Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Students' Sophistication Level And Confidence In Testing Procedures Predicts Susceptibility To The Barnum Effect, Thomas R. Rutledge

Modern Psychological Studies

The present study examined the relationship between students' level of sophistication and confidence in personality assessment procedures with their susceptibility to the Barnum effect— the tendency for individuals to accept highly generalized, ambiguous profiles as accurate descriptions of their personality. Thirty-five university students (22 females, 13 males, mean age 26) completed a brief personality questionnaire under the impression they would be receiving an interpretation from a) a masters level clinician, b) a clinical psychologist (PhD), or c) a form of computer assessment. A pretest asking for the subject's age, sophistication, and their perceptions of the three assessment sources accompanied the …

Self-Protective Attributions In Stigmatized Individuals, Theodore Harding, Dorothee Dietrich

Modern Psychological Studies

Research has shown that stigmatized subjects, defined as members of groups about which others hold negative attitudes, receiving negative feedback from a prejudiced evaluator attribute the nature of the feedback to the source rather than to their own performance. The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether this self-protective mechanism also occurs in nonstigmatized individuals. Sixty-seven subjects, male and female undergraduate students enrolled at a small midwestern liberal arts college, participated in a 2 x 2 between-subjects factorial design in which the independent variable of evaluator prejudice or nonprejudice was crossed with stigmatized or nonstigmatized subject status. Results of …

The Role Of Gender In The Processing Of Dating Scripts, Krista M. Reed, Lea T. Adams

Modern Psychological Studies

The issues under investigation were gender differences in either content or memory discrimination of dating scripts and general examination for differences in memory of typical and atypical events using the script pointer plus tag (SP+T) hypothesis. A total of 52 female and 54 male undergraduates participated. Subjects were enrolled in introductory psychology classes at a large midwest university and were primarily Caucasian, single, and between the ages of 18-21 years. In Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the study, items that would possibly occur in 4 different dating scenarios were generated and then rated for typicality. Males and females both …

A Quantitative Dendritic Analysis Of Four Functionally Distinct Areas Of Human Cerebral Cortex, Serapio M. Baca, Bob Jacobs

Modern Psychological Studies

Recent investigations have begun to elucidate the function of dendritic arbors, revealing that the geometry of dendrites and the presence of dendritic spines play important roles in both simulated and actual dendritic function (Midtgaard, 1994). The present study attempts to correlate dendritic complexity with cortical function under the assumption that connectivity in a local cortical area may determine its more holistic functional properties. Two human brains (ages: 23 and 69 years) were used for the present study. Four cortical areas (Brodmann's [1908] areas 3, 1, and 2; area 22; area 44; and area 10), respectively representing Benson's four levels of …

Relationship Among Adolescent Reports Of Social Anxiety, Anxiety, And Depressive Symptoms, Heidi M. Inderbitzen, Debra A. Hope

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The present study examines the relationship among self-reported symptoms of social anxiety, anxiety, and depression in the context of Clark and Watson’s tripartite theory of anxiety and depression for a sample of adolescents. Four hundred and twenty-eight 10th-grade students completed three measures: the Social Anxiety Scale for Children–Revised, the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale, and the Children’s Depression Inventory. Results suggest that symptoms of social anxiety are distinct from symptoms of depression and unspecified anxiety. In addition, results indicate that in comparison to males, adolescent females report higher levels of social anxiety, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Conceptual and methodological implications …

An Air Force Guide To Team Building, Roy M. Gozum

Theses and Dissertations

Team structures are used extensively in civilian, government, and military organizations to accomplish modem task demands that almost always exceed the capabilities of single individuals. As team structures became larger and more complex, managers realized the need for formal team building education. Team building programs serve to facilitate an environment for productive teamwork. However, despite the apparent importance of teams, most organizations overlook the implementation of formal team building programs. Therefore, the purpose of this research is two-fold. First, this thesis examines the evolution and importance of teams, and the subsequent need for the development of formal team building programs. …

Motivational Factors In Combat: A Comparison Of German And American Soldiers In World War Ii Using Content Analysis, Douglas J. Traversa

Theses and Dissertations

To determine whether content analysis could be used to successfully identify major combat motivational factors for individuals, this research focused on soldiers who fought in World War II. Combat narratives written by men who fought in World War II were examined. Ten German and ten American works were examined. Of these, five of each were the works of flyers and the other five were the works of ground troops. The following factors were examined: "primary group" influence, ideology, attitudes toward the enemy, group leadership, national leadership, personal gratification, propaganda, religion, vindictiveness, desire to end the war and go home, coercion, …

School Of Social And Systemic Studies Department Of Family Therapy M.S. Program Student Handbook [1995], Nova Southeastern University

College of Psychological Services / College of Psychology Postgraduate Student and Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of The Nmda Noncompetitive Antagonist Ketamine On Serial Learning In Rats, Brooks Snider, David M. Compton, Robert Foster

Modern Psychological Studies

Past research has demonstrated that Nmethyl- D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists disrupt the acquisition of a variety of spatial and non-spatial tasks. In the present investigation, the effects of the NMDA antagonist, ketamine, were examined in a task with minimal spatial demands. Twenty-six male Long-Evans rats, approximately 5 months of age at the beginning of training, served as the subjects. Before training began, all rats were reduced to 85% of their free feeding weight and maintained with this 15% reduction throughout training. After injections of ketamine or saline, rats were trained to respond in a runway to a nonmonotonic serial pattern …

Recovery From Stroke Involving The Left Middle Cerebral Artery, Lori Walter

Modern Psychological Studies

The rehabilitative treatment of a 73-yearold male who suffered from a left middle cerebral artery (MCA) thrombotic infarct was observed to analyze the effects of age and psychological and social factors on stroke recovery. The patient was assessed as having minimal verbalization, right side neglect, right hemiparesis, right hemisensory deficits, decreased balance and mild dysphasia. After 29 days of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, he showed improvement in activities of daily living, walking, and communication. He was discharged 33 days poststroke (DPS). Age of the patient and severity of the stroke seemed to be poor predictors of stroke …

The Effects Of A Standardized Ginkgo Bilboa Extract On Learning In Aged And Young Rats, Scott Heldt

Modern Psychological Studies

The effects of chronic oral administration of a standardized Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) on the performance of two classical memory tasks was investigated. Long-Evans rats, 3 and 16 months of age, received daily doses of diets with or without GBE (100 mg/kg) for a period of 6 weeks before testing and throughout the experiment. A 2 x 2 (Age x Treatment) ANOVA indicated that GBE treatment prevented learning on a radial maze task as measured by number of days to criterion, F(1, 28) = 5.73, p < .05. A 2 x 2 x 19 (Age x Treatment x Day) ANOVA was used to analyze the number of correct responses from Days 1 to 19. The results showed an interaction between Age and Treatment F(1, 28) = 6.34, p <. 05; namely young treated rats performed worse than other groups. Analysis of response frequency by a 2 x 2 (Age x Treatment) ANOVA revealed a significant interaction F(1, 28) = 4.41, p < .05, and a subsequent post hoc test indicated that the young treatment group responded notably more than the old groups. Measured performance on a one-way passive avoidance task indicated that neither treatment nor age had an effect. The results suggest that at the prescribed dose level and duration, GBE impairs performance on a radial maze task, particularly in young rats.

Intentions To Cooperate With Court Appointed Special Advocates (Casas) In Child Protective Proceedings: The Role Of Perceived Social Pressure In The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Yuko Sato Spofford

Dissertations and Theses

Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior with the addition of Perceived Moral Obligation was used to investigate the behavioral intentions of 65 caseworkers of the Children's Services Division (CSD) to cooperate with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) on cases involving abused or neglected children. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the subjective norms and perceived moral obligation constructs were significant predictors of the three behavioral intention categories and of all three categories combined. The two constructs, however, seem to have a considerable amount of overlap, suggesting that they may be measuring what is broadly called "social pressure to perform/not to perform" the …

Attitude–Behavior Correspondence? Why Susan Smith Was Spared, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This opinion column employs the Susan Smith child domestic homicide (maternal filicide) case to explore attitude–behavior correspondence. The article describes Richard LaPiere’s (1934) landmark study “Attitudes vs. actions” published in the journal Social Forces and Leonard Bickman's (1972) study “Environmental attitudes and actions” published in the Journal of Social Psychology.

The Health Belief Model As A Predictor Of Gynecological Exams: Does Sexual Orientation Matter?, Lynn Elizabeth Kunkel

Dissertations and Theses

Screening and early detection are essential for the management and control of most diseases. It is important for women to practice routine health care that includes both clinical and self examinations. Today, many women go without health care due to barriers which prevent them from obtaining adequate care. The present study was designed to investigate, using the Health Belief Model, whether there is a difference between heterosexual and lesbian women in obtaining gynecological exams. Responses from 238 participants, 70 heterosexuals and 168 lesbians, indicated that the Health Belief Model was a significant predictor of whether women complied with recommended guidelines …

The Effect Of Cooperative Games/Activities Involving Elementary Students On Cooperative Social Interaction, Karen S. Collins

Graduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether Cooperative Games/Activities influenced children’s cooperative values and interdependence in the classroom. Twenty-seven boys and twenty-eight girls were assigned to three groups: two cooperative games/activities experimental groups and one control group. Each student was pretested using a Group Behavior and Atmosphere Scale. Following the pretests, students in the control group continued with their regular physical education activities and the experimental groups played cooperative games. Cooperative games were played twice a week, for six weeks, for an average of forty-five minutes. After six weeks, all students were retested to determine changes in behavior. …

The Relationship Between Vision And Athletic Performance, Steven Richard Wininger

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In today's competitive world of athletics it is not uncommon to discover a few athletes actively involved in some form of vision enhancement motivated by the promise that the exercises will improve their athletic performance. A review of past and present literature in the area of sports vision revealed that these athletes are performing exercises based upon a very weak scientific foundation. Most of the research investigating the relationship between vision and athletic performance has been plagued by flawed methodology, as well as extremely low numbers of subjects. The purpose of this study was to test for any relationship between …

Serial Pattern Learning By Event Observation: Effects Of Varying Amounts Of Pattern Experience, Roger Stubblefield

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The present study was designed to replicate the findings by Howard, Mutter & Howard (1992) that (1) overt behavioral responding is not prerequisite to serial pattern learning and (2) that observation produces a qualitatively different form of representation than an overt motor response. We also sought to extend these findings by determining how much exposure to the pattern is necessary to replicate these effects and by examining the role of stimulus-to-response mapping by adding an additional response group (unmapped-response). A version of the serial learning task used by Howard et al. (1992) was used. The task consisted of two phases. …

Client Satisfaction And Kentucky Adult Day Care Services, Karen Beavers

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Adult day care is a new and rapidly growing alternative to long term care for the burgeoning population of frail and disabled elderly. A review of the literature regarding adult day care services revealed a limited number of studies addressing client satisfaction. The current study of 68 participants of nine Kentucky adult day health and social model adult day care centers assessed client satisfaction with services and explored variables related to satisfaction. It was hypothesized that clients who preferred to be at the adult day care center rather than in another location would report higher levels of satisfaction with services …

The Effects Of Race And Evidence On Jury Decision-Making In Sexual Harassment Cases, Riley Ross

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Although sexual harassment has received a considerable amount of publicity since the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, current literature lacks an abundance of studies examining the outcome of sexual harassment cases. The researcher sought to examine the effect of an extralegal (legally irrelevant) factor and the amount of evidence on jury decision making. Specifically, the race of the defendant served as the extralegal factor, while the amount of evidence presented was determined in relation to how many variables (0, 2, or 4 sources of evidence) were included in a particular sexual harassment scenario. (The four variables used were: the presence of …

The Utility And Usefulness Of An In-House Database: An Aid To Understand Student Ratings, Mark Tolley

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this project is three fold:(a) a review of the literature regarding student ratings, (b) the creation of a student rating database and (c) the development of an applications manual to accompany the database. From a thorough review of the literature, this project identifies the utility and usefulness of student ratings as one element in the evaluation of instruction. The literature review addressed the following questions: (a) Do we need student ratings of instructors? (b) Can student rating data be used to improve instruction? (c) can we be sure that the data and the means by which they …

Spiritual Changes As Psychotherapy Outcomes, Rodger K. Bufford, T. Wilson Renfroe, George Howard

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

No abstract provided.

Moral Judgment In Abusive Relationships: Implications For Interventions, Robert Marshall Masterson

Graduate Theses

Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Interview and parallel dilemmas depicting abusive domestic situations were used to compare moral development of two groups of couples. Twenty men from a program for abusive men and their wives were compared to 20 couples selected by convenience sampling from university students, two church congregations, and friends. The Conflict Tactics Scale for couples was used to determine the validity of the responses of the male partner. No differences in Global Stage Scores were found between abusive or non-abusive men. None were found between genders. Weighted Average Scores on traditional Kohlberg stories and spousal abuse dilemmas were similar …

Verbal Learning And Memory In Adults With Mild, Moderate And Severe Closed Head Injury, Paula J. Bergloff

Theses and Dissertations

One of the most prevalent of cognitive dysfunctions associated with closed head injury is impaired_memory function. The current study examined qualitative and quantitative aspects of learning and memory to define the effects of mild head injury in comparison to moderate and severe head injury and a sample of normal controls.

Forty five survivors of severe (n=15), moderate (n=15) and mild (n=15) closed head injury were compared with age and education matched controls (n=15) on the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) and the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS). On CVLT learning trials, head injured groups recalled less than controls, with the severely …

The Interactive Effects Of Caffeine And Phase Of Menstrual Cycle On The Recall Of Prose Passages, Jacqueline Marie Mcpherson

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has yielded inconsistent results regarding the effects of caffeine on memory. Such inconsistency is likely to a large extent a function of the complex interaction effects of caffeine and other variables such as estrogen. The purpose of the present study was to discern possible variation in the effects of caffeine on the recall of prose for females tested during days 1-5 or 9-13 of their menstrual cycle. One hundred and seven subjects received either O mg/kg, 2 mg/kg, or 4 mg/kg of caffeine. Following an absorption period, subjects read six passages from a computer terminal and immediately afterwards, …

Evaluation Of A Computer Simulation To Assess Subject Preference For Different Types Of Incentive Pay: Part Two, Stephen Mark Sundby

Dissertations

This study further investigated the use of a computer simulation to assess subject preference for different types of pay systems. Subjects were eight undergraduates recruited from psychology classes at Western Michigan University. The dependent variable was the subjects’ choice of pay system, either simulated hourly pay or base pay plus incentive. Simulated work performance was determined by the computer with 0.50 probability of low or high performance. For Experiment 1, the independent variable was the maximum amount of simulated pay that subjects could earn under each pay type. For Experiments 2 and 3, the independent variable was the percentage of …

The Effects Of Intensive, Structured Study On Gre Verbal And Quantitative Scores, Jan Marie Miller

Dissertations

This research served as a follow-up to previous research (Goodyear-Orwat and Malott, 1994) in which students engaged in self-study utilizing various study materials. Three courses (spring, summer, and fall) were offered to further examine the effects of intensive, structured study on Graduate Record Examination verbal and quantitative scores.

Twenty undergraduates enrolled in Graduate Record Examination preparatory courses studied from 66 to 105 hours. An attendance and participation contingency was established to encourage adequate study time. The courses were structured to allow students to assess and manage their own performance, utilizing standard, self-instructional texts and computerized drill programs. Students worked at …

Autocorrelation In Single-Subject Data: A Meta-Analytic View, Laura L. Methot

Dissertations

Recent work by Huitema and McKean (1991, 1994a, 1994b, 1994c, in press) has shown that the most frequently used statistical methods for performing conventional time-series analyses lead to gross distortions of results when these approaches are applied in the context of the typical behavioral research study. Most of these problems could be avoided if researchers were aware that the time-series methods recommended in many areas are not generally needed. The appropriate evidence regarding the need for complex time-series methods requires a meta-analysis of the autocorrelation present in behavioral studies. The project involved: (a) sampling several hundred research articles published in …

Assessing Pediatricians' Diagnostic Practices: An Analogue Study Of Responses To Adhd-Like Presentations In Preschoolers, Helle Augustesen

Dissertations

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been considered one of the most chronic behavior disorders observed in the preadolescent population and is one of the most frequently diagnosed childhood disorders in North America. Currently, however, there is little consistency in terms of identifying specific criteria which need to be present in a child's behavior to make a diagnosis of ADHD. This difficulty is even more pronounced in very young children of preschool age. This study utilized a three year old male child shown to 80 subjects on a videotape engaging in either a high or a low level of activity. …

Effects Of Cognitive Complexity And Individuating Information On Evaluations Of Other-Race Members, Kenneth G. Weigand

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social cognition research has examined the variables involved in stereotyping out-group members. The degree of an individual's domain-specific cognitive complexity has been identified as a mediator. Studies have also examined the tempering effects of individuating versus categorical information upon evaluations of out-group members. Most of the related research had defined out-groups according to gender, age and occupational differences. This study defined group membership according to race, and examined the effects of cognitive complexity and individuating information upon the extremity of evaluations made toward other-race members in a sample of 51 White and 46 Black male college subjects. It was hypothesized …

Temperament And Goodness-Of-Fit And Their Effects On Parenting Stress, Kimberly Whorley

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The temperament patterns and temperament discrepancies between parents and children ages 3-7 years-old, who had been referred in school for behavior problems and children with no reported classroom behavior problems (matched control subjects), were examined along with levels of parenting stress. Nine "referred" children and nine "nonreferred" comparison children, matched on age and gender, were included in the study. The parents completed the TABC parent form, DOTS-R, and PSI. Whether or not the children had been referred for behavioral problems, ADHD, speech or learning difficulties was also recorded. It was found that the children in the "referred" group were reported …