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The Comparative Effects Of Two Reinforcement Schedules Applied To Groups In Teaching Arithmetic Skills, Ronald C. Bennett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A behavioral approach to teaching in the public school system is difficult because of the inherent difficulty of finding positive reinforcers and administering them simultaneously to large groups of students.

This study attempts to apply the same tangible reinforcers to two groups of students under different schedules of reinforcement. The students in the study were in special classes termed "learning adjustment" classes because of their failure to perform at grade level in regular classroom settings.

One group was on a continuous schedule of reinforcement using tokens and gold strike stamps as reinforcers. The second group was also on a continuous …

Utilization Of Phoneme-Grapheme Relative Frequency Data As An Effective Method Of Developing Reading Materials For Navajo Students, Wesley K. Roberts

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis suggests a new method of developing reading materials for Navajo students. The core of this method is based on phoneme- grapheme relative frequency correspondence data.

A short story was phonetically edited and rewritten using the phoneme-grapheme relative frequency method. This short story was one of the major products of the thesis.

This short story and three other short stories previously phonically rewritten, were presented in both this form and in original text to 38 Navajo students for reading.

Reading speed and reading comprehension were measured for each student on the short stories. The students performed with superior reading …

Comparison Of The Effects Of 97 Per Cent And 21 Per Cent Oxygen Mixtures Upon Recovery From Treadmill Running Among Male Wrestlers At Utah State University, Michael P. Brooks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A comparison of the effects on recovery while breathing a 97 per cent oxygen mixture and normal compressed atmospheric air after treadmill running was determined among nine male wrestlers at Utah State University. The variables examined were heart rate and percentages of oxygen and carbon dioxide in expired air. The practice of some athletic teams of administering oxygen to participants during time out periods was the motivation for this study.

A great majority of the studies reviewed conclude that oxygen does not play a significant role in aiding recovery from physical activity.

The experiment first consisted of eight runs on …

Relationship Of The Self-Concept To Selected Measures Of Performance Among Male Navajo Students At Intermountain School, Melvern Eugene Graham

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The relationship of various measures of high school performance and a measure of the self-concept were examined for the 1970-71 senior male students at Intermountain School, Brigham City, Utah. Some significant correlations were found.

Their junior year vocational training grade and grade point average were found to be significantly correlated to their self-definition score, as ere all but one of the teachers' subjective evaluations.

General aptitude, reading ability, previous years at Intermountain, and class grouping were not found to show any significant correlation with the self-definition test score. Age was found to be correlated at the .01 level with the …

The Ability Of Young Children To Recognize Words, Katherine K. Armstrong

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The young child's ability to learn to read (defined in this study "to recognize") words was studied in an attempt to determine the influence of age.

Fourteen, three-year-old children and 16, four and one-half year old children, 14 girls and 16 boys, were instructed to read eight words. Groups of three were taught in four, ten minute sessions and were then tested one at a time for word recognition. A retention test was given two weeks later.

The hypotheses, that three-year-old children will learn to read more readily than children nearer five years old and that girls will read better …

Difficulty Of Decision-Making By Widows, Marilyn Bjorkman Noyes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The difficulty of decision - making by women who are widows compared to when they were wives was studied. The areas of decision-making that were rated as to difficult concerned family finance, child care, homemaking (family foods, clothing, home furnishings, and housing), social activities, and yard and car care.

The sample consisted of 33 widows living in Logan, Utah during Spring Quarter, 1971. The subjects had at least one child living at home and had been widowed at least one year.

The instruments used were: (1) a background questionnaire, and (2) a decision-making questionnaire. The statistical test used for analysis …

The Pill-Correlates Of Attitudes Toward Oral Contraception, Carmen Knudson Ptacek

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to determine attitudes toward the oral contraceptive as related to religious, regional, educational, age, sex, and marital status. The instrument utilized was a 30 item summated scale which was completed by 240 high school and college students from the Intermountain and Great Plains regions.

The findings indicated a very large range of opinion regarding the pill. Attitudes were found to be related to religion, region, educational attainment, and marital status. Age and sex were not related to attitudes toward the pill.

Visual Perception In Pre-School Children, Candace Savage

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The efforts of practice sessions in discrimination tasks with the aid of instructional cues were studied to determine their influence on the visual perceptual abilities of pre-school children. The research was conducted at the Utah State University Child Development Laboratories with twenty children. Ten of these children were three years of age and ten were four years of age at the time of the study. Of the twenty children, five boys and five girls, were given training in performing tasks requiring ability in visual perception. The remaining ten children, five boys and five girls, were not given any visual perceptual …

The Influence Of Social Environment On Children's Perception Of Policemen, Sarah C. Klingel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this thesis was to examine children's perceptions of policemen as these are related to the social environment in which he lives; and to investigate the social class, sex, and racial influences upon their perceptions.

An oral picture test, consisting of 12 pictures, was administered to 39 fourth-grade children in two Ogden, Utah, public schools.

The findings of this study is that there is mixed support for the hypothesis that significant differences exist between middle- and lower-class children in their perceptions of policemen. Support was approached for the second hypothesis: there exist significant differences between males and females …

Telemetered Heart Rates Of Free-Living Uinta Ground Squirrels In Response To Social Interactions, Robert L. Ruff

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Free-living Uinta ground squirrels (Spermophilus armatus) were instrumented with miniaturized ECG radio-transmitters to measure their short-term and long-term heart rate responses to social interactions. A continuous trapping and direct observation program prior to and during the study provided complete behavioral and life history information for virtually all ground squirrels on the 22-acre study area.

Three broad categories of heart rate information were obtained: responses by squirrels (1) in their burrows, (2) above ground during social interactions, and (3) above ground when animals were not fighting and when conspecifics were both absent and present.

Marked changes in the heart …

A Comparison Of Technologist Needs And Training Requirements Of The Major Industries Within The State Of Utah, Gene E. Forsberg

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The technologist needs and training requirements were determined from a selected cross-section of Utah industrial firms.

The larger industries were significantly more aware of the training requirements and capabilities of four-year technologists than were the smaller firms.

A significant difference was found regarding general and specialized training required by each firm. Thirteen of the 16 responding firms indicated specialized training as being most important.

The 10 areas of technical training rated most critical in their order of importance were: electronics, technical writing, electricity, English, mathematics (calculus and above), machine shop, manufacturing processes, physics, and metallurgy and design.

There was no …

The Cultural Programs Of The Wpa: With Special Emphasis On The Federal Art Project, Lawrence G. Lashbrook

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The number of Americans who did not suffer in some way from the depression of the thirties was small, indeed. This was a period of great travail for the United States and the entire world. However, it was also one of the most interesting and innovative periods in American history. President Franklin D. Roosevelt exhibited forceful and quick reactions to the economic and social problems besetting the nation. Not the least of these measures of mitigation was the Works Projects Administration and the inclusive WPA cultural projects. These projects contained an art program, a writers' program, a theatre program and …

The Self-Concept And Self-Actualization Of University Faculty In Relation To Student Perceptions Of Effective Teaching, A. Paul King

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a relationship between student ratings of university instructors and instructors' self-concept and self-actualization. During the academic year 1970-71, students rated faculty members teaching undergraduate courses from the "Illinois Course Evaluation Questionnaire", Instructors rated high or in the top three deciles were defined in this study as "good" or "effective" teachers, and those rated low or in the lower three deciles were defined as "poor" or "ineffective" instructors. Sixty-eight percent or 118 of the instructors in these categories submitted to two psychological tests--the "Index of Adjustment and Values" and the …

Comparative Study Of Four-Year-Old Preschool Children In The Area Of Conservation, Joleen Mae Harwood

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to determine if four-year-old children are able to conserve and to investigate the influence of social class and sex on the development of this capacity. Collection of data was accomplished by interviewing forty preschool children on three conservation tasks, discontinuous quantity, continuous quantity, and mass. From the findings of this study, it was concluded that the development of the capacity to conserve is so limited among four-year-old preschool children that the influence of social class and sex of the child on conservation ability remains unknown.

The Use Of A Phonetic Approach To Reading With Three And Four-Year-Old Children, F. Walda Hopkins

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this paper is to determine if girls of preschool ages find more success in learning letters of the alphabet, their sounds, and simple two and three letter words formed from these letters, than boys of similar ages; and in addition to compare the achievement of three-year-old children to that of four-year-old children.

The children were introduced to six letters of the alphabet and the sound associated with these letters. They were then introduced to sixteen two and three-letter words that could be formed from these letters. At the conclusion of the ten tasks, a post test was …

The Development Of A Value Scale To Assess Familial And Social Values, Donna Marie Cole

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this research was to develop a self-evaluating instrument to assess family and social values . It can be used individually or in small group s of students at the senior high school or Junior college level . The variables rated are: familial, religious, sexual, and social values. The instrument is self-scoring and a schema is provided at the end of the test booklet to ind1cate the pattern of values as they are compared to the median or average scheme for the instrument.

The 36 items in the scale are responded to by a forced choice design of …

The Problems Confronting Small Utah Companies Seeking The First Increment Of Public Equity Capital, John A. Kerr

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The objective of this research is to isolate and analyze those areas which represent the greatest difficulty in expense, ad ministrative burden and confusion. Information was gathered by survey and interviews to determine what services are offered by underwriting firms and what services small businesses have found most beneficial in planning and executing their offering. The information gathered in Utah is compared with that gathered in California to determine the differences in the public equity markets of the two regions. These differences are the bas i s for the recommended changes in the underwriting procedures in Utah.

An Evaluation Of The Secondary Teacher Education Program At Utah State University By Selected Graduates, Dallas Lloyd Holmes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Introduction

The present study attempted to identify the strengths and limitations of the Utah State University teacher preparation program, Recommendations of improvements and changes in the program were based on the evaluations of graduates of the teacher preparation program. Information was gathered to determine if any difference in graduate evaluations of the program would be found based on the graduate's sex, age at graduation, community size teaching in, number of years of teaching experience, secondary major area of preparation, and the college graduated from.

Method

A questionnaire was developed to survey the evaluations of the graduates of the teacher preparation …

Open-Closed Mindedness Of Students In Teacher Education And In Other College Fields, W. Blair Low

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Purpose of the Study

This study sought to determine if teacher education students in two institutions of higher education were more authoritarian or closed minded than students in other fields of study. In addition, the study was designed to explore the relationship of other variables--sex, religious affiliation, church attendance, and city size and state of child residency-- to open-closed mindedness.

Methods and Procedures

Participating in this study were 1049 junior and senior students from Utah State University and 837 subjects from Weber State College. Subjects were primarily from a Latter-day Saint (Mormon) subculture. All subjects were administered the F Scale …

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 …

An Acculturation Study Of Japanese-American Buddhists In Northern Utah, Priscilla Tomich Timper

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The primary purpose of this study was to present a sociological analysis of American Buddhism in northern Utah. Specifically, the analysis covered the acculturation changes of American Buddhism in X __ , Utah, the functions of the acculturation changes, and the effects of secularization on the Buddhists.

The findings were as follows:

1. Buddhism in X___ is becoming "American Buddhism" just as Buddhism in Japan became Japanese Buddhism.
2. Buddhism in X___ reinforces the norms and values of the X___ society but also puts a strain on social relationship by contributing to ethnocentrism and racial segregation.
3. The Buddhist Society in X___ has …

A Descriptive Study Of The Role Of The Teacher Aide In The Home Economics Classes Of The State Of Utah, Carol Zeneth Isrealsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The definition of aide for this study was a non-certified person in the classroom who aids and assists the professional with non-related tasks.

The present role of the teacher aide in Home Economics was described and suggested guidelines for future aide utilization were proposed.

The study was conducted in three phases : 1) Personal Interviews were conducted of three teacher aides and two teachers presently employed in Utah. 2) Correspondence with fifty program directors or teachers using aides in other states. 3) Time-Activity analysis of 12 junior and senior high Home Economics teachers.

Instruments used were: 1) A twelve item …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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. …

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 …

The Post-Reinforcement Pause And Terminal Rate In Fixed-Interval Schedules, Charles A. Lund

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

California Quail were exposed to fixed-interval schedules whose values ranged from FI 90 to FI 180. Post-reinforcement pause lengths and terminal rates were recorded and grouped into relative frequency distributions. The relative post-reinforcement pause length was found to be an increasing function of FI value such that at larger FI values a proportionally greater period of time was taken up by the post-reinforcement pause. Terminal rate (rate during the final 20% of the interval) was a decreasing function of FI value. The large amounts of variability in terminal rates observed indicated that terminal rate in fixed-interval schedules is not constant …

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 …

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 …

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