Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

The Development Of A Physical Education Teachers' Physical Activity Self-Efficacy Instrument, Jeffrey J. Martin, Pamela Hodges Kulinna

Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies

In the present investigation a questionnaire was developed to assess physical education teachers' self-efficacy for teaching classes in which their students were engaged in high levels of physical activity (i.e., at least 50% of class time). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses resulted in the development of a 16-item, 4-factor, multidimensional physical education teachers' physical activity self-efficacy scale (PETPAS) that produced reliable and valid scores. The Student factor reflected teachers' efficacy for managing students who didn't enjoy or value physical activity. The Time factor was indicative of teachers' efficacy when they didn't have enough time to teach. The Space factor reflected …

Self-Efficacy, Jennifer T. Gosselin, James E. Maddux

Psychology Faculty Publications

The study of self-efficacy is concerned with understanding this important aspect of self and identity—people's beliefs about their personal capabilities and how these beliefs influence what they try to accomplish, how they try to accomplish it, and how they react to successes and setbacks along the way.

Postural Balance And Acceleration Threshold Detection For Anterior Horizontal Translation In Diabetic And Non-Diabetic Elderly, Venkatesh Balasubramanian

Doctoral Dissertations

Slips and falls, and even the fear of failing, can represent a major medical and functional deterrent to living independently, especially among the elderly population. Various groups of elders are at known risk for falling including, but not limited to, those with vestibular dysfunction, those with low visual acuity including visual neuropathies, and those with peripheral neuropathies. The first two groups are fairly well studied, but the relationship between the level of peripheral neuropathy and extent of falling has received relatively less attention.

In this study, using sliding linear investigative platform for analyzing lower limb stability (SLIP-FALLS), the psychophysical thresholds …

The Relationship Of Intrinsic Motivation, Cognitive Style And Tolerance Of Ambiguity And Creativity In Scientists, Helene Katz

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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The Use Of Prior Knowledge In Learning From Examples, Stephen B. Blessing '89

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the way people acquire procedures from examples, and provides a computational model of the results. In four experiments, people learned an analog of algebra. For each experiment, the initial know ledge that people had of the task was varied. In two experiments (Experiments 1 and 3), the syntactic know ledge that people had concerning the task w as manipulated. The knowledge of syntax that participants had, particularly the ability to correctly parse the character string, was found to be a major determiner in the way participants acquired the rules. Experiment 2 explicitly manipulated participant's awareness as to …

Who's Afraid Of Multiple Realizability?: Functionalism, Reductionism, And Connectionism, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Philosophers have argued that on the prevailing theory of mind, functionalism, the fact that mental states are multiply realizable or can be instantiated in a variety of different physical forms, at least in principle, shows that materialism or physical is probably false. A similar argument rejects the relevance to psychology of connectionism, which holds that mental states are embodied and and constituted by connectionist neural networks. These arguments, I argue, fall before reductios ad absurdam, proving too much -- they apply as well to genes, which are multiply realizable, but the reduction of which to DNA is one the core …

Memory For Crossed And Nested Classifications, John Ernest Garwood

Dissertations and Theses

Memory for crossed and nested classifications was investigated. Two experimental groups were exposed to stimuli which could be organized by both a crossed and nested classification. The stimuli consisted of nine drawings in a 3 x 3 matrix. Each drawing is characterized by attributes on five dimensions. The nested classification requires four dimensions to organize the nine drawings, while the crossed classification requires two dimensions. Of the five dimensions, three are unique to the nested classification, one is unique to the crossed classification, and one is common to both classifications. Subjects were presented the stimuli so that either the crossed …