Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Curbing Noncontractual Absences In A Mental Health Setting Through The Application Of Contingent Rewards, Craig A. Crawford

Masters Theses

In this study, the effects of contingent rewards on attendance behavior of direct care staff in a psychiatric institution were investigated. The intervention consisted of a letter of commendation and an opportunity to win a lottery for the staff exhibiting perfect attendance for a two week pay period. A multiple baseline analysis of three units failed to show significant declines in absenteeism although there were areas of significant improvement.

Increasing The Participation Rate For International Behaviorists At The Convention Of The Association For Behavior Analysis, Marsha Lee Benz

Masters Theses

This is a descriptive study that reviewed past participation of International behaviorists at the Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA) convention, to provide sore help to these presenters to improve the experience, and to disseminate behavioral information outside of the United States by trying to Increase International participation at the ABA convention.

These methods were used to Invite the behavioristsi (a) call for papers, (b) personalized invitations, and (c) poster invitations. Procedures used to improve the convention experience weret (a) an interest questionnaire, and (b) pre- and post-convention surveys.

Comparisons were made between the number of International presenters from years 1981 …

Performance Contracting As A Support System For Minority Graduate Students: A Feasibility Study, Monica Porter

Masters Theses

This study analyzed the feasibility of implementing a performance- contracting program for black graduate students so they could achieve or maintain a grade-point average of a 3.0 or above. Students attended weekly contracting meetings where academic tasks and deadlines were identified and task completion was monitored. The total number of tasks assigned per student for the entire study ranged from 12 to 44, with a mean of 32.6. Task completion ranged from 42% to 100%, with a mean of 68.4%. Nine of the ten students achieved a semester grade point average of 3.0 or above, although the present study did …

Detection Of Deception In The Laboratory As A Function Of Motivation And Set Size, Daniel Mark Tuckett

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of the polygraph in a controlled laboratory setting. The Guilty Knowledge Test (GKT) was the procedure employed in conjunction with the galvanic skin subjects over the two trial each. Overall the polygrapher was correct 44 times, out of 80 trials. This number of detections exceeded chance (p<.001) levels. The manipulation of subject motivation with a monetary reward increased detection rates significantly (p<.05) in comparison to those offered money. With each subject being tested over two trials, there appears to be a habituation effect as indicated by a decrease in detection from trial one to trial two. The relationship fell slightly short of significance at the (p< .05) level. In general the level of the subject motivation may play a major role in the detection of subjects who attempt deceit.

An Investigation Of The Effects Of An Applied Behavior Management Program On Selected Measures Of Worker Performance In A Financial Institution, Daniel A. Schroeder

Masters Theses

Twenty CRT operators from an operations department at a financial institution were used to evaluate whether a behavior management program utilizing feedback and incentives would improve their work performance on real job tasks. In accordance with predictions, results revealed that the group performed significantly better (p<.05) under the behavior management program than they did during a baseline period. Behavior management was significantly effective for most, but not all, work areas. The program also produced some unexpected, but positive, side-effects.

Analysis Of The Effects Of Goal And Feedback Specificity On Subsequent Task Performance, Gregory Mark Van Dahm

Masters Theses

The effects of goal and feedback specifically on subsequent task performance were examined to text the hypothesis that specific goals and feedback facilitate performance to a greater degree than general goals and feedback (Ilgen, Fisher, & Taylor, 1979). Ten subjects, in each of the four conditions, were assigned one of two levels of goal specificity and feedback specificity and were then required to perform a simple assembly and sorting task utilizing multiple size and color fasteners. No significance was discovered between correctly assembled and sorted products of the four groups although there was a general trend in the hypothesized direction. …

Use Of A Changeover Key To Train Serial Learning In The Pigeon, Rhoda Kay Yutzy-Ryan

Masters Theses

Three pigeons were presented with a serial learning task involving a sequence of three colors: yellow, green and red. The colors appeared on a lit key one at a time in random order. The pigeons were required to peck the colors in the correct order and to use a second lit key (the changeover key) to change the color when it was incorrect. The data show that the pigeons were able to learn the task and generalize to novel arrays at a high level of accuracy. This extends the findings on serial learning with pigeons to a type of sequence …

A Time-Management Procedure For Helping Graduate Students Accomplish Academic Tasks, Yousef Abdulwahab Abuhmaidan

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of time-management and a task checklist on task completion, the amount of study time and students' grade point average (GPA). A package consisting of a time-management calendar and a task checklist was provided to five Jordanian students. A multiple-baseline across subjects design was used. Individual weekly meetings were conducted to assess the progress of the students on the use of the time-management calendar and task checklist. Students were asked to bring proof of accomplishments for the completed tasks. During the study the completion of tasks went from 64.6% to 92.2% …

Effects Of Cued Intertrial Intervals On Response Latency In Pigeons, Franklin Paul Whitley

Masters Theses

Six White Carneaux pigeons were exposed to fixed-ratio schedule components in a systematic replication of a study by Michael et al. (1981). Separation between median latencies for the two schedule components was demonstrated consistently, reproducing the general features of that research. In a subsequent manipulation, differential stimulus conditions were introduced into the intertrial intervals preceding onset of schedule components in an effort to enhance the likelihood that differential "waiting behaviors" would develop. Two subjects demonstrated a clear decrease in the magnitude of the latency splits following introduction of the cued ITI condition, while other subjects evidenced a similar but less …

The Effects Of Instructions And Cue Controlled Relaxation Training On Cardiovascular Reactivity To Social Stressors, Patricia A. Fettes

Masters Theses

Cue controlled relaxation (CCR) training was compared to simple instructions to relax and control blood pressure on the basis of their effects on cardiovascular reactivity to role played social stressors. The CCR intervention consisted of training subjects to say a cue word ("calm") that had been previously paired with muscular relaxation responses, during presentation of stressors. The instructions intervention was associated with significant reductions in blood pressure reactivity, regardless of whether this condition preceded or followed the CCR condition. Factors that may relate to the relative ineffectiveness of CCR are discussed, as well as those that may have been responsible …

Auditory Stimulation-Induced Analgesia In Rats: Its Irreversibility By Naloxone, Ilsun Miranda White

Masters Theses

After receiving intermittent exposure to a tone (3000 Hz, 100 db, SPL), rats were tested on a hot plate for analgesia. Rats that received tone alone showed a higher average paw-lick latency than rats that received either naloxone or saline alone. This result indicates that the auditory stimulus used in this study can be considered a neurogenic stressor and may be added to the list of various noxious stimuli that prouces analgesic effects. Naloxone given to tone-treated subjects produced mean paw-lick latencies were comparable to control group latencies for the first two treatment sessions and to tone group latencies for …

An Analysis Of Potential Adjunctive Behavior In Two Developmentally Disabled Subjects, Nancy K. Brhely

Masters Theses

Past research on adjunctive behavior in humans has generally not employed methods which are comparable to those included in studies of adjunctive behavior in nonhumans. Consequently, the results of these studies of adjunctive behavior in nonhumans. Consequently, the results of these studies are often difficult to interpret. The present study examined locomotor movement and salient self-stimulatory behaviors in two developmentally disabled students exposed to four fixed-interval (FI) schedules of food delivery (FI 16-, 60-, 120-, and 240-sec). Results of this study were analyzed according to whether the seven defining characteristics of the prototype of adjunctive behavior, polydipsia, were present. Locomotor …

Increasing Key “Sales Related” Behaviors Through The Use Of A Self-Monitoring Checklist, Susan M. O'Brien

Masters Theses

The present study investigated the effects of self-monitoring alone to increase targeted key sales related behaviors with an outside sales representative. The data collected over a five-month period of time revealed a temporary increase in the overall percent of targeted behaviors performed on each sales call when self-monitoring was implemented. Performance dropped to baseline levels near the end of the first treatment phase prior to the reversal phase. The data were inconsistent across behaviors as to whether implementing self-monitoring caused them to change in the desired direction or not. Additional measures which were not directly influenced by the self-monitoring technique …

The Use Of Repeated Acquisition As A Technique For Establishing A Behavioral Baseline With Victims Of Alzheimer's Disease, Michelle D. Stone

Masters Theses

Three subjects suspected as Alzheimer's Disease (AD) victims were trained on a behavioral chain of three sets of three poker chips, each set differing in color and position, to investigate subtle changes in learning and performance behaviors over time. For each session the subjects learned a new three-response sequence with a marked poker chip serving as the correct response for each set. A within-session learning curve resulted for all three subjects with the errors in the learning trial (LT) exceeding the errors for the performance trials (PT1 and PT2). Only Subject III demonstrated a stable pattern of learning, with the …