Child Psychology Commons^™

A Longitudinal Evaluation Of The Ogden City Head Start Program, Robert D. Eyestone

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study attempted to investigate the differences in the Head Start population of the Ogden City Schools and to determine if the differences had a significant influence on ability comparisons. An attempt was also made to evaluate the longitudinal benefits of Head Start training. The original data was collected in the 1966-67 evaluation of the Head Start program. Additional data was collected as this original group of Head Start children progressed through kindergarten, first, and second grades.

Variables considered in this study were, residence, age, sex, socio-economic deprivation, family constellation, and ethnic group. In addition, a comparison was made of …

Measurement Of The Perceptual Rotation Of Visual Stimuli, Floyd W. Stettler

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Apparatus for study of the phenomenon of rotation consisted of two rotating turntables constructed to receive disks for presenting varied visual stimuli. Turntables were graduated into 360 degrees for measurement of angular discrepancy in the task of visually matching rotational positions. Subjects from ages four through eleven attempted to match six compass positions for each of three designs--a boxlike house, a straight line, and Bender-Gestalt Figure No. 3.

Errors of rotation were classed as either transpositional or nontranspositional, Transpositional error, involving reversal or mirroring of the directional aspect of the designs, largely disappeared by age six. Non-transpositional error declined rapidly …

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?

Use Of The Pals Test To Differentiate Between High Achieving And Low Achieving Fifth Gradestudents: A Validity Study, Mickey H. Parson

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if the PALS Tests (Williams, 1958, 1961, 1964) would significantly differentiate between low achieving and hie;h achieving 5th-grade students. The basic design was the same basic design as used by Williams (1961), except that high achieving and low achieving students were used instead of acting-out and normal children. It was intended that this research supplement existing data concerning validity of the PALS Tests. The test author (Williams 1958, 1961, 1964) seems to be the only person who has conducted research regarding the PALS.

The Effect Of Environment On The Mentally Retarded Child, Patricia L. Greene

Honors Theses

Mental retardation is one of the most challenging problems of childhood. It affects not only the child but also parents, siblings, and the community. The retarded child needs the help of the physician, the psychologist, the social worker, the teacher, and even the lawmakers.

The question of mental retardation, fortunately, is now being brought into the open. The child who is mentally retarded is no longer kept behind closed windows and locked doors. Mental retardation, formerly, looked upon as a stigma, is now considered a disease, like tuberculosis, diabetes, and heart trouble.

Mental retardation had been designated by various terms …

A Review And Construction Of Career Development Programs In The Elementary School, Chase Driggs

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Overview

Every child has a right to acquire his own realistic selfevaluation of the career he intends to pursue, and the process of exposure to occupational information should be permitted and encouraged to start at an early age. From this point of view we need to foster concepts and techniques designed to facilitate the vocational maturation of the child. Interaction with counselors, teachers, parents, and community will increase the student's ability to understand the opportunities of the world of work as it relates to his aptitudes and interests and values and to enable him to be more aware of the …

Behavioral Modification Of Trainable Mentally Retarded Children, Cheryl Mayo Frair

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In Experiment I, contingency management was employed with five non-institutionalized trainable retardates (mean MA=4.l, CA=9.9, and language age=2.6) in a classroom situation. Empirically determined high probability behaviors were displayed as colored cartoon figures in a reinforcement menu. Tasks from the Peabody Language Development Kit defined the behavior strengthened during 15 one-hour sessions. A quantity of low probability task behavior had to occur in order for subjects to emit 4 minutes of high probability reinforcing activity. Through contingency management, amount of task per reinforcement was shaped from a low ratio to a high ratio. Significant gains in language age (p

In …

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 …

A Study Of The Origins Of Behavior Problems, Kathryn Ann Shaddox

Honors Theses

In special studies this semester I have simply began the study of adult problems arising from childhood. To do this I read several books and an occasional periodical. The following paper tends to be an overview tying together three of these books. I only made a few references to the other three mentioned in the bibliography. The content for this paper in mainly a listing of the many aspects of personality development. The first section deals generally with the developmental tasks from infancy to adulthood. The second continues with the behavior problems of children who have failed to succeed in …

Play Preparation For The Adeno-Tonsillectomy Patient, Carol Brown, Harriet Hecker

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Hospitalization and surgery have been recognized as being psychologically stressful for the majority of children. Hospital personnel have attempted to reduce some of the unnecessary psychological stress incurred by children by the use of many different methods. This study attempted to evaluate the use of preoperative play preparation sessions for minimizing this stress. The method was experimental with one variable. The subjects were forty-one children aged three and one-half to seven and one-half who had adeno-tonsillectomies. Twenty-one children comprising Group E were involved in a play session by the researchers. Twenty children were not prepared in this way. The tools …

Organizing For Guidance In The Willcox Elementary Schools, Agnes M. Briggs

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The director of Guidance in the Arizona State Department of Public Instruction realizing the great need for more experimental programs, proposed that part of the [National Defense Education Act of 1958] monies in Arizona be used for the purpose of developing pilot projects in the elementary schools. Schools that had expressed interest in a possible elementary guidance project were contacted and invited to write a proposal with the assistance of the State Department. Forty districts submitted plans for elementary guidance programs. Of these, ten were selected on the basis of the nature of the proposed program, the geographic location of …

The Effects Of Paternal Absence On Male Children, Martha H. Rigby

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The society in which our children are living and growing today is complicated by strife and conflict both internally and externally . It is a time when statisticians are telling us that 481 out of 1,000 marriages, or nearly one out of every four, will end in divorce; many others will end in separations not legally terminated (Bureau of Census, 1966). Many families are also separated because of the military action which at present is keeping 500,000 men at war in a country many thousands of miles from their families. During the year 1967 over nine thousand of this number …

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 …

Mexican-American Children In The Process In Acculturation, Elizabeth Ford Stone O'Neill

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The web of Mexican-American life is complex in its origins, its manifestations, and its degree of identification with or alienation from the dominant culture. A thesis of the length of this one can deal with all this complexity only in a superficial way. However, by a rather narrowly defined examination of a few children certain insights may be gained which could be used as a basis for generalization about other children of similar background, and perhaps even for some tentative generalizations about the problems of the Mexican-American community as a whole.

With this purpose in mind -- to inquire intensively …

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.

Guarded And Unguarded Responses To Sentence Completion Tests Among Normal Adolescents And Juvenile Delinquents, Mohammed K. Fazel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was designed to test the responses of a group of juvenile delinquests and a group of normal adolescents to a sentence completion test. The test used was a modified form of Sack's Sentence Completion test in two forms--form A, first person stems and form B, third person stems. The hypothesis to be tested were (1) people project more in the third person, (2) the normal projects more, and (3) there would be no difference in projection on neutral items. The results bear out the three hypothesis. The sex scale, however, was an exception. This may be due to …

Research In Child Development, Amelia Owen

Honors Theses

This paper explores child development of various concepts, including life, death, and life after death; space, weight, money, and time; and concepts of self.

Children's Emotional Response To Color, Rodney H. Buffington

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Morbidity, Growth And Development Of Prematurely-Born Twins In Early Childhood, Lynelle King

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

This study was concerned with the problem of determining the effect of twinship on the prematurely-born twin's growth and physical and emotional morbidity during early childhood. The immediate purposes of the study were to compare prematurely-born twins with prematurely-born singletons regarding their incidence and types of physical and emotional morbidity, and their growth during early childhood. It was hypothesized that prematurely-born twins have slower growth and more physical and emotional morbidity than prematurely born singletons. The descriptive survey method was used. From children cared for at a selected premature clinic, nineteen twins were matched with nineteen singletons for: race, sex, …

Helping With Homework, O. Evans Scott

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Although actually helping a child with homework is rarely recommended there are many ways in which parents can help young children to cope with their school work.

Some of them are outlined in this article.

Children's Friends In Ability Vs. Randomly Grouped Classrooms, Nolan Kay Griffin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

For over forty years ability grouping has been of professional concern to educators in the United States (Reisner, 1936). There have been fundamental changes in educational theory and practice during that time, one of which is the recognition that educational practices must adjust to individual differences. The interpretation of "equal opportunity" in education has gradually changed from meaning the same methods, standards, and course content for all children, to meaning the full opportunity for each child to develop his own potential in a school program suited to his individual capacities and needs.

The interpersonal relationships and social development of school …

The Reaction Of Hospitalized Children To Food, Lois Masat Magnussen

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Hospital personnel are becoming more aware of the fact that hospitalization is traumatic to the emotional life of the young child. Since eating habits and emotions are so closely allied, it is probable that the young child's eating pattern will be affected during hospitalization. The purpose of this study was to determine the reaction of children between the ages of one through four to food during the first three days of hospitalization at the White Memorial Hospital. The method chosen to obtain this information was the descriptive survey. The tools used were a checklist for the researcher to record her …

Creativity And The Lowenfeld Mosaic Test With First, Second And Third Grade Children, Shelby Hargrave Cooke

Master's Theses

Based on the findings of the Walker study of the Lowenfield Mosaic test (1957) and the [other] studies of creativity, the following hypotheses may be made. Creative children will make original or novel designs and show complex use of color and shape. Their designs will be more asymmetrical in shape and placement and contain a greater number of places than the designs of noncreative children. They will make representational rather than abstract designs, and their human and animal figures will show motion.

Toys For Tinies And Gifts For Children, O. Evans Scott

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Special care is needed in selecting toys for young children. Well-chosen toys can aid mental and physical development and give many hours of safe, satisfying play; ill-chosen toys can cause anxiety and frustration and may even be dangerous.

This article gives hints on selecting toys for various age groups and suggests some suitable options.

Distress In Children Going To X-Ray, Ina Madge Longway

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

It is commonly recognized that hospitalized children need psychological support and preparation for painful procedures. It is probable that little thought is given by hospital personnel to a similar preparation of the child for non-painful procedures. This study attempted to evaluate the distress incurred by children subjected to non-painful hospital procedures with little or no preparation. The procedure of x-ray was selected as being common and typical. The method used was the descriptive survey. The tools used were the taking of a series of six blood pressure readings per child, the administration of two forms of a short psychological test …

Ways In Which The Elementary School Can Improve And Safeguard The Mental Health Of Children, Caroline L. Yock

Graduate Student Research Papers

The purpose of this study was to obtain information concerning (1) the meaning of mental health as it relates to elementary school children, (2) the relationship between mental health and learning, and (3) ways in which the elementary classroom teacher can affect mental health.

A Comparative Analysis Of The Effects Of Heterogeneous And Homogeneous Elementary School Grouping Practices On Selected Personality Variables, Clarence D. Swaner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The relative advantages or disadvantages associated with the practice of grouping school children according to ability level has long been the subject of considerable discussion among educators. The general tendency has been for educators to divide into two camps: Those who expound the various merits of homogeneous grouping, and those who favor and support heterogeneous grouping practices. Less common, but acknowledged, are those educators who favor a combination of the two methods. Research dealing with the relative value of either method has usually been concerned with only one aspect of the problem--that of academic achievement. However, the efforts of several …

A Normative Study Of Some Developmental Aspects Of The Human Figure Drawings Of Children, Bessie M. Whitehead

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

For many years there has been much interest in the use of human figure drawings as a projective technique for diagnostic use with the mentally ill. Psychiatric implications are attributed to practically every possible characteristic exhibited in the human figure, but until recently, little has been done toward establishing standards or norms describing objectively how various groups in the population actually perform when asked to draw a person. A clinician had no ruler by which to measure the performance of his client. He had no standard by which he could decide that the behavior exhibited was usual or abnormal for …

Change In Selected Sensitive Psychological Areas Of The Only Child When A Sibling Is Born, Eveline H. Loewe

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

A study was undertaken to see if, through the use of story projective fables, data could be obtained about the change in selected sensitive psychological areas of an only child when a sibling is born.

Projective stories from the Fine Revision of the Despert Fables were used to form brief tests of the sensitive psychological areas of parental rejection/sibling rivalry, dependency and aggression/hostility. These test were given, both before and six weeks after the birth of a sibling, to fifty children from families in the Santa Clara Valley. Criteria used in selecting the children limited the subjects to those who …