Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mine Warfare In The Russian And Soviet Navies, Jeffrey K. Bray

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the development of technology, tactics, strategy, and organization of mine warfare in the Russian and Soviet navies from 1807 to the present. The author reviews the trials and tribulations of the development of naval mines and their employment within these two navies. This development has been primarily driven by the needs of war and advances of technology. In spite of occasional setbacks, the Russian and Soviet mine warfare forces continued to provide support to the overall naval and central policies of their respective governments. This support has often been during times of high tension and limited resources. …

Honduras Pawn And Policy Maker, Elizabeth P. Thornton

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

A study of the weak state was conducted using the Honduras-U.S. relationship as a case study. Most existing literature, with the exception of Annette Baker Fox's The Power of Small States, does not analyze in detail a specific country's relationship with a powerful nation. This research examined the factors that helped a weak country maintain maneuverability in its domestic and foreign policies when under the influence of a strong power. Six conditions which facilitated maneuverability were: geographic proximity, rising nationalism, citizen participation in government, trade distribution and diversification, international pressure, and declining hegemony of the strong power. Events in Honduras …

Containment, Cliency And The Revolution In Vietnam, Deborah Tompsett-Makin

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This thesis addresses the question, why does U.S. foreign policy contribute to political instability in developing nations? To ascertain the answer, it analyzes the post-World War II administrations from Truman through Johnson. One mode of containment, cliency, a foreign policy relationship between a major power and a weaker state, is developed within the framework analyzing containment. The cliency model provides a theoretical basis for explaining how the domestic structure of the client state is systematically distorted by the patron's actions in pursuit of its global interests. The cliency model is also linked to the pattern of development and stability of …

A Social Exchange Approach To Explaining Satisfaction With Therapy, Brenda B. Counts

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study examined the effect of Reward, Cost, Comparison Level, Comparison Level of Alternative, and Investment on Satisfaction and Commitment in therapy from the perspective of social exchange theory and the investment model. Relationship variables were assessed by 114 subjects for the beginning of therapy, the first few sessions: middle of therapy, when therapy was clearly underway and issues were being dealt with; and the end or last few sessions. Results confirmed that Satisfaction and Commitment were significantly predicted by greater Reward, lower Cost, and Comparison Level. Investment was consistently positively related to Commitment and not to Satisfaction. However, …

A Comparison Of Traditional And Non-Traditional Women's Preferences For Family Oriented Vs. Career Oriented Men, Lee M. Handeland

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

One hundred sixty two female university students were divided into two groups according to their level of traditionality as measured by the Attitude Toward Women Scale. They were shown a photograph of a moderate to high attractive male along with a short description identifying the male as having either a high-career/low-family orientation, or a low-career/high-family orientation, and asked to report their degree of preference for this target. Analysis found significant main effects for traditionality of the subjects, career/family orientation of the targets, and an interaction of traditionality of the subjects and attractiveness of the targets. Further analysis indicated the presence …

The Impostor Phenomenon In The Classroom: Personality And Cognitive Correlates, Barbara H. Cromwell

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

This study was designed as an ex post facto investigation of the Impostor Phenomenon (IP) in high-achieving students on the secondary educational level. The purpose of the study was to ascertain if impostors could be differentiated from non-impostors on the basis of gender, grade level, grade point average (GPA), personality characteristics and irrational beliefs. A cutoff score of 40 on the Harvey IP Scale was selected a priori to divide subjects into impostor and non-impostor groups.

Subjects for this investigation consisted of 104 honors English students in grades nine through twelve from a large suburban high school in Southeastern Virginia. …

Accuracy Of Performance Measurement: An Investigation Of Training Method And Amount Of Practice, Salvatore J. Cesare

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of training method and amount of practice-and-feedback on the accuracy of performance ratings and behavioral observation. This research was a 3 x 3 factorial ANOVA design. Training method was comprised of frame-of-reference, cognitive modeling, and a no-training control group. Practice-and-feedback consisted of 0, 1, and 3 practice trials. Undergraduates (N = 99) were randomly assigned to one of nine experimental conditions. Each participant viewed and rated 7 videotaped interview simulations. The results for performance ratings indicated that (a) frame-of-reference training produced the most accurate ratings for elevation, differential elevation, and …

Politics Of Self-Destruction: The Virginia Republican Party Split Of 1895-1897, Michael Anthony Southwood

History Theses & Dissertations

In explaining the rise of Democratic rule in Virginia, political historians have overlooked the significance of the Republican split of 1895-1897. Drawn mainly from primary source materials, this thesis traces the rupture that divided the GOP leadership after the death of General William Mahone, one of the Commonwealth's most remarkable political figures. The controversial election of Mahone's successor (Colonel William Lamb of Norfolk) as party chairman in November 1895 sparked two years of bitter struggle, a conflict that ultimately left the state Republicans shattered as a political force. An understanding of Democratic dominance as it developed in Virginia is incomplete …

Arctic Leverage: Canadian Sovereignty And Security, Nathaniel French Caldwell Jr.

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

In 1987 the Canadian government recognized that in order to be a major player in collective security with the United States and NATO, it would have to make a significant contribution to the common defense. However. since Canada could not hope to outspend the larger powers, its contribution would have to be leveraged by control of a strategic piece of real estate -- the Canadian Arctic. The major program to enhance Canadian control of the Arctic would be the acquisition of ten-to-twelve nuclear attack submarines. That submarine force was sold to the public and Parliament as a means to enhance …

Couples' Interpretations Of Unwanted Sexual Advances At Three Stages Of A Dating Relationship, Kerrie D. Quinn

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Sexual aggression in dating is now a widespread social phenomenon. The present study was designed to examine interpretations and expectations in a sexual disagreement situation within young dating couples. Forty-five heterosexual couples classified into one of three distinct stages of involvement (first date, several dates, or steady dating) were asked to complete several questionnaires requesting background and sexual information, and respond to six brief scenarios describing dating situations. It was hypothesized that the respondent's sex, couple's dating stage, woman's type of ''No" response, and the level of intimacy were related to the following: a woman's preferred response to her partner's …

Task-Hemispheric Integrity Effect: Level Of Task Difficulty And Mental Workload In A Dual Task, Nancy E. Hite

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The task-hemispheric integrity effect states that when a spatial and verbal task must be time-shared, superior performance would be obtained when the same hemisphere that processes information also controls the hand used to respond. The effect of increasing the level of task difficulty on an unstable tracking task on the concurrent performance of a dichotic listening task was investigated. The results indicated that performance on the unstable tracking task significantly deteriorated as task difficulty level increased in both single- and dual-task conditions. However, performance on both the unstable tracking task and the dichotic listening task was not influenced by hand …

The Peaceful Resolution Of Norfolk's Integration Crisis Of 1958-1959, Nancy Parker Ford

History Theses & Dissertations

In 1958 Norfolk experienced one of the most serious crises in its long history when six of its public secondary schools were closed by the governor. The closings were a result of Virginia's massive resistance program and forced 10,000 students to seek alternative education for five months or abandon their education entirely. Interviews with major participants in the crisis as well as investigation of newspaper accounts and editorials, personal papers of participants, city and School Board documents, and major works on the period reveal the factors involved in Norfolk's peaceful approach to integration. A comparison with the situation in Little …

The Identification Of Gifted Children At The Kindergarten And First-Grade Level In An Urban And Rural Population, Flora Carter Roberts

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

This study examined the nomination procedures and assessment instruments employed in the gifted programs in ten urban and four rural southeastern Virginia school divisions. The procedures and instruments were examined in relation to the proportionate number of black and white children nominated for and determined eligible for the gifted program at kindergarten and grade one. The odds-ratio, a measure of association, was the primary data analysis technique employed.

In urban divisions in which K-1 membership was reported as white, black, other, white children were four times as likely to be a member of the gifted program at the end of …

Gender Differences In The Relation Between Locus Of Control And Physiological Responses, Monique C. Grelot

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The relationship between locus of control and the physiological responses of heart rate (HR) and electrodermal activity (EDA) was investigated in 30 males and 31 females during an arithmetic task. The Levenson's Internal, Powerful Others and Chance (IPC) scales (Levenson, 1974) were used to assess the various degrees of internality for each subject. Additionally, to determine each subject's physiological Lability or Stability (LS), EDA was measured by recording spontaneous skin conductance responses during a ten minute rest period and to a tone (an Orienting Response (OR) task). A simple difficulty effect was found on the performance scores across the three …

The Effects Of Training Strategies On Assessor Behavior And The Accuracy Of Assessment Center Consensus Ratings, Todd A. Baker

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of four training strategies (e.g., part, whole, individual, and team) on the accuracy of performance ratings and the occurrence of interactive behaviors in consensus meetings. The results were analyzed using a 2 x 2 factorial ANOVA design. Part and whole training strategies were directly compared with one another. Team and individual training strategies made up the other direct comparison. Undergraduates (N = 108) were randomly assigned to four training conditions. The subjects were grouped into teams of three assessors. In these teams the assessors needed to exchange information about assessee …

Assessing Soccer Referee Performance Using Work Sample And Conventional Testing Methods, Robert L. Kuhnle

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

A game simulation consisting of game segments filmed from two camera angles, a behavioral event interview (BEI), a written test, and a physical performance test battery were compared for testing college soccer referees as linesmen. A content-oriented strategy (Alba & Dickinson, 1985) was used to prepare the tests. Sixty-one referees from two testing sites were assigned to one of two conditions of physical demand and one of three experience groups. Strong evidence of criterion-related validity was found for the game simulation from the press box camera angle when game simulation scores were compared with peer ratings and assessment scores. Mixed …

Causal Analysis Of Disengagement Among Paid And Volunteer City Employees, Margaret Carson Zimmerman

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This multivariate test of the full Mobley, Griffeth, Hand, and Meglino (1979) model of turnover used 184 volunteer and 202 paid workers employed as firefighters, library workers, and rescue squad workers. It addressed the issue of whether the motives and behaviors of volunteers could be accommodated by the same model that normally would be applied to paid workers. Little research exists on the characteristics of volunteer workers, and their worth and manageability are commonly denigrated. The study of volunteers is similar jobs to paid workers might reveal much about the disengagement process since the need to maintain a source of …

The Effects Of Irrelevant Dimensions On The Predictive Value Of A Warning Signal, Ruth Justine Arnegard

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Past research has neglected irrelevant dimensions of visual warning signals in choice reaction-time tasks. The present study examined the effects of an irrelevant dimension of a visual warning signal and that signal's value in predicting a response stimulus on choice reaction time. A warning signal, which was a geometric figure, appeared in the center of a VDT screen and was followed by one of two response stimuli (open circles). The predictive value of the warning signal was defined as the percentage of trials during which the warning signal accurately predicted the response stimulus by size and was manipulated in the …

Reopening The Fair Gate, Toshihiro Tanioka

History Theses & Dissertations

On July 27, 1952, the Congress of the United States of America passed, over President Harry s. Truman's veto, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, more commonly known as the McCarran-Walter Act. The act codified almost all existing laws relative to immigration and naturalization and newly incorporated more strict exclusion provisions.

This paper analyzes the legislative process from the passage of the act in 1952 to its major revision in 1965. The paper analyzes that the act was a mere reaffirmation of the pre-war immigration policy and thus not reappraisal or reformation in the drastically changed world milieu. The …

Preschoolers' And Third Graders' Sorting Preferences And Strategic Knowledge Of Taxonomic Associative And Perceptual Organizational Strategies, Helene Ann Hembrooke

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study investigated strategic use and metamemory concerning taxonomic, associative, and perceptual organizational strategies. Preschool and third grade children were asked to sort stimuli which varied orthogonally along three dimensions; taxonomically, associatively, and perceptually. Free recall was assessed. Each child also completed one of two metamemory tasks; a paired comparison or a peer teaching task. The order of the memory/metamemory tasks was counterbalanced within age groups. The results showed that older children sorted by taxonomic and associative attributes while younger children exhibited no sorting preference. Older children recalled significantly more pictures, although no significant age differences in recall clustering were …

An Examination Of Factors Which Contribute To Errors And Omissions In The Polling Place On Election Day, Ann J. Washington

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate and assess factors which appeared to contribute to errors and omissions made by the citizens who worked as election officers in the polling places in Norfolk, Virginia on election day. The study was conducted in two phases during and immediately following the November general elections in 1986 and 1987.

In the first phase, a comparison was made of two different approaches to formatting election-day procedural materials--subject-formatting and time-formatting--in an effort to determine which approach appeared to have a greater influence on reducing the number of errors and omissions occurring in the polling …

Principles Of Design For Complex Displays: A Comparative Evaluation, Sharolyn Ann Converse

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study examined the main and interactive effects of information format, information density, principle of information grouping, orientation of the airspeed scale, and task type on response time (RT) and accuracy in a decision making task. Forty-eight college students viewed static displays of primary flight instruments and signaled responses to the displays by pressing keys on the computer keyboard. Three levels of task type were employed. In the current state estimation task, subjects were required to determine whether each individual instrument reading was within prespecified limits. In the future state estimation task, subjects were required to attend to the …

Performance Appraisal Ratings As A Function Of Source Of Ratings And Purpose Of The Appraisal, Richard J. Tannenbaum

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of purpose of appraisal ratings and source of appraisal ratings on four dependent measures: leniency, halo, variability, and construct validity. The purpose factor was comprised of four different levels: merit pay, performance improvement, research only, and no defined appraisal purpose. The rating source factor was comprised of two different levels: incumbent self-ratings, and supervisor ratings. One hundred and nineteen nursing assistants provided the self-ratings, and 39 nurses provided the supervisor ratings. Both sets of ratings were made using a 13-dimension graphic-type rating scale. Analysis of variance procedures were used to test the effects of appraisal …

Economic Considerations For Artificial Reef Development In Coastal Virginia, Dean Thomas Devereaux

OES Theses and Dissertations

The contingent valuation method, recommended by the U. S. Water Resources Council, was used to estimate the economic value of sport fishing and diving at the Chesapeake Light Tower Artificial Reef. The study is based on a random sample of 170 anglers and 33 divers who participated in telephone, personell and mail-in surveys in 1985 and 1986.

The average user value (consumer surplus) was $21.13, $110,75, and $13.30 for head boat anglers, private boat anglers and sport divers, respectively, who claimed to have used the reef in 1985. Variation in consumer surplus was statistically affected by trip expense, distance from …

Forced Sex In Battering Relationships: An Ethnographic Investigation, Leigh Hofheimer

Institute for the Humanities Theses

This research examines the complex problem of forced sex in battering relationships. Interviewing eleven women in a battered women's shelter in a southeastern city, I focused on both their perceptions of forced sex and its effects on their self-esteem, expectations and body-image.

Based on the interviews I conclude that forced sex needs a broader definition than the traditionally accepted definition of rape. In addition, the victims' memories of earlier incidents of physical abuse during sex may influence their perceptions of when they are being forced. This study suggests that future researchers and members of the helping profession should include the …

Self-Labeling Of Body Weight: Relationships With Body Image Eating Behaviors And Well-Being, Karen Hicks

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This research consists of two studies. Study I compares normal-weight subjects self-labeled as overweight (NSLO, 99 females, 65 males) and weight matched subjects self-labeled as normal weight (NSLN, 99 females, 65 males), and examined the differences between these groups in their body-image, eating behaviors, and well-being. Results indicated NSLO versus NSLN subjects felt more body-image dissatisfaction, less attractive, fit, and healthy, were more likely to report binge eating and dietary restriction to lose weight, and reported poorer psychosocial well-being. Study 2 compared self-labeled overweight subjects who were overweight (OSLO, 56 females, 53 males) versus normal weight subjects self-labeled as overweight …

The Influence Of Nursing Experience And Education On Nurses Inferences Of Patients' Suffering, Patricia A. Coots

Ellmer School of Nursing Theses & Dissertations

A primary dimension of nursing is caring tor patients who suffer. This study examined the inferences made about patients' suffering oy 65 registered nurses employed in acute care health facilities. Utilizing The standard Measure of Inferences of Suffering Questionnaire. the purpose of the study was to explore the influence of nursing education and experience on the degree of pain and psychological distress inferred by the nurses. Analysis of Covariance was used to test for group differences on the basis of nursing education when number of months of nursing experience was controlled. Although nursing education did not influence nurses' inferences of …

Development And Testing Of The Stress Adaptation Scale For Parents With Chronically Ill Children (Sasp), Carolyn M. Rutledge

Ellmer School of Nursing Theses & Dissertations

This research study consisted of four phases used to develop and test the Stress Adaptation Scale for Parents with Chronically Ill Children (ASP). The first phase dealt with developing the items on the SASP from a review of the literature and the researcher's professional experience. The SASP was then divided into the six categories of health care, social, personal, familial, financial, and spiritual. In phase II, content validity was evaluated by a panel of experts. In phase III, stability over time and face validity was demonstrated using 26 parents of chronically ill children. The SASP achieved a Pearson's r=.85 with …

Investigation Of Display Issues Relevant To The Presentation Of Aircraft Fault Information, Donald Mark Allen

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study investigated the effects of different display, hypothesis presentation, information presentation, and parameter presentation styles on pilot performance. It was hypothesized that performance would be maximal using picture-based displays, presenting hypothesis information as a composite, showing only out-of-tolerance parameter information, and when parameter information was displayed as a bargraph. The results of the study indicated that pilot performance was best when employing picture- and text-based displays, when fault hypotheses were displayed as composites. There were no differences in response times when picture- and text-based displays were compared. Subjects' performances were best when hypotheses were displayed as composites compared …

The Prediction Of Drug Experimentation Among University Students Using Objective Personality Inventories, Gay Lynne Andrucci

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study examined the relationships of five self-report assessment measures and university students' drug experimentation across nine drug categories. A total of 74 undergraduate psychology students, 53 females and 21 males participated in the study. The test battery included forms A and B of the Sixteen Personality Factors (16PF), the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale (MAC) of the MMPI, Costa and McCrae's Five- Factor Model of personality, and the Sensation Seeking Scales (SSS). Segal's (1973) Alcohol-Drug Use Research Survey (ADRS) was employed as the drug-experimentation measure. Drug categories included alcohol, amphetamines, barbiturates, caffeine, cocaine, hallucinogens, marijuana, narcotics, and tobacco. Two series of …