated comprehension of things and events. In the thesis I argue against Fodor and Pylyshyn's Establishment theory, …

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Predicting Application Software Usage: A Longitudinal Study, Thomas Frank Davies Jan 1994

Predicting Application Software Usage: A Longitudinal Study, Thomas Frank Davies

Digitized Theses

While organizations may purchase computer systems, ultimately it is people who have to use them before companies can achieve the anticipated benefits from technology investments. With a view to improving usage levels, understanding how people react to new systems has been a long-standing concern of practitioners and IS researchers. This research borrowed a behavior prediction model (Triandis 1980) from Social Psychology and applied it to the problem of understanding: the human factors that influence application software usage levels.;A longitudinal study was conducted on individuals voluntarily attempting to switch from one software application to another. A pretest yielding 38 responses was …

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Virginia Woolf As Subject In Biography And Autobiography, Susan Rita Braley Jan 1994

Virginia Woolf As Subject In Biography And Autobiography, Susan Rita Braley

Digitized Theses

This thesis examines the biographies of Virginia Woolf written between 1941 (the year of her death) and the present, focusing first on the myriad of identities constructed for Woolf by biographers and then on the concepts of subjectivity which Woolf herself presents in autobiographical works.;Although contemporary biographical and autobiographical theorists agree that the authentic self is impossible to locate or inscribe, early biographers of Woolf sought to establish a unitary identity for their subject. Aileen Pippett begins this tradition by presenting Woolf as a literary icon to be worshipped from afar; Leonard Woolf and Quentin Bell, while continuing to celebrate …

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Intellectual Ability, Reaction Time And Working Memory In Young Children, Linda Theresia Miller Jan 1994

Intellectual Ability, Reaction Time And Working Memory In Young Children, Linda Theresia Miller

Digitized Theses

Intelligence has been shown to correlate with reaction time and memory capacity in adults. Research with adults has demonstrated that individuals who score higher on psychometric measures of intelligence also tend to have faster, less variable reaction times and longer short-term, or working, memory spans. Research with youths suggests that similar relationships may also be present in children; however, research to date has not studied these relationships in young children. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the results previously found in adults, demonstrating a relationship between intellectual ability, speed of information processing and memory capacity, could also …

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Cognitive/Decisional Predictors Of Coping Propensity And Stress Arousal: Validation Of A Choice/Control Schema, Mary C. Lees Jan 1994

Cognitive/Decisional Predictors Of Coping Propensity And Stress Arousal: Validation Of A Choice/Control Schema, Mary C. Lees

Digitized Theses

Although stress investigators have intimated that decisional processes comprise important precursors to coping activity, there have been few attempts, within the stress domain, to conceptualize coping behaviour in the context of stress-relevant decisional models. In the present dissertation, an attempt was made to evaluate Neufeld's (1982) choice/control model. This model, which was derived from subjective expected utility theory, makes three interrelated hypotheses regarding the determinants of coping propensity and anticipatory stress arousal. Hypothesis One states that the propensity to engage in counterstress activity will be an inverse function of the ratio of the expected value of stress, given counterstress activity, …

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Studies Of The Visual Detection Of Bilateral Symmetry, Andrew Mark Herbert Jan 1994

Studies Of The Visual Detection Of Bilateral Symmetry, Andrew Mark Herbert

Digitized Theses

Ernst Mach (1897) first observed that bilateral symmetry was most easily observed when the axis of symmetry was vertical, and proposed this occurred because of symmetric connections across the vertical midline of the visual system. This neuroanatomical account has been reasserted by Julesz (1971) and Braitenberg (1984, 1990). Braitenberg suggested that the corpus callosum could serve as a conduit for connections between cells representing symmetric areas in space around the vertical midline. If vertical symmetry in the visual system mediates the vertical advantage there are a number of predictions that follow. One would expect that the tuning of symmetry detection …

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Information Processing In Chronic Pain: The Role Of Depression, Michael Douglas Boissevain Jan 1994

Information Processing In Chronic Pain: The Role Of Depression, Michael Douglas Boissevain

Digitized Theses

Over the last three decades, chronic pain has become conceptualized as a multidimensional phenomenon, in that cognitive and emotional factors have become acknowledged as important contributors to the experience and expression of chronic pain. Although this general theoretical understanding of chronic pain has become widely accepted, there has been relatively little research to date which attempts to delineate the specific ways in which cognitive operations may be influenced by various dimensions of chronic pain. The present dissertation represents an attempt to expand upon the empirical knowledge regarding cognitive processing in chronic pain. Specifically, the present project has been designed to …

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Hand And Hemispace Differences In The Visual Control Of Aiming Movements, David Peter Carey Jan 1994

Hand And Hemispace Differences In The Visual Control Of Aiming Movements, David Peter Carey

Digitized Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to examine left and right hand performance in three aiming movement experiments, designed to identify differences in movement kinematics when task demands were varied along dimensions thought to differ between the hemispheres. In Experiment 1, fourteen subjects were required to make aiming movements with the index finger to single light emitting diodes (LEDs) or to the midpoints of two simultaneously illuminated LEDs. Movements were recorded using a WATSMART system (Northern Digital, Inc.). Contrary to previous claims, no evidence was found for left hand advantages in accuracy in hand-invisible conditions. The large advantage in accuracy …

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The Construction Of Target Similarity In Social Identification, Vuk Vuksanovic Jan 1994

The Construction Of Target Similarity In Social Identification, Vuk Vuksanovic

Digitized Theses

Two investigations were carried out to examine self-perceptions and the role of motivation in individual-based social identification. It was hypothesized that states of threatened self-esteem would lead individuals to self-ascribe traits belonging to a valued social target. In experiment 1, subjects performed a task, following which they received one of two performance feedback treatments (success; failure). They were then assigned a famous historical figure, Napoleon Bonaparte, and half were led to believe that they shared his day of birth. Ratings made of both the target and the self revealed that conditions of failure feedback (regardless of the birthday manipulation) led …

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Stochastic Models Of Encoding-Latency Means And Variances In Paranoid Schizophrenia, David Nelson Vollick Jan 1994

Stochastic Models Of Encoding-Latency Means And Variances In Paranoid Schizophrenia, David Nelson Vollick

Digitized Theses

In the present dissertation, a review of the research literature examining (a) schizophrenic cognitive impairments, (b) neurological correlates to these impairments, and (c) the reasons for the recent developments in stochastic modeling and the theories behind them was undertaken. Data from previous research, plus data collected for the current work, were then analyzed employing stochastic models.;With respect to the first topic, research into these impairments has fostered a myriad of hypotheses as to their genesis. At one time or another, every step in the chain of information processing had been proposed to be involved in this impairment. More recently, a …

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The Influence Of Eye Movements And Surround Contours On The Generation And Interocular Transfer Of The Motion Aftereffect, Lawrence Andre Symons Jan 1994

The Influence Of Eye Movements And Surround Contours On The Generation And Interocular Transfer Of The Motion Aftereffect, Lawrence Andre Symons

Digitized Theses

Despite its considerable use as a psychophysical tool, relatively little attention has been paid to factors that might influence the interocular transfer of the motion aftereffect. The present thesis reports five experiments that examined the role of eye-movements and their interaction with surround contours in the generation and interocular transfer of the motion aftereffect. Experiment 1 compared the amount of transfer of three different aftereffects when the non-adapted eye viewed a dark occluder or an equiluminant occluder. Equiluminant occlusion enhanced interocular transfer of the motion aftereffect but no the other two aftereffects. Experiment 2 showed a similar enhancement of interocular …

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Binocular Interactions In Individuals With Anomalous Early Visual History, Marla Ellen Wolf Jan 1994

Binocular Interactions In Individuals With Anomalous Early Visual History, Marla Ellen Wolf

Digitized Theses

The present set of experiments used adaptation procedures to explore binocularity in individuals with abnormal binocular vision. The first series of experiments examined interocular transfer because this measure has been used previously to test for the presence of binocular neurons (Movshon, Chambers and Blakemore, 1972). Experiment I examined the test-retest reliability of this measure. Interocular transfer was found to be reliable. The results of Experiments II-IV clearly show that individuals with anomalous early visual history (A.E.H.) are capable of interocular transfer of a magnitude associated with normals.;Experiments III and IV also addressed the organization of binocular channels in individuals with …

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The Role Of Learning Style In The Recall Of Classroom Instruction, Jacqueline Ann Specht Jan 1994

The Role Of Learning Style In The Recall Of Classroom Instruction, Jacqueline Ann Specht

Digitized Theses

Research on learning from instruction has focused primarily on semantic and procedural rather than episodic memories by students. Martin (1993) hypothesized that episodic memories of students mediate learning from instructional interventions because of the personal associations carried with them. The present research investigated the role of episodic memories of Grade 6 students in mathematics instruction, especially with respect to the possible mediation of student learning. Individual differences in learning style, attitude toward learning, and knowledge were investigated as possible factors that affect recall of episodic memories from classroom instruction. Study 1 assessed the suitability of two learning style inventories for …

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The Contribution Of Outcome Expectancies To Drinking Behaviour, Anne-Marie Wall Jan 1994

The Contribution Of Outcome Expectancies To Drinking Behaviour, Anne-Marie Wall

Digitized Theses

The present dissertation was conducted to gain a better theoretical understanding of the contribution of outcome expectancies to male undergraduate drinking behaviour. Two assumptions important to the construct validity of outcome expectancies were investigated: (1) outcome expectancies are situation-specific and (2) outcome expectancies are different from attitudes toward drinking.;In each of the four studies conducted in the first series of studies, environmental setting (i.e., bar vs. lab) was manipulated and a second variable was manipulated through instructional set. Specifically, expected beverage content (i.e., beer vs. soda pop), social context (i.e., alone, with friends, no explicit instructions), and level of intoxication …

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The Impact Of Maltreatment On Children's Social Problem-Solving Abilities, Susan Kaye Wilson Jan 1993

The Impact Of Maltreatment On Children's Social Problem-Solving Abilities, Susan Kaye Wilson

Digitized Theses

Social problem solving is generally thought to involve five sequential steps. These steps include encoding, interpretation, response search, response evaluation, and response selection. Acquiring social problem solving skills is a critical aspect of normal child development. These skills are necessary for effective interpersonal interactions with the peers and adults in a child's environment. Family interactions are thought to play a central role in the development of children's social problem solving abilities. In families where the parent-child relationship is extremely dysfunctional, as in cases of maltreatment, the social problem solving abilities of children would then be expected to show some impairment. …

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A Behavioural Genetic Analysis Of Personality, Personality Disorder, The Environment, And The Search For Sources Of Nonshared Environmental Influences, Kerry Leslie Jang Jan 1993

A Behavioural Genetic Analysis Of Personality, Personality Disorder, The Environment, And The Search For Sources Of Nonshared Environmental Influences, Kerry Leslie Jang

Digitized Theses

A behaviour genetic analysis of personality, liability to personality disorder, and the general environment of siblings was conducted using a classic twin study design. A sample of 138 same-sex young adult twin pairs (89 monozygotic pairs, 49 dizygotic pairs) was used to estimate trait variance attributable to direct gene action (h{dollar}\sp2\sb{lcub}\rm A{rcub}{dollar}), shared environmental experiences (c{dollar}\sp2{dollar}), and nonshared environmental experiences (e{dollar}\sp2{dollar}). Paralleling previously published results, model-fitting heritability analyses of the Personality Research Form (PRF; Jackson, 1986), and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, (MMPI, Hathaway & McKinley, 1983) showed that additive genetic and nonshared environmental factors could satisfactorily account for the …

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Multiple Maltreatment, Attribution Of Blame, And Adjustment Among Adolescents, Robin A. Mcgee Jan 1993

Multiple Maltreatment, Attribution Of Blame, And Adjustment Among Adolescents, Robin A. Mcgee

Digitized Theses

The present study had two purposes. First, it examined the combined and unique contribution of five maltreatment types to variance in adolescent adjustment (i.e., physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect and exposure to family violence). In accordance with contemporary social learning theory (social cognitive theory), it was hypothesized that aggressive forms of maltreatment would predict externalizing problems, particularly for boys, whereas nonaggressive maltreatment would predict internalizing problems. Second, the study examined the predictive utility of blame attributions for maltreatment. Integrating the writings of several theorists regarding blame attribution, it was predicted that self-blame would mediate or moderate internalizing problems, …

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Relative Risks And Tempo Of Childbearing In Early Birth Intervals: A Comparative Study Of The Dominican Republic And Trinidad And Tobago, Bernard Godfrey St Jan 1993

Relative Risks And Tempo Of Childbearing In Early Birth Intervals: A Comparative Study Of The Dominican Republic And Trinidad And Tobago, Bernard Godfrey St

Digitized Theses

This study explains and compares the variations in the relative risks and tempo of first, second and third order births among women from the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago. In Trinidad and Tobago, Indians have unique cultural traditions that are known to affect their fertility behaviour. Thus, the study also focuses on the Indian and Non-Indian women from Trinidad and Tobago.;Data are obtained from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) that were conducted in the Dominican Republic during 1986 and in Trinidad and Tobago during 1987. A standard core questionnaire permitted comparisons between the fertility behaviour of women from …

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Individual-Organizational Value Congruence: Operationalization And Consequents, Paul R. Mcdonald Jan 1993

Individual-Organizational Value Congruence: Operationalization And Consequents, Paul R. Mcdonald

Digitized Theses

Organizations can no longer rely on traditional means of competitive advantage (financial, strategic, and technological capabilities) to maintain a footing in the global marketplace. Recent literature has emphasized organizational capability (managing people in a manner that generates commitment) as a means to sustain competitive advantage.;The central thesis of this dissertation is that employees whose personal values are congruent with the cultural values of the organization will be more committed to the organization, experience higher satisfaction, have lower turnover intent, behave in a more prosocial manner, and be less absent, than those employees whose values are incongruent. While this proposition is …

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Picture-Word Differences In Memory Comparisons Involving Colour, Deborah Joan Stuart Jan 1993

Picture-Word Differences In Memory Comparisons Involving Colour, Deborah Joan Stuart

Digitized Theses

Picture-word differences in mental comparisons involving object colour were investigated. On each trial of Experiment 1, a colour was tachistoscopically presented beside either an uncoloured line drawing of an object or the object's name. Subjects indicated whether or not the colour differed from the object's real-life colour. The categorical structure of colour concepts was operationalized by using normative data so that the presented colours best exemplified basic and boundary (e.g., greenish blue) colour terms and were either from the same colour name category as the real-life colour of the object or from a different category. Also, perceptual distance between the …

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An Examination Of The Persistence Of Kindling, A Model For Neural Plasticity, Zoe Dennison Jan 1993

An Examination Of The Persistence Of Kindling, A Model For Neural Plasticity, Zoe Dennison

Digitized Theses

The primary purpose of the experiments discussed here was to discover whether kindling is a permanent and stable state or a slowly eroding persistent state. In addition, questions concerning the relationship between retention and seizure generalization, site of stimulation, and stimulus characteristics were addressed. Experiment One results showed that a large part of the kindling effect was retained over the interval, but there was also a consistent degree of fallback seen when comparing the kindling manifestations just before the interval with those exhibited on the first rekindling session. The retention of the kindling effect was not dependent on the animal …

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The Consequences Of Low Birthweight, Ann L. Robson Jan 1993

The Consequences Of Low Birthweight, Ann L. Robson

Digitized Theses

An extensive literature investigating the consequences of low birthweight for childhood development has focused on group differences and the prediction of global cognitive outcomes. The purpose of this thesis was to identify factors that predict specific childhood outcomes and to consider explanatory models of the role of early medical risk for childhood language, motor and attention outcomes. Ninety low birthweight children participating in a prospective longitudinal study were assessed at {dollar}5{lcub}1\over2{rcub}{dollar} years of age. Although there were no consistent differences between within-sample medical risk subgroups on the childhood outcome measures, regression analyses demonstrated that both early medical risk and environmental …

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