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The Managerial Approaches Of Chief Administrative Officers, William George Vance Jan 1985

The Managerial Approaches Of Chief Administrative Officers, William George Vance

Digitized Theses

This dissertation investigates the meaning of the common perceptions found among Chief Administrative Officers in a recent study, that the success of the CAO position and of the CAO system hinges upon the individual CAO's personal style.;The concept of style in the management and political psychology literatures is critically reviewed. Style is generally found to be either a trait or habit, or a name given to a particular set of responses to a style scale. Situational Leadership and The Managerial Grid are criticized.;The CAO's style is understood to mean the style of the CAO-in-the-organization. Style and organizational culture are elaborated, …

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Cognitive Processing Of Blissymbols By Normal Adults, William Steven Yovetich Jan 1985

Cognitive Processing Of Blissymbols By Normal Adults, William Steven Yovetich

Digitized Theses

Proposed by their inventor as an international visual-symbolic language, Blissymbols gained acceptance as a communication system for nonvocal handicapped populations. However, basic research has not kept pace with the rapid increase in application. The purpose of this thesis was to study the cognitive processing of Blissymbols to determine (a) the degree to which they represent their word referents, (b) the effect of this representativeness on learning and memory, and (c) the extent to which Blissymbols are processed like pictures and thereby concretize abstract concepts. The studies, conducted within the framework of Paivio's (1971) dual coding theory, began with collecting and …

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Organizational Commitment: A Three-Component Model, Natalie Jean Allen Jan 1985

Organizational Commitment: A Three-Component Model, Natalie Jean Allen

Digitized Theses

Because organizational commitment has been conceptualized and measured in various ways, research examining it has produced a somewhat inconsistent set of results. In the conceptual model guiding the present research, organizational commitment is considered to have three components. The affective component refers to the employee's emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in, the organization. The continuance component refers to commitment based upon the employee's perception of the costs associated with leaving the organization. The normative component refers to the employee's feelings of moral obligation to the organization. Three studies were conducted to test aspects of this three-component model of …

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Behavioural Training For Parents Of Mentally Retarded Children, Ian Gregory Manion Jan 1985

Behavioural Training For Parents Of Mentally Retarded Children, Ian Gregory Manion

Digitized Theses

Seven families participated in a behavioural training program for parents of mentally retarded children. The goals of this research were to: conduct a more extensive and systematic assessment of behavioural generality following basic behavioural training; determine how certain task characteristics affect such generalization; determine if certain forms of additional training (i.e., self-management training) enhance such generalization; assess the longterm maintenance and setting generality of parent skills following training; assess the role of individual characteristics in the initial and generalized effects of training; and provide an analysis of both therapist and client costs associated with such training.;The research design was a …

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Identification And Remediation Of Children's Errors In Subtraction, Larry Anthony Cebulski Jan 1984

Identification And Remediation Of Children's Errors In Subtraction, Larry Anthony Cebulski

Digitized Theses

Three studies were conducted in order to determine the source and frequency of children's difficulties in subtraction and to examine different approaches to remediation. In Study 1, 56 third grade children were asked to solve subtraction problems and were observed and questioned regarding their solution processes. Analysis of verbal reports and written solutions suggested that the main source of difficulty involved borrowing procedures. Children who had difficulty either attempted to borrow incorrectly or made inversion errors, that is, they ignored the location of the digits and subtracted the smaller number from the larger. Study 2 examined two minimally intrusive methods …

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"Markers" Of Vulnerability And Episodes In Paranoid And Nonparanoid Schizophrenics, Deborah June Dobson Jan 1984

"Markers" Of Vulnerability And Episodes In Paranoid And Nonparanoid Schizophrenics, Deborah June Dobson

Digitized Theses

The vulnerability model of schizophrenia (Zubin & Spring, 1977) postulates that individuals have a certain level of vulnerability to schizophrenia which is a relatively enduring trait. An episode of schizophrenia is hypothesized to be a function of this level and stressful events, either in the environment or as perceived by the person. One way of investigating this model is to locate both "markers" of vulnerability and episodes by comparing remitted and episodic schizophrenics, to see how they differ (potential episode markers) and how they are similar (potential vulnerability markers).;Schizophrenics in differing phases of illness have demonstrated a letter detection deficit …

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The Influence Of Seizure Experience Upon Electrical Kindling: An Age-Related Study, Mary Elizabeth Gilbert Jan 1984

The Influence Of Seizure Experience Upon Electrical Kindling: An Age-Related Study, Mary Elizabeth Gilbert

Digitized Theses

Repeated administration of low intensity electrical stimulation to the brain results in a progressive increase in the strength of epileptiform activity, culminating in a major motor seizure: the kindling effect. The present experiments investigated the effects of seizures induced early in life upon the susceptibility to kindling stimulation in the adult rat. In Experiments 1 and 2 seizures were induced with pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) or hyperthermia in male rats of different ages (1 to 21 days). Upon reaching maturity, these subjects were implanted with chronic electrodes and kindled in the basolateral amygdala. Fewer stimulations were required to produce major motor seizures …

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Dysfunctional Attitudes, Performance Deficits, And Vulnerability To Depression, Linda Joan Olinger Jan 1984

Dysfunctional Attitudes, Performance Deficits, And Vulnerability To Depression, Linda Joan Olinger

Digitized Theses

The focus of this thesis was Beck's etiological postulate that episodes of depression result from the interaction of an individual's attitudinal vulnerabilities with stressful life events that impinge on those vulnerabilities. Attitudinal vulnerabilities predispose an individual to depression by establishing rigid and unrealistic rules for guiding and evaluating one's life. In Study 1, it was hypothesized and found that attitudinally vulnerable individuals with stressful life events were more depressed than attitudinally vulnerable individuals without such events. Study 2 consisted of a comparison of the responses of attitudinally vulnerable nondepressed subjects, prior to and following a laboratory administered attitude-relevant stressor (experimenter-induced …

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Dimensionality Of Causal Attributions In Nonacademic Situations: The Effects Of Antecedent Information And Response Format, Carol Dorst Thies Jan 1984

Dimensionality Of Causal Attributions In Nonacademic Situations: The Effects Of Antecedent Information And Response Format, Carol Dorst Thies

Digitized Theses

The dimensionality underlying causal attributions to nonacademic behaviors (an accomplishment, an emotion, and an opinion) was investigated in four studies varying antecedent information (presence or absence) and response format (rating scale or open ended). In the information present conditions, subjects given consensus, distinctiveness, consistency, and incentive information rated the importance of ten causes provided (Study 1) or generated their own causal attributions (Study 3). As Kelley's (1967, 1973) model predicts, in both studies, high consensus information led to increased external attributions and low consensus to increased internal attributions; high consistency information led to increased stable attributions and low consistency to …

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The Spatial And Temporal Characteristics Of Visually Directed Limb Movements And Comparison Of Ocular And Manual Performance, John David Fisk Jan 1984

The Spatial And Temporal Characteristics Of Visually Directed Limb Movements And Comparison Of Ocular And Manual Performance, John David Fisk

Digitized Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to examine visually guided movements of the upper limbs which approximated normal reaching behaviour, and to describe the production of these movements on the basis of a number of interrelated measures. The series of studies required subjects to point quickly and accurately to small visual targets presented lateral to a visual fixation point, on an otherwise featureless screen. In Studies 1 and 2 the kinematic characteristics of the limb movements were examined by a frame-by-frame analysis of video records of the subjects' performance. The use of visual feedback information in the guidance of the …

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Acquaintance And Person Knowledge: A Study Of Naturalistic Person Perception, Rocco Anthony Fondacaro Jan 1984

Acquaintance And Person Knowledge: A Study Of Naturalistic Person Perception, Rocco Anthony Fondacaro

Digitized Theses

Two studies of person perception were conducted. In Study 1, subjects produced written descriptions of two real acquaintances: one whom they recently met (unfamiliar target) and one whom they had known for some time (familiar target). These target acquaintances were further specified by orthogonal manipulations of interdependence (subordinate vs. equal status vs. superordinate) and spacing of interactions (massed vs. spaced, e.g., everyday vs. once a week). In Study 2, randomly paired strangers of the same gender met face-to-face in problem-solving work-sessions. Interdependence within dyads was manipulated by varying how each member's outcomes depended upon the other member (members were either …

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Age Differences In Recall Of Meaningful Stimuli, Farida Spencer Jan 1984

Age Differences In Recall Of Meaningful Stimuli, Farida Spencer

Digitized Theses

The purpose of the present research was to investigate the effects of meaningfulness of stimulus phrases and orienting task conditions on free recall performance of older and younger adults in an incidental learning paradigm. It was expected that orienting tasks might affect the depth of processing, while meaningfulness would influence the spread of encoding. It was hypothesized that variables assumed to affect depth and elaborateness of semantic processing might also affect the direction of recall differences between older and younger adults.;Two studies were designed to evaluate the proposed hypotheses. In the first study, meaningfulness ratings were collected. Meaningfulness was defined …

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Smoking Behaviour: The Influence Of Environmental Supports And Gender, Patricia Ann Bolla Jan 1984

Smoking Behaviour: The Influence Of Environmental Supports And Gender, Patricia Ann Bolla

Digitized Theses

This investigation examined the effects on smoking of one social environmental support for smoking, one physical environmental support for smoking, and gender of the subject. The social environmental support for smoking was represented by the behaviour of a model who either smoked three cigarettes in the presence of the subject or refrained from smoking. The physical environmental support for smoking was the presence or absence of ashtrays.;The Model and Ashtray factors were combined to create four experimental conditions: (a) Nonsmoker Model + No Ashtray, (b) Nonsmoker Model + Ashtray, (c) Smoker Model + No Ashtray and, (d) Smoker Model + …

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The Assessment Of Remote Memory, Janice Lynn Howes Jan 1984

The Assessment Of Remote Memory, Janice Lynn Howes

Digitized Theses

The present research consists of two studies which focus on the assessment of remote memory. The purpose of Study I was to develop remote memory tests which would be psychometrically stronger than those employed in the past. The following tests were constructed: Public Events Recall and Recognition Tasks, Public Galton Task, and Autobiographical Galton Task. The tests were administered to a sample of middle-aged and older-aged participants. The test items were revised based on the participants' responses. The Revised Public Events Recall and Recognition Tasks were then administered to a group of young participants to determine whether the items were …

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The Number Of Principal Components Problem: A Monte Carlo Study, John Robert Reddon Jan 1984

The Number Of Principal Components Problem: A Monte Carlo Study, John Robert Reddon

Digitized Theses

The purpose of this research was to study the number of principal components problem. In order to accomplish this objective the problems associated with principal components analysis were presented, an exposition of principal components analysis was given, the literature on the number of factors problem was reviewed, and three new distribution free sphericity tests proposed by Harshman and Reddon (1983) were presented. The empirical research focused on the evaluation of these new tests and the comparison of these new tests with four other commonly used test procedures.;The evaluation of the three distribution free sphericity tests focused on the evaluation of …

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The Effects Of Different Dispute Resolution Procedures On Bargaining Outcome, Process, And Negotiators' Perceptions, David Macintosh Saunders Jan 1984

The Effects Of Different Dispute Resolution Procedures On Bargaining Outcome, Process, And Negotiators' Perceptions, David Macintosh Saunders

Digitized Theses

The purpose of the present paper was to examine the effects of different dispute resolution procedures on bargaining outcome, process, and negotiators' perceptions. The current paper reported two experiments. The dispute resolution procedures examined were conventional, issue, and package final offer arbitration. A strike control condition and male and female subjects were included in both studies. Experiment One examined bargaining outcome and process and tested the hypothesis that conventional arbitration inhibits bargaining in comparison to the strike and package arbitration alternatives. One hundred and twenty-eight females and eighty males participated in Experiment One. This experiment was a simulation study in …

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Cross-Callosal Transmission Time In Human Strabismics, John Robert St Jan 1984

Cross-Callosal Transmission Time In Human Strabismics, John Robert St

Digitized Theses

When tested using behavioural methods strabismic humans and strabismic animals exhibit similar deficits in visual performance. There is often a decrease in visual acuity in the deviating eye, abnormal spatial localization, vergence eye movements, and poor stereopsis and depth perception. These similarities have suggested that strabismic humans may share many of the anatomical and physiological abnormalities which are found in the visual systems of strabismic animals. Among these abnormalities is a disruption and shrinkage of the fibres which run through the posterior portion of the corpus callosum interconnecting the sensory visual regions of the cortex.;In the present series of experiments, …

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The Effectiveness Of Metamemory Instruction In Promoting Generalisation Of The Keyword Mnemonic Strategy: A Developmental Study, Julia Therese O'Sullivan Jan 1983

The Effectiveness Of Metamemory Instruction In Promoting Generalisation Of The Keyword Mnemonic Strategy: A Developmental Study, Julia Therese O'Sullivan

Digitized Theses

The effectiveness of an instructional programme, consisting of strategy training supplemented by metamemory instruction in promoting generalisation of the keywod mnemonic strategy, was assessed. Three experiments were conducted to investigate three specific issues. In Experiment 1, the effectiveness of the metamemory instructional programme in promoting generalisation was compared to that of other instructional routines. Eleven-year-old students learned a list of cities paired with their products. Children in the four experimental conditions were instructed in the use of the keyword strategy to learn city-product pairs. In addition, children in three of the experimental conditions received one of the following types of …

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The Role Of Individual Difference Factors In The Efficacy Of Covert Modeling And Self-Instructional Training For Fear Reduction, Terrance Michael Vallis Jan 1983

The Role Of Individual Difference Factors In The Efficacy Of Covert Modeling And Self-Instructional Training For Fear Reduction, Terrance Michael Vallis

Digitized Theses

This series of studies examined the role of selected individual difference factors in the efficacy of visual imagery (Covert Modeling) and verbal (Self-Instructional Training) coping skills procedures. Specifically, individual differences in imagery-verbal processes were examined. A variety of individual difference measures were employed in an attempt to understand whether previous inconsistent data were due to assessment issues. Also, these studies employed an 'Aptitude-Treatment Interaction' (ATI) design to evaluate the role of the individual difference variables. This design is more powerful than the typical median split procedure.;Study 1 focused on whether ATI effects could be found between Covert Modeling and Self-Instructional …

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Marital Shared Problem-Solving: Conceptualization And Assessment, Gary Wayne Austin Jan 1983

Marital Shared Problem-Solving: Conceptualization And Assessment, Gary Wayne Austin

Digitized Theses

Marital shared problem-solving has been considered composed of communication and problem-solving skills components. However, the definitions of these components have been confounded by both theories and previous assessment devices. This research project separated the component skills, developed a self-report measure, The Shared Problem-Solving Inventory, and investigated the interrelationship of these skills.;Using a construct approach to test construction, the problem-solving and supportive communication skills were defined, and items were written from those definitions. A novel test format attempted to simulate marital discussions. Two series of multiple-choice items were developed as separate discussions on the typical marital issues of "money" and "contact". …

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The Overjustification Effect: An Affective Interpretation, Helena Grace Pretty Jan 1983

The Overjustification Effect: An Affective Interpretation, Helena Grace Pretty

Digitized Theses

The purpose of the present research is to investigate the overjustification phenomenon whereby a person who performs an intrinsically interesting activity for an expected, external reward sometimes decreases his or her subsequent interest and engagement in that activity. The determinants of this effect have important implications for the type of contingency payment and reward systems used in organizational psychology and education where sustaining intrinsic motivation is a central concern.;Currently two main explanations of the overjustification process have been given: the self-perception overjustification hypothesis, and cognitive evaluation theory. Research that has been done to assess the validity of these explanations is …

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A Study Of The Impact Of The Family Volunteer As A Social Support Intervention With Mothers Of Newborns, Elizabeth Michelle Sullivan Jan 1983

A Study Of The Impact Of The Family Volunteer As A Social Support Intervention With Mothers Of Newborns, Elizabeth Michelle Sullivan

Digitized Theses

The Family Volunteer Project was designed to address two general issues with regard to the area of maladaptive parenting. These were: (1) to contribute to the development of more effective screening procedures for identifying families at high risk for maladaptive parenting; and (2) to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of family volunteers as a promising preventive intervention strategy with respect to parenting problems.;This dissertation focuses upon the second of these objectives. The analyses reported concern the feasibility and effectiveness of volunteer intervention to effect positive change either directly or indirectly upon the psychological well-being, perceived social support and parenting attitudes …

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Mortality Differences Among The Native And Foreign-Born Populations In Canada, 1951-1971, Frank Trovato Jan 1983

Mortality Differences Among The Native And Foreign-Born Populations In Canada, 1951-1971, Frank Trovato

Digitized Theses

This dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis of mortality variations among the native and foreign-born components of Canada's population encompassing the census periods 1950-52 to 1970-72. The study develops and tests four hypotheses. The life stresses explanation posits that differences in the odds of death are due to social, psychological and structural inequities experienced by a given sector of society such as immigrants or native Indians. The immigrant selection hypothesis predicts lower death rates for the foreign-born sector due to the nature of immigration which tends to be inherently selective. The assimilation hypothesis relates to the time factor in mortality differentials …

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The Emergence Of B F Skinner's Theory Of Operant Behavior: A Case Study In The History And Philosophy Of Science, Kristjan Gudmundsson Jan 1983

The Emergence Of B F Skinner's Theory Of Operant Behavior: A Case Study In The History And Philosophy Of Science, Kristjan Gudmundsson

Digitized Theses

This thesis is a case study in the history and philosophy of science concerned with the emergence of Skinner's theory of operant behavior. During his graduate work in experimental psychology at Harvard University during 1928-31 Skinner became committed to the reflex tradition by way of an analogical extension of the experimental problem/solutions of Sherrington and Pavlov, in the sense of Kuhn's original concept of the exemplar. The reflex tradition however, is not the monotheoretic entity Kuhn makes the paradigm out to be, but is rather a global theory in the sense of Laudan's research tradition, understood as a succession of …

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Mimetic Process In The Sermons Of John Donne, Paul Wesley Harland Jan 1983

Mimetic Process In The Sermons Of John Donne, Paul Wesley Harland

Digitized Theses

This dissertation argues that Donne's homiletic method manifests a fictive and processive structure which imitates God's historically revelatory working with his people. Integral to this mimetic structure are several dramatic techniques which forward the action.;Donne's "theory" of mimesis may be constructed by analyzing his comments concerning the imitation of historical precedents. Such comments reveal Donne's trust in the ability of experience to purify the soul and his belief that growth may be incuded by doubt, affliction, and virtuous choice, actions which imitate the actions of the faithful witnesses who make up Christ's body. Donne asserts that the beauty which best …

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Self-Perceptions And Smoking Behavior, Austin Thomas Deslauriers Jan 1983

Self-Perceptions And Smoking Behavior, Austin Thomas Deslauriers

Digitized Theses

In order to implement the purpose of this research, it was decided to try to identify a set of self-perceptual variables which distinguished people in terms of their smoking behavior. Smoking behavior was construed as manifesting itself across a continuum from nonsmoking to smoking. This was consistent with the self-orientation of the present research in which smoking is not viewed as a discrete behavior, separate from one's view of self. With the general aim of gathering as much information as possible from a previously unexplored area, a questionnaire was constructed which tapped four aspects of self-perception: general self-description (adjective ratings), …

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A Cognitive Structural Approach To Uncertainty Orientation In Terms Of Individual Differences In Construct Accessibility, Gillian Alison King Jan 1983

A Cognitive Structural Approach To Uncertainty Orientation In Terms Of Individual Differences In Construct Accessibility, Gillian Alison King

Digitized Theses

This dissertation examined the view that certainty- and uncertainty-oriented individuals are individuals for whom certainty and uncertainty, respectively, are cognitively relevant (Sorrentino, Short, & Raynor, in press). Study 1 examined whether certainty-related behavioral descriptions about another were better remembered by certainty-oriented subjects than uncertainty-oriented subjects, as a construct accessibility model of differences in the relative accessibility of certainty- and uncertainty-related constructs would predict (e.g., Higgins & King, 1981). Distortions of evaluatively ambiguous and evaluatively unambiguous descriptions were also examined. The data supported a cognitive structural view of individual differences in uncertainty orientation in terms of knowledge structures based on past …

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Predicting Job Performance Criteria From Interview-Based Impressions Of Personality, Mitchell Grant Rothstein Jan 1983

Predicting Job Performance Criteria From Interview-Based Impressions Of Personality, Mitchell Grant Rothstein

Digitized Theses

Two laboratory experiments investigated the utility of evaluating applicant personality characteristics in the employment interview for purposes of predicting relevant job performance criteria. In Study One, three target applicants were created from personality information drawn from the two poles of an accounting/advertising factor dimension and a second dimension. Subjects judged the personality characteristics of the target applicants, their suitability for one of two jobs (accounting/bookkeeping or writing and advertising copy), and their probable level of job performance. It was predicted that job applicant targets congruent with the job characteristics would be judged more suitable for the job than targets who …

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Comparison Of Four Models For Predicting Person Reliability, Geziena Cynthia Fekken Jan 1983

Comparison Of Four Models For Predicting Person Reliability, Geziena Cynthia Fekken

Digitized Theses

The purpose of this research was to examine the efficacy of four models for predicting person reliability, which was defined as across-session item consistency. Two prediction models were based on item characteristics alone, namely, p-values and social desirability scale values. Two prediction models attempted to take into account both item and person characteristics. These models were based on individuals' latencies for responding to particular items and on individuals' thresholds for answering items in terms of some item characteristics. The latter model was derived from Jackson's (1968) threshold model for responding which describes the response process with reference to a threshold, …

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Models Of Group Productivity And Affiliation-Related Motives, Rodney Douglas Hancock Jan 1983

Models Of Group Productivity And Affiliation-Related Motives, Rodney Douglas Hancock

Digitized Theses

Using Steiner's (1971) model of group performance, an experiment was performed to investigate the relationship among affiliation-related motives, task demands, group size and group productivity. It was suggested that affiliation-related motives may mediate the effects of group size and task demands on group productivity. That is, when task demands were disjunctive it was hypothesized that approval-oriented as compared to rejection-threatened persons would increase their productivity as group size increased. Under conjunctive task demands it was predicted that increased group size would lead to decreased productivity for rejection-threatened as compared to approval-oriented members.;Affiliation-related motives were measured using Short's (1980) measure of …

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