Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Curbing Noncontractual Absences In A Mental Health Setting Through The Application Of Contingent Rewards, Craig A. Crawford

Masters Theses

In this study, the effects of contingent rewards on attendance behavior of direct care staff in a psychiatric institution were investigated. The intervention consisted of a letter of commendation and an opportunity to win a lottery for the staff exhibiting perfect attendance for a two week pay period. A multiple baseline analysis of three units failed to show significant declines in absenteeism although there were areas of significant improvement.

Performance Contracting As A Support System For Minority Graduate Students: A Feasibility Study, Monica Porter

Masters Theses

This study analyzed the feasibility of implementing a performance- contracting program for black graduate students so they could achieve or maintain a grade-point average of a 3.0 or above. Students attended weekly contracting meetings where academic tasks and deadlines were identified and task completion was monitored. The total number of tasks assigned per student for the entire study ranged from 12 to 44, with a mean of 32.6. Task completion ranged from 42% to 100%, with a mean of 68.4%. Nine of the ten students achieved a semester grade point average of 3.0 or above, although the present study did …

An Ethnographic Study Of Punk Rock In Western Michigan: Identity In A Youth Subculture, Robert P. Pomeroy

Masters Theses

This thesis presents an ethnosemantic analysis of the punk rock subculture of western Michigan. Assertion of personal identity is demonstrated to be the underlying principle which organizes punk terminology for their music, cultural environment, and members of the subcultures. An analysis of punk song lyrics, visual style, and verbal style demonstrates that this assertion of identity is accomplished through opposition to the dominant American culture. Punk rock can then be understood as a subculture of cultural rebellion which allows its members to assert their individuality through violation of culturally accepted aesthetic values.

The Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home's Foster Shelter Care Unit: Toward An Evaluation, Michael John Underwood

Masters Theses

A formative evaluation of the Foster Shelter Care Unit was conducted in order to analyze the success/failure of the program during its firs t year of operation. Data on 77 cases were analyzed, and nine Independent variables and one dependent variable were bivariately tested 1n order to provide a theoretical explanation of the success/failure rate.

The evaluation was conducted 1n order to supply the Foster Shelter Care Unit with recommendations to enhance its success/ failure rate and to modify its existing policies.

The success rate for the unit was 48.1%, and it was found that the only significant association with …

Detection Of Deception In The Laboratory As A Function Of Motivation And Set Size, Daniel Mark Tuckett

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of the polygraph in a controlled laboratory setting. The Guilty Knowledge Test (GKT) was the procedure employed in conjunction with the galvanic skin subjects over the two trial each. Overall the polygrapher was correct 44 times, out of 80 trials. This number of detections exceeded chance (p<.001) levels. The manipulation of subject motivation with a monetary reward increased detection rates significantly (p<.05) in comparison to those offered money. With each subject being tested over two trials, there appears to be a habituation effect as indicated by a decrease in detection from trial one to trial two. The relationship fell slightly short of significance at the (p< .05) level. In general the level of the subject motivation may play a major role in the detection of subjects who attempt deceit.

An Investigation Of The Effects Of An Applied Behavior Management Program On Selected Measures Of Worker Performance In A Financial Institution, Daniel A. Schroeder

Masters Theses

Twenty CRT operators from an operations department at a financial institution were used to evaluate whether a behavior management program utilizing feedback and incentives would improve their work performance on real job tasks. In accordance with predictions, results revealed that the group performed significantly better (p<.05) under the behavior management program than they did during a baseline period. Behavior management was significantly effective for most, but not all, work areas. The program also produced some unexpected, but positive, side-effects.

Analysis Of The Effects Of Goal And Feedback Specificity On Subsequent Task Performance, Gregory Mark Van Dahm

Masters Theses

The effects of goal and feedback specifically on subsequent task performance were examined to text the hypothesis that specific goals and feedback facilitate performance to a greater degree than general goals and feedback (Ilgen, Fisher, & Taylor, 1979). Ten subjects, in each of the four conditions, were assigned one of two levels of goal specificity and feedback specificity and were then required to perform a simple assembly and sorting task utilizing multiple size and color fasteners. No significance was discovered between correctly assembled and sorted products of the four groups although there was a general trend in the hypothesized direction. …

Use Of A Changeover Key To Train Serial Learning In The Pigeon, Rhoda Kay Yutzy-Ryan

Masters Theses

Three pigeons were presented with a serial learning task involving a sequence of three colors: yellow, green and red. The colors appeared on a lit key one at a time in random order. The pigeons were required to peck the colors in the correct order and to use a second lit key (the changeover key) to change the color when it was incorrect. The data show that the pigeons were able to learn the task and generalize to novel arrays at a high level of accuracy. This extends the findings on serial learning with pigeons to a type of sequence …

The Value Of A Videotaped Storyboard In A Non-Broadcast, Client Oriented Video Production: A Case Study, Clifton Duane Willard Ii

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the value of using the videotaped storyboard in the pre-planning and pre-production approval of a client oriented, corporate videotaped training program.

The methodology in this study is as follows: (1) to undertake the production of a corporate videotape training program; (2) to gather the necessary pre-production information about the topic, the audience, the manner in which the videotape program will be used; (3) to develop a storyboard based on the information obtained; (4) to present this storyboard for production approval; (5) to videotape the storyboard; (6) to present this videotaped version of …

Increasing The Participation Rate For International Behaviorists At The Convention Of The Association For Behavior Analysis, Marsha Lee Benz

Masters Theses

This is a descriptive study that reviewed past participation of International behaviorists at the Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA) convention, to provide sore help to these presenters to improve the experience, and to disseminate behavioral information outside of the United States by trying to Increase International participation at the ABA convention.

These methods were used to Invite the behavioristsi (a) call for papers, (b) personalized invitations, and (c) poster invitations. Procedures used to improve the convention experience weret (a) an interest questionnaire, and (b) pre- and post-convention surveys.

Comparisons were made between the number of International presenters from years 1981 …

Faunal Resources, Butchering Patterns, And Seasonality At The Eastman Rockshelter (40sl34): An Interpretation Of Function, Bruce Louis Manzano

Masters Theses

This study presents a model on the role the Eastman Rockshelter (40SL34) played in settlement-subsistence systems of prehistoric human groups who once occupied northeastern Tennessee. Expectations generated from the model are tested through the analysis of a faunal sample recovered from the shelter. These remains date from the Late Archaic to Mississippian time periods. The fauna is well preserved and represents a variety of species including the first archaeological occurrence of an extinct fish, the harelip sucker.

The model assumes a shift in shelter use from earlier residentially mobile hunter/gatherer groups to its later use by task force hunting groups. …

Effects Of Seating Arrangement On Affective Meanings And Group Interaction In Healthy Senior Citizens, Judith Ann Boughton

Masters Theses

Occupational therapists state that environmental factors (seating arrangements) influence behavior. This ex post facto study examined the effect of peripheral versus central seating arrangement on interaction (verbalizing and looking), affect, and group climate in 41 healthy senior citizens. Nine men and 32 women aged 62 to 83 participated in two collage activities (creative and imitative) in either a parallel/nonsharing group or a project/ sharing group. Seating arrangement was added to an earlier study's independent variables (creative and imitative activities, and sharing and nonsharing groups). Dependent variables consisted of three factors of affective meaning from the Osgood Semantic Differential, evaluation, power, …

Auditory Stimulation-Induced Analgesia In Rats: Its Irreversibility By Naloxone, Ilsun Miranda White

Masters Theses

After receiving intermittent exposure to a tone (3000 Hz, 100 db, SPL), rats were tested on a hot plate for analgesia. Rats that received tone alone showed a higher average paw-lick latency than rats that received either naloxone or saline alone. This result indicates that the auditory stimulus used in this study can be considered a neurogenic stressor and may be added to the list of various noxious stimuli that prouces analgesic effects. Naloxone given to tone-treated subjects produced mean paw-lick latencies were comparable to control group latencies for the first two treatment sessions and to tone group latencies for …

Instructional Leadership: The Role Of The Director Of Library Services For The Grand Rapids, Michigan, Public School District, Judy A. Deruyter

Masters Theses

The purpose of this project was to familiarize the intern with the position of director of library services. A review of the district's media program enabled the intern to assist in the district's media program and work on the curriculum development changes that would be occurring during the duration of the internship.

The major results of the internship were a district handbook detailing policies and procedures for the media specialists and, using Appleworks (Lissner, 1983), a computer program was written for library management and utilization.

Important aspects of the project were curriculum work sessions and the resulting plans for implementing, …

The Effects Of Instructions And Cue Controlled Relaxation Training On Cardiovascular Reactivity To Social Stressors, Patricia A. Fettes

Masters Theses

Cue controlled relaxation (CCR) training was compared to simple instructions to relax and control blood pressure on the basis of their effects on cardiovascular reactivity to role played social stressors. The CCR intervention consisted of training subjects to say a cue word ("calm") that had been previously paired with muscular relaxation responses, during presentation of stressors. The instructions intervention was associated with significant reductions in blood pressure reactivity, regardless of whether this condition preceded or followed the CCR condition. Factors that may relate to the relative ineffectiveness of CCR are discussed, as well as those that may have been responsible …

An Analysis Of Potential Adjunctive Behavior In Two Developmentally Disabled Subjects, Nancy K. Brhely

Masters Theses

Past research on adjunctive behavior in humans has generally not employed methods which are comparable to those included in studies of adjunctive behavior in nonhumans. Consequently, the results of these studies of adjunctive behavior in nonhumans. Consequently, the results of these studies are often difficult to interpret. The present study examined locomotor movement and salient self-stimulatory behaviors in two developmentally disabled students exposed to four fixed-interval (FI) schedules of food delivery (FI 16-, 60-, 120-, and 240-sec). Results of this study were analyzed according to whether the seven defining characteristics of the prototype of adjunctive behavior, polydipsia, were present. Locomotor …

Surface Artifact Assemblage Variability: A Consideration Of The Natural Factors Influencing Artifact Recovery, William B. Turner

Masters Theses

The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of naturally occurring variables on surface artifact recovery. This was accomplished by isolating and reviewing pertinent variables, which are rainfall and soil factors. Information from this review was incorporated into an experiment designed to measure the effects of rainfall on artifact exposure and recovery. The results from the surface recovery experiment were used to form baseline data that allowed meaningful interpretation of three additional plowzone data recovery exercises. These were (1) artifact detection by shovel test, (2) prediction of surface density from plowzone excavation data, and (3) reliability of surface …

The Brainerd Mill And The Tellico Mills: The Development Of Water-Milling In The East Tennessee Valley, Loretta Ettien Lautzenheiser

Masters Theses

This study documents the archaeological and historical investigations of four water-powered mills in the eastern Tennessee Valley. This study points out the value of both archaeological and archival material to obtain a fuller picture of the function of these mills, and of their economic and social roles.

A review of the development of water power technology is included in this study. A knowledge of this technology is necessary to help in the formulation of clear research designs when investigating water powered mills.

The recovery of a large amount of power-transmission related artifacts helps to develop a clearer picture of milling …

Allometric Variation Of The Postcranial Skeleton In Two South American Tamarins Saguinus Oedipus Oedipus And Saguinus Fuscicollis Illigeri (Callitrichidae, Primates), Anthony B. Falsetti

Masters Theses

This research examines several aspects of allometry in the postcranial skeleton of two South American tamarins Saguinus oedipus oedipus and Saguinus fuscicollis illigeri. The statistical method used for analyzing these groups is reduced major axis regression. Bivariate plots are used to qualitatively evaluate group differences, particularly in regard to differing locomotor behavior. The allometric variation in the postcrania of these two species is described. Finally, allometric comparisons between these groups are made.

Heterochronic terminology is used to describe the allometric patterning. The most important result of this study is that geometric similarity was determined to exist between the groups. …

Variation In Tibial Morphology Of Three Arikara Skeletal Populations, William R. Crumbley

Masters Theses

The tibiae of the Arikara, a Northern South Dakota Plains Indian group, are analyzed to establish the biological affinities. The sample size is 232 tibiae representing 153 individuals. Three archaeological sites from the vicinity of Mobridge, South Dakota are represented, and they date between A.D. 1600-1832. Both univariate and multivariate statistical analyses are used to analyze the data.

The results indicate that intragroup variation follows a uniform pattern allowing the identification of common elements of tibial morphology. Age-related changes occur in several variables for the Larson group for which two ex-explanations are offered for consideration. No side differences occur in …

Comparative Odontometric Scaling In Two South American Tamarin Species: Saguinus Oedipus Oedipus And Saguinus Fuscicollis Illigeri (Callitrichinae, Cebidae), Theodore M. Cole Iii

Masters Theses

Tamarins (Genus Saguinus) are small-bodied, arboreal monkeys found in the jungles and rain forests of South America. They belong to the subfamily Callitrichinae, and differ morphologically from other South American monkeys (belonging to the subfamily Cebinae) in a number of respects. The phylogenetic status of the Callitrichinae, relative to the Cebinae, has been the subject of much recent debate.

Previous research involving tamarins has involved a number of a priori assumptions and generalizations. There is a tendency to regard the tamarins as morphologically, behaviorally, and ecologically homogenous. A recent increase in the frequency and quality of studies involving tamarins has …

Archaeological Investigations Of Hayes Shelter (40ml143) And Archaic Period Lithic Technology In The Central Duck River Basin, Tennessee, Joseph M. Herbert

Masters Theses

Hayes Shelter (40ML143) is a small rockshelter site located on the Duck River in Middle Tennessee. Archaeological investigations were conducted at the site during the summers of 1982 and 1983 by the University of Tennessee Department of Anthropology as part of the Columbia Archaeological Project. This thesis presents the results of these investigations and compares the lithic assemblages from Hayes Shelter with those recovered from seven additional sheltered sites and eight open sites in or near the Central Duck River Basin.

By comparing the lithic assemblages from these 16 sites, information was gained on patterns of variability in the distribution …

Middle And Late Woodland Settlements In Selected Areas Of The Midsouth: A View From The Middle Duck River Drainage In Maury County, Tennessee, Charles Bentz Jr.

Masters Theses

Archaeological remains in the Middle Duck River Drainage of Middle Tennessee and other selected areas of the Midsouth offer the opportunity to study human adaptation in Middle and Late Woodland cultures. The basic attributes of such an adaptive system are the elements of technology, subsistence economy, and settlement patterns with other ancillary attributes consisting of mortuary activities, ceremonialism, and interregional exchange.

During the early Middle Woodland in the Midsouth semipermanent villages were established in the main river valley and adjacent uplands. In late Middle Woodland and Late Woodland times, these villages became larger and more intensively occupied in many areas. …

New Directions Within Applied Anthropology, Eleanor Mary Dominek

Masters Theses

This study explores the relationship between applied anthropological research and traditional anthropological research in terms of structural and methodological differences. The methods and techniques of Social Impact Assessment, as practiced in North America, and of international development anthropology are also compared. It is found that different kinds of applied anthropology modify methods and techniques (a) to meet the specific needs of supporting research institutions, (b) in response to the unique nature of individual applied problems, and (c) in order to create a type of research product which is very different from that of basic research.

Becoming A Nurse: A Study Of Aspects Of Professional Socialization, Arlene Christian

Masters Theses

This study examined aspects of the professional socialization of student nurses into the role of the professional nurse. Comparisons were made between senior and freshmen nursing students, between those 25 years of age and over with those under 25, between those who had two or more years of college with those who had less than two, and between those who were nursing externs with those who were not.

The results of the data analysis offered mixed support for the hypotheses proposed. Senior nursing students exhibited higher levels of professionalism in two aspects, while the older students, those with more college, …

Gender-Related Language Usage As Related To Psychological Sex Role Orientation, Kathleen Mulder Parker

Masters Theses

The relationship between gender-related language and psychological sex role orientation is explored. Research findings are cited that support the existence of sexist language and the influence of language on thought. Evidence of the behavioral expectations re la tin g to psychological sex role orientation is presented. A relationship between psychological sex role orientation and gender-related speech usage is hypothesized. An instrument for measuring gender-related speech was developed and subsequently administered to a group of community college students along with the Bern Sex Role Inventory. The hypothesis is only supported for psychologically feminine participants who report significantly high use of feminine …

Increasing Key “Sales Related” Behaviors Through The Use Of A Self-Monitoring Checklist, Susan M. O'Brien

Masters Theses

The present study investigated the effects of self-monitoring alone to increase targeted key sales related behaviors with an outside sales representative. The data collected over a five-month period of time revealed a temporary increase in the overall percent of targeted behaviors performed on each sales call when self-monitoring was implemented. Performance dropped to baseline levels near the end of the first treatment phase prior to the reversal phase. The data were inconsistent across behaviors as to whether implementing self-monitoring caused them to change in the desired direction or not. Additional measures which were not directly influenced by the self-monitoring technique …

Dual-Purpose Activity Versus Single-Purpose Activity In An Institutionalized Geriatric Population, Rita M. Yoder

Masters Theses

The use of purposeful, goal-directed activity has traditionally been a central theme for occupational therapy. In dual-purpose activity the participant has two goals: successful task completion and the making of adaptive responses in the activity process. This study compares the extent to which a dual-purpose activity (stirring for the purpose of exercise and baking cookies) enhances performance in contrast to a single-purpose activity (stirring for the purpose of exercise alone) in an institutionalized geriatric population.

Thirty women between 70 and 92 years of age were randomly assigned to either the single- or dual-purpose activity. Duration, exertion, and discontinuities were measured …

The Use Of Repeated Acquisition As A Technique For Establishing A Behavioral Baseline With Victims Of Alzheimer's Disease, Michelle D. Stone

Masters Theses

Three subjects suspected as Alzheimer's Disease (AD) victims were trained on a behavioral chain of three sets of three poker chips, each set differing in color and position, to investigate subtle changes in learning and performance behaviors over time. For each session the subjects learned a new three-response sequence with a marked poker chip serving as the correct response for each set. A within-session learning curve resulted for all three subjects with the errors in the learning trial (LT) exceeding the errors for the performance trials (PT1 and PT2). Only Subject III demonstrated a stable pattern of learning, with the …

Prehistoric Firewood Exploitation: A Case Study From The Carolinian Biotic Province, David Gordon De Fant

Masters Theses

A case study approach is applied to the problem of prehistoric firewood selection and utilization within a heterogeneous woodland environment. Prefaced by an indepth survey of theoretical and methodological approaches relevant to understanding resource exploitation, a wood charcoal analysis of the Schwerdt site (20AE127) is presented. This analysis is then discussed in regard to environmental, preservational, and functional contexts. It is suggested that this wood charcoal assemblage represents a subtle yet pervasive pattern of firewood selectivity operating within the overt bounds of expedient procurement.