Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Curriculum For The Profoundly Retarded Children In A Development Center For Handicapped Minors, Charles William Koontz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The development of the infant from birth to four years will approximately parallel the stages of development of the profoundly retarded children enrolled in the Development Centers for Handicapped Minors ( DCHM ) in California. The retarded child is a human being and may be assumed to have the same basic equipment as the normal child. If we expand and prolong the development stated of the normal child we will be able to lead the DCHM child through these states in slow motion to insure progress.

To develop a curriculum, an assessment of the abilities of the child was necessary. …

The Effects Of Age, Sex, And Verbal Mediation On The Digit Symbol Test, Jerome S. Pietrzak

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Behavior Modification To Control The Classroom Behavior Of Socially Maladjusted Junior High School Students, Jack L. Wheeler

Masters Theses

A base rate of disruptive and inappropriate classroom behavior was obtained for 40 junior high school children from a program for the socially maladjusted. Teachers involved with these subjects were given a six week in-service training program reviewing the basic techniques of operant conditioning. Parents of 12 subjects were trained in operant conditioning and were asked to use these techniques to control inappropriate behaviors of the subjects at home. When a social and token reinforcement program was introduced in the classroom for all 40 subjects, the frequency of disruptive and inappropriate behavior declined in all subjects. Withdrawal of the social …

Stability Of Visual Fixation With And Without Feedback, Antoinette Ruth Appel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

A Multivariate Analysis Of Two Types Of Conformity Behaviors, Charles Lee Alcorn

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A review of research concerning conformity behaviors revealed a need for large sample, multivariate approaches. To that end, seventeen variables were utilized (birth order, chronological agev sex, race, IQ, socioeconomic status, geographic area uf residencer religion, anxiety, dogmatism, rigidity, acquiescence, ego strength, confidence, extroversion/ introversion, impulsivity, and neuroticism) to describe the behaviors of 104 subjects in a Tuddenham-type setting wherein the subjects were randomly assigned to either "Asch-type" (group pressure) or "Crutchfield-type" (expert pressure) treatment conditions. Utilizing a stepwise multiple discriminant function analysis, discriminant weights were derived. The variable of rigidity was not found to be a valid predictor. With …

Effect Of D-Amphetamine, Guanethidine, Disulfiram, And Stress On Gastric Ulceration In The Rat, Thomas M. Beall

Theses and Dissertations

Albino rats were injected with various doses of d-amphetamine (.02 mg/kg- 9 mg/kg) and subjected to 4 hours restraint in a cold (+5 degrees C) environment. Differential effects on ulceration were observed as a function ot the d-amphetamine dose level. Pretreatment with a .50 mg/kg injection of d-amphetamine significantly inhibited ulceration over that of saline injected, control animals, while a 9 mg/kg dose injection of the drug significantly facilitated it. Such results were explained in terms of a model interaction between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity, and the effect that such activity has on gastric conditions conducive to ulceration. …

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.

Hallucinations Induced By Sensory Deprivation: Fact Or Fiction?, Larry M. Latham

Honors Theses

Ancient mediators, ascetics, and others on religious quests deliberately withdrew from all sensory experience and even transcended awareness of their own body in order to open up the "inner rooms of the house of mind."

Experimenters of the modern era have attempted to analyze the various forms of hallucinations that have occurred under such "mysterious" circumstances. Contemporary sensory deprivation situations have yielded results which correspond very closely to the transcendentalism of the ancient mystics. However, the scientists of today have various means of complex experimentation available. Thus, hallucinations are no longer the mystical experiences of transcendentalists--hallucinations can be explained through …

The Stereotyped Image Of Mental Illness And How It Can Be Eliminated, Larry Latham

Honors Theses

One out of every ten people in the United States will at some time be hospitalized for a mental illness. Billions of dollars each year are spent on books about personal adjustment. Mental illness is not something that the public can be ignorant about.

This paper is concerned with understanding why the public views mental disorders as it does, and how a more optimistic perception can be attained.

Consequences Of Commitment And The Relevance Of Cognitively Bonded Values On Initial Attitude And Resistance To Attitude Change, Kenneth A. Marciniak

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Altruistic Behavior As A Function Of Self-Concept And Social Influence, Kestutis A. Trimakas

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of An Increase Of A Mother's Complimentary Behavior On Her Child's Crying Rate And In-Task School Behavior, Mark Connot

All Master's Theses

The purpose of the present study was to decrease an eight year old boy's disruptive crying rate in his home by ignoring his negative behavior and selectively complimenting his acceptable behavior. A check in the boy's classroom was made to determine if a generalization effect or transference of positive behavior from the home occurred. Crying behavior in the home was reduced significantly. There was no observed significant change in school behavior.

The Effect Of A Learning Skills Course Including Group Counseling On Low Achievers In The Community College, Paul E. Borg

All Master's Theses

A Learning Skills course consisting of study skills, goal direction, and self-understanding was tested among volunteer community college low achievers. Treatment integrated didactic, group discussion, and affective experiences in 18 hour-long sessions. Nineteen subjects received treatment; 25 subjects formed a matched control group; and 41 non-volunteers formed two additional control groups. An apparent trend toward GPA improvement was noted for all groups, but all measurements on GPA and a study survey were non-significant.

Evaluation Of The Consistency Of Informants’ Reports For Children’S Ratings With The Progress Assessment Chart, Craig Allen Gilroy

All Master's Theses

Seven TMR, seven EMR, and seven regular pupils were rated on the P-A-C I by observers who viewed the children in their classrooms or by using parents and teachers as informants. Ratings were compared for consistency between groups and between raters by means of percent agreement figures and proportional t tests. Few significant differences were found between raters within groups. Significant differences were found in the majority of the cases when parent, teacher, and observer ratings of handicapped and regular children were compared.

The Relationship Between The Mmpi Scales Of Ego-Strength, Defensiveness, And Obsessive-Compulsiveness And Self, Peer, And Trainer Ratings Of Fulfillment Of Specified Contract Behavior, August J. Crivolio

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Between Self-Actualization And Adjustment Among American Catholic Priests, Thomas John Murphy

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Attitude Change As A Function Of Media Presentation: An Inquiry Into The Effects Of Source Monitoring, Thomas Arthur Watkins

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Religious Liberalism-Conservatism And Psychological Health In A Study Of The Roman Catholic Priesthood, Mary Jo Kupst

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Relational Judgments As A Function Of "Objective Reality," General Attitudinal Structures, And Trait Content As Represented By A Structural And Discriminal Model For Determining Judgmental Tendencies, David J. Marx

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Reversal And Non-Reversal Shifts In Process And Reactive Schizophrenics, Brain Damaged Patients And Normals, Gerald S. O'Keefe

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Nonverbal Coding In Deaf Children, William Joseph White

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Interest, Achievement And Personality Differences And The Direction Of Lateral Eye Movement, Frances Irene Lewis

All Master's Theses

An eye movement identified as being related to personality and achievement differences in individuals was investigated. Subjects were 116 college freshmen who were classified as right or left movers on the basis of the direction their eyes moved laterally during reflective thought. The classifications were correlated with variables of sex, eye dominance, handedness, personality and achievement scores. Findings indicate significant correlations for left handed subjects on Economic and Political scales and Verbal achievement but no significant correlations for right handed subjects.

The Effects Of Two Types Of Frontal Lesions On Reversal Learning And Activity Level In Rats, Meredith Ann Davison

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this experiment was to compare traditional frontal pole lesions (FP) with lesions of the median dorsal nucleus projection (MDNP) described by Leonard. First, a comparison was made on the retention of spatial discrimination learning and the new learning of spatial discrimination reversals between these two groups of frontally lesioned rats. It was hypothesized that the most severe deficits in spatial reversal learning would be shown in rats receiving MDNP lesions since this area of the rat cortex appears to be homologous to the frontal cortex of higher species according to Leonard’s results. Second, activity was measured on …

Solution Shift Performance Of Low Functioning Children, Kathleen L. Levell

All Master's Theses

Retarded children of two intellectual levels were assigned to reversal (R) or nonreversal (NR) shifts in a concept learning task. High children had previous practice with the stimulus attributes while the low children did not. The effects of overtraining on the original problem led to more rapid R solutions for both groups while overtraining prior to the NR shift yielded equal levels of performance for both groups of children.

Results were interpreted within the framework of mediation theory.

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.

The Effects Of Verbal Reinforcement On Three Subtests Of The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Michael C. Klinnert

Masters Theses

A verbal conditioning study was conducted in order to assess the effect of positive verbal reinforcement on the examinees' verbalization output and/or the individual scaled scores of the Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Similarities subtests of the WAIS. Twenty-seven female volunteer Ss were assigned to either a contingent reinforcement group, a random reinforcement group, or a non-reinforcement control group. A mixed design A.O.V. revealed no significant differences between treatment groups on the individual scaled scores of the subtests. An analysis of covariance for the composite of the three subtests scaled scores was also nonsignificant. A mixed design A.O.V. for the amount of …

Operantly Conditioning A College Student's Study Behaviors, Norman L. Culbertson

All Master's Theses

A 20 year old, male, sophomore college student, who was considered an underachiever, was confined to a laboratory study room for a specified number of observed hours during a period of three weeks. An attempt was made to operantly condition increased study behaviors by the E's control of study break reinforcers. The experiment consisted of three phases, conditioning, reversal, and reconditioning. Statistical results showed that when reinforced in this manner for study behaviors, the S significantly increased his amount of study time and number of pages read. It was concluded that (1) operant conditioning procedures could be used successfully to …

Voluntary Control Of Gsr Using Continuous Visual Display And Simultaneous Changes In Other Autonomic Functions, Laurence E. Boyce

Masters Theses

Using 28 male undergraduate university students provided with continuous oscilloscope display of basal skin resistance, this study investigated voluntary control of the GSR and concurrent changes in respiration. It was found, given feedback, subjects could voluntarily raise or lower their GSR. Subjects instructed to increase their GSR (N-14) could do so within the first trial session. However, subjects instructed to decrease their GSR (N-14) required additional practice. With less than 20 minutes of practice all subjects were able to reach a criterion of 2,500 ohms change from their basal level. Subjects increasing their GSR were found to have a significant …

Validation Of A Measure Of Aggression, Jack Edward Shook

Masters Theses

The study attempted to validate a questionnaire as a method of measuring aggression resulting from frustration. The method consisted of correlating aggression measured by the questionnaire with aggression produced by an actual frustrating situation. An insult-failure technique was used to produce the frustration during the administration of a bogus aptitude test. Evaluation of the experimenter was the direct expression and measurement of aggression. A control group was used to insure validity of the frustration technique. Eighty six students participated in the study. The correlation was significant for males. The correlation was not significant for females. Males were not more aggressive …

The Effects Of The Four Psychological Primary Colors On Gsr, Heart Rate, And Respiration Rate, Keith W. Jacobs

Masters Theses

Measurement of GSR, heart rate, and respiration rate were taken on twenty-four male S's during presentation of four colors (red, yellow, green, blue). Four sequences of color presentations were used based on a 4 by 4 latin square with six subjects receiving each presentation. Significant color effects (p < .05) were found when GSR was used as the measure of activation. The most arousing color was red, followed by green, yellow, and blue, with significant differences in arousal value found between colors. Significant trial effects, disregarding colors, were found in respiration rate. No significant effects on heart rate were found as a function of trials or color. The arousal values of the colors do not support either a linear or U-shaped function of wave length.