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Edith Cowan University

Theses/Dissertations

1997

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Articles 1 - 17 of 17

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Pink And Blue See Red Differently: Influences Of Gender, Gender Role And Gender Of The Target On Anger Experience And Expression, Darryl George Milovchevich Jan 1997

Pink And Blue See Red Differently: Influences Of Gender, Gender Role And Gender Of The Target On Anger Experience And Expression, Darryl George Milovchevich

Theses : Honours

Anger is a commonly experienced emotion popularly thought to differ for men and women. However, because of definitional confusion and methodological limitations, there has been little useful empirical exploration of these differences. Current research findings on anger have, further, been limited by being based on non-random convenience samples of students and clinical populations. Research has produced inconclusive evidence for the effect of gender differences on measures of anger. Gender role identification has been identified as possible influencing factor. In the current study, the author drew a random sample from the general population of a small Australian city. Participants (n = …


The Predictive Accuracy Of The Violent Offender Treatment Program Risk Assessment Scale, Ann Ward Jan 1997

The Predictive Accuracy Of The Violent Offender Treatment Program Risk Assessment Scale, Ann Ward

Theses : Honours

Current methods for screening violent offenders for program eligibility are expensive and time consuming. Developers of the Violent Offender Treatment Program (VOTP) have designed 2 brief and economical instrument to screen offenders for program eligibility. The present study was undertaken to assess the reliability and predictive accuracy of the VOTP Risk Assessment Scale (RAS). An inter-rater reliability of 20 court histories attained a mean kappa of .8 I. The RAS was applied to court histories of 202 violent offenders released between 1985 and 1987. A I 0-year follow-up of convictions for violent behaviour yielded a 47~ base rate. Receiver Operating …


The Role Of Trust And The Victim-Offender Relationship, Gail Della Torre Jan 1997

The Role Of Trust And The Victim-Offender Relationship, Gail Della Torre

Theses : Honours

It has been argued that trust is a moral value inherent in all relationships, however the moral obligation to keep trust is stronger in close relationships than in contractual type relationships. This study examined the effects of breach of trust for two crimes (rape and theft) occurring within two types of relationships (social relationship and employer-employee relationship). Trust was demonstrated by the victim agreeing to the offender entering her property because of his position (husband or lawnmower man). A second independent variable was victim risk which was manipulated by the victim either inviting the offender inside the house, or not. …


The Birds Of Perth's Urban Parks : Factors Influencing Their Distribution And Community Attitudes Towards Them, Jodi S. Mansell Jan 1997

The Birds Of Perth's Urban Parks : Factors Influencing Their Distribution And Community Attitudes Towards Them, Jodi S. Mansell

Theses : Honours

Knowledge of the general responses of bird populations to urbanisation and an understanding of their habitat requirements is necessary to ensure the continuation of bird life in urban areas. Most of the literature on urban birds around the world has concentrated on birds in streets and remnant patches. Urban parks provide much potential habitat for birds, although there are few publications addressing this issue. The aims of this project were to determine the terrestrial avifauna of Perth's northern suburban parks, investigate physical factors that might influence the distribution of birds, and determine the attitudes of park users towards birds in …


Vers Une Typologie Des Actualites Televisees Sur L'Abc (Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Australie Occidentale) Et Sur France 2, Maryleen C.H. Troubat Jan 1997

Vers Une Typologie Des Actualites Televisees Sur L'Abc (Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Australie Occidentale) Et Sur France 2, Maryleen C.H. Troubat

Theses : Honours

This thesis is a comparative study of the evening news on the public television channels ARC (Western Australia) and France 2. It also investigates the notion of television news in Australia and France. Television news has become a dominant source of information for most people in developed countries. We propose to study the characteristics of the evening television news on ARC and France 2 and examine news as specific discourse and the different ways it is transmitted to the audience. This work also explores the use of sources, reports and interviews. Our study also uses recent French theories in discourse …


Preliminary Exploration Of Risk Assessment Predictors : Can Probationers Who Re-Offend Be Identified?, Deborah Dawson Jan 1997

Preliminary Exploration Of Risk Assessment Predictors : Can Probationers Who Re-Offend Be Identified?, Deborah Dawson

Theses : Honours

A retrospective study of 243 male probationers who had been on community based orders in Western Australia for a mean time of 15 months, was undertaken to explore differences between re-offenders and non re-offenders. Discriminant function analyses were employed in a series of designs where the mediating effects of geographic location and Aboriginality and non Aboriginality were investigated. The analyses revealed that the best static predictor item for distinguishing between non re-offenders and re-offenders in the entire sample was offence type (Wilks Lambda, .88, chi-square 25.589, df = 6, p < .0005) and the best criminogenic need item was employment (Wilks Lambda, .96, chi-square 7.566, df = 2, p < .05). In regional areas, drug use was !he primary predictor contributing to a function which significantly discriminated between and re-offenders and non re-offenders (Wilks Lambda, .78, chi-square 12.557, df = 4, p < .05). The classification accuracy was 68% for grouped cases. This result was unexpected, as previous studies have consistently found static predictors to be primary predictors of risk. Analysis of the metropolitan area sub-sample produced results more consistent with previous findings. Offence type and number of breached orders loaded highly on a statistically significant function which satisfactorily discriminated between outcomes (Wilks Lambda, .81, chi-square 31.226, df= 6, p < .0005). The analysis of race produced similar results. The variables which had tile highest loadings on the derived functions for both sub-samples were al11 static predictors of risk. Based on meta-analytic research outcomes of Andrews et al. (1990), it was also hypothesised that a chi-square analysis of court sanctioned probation conditions would reveal differences across re-offending outcome and the nature of the probation conditions. The results were consistent with the finding that general correctional service combined with a judicial alternative produced greater reductions in recidivism than a judicial alternative alone. The outcomes related to geographic location and race reinforced the importance of assessing risk of recidivism on the basis of population-specific attributes. Despite several limitations associated with the research design, the exploration provided future directions for the development of risk models and the use of judicial alternatives to reduce recidivism.


Influence Of Culture On Intergenerational Conflict : A Comparative Study Of Burmese Adolescents, Immigrant Burmese Adolescents, And Anglo-Australian Adolescents, Romana Lee Jan 1997

Influence Of Culture On Intergenerational Conflict : A Comparative Study Of Burmese Adolescents, Immigrant Burmese Adolescents, And Anglo-Australian Adolescents, Romana Lee

Theses : Honours

Is there a difference, in the level of conflict with parents, that migrant adolescents experience in comparison to that of non-migrant adolescents? According to the literature, adolescents and their parents in the minority cultural groups are likely to experience high levels of conflict which may result from conflicting cultural norms (Rosenthal, 1984; Ghuman, 1975, Di J\.1arco, 1974, and Phinney, I 996). The present study was conducted with a sample of Burmese adolescents from Rangoon (Myamar), a sample of migrant Burmese adolescents from Perth (Western Australia), and a sample of Anglo-Australian adolescents also from Perth, to investigate age, gender and cultural …


The Effect Of Masking The Prime In Orthographic And Semantically Related Pairs : An Interactive Activation Account, Rowan Johnston Jan 1997

The Effect Of Masking The Prime In Orthographic And Semantically Related Pairs : An Interactive Activation Account, Rowan Johnston

Theses : Honours

Visual word recognition studies rely on priming tasks to examine underlying processes within the lexical system. A commonly used method is the lexical decision task, where participants are presented with a letter string that is either a familiar word or a meaningless non word such as fost. Response times are measured for the time taken to decide if the letter string is a word or a non word. The word the participant responds to is the target, while the preceding word is referred to as the prime. There are three types of priming conditions reported here. First, semantic priming where …


Trial By Anxiety : Effects Of Nervous Demeanour And Level Of Evidence On Mock Jurors' Decisions, Michael Miller Jan 1997

Trial By Anxiety : Effects Of Nervous Demeanour And Level Of Evidence On Mock Jurors' Decisions, Michael Miller

Theses : Honours

Pryor and Buchanan (1984), using participants drawn from jury venires, showed that persons exhibiting a moderately anxious demeanour were found guilty more often than those with a low anxiety demeanour when evidence presented was balanced. In a study that used three levels of evidence (pro-acquittal, balanced and pro-conviction) and two levels of demeanour (apparently deceptive and control) Hendry, Schaffer and Peacock (1989) found that the demeanour bias only occurred at the pro-acquittal level of evidence. They had not used a criminal offence and did not provide judges instructions. Additionally conviction rates at all levels of evidence in the control condition …


Security Decay: The Erosion Of Effective Security, Shawn A. Mcclure Jan 1997

Security Decay: The Erosion Of Effective Security, Shawn A. Mcclure

Theses : Honours

The discipline of security lacks formal conceptual tools which can be used by security managers, advisers and consultants when attempting to provide effective security. This is because of security's relative age as a discipline, it is very new. The aim of the thesis was to contribute to the security discipline by taking Underwood's ( 1989) idea of security decay and to a certain extent exploring and formalising it. The security decay theory is primarily concerned with the influence apathy has on security and how management react to risk materialisation when decay is evident. The thesis focused on the first of …


The Effect Of Stress At The Retrieval Stage Of Eyewitness Recall, Mary-Anne Martin Jan 1997

The Effect Of Stress At The Retrieval Stage Of Eyewitness Recall, Mary-Anne Martin

Theses : Honours

Although stress at the encoding stage of eyewitness memory has been studied in depth in the literature, little is known about the recall stage. Stress effects on retrieval were investigated in two experiments to examine its impact on recall, repeated testing, and accuracy. Stress was manipulated by evaluative threat and time pressure at either immediate and/or delayed recall (20 minutes) in four experimental conditions in Experiment I. Participants were 62 undergraduate students from Edith Cowan University. A series of 40 pictures, five to a slide, were shown by overhead projector at the rate of 20 seconds per slide. There were …


The Relationship Between Global Self-Concept And Attribution Preference In Primary School Children, Carolyn Moore Jan 1997

The Relationship Between Global Self-Concept And Attribution Preference In Primary School Children, Carolyn Moore

Theses : Honours

The purpose of this study was to compare low and high self-concept students to ascertain whether they differ in the causes they attribute to their performance on a problem-solving task. The relationships of gender to self-concept and gender to attribution preference were also examined. This study differed from previous studies examining relationships with causal attributions by focusing on students' attribution preferences for a task with an equivocal outcome as opposed to tasks with success and failure outcomes. Eighty-two year seven students from four Perth metropolitan primary schools participated in this study. The study was conducted using a 2 x 2 …


Influencing The On-Task And Off-Task Behaviours Of Children Who Have Attention Problems Or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Through The Use Of A Token Economy And Self-Management, Renee Ball Jan 1997

Influencing The On-Task And Off-Task Behaviours Of Children Who Have Attention Problems Or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Through The Use Of A Token Economy And Self-Management, Renee Ball

Theses : Honours

Attention problems have been identified as a major contributor to below average academic competence in Western Australian students. The present study used an A B C D A' single-subject experimental design to investigate the effects of a token economy, managed first by the researcher, and then by participants, on off-task behaviour. Phase A was a baseline, phase B was a token economy managed by the researcher, phase C was a token economy managed by the participant, phase D was the thinning of the reinforcers (still managed by the participant), and phase A' was a return to baseline. Two participants were …


A Behavioural Checklist For The Measurement Of Self-Esteem In The Classroom, Dawn Metcalfe Jan 1997

A Behavioural Checklist For The Measurement Of Self-Esteem In The Classroom, Dawn Metcalfe

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The study sets out to develop a behavioural checklist for the measurement of self-esteem in the classroom. The importance of self-esteem to learning and adjustment to life's situation is well recognised by educational practitioners and theorists. This study examined the concept of self-esteem and the need for an objective instrument to measure the concept in children aged 6 to 12 years. The development of the instrument was in four phases and in every phase the input and feedback of classroom teachers was considered crucial The resulting instrument therefore comprises descriptions which are entirely teacher-generated. At several points in the process …


The Relationship Between Enjoyment And Ongoing Participation In A Grade Dancesport, Diana Jonas-Dwyer Jan 1997

The Relationship Between Enjoyment And Ongoing Participation In A Grade Dancesport, Diana Jonas-Dwyer

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

To date no studies have considered enjoyment in Dancesport. Scanlan, Stein and Ravizza, (1989a, 1989b & 1991) have extensively studied enjoyment and recommended further studies be conducted in individual sports. Past research has tended to identity enjoyment as a one off momentary experience termed 'peak performance' (Cohn, 1991) and 'flow' (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975; Kimiecik & Stein, 1992). Many thousands of people participate in Dancesport, the competitive arm of ballroom dancing, both nationally and internationally. Determining the predictors of enjoyment for Dancesport could provide a base upon which to plan activity programs to increase lifelong participation and health. A qualitative approach was …


Errors In Pronunciation Of Consonants By Indonesian, Gayo And Acehnese Learners Of English As A Foreign Language, Ingrid B. Mathew Jan 1997

Errors In Pronunciation Of Consonants By Indonesian, Gayo And Acehnese Learners Of English As A Foreign Language, Ingrid B. Mathew

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis reports on research into consonantal phoneme pronunciation errors in the English of EFL learners from three different first language groups in the province of Aceh, northern Sumatra, Indonesia. It is a qualitative study, describing the errors found for each first language group. Error data was collected from each participant in the language laboratory using an aural discrimination test, a word repetition test and a reading passage test, and also from interviews with each participant which were recorded on audio cassettes. Analysis and explanation of the error data then followed. There were eight participants from each of the three …


Evaluation Of Rainbows, A Program Designed To Assist Bereaved Children In The Grieving Process, Caroline G. O'Shannassy Jan 1997

Evaluation Of Rainbows, A Program Designed To Assist Bereaved Children In The Grieving Process, Caroline G. O'Shannassy

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

There are many children who have suffered the loss of a parent through death or divorce/separation. Generally, people expect children to "carry on" while such traumatic events in their lives take place. Bereaved parents may send their children back to school as soon as possible after the death. In the case of divorce/ separation, the child attends school while the trauma unfolds on a day-to- day basis. Bereaved and distressed parents are often unaware of their children's grief and unable to give the support that the children need. Parents are likely to deny, on many occasions, that the children have …