Cognition and Perception Commons^™

Psychological Mechanisms Responsible For The Moderating Effects Of Need For Cognition On Attractiveness Stereotyping, Samantha D. Hansen

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis focuses on the psychological mechanisms responsible for the moderating role of need for cognition (NFC) in attractiveness stereotyping. Attractiveness stereotyping refers to the tendency to attribute more positive characteristics to attractive than to unattractive individuals. Recent research has found that people high in NFC show less of this attractiveness bias. The present research used two approaches to test the hypothesis that NFC moderates the bias because persons higher in NFC have greater motivation and ability to engage in systematic thought processes. First it included measures to assess the types of thoughts that participants high and low in NFC …

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty: Social Cognitions, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article explores social cognitions bearing on support for and opposition to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Structural Equation Modeling Of Attitudes Toward Employment Testing, Laura Susan Hamil

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This research investigated the relationships among past testing experiences, testing attitudes, perceptions of test performance, race, and gender. In addition, the effects of testing information on testing attitudes were studied. Two hundred and twelve applicants to a variety of positions in a large telecommunications company were asked to complete a series of questionnaires before and after employment testing. The questionnaires included measures of testing experience, general and specific testing attitudes, and perceptions of test performance. Scores on the employment test were also obtained as a measure of cognitive ability. Of the 212 participants, half were given a brochure to read …

Beliefs And The True Believer, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses the psychological constructs of the True Believer.

Body Image And Information-Processing Biases On A Modified Stroop Task, Andrea Powell Arcona

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Recent research in the area of body image and body-image disturbance has increasingly examined cognitive information-processing models. The focus of the current study was on the processing of appearance-related and nonappearance-related information in appearance-schematic versus appearance-aschematic women. As a modified and extended replication of a study by Labarge, Cash, and Brown (in press), information processing was investigated using a computerized Stroop-type task. Participants were 128 Old Dominion University women who had previously completed the Appearance Schemas Inventory (ASI). They were divided into two groups based on their above median (appearance-schematic) or below-median (appearance-aschematic) ASI scores, Then, at designated times, these …

The List-Strength Effect And Categorical Frequency Memory: Tests Of Availability, Joanne Bonanno

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The availability view of memory mantains that the retrieval of categorical frequency information is a function of recall of category exemplars. The List-Strength Effect (LSE), which is evidenced when increasing the strength of competing items in a list reduces memory for the other items, has been found to be a characteristic of recall, but not recognition, performance. The present study was designed to (a) further examine the relationship between cued recall and frequency judgments of category exemplars by testing for the presence of a LSE in categorical frequency estimation; and (b) to examine the role that estimation strategies may play …

Attentional Processing Of Visual Stimuli: What Makes A Face A Face?, Samuel L. Chapman

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Reaction time (RT) and accuracy have been used to investigate the manner in which humans process visual stimuli for many years. Some researchers have found evidence of serial processing (e.g., Sternberg, 1969a) while others have shown that some visual stimuli are processed in parallel (e.g., Neisser, 1963). There have been very few studies investigating the processing of schematic faces with respect to RT and accuracy. The present study investigates the mechanisms associated with the recognition of schematic faces with respect to RT and accuracy.

Forty-two Old Dominion University students were shown a target face for ten seconds and were then …

Eyewitness Testimonies For Spousal Abuse As A Function Of Gender Roles And Person Variables, Cynthia L. Barker

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

In order to uncover how personality characteristics interact with the suggestibility and recall of events, subject's recollection and interpretation of domestic violence was tested. College students were shonn a film which a husband and wife began arguing; the argument ended in the husband hitting his wife. Encoding was manipulated by giving negative or neutral suggestions about the woman before subjects witnessed the film, and storage was manipulated by giving such suggestions after the .film creating a 2 X 2 experimental design. Attitude and personality questionnaires were also administered to the subjects. In addition to demonstrating the significance of the encoding …

Behavioral Effects Of Tyrosine During Sustained Wakefulness, D. L. Wiegmann, D. F. Neri, R. R. Stanny, S. A. Shappell, A. H. Mccardie, D. L. Mckay

Publications

The fatigue and cognitive performance deficits associated with sleep loss and stress, like that experienced during sustained flight operations and nighttime flying, have motivated the search for effective nonpharmacological countermeasures. The behavioral effects of the potential countermeasure tyrosine, an amino-acid precursor to dopamine and norepinephrine, were examined during an episode of continuous nighttime work involving one night's sleep loss. Volunteers performed nine iterations of a battery of cognitive and subjective tasks for approximately 13 h, beginning at 1930 and ending at 0820 the following morning. Subjects remained awake throughout the day on which the experiment began and were awake for …

Choice Reaction Time And Conjunctions Of Form Size Color And Orientation, Cristina Bubb-Lewis

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Reaction time (RT) is frequently used as a dependent measure in studies that examine the organization of perceptual and cognitive processes. Hick's law states that RT in a choice-reaction-time (CRT) task is a linear function of the amount of information transmitted per stimulus-response event. RT has been used to try to determine whether serial or parallel processing is being employed in CRT tasks (Sternberg, 1966). There is research evidence suggesting a serial, exhaustive search process (Sternberg, 1969a; Wingfield, 1973), as well as findings which suggest parallel processing (Neisser, 1963; Neisser, Novick, and Lazar, 1963) in CRT tasks. All the experiments …

Use Of A Commercially Available Flight Simulator During Aircrew Performance Testing, S. A. Shappell, B. J. Bartosh

Publications

Investigations of aircrew sustained operations (SUSOPS) have been criticized for employing tasks with no apparent external validity. Because measures obtained directly from aviators flying high-performance aircraft are difficult to obtain, a laboratory compromise is needed. High-fidelity flight simulators used for aircrew training offer the most realistic simulation, but their availability is limited. Personal computer-based flight simulators may provide adequate simulation in, the laboratory at a reasonable cost. This report describes a representative research protocol using a commercially available flight simulator during a simulated aircrew SUSOP.

The Effect Of Fear Of Success And Perceived Task Difficulty On Cognitive Performance, David Eugene Elkins

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship of fear of success (FOS) and perceptions of task difficulty, their interactive effect on anagram and matrix-task performance and possible gender differences on these variables. A total of 226 students, 83 males and 143 females, participated in the study. FOS was measured by the administration of Zuckerman and Allison's (1976) Fear of Success Scale. Perceptions of task difficulty were manipulated by use of falsified normative data. Subjects therefore believed the upcoming task was either easy or difficult or the subjects were employed as controls. An anagram task and 12 items selected from Raven's Standard Progressive …

Assessment Of Visual/Orthographic Awareness In Beginning Readers, Hope Elizabeth Lemoine

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Various models reading development (Frith, 1985; Gough & Hillenger, 1980; Marsh, Friedman, Welch, & Desberg, 1981) have suggested that word shape is of critical important to early readers when recognizing words they know. As children progress through the early stages of reading, critical features such as first letter then become the important definers of word recognitions among early readers until they are at a much more advanced stage (Frith, 1985). More generally, advanced orthographic awareness among early readers is not considered to play an important role until children are older and have established a more advanced reading vocabulary. The purpose …

Eliminating Sex Bias Through Rater Cognitive Processes Training, Carter Ard

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The success of Rater Cognitive Processes Training as a strategy for eliminating sex bias in ratings of performance in a physically demanding job was investigated in the present study. One hundred undergraduate students from a mid -sized regional university served as subjects. The independent variables were type of training and sex of the ratee. resulting in a two by two factorial design. The dependent variable was the performance ratings assigned by the subjects. Subjects in the experimental condition were trained to recognize the important dimensions of performance for the lob of feed handler and received one Practice/feedback session. Subjects in …

The Effects Of Temporospatial Integration On Distance Estimations Of Young And Elderly Adults, Margaret Rowley-Bernicki

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The effect of discontinuity on temporospati al integration in the accuracy of distance estimations was examined utilizing a slide presentation of a route. Participants were 60 young and 60 elderly adults who were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. The two conditions were determined by whether the subjects viewed the walk in a logically sequenced order or a pre-determined randomized order. Subjects viewed the walk twice and thereafter made a series of distance estimates between a series of preselected landmarks chosen by a different group of young and elderly adults. Additionally, subjects gave self-ratings on a twelve-item questionnaire to …

The Effect Of Priming, Christian Orthodox Beliefs, And Training On Critical Thinking, Cheryl Norry

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study investigated the extent to which pro and antireligious individuals responded objectively and critically to religious and nonreligious material. Proreligious (n=72) and antireligious (n=72) individuals, as determined by Fullerton and Hunsberger’s (1982) Christian Orthodoxy Scale, were selected from 507 introductory psychology students. They judged the logical soundness of 30 syllogisms (10 proreligious, 10 antireligious, and 10 neutral) following a priming task (critical, religious, or neutral). Prior to the analysis of the syllogisms, half of the subjects were given logic training, while the other half did not receive any instruction in logic. Dependent variables included critical ability (i.e., the number …

Landmark Selection And Temporal-Spatial Integration: Macrospatial Abilities In Young Adults And Elderly Adults, Deans Haggerty

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Groups of young adults and elderly adults participated in a study examining age-related changes in macrospatial cognitive abilities. Perceptual differentiation/selection abilities were tested using a Landmark Selection task, while temporal-spatial integration abilities were explored through the use of a Scrambled Route task. In the Landmark Selection task, subjects viewed a slide presentation of a walk and then chose the landmarks which best represented the walk. For the Scrambled Route task, after viewing a slide presentation of a scrambled walk, subjects made distance estimations involving pairs of selected landmarks. Also included were self-assessment scales of spatial abilities and two psychometric tests …

An Information Processing Approach To The Study Of Map Interpretation, Susan Vaughan Felton

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Three variables involved in map interpretation (rotation, planar angle, and scale) were examined from an information processing perspective to determine whether they were characterized by serial, parallel, or a combination of serial and parallel processing. Sex differences in these processes were also examined. Participants viewed a series of pairs of slides depicting various combinations of rotations, planar angles, and scales, and were asked to determine whether the pair represented the same array viewed from a different viewpoint. Accuracy and response time were the dependent variables of interest. Results indicated that the number of manipulations that were involved in a problem …

The Effect Of Intuition On Creativity As Discussed By Several Individuals Of Creative Genius, Mary Jean Campbell

Institute for the Humanities Theses

When the term intuition came into psychological parlance less than a century ago, the argument began over whether intuition could affect creativity, and whether it, in fact, existed at all as part of cognitive process. This paper will begin with a discussion of the meaning of intuition and some of the implications of that term, address the difficulties inherent in relying on self-report for information, and then turn to the statements of several well-known creative individuals about the role of intuition or intuition-related phenomena in their work.

The selection of creative individuals will be limited to those who have attained …

Effects Of Practice On The Rate Of Gain Of Information In A Paper And Pencil Task, Dennis Howard Jones

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Investigations into the effects of practice on choice reaction time (CRT) performance and the rate of gain of information have produced confusing and often contradictory results. This seems to stem from the fact that (1) a small number of subjects were utilized and (2) there were an insufficient number of experimental conditions. In the present experiments, the author has developed a Reaction Time Battery (RTB) that allows a large group of subjects to be tested efficiently and economically. Using three levels of stimulus uncertainty (1, 2, or 3 bits) factorial to two levels of S-R compatibility (low and high), Experiment …

Developmental Study Of The Mueller-Lyer Illusion Under Conditions Of Restricted Exposure Time & Task Interference, Jerald Clampitt

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The present study brought together two lines of research in an attempt to explain some issues in perceptual development. The first pertained to the Mueller-Lyer illusion which tends to decrease with age. Piaaet attributed this change to increased perceptual activities, such as eye movements in the older subjects. Pollack related it to changes in the physical structure of the eye. Grice attributed the charge partially to cognitive processes, and partially to perceptual activities. Second, the concept of iconic memory was reviewed. Grice had employed the concept of iconic memory in an attempt to relate the age related changes in illusions …

Increased Retention Due To Category Shift : A Perceptual-Attentive Phenomenon?, Leonard J. Bianchi

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

A stimulus that is qualitatively distinct from other stimuli tends to show higher retention in Free Recall (FR) and short-term memory distraction (STM) tasks. This finding applies equally well to an isolated stimulus which belongs to a taxonomic category different from other stimuli.

The Correlation Between Specific Curiosity And Intelligence In Adults, Charles R. Schwenk

Dissertations and Theses

Previous studies done on the correlation between specific curiosity and intelligence have been inconclusive. In the present study, a test of state specific curiosity and a test of intelligence were administered to 76 Ss from two introductory psychology courses. Three hypotheses were tested. These were, (a) that a significant specific curiosity-intelligence correlation would exist, (b) that the specific curiosity-verbal subscale correlation would be higher than the specific curiosity-abstraction sub-scale correlation, and (c) that there would be a sex difference in the specific curiosity-intelligence correlations. The data did not support hypothesis (a) or (b). However, they did support hypothesis (c). …

Effects Of Volition And Justification On The Arousal Of Dissonance During Performance Of A Dull Task, George Roger Schoenhals

All Master's Theses

The present study seeks to add a modest degree of clarification to the present condition of dissonance theory. More specifically, its main purpose is to help define certain conditions for the arousal of cognitive dissonance.

A Study Of The Difference In Short-Term Memory Between Seventh Grade Students Rated High And Low In The Ability To Acquire Sport Skills, Vera Jeppesen Watkins

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study investigated the possibility that the short-term memory factor may be one of the variables involved in the learning of motor skills.

The subjects of the study were all of the seventh grade gym students at Logan Junior High School who were rated by their teachers as being in the upper or lower one-fourth of their class in respect to their abilities in sport skills. After a short-term memory (STM) test developed by the researcher was administered to this group, their scores were compared to determine whether there was a significant difference between the upper and lower one-fourth.

An …

Molecular Transfer Of Acquired Discrimination By Proteinaceous Extract, Robert L. Sayre

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Early investigators of the molecular basis of memory suggested a unique function for the nucleic acids in learning and memory, with base changes in RNA being the most popular mechanism in representing memory for experiential events. Subsequent research has led to the hypothesis that RNA is intermediary in the general action of cells, but some researchers continue to think of RNA as providing a unique contribution during learning.

A Comparison Of Cognitive Achievement Measures In Student Evaluation, Ladonna Wallace Childers

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Tyler (i932, 1934) was responsible for some of the most important research with cognitive achievement measures. In studies with college students he found that factual knowledge gains dissipated after one year at the rate of seventy-seven per cent of the initial gain during the period of instruction. In the same study the gain in ability to apply principles to new situations and the ability to interpret new experiments resulted in no loss after one year. Rather, the ability to interpret new experiments showed an increase after one year, though none of the Subjects (Ss) in the study had taken additional …

Cognitive Dissonance In Task-Orientedgroups Under Intermittent And Continuous Success, Arthur Hiram Strock Ii

Master's Theses

In a recent study by Burke (1961), the psychological effects of participation in task-oriented groups were studied. This study incorporated selected communication networks, the wheel, circle, and the all-channel, from a number of experimental arrangements that were conceived and developed by Bavelas (1950). Burke’s eighteen five-man groups were seated at a partitioned table containing slots in a center post through which written messages could be sent. This apparatus was similar in design to the table first used and described by Leavitt (1951). The groups worked on a task that required the members to find one symbol among five that was …

An Analysis Of Certain Responses To A Color Association Test, Norbett Lawrence Mintz

Psychology ETDs

The study to be presented in this thesis is a direct outgrowth of four years of work by the writer and his associates. Because none of the previous studies has been published and no statement of the over-all purpose of this study exists, it was deemed advisable to review the entire background of the present investigation. Therefore, the thesis has been divided into two parts.

Part One Shall: (1) demonstrate that the color association test resulted from a combination of color matching technique and the word association method; (2) present the purpose for which the test was developed; (3) review …