Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons^™

Volunteer Functions, Satisfaction, Commitment, And Intention To Leave Government Volunteering, Gisela R. Salas

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Traditionally, volunteerism has been deeply embedded in United States history with citizens showing a high level of social participation. In the United States there are 60.8 million volunteers, however, the supply of volunteer labor has been insufficient to meet the demands of organizations with recent reports showing a decrease. Trends as far back as the 1980s indicated that budgetary constraints coupled with increasing demands makes volunteering the logical alternative to sustain service delivery.

Many community, civic, and governmental organizations need and use volunteers to accomplish their missions. One of the greatest challenges, however, is ensuring that the volunteers remain satisfied …

Study Of Executive Functioning Training In Adolescents Diagnosed With Autism, Jessica Postil

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

This study investigated the effectiveness of a manualized executive functioning training program used with adolescents diagnosed with autism. Three male adolescents were trained on executive function activities using a combination of Applied Behavioral Analysis and executive functioning activities. Training programs were administered individually, lasting for 2 hours per day for 20 days. Participants were tested 1 month before training, 1 week before treatment, immediately after training and at a one-month follow-up. Significant improvements were seen in performance on executive functioning tasks that required motor speed, verbal fluency, monitoring, predicting, planning and organization skills. Significant changes in the participant’s adaptive behavior …

Self-Esteem In Relation To Casual Sex Behavior, Attitudes, And Affect., Kathryn Bieda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Casual sex is common on college campuses and is potentially relevant to a person's self-esteem. Unfortunately, data are mixed regarding how self-esteem is influenced by casual sex. This thesis is an attempt to understand how casual sex influences women's self-esteem through a series of questionnaires. Three hypotheses were of interest. The first predicted that sociosexuality and desire would explain casual sex engagement. Second, that casual sex behaviors and attitudes would predict self-esteem. Third, looking only at those who engaged in casual sex; casual sex attitudes and affect would predict self-esteem. Using hierarchical regression, results indicated that there was a curvilinear …

Evaluation Of A Progressive Model For Identifying Preferred Stimuli For Children With Developmental Disabilities, Amanda M. Karsten

Dissertations

Preference assessments for individuals with disabilities differ along many dimensions, including time requirements for implementation and probability of identifying a hierarchy of relative preferences. Some methods of assessment are also more conducive to use with individuals who exhibit problem behavior or certain prerequisite skills. Inaccurate results and loss of valuable treatment time are among the risks associated with selecting ineffective or unnecessarily lengthy procedures. The purpose of the current investigation was to evaluate a progressive model for conducting preference assessments which incorporates many of the aforementioned considerations. Concurrent-operant reinforcer evaluations were used to verify assessment findings. Based on 17 participants …

The Use Of Personality Assessments In Designing Environmental Enrichment For Garnett's Bushbabies (Otolemur Garnettii), Lauren Elizabeth Highfill

Dissertations

Recently the study of animal personality has become an important and credible topic of research and a number of studies have revealed personality traits in a variety of species. The consideration of individual animal personality traits is important for animal management and welfare. For example, ensuring inter-individual compatibility in group housing animals may serve to ensure the safety of the whole group. To date, no formal research has been conducted on whether the assessment of individual personality traits could be used as a tool for individualizing environmental enrichment interventions. The goal of environmental enrichment is to increase the rate of …

Disruptive Effects Of Aβ Oligomers To The Radial-Arm Maze Performance Of Rats, Kineta Lynn Morgan-Paisley

Dissertations

Converging lines of research have implicated a causal relationship between oligomers of amyloid-β and the cognitive impairments associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD); however, very few studies have provided direct experimental evidence of this relationship and none of those studies have used an established model of working memory. The present study used an established model of working memory, the radial-arm maze, to examine the effects of amyloid-β oligomers on the memory of two groups of rats. The experimental group received ICV injections of the culture media (CM) of Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells transfected with a human mutation of APP containing …

Self-Solicited Feedback: Effects Of Hourly Pay And Individual Monetary Incentive Pay, Julie M. Slowiak

Dissertations

The frequency of feedback solicitation under hourly pay and individual monetary incentive pay conditions was examined. A two-group between-subjects design was used with 30 college students in each group. Participants attended three experimental sessions and entered the cash value of simulated bank checks presented on a computer screen. Results indicated that (a) participants who were paid individual monetary incentives did not self-solicit feedback more often than those who were paid an hourly wage, (b) feedback solicitation was not related to individual differences in levels of competition with one's self or competition with others, (c) task performance was higher for individuals …

The Psychophysiology Of Information Processing Differences In Eating Disorders, Kathryn Grace Truitt

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Maladaptive or dysfunctional cognitive factors are believed to be significant contributors to pathology in eating disorders. The emotional Stroop task was used to examine [the] these dysfunctional cognitive factors. A sample of 31 women (14 nonclinical controls, 13 BN, 4 AN) participated in this investigation, after exclusion for ocular and movement artifacts and equipment problems the remaining sample contained 4 women diagnosed with BN, 4 women diagnosed with AN, and 9 matched non-clinical control subjects. Participants completed an Emotional Stroop task comprised of 8 blocks of words. On each trial, a word was presented in one of four colors (black, …

Characteristics Of Head Mounted Displays And Their Effects On Simulator Sickness, Jason Moss

All Dissertations

Characteristics of head-mounted displays (HMDs) and their effects on simulator sickness (SS) and presence were investigated. Update delay and wide field of views (FOV) have often been thought to elicit SS. With the exception of Draper et al. (2001), previous research that has examined FOV has failed to consider image scale factor, or the ratio between physical FOV of the HMD display and the geometric field of view (GFOV) of the virtual environment (VE). The current study investigated update delay, image scale factor, and peripheral vision on SS and presence when viewing a real-world scene. Participants donned an HMD and …

The Influence Of Species And Context On Human-Dolphin Interactions, Deirdre Breen Yeater

Dissertations

Anthropogenic activities pose a threat to marine mammals around the world. Cetaceans that use coastal waters are at particular risk for potential disturbances caused by vessel traffic and human swimmers. Although many cetacean species are found near the coast of Utila, Honduras, little is known about their behavior or the effects of anthropogenic activities on their behavior. Whether the presence of boats and human swimmers led to short-term changes in dolphin behavior was investigated for three commonly sighted species of dolphins; rough-toothed (Steno bredanensis), spinner (Stenalla longirostris), and bottlenose (Turslops truncatus). The dolphins' behavioral activities, with and without other boats …

Nicotine Facilitates Trace Fear Conditioning In Normal And Fasd Rats Tested As Adolescents, Mary Elizabeth Levillain

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.