Psychology Commons^™

Evaluative Interpersonal Responses And Attributions Of Attitude: A Test Of Learning Theory Variables, Robert D. Mone

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix Assessment Of Selected Neuropsychological Instruments, Valerie Kim Sweeney

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Matching-To-Sample In The Pigeon: An Analysis Of The Effects Of Correction And Noncorrection Procedures, Deborah Lou Grossett

Masters Theses

Contradictory results concerning the effect that presence or absence of a correction procedure has on matching-to-sample were obtained by past studies (Carter and Werner, 1978; Thomas, 1979). Carter and Werner (1978) reported that exposure to a correction procedure resulted in an increase in accuracy, while Thomas (1979) found no difference between the noncorrection and correction procedures. The present study showed that exposure to a correction procedure resulted in an increase in accuracy in comparison to a noncorrection procedure during acquisition, but not during maintenance.

Past studies (Holt and Shafer, 1973; Thomas, 1979), using a correction procedure, showed that presence of …

A Comparison Of Reading And Listening Performances Of Braille And Print Readers, Betty P. Zook

Masters Theses

Blind and sighted subjects were tested on their capability to retain information after both reading and listening to specially prepared printed and taped materials. The sample consisted of graduate students and professional individuals. It was found that, on the average, subjects retained more after reading than listening. This effect was more pronounced in the braille reading subjects. As the level of complexity of the material increased, the difference in the points earned between the two modalities, reading and listening, increased significantly. A behavioral analysis suggested some reasons for this difference. It was suggested that further research into reading and listening …

The Perceived Utility Of The Job Model As A Planning Document For Faculty Members, Victoria Kai-Cacho

Masters Theses

A job model for faculty activity plans was developed based on an interview and a questionnaire response from 14 Western Michigan University professors. Perceived accuracy and usefulness of the job model were measured by a questionnaire designed by the investigator. Responses were analyzed by computing the mean ratings of each item included in the questionnaire. The job model was perceived as an accurate and useful instrument for faculty activity plans, self-development and faculty evaluation. However, methodological limitations suggest that further empirical research with a large sample and participation of administrative officers and students, in addition to faculty members, will be …

Choice As A Dependent Measure In Autoshaping: Sensitivity To Frequency And Duration Of Food Presentation, Mitchell Jon Picker

Masters Theses

Previous investigations have shown that rate, latency, and percentage of trials with at least one response are somewhat insensitive measures of the strength of autoshaped responding. In two experiments, nine pigeons were exposed to an autoshaping procedure in which the successive presentation of three stimuli were followed by food on either 100%, 50%, or 0% of the trials. Choice testing involved the simultaneous presentation of the three stimuli. In Experiment I, all pigeons consistently directed their initial choice responses and the majority of subsequent responses to the stimulus always followed by food. In Experiment II, rate, latency, and percentage of …

Response Latency: A Function Of Within-Session Differences In Intertrial Interval, Training History, Cue Condition, And Ratio Requirement, James Bryant Nuzzo

Masters Theses

Skinner has suggested that latency does not vary in an orderly manner and short latencies result from the development of effective waiting behavior not specified by the experimental contingencies. Recent experimentation has found latency to vary as a function of a within-session difference in parameters of reinforcement correlated with two components of a discrete-trial multiple schedule. Also found was the attenuation of within-session differences in latencies with the change in intertrial interval (ITI) from 5 seconds to 20 seconds. This suggests that the ITI may be variable which controls latency. This study investigated the effect on latency of within-session differences …

Response Rate, Latency, And Resistance To Change, Stephen Joseph Fath

Dissertations

Response rate has been criticized as an adequate measure of response strength on the basis that rate reflects the adventitious reinforcement of interresponse times. Nevin (1974, 1979) proposed relative resistance to change as an alternative measure. Nevin (1974) employed multiple-pacing schedules in which either high- or low-rate requirements were placed in tandem with either VI 1 min or VI 3 min schedules of reinforcement. The results suggested that low-rate responding may be more resistant to change when schedules are equated for reinforcement frequency. Fath and Malott (1979) replicated Nevin's experiment, but found no evidence that contingencies on response rate affect …

The Effects Of Total Darkness On Stimulus Control, Richard E. Schulman

Masters Theses

This experiment examined auditory stimulus control in a totally darkened as opposed to an illuminated chamber. All subjects (pigeons) were trained to keypeck in the presence of only a dimly lit green keylight, which was faded until responding was reliably occurring in a totally darkened chamber. When behavior stabilized under a Variable Interval (VI) 30 second schedule of reinforcement in a darkened chamber, subjects were divided into two groups for discriminating training. A Multiple VI 30 second Extinction (EXT) schedule was in effect, with 1-minute components separated by 5-second time-outs. The discriminative stimulus correlated with the VI component was a …

The Effect Of Operant Conditioning Of Heart Rate On Ambient Skin Conductance And Cognitive Interpretation, Steven Scott Ehlert

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Fixed-Interval And Random-Interval Escape Paradigms On Presession And Postsession Levels Of Corticosterone In The Rat, Duane Dregits

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of A Lottery On Completion Of Medical Records By Physicians, Richard William Beers

Masters Theses

Completion of hospital medical records by physicians is a frequent problem to hospital administrations. A performance based lottery was used to evaluate its effectiveness in reducing the number of medical records which were unfinished and considered delinquent. Thirty-three male physicians were included in this study. Physicians earned or lost lottery chances in weekly drawings for a dinner at a restaurant or gift certificate to a local store. Results show an immediate increase in rate of record completion which declines over the course of the eight week experimental condition. Age of records were inversely correlated to the rate of completion. The …

Effects Of Sleep Loss On Information-Processing In An Absolute Judgment Task As A Function Of Task Difficulty, Frieda O'Steen Carlton

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The effects of 36 hours of sleep loss on information-processing were assessed in an absolute judgment task. Of the 24 subjects employed, 12 served in the sleep-loss (experimental) and control conditions, respectively. All subjects were tested individually for a total of ten sessions; the control group was tested on ten consecutive days, whereas the experimental subjects were tested every four hours over a 36-hour period of sleep loss, and at a recovery session following approximately 12 hours of rest and recovery. The task required subjects to make absolute judgments of the size of two small circles of light and to …

Rapid Toilet Training With Children Using Behavior Modification Techniques, Robbie N. Rogers

Graduate Theses

This is basically a replication study of the Azrin and Foxx method of toilet training utilizing behavior modification techniques. This systematic procedure was first applied to institutionalized retardates by Azrin and Foxx; therefore, the author's Intent was to prove that this same procedure would be successful with normal children who met certain developmental criteria and were twenty months of age and older. Twenty subjects were used in this study, eleven males and nine females whose ages ranged from twenty to thirty-six months. None of the children had prior toilet training experience. Seventeen of, the twenty children were trained successfully initially. …

A Study Of The Effects Of Changes In Response Requirement On Lever Preference In A Discrete-Trial Choice Procedure, Charles L. Lowe

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Chlorpromazine On Behavior Maintained By An Escape Contingency And Fixed-Time Delivery Of Shock, James P. Cleary

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

An Investigation For The Effects Of Psi On Heart Rates, Jacqueline K. Stewart

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Electromagnetic Fields On The Visually Evoked Response In The Visual Cortex, Arni Holm

Dissertations

Problem. This study sought to determine if electromagnetic fields affect the visually evoked response of the visual cortex. From the fact that nerve impulses are propagated by the motions of electrically charged ions, the question arose whether the presence of an external electromagnetic field might affect either the propagation of nerve impulses traveling through the optical nerve pathway or the functioning of the visual cortex itself.

Method. Evoked responses were produced in the visual cortex of cats by visual stimulation (light flashes). Surface electrodes, located at the visual cortex (and connected to a preamplifier and an oscilloscope) detectedthe evoked responses …

Predictors Of Course Grade In Undergraduate Psychology Courses, Susan Edwards

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Research has shown that some students benefit more from certain instructional modes than do others (Harper, 1973; Allen, Giat, and Cherney, 1974; Doty, 1967). A personalized system of instruction and the traditional lecture-discussion format were used as alternate modes of instruction in the present study. This study used locus of control and mode of instruction, along with mental ability, to increase predictability of course performance. Predictability was not increased by these variables. Results of a regression analysis showed that only a total of 11.6% of the variance in final course grades could be accounted for by the predictor variables (i.e. …

The Relationship Between Contracting And The Level Of Academic Achievement Of High School Students, John Philip Kirkpatrick

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Teaching Telephone Skills To Developmentally Disabled Persons Using Positive Reinforcement And Corrective Feedback, Lou Ann Mayhew

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Instructions On Prosocial Behavior Of Preschool Children, Jane Marie Blackwell

Dissertations and Theses

This experiment examined the effects of instructions on the prosocial behavior (i.e., helping, sharing, teaching, and sympathy) of preschool children. Forty-eight individual children (X = 56.7 months) interacted with two adult women on two separate occasions, an initial session measuring baseline levels of prosocial behavior, and a second session several days later. In the second session, children received instructions in helping, sharing, and teaching, and an opportunity to rehearse, or practice, these prosocial behaviors. Children were given either power assertive instructions (i.e., instructions which directly told the child what to do), or inductive instructions (i.e., instructions which focused the child's …

Generalization Of Behavior Modification Skills Acquired Through Observation Training Procedures, Thomas E. Mccarthy

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Head Start Four And Five Year Old Children’S Attitudes Toward School As They Are Related To Achievement, Eugene Smith

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine if there existed significant relationships between 4 and 5 year old children’s attitude toward school, their classroom teacher’s perception of their attitude toward school, length of time in school, sex, or a composite of these with their achievement on the Pre-School Attainment Record. A random sample of 55 Head Start children completed three instruments. The instruments used in this study were a revised Children’s Attitude Toward School Scale (CATSS-R), (Beere, 1970) The Pre-School Attainment Record (PAR), (Doll, 1966) and the Teachers Rating of Attitude of Children Toward School (TRACTS). The results of …

A Behavioral System For Supervising Undergraduate Research, Gary D. Gant

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of The Opportunity To Engage In Self-Stimulatory Behavior On Task Responding In Retarded Children, Paula Shilton

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of The Effects Of Biofeedback And Meditation Treatment On Essential Hypertension, Thomas Lee Molatore

Dissertations and Theses

The repeated-measures experimental design utilized in the present study permitted a controlled comparison of the clinical efficacy of meditation treatment (MT), biofeedback treatment (BT), and pharmacological control (PC) conditions in the reduction of seven dependent variables: (1) within clinic (W-C) systolic blood pressure (SBP), (2) W-C diastolic blood pressure (DBP), (3) outside-clinic (O-C) SEP, (4) O-C DBP, (5) within-session (W-S) SEP, (6) W-S DBP, and (7) antihypertensive medication requirements. Twenty-four medicated subjects with medically .verified essential hypertension were matched by rank-order on sex, age, and mean baseline levels of SBP and DBP, and randomly assigned to MT, BT, or PC …

Pharmacological Effects On Aggression And Manual Responding Generated By Tail Shock In The Squirrel Monkey, Grace S. Emley

Dissertations

The response-independent, fixed-time delivery of electric tail shock in the squirrel monkey generated bites on a rubber hose immediately following shock delivery and manual responses on a lever immediately preceding shock. The procedure generated two temporally and topographically different responses in the single organism in a single experimental session. All responses were measured objectively via response manipulanda and recorded on cumulative recorders and counters. Nine pharmacological compounds were administered to the squirrel monkey after a stable baseline of bite and lever press responding had been established. Three stimulant compounds - d-amphetamine, caffeine, cocaine; three tranquilizer compounds - nicotine, chlordiazepoxide, chlorpromazine; …

Conditioned Reinforcement: An Attempt To Replicate The Thomas Procedure With Children, Michael B. Oberlin

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of The Role Of Reinforcement Density In The Transfer Of Stimulus Control In A Receptive Discrimination Task, Jane Stewart Howard

Dissertations

No abstract provided.