Psychology Commons^™

Stress And Social Support The Burden Experienced By The Family Of A Mentally Ill Person, Harry Potasznik

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of the present research was to examine the stress experienced by the families of a mentally ill person and the relationship between this stress and factors of social support. The participants were 56 parents of a schizophrenic person who were members of a self-help group catering to the families of psychiatric patients. The following five social support variables were found to relate to measures of Objective Burden and Subjective Burden. The first factor was that of social network size. A positive correlation was found between this variable and Objective Burden, indicating that smaller networks were associated with less …

Toward A Behavioral Analysis Of Attentiveness As A Style Of Communication, Ray Alan Coker

Dissertations and Theses

Attentiveness, a variable of communication, primarily serves a stylistic function in the communicative process by providing behavioral evidence that an individual is actively involved in message reception. Past research suggests that while both verbal and nonverbal behaviors signal attentiveness, nonverbal cues are more closely associated with this construct. Among the many nonverbal behaviors of individuals in interactions, postural positions have been deemed highly indicative of attentiveness. At present however, most of the empirical evidence attesting to this notion has been established through the use of self-report measures. As a result of the felt need by this author to improve upon …

Juveniles' Perceptions Of A Protective-Permissive Dichotomy In The Juvenile Justice System, Robert Paul Saltstone

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The juvenile justice system has come under increasing criticism for its traditionally paternalistic and protective posture. The literature surveyed reviews some of the major occurrences, such as the Gault decision, which have led to a new direction in legislation. It is demonstrated that while juveniles are being awarded more due process rights, they are also being held more accountable for their actions. The paternalistic versus legalistic, or protective versus permissive, dichotomy clearly emerges during the examination of the literature. It is clearly extracted and analyzed in two papers, one by Dootjes (1972) and one by Leon (1979). Leon’s is a …

Evaluation Of Family Life Education In The Secondary School A Case Study Based On Student And Teacher Report, Christine Ruth Chant

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Family life education can be defined as “any activity…aimed at imparting information concerning family relationships and providing the opportunity for people to approach their present and future relationships with greater responsibility” (Vanier Institute of the Family, 1971). The purpose of the present research was to identify the needs and interests of high school students and to determine whether their needs and interests were being met in the area of family life education. This author believes it is important to meet the needs of “consumers” of family life education, i.e., the students, because this may increase the possibility that students will …

The Effect Of Discussion Groups On A Field Placement Program Comparison Of Two Groups Of Undergraduate Students, Kathryn L. Gerstman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of the present research was to study changes that students with field placements experience with the addition of discussion groups to the regular supervision. The participants were 29 undergraduate students enrolled in psychology courses requiring field placements. These students volunteered to be in discussion groups concerning placements. Thirteen students were in the experimental condition of discussion groups and 16 were in the control group with no additional resource support or supervision. The discussion groups met weekly for approximately 50 minutes during the winter term and were led by advanced psychology honours students. At the beginning of the program, …

A Behavioral Approach To The Establishment Of Nutritional Eating Habits In Young Children, Paul Joseph Smith Knight Ii

Dissertations

The present study attempted to delineate the effects of several variables on the development of nutritionally desirable food choices in preschool children. These included: (1) increasing the children's food knowledge through the use of the Nutrition Education Instructional System (NEIS), (2) increasing the children's verbal behavior about food selection prior to making food choices at lunch by requesting the children in a pre-lunch interview to say the rules learned through the NEIS, (3) increasing the children's verbal behavior following lunch by having them identify the foods chosen, and then requesting them to identify whether they had applied the rule, and …

Influence Of Touch And Preferences For Control On Visual Behavior, Teresa Whitehurst Caudill

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study investigated the effects of touch, as mediated by the preference for control (PC) of the recipient, upon visual behavior as well as evaluative and affective responses. Subjects were female students at Old Dominion University, selected on the basis of their scores on the Expressed Control subscale of the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation (FIRO-B) Inventory (Schutz, 1958). Based upon their scores on the subscale, 29 females scoring high and 30 females scoring low were randomly assigned to either touch or no touch conditions. Subjects in the touch condition were touched on the arm by a male confederate after …

An Exploration Of The Relationship Among Rhetorical Sensitivity, Communication Apprehension, And Nonverbal Decoding Ability, Mary Aileen Palanca

Masters Theses

This study explored the potential relationship which might exist among rhetorical sensitivity, communication apprehension, and nonverbal decoding ability. Three measuring instruments, the Rhetorical Sensitivity Scale, the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension, and the Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity, were administered to 109 participants, 68 females and 41 males. Gender and age were examined to see what effect they might have on the potential relationship. No relationship was found among rhetorical sensitivity, communication apprehension, and nonverbal decoding ability. In addition, no relationship was found between gender and the three variables or between age and the three variables. However, it is important to …

Extraversion-Introversion And Sensitivity To Nonverbal Cues, Virginia Seiser

Dissertations and Theses

Sixty-five college students completed the Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity (PONS) and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The results did not support the hypothesis that introverts would be found to be relatively more sensitive to negative nonverbal cues than to positive cues, and that this difference would be greater for introverts than for extroverts. The outcome did not support predictions concerning the relationship between sensitivity to nonverbal communication and extroversion- introversion based on either Gray's fear-frustration hypothesis or Eysenck's general conditionability hypothesis of extroversion-introversion.

The results supported findings of earlier researchers that females are more sensitive to nonverbal cues than males, and …

Parental Expectations Of Education For Children In A Local Church, Wilma Reinhardt

Graduate Theses

Expectations for various roles of those responsible for Christian education of children may be defined by the church institution. However, persons in these roles through their own expectations and interaction with others may effect the enacted roles. Role theory as a part of interactionalism is used to explain the phenomena of this particular situation. To identify the parental e3?pectations, a survey was taken. The survey included demographic information and a wide range of statements of possible expectations with a five point response scale. Responses of 70 participants indicated homogenity of general characteristics. Statements that parents are mainly responsible for their …

Behavioral Science In The Design Of Cultures, Robert G. Brown

Masters Theses

In order the alleviate some of the problems that confront modern society, it has been suggested that we implement a science of cultural design based on the analysis of behavior. A first step in redesigning the entire culture would be the establishment of a pilot experimental community, or behavioral utopia. While Skinner (1969) has suggested that the creation of such a behavioral utopia is currently feasible, to date none has emerged in spite of some noteworthy attempts. The reasons for this are discussed in terms of current behavioral principles, and the early history of one such attempt is described. It …

Degrees Of Self-Actualizing And Corresponding Levels Of Jealousy In College Students, Robert Paul

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In order to examine the relationship between jealousy and overall level of self-actualizing, measures of these constructs obtained from four groups of college students, males presently in romantic relationships, males presently not in romantic relationships, females presently in romantic relationships and females not presently in romantic relationships, were compared. Scores obtained from the Inner-directed scale of the Personal Orientation Inventory, a measure of overall level of self-actualizing, and a seven-item jealousy scale were examined separately for each group via 2 by 2 analyses of variance (sex by romantic status) and linear regression analysis. Results of the 2 by 2 analyses …

On The Origins Of Negative Attitudes Towards People With Disabilities, Hanoch Livneh

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

The literature review classifies reported sources of negative attitudes toward the disabled into 13 psychodynamic and sociological categories and stresses the difficulty of quickly changing such negative attitudes.

A Study Of Age And Sex-Related Differences In The Perception Of Emotional Stimuli, Nancy Mellor Canizio

Dissertations and Theses

In a tachistoscopic perception task, adult males in the Fels Research Institute's longitudinal population (Kagan and Moss, 1960) were found to have a higher recognition threshold for pictures depicting dependency scenes than adult females. The female subjects had a higher recognition threshold for aggressive scenes than the males.

The present study was designed to further compare male and female perception of dependent and aggressive stimuli by including a developmental component to test if the perceptual differences vary with age. A benign or neutral stimulus category was added to aid in determining direction of any resulting differences: i.e., heightened perception or …

Teaching Friendship Making Skills To Emotionally Disturbed Children, Alison Stewart Agras

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Numerous studies have demonstrated the efficacy of teaching children appropriate social skill behavior. The present study investigated a coaching procedure to teach emotionally disturbed children appropriate social skills within the context: of fourteen arts and crafts sessions. Using a multiple baseline across groups design, two groups of four children received training. As a result of training, cooperation behavior showed a moderate change, while eye contact increased substantially for both groups. The behaviors of on task and communication changed only slightly. In addition, these changes generalized to different settings and were· maintained over time. However, praising, receiving praise, as well as …

Assessment Of Heterosocial Performance : Development And Validation Of Self-Report Measures For Men And Women, Patti Lou Watkins

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Heterosocial cognitions, skill, and anxiety were identified as constructs which are components of heterosocial performance. Each of these constructs was defined, and Likert-scale items intended to reflect these definitions were generated. The possibility that these constructs differed for men and women was tested both consensually and statistically. Judges determined the suitability of of each item for each sex, as well as the appropriateness of each item for each construct. Items judged as belonging to the three constructs were assigned to three separate subscales of a self-report measure. The construct validity and reliability of each subscale were determined through, three administrations …

A Study Of The Relationship Between Residential Mobility And Loneliness, Bruce Petelka

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research examined a number of ways in which residential mobility might be related to loneliness. It was hypothesized that high mobility separates one from one’s support network of friends and family, thereby causing greater loneliness. This hypothesis and other related questions were tested with the UCLA Loneliness Scale and two questionnaires were designed for this research: the Residential Mobility Questionnaire and the Petelka Support Network Scale. These questionnaires were mailed along with a cover letter to 500 Kitchener residents who had moved in the past year and 500 residents who had not moved in the past year. Of the …

Status After Early Retirement The Effects Of Social Network And Activity Level On Body Age And Health, Tom Malcomson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The present study explored the relationship of general health and body age (measured by the Adult Growth Examination, Morgan, 1981) with leisure activity, social network and life events, for 38 noncommissioned officers; retiring in 1981 or 1976. Retirees from 1981 were expected to have experienced more change in health, leisure activity, and social network, life events and to have poorer health and body age scores. Importance and satisfaction of relationships, few life changes, high frequency and enjoyment of leisure activity were expected to be related to perceived good health and low body ages. Perceived good health and low body ages …

Women’S Roles And Vulnerability To Depression, Monika Johanna Haussmann

Dissertations

In this study, social-psychological variables were explored in the etiology of depression in women. Depression was examined as a function of undesirable life events, occupational and marital roles, and four vulnerability variables: (a) high relational and low direct achieving style, (b) dominance of partner, (c) powerlessness, and (d) negative attitudes toward feminism. The purpose of the study was to examine whether women in varying occupational and marital status groups would differ in degree of depression, proposed vulnerability variables, and selected background variables. The relationship of vulnerability and background variables to depression was explored.

It was hypothesized that vulnerability variables and …

The Relationship Between Knowledge Of Teamwork, Satisfaction, And Perceived Performance Effectiveness Among Professional Human Service Teams, Sonya Monroe-Clay

Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship between knowledge of teamwork, performance, and satisfaction in members of human service teams. Team Knowledge was conceptualized as encompassing four critical areas: Personal-Interpersonal, Team Environment, Team Leadership, and Team Processing.

Research findings in the literature point to certain general benefits of the team model. Nevertheless, some teams are dysfunctional, which may be reflected in poor performance and low morale or satisfaction. Lack of knowledge about teamwork was identified as a possible contributor to such problems.

A major hypothesis of the present study was that there is a direct relationship between team knowledge and satisfaction, team …

Relationship Between The Empathy Levels Of Dental Hygiene Students And Their Teachers, Claudia Hudak Sanderlin

Dental Hygiene Theses & Dissertations

This investigation assessed empathy in first year, second year, and graduate dental hygiene students, and dental hygiene educators. Change in empathy levels of students and educators over one academic year was determined by taking repeated measures of the dependent variable, empathy, as measured by the Hogan Empathy Scale, A convenience sample of subjects from two universities was included in this study.

Empathy scores were compared and analyzed by a three-way analysis of variance at the .05 level of significance and also three separate one-way analyses, Results established that graduate students and educators score significantly higher in empathy than first and …

Reciprocal Self-Disclosure In Mixed-Race And Same-Race Dyads, David Roger Sholis

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Sixty-four male teenage residents (32 white, 32 black) of a juvenile detention home were exposed to intimate self-disclosure from an experimental confederate posing as a volunteer at the facility. Subjects were assigned to one of eight conditions which varied subject race (white or black), confederate race (white or black), and content of confederate disclosure (depression or substance abuse). Following the confederate's disclosure, each subject revealed in return and then completed a questionnaire measuring various dimensions of attraction to the confederate. Subjects disclosed more intimately and gave higher ratings of liking, trust, and similarity to same-race partners. Also, black subjects reported …

An Analysis Of Primary Prevention In A State Mental Health System, Salvatore Cullari

Dissertations

This study analyzed ten primary prevention demonstration projects located in various counties of Michigan. While only two programs showed significant post intervention effects, the amount of data available for interpretation was insufficient to allow any general conclusions. Problems encountered in program implementation and evaluation were cited, and procedures that may reduce these difficulties were discussed. A theoretical model for primary prevention based on a systems approach was also presented.

The Effect Of A Movement Education Program On Self Concept Among First Grade Children, Rosemarie Zumbo Tyree

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

No abstract.

A Study Of The Relationship Between Life Events And Empathy, Catherine Ferme

Masters Theses

The study investigated the relationship between the occurrence of stressful events in people's lives and their empathy for other people. Subjects were 74 graduate and undergraduate psychology students at Eastern Illinois University. The subects viewed videotapes of persons describing stressful events such as academic problems, death of a relative or friend, divorce, et cetera. The subjects rated themselves on their empathy for each person. They then completed a questionnaire based on Holmes and Rahe's Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Subjects' empathy scores and life event scores were analyzed using Pearson r correlations. Results of the study confirmed the hypothesis that experienced …

Effect Of Changing Appointment Making Procedures On Increasing The Number Of Initial Appointments Kept At A Family Planning Agency, Carla A. Jones

Masters Theses

The procedures for making initial client appointments at a family planning clinic were manipulated to increase the number of kept appointments. Receptionists and counselors made appointments on the two appointment forms used. Questions on the appointment sheet varied depending on the age of the caller. The 1,432 women participating in the study were placed into three groups (a) 19 years of age and under (b) 20 to 30 years of age and (c) 31 years of age and over. The results showed that the occupation of the person making the appointment at the agency did not affect the number of …

The Relationship Between Attributional Style And Learned Helplessness In Interpersonal Situations, Hedy L. Weinberger

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

An initial investigation was done to assess the relationship between attributional style and learned helplessness in an interpersonal situation. Forty female subjects were given the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) at the beginning of the semester and were called a month or more later to participate in a dating experiment. The subjects gave attributions for rejection and acceptance for the dating situations as well as their expectations for being accepted by each man. Depressive affect was measured at the beginning of the experiment, after the first rejection and after they were to assume a second rejection or acceptance. The ASQ was …

Sexual Attitudes And Behavior As A Function Of Religiosity In The Appalachian College Student, Kimberly Kay Mcclanahan

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the School of Education at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Psychology by Kimberly Kay McClanahan in August of 1980.

The Effects Of Sex-Role Attitudes On Womens' Self-Actualization And Life Satisfaction, Mary Ann Vigilanti

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of sex-role attitudes on levels on self-actualization and satisfaction with life among a group of randomly selected women. This study also explored the relationships between occupational primacy as defined through paid employment and homemaker on overall life satisfaction, and employment commensurate with education/training and its relationship to self-actualization. This relationship between overall life satisfaction and measures of self-actualization was also investigated.

Data was collected from 264 women of which 236 responses were included for final hypotheses testing. All subjects were women 18 years and older who lived within the City …

Teaching Health-Related Behaviors To Young Children Through Social Skills Training, Mary Louise Stevens

Dissertations

Part I consisted of training four kindergarten subjects to make eye contact, assertive comments and assertive actions in reference to social and health-related situations. Training occurred on a one-to-one basis with an adult female and results were assessed with a multiple baseline design. Skill acquisition and maintenance were assessed by measuring ratio of eye contact to speech duration, assertive content and assertive actions on training scenes. Generalization of social skills was assessed by means of: (1) similar, but untrained scenes, (2) choice tests between products with and without sugar, (3) in vivo tests in the school and home environment, (4) …