Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Error Recognition In Calculus Problems: What Characterizes Expertise?, Alisha M. Crawley '95

Honors Projects

Previous research in the area of expert-novice comparisons of mathematical problem solving has focused on the differences in categorization of and performance on math problems. These studies have led to the conclusion that while solving or categorizing problems, experts focus on deep processing and novices focus on surface structure. Other research dealing with true/false multiplication equations has shown that adults (considered experts in multiplication) can reject false answers before processing the equation. This study attempts to extend these findings by looking at the differences between experts and novices in the recognition of errors in true/false calculus verification expressions. The participants …

Visual Attention Differences Across The Lifespan: A Study Of Inhibition, Emily H. Cointin '95

Honors Projects

In 1980, Treisman and Gelade proposed a two stage process of attention. According to the Feature Integration Theory, information is first processed automatically through feature extraction while integration of these features occurs later. Feature extraction is a parallel process and therefore automatic while feature integration is a serial process and thus requires attention. Because of the attentional nature of Treisman's theory, it has often been used as a paradigm for studies on attention and inhibition. The theory has also been used to highlight differences in cognitive abilities at various levels of development. In particular, it has been used to demonstrate …

Socialization Of Emotion: The Role Of Parental Discipline In Infant Anger Expression, Jennifer L. Cioni '95

Honors Projects

The current study sought to examine how infant negative affect changes with age and the factors that underlie that change (i.e., infant locomotor onset and emotion socialization). Participants included white, middle-class mothers ages 18 to 44, as well as their first-born infants at 6 months (all prelocomotor) and 8 months (half remained prelocomotor) of age. Videos of 20 mother-infant dyads taken at home were coded for maternal affect, infant affect, and prohibition scenes. Four, 2-way analyses of variance indicated that (1) the number of prohibitions increased with age for locomotor infants only, (2) the degree to which infant negative affect …

Using The Iowa Screening Battery For Mental Decline As A Predictor Of Functional Impairment, Laura L. Chapman '95

Honors Projects

Dementia is said to occur in at least 20% of the population aged 85 and older and is rising to almost epidemic proportions as the average age of the population in the United States continues to increase. Characteristically, dementia is manifested through memory impairment. These memory deficits along with other cognitive deficits render the individual at least somewhat disabled in social and occupational functioning. While there are many neuropsychological batteries which measure cognitive abilities and functional impairment, there has been no thorough consideration of how a cognitive screening battery might predict an individual's functional status. This study examined the Iowa …

Long-Term Effectiveness Of Combined Alprazolam And Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies In Panic Disorder, Steven M. Bond '95

Honors Projects

Benzodiazepines, particularly alprazolam, have been shown to be effective in the acute treatment of panic disorders. Difficult withdrawl and high relapse rates after successful discontinuation continue to be problems with this class of medication. Recent studies instituting cognitive-behavioral therapy as a treatment supplement to alprazolam taper have shown promising results out to one year follow-up. The present study investigated whether that combined treatment results in long-term improvement.

Reinforcer Demand Elasticity Under Direct Competition Between Rats, Susan L. Reynolds '95

Honors Projects

Economic theory predicts that cost is an inverse function of the quantity of a commodity. This has also been shown in studies of behavioral economics (Dougan, 1992). According to the law of supply and demand, competition between organisms should drive prices up more rapidly. Previous studies with rats have failed to find an effect of competition; however, the competition was indirect in those studies (Johns, unpublished thesis). In the present experiment, twelve female rats actively competed in pairs for reinforcers on each of four modified fixed interval (FI) schedules: FI 30 s, FI 60 s, FI 120 s, and FI …

Examining The Role Of Agitation And Aggression In Perceived Caregiver Burden, Anthony R. Peterson '95

Honors Projects

Recent research efforts in the area of dementia have revealed that the affected patients are not the only people that are impacted by this disorder. There are hidden victims that, more often than not, go unnoticed. These people are the caregivers, often family members, of a dementia patient. More and more attention is being focused on caregiver burden because it has been found that caring for a dementia patient can lead to medical and psychological problems in the caregiver. The purpose of this study was to determine if a positive correlation exists between the caregivers perceived burden and the patient's …

A Possible Age-Related Neurological Mechanism In The Formation Of Problem-Solving Set, Catherine J. Blair '95

Honors Projects

Problem-solving set is the ability to focus on one successful solution and to screen out other (non) successful solutions. One problem-solving set study by Ransopher and Thompson (1991) showed no main effect or marked difference of responses with age. However, these results are not surprising because the research design perhaps facilitated responses. Two outcomes were thought possible for this particular study. The inhibition-deficit view (Hasher and Zachs, 1988) suggests that older people may be less susceptible to the effects of problem-solving set because they would be less likely to be focused on just one solution set. Dempster (1992) suggests that …

Comparison Of The Effects Of Saporin-Igg Injections Into The Nucleus Basalis Magnocellularis And Medial Septal Area Of Male Rat As Assessed By The Morris Water Maze Task, Alexander R. V. Mccampbell '95

Honors Projects

Alzheimer's disease currently afflicts approximately 4 million people in the United States, with 100,000 new cases being reported each year. As post mortem examination of AD patientsI brains has revealed a significant decrease in the number of cholinergic neurons, one approach we have taken is to look at the correlation between the depletion of certain cholinergic markers in animals and the resulting behavioral deficits. Two regions of specific interest are the medial septal area (MSA) and the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM). These regions are important because they are the major source of cholinergic neurons in the brain, they are selectively …

“All The Men’S President” — The Political Personality Of Bill Clinton, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This article reports the results of an exploratory political personality assessment of U.S. president Bill Clinton, derived from psychodiagnostic meta-analysis of biographical information in the public domain, and designed to place personological knowledge from diverse sources and divergent perspectives into a coherent psychodiagnostic framework.

Justifications Of Intentional Aggression In Sport, Joseph Kwame Mintah

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which athletes in selected contact and semi-contact sports commit intentional acts of violence during competition. A second purpose was to determine how athletes justify or rationalize the use of intentional violent behavior. The subjects (N = 85) for this study were all male athletes from one mid-western University (age 18-42): football athletes (n = 31), basketball athletes (n = 12), wrestling athletes (n = 14) and soccer athletes (n = 28). Subjects responded to a modified form of the Bredemeier Athletic Aggression Inventory (BAAGI) and a researcher generated questionnaire …

Graduate Bulletin, 1995-1996 (1995), Moorhead State University

Graduate Bulletins (Catalogs)

No abstract provided.

Religiosity And Aids : The Relationship Between Religious Orientation And Attitudes Toward Aids, Patricia J. Pallay

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It was hypothesized that religious orientation would influence the attitudes that individuals formulated about AIDS and its victims. Specifically, intrinsically oriented subjects were predicted to have more positive attitudes toward AIDS and people with AIDS, and extrinsically oriented subjects were predicted to have more negative attitudes toward AIDS and people with AIDS. Sixty three college students enrolled in social psychology were administered Allport and Ross' Religious Orientation Scale to measure intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation. Three existing measures were used to assess attitudes toward AIDS. Additional instruments were also given to assess the subjects' knowledge about AIDS and attitudes toward …

The Relationship Of Leadership Style And Organizational Climate To Job Burnout Levels Among Taiwan Public Secondary-School Teachers, Jerry Liang-Yueh Chi

Dissertations

Problem. This study is to examine the burnout levels of secondary-school teachers in Taiwan and to determine if leadership style, organizational climate, and demographic variables are related to teacher burnout.

Methods. This quantitative research based on empirical data collection utilized the following instruments: (1) the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), (2) the Leadership Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ), and (3) the Organizational Climate Index (OCI). The four instruments are translated into Chinese and administered to 809 secondary teachers serving in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Multiple regression and Analysis of Variance were used to determine what kind of leadership style and organizational climate factors, as …

A Study Of Gender-Role Attitudes Among Contemporary White And African American Couples, Margaret Cecile Dust

Dissertations

Problem. Limited and conflictual studies have been completed on White and African American marriages and gender-roles. As a result, this study sought to compare perceptions of gender-roles in White and African American married couples. In addition, this study looked at relationships between gender-roles, length of marriage, and level of education in White and African American married couples.

Method. A total of 92 couples (26 African American, 33 White interacting married, 33 White non-interacting defacto) participated in this study. The defacto couples served as a control group.

The Bem Sex-Role Inventory, Masculine-Feminine Sex-Roles Survey, and a demographics sheet were given to …

Kinetic Family And Human Figure Drawings Of Child And Adolescent Sexual Offenders, Lyle Curtis Miller

Dissertations

Problem. Juvenile sexual offenders constitute a significant percentage of the total offender population. This study sought to determine whether the KFD and the HFD can be useful in identifying male juvenile sexual offenders by identifying specific characteristics in their drawings that differentiate them from the general population.

Method. KFDs, HFDs, and demographic information were collected from 401 male general subjects and 49 male juvenile sexual offenders ages 8 to 17. Forty-three KFD and 30 HFD dependent variables involving emotional and behavioral indicators and sexual symbols were analyzed by Chi-Square Analysis and Discriminant Analysis. Significance was set at .05.

Results. …

Toward An Objective Measure Of Moral Development For Children, Ruth S. Smith

Dissertations

Problem. Research on moral development in school-age children has been hampered by the lack of measurement tools based on a comprehensive model that includes moral cognition, moral emotions, and moral behavior. This study presents the first step toward the development of an objective measure of moral development for children in grades 3-6.

Method. One-hundred-twenty-one items covering different theorized determinates of moral development were administered to 187 children enrolled in grades 3-6. Either cluster or factor analysis was applied to determine the scales. Reliability was appraised by item analysis and validity was assessed by: (1) parent, teacher, and self ratings of …

The Relationship Between The Level Of Codependent Behavior And The Level Of Differentiation Of Self Among Nursing Students, Vicki Lynn Brandes Hillborg

Masters Theses

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between the level of codependent behavior and the level of differentiation of self among nursing students. This study employed a descriptive correlational design. The convenience sample of 241 nursing students (221 female, 20 male, ages 18-55) from associate degree, diploma, and baccalaureate degree nursing programs completed, by self-report, the Friel Adult Child/Codependent Assessment Inventory (Friel & Friel, 1988), the Haber Level of Differentiation of Self Scale (Haber, 1990), and an author created respondent characteristics questionnaire. There was a significant moderate negative correlation between the level of codependent behavior and the …

Development And Evaluation Of The Cardiac Exercise Health Belief Scale, Virginia R. Mcginn

Masters Theses

The purpose of the study was to develop and evaluate the Cardiac Exercise Health Belief Scale (CEHBS) which is based on the Health Belief Model. The CEHBS focuses on the concepts of benefits and barriers. Ninety post cardiac event subjects, 69 males and 21 females, were recruited from two Michigan hospitals during their hospital stay. The CEHBS was mailed to subjects six to eight weeks following discharge.; Cronbach alpha for the CEHBS benefits subscale was.90 and for the barriers subscale was.84. Content validity was established by expert review. During factor analysis all items did load on factors related to the …

Relationship Of Perceived Social Support To Readmission Of The Congestive Heart Failure Patient, Margaret A. Guthaus

Masters Theses

This study examined the relationship between perceived social support and the time between hospital admissions for congestive heart failure (CHF) patients based on Lazarus' Stress and Coping Theory. A descriptive correlational design was used with a convenience sample of 40 inpatients aged 33-100 at a mid-western hospital. The Personal Resource Questionnaire was used to measure social support.; Data indicated that 50% of the sample were readmitted within 90 days of discharge. However, the hypothesized positive relationship between perceived social support and the number of days between admissions was not supported. Subjects' age was related to time between admissions(r =.33, df …

Gender And Leadership: Men And Women's Stories, Barbara A. Karanian

Educational Studies Dissertations

This study investigates gender and leadership.

Gender Analysis Of The Spiritual Well-Being Scale, Karen J. Kellums

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

The purpose of this study was to determine if any of the twenty items on the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) show differential item functioning (DIF) between gender and item response. Archival data were obtained on two groups: (a) 331 members of the Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS, USA), 197 males and 134 females, average age 44.5 years (Adams, 1993; Stratton, 1992); and (b) 392 incoming freshmen students at a liberal arts college in the Pacific Northwest, 148 males and 244 females, average age 18 years (Foster & LaForce, 1991). For each sample, partial correlations were computed for gender-related response …

Structuring Skinner: Argument, Structure, And Metaphor In Verbal Behavior, Patrick Hamilton

Anthós Journal (1990-1996)

Skinner’s purpose in Verbal Behavior is to make the study of behavior a science and thus to eliminate argument, rhetoric, and metaphor. But clearly Skinner has not completely eliminated argument, rhetoric, and metaphor from his study. This discussion of Skinner’s work demonstrates that these rhetorical and persuasive ways are tied into his "scientific" investigation of language and verbal behavior, and in many ways, it is these very methods that allow Skinner to create and describe his conception of verbal behavior, even as he claims to be eliminating and avoiding the use of these techniques. This analysis of Skinner's Verbal Behavior …

Contemporary Implications Of Vygotsky And Luria, Michael Cole, James V. Wertsch

Heinz Werner Lectures

From Moscow to the Fifth Dimension: An Exploration in Romantic Science, Vygotsky: The Ambivalent Enlightenment Rationlist

Center For Psychological Studies 1995-1996 Catalog, Nova Southeastern University

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

No abstract provided.

Psychology Internship Program 1995, Nova Southeastern University

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

No abstract provided.

Teachers' Role In The Development Of Children's Metamemory And Strategy Knowledge: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of American And Singaporean Elementary School Teachers, Sony Hoe

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Future Task Difficulty Expectations And Strategic Failure In Depression: A Test Of Depressive Self-Presentation Theory, Evan Finer

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Religiosity, Sex Roles, And Attitudes Toward Women: Their Relation To The Roles Of Women In The Church, Kristen J. Petzinger

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Social Comparison And Perceived Severity Of Illness On Symptom Recognition And Monitoring, Susan Mccabe Sheffer

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.