Cognition and Perception Commons^™

The Power Of Words: Unpacking Language's Role In Educational Inequities, Zara Yokohama, Liz Beccari, Malcolm Jasmin

Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

The language used to describe racial disparities in education may inadvertently influence how we address them. Framing such disparities as “achievement gap” rather than as “inequality in educational outcomes” assumes a deficit thinking mindset, shifting focus from the structural injustices contributing to education disparities to individuals, resulting in decreased prioritization of racial equity (Quinn & Desruisseaux, 2022). We aim to replicate this prioritization effect, specify the language driving the effect, and examine the impact of frames on perceptions of how to achieve racial equity. Participants were randomly assigned to conditions framing racial equity concerns as: a racial achievement gap, racial …

Altering Age And Gender Stereotypes By Creating The Halo And Horns Effects With Facial Expressions, Mary Katherine Radeke, Anthony John Stahelski

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

This study examined the impact of a variable, facial expression, on the social perception and personality trait stereotypic inferences made to age and gender. Twelve facial photographs of young and old female and male models posing with either smiling, scowling, or neutral facial expressions were presented to participants who judged various social perceptions and personality traits. Results indicated that facial expression is strongly associated with two very different inference groupings. Smiling induced positive inferences, creating a Halo Effect, scowling induced negative inferences, creating a Horns Effect. Smiling influenced the age and gender inferences in a positive direction, and scowling did …

Experimenter Bias Effect At Varying Levels Of Motivation, Leslie Marie Slade Gray

All Master's Theses

This study examined the effects of experimenter motivation upon the experimenter bias effect on a person perception task. It was hypothesized that the experimenter bias effect would decrease as reward and threat of punishment increased.

Thirty-five experimenters were randomly assigned to five treatment groups including a control group, two reward groups, and two punishment conditions. Each experimenter administered the photo task to two subjects. The results failed to support the experimental hypotheses.

False Physiological Feedback And Acceptance Of A High Fear Message, Michael T. Gray

All Master's Theses

This paper presents an attempt to differentiate between the drive reduction and parallel response theories as explanations of results obtained in fear communication research.

Forty-eight subjects were divided into four equal groups and while listening to a high fear message, three groups received false GSR feedback. The fourth group (control) received no feedback. The results failed to differentiate between the two theoretical models and also failed to support findings of an earlier study which used similar feedback techniques.

It was concluded that further research using false feedback techniques needs to be done.

The Effects Of Truth Table Pretraining And Intradimensional Variability On Rule Learning And Attribute Identification Tasks, Eric S. Gebelein

All Master's Theses

Ss were required to sort geometrical patterns into positive or negative instances. According to (a) an attribute identification problem (wherein one of three conceptual rules was given: Disjunctive, Conditional, or Biconditional) or (b) Rule learning problem (wherein the two relevant attributes were given: either yellow, triangle or blue, circle). Intradimensional variability for each condition was either five, seven, or nine levels. The Rule effect was the only significant source of variance even though performance did worsen as intradimensional variability was increased.

A Comparison Of Verbal And Geometric Stimuli In Concept Learning, Robert William Greenway

All Master's Theses

Subjects classified stimulus patterns into positive or negative instances of the concept according to either an attribute identification (AI) problem or a rule learning (RL) problem. Four types of stimulus materials were used: verbal stimuli (V), geometric stimuli (G), or two combinations of these modes, verbal geometric (VG) or verbal colored (VC). The only main effects that were significant were the Type of rule and Type of problem. Some interactions were obtained between these factors and the stimulus mode employed.

Intradimensional Variability With Numbers And Alphabetical Letters In Conceptual Rules, Thomas Henry Clayton

All Master's Theses

Subjects were assigned to bidimensional rule problems that contained either 5, 10, or 15 levels of intradimensional variability. The stimuli consisted of numbers and alphabetical letters. There were no performance differences by either males or females when the number of levels within each rule was increased. There was a significant difference in performance among the three rules (disjunctive, conditional, and biconditional), however, the conditional was more difficult than the biconditional which is inconsistent with earlier research.

The Effects Of Motivation Level And Task Difficulty On Performance On A Vigilance Task, Donald C. Johnston

All Master's Theses

Although many variables affecting vigilance behavior have been identified, there has not been substantial agreement on the importance of these variables as contributors either to performance decrements often found in laboratory research or to performance levels in industrial inspection tasks. Two variables of presumed importance are level of motivation and task difficulty. The purpose of the present experiment was to assess the main and interactive effects of these variables on performance on a task which approximated more closely an industrial inspection task than have the bulk of traditional vigilance studies.

Concept Identification As A Function Of Three Semantic Dimensions, Richard Eugene Edwards

All Master's Theses

It is the purpose of the present study to determine the differential effects of the three primary semantic dimensions on the ability of Ss to solve a concept identification problem. It was hypothesized that the performance level, as measured by a criterion of learning ten successive responses containing no more than one error, time to completion, and the total number of errors, will be higher for Ss working on the evaluative dimension than for Ss working on the potency or activity dimensions. Two additional hypotheses were formulated in an attempt to answer the following questions: 1) Is the ability to …

The Effect Of Dominance Level When Using Mediated Generalization To Facilitate Concept Formation, Delbert Smith Mchenry

All Master's Theses

This investigation was concerned with demonstrating differences in order of concept attainment as a function of the degree of association between a concept instance and concept response, using mediated generalization.