Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Operant Conditioning Of Heart Rate Changes In Curarized Rats With Brain Stimulation Reinforcement, David Hothersall

Doctoral Dissertations

Many learning theorists have distinguished between autonomic responses which can be conditioned using classical conditioning procedures, and skeletal responses which can be conditioned using operant or instrumental conditioning procedures. In recent years this distinction has been challenged since such autonomic responses as changes in heart rate, GSRs, vasoconstriction and vasodilation, and changes in blood pressure have all been conditioned as operants.

The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility that both increases and decreases in heart rate could be conditioned in groups of curarized rats using an operant conditioning procedure with brain stimulation as the reinforcement for the …

Thermoregulation In A Cold Environment: Effects Of Body Weight, Roger A. Kleinman

Masters Theses

The present experiment, then, was conducted to ascertain the role of body weight in the physiological and behavioral adjustment to cold. Specifically, it was hypothesized that animals which gained weight after periodic exposure to cold would show a decreased temperature loss as well as less lever-pressing behavior for infra-red heat reinforcement than animals which were maintained at their pre-experimental weight level.

Manipulation Of The Magnitude Of Incentive Variable And Runway Performance, David Mason Wildasin

Masters Theses

The purpose of the present study was an attempt to replicate the findings of Wolfe and Kaplon (1941) using rats and somewhat more precise measurements of the dependent variables. Both the former study and Dyal's work indicate that specification of the amount of reward in terms of the weight of the food is insufficient. Specifically, the effect of presenting the same amount of food in one unit as against presenting it in five units was investigated.

An Investigation Of The Effectiveness Of Educational Placement Of Mentally Retarded Children In A Special Class, Kenneth Warren

Doctoral Dissertations

The number of Special Education classes for the educable mentally retarded has increased tremendously during the past several years. Implicit within this expansion is the assumption that for the educable mentally retarded such placement offers an environment superior to any other type of placement. In this environment the child is expected to gain greater benefits academically, socially, and perhaps even emotionally. There is some evidence to support this belief, but there have been few studies investigating the differences that result from placing a child in a special class rather than retaining him in a regular class.

The present attempt of …

Resistance To Weakening Influences As A Function Of The Similarity Between Aquisition And Weakening Phases, Harry F. Desroches

Doctoral Dissertations

In general there are three reasons for the study: (1) to test a specific hypothesis as deduced from a particular theoretical position, the generalization hypothesis, that resistance to weakening influences is a function of the similarity between acquisition and weakening phases, (2) to compare and to contrast the influences of various experimental operations in weakening a learned response, (3) to compare two groups of people who are believed to respond different to traditional methods of strengthening and weakening behaviors.

There is general agreement that much, if not most, of human behavior is learned. As the infant matures he meets new …

An Appraisal Of Psychologic Deficit In Children With Cerebral Palsy, Garret H. Yanagi

Doctoral Dissertations

It is the purpose of this study to investigate the relationship between Psychologic Deficit and the effects of brain damage and environmental experiences. It is an exploratory study, therefore concerned with descriptive, testable data which may yield hypotheses concerning cerebral palsied children.

Thus, an attempt has been made to point out various viewpoints and corresponding contradictory experimental evidence with regard to the cerebral palsied. One criticism which is inherent in many of these studies lies in the difficulty encountered in replicating them. This difficulty was seen in the lack of definition of terms, as well as of well defined groups, …

A Study Of Important Stimuli In The Lives Of Men With Lung Cancer, Landon Crocker Peoples

Doctoral Dissertations

(From the Introduction)

Except in specified instances where the etiology is known, the growth of cancerous tissue in humans is an unsolved problem (Cutler 1954). Most of the investigations in this area have been medical, physiological, or biochemical. There are, however, enough studies of a psychological nature (to be cited in a later section), with sufficiently intriguing results, to warrant further research into the possibility of a relationship between psychological variables and the incidence of human cancer. The present study is concerned with this relationship.

Extinction Following Qualitative Change In The Reinforcing Stimulus, Robert E. Taylor

Doctoral Dissertations

Introduction: The ensuing pages report an attempt to evaluate the effects of certain systematic variations in a stimulus situation designed to condition verbal habits in human subjects. More specifically, the studies focus upon the effects of changes in the quality of the reinforcing stimulus in relation to differing reinforcement schedules.

An Experimental Investigation Of The Differential Effects Of Hypnotic, Post-Hypnotic And Waking Suggestion On Learning, With Tasks Varied In Complexity, Herman Carl Salzberg

Doctoral Dissertations

Introduction: This study was designed to test, first of all, whether there were any differential learning effects following hypnotic, post-hypnotic, and waking suggestion. Secondly, the investigation was designed to test whether learning following suggestion increased or decreased differentially when learning tasks varied in complexity. Finally, the study was set up to find out whether there was a difference between the quality and quantity of learning following suggestion. A large number of the features of previous experiments in the area of hypnosis and learning were combined. As past experimenters found contradictory results, no hypotheses were forwarded regarding the outcome of this …

Preliminary Investigations In The Effect Of Continually Changing Reinforcement On Learning And Extinction, Michael Dinoff

Masters Theses

A great deal of research has been done in the gener­al area of manipulating reinforcement parameters. However, reinforcement per se has rarely been varied systematically from trial to trial. The research exceptions have been indicated. In these experiments , the nutritive value, the delay, or the units of reinforcement have been systematical­ly varied and the results are not always conclusive as re­gards the experimental variable itself. The present study attempts to control for these factors and yet vary systema­tically properties of the reinforcing agent alone. Pigeons were the experimental subjects and they worked for food while they were at a …

The Uptake Of Sodium Ions By The Tongue, Magill Echols

Masters Theses

We have seen a wealth of data demonstrating that salt prefer­ ence thresholds decrease as salt deprivation continues. Careful studies indicate that these fluctuations cannot be accounted for in terms of changes in neural excitatory thresholds. It is reasonable to assume that something on or about the tongue may change with sodium deprivation. The problem approached in this study was the search for evidence of such a change.

The experimental hypothesis was, "that sodium ions actually penetrate the surface of the tongue according to the sodium depriva­ tion experienced by the animal."

This was basically a search for processes associated …

A Comparative Study Of The Experimental Characteristics Of A Group Of Peptic Ulcer And Non-Ulcer Subjects, Frank George Mullen Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Introduction: The research about to be reported is one part of a larger research project being conducted at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. The objective of this research program is to attempt to systematically study psychological factors related to peptic ulcer by means of a behaviorally-oriented approach.

The problem in this study is a comparison of duodenal ulcer patients and a matched control group of non-ulcer subjects on various measures of reported behaviors of important persons in the early lives of the subjects. The major purpose of these comparisons is to generate hypotheses concerning the etiology of peptic …

The Cue Value Of Certain Attributes Of Faces, Joseph William Openshaw

Doctoral Dissertations

Of all the objects considered to be members of the broad class of things called "stimuli," undoubtedly the most important subset for the understanding of human behavior is other humans. The present research investigates some aspects of the complex stimulus provided by the appearance of another person and the function of selected dimensions of variation of such stimuli in a learning situation. It is an attempt to produce information regarding the relative effectiveness of certain kinds of cues provided by a person's face, when one is required to learn to respond differently to faces. The importance of research in …

The Role Of Learning In Olfactory Sensitivity, Monroe P. Friedman

Doctoral Dissertations

INTRODUCTION: In recent years the psychological literature has reflected an increasing interest in the role of learning in perception. On the theoretical level, this interest is expressed principally by the considerable attention given to two current attempts to account for perceptual learning (Gibson & Gibson, 1955a: Postman, 1955). On the empirical level, the problems of industry and the military have generated a multitude of investigations in this area. These problems range in diversity from the training of military personnel in the identification of aircraft to the training of tasters in the food industry.

The remainder of this chapter will be …

Partial Reinforcement And Generalization, Henry C. Rickard

Doctoral Dissertations

Introduction: The present investigation was designed to study the interaction of two experimentally established parameters of a habit; partial reinforcement and stimulus generalization. Studies concerning the effects of partial reinforcement have occupied a prominent place in the psychological literature since Skinner's (1938) first major treatment of schedules of reinforcement. Numerous stimulus generalization experiments have been reported since Pavlov's (1927) recognition of the generalization phenomenon. The present study explored the effects of applying the partial reinforcement parameter in conditioning and the stimulus generalization variable in extinction. More specifically, groups of human subjects were conditioned to a verbal response under different schedules …

Experiments In Conditioning Operant Verbal Behavior, Edwin O. Timmons

Doctoral Dissertations

In general, the writer's interests lie in the application of the principles of learning theory to the prediction and modification of gross human behavior. It is difficult to overemphasize the role of speech in the formation, shaping, and modification of an individual's behavior, and in the past few years a steadily growing body of investigators have been experimenting directly on speech, treating it as in uncontrollable, supra-human phenomenon. Those who experiment in the area called verbal behavior generally follow Skinner's (45) operant conditioning procedures which entail using the free speech of the S as the dependent variable and the verbal …

The Effect Of Stabilized And Nonstabilized Hunger Drive, Age, And Situation Complexity Upon Exploratory Behavior, Stanley Wechkin

Doctoral Dissertations

Summary: An experiment was conducted to ascertain the effects of nonstabilized food deprivation, stabilized food deprivation, runway complexity, and age on exploratory behavior of male albino rats both during and across five five-minute trials. Three levels of deprivation: zero, twenty-three, and forty-seven hours were used. The stabilization dimension included groups stabilized on the twenty-three hour schedule for zero and fourteen days prior to the beginning of the experiment. The two age groups were respectively about thirty-five and ninety days old at the beginning of the experiment. All groups were equally divided into simple and complex runway groups. The simple runway …

A Developmental Study Of Performance On The Hunter-Pascal Concept Formation Test, Ernest R. Larsen

Doctoral Dissertations

When psychology was closely allied to philosophy, it was defined as the study of "consciousness" or "mind." Its' methodology was investigating introspection, and by necessity, this limited any experimentation to the human species. In Europe, the initial research emphasis was on sensation and perception.

Although this philosophical orientation was questioned by a few investigators, this prevailing theoretical climate was irreversibly changes in America with the arrival and wide acceptance of Watson and his Behaviorism. Behavior then became the proper object of interest, and since all organisms behave, the object of study of psychology increased a thousand-fold.

In America, psychology's interest …

A Comparative Study Of The Experiential Characteristics Of A Group Of Alcoholic And Non-Alcoholic Subjects, Hugh C. Davis Jr.

Masters Theses

The problem in this investigation is a behavioral comparison of a group of alcoholics and non-alcoholics. The primary purpose of these comparisons is to generate hypotheses about covariate factors related to alcoholism and secondly to gain understanding about the etiology of the alcoholic process. Three steps were involved in carrying out these purposes: (1) defining alcoholism behaviorally, (2) ascertaining current functioning of the subjects, (3) ascertaining early learning experiences. Alcoholism is the dependent variable--criterion--of this investigation. A quantifiable behavioral drinking scale developed by Jenkins and Davis (15) yielded scores which defined the criterion. The U-T Deprivation Scale was used to …

The Relationship Between Experiential Variables And The Occurence Of Duodenal Ulcer, William W. Lothrop

Doctoral Dissertations

INTRODUCTION The research about to be reported is part of a larger research program with duodenal ulcer patients carried out at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, under the direction of Drs. Gerald R. Pascal. and William O. Jenkins of the University of Tennessee Psychology Department. This research program has attempted to bring a systematic, behaviorally-oriented approach to the problem ot duodenal ulcer. The early work of Bergmann (3) has been followed by sufficient expermental research, notably that of Wolf and Wolff (28), Mittelmann and Wolff (16), Gantt (8) and Sawrey (24, 25), to make tentative the hypothesis that …

The Relationship Between Experimental Variables And The Occurence Of Duodenal Ulcer, William W. Lothrop

Doctoral Dissertations

The research about to be reported is part of a larger research program with duodenal ulcer patients carried out at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, under the direction of Drs. Gerald R. Pascal and William O. Jenkins of the University of Tennessee Psychology Department. This research program has attempted to bring a systematic, behaviorally-oriented approach to the problem of duodenal ulcer. The early work of Bergmann (3) has been followed by sufficient experimental research, notably that of Wolf and Wolff (28), Mittelmann and Wolff (16), Gantt (8) and Sawrey (24, 25), to make tentative the hypothesis that there …

The Effect Of Cue Change And Drive On A Running Response, Warren A. Young

Doctoral Dissertations

In studying the learned behavior of organisms, experimenters usually focus on some particular response and its relationship to systematically varied external stimuli and/or deprivations operations. Any given response can be considered to vary in three ways: It can be strengthened, it can be weakened, or it can be maintained at a more or less constant level. The strength (or weakness) of a response can be indexed in several ways. One can, for instance, measure the latency of the response, the amplitude of the response, the number of response elicitations to produce experimental extinction, the probability of response occurrence, the frequency …

A Developmental Study Of Concept Formation Behavior In Pre-School Children As Measured By The Hunter-Pascal Concept Formation Test, Bernard D. Kaiman

Doctoral Dissertations

Introduction: In psychology the investigation of the formation of concepts has long been a part of the study of what has been called the thought processes. There are, however, very few studies of early concepts formation in humans, especially in children before and during the development of speech patterns. Most of the studies which have dealt with the investigation of concept formation have depended largely for their data on speech processes. It can, however, be shown that concept formation exists before speech behavior, and that its development seems to be somewhat parallel to the development of speech in the child. …

The Effect Of Varying Degrees Of Anxiety Upon Classroom Learning Performance, Martha J. Thorne

Masters Theses

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of varying degrees of anxiety, as measured by the fifty-item forced-choice Taylor Scale of Manifest Anxiety (TMAS) (24), upon the classroom learning performance of a group of thirty-one student nurses, as measured by the increase in scores on an objective-type final examination administered at the beginning and end of a course in psychiatric nursing. The thirty-one subjects were divided into three groups on the basis of low, medium, and high anxiety scores on the TMAS. The per cent gain scores from the pre- and post-final exam were then compared …

Development Of An Inventory Of Noncognitive Predictors Of Academic Success, Annie W. Ward

Doctoral Dissertations

The journals of education and psychology abound in studies of "prediction of academic success" in various courses, curricula and training programs. Since grades are readily available as a criterion and since previous grades and the scores on varied standardized tests are available as predictors, such studies are simple. The results of these studies are useful in selecting the best of available tests or the best combinations for predictive purposes, thus increasing the usefulness of the tests for group prediction. However, in spite of a number of these studies, and the refinement of statistical procedures used in conducting them, no such …

Construction Of A Forced-Choice University Instructor Rating Scale, Emmoran Benjamin Cobb

Doctoral Dissertations

Statement of the Problem: The problem, the construction of a rating scale for student evaluation of college teachers, had both "pure" and "applied" psychological research aspects. The "pure" facet of the problem was to develop, apply, and test the effectiveness of certain "forced-choice" principles of rating scale construction. The "applied" aspect was to construct in instrument useful to college teachers in the practice of their profession. Quotation marks are used for these terms to indicated the artificial nature of the dualism applied.

The Effects Of Varied Pre-Experimental Environments On Open Field Behavior And Elevated Maze Learning In The Rat, Herbert C. Hayward

Doctoral Dissertations

Introduction: This study was an effort to evaluate the effect or effects of pre-experimental treatment upon the subsequent behavior of white rats of two strains in the presence of stimulus change during the experiment. Two articles in the Psychological Bulletin (2, 9) have pointed up the importance of such studies for the science of psychology.

A Study Of School Desegregation: Self-Prediction Of Behavior And Correlates Of Self-Prediction, Wyman Loren Williams

Doctoral Dissertations

(From the Introduction)

On January 11, 1955, the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission directed the school system at Oak Ridge, Tennessee to desegregate beginning with the school year of 1955-1956. Although in general the school system officials felt that the community as a whole would be receptive to this procedure, research oriented toward the anticipation of problems that might arise as a result of the desegregation process was inaugurated by the Philosophy and Psychology Department at the University of Tennessee. The research that developed from this request is reported herein.

Activity And T-Maze Performance Of The White Rat As A Function Of Drive And Apparatus, Paschal Neilson Strong Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

[From the Introduction]

In the usual psychological experiment certain operations are performed upon the organisms being studied and a certain portion of the total responses are measured. The operations performed upon the organism may be roughly divided into two classes, those which are systematically varied and define the various experi mental groups, and those which are held constant across groups. Certain lawful relationships are then determined between those operations which are varied and the responses measured. Those operations which are held constant are considered to be factors which may also affect the responses being measured. It is usually …

The Contiguity Principle And The Skaggs-Robinson Hypothesis, Junius M. Rowe

Doctoral Dissertations

Introduction: Abbreviated

The laws governing acquisition and maintenance of behavior have occupied learning theorists in psychology for many years with the result that a great deal of data are available which demonstrate various factors influencing the acquisition of both simple and complex habits. Among the hundreds of factors now known to influence learning, similarity between original and interpolated material has received much attention in retroactive and proactive inhibition settings. The interference effects of these processes with varying degrees of similarity were first stated in 1920 by Woodworth and Poffenberger (23) and separately by Foucault (23) in 1928.

From the many …