Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Effects Of Concurrently Teaching Parents And Their Children With Learning Adjustment Problems The Principles Of Parent Effectiveness Training, Sterling Andelin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study attempts to determine if concurrently teaching Parent Effectiveness Training principles to parents and their children results in greater effectiveness than teaching the parents only.

The study was performed in the context of the Learning Adjustment School Program sponsored by the Eastern Idaho Community Mental Health Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

The subjects were 35 students in this program who had learning disabilities and/or emotional disturbances. Fifty-two of their parents were also subjects. An experimental group of parents, a control group of parents, an experimental group of children, and a control group of children were selected. The students in …

A Comparison Of Second Grade Children's Learning Curves On School Tasks With Their Respective Performances On The "Black Box Test Of Learning Ability", Robert Stephen Knox

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study investigated the usefulness of the Black Box Test of Learning Ability as an indicator of children's performance on math and writing tasks. Twelve second grade students, seven to eight years of age, demonstrated naivete on both tasks and were subsequently individually administered the learning test. The subjects were divided into two groups, and each group received a different task presentation order. Composite scores were derived for all subjects and tasks, and individual learning curves were compared.

The combined Black Test score produced a significantly high correlate to math (rho = .733) and writing (rho = .841) than either …

Sex Role Orientation In Juvenile Delinquents., Kathryn Isenberger

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Of Oral Stereognosis And Articulation In Sighted And Blind Children, Mariette Johnson Milbrandt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if a significant difference exists between oral stereognosis skills of blind and sighted children. The possibility of a relationship between oral stereognosis and articulation was also explored in both the sighted and blind populations. A group of twenty-four blind and a group of twenty-four sighted subjects between the ages of seven and twenty were divided into subgroups of those having normal speech and those with defective articulation. There were twelve subjects in each subgroup. A 20-item test of oral stereognosis (NIDR forms) was administered to each subject and error scores taken.

Results …

The Influence Of Social Class On Children's Perceptions Of Parents, Ronald L. Mullis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this thesis was to examine children's perceptions of parens as these are related to the child's social class background.

Four pictures from the Tasks of Emotional Development Test were administered individually to a sample of 60 fourth grade children from two Ogden, Utah, public schools. These picture tasks were intended to encourage subjects to project their perceptions toward parents specific to the pictorial situation.

The findings of this study seemed to indicate a tendency toward differences between middle and lower class children in their perceptions of parents. Middle class children were shown to obtain higher maturity scores …

The Role Of Verbal Incentives And Researcher Attitude In The Motivation Of Preschool Children From Different Socioeconomic Levels, Carol Hunter Byrnes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The motivating effects of positive and negative verbal reinforcement and researcher attitude on the performance of preschool children were studied in relation to socioeconomic level. Forty children from the Utah State University Child Development Laboratory and forty from Head Start classrooms in northern Utah served as subjects. Each child performed the simple task of placing pegs in a pegboard during a 60- second time interval; once under conditions of positive verbal reinforcement and positive attitude, and again, under one of four experimental conditions: control; positive reinforcement/positive attitude; negative reinforcement/positive attitude; or negative reinforcement/ negative attitude.

The findings seemed to indicate …

Parent-Child Affinity As Perceived By Children, Earlene E. Miller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Parental preference of girls and boys was studied in this research. Situations of recreation, personal and moral needs, places and things, and social events constituted the range of choices in the children's selection for one parent or the other as a companion for the activity.

Ninety children (30 preschool, 30 third graders, and 30 sixth graders) were tested individually by an interview schedule. The Parent-Affinity Perception Scale developed for this research contained 30 items. Children were asked to choose "Mother" or "Father" as a response for each item.

The findings indicated a significant difference in preference for "Mother" rather than …

Hour Concept Learning In Pre-School Children, Faye Daines Campbell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The effects of sex and tutorial instructions were studied as they influence the hour concept development of the pre-school child. The research was conducted at Utah State University Child Development Laboratories with twenty-two, three to five-year-old children enrolled at the time. Each child received three training sessions with the author.

It was found that the twenty-two children who had received individualized instruction on the hour concept showed a significant concept of a clock when the large hand was always constant on the numeral twelve.

The findings indicate that there was no significant difference between boys and girls on their ability …

Behavioral Contrast In Children, Wenden Wayne Waite

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The present study was conducted as a systematic replication of earlier work investigating the phenomenon of behavioral contrast. Behavioral contrast has been consistently reported in alternating two component multiple schedules using infra-human subjects. The present study was interested in answering the question, "Does behavioral contrast exist in humans?"

Two experiments were performed which investigated the behavioral contrast and sequential contrast phenomena in children. In both experiments, lever press responses were analyzed using an ABA single-subject design. The children were instructed to press a lever to obtain as many tokens as possible. In Experiment I, six Ss were equally divided into …

Modification Of Deviant Behavior By Parents, Jeanne M. Gabourie

All Master's Theses

It is the purpose of this study (1) to determine if a child's deviant social behaviors can be effectively modified by his own parents; and (2) to determine if parents can be trained to use behavior modification techniques in the home.

Levels Of Art Development Among Preschool Children, Sally Lynn Miner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The problem which was investigated in this study was the influence of a child development laboratory experience and the child's discriminatory abilities on the developmental level of children's art productions.

Forty-eight children, three and four years of age, of whom 24 had no prior experience, and 24 others had completed approximately six months as participants in a child development laboratory, were included in the study.

All children were given a discrimination task to establish their individual levels of discriminatory abilities. Each child painted four pictures, two with easel paint and two with crayons. Each painting was analyzed to determine art …

The Influence Of Age, Sex, And Colors On The Number Recognition And Counting Abilities Of Preschool Children, Connie L. Jackson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The effects of the child's chronological age, his sex, and a second concept of color were studied as they effected the counting skills and number recognition abilities in preschool children. The research was conducted at the Utah State University Child Development Laboratories with the subjects being three and four-year-old children enrolled at that time. Each child was given counting and number recognition tasks involving cubes in sets of one color and also in sets which involved two colors.

It was found that as the age of the child increased, his ability to correctly count and label sets of cubes also …

Self Concepts Of Mexican-American And Anglo-American Head Start Children, Sue Ann Erickson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study investigated the differences in self concept of Mexican-American and Anglo-American preschool children to determine if Mexican children have less favorable self concepts when compared with Anglo children of the same age and socioeconomic background. Differences between self concepts of Mexican boys and girls and between Anglo boys and girls were investigated. A third object was to determine the extent to which children's reports of self agree with their perceptions of significant others' perceptions of them.

Twenty-two Mexican-American and 20 Anglo-American Head Start children were given the Brown-IDS Self Concept Referents Test. This test was specially designed for use …

Racial Awareness Of Children In A Predominately White Area Compared To An Interracial Area, Janis S. Withrich

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The effects of region and sex in relation to racial awareness were studied by comparing an interracial area to a predominately white area. The test ing of the hypotheses was carried out with two groups of preschool children comprised of 20 children from Utah State University in Logan , Utah, and 20 children from Children's World in Ogden, Utah.

The instrument used was one developed by J. Kenneth Morland, the Chairman of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Randolph- Macon Women's College in Lynchburg, Virginia. The instrument con isted of s ix 8-by-10 black and white pictures about which …

The Effectiveness Of Information Feedback On The Conformity Behavior Of Children, John Jay Wicks

Student Work

This paper summarizes a developmental study concerning the effects of correctness feedback on the conformity behavior of children. Specifically, the study proposes to test the following assumption: (1) that conformity is a positive function of age on ambiguous stimulus tasks and (2) that the effectiveness of correctness feedback is greater for older than younger Ss. To test these assumptions, the Ss were divided, at each grade level, into three groups: (1) a reward conformity group where the Ss received a "correct” signal for agreeing with the group and a "wrong" signal for disagreeing, (2) a reward nonconformity group where Ss …

Effects Of Nurturance On Incidental Imitative Behavior, Ronald Raymond Monti

All Master's Theses

The purpose of the present study was twofold. It was hypothesized that a prior nurturant interaction with an adult model (M) would significantly increase incidental imitation in a child subject (S) receiving this positive relationship over Ss who interacted with a non-nurturant M, or Ss who received no interaction with M. Secondly, the length of the experimental nurturant relationship was manipulated in an attempt to determine its importance in obtaining increased imitative behavior.

A Study Of Early Reasoning Skills In The Trainable Mentally Retarded : As Related To Piaget's Seriation Theory, Robert William Ginther

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In terms of Piaget's theory of cognitive development and the relationship he attributes between reasoning and the development of classification and seriation skills, the following questions arise: can early reasoning ability be enhanced through training? If IQ tests are accepted as measures of intellectual function, do they then contain a significant number of seriation type questions? If so, will the seriation test be an accepted measure of intellectual function?

Social Class Differences In Cognitive Development Of Children, Jalaine P. Jensen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The social class differences in experiences which lead to cognitive development of children were investigated. A sample of 20 middle-class mothers with children enrolled in the Child Development Laboratory school and 18 lower-class mothers with children enrolled in the Head Start program in the Ogden City School District was chosen by placing the children's names in an age-ranked order. Two mothers who met the qualifications of being lower- class, but not having children enrolled in Head Start, were also included in this study. An interview outline was devised to attempt to standardize the interviews. It was concerned with five areas: …

A Psychological Investigation Of Seven Hermaphroditic Children, Peter Lewis Kranz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

An in-depth personality and intellectual evaluation of a group of hermaphroditic children residing in the state of Oklahoma was undertaken in this study. The following techniques were utilized in order to extensively study the impact of this anomaly on the families of these children: psychological tests, parental interviews by a social worker, and diagnostic play interviews conducted by the investigator. It was the purpose of this study to examine the psychological impact of sexual ambiguity on the child and his parents.

There were no significant differences between the two groups on any of the tests given. This may be attributed …

The Use Of Mental Imagery Among Young Children In The Acquisition Of Piaget's Principles Of Conservation, Richard C. Sweetland

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study attempted to discover some parameters in terms of mental age at which young children, ages five through eight, begin to utilize effectively their mental imagery in the learning process. Using Piaget's principles of conservation as a learning task, subjects were taught in one of two groups: Group one was instructed in conservation concepts by use of concrete example, in which case they were allowed to see, handle and manipulate materials as they underwent transformations. Group two received identical instruction but were called upon to use their mental imagery to visualize the materials undergoing transformations.

Based upon the administration …

Comparison Of Mosaic Responses Of Disadvantaged And Advantaged Preschool Children, Renée Ostler

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Developmental age differences were studied between a group of Head Start children and a group of preschool children attending the Utah State University Child Development Laboratory. The Lowenfeld Mosaic Test was used to make distinctions between the child whose developmental age was below his age in years. The results were compared to the four-year and five-year chronological age level of the Armes and Ilg scoring criteria.

Although behavior in response to the Mosaic test developed in the same way for both the disadvantaged children and the advantaged children, the products or Mosaic designs of the disadvantaged children were less mature …

Relationship Between Self-Concept Discrepancies And The Expression Of Need Achievement In Children, Ian Griggs

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that a significant relationship exists between self-concept discrepancies and expressed need for achievement.

A self-concept discrepancy score was obtained and a low and high discrepancy group was isolated.

Expressed need for achievement was measured by the use of the Thematic Apperception Test and scored according to the Atkinson method.

Mean comparisons of need achievement scores of subjects whose discrepancies between actual and ideal self-concept were in the upper or lower one-third of the distribution were found not to be significant at the 5 percent level of confidence.

Control Of Behavior Through Reinforcement Menus, Gary Lyndle Holt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Reinforcement menus were used to change response probabilities while maintaining control over two ''trainable," female, mentally retarded children.

An empirically determined reinforcement menu representing high probability behaviors, five for S₁ and four for S₂, was used in a contingency management system. Instructions were given concerning the contingencies for obtaining reinforcement. Subjects were allowed the opportunity to engage in a high probability behavior only after successful completion of fixed units of reading or arithmetic tasks. After stable performance was established, four additional menus were prepared to approximate in increasing degree, low probability behavior. Measurements were taken of task …

A Comparison Of Intellectually Normal Children, Mentally Retarded Adolescents, And Mentally Retarded Adults On A Three Dimensional Concept Formation Sorting Task, James C. Kamprud

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purposes of this study were: (1) to compare nine groups of subjects composed of intellectually normal children, mentally retarded adolescents, and mentally retarded adults on a three dimensional concept formation task; (2) to determine the effects of discrimination training on the sortings of the nine groups on the experimental task.

The 207 subjects of this study were divided into nine groups. Seven of the groups, consisting of high average and low average grade 3, superior high average, and low average grade 6, and high and low adolescent retardates were chosen on the bases of school grade level (3, 6, …

A Program For Hospitalized Children, Leslie Joan Bishop

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

When children are hospitalized they are exposed to an unfamiliar and frequently forboding world of an efficiently run institution. They cannot, as adults do, afford to interrupt (Plant, 1962) their normal way of living and exclude the relationships, play and learning that contribute to their overall growth.

There is a general tendency for children to be treated much in the same manner that adults are when they are confined in a hospital situation. The adult (Chapman, 1956) is prepared to make this temporary adjustment because he is aware, to some extent, of the need for hospitalization and the positive consequence …

Development Through Community Effort Of An Early Training Program For Culturally Disadvantaged Children, Rita Williams Emery

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Each year children of seasonal worker who reside in the labor camps of the Patterson-Westley area enter kindergarten unable to learn. They are disadvantaged by comparison with children from the middle-class homes in the community. The organization and development of Del Puerto School for Pre-Kindergarten Children was a community effort to alleviate some of the cultural deprivation experienced by the children.

A Study Of The San Joaquin County Schools' Education Program For Parents Of Severely Mentally Retarded Children, Louis William Cencirulo

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In 1951, Education Code section 6903 was passed by the California State Legislature making it permissive for school departments to organize and conduct educational and training programs for severely mentally retarded children. In 1953 the first such program was established by the office of the San Joaquin County Superintendent of Schools. SInce that date, three additional programs have been added to serve these children in rural areas of the aforementioned county.

The program is designed to serve mentally deficient, or severely mentally retarded children. “Mental deficiency can be defined in the socio-economic sense as a permanent condition of mental nondevelopment, …

A Study Of The Height And Weight Of Chinese School Children In Some Northern Californian Cities, Lillian Wai-Chuen Chow

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In any study of physical fitness or of nutritional well-being of a group of people, a knowledge of the normal height and weight of that group serves as a valuable guide. Thus, Height-Weight-Age tables have been prepared and are being used in schools, gymnasiums, camps, etc., as a gauge of physical development in children. However, for the group of Chinese school children in the United States very little work has been done to determine the normal height range and weight at the different ages and the normal height-weight-age relationships.

Because of the lack of data on the normal weights and …

Children Of The Depression: A Study Of Children In 169 Fera Families Ogden, Utah, 1935, Leah Plowman Lillywhite

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Today the under-privileged are by no means confined to the mentally and physically handicapped. Since 1929 the number has greatly increased because of our faulty economic and social organization. Many healthy men who are both able and willing to work have been forced into idleness because of inability to secure a position. Extension classes in "Mental Hygiene" and "Social Case Work" conducted under the direction of the head of the Sociology Department of the Utah State Agricultural College during 1934-35, decided to make a study of conditions actually existing among Ogden City's victims of the depression, with particular emphasis on …

A Sociological And Psychological Survey Of One Hundred Patients Of The Hays Crippled Children's Clinic, Helen Starbuck

Master's Theses

The major and minor problems of the thesis are as follows: Are the children treated at the Hays Clinic as a group mentally, temperamentally and socially normal enough to justify the state in attempting to make them physically well? What are the sociological and psychological effects of occupational therapy and school work upon patients in the clinic? In order to arrive at a solution of the foregoing problems, a study of 100 children entering the Hays Crippled Children's Clinic was made . Both laboratory and questionnaire methods were used.