Psychology Commons^™

Psi Hitting And Missing: The Effects Of Belief, Order Of Run, And Previous Experience, Jaymes Parker

Masters Theses

The current study examined several variables to determine their effects on telepathy performance. Part I used groups of participants who attempted to telepathically send the location oftargets to a receiver selected randomly from the group. Fifteen sessions were conducted during which 9 receivers each completed 16 trials. It was hypothesized that an order effect would be present with increased missing during the first and last run of each session. It was also hypothesized that belief in mental telepathy would influence telepathy scores. Results indicated significant differences when comparing positions 1 and 9 with positions 2-8. Scores, while not significant, tended …

The Relationship Between Maximizing, Perfectionism, And Relationship Satisfaction, Tara Lynn Riddle

Masters Theses

The relationship between maximization and perfectionism to relationship choices was explored. Ninety-seven undergraduate introductory psychology students were administered the Maximization Scale (Schwartz, et al., 2002), Hendrick Relationship Assessment Scale (Hendrick, 1991), Revised Almost Perfect Scale (Slaney, et al., 2001) and a brief demographic questionnaire. Results indicated that there is no significant relationship between maximization and relationship satisfaction, romantic relationship durations, or initiating relationship termination. In addition, perfectionism was not found to be related to choices in dating relationships. However, analyses did replicate prior research indicating a significant positive relationship between maximization and perfectionism (Schwartz, et al., 2002).

The Effects Of Repeated Reading And Goal Setting On Student Reading Fluency, Joann T. Ford

Masters Theses

This study investigated the effect of repeated reading and goal setting on students' oral reading fluency (ORF). Third grade students (n=24) were randomly assigned to one of three groups: repeated reading and goal setting, repeated reading, and no-treatment control group. Treatment groups met for six weeks, four times per week for 20 minutes. A paired repeated reading procedure was used and weekly progress monitoring occurred using third grade DIBELS ORF progress monitoring probes. Repeated reading and goal setting group set weekly goals, graphed fluency data, and received feedback. All groups made gains in reading fluency. Although no significant effects were …

Mental Telepathy And Social Fields: A Within Session Decline Effect, Timothy K. Bunfill

Masters Theses

The current study involves the exploration of several variables relating to the facilitation of mental telepathy from a social field perspective. Groups of participants ranging from 8 to 35 attempted to telepathically send information regarding one of four target locations to a receiver who was selected at random from the group. During each of ten sessions, an average of nine receivers completed 16 trials apiece over a period of two hours. It was hypothesized that since all participants had a previous experience with a telepathy task, they would score above chance initially and that as sessions progressed fatigue or boredom …

Reading Instruction Software Vs. Peer Tutoring For Improving Oral Reading Fluency, Morgan Carlyle

Masters Theses

Research suggests that computer-based instruction program is as effective as peer tutoring in increasing students' oral reading fluency rates. However, few experimental studies have compared these two reading interventions. The present study compared the effect of a computer-based reading instruction program, Reader Rabbit I Can Read with Phonics, with peer tutoring. Second grade students were randomly assigned to computer tutoring, peer tutoring, or control groups; and they read the same reading material for twenty minutes, two times a week for six weeks. Participants in the computer group used a segment of the reading software instruction program, Reader Rabbit I can …

Barriers And Facilitators To Health Seeking Behavior Of Individuals With Social Phobia, Kendra M. Holder Kennedy

Masters Theses

This study explored both the facilitators and barriers to treatment of individuals who have difficulties with anxiety in social situations. These barriers and facilitators to treatment were examined with respect to the participants' level of anxiety and their stage of change. Eleven participants, ten females and one male, completed the study. A screening procedure established that each participant was likely experiencing social phobia. These participants were then interviewed using a semi-structured interview. One of the main goals of the study was to develop an interview and coding procedures that provided reliable data. This goal was accomplished; the procedures used in …

Effects Of Response Card Use On Student Participation And Academic Achievement In An Elementary Classroom, Christina J. Diel

Masters Theses

This study compared the effectiveness of hand raising with the use of response cards in a sixth-grade general education classroom during whole-group social studies instruction. Dependent variables included the frequency of active student responding during instruction and student performance on both weekly quizzes and maintenance tests. Participants included 14 sixth-grade general education students (6 boys and 8 girls), ranging in ages from 11 to 12. An ABAB design was utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of the experimental condition. Participants were exposed to the hand raising condition during weeks 1 and 3 and the response card condition during weeks 2 and …

Predicting State Standardized Achievement Test Scores Using Curriculum Based Measurement In Third Grade, Lindsey Mitts

Masters Theses

With No Child Left Behind placing strong penalties on schools not making adequate yearly progress, many schools are searching for ways to predict student performance on state standardized achievement tests. The current study provides evidence as to the predictive nature of oral reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension data taken from a basal reading series, as well as student reading levels from an informal reading inventory, on Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) performance. Multiple regression analyses showed these measures to account for slightly more than one-half of the overall predicted variance in ISAT Reading performance. Furthermore, t-tests showed that a significant …

An Investigation Of The Dynamic Indicators Of Basic Early Literacy Skills (Dibels) And The Illinois Snapshot Of Early Literacy (Isel), Cara Williams

Masters Theses

This longitudinal study was conducted to compare and investigate the predictive power of DIBELS and ISEL measures. Data were collected to determine if ISEL and DIBELS measures similarly identify students as being at-risk. The predictive value of DIBELS and ISEL scores were evaluated in relation to third grade Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) scores and Illinois Standards of Achievement Test (ISAT) scores. Participants included 63 students from one grade level at a Chicago suburban school. Test scores from kindergarten through third grade were obtained for these students. Results indicate that the risk identification of students was significantly different between ISEL …

The Relationship Between Number Of Sports Played And Risky Sexual Behavior In High School Girls, Jennifer Martin

Masters Theses

Little is known about how the extent of athletic participation relates to sexual conduct for adolescent girls. The present study investigated how the number of sports played by female athletes in high school predicted their reports of risky sexual behavior. Participants included 2,304 female high school students from 9th grade through 12th grade from a Midwestern state. The students attended 27 high schools in seven counties and were recruited from a health prevention program called I Sing the Body Electric. As part of this program, students completed a confidential questionnaire that evaluated a number of health related issues. Two questions …

Factors That Hinder And Facilitate Help-Seeking Behaviors In Individuals With Social Anxiety, Hyland L. Smith

Masters Theses

This project focused on the development of a semi-structured interview for use in the exploration of factors that hinder or facilitate help-seeking behaviors of individuals with social anxiety. By participating in a qualitative semi-structured interview 10 participants identified factors that facilitated seeking professional help and barriers that prevented seeking professional help. Participants were grouped into two groups based on five stages of behavioral change proposed by Prochaska et al. (1983; 1991; 1992; 1999). The two groups were compared on the number of self-reported facilitator and barrier statements they made as well as their self-reported number of severity statements made. Participants …

Coping Strategy Use And Resilience Among Children Reporting Victimization, Julie K. Gepner

Masters Theses

Prior studies have established the negative implications of peer victimization; additional literature has focused on how children cope with the negative effects of peer bullying. However, no current research has examined the specific coping strategies, which may result in resiliency to the negative effects of peer victimization. The present study examined victimization, coping strategies, and resilience in a sample of 143 third through sixth grade students. The results indicated that the coping strategy of seeking social support was associated with resiliency among victims of aggression. In contrast, coping using externalizing behavior was associated with significantly lower levels of resiliency. The …

Potential Effects Of Aggressive Videogames On Young Adult’S Behavior And Physiology, Kent David Smallwood

Masters Theses

Each year, interactive technology becomes more and more advanced, offering more lifelike environments, immersive experiences, and realistic situations. Additionally, the videogame industry has over doubled in size in less than ten years, now rivaling the box office industry. However, technological advances have quickly outpaced our understanding of the effects of certain types of adult content on the game player. To date, the majority of the research on the topic was conducted before the games themselves were technologically advanced enough to draw meaningful conclusions; the few studies conducted in the last few years, while offering promising methodological advancements from previous work, …

The Effects Of Feedback On Hourly Pay And Individual Monetary Incentives, Douglas A. Johnson

Masters Theses

The effects of performance feedback when individuals received fixed or individual incentive pay were examined. A 2 X 2 factorial design was used with approximately 30 college students in each group. Participants attended six experimental sessions. They entered the cash value of simulated bank checks presented on a computer screen. Monetary incentives increased the number of correctly completed checks (p = .000); however feedback had no effect (p = .825). Time spent working and rate of performance correlated strongly with the number of checks completed correctly, suggesting that both influenced the checks completed correctly. The results suggest that incentives increase …

Gambling On A Simulated Slot Machine Under Conditions Of Repeated Play, Andrew Ellis Brandt

Masters Theses

Three experiments using a parametric, single-subject design investigated gambling behavior in eight adult humans on a slot-machine simulation. Participants were staked with credits exchangeable for money prior to each session. Experiment 1 a was a systematic replication of Weatherly and Brandt (2004), which investigated the effects of percentage payback (the amount of money gained as a proportion of the amount of money bet) on gambling. Percentage payback was varied from 50% to 110% across conditions. Consistent with Weatherly and Brandt, gambling did not vary systematically across percentage-payback conditions. Experiment 1 b replicated Experiment 1 a but also included forced-exposure sessions …

Behavioral Skills Training For Parents Of Children With Autism: Teaching Implementation Of The Natural Language Paradigm, Jill N. Gillett

Masters Theses

The effects of the use of behavioral skills training to teach parents of children with autism to implement the Natural Language Paradigm (NLP) were examined. Data were collected on parent implementation and child behavior. Results indicated that parents of children with autism were able to learn to implement the NLP procedures and continued to implement the procedures accurately throughout the study. Child data indicated that parent-implemented NLP resulted in improvements in child play. These improvements consisted of a decrease in intervals with no toy engagement, a decrease in intervals in which inappropriate play occurred, and an increase in intervals in …

An Assessment Of An Education Package Intervention Targeting The Appropriate Reporting Of Suspected Child Abuse, Clinton K. Wirtz

Masters Theses

The proper reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect continues to be a concern despite laws requiring professionals working with children to report any suspicion of child abuse or neglect to Children's Protective Services (CPS). This study assesses the efficacy of an education intervention versus the Michigan Child Protection Law (CPL) using 29 undergraduate child psychology students. Videotaped scenarios of simulated child interviews were used in a pretest/posttest between-groups design. Child physical abuse was the focus of the study. The results of the student participants' decisions regarding the videotaped scenarios were compared to the results of 10 CPS employees having …

Online Contingency Management Of Writing Productivity, Matthew L. Porritt

Masters Theses

Ten participants from an online community participated in an online writing productivity management program. Social reinforcement and conditioned reinforcers were delivered by the researcher contingent upon meeting self-set writing goals on a weekly basis. Graphic feedback was delivered to participants through a web page, and social reinforcers through email contact. Writing goals increased throughout the program. In all cases, the program increased writing productivity across phases of treatment or goal increases. Results are discussed in terms of rule-governed behavior and the effects of short term goals in context of long term goals.

Social Fields, Belief In Psi, And Their Effects On Mental Telepathy, Brandy Mcwhorter

Masters Theses

The current study was designed to explore two major issues involving the existence of mental telepathy. The first goal was the exploration of the relationship between psi ability, specifically mental telepathy, and belief in psi phenomena. In addition, the value of social field theory as an explanation and potential facilitator of telepathic communication was explored. A small group of research assistants attempted to telepathically send 1 of 4 target locations to large groups of participants acting as receivers. The receivers answered a question on a 7-point-scale indicating their level of belief in mental telepathy. Two separate runs of 16 trials …

Religiosity, Role Theory, And Self-Esteem, Melissa R. Mccarthy

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between religion, religiosity, archetypal roles and self-esteem. The sample consisted of 61 students at a Midwestern university. The participants completed a series of surveys including two measures of religiosity, a self-esteem measure, and a Female Archetype Scale. The findings indicated that religions differ on levels of religiosity and female archetypes. In addition, there were correlations between religiosity and archetype, and self-esteem and religiosity. The significant correlations for the feminine archetypes were that were that Sekhmet was positively correlated with intrinsic religiosity, and negatively correlated with extrinsic religiosity and Connectedness; Demeter …

Cover, Copy And Compare Method Versus Copy, Cover, And Compare Method For Teaching Mathematics: A Comparative Analysis, Joel Grafman

Masters Theses

This study compared the fluency and accuracy rates produced when using the Cover, Copy, and Compare and Copy, Cover, and Compare interventions to complete subtraction math problems. Two second grade classrooms consisting of 20 or more students participated in the study. Participants were administered a pretest, Cover, Copy, and Compare worksheet, Copy, Cover, and Compare worksheet, and a posttest. Results revealed significantly higher digits correct per second (i.e. fluency) scores on the posttest and Cover, Copy, and Compare worksheets when compared to the pretest and Copy, Cover, and Compare worksheets with no difference in the errors per second (i.e. accuracy) …

Comparison Of The Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test-Second Edition And The Wechsler Intelligence Scale For Children-Fourth Edition, Ryan L. Mitchell

Masters Theses

Past research on the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT; Kaufman & Kaufman, 1990) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III; Wechsler, 1991) have shown good reliability and validity between the scales. However, recently, the KBIT-2 and the WISC-IV have been published. The purpose of the current study was to independently evaluate the construct validity of the KBIT-2 with the WISC-IV. The participants in this study consisted of 48 students enrolled in kindergarten through ninth grade from school districts in central Illinois, who were referred for initial or triennial multidisciplinary evaluation. The results were as hypothesized, with high statistically …

Burnout And Job Dissatisfaction Among Practicing Illinois School Psychologists: A 1994 To 2004 Comparison, Nikolaus J. Hoffman

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to identify the primary variables associated with burnout among practicing Illinois school psychologists. More specifically, the purpose was to determine if the same variables that correlated highly with Illinois school psychologists burnout levels in a 1994 study by Niebrugge have held constant over the last decade. Survey materials used in the 1994 study, including the Maslach Burnout Inventory, a School Psychologists Stress Inventory, and a specially designed job satisfaction questionnaire were completed by a random sample of members of the Illinois School Psychologists Association (N = 52). As in the 1994 study, results suggested …

The Construct Validity Of The Wechsler Abbreviated Scale Of Intelligence (Wasi) And The Wide Range Intelligence Test (Writ): Replication And Extension, Gregory S. Wilson

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to further verify the relationship between the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) and the Wide Range Intelligence Test (WRIT) by replicating Collins' (2002) study regarding the convergent validity between these two tests. To assess the convergent validity of the WASI and WRIT, two newer brief intelligence tests, 86 participants from central Illinois public schools were administered both measures in counterbalanced order. All correlations between the WASI and WRIT were significant (p < .05). Furthermore, the correlations between the corresponding IQ scales and subtests of the WASI and WRIT were moderate to high, ranging from .55 (r2 = .30) to .82 (r²= .67). The results provided convergent evidence for the construct validity of the WASI and WRIT and supported the contention made by Collins (2002) that the WASI and WRIT are measuring similar constructs. The results of the joint exploratory factor analysis supported the retention of only one factor (general intelligence "g"). A forced, two-factor solution resulted in 10.50% more variation among WASI/WRIT subtest scores. However, the two factors correlated at a high magnitude (r = .75), and all subtests cross-loaded with their theoretical dissimilar factor. The results of the factor analysis supporteda conclusion that the WASI and WRIT are best conceptualized as providing strong measurements of general intelligence.

Exploring The Subjective Meanings And Experiences Of Depression, Reena Sheth

Masters Theses

This study aimed to provide subjectivist accounts of how people understand and interpret their experience of depression. In the mainstream research on depression, the voices of people who experience depression are largely absent. Therefore, the meanings and experiences of depression from the perspective of people who are living with depression themselves were explored in this study by drawing on in-depth interviews. The stories of two participants diagnosed with depression were examined using the holistic-content and the holistic-form analysis approach proposed by Lieblich, Mashiach, and Ziber (1998). Illness narrative forms outlined by Frank (1998) were also utilized to explore how the …

Childhood And Adolescent Depression: Association With Gender, Social-Cognitive, Behavioral, And Gender-Role Factors, Jessica Finn Hougham

Masters Theses

The current study examined the association between gender and depression in childhood and adolescence with respect to social-cognitive, behavioral, and gender-role factors. The participants for this study were 231 children and adolescents ranging in age from 8 to 17 years old. Participants completed a demographic survey and measures assessing depression, self-esteem, self and peer ratings of social standing, cognitive errors in social standing, peer rejected and aggressive behaviors, femininity, and masculinity. Results indicated that there were gender differences in depression scores, with females reporting higher levels of depression than males. Significant negative correlations were found between depression and the factors …

Small Group Social Norms Intervention With Students Involved In Greek Life, Krista A. Mazza

Masters Theses

The misuse of alcohol is often a concern on college campuses nationwide. This concern has created a need for effective alcohol interventions to reduce alcohol misuse. This study investigated college student's perceptions about peer alcohol usage and one's own actual alcohol consumption. A social norms presentation was used to with seven Greek letter organizations to attempt to correct the misperceptions students have about their peers alcohol consumption, and therefore reduce the amount of alcohol consumed. A total of 68 individuals completed all elements ofthe project relevant to this study, of which 22 were male and 46 were female. Furthermore, 17 …

Illinois Standards Achievement Test (Isat) Reading Test Performance And Oral Reading Rate Of 3rd And 5th Grade Illinois Students, Angela R. Herrera

Masters Theses

The relationship between Illinois Standard Achievement Test reading scores for 3rd and 5th graders and their oral reading fluency rates was examined. Four hundred fifty nine students in those grades were given reading probes to determine their reading rate. Reading rate was defined as words read aloud per minute correctly on reading probes composed of text from the students' basal readers as measured by the classroom teacher. The Illinois Standard Achievement Test (ISAT) reading test results were obtained in the spring of each year in a group format. The results indicated a modest correlation between the two sets of data. …

Effects Of Self-Monitoring With Accuracy Feedback Versus Self-Monitoring With Corrective Feedback On Students' Performance In Mathematics, Kristina R. Baker

Masters Theses

The current literature suggests that when students are engaged in metacognitive activities, such as self-assessment, self-explanation, monitoring, or revising; their learning is enhanced (Xiaodong, 2001). Further, feedback, an integral element of self-monitoring, has been shown to increase the effectiveness of self-monitoring by guiding students through tasks, delivering corrective feedback that helps the learner identify errors, and providing hints about how to correct the problem (Pintrich, 1995). In this study, the effects of self-monitoring with accuracy feedback and corrective feedback on math performance of fourth grade students were investigated. During a regular mathematics instruction period, the classroom teacher implemented the intervention. …

Gender And Ethnic Biases In Personality Disorder Diagnostic Criteria, Christopher Lootens

Masters Theses

The present study examined bias within the diagnostic criteria for personality disorders, a category for diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association. Specifically, gender biases, ethnic biases, and interaction effects between the two were examined for the three Cluster C PD diagnoses. One of the more heated controversies concerning the DSM-IV involves the diagnosis of PD's, especially with regard to the notion of diagnostic bias. For the present study, 60 female and 60 male participants were recruited from the introductory psychology subject pool and given course credit for their participation.

Participants …