Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Stimulus-Sampling And Encoding Variability, Brian C. Babbitt

Psychology ETDs

A recent formulation has incorporated encoding variability in a stimulus-sampling framework. This conceptualization suggests that an active sample of "encoding operators" encodes each stimulus. On subsequent presentations of the stimulus each operator is checked for a tag/no tag representing the use of that operator in encoding the stimulus. These assumptions produce binomial distributions of noise and signal + noise underlying recognition performance. The present experiment tested the forms of the underlying distributions in the context change situation. Three amounts of context change between training and testing were investigated, with results indicating that recognition performance decreased as amount of context change …

The Role Of Cognitive Differentiation In Conceptual Systems Theory, Mary Flume

Student Work

A cognitive approach to theory and research in personality proposes that individuals develop relatively enduring cognitive schemas for experiencing and organizing their .social world. Cognitive schemas are templates through which information is filtered or transformed.

It may be understood that cognitive personality theory emphasises the structure of cognition rather than its content. Such an emphasis is based on the assumption that structural variables are relatively enduring and invariant across situations, whereas the content of personality is expected to fluctuate markedly. Cognitive personality theory should provide the researcher with an efficient basis for describing the actions of a person and lead …

Memory For Persons, Encounters And Sex, William Sturgill

Student Work

Recognition of previously seen persons and recall of the circumstances of their encounter were tested in a situation' where subjects were unaware of the subsequent recognition task. Subjects encountered four: persons, one of each sex. in. two separate encounters. Prior to a lineup one week later, only 51 subjects (N = 145) failed to' recall either the number and/or the sex of the persons encountered, while only 28. correctly recalled both the number and sex and that it was two different persons in each encounter. Results from the lineup confirmed, previous suggestions that subjects (N = 155) are better able …

On The Analytic Foundations Of Behaviorism, Samuel Yaffe

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Response Preferences Of Blacks And Roleplaying Whites To Affirmative Action Subscripts In Job Advertisements, David Richard Macdonald

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Validation Of A Test Battery And Biographical Data Used To Select Key-Punch Operators, Michael F. O'Toole

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Self-Reinforcement In The Classroom: Assessing Efficacy, Durability, Prior History And Unmerited Self-Reward, Mark Henry Lewis

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Extrinsic Reinforcement On Previously Non-Reinforced "Preferred" Play Activities, Tanea Calou

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Stable Baselines For Single-Subject Experiments, Gerard Robert Brost

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Signalled And Unsignalled Response-Independent Electric Shock On A Food Reinforced Baseline: The Effects Of Shock Intensity And Reinforcement Shock Pairings, Jose Carlos Simoes Fontes

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Treatment Of Insomnia Through Eidetic Imagery: A New Technique, Anees A. Sheikh

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Alcohol Addiction & The Rat As A Possible Animal For The Study Of Alcoholism, John Graham

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

An attempt was made to produce an animal model for the study of alcoholism. It was hypothesized that the laboratory rat could be brought to physical dependency and maintained in that state under a free-choice circumstance. Two groups of 60-day-old Max hooded rats, consisting of 8 males and 8 females per group, were established to serve as experimental and control subjects. Two experiments were conducted. The intention of the first experiment was to install physical alcohol dependency in the experimental subjects with the use of a totally liquid diet. After the first experiment a 6-hr. period of total abstinence was …

Social Desirability & Locus Of Control As Predictors Of Assertiveness In College Undergraduates, Clifton Mitchell

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Previous research concerning the relationship between locus of control and assertiveness has suggested that internals are more assertive than externals, hut the findings of earlier studies are inconsistent and inconclusive. The present study focused on the social desirability needs of subjects as related to locus of control and assertiveness. It was predicted that individuals who scored in the internal direction on the I-E scale and had a low social desirability need would receive higher scores on a test of assertive behavior than individuals who scored in the internal direction and had a high social desirability need. The Marlowe- Crown Social …

The Efficiency Of Verbal & Nonverbal Intellectual Measures As Predictors Of Achievement In Culturally Deprived Preschool Children, Beverly Freeman

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of the study was to investigate the predictive efficiency of verbal and nonverbal measures of intellectual functioning of the disadvantaged child in a preschool setting. The Peabody Individual Achievement Test (FIAT) was used as a measure of the current achievement level, and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI), Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test (GHDT), and the Bender Gestalt as predictors of achievement. The sample included 30 preschool children in an age range from 5 years - 0 months to 6 years - 7 months who were enrolled in a preschool program for the culturally deprived.

Both the …

A Study Of The Effects Of The Professional Semester On Certain Aspects Of Personality & Interests Of Elementary Education Students Minoring In Special Education, Dorine Geeslin

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

When 32 elementary education students, 16 of whom were enrolled in an off-campus block of laboratory experiences with handicapped, took the Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration Study and the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey, Form DD, there was no evidence that the professional semester affected self-confidence or social adjustment as measured by the number of extrapunitive and need-persistence reactions, respectively, on the P-F Study. The t test was used to compare the mean number of those responses made by members of the two groups. There was considerable evidence, however, that the number of subjects who gave elementary education the same or an even higher …

The Effect Of Visual Feedback On Vocal Pitch Matching, Anita R. Herron

Dissertations and Theses

A review of the literature on the inaccurate singer provided strong evidence that improvement in pitch matching skill was possible. Visual feedback was found to be an effective aid in earlier studies, but none of the previous studies provided both a comparison group which had identical practice without the visual cues and a control group which received no form of practice. Such a design was used in the present study.

Thirty students at Portland State University who claimed to have considerable difficulty carrying a tune were given the opportunity to try to match Individual pitches under one of three conditions …

An Examination Of The Interrelationship Between Caregiver Behaviors, Infant Temperament And Perceptual-Cognitive Development, Anita E. Stauffer

Dissertations and Theses

The present study extended the Lewis and Goldberg (1968) study and included the parameter of infant temperament as defined by Thomas, Chess, Birch, Hertzig and Korn (1963). As in the Goldberg study, the index of response decrement was used as a measure of the infant’s development. It was hypothesized that response decrement would be positively correlated with high frequency of caregiver stimulation and negatively correlated with high infant intensity and activity ratings. Response decrement is the measured decrease in the amount of time an infant looks at a novel stimulus after several trials. It was computed by observing the infant’s …

The Effectiveness Of Various Omission Training Procedures As A Function Of Reinforcement History, Mary Patricia Brockman

Student Work

This experiment analyzed the relative effectiveness of three forms of omission training (OT 20 sec, OT 5 sec, and gradual OT with a time-dependent criterlor) in reducing a bar press response following three different reinforcement histories. Thirty-six children between the ages of 4% and 11 years were initially trained to press a bar according to a VR 35 schedule of reinforcement. The different omission training conditions were introduced directly following the VR 35 baseline, following a lengthened history of VR, and following a DRL intervention condition designed to enhance the effectiveness of the OT condition.

Spatially Located Visual Cs Effects In Conditioned Shuttlebox Avoidance In Goldfish: A Phototactic Explanation, Dominic Zerbolio

UMSL Emeritus

Variations Of Sexual Stimuli And Subject Personality Variables In Immediate And Delayed Paired-Associate Learning, Flynn O'Malley

Psychology ETDs

Previous research using affective stimuli in learning and· memory tasks has yielded conflicting results regarding the effects of such stimuli on performance, and there has been little research employing affective photographs in such tasks. The present study was conducted in order to determine the effects of highly explicit sexual photographs of individuals used as stimulus terms in the immediate and delayed paired-associate (P-A) learning of college students. Of particular interest was the extent to which high arousal would differentially affect immediate (Session 1) and delayed (Session 2) P-A performance. The research consisted of a stimulus scaling study and three experiments. …

Differential Effects Of Instructions To Role-Play Mental Illness On The Performance Of Chicanos And Anglos On Two Subtests Of The Wais, Teresa Y. Makowski

Psychology ETDs

Anglo and Chicano conceptions of mental illness were studied through a cross-cultural comparison of performance on the Information and Comprehension subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale either under standard instructions or under instructions to role-play mental illness. Thirty-two Anglo (22 female and 10 male) and thirty-two Chicano (18 female and 14 male) students from introductory psychology classes participated in the study. It was predicted that both Anglo and Chicano subjects would have decreased performance on both subtests under role­playing instructions. This prediction was based on the concept of mental illness which suggests that the mentally ill are seen as …

An Analysis Of Generalization In A Parent Training Program From A Laboratory To Home Setting, Carol Mindell

Student Work

A mother was trained in a structured laboratory setting, through written and verbal instructions and daily verbal feedback, to modify specific components of her attention to her 4-yr-old daughter’s behavior during an instruct ion-following task. Examinations were made of the effectiveness of parent training in changing the mother’s behavior in the structured laboratory setting, as well as the extent of generalized change in mother’s responses in three other settings in which no training was conducted: 1) a similar structured period in the home, 2) a dissimilar unstructured period in the laboratory, and 3) a-dissimlar unstructured period in the home. The …

Delivery Of Community Mental Health Services Through A 5-Session Group Therapy Module, Annie Lee Jones

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore one possible way to facilitate change in low-income groups through the use of a time-limited group therapy program. It was hoped that through the documentation of change with each case in the study it would be shown that change was possible for low-income persons utilizing psychotherapy, especially with realistic assessment of problems and the setting of realistic goals by the client and therapist.

The assessment data was obtained for each case through these instruments: A. Problems Checklist; B. Personal Data Sheet; C. The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale; D. The Levenson Internal-External Scale; …

Retention As A Function Of Transfer Paradign And Introversion-Extroversion, Glenna F. Hasslacher

Master's Theses

In an effort to investigate the effects of personality on paired-associate learning, sixty students from the Univer­ sity of Richmond were separated into three groups of extro­ vert, control, and introvert, on the basis of the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI). Five Ss from each group were randomly assigned to four paired-associate learning conditions (A-Br, A-C, C-B, C-D) and required to learn an A-B and a second paired-associate learning list to a criterion of one perfect score. Subjects were required to return to the lab after 24 hours for a retention test of both the second list and the original A-B …

A Three Step Strategy For Training A Beginning Teacher To Use Positive Social Reinforcement In The Classroom, Robert D. Morris

Master's Theses

The purpose of the study was to measure the effectiveness of a three-step strategy designed to modify a classroom teacher's consequating behavior. In Step 1, a group contingency game was introduced into the classroom to reduce talk-outs and out-of-seats. In Step 2, the game was supplemented by observer instructions and feedback to the teacher concerning her consequating behavior. The purpose of the feedback was to increase teacher approval for appropriate behavior and to decrease teacher disapproval for inappropriate behavior. In Step 3, the group contingency game was removed but the teacher continued to receive feedback on her consequating behavior. Therefore, …

The Outsider Conceptual Definition And Linkages To Several Psychological Theories, Thomas R. Holmes

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Stimulus Properties Of Population Density, Robert Alan Schauerhamer

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Behavioral Treatment Of Alcoholism: An Avaluative Review, Kenneth Francis Foti

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Reduction Of Self-Injurious Behaviors In Retardates Using A Spray Mist, Michael F. Dorsey

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Relationships Between Maternal Locus Of Control, Maternal Iq & Infant Development, Vernon Westrich

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A group of mothers and their infants enrolled in a rural child development center served as the subjects for this study. This investigation was designed to study the relationships between maternal locus of control, maternal IQ and their effects upon an infant's rate of mental and motor development.

Locus of control was measured by a newly developed I-E scale designed for use with populations of low reading levels and low intelligence levels. The mother's IQ was measured with the PPVT, an instrument that yields passive, verbal intelligence scores. An infant's level of development was assessed with the Bayley Scales of …