Psychology Thesis Titles

Description: "Previous research has shown a positive relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and the ability to decode emotion from music (Resnicow, Salovey, & Repp, 2004). However, the music used in such studies has been produced in a laboratory setting where a musician was instructed to play a piece of music to produce a certain emotion. This study further examined the use of EI to decode emotion from popular music. Experts in music (N=7) were used to decide the emotions in each song. Psychology students (N=62) rated the emotions in music and took the Self-Report EI Test (Schutte, et al, 1998). The main finding of this study was that self-reported EI was not correlated with the ability to rate emotions in popular music."

Description: "Many gender researchers have proposed multidimensional construcitons of gender identity (Arrindell, Kolk, Martin, Kwee, & Booms, 2003; Cook, 1985; Korabik & McCreary, 2000), but few multidimensional measures have been studied. The current research proposed and assessed the Multidimensional Gender Identity Profile for Young Adults. The major theories applied to this measure included gender schema theory (Bem, 1974; Spence & Helmreich, 1978), gender strain paradigm (Pelck, 1995), and multidemsional gender identity (Egan & Perry, 2001; Korabik & McCreary, 2000). The measure was further examined through its relationship with general psychological well-being, as measured by general health and global self-esteem. For men, the Multidimensional Gender Identity Profile for Young Adults was found to be a better predictor of general psychological well-being, as measured by general health and global self-esteem. For men, the Multidimensional Gender Identity Profile for Young Adults was found to be a better predictor of general psychological well-being than any single measure of gender identity. For women, however, the Multidimensional Gender Identity Profile for Young Adults was not found to be a better predictor of general psychological...

Description: "This study examined whether students retain or regress in basic early literacy skills over the summer months, as measured by the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills (DIBELS). Archival data was obtained for 62 students who attended kindergarten in the spring and returned to first grade in the fall and for 48 students who attended first grade in the spring and returned to second grade in the fall. Each student was given DIBELS during the spring and again during the fall. Information was gathered on each student regarding whether the student attended summer school and whether the student was eligible for the free and reduced lunch program. Results indicated students who attended kindergarten in the spring, and returned to first grade in the fall, regressed on the measure Phoneme Segmentation Fluency and Letter Naming Fluency. Due to small sample size, statistical tests could not be run to determine if summer school had an effect on retention of information. However, when comparing means, students who attended summer school showed improvement on all DIBELS measures upon return from summer break. A students`s socioeconomic status did not have any effect on whether students retained or lost skills in the summer."

Description: "The present study examines the relation of personally held beliefs and personal characteristics on academic achievement in fifth grade students. Self-determination, perceived competence in math, and orientation of causality were the personal characteristics studied. Perceived competence is similar to the construct of self-efficacy. Additionally, orientation of causality is based on the construct of locus of control. These personal beliefs were expected to be influenced by personal characteristics. i.e. ethnicity, level of acculturation, socioeconomic status and gender. Males reported higher control orientation of causality scores than females. Participants who are not Hispanic reported higher autonomy orientation of causality than participants who are Hispanic. Participants who reported higher socioeconomic status scored significantly higher on the math assessment than students who reported lower socioeconomic status. Self-determination was found to be positvely correlated with perceived competence, autonomy orientation of causality, and control orientation of causality. The multiple regression model was found to be significant with perceived competence in math and impersonal orientation of causality predicting academic achievement....

Description: "Studies have examined the influence sexual self-concept, sexual self schema, and motivations for engaging in sex with women`s sexual experience. However, no research prior to the current study has examined these factors together to examine positive dimensions of women`s sexuality. Measures of women`s sexual self schema, sexual self-concept, and motives for engaging in sexual intercourse were examined as they related to participant`s sexual experience, year in school, and age. A total of 216 females from Fort Hays State University completed measures of sexual self-concept, sexual self schema, sex motives, and sexual experiences. It was hypothesized that age would be associated with positive self-concepts and self schemas. Additionally, women who engaged in sexual intercourse for approach motives were hypothesized to have more positive sexual self concepts and sexual self schemas. Results indicate sexual self schema and sexual self-concept are similar constructs. Also, results showed that positive sexual self-concept, positive sexual self schema, and sexual experience were associated with approach motives. Additionally, positive sexual self-concept was associated with sexual experience. Implications for these findings and the need for...

Description: "This study is an analysis of current practices of School Psychologists in the area of early childhood/preschool assessment. Surveys were sent by mail to school psychologists who were members or former members of the Kansas Association of School Psychologists. One-hundred seventy-eight surveys were returned, for a response rate of 19 percent. Eighty percent of the respondents had received training in early childhood during their post-secondary education, as opposed to 45 percent in previous research. Additionally, 40 percent of respondents indicated that they received training in their graduate program in courses that were offered with students from other disciplines. School Psychologists report that behavioral observation is the most frequently offered service while file review and parent/teacher interviews were the most common practices. Surprisingly, many instruments developed especially for the early childhood population were not frequently used. Supplemental results also indicated that respondents with more years of practice were less likely to have had training in early childhood during their training program than those who reported fewer years of practice."

Description: "Past research has examined the potential factors in the development of body dissatisfaction such as gender influences, the media, peer influences. Body dissatisfaction has also been found to be a strong predictor of eating disordered behavior. However, less research has examined what specific aspects of eating disorders are strongly predicted from body dissatisfaction. The purpose of this study is to examine which aspects of various eating disordered behaviors can be predicted from body dissatisfaction. The Amy Survey contained four Symptom Scales (Anorexia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorder, Bulimia Nervosa, and Dieting) and four Behavioral Scales (Doing/Felling, Similar Situation, Distress, and Easy To Treat) which were composed of 160 items total. Overall the Amy Survey, which was designed by the author and consists of scenarios describing individuals with symptoms reflective of different eating disorder symptoms, was found to be both a reliable and a valid measurement as was expected. In terms of validity, there were four factors within the Behavioral Scales and five factors within the Symptom Scales. Factor 1 (Doing/Felling; Similar Situation) and Factor 4 (Severe Situation; Doing/Felling) within the Behavioral Scales were quite...

Description: "Very little research has explored the relationship between religiosity and beliefs about the effectiveness of secular psychotherapy. Sue and Sue (2003) explored the relationship between religiosity and help seeking behaviors, but did not address specifically beliefs about psychotherapy. The current study examined the possible corelations between beliefs about the effectiveness of secualr therapy and several facets of religiosity using a series of self-report questionnaires. The sample consisted of 80 undergraduate psychology students form Fort Hays State University, and contained 25 males and 55 females. No significant correlations were discovered. In addition, a clinical scenario was used to measure the relationship between religiosity and desire for religious content in therapy. Six of the religiosity variables (Creedal Assent, Devotianalism, Organizational Activity, Growth and Striving, Intrinsic, and Orthodoxy) significantly correlated with desire for religious content (p < .05.) In addition, signifcant differences were found between Catholic and Protestand subsamples on several religiosity insturments. Potential methods for making secular psychotherapy more palatable to those who are less likely to utilize it due to religious...

Description: "The primary focus of the current study was to examine Kansas teachers` perceptions of their schools bullying prevention program. Three hundred forty-seven teachers who are or were enrolled in graduate courses in education at Fort Hays State University were surveyed with a total of 46 participants responding, for a response rate of 14 percent. Participants were asked to evaluate their school`s bullying prevention program by answereing demographic questions regarding the program, staff support, barriers, their level of participation in the program and the effectiveness of the program. A survey was created by adopting questions from three different surveys (Csuti, 2008; Jordan, 2009; James, Lawlor, Courtney, & Henry, 2006). Results revealed that the most popular bullying prevention program was Character Education and that Kansas teachers are pleased with and are in agreement with what administrators are doing to help deter bullying. Forty-one of the 46 participants reported that their schools were in compliance with Kansas House Bill 2758, which requires schools to have bullying prevention programs."

Description: "The present research was designed to examine the relationships between co-parenting, facets of marital distress, and percieved child behaviors using paricipants from nonclinical settings. 45 married parents of children between the ages of 6 and 11 were subjects in this study. Participants completed the Participant Demographic information Questionaire (PDIQ), the Parenting Alliance Measure (PAM), the Marital Satisfaction Invetory-Revised (MIS-R), and the Behavior Assessment System for Children- Parenting Rating Scale (BAS-PRS-C). Findings were inconsistent across mothers` and fathers` scores with a greater number of significant correlations found between mothers` ratings than those of fathers. Mothers` ratings of global distressand problem solving communication positively correlated with internalized child behavior scores. Mothers` dissatisfaction with children, global distress, and problem solving communication scores were negatively correlated with adaptive skills scores. Fathers` PAM scores positively correlated with externalizing child behavior scores. Finally, mothers` scores of dissatisfation with children and conflict over child rearing positively correlated with PAM scores."

Description: "Although several studies have examined personality characteristics that may help to differentiate perpetrators of child sexual abuse from othergroups of people, no known study has attempted to identify personality charicteristics in relation to the sexual motives of such perpetrators. In the present study, 22 perpetrators if child sexuak abuse were administered the NEO Personality Invetory Revised ( NEO PI-R; Costa& McCrae,1992)and the Affective and Motivational Orientation Related to Erotic Arousal Questionaire (AMORE; Hill & Preston, 1996) to assess personality traits and sexual motives, respectively. A significant positive relationship was found between the emotional intimacy motive and the openness to feelings facet,suggesting thatperpetratord motivated by emotional intimacy in their relationships with children may be open to or aware of their own emotional experiences. Other exploratory findings are reported."

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Description: "The primary focus of the current study was to examine the current state of school psychology in the state of Kansas. Demographic characteristics fo school psychologists in the state of Kansas on such variables as age, gender, salary, degree level, and ethnicity were explored. Also, Kansas school psychologists were compared to national samples and a study from the state of Arkansas on job roles, such as number of evaluations completed and primary professional activities (e.g. assessment, consultation, counseling). A survey obtained from Arkansas State University (Hall, Claxton, Warnick, & Daniels, 2007) was used as a basis for the survey mailed for data collection. Several new items were added concerning the subject of response-to-intervention. An introductory letter, the survey and a self-addressed stamped envelope were mailed to 499 school psychologists in the state of Kansas. Surveys were returned by 275 participants, for a response rate of 55.1 percent. Student-practitioner ratios varied between Kansas and Arkansas as well as education and credentials of the respondents. Working condiditions were relatively similar. However, time spent in psychoeducational activities, such as psychoeducational assessment and direct intervention...

Description: "This study examines the relationship between the Big Five personality traits, trait emotional intelligence, and academic performance. There has been repeated research suggesting that specific personality traits predict academic performance (Ridgell & Lounsbury, 2004). It has also been claimed that emotional intelligence can predict performance at school, at home, and at work and will do so as well as or better that IQ (Barchard, 2003). One hundred and twenty-eight participants` trait emotional intelligence and Big Five personality traits were measured and their high school and college GPAs and ACT scores were obtained. Conscientiousness was the only Big Five personality trait that was significantly corelated with academic performance in college as measured by Fall 2007 GPA. There were no significant correlations between any of the trait emotional intelligence factors and academic performance in college. Numerous significant correlations were found between the Big Five personality traits and the broad factors and subscales of the TEIQue. The results of a step-wise multiple regression analysis suggests that trait emotional intelligence does not assist in the prediction of academic performance over and above the Big Five personality...

Description: "Historically, students with behavioral difficulties have been educated in self-contained rooms or in separate educational field has moved to teaching students with special needs in an inclusive setting. In such an environment a child may be able to thrive, learn new behaviors, and make academic progress. While inclusion for students with and emotional behavioral disorder (EBD) should be maintained as a goal, the reality is that many students with EBD have a very difficult time in inclusive settings (Bullock & Gable, 2006). The focus of the current study was to examine the level of academic enngagement of two students with EBD who are transitionig from an alternative educational setting to the regular education setting. It was hypothesized that students with EBD who are transitiong would exhibit higher levels of academic engagement and task managemetn behaviors in the alternative educational setting and lower levels of competing response behaviors in the alternative setting. Results indicated inconsistent levels of academic responding, task management and competing response behaviors in the alternative setting. Results indicated inconsistent levels of academic responding, task management and competing response behaviors between the...

Description: "This study investigated the perceptions of regular education teachers about the best placement of students with learning disabilities, emotional-behavioral disabilities, and mental retardation. Teachers from five suburban elementary schools were surveyed with a total sample of 76 participants. Teachers were asked to predict academic, behavioral, and social success of children with three different disabilities in three educational placement settings (full-inclusion, partial inclusion, and self-contained classroom). Results suggest that general education teachers think students with LD, EBD, and MR can be successful in a partial inclusive setting. results also suggest that teachers recognize that success can be defined in different ways and one educational setting may not be optimally beneficial for all types of success."

Description: "The present study examined what factors contribute to students experiencing supportive, positive relationships with their teachers. the study assessed teachers` perceptions (n=37) of randomly selected kindergarten through third grade students (n=146). Students that were selected did not have individualized education Plans. all teacher participants completed the Student-Teacher, and teacher efficacy scale (Short Form) to examine the association between class size, student-teacher relationships, student behavior, and teacher efficacy. Results indicated that (a) students who attended large classes (17-24 students) had a greater relationship with their teachers and better school behavior thatn those who attended small classes (12-16 students), (b) students with fewer behavior problems had a greater relationship with their teachers that those students with more behavior problems, (c) teacher efficacy did not significantly predict the quality of student-teacher relationships, (d) class size and behavior problems interacting together did not significantly affect student-teacher relationships, and (e) class size size did not significantly relate to levels of teacher efficacy. Implications were discussed regarding future research and...

Description: "The purpose of this study was to investigate rural regular education teachers` perceptions of gifted students and programs. teachers from five different districts in central western Kansas were surveyed with a total of 36 participants who responded out of a possible 100. Teachers were asked to rate levels of enjoyableness, frustration and reward while educating gifted students. Participants also rated their attitude towards as acceleration, confidence in educating gifted students, and instructional methods used with gifted students. Results revealed a significant positive correlation betweent the age of participants and ratings of overall enjoyableness of teaching gifted students. Results also revealed that teachers with more education and with more special training in gifted education rated the effectiveness of their schools` gifted programs more negatively than teachers with less education and no special training."

Description: "The purpose of this study was to survey psychologists and massage therapists in a Midwestern state about their attitudes towards integrating the two fields. Specifically, willingness to refer, willingness to work collaboratively, attutudes towards each field, and personal experience with each filed where assessed. In addition, psychologists` use of touch and attitudes towards the use of touch were examined while massage therapists` experience with client disclosure was explored. Results of this study show differences between two professions in willingness to refer clients, willingness to work collaboratively, and attitudes towards the other field. Results indicated a positive relationship between experiences and willingness to refer for both psychologists and massage therapists. For psychologists, results also showed positive relationships between attitudes towards the use of touch in therapy and attitudes towards bodywork, use of touch in psychology and attitudes towards the use of touch, and willingness to refer clients for bodywork and experiences with bodywork. For massage therapists, a positive relationship was observed between attitudes towards mental health services and willingness to refer."

Description: "The purpose of the present study was to understand the relationship between an individual`s self-efficacy and the closeness and conflict they preceive with their siblings. The New General Self-Efficacy Scale (NBSE) (Chen, Gully, & Eden, 2001) and measures of sibling closeness, including the Lifespan Sibling Relationship Scale (LSRS) (Riggio, 2000), and sibling conflict were completed by participants (N=123) from psychology classes at a small Midwestern university. A significant correlation was found between NGSE scores and the Child Behavior subscale of the LSRS. This result indicates that self-efficacy may be related to the positive behavioral interactions individuals share with each other as children."

Description: "The primary focus of previous research utilizing Snyder`s theory of hope (Snyder, Harris, etal., 1991; Snyder et al., 1996) has been to identify differences between high and low hope individuals. Those high in hope have been found to be more successful in meeting the demands associated with spinal cord injury, severe burns, cardiac rehabilition, and in the treatment of pain associated with fibromyalgia. What has not been empirically ascertained is whether substance dependent individuals high in hope are more likely to successfully complete inpatient substance depependence treatment. The current study examined the empirical value of hope as a predictor of successful treatment completion, as well as depression and anxiety as predictors of hope. Two self-report indices (the SHS and HS) and a reliable measure of depression and anxiety (the MMPI-2) were administered to participants (N=177). Individuals who prematurely ceased treatment, either by choice or by violating facility policy, obtained significanly higher mean scores in state pathways and total state hope than did those successfully completing treatment. Additionally, depression and anxiety were found to be negative predictors of all types of hope."

Description: "The focus of the current study was to examine elementary teachers` attitudes about inclusion across the state of Kansas. One purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which practicing rural, suburban, and urban regular education elementary teachers agreed with the main concept of inclusion. Other purposes of this study were to examine how characteristics such as district size, whether teachers have special education certification, years of classroom teaching experience, hours of in-service training in inclusion issues, class size, and numbers of students with disabilities in their classrooms affect teachers` attitudes towards inclusion. A total of 300 certified regular education teachers (K-6) from across the state of Kansas were contacted by e-mail and asked to complete the Teacher Beliefs Survey (Persinger, 1998) regarding the practice of inclusion. A total of 49 teachers responded to the survey for a response rate of 16 percent. In looking at school classification, there were no significant differences between rural, suburban, and urban teachers on the Teacher Beliefs Survey. No significant differences were found between teachers with special education certification compared to their colleagues without special...

Description: "Online addictions may be the result of poor coping motives (Whang, Lee, & Chang, 2003), intensity of imagination (Kushner et al., 2007), or a need to satisfy socially related desires (Campbell, Cumming, & Hughes, 2006). The motivations for playing online video games also appears to be rooted in imagination levels (Woods, Griffiths, Chappell, & Davies, 2004), and in their socially related aspects (Ducheneaut, Yee, Nickell, & Moore, 2006), and coping value (Wan & Chiou, 2006a). Participants were recruited via a survey link accessible through an online Survey Web Facility posted on Blackboard and sent to student email addresses provided by the registrar. Participants completed the COPE Inventory, an imagination inventory, an online game usage inventory, and a social needs inventory. Results indicated no relationship between imagination and addiction. However, results did indicate positive correlations between the Addiction scale and negative COPE subscales and negative correlations between the Addiction scale and positive COPE subscales, and positive correlations between the Online Social Orientation scale and negative COPE subscales and negative correlations between the Online Social Orientation scale and positive COPE subscales....

Description: "As more women become college students in addition to being parents, spouses, and employees, it becomes more necessary to identify predictors of multiple role strain. Seventy university students from two mid-western campuses were administered a measure of self esteem, a measure of occupational stress including role overload, and a measure to identify the ways in which they organize their sense of self. No significant differences were found between traditional and nontraditional students in measures of multiple role strain. Whether students organize their sense of self in a compartmentalized or integrated style was a significant predictor of the degree of social support they reported. Self esteem and the percentage of negative descriptors that students used about themselves were the only significant predictors of multiple role strain in college students."

Description: "The research focus of inclusion in the general education programs is often directed toward the students who have been identified as eligible for special education services. The research on the effects of inclusion on typically developing students is less studied and consist of parent teacher perceptions, rather than empirical evidence (Rafferty & Griffin, 2005). The current study was developed to observe the academic responses and inappropriate behaviors of four typically developing fourth grade students (two male and two female) in a general education classroom with a peer who displays behaviors consistent with the criteria necessary for eligibility of special education services due to emotional disturbance (ED). The typically developing student were observed in three settings within the general education classroom: (a) the student identified with ED was in the general education classroom working with a full time paraprofessional; (b) the student identified with ED was not in the general education classroom, nor was the paraprofessional; and (c) the student with ED was in the general education classroom, while the paraprofessional was not. Within an alternating treatments design, the results indicated that the students` academic...

Description: "A lot of research has examined the impact of teacher attitudes on the success of inclusion; however, additional research is needed that compares teacher behavior toward general education students with teacher behavior toward students with severe disabilities (Logan & Keefe, 1997). since little is known about how the inclusion of students with mental retardation (MR) affects teacher as it relates to teacher behavior, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of the inclusion of a student with MR on teacher behavior. Specifically, the study examines the impact that a student with MR has on teacher behavior during four conditions: (a) when the student with MR was in the regular classroom without the assistance of a paraprofessional; (b) when the student with MR was in the regular classroom with the assistance of a paraprofessional; (c) when both the student with MR and the paraprofessional were not present in the regular classroom; and (d) when the paraprofessional is present in the regular classroom and the student with MR is not. Results indicated that the inclusion of a student with MR in two general education classrooms had minimal impact on teacher behavior. Implications were discussed regarding future...

Description: "I-D orientation is a personality characteristic that refers to the extent tow which individuals compensate for uncertainty in their environment. Those who compensate more are termed delayed-return individuals whereas those who compensate less are termed immediate-return individuals. This study examined the relationship between I-D orientation among undergraduate students and preference for and engagement in hierarchical or egalitarian behaviors while in small groups with undefined power distribution. Because immediate return societies (such as some indigenous African tribes) are largely based on egalitarianism and equality, it is expected that immediate-return individuals would prefer more egalitarian relationships. The I-D orientation of each student was determined and their behaviors while in a three-person debate group were both self-rated and externally-rated to determine any shifting towards hierarchical or egalitarian relationships. Based on data from the external raters, a significant relationship between I-D orientation and an individual`s shifting towards egalitarianism and transitive dominance was found. These results support the notion that immediate-return individuals favor and behave in egalitarian ways, even though...

Description: "Past research on body image has focused primarily on females, the drive for thinness, and the impact of the media and society upon the drive for thinness and body dissatisfaction. However, less research has examined body image in males and motivations for muscularity in both males and females. The purpose of this research was to examine how gender, involvement in a romantic relationship, and body mass index influence body image in late adolescence. Motivations, including the drive of muscularity and the drive for thinness; perceptions of discrepancies, including body satisfaction, perceived pressure, and ideal body stereotypes; and emotional factors, including self-esteem, satisfaction with life, and depressive symptoms were explored. Results of the study show differences in motivations between genders; however, no difference in the drive for muscularity or drive for thinness was found based on relationship status or body mass index. Results also show differences in gender in body esteem self-esteem, and depressive symptoms but not satisfaction with life. Differences depending on relationship status were also found to have an impact upon self-esteem, body esteem, and satisfaction with life but not depressive symptoms. Body mass index...

Description: "The nation`s schools are currently in the midst of reassessing their instructional systems and the impact that they have on student achievement. Educational reform efforts are moving education from an isolated, highly autonomous, academic model to a competitive system focused on quality outcomes for students via increased levels of accountability for schools (Wallace, Anderson, Bartholomay, & Hupp, 2002). in doing so, the current model of inclusion has become a key element in involving students with disabilities in the general education classroom. Researchers have put a great deal of effort in researching the most effective setting for these students and the outcomes such placements have on their academic achievement. However, few studies have focused on how the presence of these students affects the learning opportunities of regular education students. The current observational study will involve four kindergarten students without disabilities (2 male and 2 female) in a classroom in which a student with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) will be instructed. The purpose of this study will be to analyze the academic responding (AR), task management (TM), and inappropriate behaviors (IB) that are displayed by the target students...

Description: "This study examined the reliability and validity of the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) (Mokhtari and Reichard, 2002). Mokhtari and Reichard (2002) developed the MARSI to assess students` metacognitive awareness of reading strategies. To examine the reliability and validity of this measure in college students, students were asked to complete the MARSI and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1991). Significant correlations were obtained between the MARSI and ACT scores, college GPA and the MSLQ. The significant correlations between the MARSI and the MSLQ were interesting in that the MSLQ is a measure of overall metacognition, while the MARSI was designed to measure metacognitive awareness in regards to reading comprehension. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to evaluate the factor structure of the MARSI. Although there was some overlap in the items that loaded on each factor, in the current study a higher number of items loaded on the first factor. These results may indicate that the factor structure of the MARSI may be different when used with a college student population. "

Description: "Three male students with reading disabilities in a rural consolidated school district were tutored by paraprofessional who applied four error correction procedures. The purpose of the study was to determine which o the four procedures would have the largest impact on students` reading fluency. Using the number of students` correct words and error words per minute as the dependent variable, the results indicated that the students generally made more gains when the student and the paraprofessional read alternating paragraphs aloud, both in tutored and untutored material. Limitations of the study and recommendations for future research were also discussed."

Description: "Although self-injury seems to be a current hot topic in the media, little research has been conducted on the possible addictive nature of self-injurious behaviors. Faye (1995) found that self-injury has a number of characteristics that have also been identified in the behaviors of drug and alcohol addicts, including similarities in origin in emotions experienced, in family structure, and in the repetitive nature of tension-release responses (Favazza & Conterio, 1998; Faye, 1995) Derouin and Bravender (2004) found that self-injury has an addictive quality, because many self-injurers develop an overwhelming preoccupation with he relief experienced after an episode of self-injury. Sharing many of the same addictive qualities those who suffer from chemical dependency, self-injurers often continue to harm themselves despite the negative consequences or the knowledge that self-injury is indeed a problem. The fact that many self-injurers report feeling like they are addicted to harming themselves lends more evidence to the idea. Using an adapted version of the Ottawa/Queen`s Self-Mutilation Questionnaire, the results found significance in eleven of the fifteen hypotheses put forth at the beginning of the study. The results also suggested...

Description: "The present study examined whether adult children of high-conflict divorced families and adult children from high-conflict intact families would display more jealousy, a greater lack of trust, and more marital or intimate relational conflict in their own marriages or intimate relationships compared to adult offspring from divorced families with low-conflict and to adult offspring from low-conflict intact families. Participants were 171 students from Midwestern state university. They completed a demographic information sheet, the Parent Conflict subscale (Bloom, 1985), that was altered to a also be used as a partner conflict questionnaire, the Dyadic Trust Scale (Rempel, Holmes, and Zanna, 1985), and the Multidimsional Jealousy Scale (Pfeiffer & Wong 1989). Overall, there was a significant difference among the four groups (high-conflict divorced, high-conflict intact, low-conflict divorced, and low-conflict intact). Those participants from low-conflict intact parents had significantly less conflict and more trust within their relationships compared to those from high-conflicted divorced parents and high-conflict married parents. Participants from low-conflict intact parents also showed less conflict in their personal relationships...

Description: "This study investigated the relation between optimism, depression, and externalizing problems among children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). A small community sample of children with ADHD (N=11) completed measures of depression and optimism and their parents completed a behavioral rating scale. Results indicate a significant positive correlation between externalizing behavior problems and symptoms of depression, according to the scale completed by the parents, and a significant negative correlation between symptoms of depression and optimism, according to the scales completed by the children. Results also indicated a negative correlation approaching significance between externalizing problems and optimism."

Description: "The purpose of this thesis was to investigate whether children participating in a dual language, English and Spanish, kindergarten class for five months would exhibit differing proficiencies in concept development when tested in English and Spanish. The Bracken Basic Concept Scale-R, English and Spanish versions, was utilized to measure concept development in a single observational period. The presence of differing proficiencies when tested in the two languages would indicate a shift from the use of a minority heritage language to the dominant language of the culture evident as early as kindergarten. This archival study involved data obtained from a school district in southwestern Kansas. Students were identified as heritage speakers of English (n=10), Spanish (n=16), or Bilingual (n=6). The results found that heritage English students scored highest when tested in English and lowest when tested in Spanish. However, their scored indicate a modest amount of gain in concept development in Spanish. Bilingual students scored similar to their English peers when tested in English and scored as well as their Spanish speaking peers when tested in Spanish. Bilingual students showed greater proficiency in English than in Spanish in concept...

Description: "Increasingly, educators in instruct students with special needs in general instead of special education classrooms even though little evidence exists suggesting that students with disabilities exhibit relatively increased academic responding and appropriate social interaction when taught in general education environments. The current observational study involved a fourth-grade, male student with emotional disturbances who received math instruction in general education and resource room settings. The purpose of the study was to determine whether the target student`s behavior varied across instructional environments. Results indicated that, compared to behaviors emitted in the resource room, those observed in the general education classroom involved lower levels of academic responding, appropriate behavior, and positive social interaction. Implications regarding future research were discussed."

Description: "The present study examined the relations among parenting style, self-concept, and academic achievement in adolescents. Specifically, various domains of self-concept (Total, Behavioral Adjustment, Intellectual and School Status, Physical Appearance and Attributes, Freedom from Anxiety, Popularity, and Happiness and Satisfaction) were explored to examine their relations to academic achievement and parenting style (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive-indifferent, ad permissive-indulgent). Participants were 79 students from a public high school in rural Kansas. They completed a demographic information sheet, the Steinberg Parenting Style Questionnaire, and the Piers Harris 2 Children`s Self-Concept Scale. Overall, academic achievement was significantly related to parenting style, and academic achievement was also significantly positively correlated to overall self-concept. Children from authoritative homes had significantly higher academic achievement than children from permissive-indulgent parents. Parenting style had a significant impact on the specific self-concept domains of Behavioral Adjustment and Intellectual and School Status. Children from authoritarian parents had higher Behavioral Adjustment scores than children from...

Description: "Bainter and Tollefson (2003) explored what school psychologists felt were acceptable assessment practices when working with Limited English Proficient (LEP) students. In the currently study, school psychologists in Kansas were surveyed concerning their current assessment practices for LEP students. A response rate of 42.5 percent (N=85) was obtained. Only 29 percent of these school psychologists stated that they received graduate training concerning how to work with LEP students. Even t though so few received training, 91 percent of the school psychologists who had completed LEP assessments considered their assessments to be valid. Also, in the Bainter and Tollefson (2003) study 85 percent of the surveyed school psychologists felt that using a bilingual school psychologist to conduct LEP assessments was always an acceptable practice. However in the current study only 37 percent of the respondents stated that they had access to a bilingual school psychologist, either through their cooperative or through a contract with a nearby district to conduct the LEP assessments."

Description: "Olsen (2005) proposed that the terms Engagement and Self-control are sufficient labels for superordinate dimensions of the Big Five Traits (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness). The resent research examined the relationship between the super ordinate trait domains (Engagement and Self Control), affect styles (Positive Affect and Negative Affect), and interpersonal conflict styles (Aggressiveness, Passive-Aggressiveness, Conflict Avoidance, and Assertiveness). Participants completed 3 tests (PANAS, BFI, and IBS). Positive affect was positively associated with the personality trait of Engagement. Negative affect was inversely related to Self Control. The broad personality trait dimensions associated with the four styles of interpersonal conflict were as follows; The assertive style was characterized by the personality dimension of high Engagement and high Self Control. The conflict-avoidance styles was characterized by low Engagement. The passive-aggressive style was characterized by both low Engagement and low Self-Control. The aggressive style was characterized by low Self-Control."

Description: "The Brown-Peterson task (Brown, 1958; Peterson & Peterson, 1959) is a widely used procedure to test short term memory decay. The Brown-Peterson task presents participants with items to be recalled with short periods of distraction between the stimuli presentation and recall. The memory decay curves found by this procedure are quite well replicated to the present day. Numerous studies have used the Brown-Peterson task to test the short term memory of adults, but little work has been done with children. This paper reviews some of the theoretical background on short term memory and forgetting, the use of the Brown-Peterson task on adults in clinical settings, and an extension of short term memory theory to children. The Brown-Peterson task can be used as a method to learn more about children`s short term memory. It was predicted that younger children should show a steeper (decreasing faster) decay cure tan adults. Mixed-factorial analysis of variance tests showed a main effect of time, group, and interaction of time and group, and that younger children did indeed have a steeper decay curve than adults. However, when children were told to subvocaly rehears the items to be recalled, their results were virtually the same as for adults....

Description: "The relation between motivation and recovery from substance abuse was examined, specifically how intrinsic motivation impacts recovery from substance abuse in comparison to extrinsic motivation. Thirty six participants from a drug/alcohol abuse treatment facility were assessed a the commencement of their rehabilitation program with the Reiss Profile of Fundamental Goals and Motivation Sensitivities, and the Treatment Motivation Questionnaire (TMQ) in order to determine the primary motives (intrinsic versus extrinsic) responsible for their decision to seek recovery. They were also administered the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) in order to measure pre and post level of addiction as well as the Reiss Profile to determine whether participants who are strongly motivated - with five or more high scores in their profile - relate with higher rates of recovery. There was no significant difference in the addiction severity levels of intrinsically motivated participants at the end of the rehabilitation program, when compared to extrinsically motivated participants nor in the addiction severity levels of participants with four or less high basic desires, when compared to participants with five or more high basic desires. And whereas there was...

Description: "The present study examined attachment styles, self-esteem and smoking habits. Participants for this study were recruited from undergraduate Personal Wellness classes. Both attachment style and self-esteem have been linked with health behaviors, such as smoking, in previous research. There currently have not been any studies that have focused on the relation between attachment, self-esteem and smoking by itself. Three scales were then used in this study, Bartholomew, and Horowitz`s (1991) Relationship Questionnaire (RQ), Rosenberg`s Self-Esteem Scale, and a Smoking Questionnaire. The RQ was used to determine the participant`s attachment style. Rosenberg`s Self-Esteem Scale consists of 10 self-report statements that participants rated on a 5-point Likert type scale resulting in a scale range of 10-50 with higher scores representing higher self-esteem. The final scale was a smoking questionnaire that was used to determine whether or no the participants are current cigarette smokers, social smokers, have never smoked, the average number of cigarettes they smoke per day, if they have ever tried quitting, ad at what age they started smoking. Results from this study revealed tat individuals who report to have a secure attachment style...

Description: "Domestic violence is typically defined as violence against women by their intimate partner. However, some argue that the definition should be broadened to include nonviolent acts, such as stalking and psychological/emotional abuse (Kilpatrick, 2003; Tjaden, 2004). Furthermore, domestic violence does not just occur when a man abuses a women; a women can also abuse a man or another women, or a man another man. Using frequency of assaults (rather than severity), research has shown that physical abuse occurs in equal rates among men and women (Archer, 2000; Status & Gelles, 1990). Over the past ten years, the rate of family violence has decreased (BJS, 2002). However, domestic violence remains a wide-spread problem affecting both adults and children. Past theories focus on the reasons why women staying abusive relationship; however, they do not attempt to understand why some women enter an abusive relationship and others do not. They current study suggests a new theory, whose goal is not only explain why it is difficult for women to leave, but also to explain why some women stay and other women leave. The purpose of the current study is to take past research and theory about domestic violence and combine it with current theory better...

Description: "Developmental theory often purports that human development occurs in well-defined, incremental and predictable patterns. The purpose of this study was to examine adolescent aggression in light of developmental theory and to look at whether relational aggression was the preferred and frequent method of aggression for adolescent females, particularly in comparison to their male counterparts. Research was conducted using 39 female and 52 male students from a small, Midwestern, public, junior high school. Each of the 91 participants completed a peer aggression survey compiled by the author. The study hypothesized that middle school females would be more aware than males of relationally aggressive actions; that middle school females would more frequently actually use covert actions as a form of relational aggression; that middle school females` perception would be different from that males` perception regarding how males and females aggress toward each other; and that a stronger sense of a self as agent would be negatively correlated with tendencies of any form of aggression, covert or overt. The results indicated that girls were more aware of relational aggression, but boys seemed to use relational aggression in equal amounts. In...

Description: "Studies on social embodiment or embodied cognition have identified various body positions that temporarily affect mood. Another group of studies on attraction have identified nonverbal positions that people in relationships subconsciously take that express their feelings. This study brings together both fields in establishing an embodiment effect with two nonverbal positions identified in past research to express interpersonal attraction: lean and body posture. Participants interacted with a video-taped individual in a mock closed-circuit television settings, reading off of scripted questionnaire sheets positioned contiguously with a TV in a way that induced them into positions of either a forward lean with an open body posture or a backward lean with a closed body posture. To verify, two other conditions existed in which participants were instructed to assume these nonverbal positions. Follow the interactions, participants rated their interaction and their dyadic partner on measure of interpersonal attraction. Results show that leaning forward more significantly decreased attraction through mediation by greater unhappiness. Having a more open body posture was not found to be a variable influencing attraction directly, but in an...

Description: "The focus of the current study was to examine the academic responding and the social interactions of students with learning disabilities (LD) in three educational settings: resource rooms, inclusive classroom, and general education. Two third grade and two fifth grade students with LD were observed. The two 3rd grade students with LD were observed in all three settings while two 5th grade students with LD were observed in only two settings, the inclusive and the general education classroom. For comparison purposes, four students without exceptionalities were also observed. Observations were conducted using EBASS, a computerized observational tool. Specifically, student behaviors were targeted and included academic responding, task management, and competing responses. Information was also collected regarding the social interactions of each student. Results of the 3rd graders indicated that instruction in the resource room provided higher levels of academic engagement compared to the inclusive classroom. Inclusion increased academic engagement very little, when compared to the regular classroom instruction. Social interactions varied depending on the student and the setting. For example, the 3rd grade students observed in all three...

Description: "The primary purpose of the current study was to explore the academic engagement and social functioning that was exhibited by students with learning disabilities (LD) when instructed in the resource room and in regular education with and without the provision of special services. Four male fourth grade students with LD were observed in their naturalistic instructional settings. For comparison purposes, two male fourth grade students without an exceptionality were randomly selected from the general education population. Observations were conducted using the Ecobehavioral Assessment Systems Software (EBASS) for recording academic responding (AR) and a manually completed data sheet for coding social interactions. Students were observed for eight days during a three week period. Each observation day, the students were observed for 10 minutes in their respective educational settings. Results indicated that academic responding was the highest in resource rooms followed by inclusive and then general education settings. The highest number of social interactions occurred in the resource room. Implications of the current study and recommendations for future research are discussed."

Description: "Marsha Lineman developed Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for the treatment of borderline personality disorder in 1991. Because of DBT`s success, the treatment has spread to other populations and disorders. Due to the poor ratio of theoretical to empirical research on DBT, data is limited on the effectiveness of such a treatment. A meta-analysis across populations and settings was conducted utilizing much of the empirical data available to date. Based on the accumulated research, the meta-analysis resulted in a significant effect thereby furthering the empirical basis of DBT. Both a weighted and unweighted t-test were performed to establish DBT`s effectiveness in the accumulated research, as well as DBT`s effectiveness in general."

Description: "Despite the growing number of students with disabilities receiving an increasing share of their education in inclusive classrooms, there is little evidence that inclusion increases academic responding or social interactions. The current observational study involved six 5th grade male students, four of whom had been identified as having learning disabilities (LD) and two whom had not been identified with any exceptionality. Two for the students with LD received instruction in a resource room, and inclusion classroom, and in a general education classroom without services. Two other students with LD received instruction in a resource room and in general education. The two general education students received instruction in an inclusion classroom and in a general education classroom. The purpose of this study was to record and analyze academic engagement and social interactions for the students across the various educational settings. Within an alternating treatments design, the results indicated that the students with LD exhibited a greater degree of academic responding and fewer behaviors that would interfere with academic responding in the resource room, as opposed to inclusion or the general education setting. The students with LD had...

Description: "The present study examined the effect of music, specifically listening to songs with lyrics that mention or emphasize attractiveness, on body image. Four scales were used to measure the cognitive (Attention to Body Shape Scale), behavioral (Body Image Avoidance Questionnaire), affective (The Body Esteem Scale), and perceptual (Body Figure Perception Questionnaire) components of body image. Appearance schema level was explored as a possible moderator and mood was explored as a possible mediator. The Appearance Scema Inventory was used to measure schematicity and the Brief Circumplex of Affect Scale was used to measure mood. Sixty-three participants from Fort Hays State University participated in the study (39 women & 24 men). Results revealed that music did not directly affected mood and mood affected the affective component of body image. Appearance schema level did not appear to moderate the effect of the music. Due to the methodological limitations of this study`s design, future research is needed to further explore the extent music media influences body image. Information gained from additional research could assist in managing society`s growing problem with body dissatisfaction."

Description: "Roediger and McDermott (1995) began the bulk of the research on the Deese-Roediger/McDermott (DRM) Paradigm as applied to false memory and thus is the basis for this research. The DRM Paradigm showed that some memories could be created falsely in a laboratory setting. The current study examined the relations between the DRM Paradigm, life stress, and anxiety. The life stress measure was the College Undergraduate Scale (CUSS) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) measured anxiety. A total of 56 undergraduate students participated in he experiment. Their data from a computer program designed to replicate Roediger and McDermott`s 1995 procedure was correlated with the data gathered from the CUSS and the STAI. It was found that the CUSS, the state anxiety measure and the trait anxiety measure (both from the STAI) were all not significantly correlated with the number of correctly remembered words for the 8 lists."

Description: "This study examines four major variables; body dissatisfaction, unhealthy body mass index (BMI), body images distortion, and drive for thinness. Specifically, the relations among body dissatisfaction, unhealthy BMI, and body image distortion to an individual`s drive for thinness were of interest. The drive for thinness variable is a cardinal feature of eating disorders and was used in this study due to its significantly high predictive nature. It was predicted that body image distortion is the mediating process through which body dissatisfaction and BMI influence an individual`s drive for thinness. The study assessed both male (n=45) and female (n=48) undergraduate participants between the ages of 18 and 24. The participants where given the Eating Disorders Inventory-II (EDI-II) and Body Figure Perception Questionnaire (BFPQ) to classify the subjects` level of body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and provide information that was pertinent in determining the individual`s degree of body image distortion. The participant`s height and weight were also obtained to calculate his or her extent of unhealthy BMI. The level of perceptual body distortion was determined by comparing the individual`s body mass index (BMI) weight relative to...

Description: "Inclusion is a term used to describe the placement of students with special needs in general education. A primary goal of full inclusion stresses the socialization between students with disabilities and their general education peers instead of academic achievement. Opponents of full inclusion seek to maintain and expand the continuum of educational placement. the primary focus of the current study was to explore differences in the level of social interaction and academic responses fifth and sixth grade students with LD made in resource rooms, inclusive, and regular classroom settings when no special education services were provided. Results indicated students with LD had equivalent levels of academic responding across settings, but more social interactions and less inappropriate behavior in the resource room. Implications of the current findings were discussed as well as recommendations for future research."

Description: "The transition from high school to adulthood for the disabled has become a required process under federal and state laws, and includes the process of making postsecondary education choices. This study compared postsecondary plans of 104 high school graduates with learning disabilities (LD) and emotional disabilities (ED). Disability severity was measured by minutes of special education service time received each week while in high school. The hypothesis was that with increased levels of disability, the student would be more likely not to seek further postsecondary education, and less likely to go on to a four-year university. Students with LD were expected to be more likely to seek a ""hands on"" experience and avoid the traditional academic lecture setting. Students with ED were expected to be even less likely to pursue any type of postsecondary education including vocation/technical programs. Results found that there was little difference between LD and ED students in the distribution of their postsecondary plans. On the average, 49 percent sought no further education of any type, while 28 percent chose vocation/technical programs and 23 percent chose a two or four-year university. No statistically reliable...

Description: "Due to the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, stricter standards have been placed on schools that require the eventual academic proficiency of all students. Constant progress monitoring must be conducted within the classroom to ensure that each student is achieving appropriate gains in the curriculum. Curriculum-based measurements (CBM) is touted as a tool capable of measuring growth rates and identifying deficits in academic skills before failure occurs. The purpose of this study was to extend research conducted by Deno and his colleagues (2001), Shin, Deno, Espin (2000), and Fuchs, Fuchs, Hamlett, Walz, and Germann (1993) in hopes of adding to the current knowledge base on the growth rates of reading comprehension. The maze procedure (Guthrie, 1973), a measure of reading comprehension, is proposed as an alternative to conventional CBM. Seven weeks of maze scores were collected from students at two schools in South Central Kansas (77 fourth graders, 75 fifth graders, and 68 sixth grade students). The maze task was found to be useful in identifying intra and inter-individual student differences in reading growth. Patterns of maze performance differed significantly by grade level. Comparisons between maze scores and standardized...

Description: "The primary purpose of the current study was to explore the academic engaged time and the accelerators of academic responses of students with mental retardation in general education and resource room settings. Observations were conducted using a computerized observational recording program Ecobehavioral Assessment Systems Software (EBASS) that was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of special education settings. The current study involved two elementary, two middle school, and two high school students with mild mental retardation (MR). Results indicated that academic engagement was generally two-and-a-half times higher for all students in resource rooms than in regular classrooms. Furthermore, more and generally different accelerators of academic responding occurred in resource rooms when compared to those observed in regular classrooms. Implications of the current findings were discussed as well as recommendations for future research."

Description: "Researchers are only recently beginning to look at the effects of acculturation on the individual. Most of the research in this area has largely focused on the effects of acculturation on a group of people. We are seeing a dramatic increase in the number of adolescents with a Hispanic ethnic background in our schools and communities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how the process of acculturation relates to these individuals` psychosocial adjustment. More specifically, it examined the relationship between four acculturation attitudes (integration, separation, marginalization, assimilation) and psychosocial adjustment of adolescents with a Hispanic immigrant background. Previous research has suggested that being integrated is better for psychosocial adjustments for immigrants, while being marginalized is considered to be the worst in terms of psychosocial adjustment. The hypotheses of the study were partially supported by the data collected from the respondents (n=57). Being integrated was significantly related to increased school adjustment scores and significantly decreased numbers of behavior problems reported in a school environment. It was also found that none of these respondents were categorized as being marginalized...

Description: "The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to determine the relation between personality traits and motives among college athletes and (b) to determine the relation of traits and motives to the demographics collected. Subjects were 85 NCAA Division II athletes from Fort Hays State University. All participants completed a Background Information Sheet, and Big Five inventory questionnaire, and a Reiss Profile questionnaire. Regression analyses indicated that Order, Physical Exercise, and Family significantly related to Neuroticism, F (3.82)=9.371, p<.001. Social Contact, Order and Power motives showed a significant relation to Extraversion, F (3,82)=17.519, p<.001. Curiosity, Order, and Power provided a significant relation to Openness, F (3, 82)=25.654, p<.001. Physical Activity, Eating, Order, Savings, Vengeance, and Curiosity indicated a significant relation to Conscientiousness, F (6,79)=11.866, p<.001. Vengeance and Social Contact showed a significant relation to Agreeableness, F (2,82)=38.868, p<.001. Results of MANOVA indicated significant differences between he gender and team type on Extraversion and Conscientiousness. Results of MANOVA indicated significant differences between gender on personality motives Romance ,F...

Description: "The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to determine the relation between personality traits and motives among college athletes and (b) to determine the relation of traits and motives to the demographics collected. Subjects were 85 NCAA Division II athletes from Fort Hays State University. All participants completed a Background Information Sheet, a Big Five inventory questionnaire, and a Reiss Profile questionnaire. Regression analyses indicated that Order, Physical Exercise, and Family significantly related to Neuroticism, F(3,82)=9.371, p<0.001. Social Contact, Order, and Power motives showed a significant relation to Extraversion, F(3,82)=17.519, p<0.001. Physical Activity, Eating, Order, Savings, Vengeance, and Curiosity indicated a significant relation to Conscientiousness, F(6,79)=11.866, p<0.001. Vengeance and Social Contact showed a significant relation to Agreeableness, F(2,83)=38.868, p<0.001. Results of MANOVA indicated significant differences between the gender and team type of Extraversion and Conscientiousness. Results of a MANOVA indicated significant differences between the gender on personality motives Romance, F(2,83)=14.186, p<0.01, and Vengeance, F(2,83)=12.016, p<0.01. Team type (individual, team, or two...

Description: "Research was conducted using 124 female college students and 50 male college students from a small, Midwestern university. The present study was conducted to look at the relations among the concepts of resilience, optimism and meaning. Each of the 174 participants completed five questionnaires: Life orientation Test-Revised, Attributional Style Questionnaire, Meaning in Life Questionnaire, Social Adjustment Scale-Self Report and a demographics questionnaire. The results of the hierarchical multiple regression showed that dispositional optimism, and meaning do significantly explain variance accounted for in resilience with each adding something over and beyond the other variables. Both measures of optimism , LOT-R and ASQ, significantly correlated with resilience. What was not predicted was at the presence of meaning would have a negative correlation with resilience. Additionally, dispositional optimism and explanatory style optimism were found to negatively correlate with having meaning,"

Description: "Research was conducted using 124 female college students and 50 male college students from a small, Midwestern university. The present study was conducted to look at the relations among the concepts of resilience, optimism and meaning. Each of the 174 participants completed five questionnaires: Life Questionnaire, Social Adjustment Scale-Self Report and a demographics questionnaire. The results of the hierarchical multiple regression showed that dispositional optimism, explanatory style optimism, and meaning do significantly explain variance accounted for in resilience with each adding something over and beyond the other variables. Both measures of optimism, the LOT-R and ASQ, significantly correlated with resilience. What was not predicted was that the presence of meaning would have a negative correlation with resilience. Additionally, dispositional optimism and explanatory style optimism were found to negatively correlate with having meaning."

Description: "The purpose of this study was to investigate aggression in different cultural contexts, gender differences, and antisocial behavior in preschool children. There is little research on the development of aggression. Yet, there is evidence that suggests that, on average, aggression peaks at approximately the age of two (Tremblay, 2000). Studies of physical aggression prior to age six are rare, but what little evidence does exist suggests that humans become aggressive as soon as they have the physical capacity to do so (Tremblay et al., 1999). Numerous studies have focused on gender differences in aggression and antisocial behavior and have generally shown elevated rates in boys as compared to girls. Such differences relate to verbal (relational) as well as physical (overt) aggression; and occur across cultures (Parke & Slaby, 1983). The participants for this study were recruited from Head Start Programs and preschools around Central and Southwest Kansas. Teachers were asked to complete The Behavior Assessment System for Children on randomly selected students. Significant correlations indicated that children who were displaying signs of overt aggression are also showing signs of anxiety, depression, attention problems and withdrawal...

Description: "The purpose this study was to investigate aggression in different cultural contexts, gender differences, and antisocial behavior in preschool children. There is little research on the development of aggression. Yet, there is evidence that suggests that, on average, aggression peaks at approximately the age of two (Tremblay, 2000). Studies of physical aggression prior to age six are rare, but what little evidence does exist suggests that humans become aggressive as soon as they have the physical capacity to do so (Tremblay et al., 1999). Numerous studies have focused on gender differences in aggression and antisocial behavior and have generally shown elevated rates in boys as compared to girls. Such differences relate to verbal (relational) as well as physical (overt) aggression; and occur across cultures (Parke & Slaby, 1983). The participants for this study were recruited from Head Start Programs and preschools around Central and Southwest Kansas. Teachers were asked to complete The Behavior Assessment System for Children on randomly selected students. Significant correlations indicated that children who were displaying signs of overt and aggression are also showing signs of anxiety, depression, attention problems and withdrawal...

Description: "The current trend in special education involves providing services for students with disabilities in general education settings instead of pull-out programs (Cheney & Muscott, 1996). Surprisingly, there is little or no evidence that indicates whether this instructional environment provides students with the most opportunities to make appropriate academic and behavioral responses (MacMillan, Gresham, & Fororness, 1996). The current observational study involved two elementary, two middle, and two high school students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) and the purpose was to record and analyze the academic engagement and inappropriate behaviors that were exhibited by these students in regular education and resource room settings. Additionally, the purpose was to determine whether the instructional structure between the settings differed by identifying the accelerators of student behavior in the two settings. The results indicated that students with EBD generally made twice as many active academic responses and half the number of inappropriate behaviors in resource rooms as opposed to regular classroom settings. Furthermore, more and different accelerators of academic responding and competing behaviors were identified in resource...

Description: "The current exploratory study empirically examined the relation between personality as measured by the NEO PI-R, anxiety sensitivity as measured by the Anxiety Sensitivity Index, and screening as measured by the Trait Arousability Scale (converse of stimulus screening) in 110 participants. The relation between the NEO PI-R and Trait Arousability Scale and the relation between Anxiety Sensitivity Index and Trait Arousability Scale have not been previously tested in the literature. The personality domain of Neuroticism was found to be a significant inverse predictor of screening in the total, male, and female groups. The facets O3: Feelings and A6: Tendermindedness were found to be significant predictors of screening in the total group. The personality domain of Neuroticism was found to be a significant predictor of anxiety sensitivity for the total, male and female groups. The personality domains of Extraversion and Conscientiousness were found to be significant predictors of anxiety sensitivity in the male group. Anxiety sensitivity was shown to significantly predict screening in the total and female groups."

Description: "The current study empirically examined the relationship between six Reiss (2000) motives, as measured by the Reiss Profile of Fundamental Goals and Motivation Sensitivities, and the presence/absence of a behaviorally disordered child on a parent`s reported life satisfaction and self-esteem, measured by The Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale in 117 participants. The motives of interest were Independence, Acceptance, Order, Social Contact, Family, and Tranquility. Previous research has established that both parent and child in a family with a behaviorally disordered child report less life satisfaction than families with non-diagnosed children. Life satisfaction has been linked to self-esteem in previous literature. To date, research has not examined the relationship between these two factors and internal motives in parents of behaviorally disordered children. The current study found, through planned comparisons, that parents with an ODD/CD child and a high need for four of the six motives as defined by Reiss (2000) showed significantly lower self-esteem than all other parents tested. ODD/CD parents with high levels of need for five of the six motives were found to have significantly lower life...

Description: "Bowlby`s (1969) theory of attachment states that, during infancy, patterns of attachment develop that continue to affect a person`s personality and relationships throughout the lifespan. Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, and Walls (1978) proposed three styles of attachment in children: secure, ambivalent, and avoidant. Concerning adults, Hazan and Shaver (1987) categorized attachment styles as secure, avoidant, and anxious-ambivalent. The present study examined the relation between adult attachment styles and perceived stress in college students. Data were collected using self-report measures of adult attachment and perceived stress. Te data were then analyzed using planned comparisons and a correlation to determine the effects that attachment styles have on perceived stress in college students. The study had three hypotheses, the first two of which were supported. for hypothesis 1, a planned comparisons analysis indicated that secure adults perceive less stress than avoidant and anxious adults. A correlation was used to analyze the data that pertained to hypothesis 2 which stated that anxious adults perceive more stress than either secure or avoidant adults. No significant results were found for the final hypothesis, which stated that...

Description: "The present study examined Antifat attitudes and Body Image concerning individual differences along gender, weight, and ethnicity. Researchers have concluded that how a person perceives his or her own body weight may affect that person`s view about self and other (Rucker & Cash, 1991). Four scales were utilized to measure the perceptual (Body Figure Perception Questionnaire), affective (The Body Esteem Scale), cognitive (Attention to Body Shape Scale), and behavioral components (Body Image Avoidance Questionnaire) of body image. Once scale (Antifat Attitudes Test) was utilized to measure antifat attitudes. One hundred and forty-five participants from Fort Hays State University participated in the present study (59 men and 86 women). Self-report of height and weight were used to calculate each participant`s Body Mass Index (BMI). Results from the present study revealed men endorsed stronger antifat attitudes than women. Results also revealed that women were more dissatisfied with their body image than were men. Furthermore, overweight participants had higher levels of body image dissatisfaction than other weight groups. Overweight participants were also more likely to hold an overweight person responsible for his or her own weight. It...

Description: "Much research has been done in the area of sibling relationships and the effects of birth order, divorce, sibling conflict and rivalry, and how sibling relationships affect personality. The current study investigated the relations between age spacing of siblings and its effects on sibling relationships. It was hypothesized that as siblings age, those nearest in age would be closer behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively. The Lifespan Sibling Relationship Scale (LSRS), developed y Riggio (2000), was administered to 106 participants enrolled in summer classes at Fort Hays State University, members of a western Kansas service organization, and members of a western Kansas church group. Participants completed one LSRS for each living sibling in their family for a total of 264 ratings. The LSRS measures the attitudes that adults held towards siblings during childhood, as well as their current attitudes towards the same siblings. The six subscales of the LSRS are child affect, adult affect, child cognitions, adult cognitions, child behavior, and adult behavior. Descriptive statistics were calculated and data were analyzed using Pearson correlations and analysis of variance. Results supported the ideas that close-in-age siblings are...

Description: "The Defining Issues Test 2 (DIT 2) is an instrument designed to measure moral development. It is based on Kolberg`s theory of moral development, who proposed that individuals go through 3 levels. The first level-preconventional-includes most children age of 9-years-old and some adolescents. During this stage the individual has yet to fully understand and uphold conventional or societal rules and expectations. The second level-conventional-is reached by most adolescents and adults in almost every society or authority jus because they are society`s rules. The final level-post conventional-is reached by only a minority of adults and is usually reached only after the age of 20. During this stage the individual not only accepts the society`s laws but also develops an understanding for general moral principles that underlie these rules. Kohlberg proposed that males and females develop morally the same and that the stages of moral development are universal and can be observed in almost every society. The purpose of this study was to examine whether two different cultural populations, in this case Americans and Greeks, are similar in their moral development. The DIT 2 is the main instrument used in this study to assess moral development of...

Description: "Resiliency theory is based on the idea that a person will maintain faith in the future despite adversity and with the help of others, will be able to overcome almost any obstacle (Krovetz, 1999b). Alternative schools were developed to provide at-risk students with the opportunity to avoid academic and social failure while striving to prevent them from dropping out of school or becoming adjudicated (Fuller & Sabatino, 1996). This research was designed to examine the relation between resiliency theory and alternative education by using archival data from students enrolled at Westside Alternative School from the past 10 years. The purpose of the study was to examine which characteristics predicted that the students would return to the mainstream school. Results indicated that only significant predictors were previous out of home placements and juvenile authority involvement. Students who had previously been placed out of the home or involved with the juvenile justice authorities were more likely not to return to the mainstream school. "

Description: "The purpose of this study was to compare academic performance of students within a culturally diverse intermediate school. It was a comparison of students exhibiting bullying characteristics to the class norm. I t was hypothesized that participants who have been identified as exhibiting bullying characteristics would not have a significantly different academic performance in reading, math, spelling, and written expression than what is typical. The researcher found that there was not a significant difference in academic performance between bullies and the class norm. Academic performance was measured using Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM) data for each individual student, as well as applicable class CMB norms. This study also collected demographic information on gender, ethnicity, retention, and socio-economic status. Participants (N=33) were recruited from an intermediate school located in Southwest Kansas. Participants were identified as exhibiting bullying characteristics based on principal nomination. This nomination was based on the number of referrals to the office for specific types of behaviors, such as teasing, taunt ting threatening, hitting, and stealing. Data were provided to the researcher with no identifying...

Description: "This research examined two questions concerning athletic burnout symptoms. The first question involved examining the extent to which athletes use certain types of coping strategies to cope with athlete burnout. The second question involved examining the effectiveness of the strategies that athletes use to cope with their burnout symptoms. One hundred thirty nine student athletes from a small Midwestern university responded to self report questionnaires that asked them to identify a time period when they experienced athletic burnout symptoms, and to indicate how they coped with these symptoms. The majority (84 percent) of the athletes reported experiencing symptoms: acceptance, active coping, self-distraction, positive reframing, using emotional support, using instrumental support, humor, planning, religion, venting, and self-blame. Athletes reported using substance use, behavioral disengagement, and denial only a little bit for coping with symptoms. Measures of effectiveness included effectiveness ratings and the number and duration of athlete burnout symptoms. All three of these effectiveness indices indicated that the athletes found venting and humor to be ineffective strategies for coping with their burnout symptoms. To a lesser...

Description: "This study examined the relations among parenting strategies and empathy and distressful childhood experiences and empathy. Participants were 58 female and 52 male students from Fort Hays State University. Parenting strategies were not found to have a relation to the development of empathy. The parenting strategies looked at in this study included warmth, induction, low-rule orientation, power assertion, and love-withdrawal. However, the validity of the questionnaire used to measure these variables makes the results questionable. Participants who reported their childhood experiences as being more distressing had higher empathy scores as adults. This finding suggests that children should perhaps be allowed to experience potentially distressing events because it promotes the development of empathy. The number of distressing childhood events and experiencing distressful events such as abuse and neglect as children were not found to have a relation to empathy in the present study. The insignificant findings between abuse and neglect and empathy may have been due to an insufficient number of questions relating to these experiences and an insufficient number of participants experiencing them. Another finding in the present study showed...

Description: "This research addressed two questions concerning strategies for coping with betrayal that were emphasized in recent studies by Rupp (1999) and Hickel (2000). The first question was to what extent do participants report using the coping strategies emphasized in the two previous studies when they are asked to describe their efforts to cope with betrayal in a way that avoids biasing and constraining their descriptions? The second question pertained to how the participants rate the effectiveness of the coping strategies they described. Undergraduate university students (N=57) were asked to complete the following self-report questionnaires with reference to a situation in which they felt they were betrayed: (a) Betrayal Identification Sheet, (b) Coping Description Form, (c) Unfinished Business Resolution Scale, and (d) Relationship Change Measure. Content analysis of the participants` descriptions of how they coped with their identified betrayal evidenced that most of the strategies emphasized in the previous studies were used by some of the participants. A substantial minority reported using ""intense expression of feeling,"" ""self-validation or understand other,"" and ""behavioral...

Description: "The goal of this research was to norm the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) on a juvenile offender population for use as a pre-screening tool to be used to match individual`s needs with service offered in the juvenile corrections setting. Presently, the BSI has been normed against four populations: (a) adult psychiatric outpatients; (b) adult nonpatients; (c) adult psychiatric inpatients; and (d) adolescent nonpatients. The BSI was administered to 506 Juvenile Offenders (JO) between the ages of 12 and 18. Youth were recruited from five youth centers in Kansas. The BSI is a 53-system, self-report, protocol that measures psychological symptom patterns. The BSI was administered to the youth shortly after their arrival at the centers. Differences were discovered between the normative adolescent population and the test population. All the nine BSI subscales: Summarization, Obsessive Compulsive, Interpersonal Sensitivity, Hostility, Depression, Anxiety, Phobic Anxiety, Paranoid Ideation, Psycoticism and three global indices showed significant difference at the 0.05 level or lower from the adolescent norm group. The global indices including the Positive Symptom Index and the Global Severity Index were also significantly higher at the p<0.001...

Description: "The relation of substance use, religion, and gender to college students` premarital sexual attitudes and behavior was examined. It was hypothesized that males would be more permissive in their premarital sexual attitudes and behavior. The third and fourth hypothesis stated that the amount of alcohol use would relate positively to the level of permissiveness in premarital sexual attitudes and behavior of individuals. The next two hypotheses examined drug use and premarital sexual attitude and behavior. Hypothesis seven examined female alcohol users premarital sexual behavior versus female non-alcohol users, male alcohol users, and male non-alcohol users. The next two hypotheses examined level of church attendance and premarital sexual attitudes and behavior. The last two hypotheses were concerned with intrinsic religiousness and its relation to premarital sexual attitudes and behavior. The results found that there is not a significant difference between genders regarding premarital sexual attitudes and behavior. The amount of alcohol use does relate positively to the level of permissiveness in premarital sexual attitudes and behavior of individuals. The amount of drug use does not relate positively to premarital sexual attitudes of...

Description: "Jones and Berglas first described the phenomena they termed self-handicapping in 1978, proposing that under certain circumstances some people will behave in ways to nearly ensure their failure on an evaluative task. Berlas and Jones (1978) primarily applied their paradigm to alcohol consumption and underachievement. Snyder and Smith (1982) expanded the definition of self-handicapping behavior to include the strategic use of symptoms. This thesis investigated the ability of the Self-Handicapping Scale, developed by Jones and Rhodewalt (1982), to predict the use of anxiety as a self-handicapping strategy. Antithetic to the study`s hypotheses, those who scored higher on the Self-Handicapping Scale did not necessarily report greater anxiety change while anticipating a failure situation (n=64, Anxiety Change scores: MHH=9.03 & MLH=5.88) with F(1,63)=2.825 at p=0.098. Most participants reported an increased anxiety change score regardless of their SHS scores. In addition, the availability of anxiety as a viable handicap did not impact the degree to which high self-handicappers reported anxiety changes, although, anxiety scores increased significantly from the first to the second measure of anxiety (F(1,63)=46.45, p<0.01."

Description: "What is the essence of the relationship between language and music as processed by the human brain? Is music actually a language - does it reflect syntax, grammatical rules, and meaning as language does? This thesis study examined commonalties of processing between language and music - specifically, the potential connection between the rhythmic syllable pattern of a song title, and a matching melodic temporal pattern within the song chorus of unfamiliar instrumental music. Original multi-track full-score Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) compositions were utilized to control for familiarity and create manipulation of independent variables. Participants listened to different song versions and completed `title-choice` and `ratings` tasks. Obtained results did not support the hypothesis of equivalency in processing for rhythmic syllable pattern of song title and melodic temporal pattern within song chorus."

Description: "Most studies of predictors of treatment disposition have involved only two alternative dispositions, e.g., hospitalization vs. non-hospitalization (Rabinowitz et al., 1995). The first problem of this thesis was to study predictors of decisions about treatment dispositions with reference to a broader range of dispositions that included outpatient psychiatric medication evaluation, outpatient counseling/psychotherapy,, and psychiatric day treatment, as well as inpatient hospitalization. The second problem of this thesis examined the contribution that individual assessors play in determining treatment decisions. This thesis was an archival study using coded data based on assessment of persons seeking emergency room services at a hospital whose psychiatric unit was operated by Menninger Services of Kansas City. The sample consisted of all persons (N=605) referred to this psychiatric unit during the period extending from January 1997 through December 1998. Each person was seen by one assessor; the assessments were conducted so that no names or other identifying characteristics could be associated with the data. Several assessor x disposition chi-square analyses uniformly indicated that individual assessors were a factor in contributing to...

Description: "Research has suggested that children`s knowledge and perceptions of health related issues contributed to the efficacy of health care intervention strategies and compliance (Berry et al., 1993; McElreath & Roberts, 1992; Potter & Roberts, 1984; Roberts et al., 1981; Santilli & Roberts, 1993) In addition, research regarding the Children`s Health Belief Model (Bush & Ianotti, 1990), as well as logical assumptions, have indicated an influence of the child`s primary caretaker in the child`s formation of health beliefs. The current study evaluated overall trends in parent`s and children`s knowledge and perceptions of Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Thirty-one parent-child dyads (ages 6 to 17 years) completed an ADHD Knowledge and Perception Survey, which yielded findings reflecting a moderate relationship between parent`s and children`s perceptions of ADHD."

Description: "Recent research on dispositional optimism and explanatory style has linked these two theoretically different concepts of optimism to effective coping, achievement, and physical health. The present study examined the relationship between the Life Orientation Test (LOT) and the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) to determine if making positive attributions is the same as having positive expectations. The LOT and ASQ was adistered to 143 college students. A correlation analysis was used on the scores from the two tests. Results revealed a moderate correlation between the two measures and showed that the overall score of the ASQ to be more related to the LOT score than the individual dimension scores of the ASQ. The usefulness of the ASQ versus the LOT was discussed."

Description: "Current research indicates that family environment factors can affect a person`s psychological well-being. However, there tends to be a paucity of research investigating whether or not these various family environment factors are associated with eye use of different coping strategies to deal with stress and problems. Studies have also shown that living in an urban vs. living in a rural setting can differently affect the ways in which people cope with life stress and problems. The majority of these studies have involved children or elderly individuals, omitting the young and middle adulthood years. Also, there appears to be no research that has studied whether certain combinations of these family environment factors and rural vs. urban residency are related to the coping strategies people use to deal with stress and problems. Concurrent study of these variables may result in increased understanding about the ways in which they are related and impact a person. Therefore, the main purpose of the present thesis was to investigate relationships among living in rural vs. urban settings, various family environmental factors, and coping strategies simultaneously in a sample of young to middle aged adults. To help fill the gaps in the current...

Description: "The current study utilizes data collected from a rural mental health center located in Great Bend, Kansas. Participants (N=103) were charged with DUI in Barton County between the period August 1995 to February 1997. DUI offenders that were charged again within three years of their DUI within this period were classified as recidivist. A variety of variables such as age, sex, race, marital status, prior criminal offenses, educational level, results on substance abuse psychometric instruments, Blood Alcohol Content and employment status were studied utilizing logistic regression. To predict recidivism, a complex model was developed utilizing logistic regression. The developed model will be assessed for accuracy with regards to the predicting the actual data. It was hypothesized based on previous research that BAL and previous criminal offenses would have considerable predictive valuable for identifying subjects that reoffend within the three-year monitoring period. In addition, multiple linear regression analysis was performed to examine possible relationships between psychometric subscales and DUI recidivism. Logistic regression was used to test for significance for each independent variable individually. The results indicate...

Description: "Previously, research regarding the area of betrayal has examined the motivations for betrayal, relationship changes following betrayal, individual differences in betrayal, and betrayal and the social network. Until Rupp`s (1999) recent study, however, there appears to have been little empirical research investigating the effectiveness of various strategies for coping with betrayal. Rupp (1999) utilized a model of resolution of unfinished business in order to investigate the effectiveness of different strategies for coping with betrayal. This model was developed by Greenberg and Foerster (1996) and is a product of their psychotherapy change process research that was guided by the Gestalt therapy approach. Although Rupp (1999) concluded that the model for resolution of unfinished business has potential for identifying effective ways of coping with betrayal experiences outside of the therapy setting, her study involved certain limitations that warrant replication of her results. The first problem of the present research was the replicate Rupp`s (1999) main findings in order to strengthen her conclusions regarding the model for resolution of unfinished business. The second problem of the present study pertains to the idea that other...

Description: "The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the Animated-Literacy approach to reading instruction by analyzing the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills scores taken at the conclusion of the school year. The subtests scaled scores of a first grade class that received Animated-Literacy reading instruction were compared to a pervious class that did not receive Animated-Literacy reading instruction were compared to a previous class that did not receive this type of instruction to determine if there was a significant difference. A significant improvement was found in the Word Analysis subtest. No significant differences were found in the areas of Reading Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension or Total Reading."

Description: "This study examined whether incongruent parenting styles in intact and divorced families led to increased adjustment difficulties. Participants were ninety-five female and forty-five male students from Fort Hays State University campus. Twenty of the participants left the gender question blank and thus their gender was unknown. Parenting style in congruency in intact and divorced families was not found to have an effect on the nine adjustment difficulties. Participants whose parents had joint custody did have higher levels of anxiety and depression than participants whose families were intact or who lived with mostly mother, mostly father, solely mother, and solely father. The results of this data showed mother`s warmth to be negatively associated with academic problems, interpersonal problems, suicidal ideation, and family problems, indicating that levels of problems decrease the higher levels of nurturing by the mother. Different combinations of parenting styles did have a significant effect on anxiety and family problems. Participants who reported their mother as being permissive-neglectful and their father as being authoritative scored significantly higher on the anxiety scale of the CAS than participants who reported their...

Description: "The relation between moral development and religious orientation was examined. The three levels of Kohlberg`s theory of moral development (Preconventional, Conventional, and Postconventional) were examined in relation to the three dimensions of religious orientation (Extrinsic, Intrinsic, and Quest) proposed by Batson, Schoenrade, and Ventis (1993). It was first hypothesized that the Extrinsic Orientation would be correlated negatively with both the Quest and Intrinsic orientations to support the theoretical assumptions made by Batson, Schoenrade, and Ventis (1993). The other hypotheses examined specific relationships between moral development, as measured by the Defining Issues Test and religious orientation, as measured by the Religious Life Inventory. Results only partially supported that hypotheses because an unexpected positive relation between the Extrinsic and Quest orientations was found. The three religious dimensions were not found to correlate according to theory. Results suggested much overlap in both definition and measurement of the three orientations indicating that the three dimensions were not separate constructs. Theoretical implications showed that the definitions of the Extrinsic, Intrinsic, and Quest orientations...

Description: "The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the relationship between personality characteristics and the mating strategies men and women employ. Buss and Schmitt (1993) proposed Sexual Strategies Theory to explain many of the mating choice differences between men and women. Their predictions have been empirically supported. However, the relationship between the NEDO-PI-R and mating strategies has not been studied. Several hypotheses were proposed to relate certain NEO-PI-R personality characteristics to the short-term and long-term mating strategies people employ. The study required subjects to fill out both the NEO-PI-R and the Sexual Strategies Questionnaire. Ninety-eight multiple regression equations were developed using the personality domains and facets of the NEO-PI-R as the independent measures for the analysis, while the dependent measures were obtained from the Sexual Strategies Questionnaire. Thirty-three regressions were conducted using the domains for both men and women, and thirty-two regressions were conducted using the facets. Results indicated that although most of the specific hypotheses were not supported, sixty-two of the ninety-eight equations were statistically significant (32 for the domains; 30 for the...

Description: "The present field study was an archival study that used an adapted version of the Parents as Reading Tutors program utilizing cross-age tutors instead of parents. The study was conducted by a school psychologist employed by the Hays Unified School District. Participants in the study included 40 second grade students enrolled in a five-week summer school session. Twenty of these participants were randomly assigned to the treatment group and 20 to the control group. However, only 22 students were included into he study at the end of the tutoring sessions after subject drop out. Students were administered pre- and post-test curriculum-based measurement probes at the beginning and at the conclusion of the study. Actual tutoring sessions consisted of students reading orally from age appropriate reading books of their choice. Students were excluded from the study if they did not participate in either pre- or post-testing, or did not participate in at least one-half of the reading tutoring sessions. After participant drop out, eleven of these subjects remained in the reading tutoring group, and 11 remained in the control group. Informed consent of the participants was obtained by a letter written to each student`s parents upon enrollment...

Description: "The purpose of this study was to investigate college learning environments, teaching methods, and academic advising and student opinions and preferences about them. Students were categorized into three groups: traditional students, nontraditional students, and graduate students. Previous surveys from an investigation by Parker-Price and Claxton (1996) were used for the traditional and a portion of the nontraditional students, and new data was gathered for the graduate students and the remaining nontraditional students using the FHSU Student Satisfaction Survey. This survey rates student opinions and preferences in regards to the three categories and was administered to students at Fort Hays State University, a medium-sized midwestern university. The results received from the various student groups were then compared to one another in order to investigate if there were any significant differences among them in regards to their opinions and preferences of the three categories. The results obtained showed that when all of these items in each section were combined to form one overall rating, no significant differences existed among any of the three student groups regarding learning environments, teaching methods, or academic advising....

Description: "The present study examined the relationships between personality traits, as measured by the NEO PI-R, motives, as measured by the Reiss Profiles, and sociosexuality, as measured by the SOI-R. Previous research has examined relationships between sociosexuality and NEO PI-R domains, but not NEO PI-R facets (subscales). Previous research has also not examined the NEO PI-R in class as fulfillment of a course requirement in General Psychology, and the Reiss Profile and SOI-R were completed during a separate session for which they received extra credit in their General Psychology course. Results indicated that overall NEO PI-R domains and overall NEO PI-R facets were significant predictors of sociosexuality, as well as overall Motives. Also, results indicated that several individual domains and facets were significant predictors of sociosexuality, as were three individual motives. The domains Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness were significant predictors of sociosexuality, as were the facets N5: Impulsiveness, E2: Gregariousness, E5: Excitement Seeking, O6: Values, A2: Straightforwardness, A4: Compliance, A5: Modesty, C3: Dutifulness, C4: Achievement Striving, and C6: Deliberation. Also found to be significant predictors of...

Description: "This study examined the viability of Gottfredson and Hirschi`s General Theory of Crime using academic dishonesty as a measurement of deviant behavior. Their theory proposes that low self-control is a primary characteristic of those who are deviant and is mediated by parental supervision and monitoring. Participants (N=78) were recruited from university classes and common areas on campus. Using hierarchical multiple regression and correlation analysis, three hypotheses were tested. The first hypothesis was concerned with whether parental academic supervision mediated the relationship between academic self-control and academic dishonesty. Though there was a significant negative relationship between academic self-control and academic dishonesty, parental academic supervision had no significant correlation with any variable of interest. For the second hypothesis, there was shown to be a positive moderate correlation between academic self-control and general self-control. For the third hypothesis there was shown to be a moderate positive correlation between academic dishonesty and general deviance. These results were discussed in the context of the validity of the theory and its comparison with psychological literature findings....

Description: "Very few studies have dealt with the effectiveness of behavior disorder programs in special education. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the behavior disorder program at Barton County Special Education Services by analyzing the improvement seen in intelligence, academic achievement, and behavioral test scores of students receiving these services. The students` initial evaluation results were compared to their own second and third reevaluation results to determine whether there was significant improvement over time. Significant changes in test results, were not found between first and second, and first and their reevaluations. Some test comparisons were not possible to analyze due to inconsistencies in tier use from the initial to the following evaluations."

Description: "The temperament theory of Jung was adapted by Myers Briggs in the creation of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. Keirsey shortened the MBTI to make the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. Keirsey suggests that the temperament types identified by the Keirsey Temperament Sorter are related to certain constructs such as optimism and school achievement. However, these relationships have not been tested empirically. This study examined the relationship between the four Keirsey general types (NT, NF, SP, SJ) and dispositional optimism, as measured by the Life Orientation Test. Also, the question of whether the Keirsey types differ in terms of achievement, as measured by grade point average was examined. It was found that there were no differences among the types as related to optimism. In examining the relationship between the Keirsey types and GPA, it was found that the SJ type significantly differed from the SP group and the NF group significantly differed from the SP group. A curvilinear relationship was hypothesized between GPA and optimism. However, it was found that a linear and cubic relationship existed, but not a simple curvilinear (quadratic) relationship. The linear and cubic relationships accounted for between six and eight percent of...

Description: "This study examined the relationship among marital satisfaction, perceived work roles of wives and presence or absence of a child (or children) in the home. Participants included 450 married females recruited through use of networking and acquaintances, from nine states throughout the United States as well as some participants from psychology courses at Fort Hays State University. The first four hypotheses resulted in non-significant findings. The results suggest that wives` marital satisfaction does not decrease once a child is present in the home. Work role was also found not to effect marital satisfaction levels. Of particular interest to the present study was that those in ambivalent work roles did report lower marital satisfaction compared to the other work roles. The results of the present study also imply that there is not a significant difference in level of marital satisfaction once the children are out of the home for any of the different work roles. However the fifth hypothesis found significant results. Wives who indicate that their work role situation is what they prefer were found to have higher levels of marital satisfaction regardless of their category of work role. This finding suggests that marital satisfaction is...

Description: "Previous research on betrayal has focused mainly on motivations for betrayal, relationship change, individual differences in the tendency toward betraying others, and betrayal and the social network. There appears to no empirical work on how persons cope with betrayal. This thesis used a model of resolution of unfinished business, based on Gestalt and process experiential psychotherapy, as a source of hypotheses about coping with betrayal. The main problem of the research was to examine two hypotheses about relationships between components of this model and outcomes of the betrayal experience. Hypotheses I was as follows: The following components of the model are positively related to resolution of the betrayal and to other positive outcomes: ""intense expression of feeling""; ""expression of need""; ""more positive representation of other (the betrayer)""; ""self-validation or understanding other"". Hypotheses II was as follows: the following components of the model are unrelated to resolution of the betrayer and to other positive outcomes: ""expression of blame, complaint, hurt""; ""negative representation of...

Description: "Aaron Beck (Beck, Emery, & Greenberg, 1985) has proposed that Acceptance, Competence, and Control schemata function as core-issues in mental/emotional disorders. Using Derry and Kuiper`s (1981) criterion for the schematic processing of information ( the speed at which self-referent personality judgments are made), the study sought to determine whether individuals processed social information related to self concerning acceptance, competence, and control issues schematically. The SPACK Batter (Piper, 1987), which obtains measures of an individual`s schema strength for Acceptance, Competence, and Control and records the response delay on each item, was administered by computer to 151 Fort Hays State University undergraduates. The correlations between schema strength and response delay on the related items indicated that Acceptance and Competence issues (but not Control issues) were processed schematically in conformity with Beck`s hypothesis. The Revised SPACK Inventory, a subtest of the SPACK Battery consisting of items giving a significant score/response delay correlation, produced a score/response delay correlation of -.179 on the Acceptance schema, -.159 on the Competence schema, and no significant correlation on the Control...

Description: Petrie`s (1967) Reducer-Augmenter Theory holds that there is a continuum of individuals ranging from those who have nervous systems that amplify or increase stimulation (augmenters) to those who have nervous systems that dampen or decrease incoming sensory stimulation (reducers). The current study examined the use of the Revised Reducer-Augmenter Scale for the prediction of three behaviors associated with misconduct at a residential foster treatment facility for adolescents. A significant correlation between male RRAS scores and both current and preferred number of cigarettes smoked per day was found. Significant gender differences were also found. Results indicate that RRAS may be a viable instrument in studying and predicting male adolescent smoking.

Description: "The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of physical attractiveness and HIV diagnosis on the attribution of personal characteristics to individuals. More specifically, with the increasing prevalence of HIV diagnoses, the present and future sexual practices of target individuals is critical to understanding the impact of AIDS in contemporary society. Negative attributes are often associated with HIV and AIDS diagnoses, while positive attributes are similarly associated with physical attractiveness. The present study was designed to investigate attributions specific to individuals with a designated level of attractiveness and HIV status. Data was collected from both male and female university undergraduate students (n=99) who responded to scenario based questionnaires involving a hypothetical target individual. The scenarios were developed and first used by Agnew and Thompson (1994). Results indicated that the gender of the target individual was a significant factor in their perceived acquisition of AIDS. In general, male targets were seen as contracting AIDS by shared needle drug use more than female targets. Attractive male targets were also perceived as being more responsible for their acquisition of AIDS than their...

Description: "Previous studies have shown that people who are asked leading or suggestive questions are affected by the way the question was asked and can make erroneous responses (Stern, 1939; Harris, 1973; Loftus & Palmer, 1974). The present study examined the relationship between interrogative suggestibility and personality. Gudjonsson (1987) devised an instrument for measuring interrogative suggestibility and personality (the GSS 2, which assesses the effect of leading questions and negative feedback) in clinical and research settings. Personality was assessed with the NEO PI-R (Costa & McCrae, 1992) which highlights the five factor model of personality. This study is the first to use the NEO PI-R to show that personality characteristics of the five factor model of personality are related to interrogative suggestibility. One hundred fifty-four college students completed the questionnaires. Surprisingly, the personality domain of Openness was related to lower total suggestibility. Vulnerability to stress and often experiencing a depressed affect were each found to be associated with giving in to leading questions more frequently. The results may have implications for attorneys protecting their clients involved in a criminal investigation."

Description: "This study surveyed the opinions of educators toward educating children in an inclusive setting. For the purpose of this study, inclusion was defined as the practice of educating children with disabilities within a regular education classroom. One-hundred fourteen participants were recruited from classes during the summer semester of 1998 at Fort Hays State University. Participants were recruited from classes relating to the education field and included special education teachers, regular education teachers, counselors, administrators, paraprofessionals, and support personnel. Demographic information was collected in order to make comparisons of differing subgroups. It was found that in general, educators do not believe that all children belong in the regular classroom. Responses also indicated that while educators feel tat they can utilize inclusion, they lack sufficient time, training, and materials to successfully implement inclusion. In comparing attitudes toward including children with varying disabilities, it was found that educators are most willing to include children with physical impairments, and more willing to include children with learning disabilities in the regular classroom than they were to include children with...

Description: "The following study will examine the influence evolution has had on mating behavior. More specifically, the goal of this study is to determine whether sexual strategies influence how men and women perceive relationships. One-hundred and twenty-four volunteers over the age of 18 filled out a questionnaire that indicated the type of sexual strategy being used by each person. The questionnaire also asked volunteers to rate 5 relationship scenarios on a five-point scale that ranged from ""1. Very likely to be a monogamous relationship"" to ""5. Very likely to not be a monogamous relationship"". Three main hypothesis were tested to determine if men and women were using different sexual strategies and if sexual strategies had an influence on perceptions of relationships. The first hypothesis proposed that more men than women would be using a short-term sexual strategy and more women than men would be using a long-term sexual strategy. Two Chi Square analyses were used to analyze the differences between men and women on this variable. The second hypothesis proposed that more women than men would repot that they did not use a condom during the last time they had sexual intercourse because they were in...

Description: "Milner, Branch, and Rasmussen (1962) first proposed evaluating memory during the sodium amobarbital (WADA) test. Milner hypothesized that people who demonstrated transient amnesia after injection ipsalateral to the seizure focus would be at risk for incurring post-operative global amnesia following temporal lobotomy. It was hoped that this kind of test would prevent the occurrence of global amnesia after such a surgery by predicting the ability of the other hemisphere to compensate and carry out memory functioning. However, there are several controversies associated with the sodium amobarbital (WADA) procedure. That examined in most detail here is whether partial-filling in the posterior cerebral artery (PCA) region affects memory scores obtained during the WADA. Specifically, if there is partial-filling into the PCA region after injection of the internal carotid artery (ICA), does it cause greater memory deficits? Memory scores obtained during left and right ICA injections were compared given the presence or absence of partial-filling in the PCA region. Results that cross flow into the PCA region during the ICA injection did not produce significant memory decrements in both ipsalateral and contra lateral hemispheres. This conflicts...

Description: "This study examined if a relationship exists between gang association and drug involvement, crime severity, and recidivism. Data consisting of extent of gang involvement, drug involvement, crime severity, and recidivism, as well as, demographic data (age, race, and religious preference) was collected for 200 youths most recently housed at a state juvenile correctional facility. Results supported the hypothesis that gang involved youth have a higher rate of drug usage than those youths not involved with gangs. However, support was not found for either of the hypotheses that gang involved youth have a more severe crime rating or a higher rate of recidivism."

Description: "McCrae (1993-1994, 1996) recognizes the need for further research between the personality domain of Openness to Experience and the closely related field of cognitive styles. McCrae (1996) asserts that the construct measured by the Kirton Adaption-Innovation (KAI) has a high ""saturation of content related to Openness"", although there were no data to support this assertion. The current study examined the relationship between an individual`s tendency to prefer adaption or innovation as a cognitive style of decision making in problem solving and their preference for variety, intellectual curiosity, and independence of judgment. A measure of cognitive style (the KAI) and the Openness measure of the Five-Factor model of personality (the NEO PI-R) were taken from subjects (N=163). Pearson Product-Moment correlations were utilized to examine the relationships between the scores from the KAI and the NEO PI-R. Support for all five hypotheses was demonstrated at the (p< 0.01) level. As hypothesized, significant relationships were demonstrated between an innovative cognitive style preference and the facets of Openness to Experience, thus providing empirical support for McCrae`s assertion. In addition, individuals with a...

Description: "A logical analysis and review of the literature of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) resulted in 15 conceptual-derived configurations of NEO facets (Olsen, 1997). The development of NEO PI-R configurations (higher-order combinations of facets) would enhance the interpretation of normal personality on this widely used test. The current study empirically tested the validity of these 15 configurations. Scores from the NEO-PI-R Form S and two measures of the facets configurations, a Self-Rating Questionnaire (SRQ) and an Other-Rating Questionnaire (ORQ), were obtained from participants. The NEO PI-R configuration scores were correlated with the questionnaire ratings. Multiple regression techniques were used to determine the relationship between the NEO PI-R facet scores and the configuration scores. Fourteen of the fifteen facet configurations were significantly associated wit other-rating data. The discrepancy between self- and other-rating results, revised and alternative facet configurations, and possible future research avenues were discussed."

Description: "This study examined whether a person`s perception of his or her wedding day was related to marital stability, and self-reported marital satisfaction. Participants were recruited in two different ways: (a) from psychology courses at Fort Hays State University, and (b) from the Hays community. A total of 110 participants were recruited (43 males and 67 females). Participants were divided into four groups: (a) persons married less than three years currently married, (b) persons married less than three years currently divorced, (c) persons married at least three years currently married, and (d) persons married at least three years currently divorced. Data were collected in individual and group settings. Participants read and completed an informed consent form, a Participant Data Form, and a Wedding Day Questionnaire designed for this study. Three different hypotheses were addressed in this study: (a) persons currently married would report that they felt an overall more positive perception of their wedding day than those divorced, (b) persons who reported an overall more positive perception of their wedding day will rate their marriage as more satisfying, and (c) persons married less than three years and currently divorced would report...

Description: "Need for cognition and hardiness are two widely studied variables that have not been studied together, even though evidence exists that they share a common base. Using the five-factor model of personality (as defined by Costa & McCrae 1992) as a backdrop, need for cognition and hardiness were compared and were predicted to positively correlate because of their negative correlations with neuroticism (Funk, 1992; Sadowski & Cogburn, 1997). The short version of the Need for Cognition Scale (Cacioppo, Pette, & Kao, 1984) and the Cognitive Hardiness Scale (Nowack, 1996) were used with 103 subjects recruited primarily from summer courses. The results supported the hypothesis (r=.2572, p=.009). A post hoc analysis did not support the idea that hardiness had three separate components; this result was in agreement with other research."

Description: "Music has been seen as having significant effects on many areas of human activity. Very recent research into the effects of music on cognitive and spatial-temporal abilities prompted an attempted duplication of a study that claimed significant effects of music on spatial-temporal ability (Rausher, Shaw, & Ky, 1993). During the attempted duplication, a near significant effect of music on analogical task performance was noted (Ward & Salo, 1995). As a result of the near significant effect, this study was designed to test the hypotheses that subjects exposed to vocal music would show a significant effect, this study was designed to test the hypotheses that subjects exposed to vocal music would show a significantly greater increase in ability to perform language analogical tasks than would subjects exposed to instrumental music, silence, or a mathematics task, and that gender differences would emerge in changes in ability to perform the language analogical task.. Subjects were exposed to either instrumental or vocal selections of the same pieces of music, with control groups exposed to silence, or asked to perform a mathematics task. The present study found no differences in ability to perform language analogical tasks due to exposure to...

Description: "This study examined the relationship of cognitive matching between students and instructors on student grades. The participants were 47 student volunteers enrolled in General Psychology classes at Fort Hays State University, and 19 of their instructors. These instructors taught various academic courses in which the student participants were enrolled. The Embedded Figures Test (Witkin, Oltman, Raskin, & Karp, 1971) was used as the measure of cognitive style. Other research questions were: Is there a relationship between cognitive style and grades, is there a relationship between cognitive style and genre, is there a relationship between cognitive style and academic major, and is there a relationship between instructor cognitive and style and grades assigned. The students and instructors were individually administered the Embedded Figures Test. Student course scores were converted into standardized Z-scores for comparability and statistical purposes. Correlational and analysis of variance procedures were utilized to analyze the data. The results of the primary hypothesis that cognitive matching between students and instructors would result in higher course grades was not significant, although the result of the cognitive matching...

Description: "Obesity and body image have been an interest of psychologists and physicians for many years. There are many psychosocial and physical effects of being overweight. There are many psychosocial and physical effects of being overweight. Teasing about obesity can be damaging psychologically to those who feel it criticizes some aspect about themselves over which they have no control. Social comparison of themselves to more ideal others can leave obese people feeling displeased with their appearance. This study was designed to investigate the relationship of recollection teasing and social comparison on body image satisfaction using obese people as subjects. The procedure was similar to that of Thompson and Heinberg (1993), who studied non-obese people. The results of the present study indicated that subjects experience negative body image. This negative body image correlated significantly with both teasing and social comparison. The effects of teasing and social comparison together yielded a stronger negative correlation with body image than with either one alone. The implications of these results, with respect to society and treatment, are discussed."

Description: "The debate over the effectiveness of large schools versus small schools is a long-standing one; one in which there is no general consensus among researchers. Much of the past research has yielded mixed or inconclusive results. Previous researchers have used variables such as ACT scores, college grade point average (GPA), student participation and satisfaction, and student accomplishments to measure the effectiveness of schools. Expanding on the issue of large versus small school effectiveness, this research examined college students` perceptions concerning their academic preparedness as an indicator of effective schools, in addition to actual preparedness. For the purpose of this study a small high school was defined as having 300 or fewer students, a large high school as one enrolling more than 300 students. One hundred and seventy-two traditional sophomore, junior and senior level Fort Hays State University (FHSU) students were recruited to participate in this study. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire containing items covering the following areas: high school grade point average; high school size; size of graduating class; participation in extra-curricular activities in high school; satisfaction with high school;...

Description: "Eight subjects completed a Role Construction Repertory Grid Test, ad participated in a laddering interview in an attempt to elicit core self-constructs. To validate that core constructs were elicited, an emotional Stroop task was designed for each subject, in which core terms were imbedded in color patches, with the task being to name the color. Neutral adjectives and nouns, both matched for frequency found in the language , were used as controls. Contrary to expectations, core terms were not generally slower than neutral terms in the Stroop task. This study was unable to confirm that core self constructs were found using the emotional Stroop. A recent review of emotional Stroop studies (Williams, et al., 1996), indicates that variables not considered in this research, ""current concern,"" ""self-awareness,"" and/or ""focused attention"" may play a role in response latencies, despite coreness of constructs."

Description: "From the 1991 American Psychological Association (APA) National Conference on Enhancing the Quality of Undergraduate Education in Psychology evolved specific recommendations. Quality Principles, for undergraduate psychology departments (McGovern & Reich, 1996). Fort Hays State University has never conducted a self-study of its undergraduate psychology program. Also, the Quality Principles have never been empirically tested. This study surveyed a sample of alumni of the undergraduate psychology department at Fort Hays State University. The questionnaire addressed the three following questions: (A) Alignment with Quality Principles: To what degree is the FHSU program in psychology related to the recommendations of the AOA as outlined in the Principles for Quality Undergraduate Psychology Programs, derived fro the St. Mary`s Conference? (B) Importance of Quality Principles: To what degree are the Principles for Quality Undergraduate Psychology Programs important to the alumni of FHSU? (C) Alumni satisfaction: To what degree do the alumni of the FHSU undergraduate psychology program regard their education as an antecedent to success? Over 65 percent of alumni responded positively to all three of these questions."

Description: "One of the earliest examples of gender differentiation can be seen in the development of play preferences. Preschool-age children who are beginning to form a stable sense of gender identity tend to be highly stereotyped in their choices of toys and activities. The earliest age at which consistent differences in sex-types toy choice have been found is 18 months, although some younger children, especially males, show signs of sex-typed choices before this age. The present study tested children cross-sectionally to further investigate the onset of early gender preferences. Subjects were 10 girls and 19 boys in two age groups from a rural town in central Kansas. A 30-minute play session with masculine, feminine, and neutral toys was videotaped with a parent present but only observing. Unlike previous studies, the functionality of the toys, wheel and figure, were manipulated and controlled. No statistically significant results were found in this investigation in contrast to other studies with this type of design. There was a trend toward the girls in both groups to choose feminine toys longer than either masculine or neutral toys. The girls in the 12-to 14-month-old age range had higher mean play time with wheeled toys compared to figure...

Description: "Current research on adolescent Hispanic-Americans deals mostly with delinquency, drug and alcohol abuse, and teenage pregnancy. There is little, if any, information about adolescent Hispanic-American typical development. The purpose of this study was to provide a baseline of Hispanic mothers` perceptions, focusing on five categories of questions: parenting style, acculturation, gender roles, adolescent`s behavior, and future goals and expectations. Perceptions of mothers having adolescent males were compared to the perceptions of mothers having adolescent females in the five clusters of questions in order to examine gender differences in the mothers` responses. This study did not find gender differences in the responses made by the mothers in four of the five categories of questions. Acculturation and/or assimilation were examined in relation to the other four categories and were found to have a significant positive relationship with parenting style and future goals and expectations. Post hoc analysis revealed significant differences in the parenting style and gender roles categories based on the mother`s education."

Description: "The purpose for this study was to compare parenting attitudes of adolescent mothers and teenagers who have never had a child. Previous research indicates that teenagers may be at an increased risk for atypical patterns of parenting that could have detrimental effects for both the mother and the child. The adolescent parent group and the non-parenting teenage group completed a demographic questionnaire and the Child Abuse Potential Inventory. It was expected that the adolescent mothers` scores would be elevated using the 166 cut-off criteria as compared to teenagers who have not parented a child. Additionally, it was expected that the non-parenting teenage control group would have higher scores compared to non-abusive parents on whom the CAP was normed. The findings revealed that both adolescent groups exceeded the 166 cut-off but did not significantly differ from each other on the Abuse scale. "

Description: "Bolger (1990) conducted a study that examined the influence of neuroticism upon the coping process, psychological distress, and performance outcome. Bolger`s (1990) results argued that neuroticism influences individuals to cope maladaptively, which then produces increases in distress. The primary purpose of this study was to further examine the relationship between neuroticism, coping, psychological distress and performance outcomes utilizing a homogenous stressor (General Psychology third examination). The present study involved two primary sets of analyses that paralleled the analyses performed in the Bolger (1990) study. The first analyses examined whether coping mediates the relationship between neuroticism and changes in anxiety scores upon exposure to a stressor. The second of the analyses examined the influence of neuroticism upon performance outcome. The present study attempted to address limitations in the Bolger (1990) study. Participants for the study were recruited from the Spring 1990 General Psychology courses at Fort Hays State University. Measures of personality (NEO PI-R), prior academic performance (GPA), and demographics were obtained 18 to 21 days prior to the third examination. Students reported their...

Description: "The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between individuals` personality characteristics, their general beliefs about what makes intimate relationships happy and successful, and the specific social behaviors (both positive and negative) that individuals engage in within the context of their own intimate relationships. There have been many studies examining the relationship between a person`s relationship beliefs and various other variables, such as relationship satisfaction, attachment styles, and behavior. However, the relationship between the NEO-PI-R, general relationship beliefs, and specific relationship behavior has not been extensively studied. Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine this relationship. Several hypotheses were proposed that predicted that certain NEO-PI-R personality domains an facets would be related to certain general relationship beliefs, as well as to certain specific relationship behaviors. Subjects were required to fill out three surveys to explore the relationship between personality and relationship behaviors and beliefs: the NEO Personality Inventory Revised, and the Relationship Beliefs Scale, and relationship behavior scale. Multiple regression procedures were used...

Description: "The purpose of the present thesis was to examine hypotheses involving relationships between the severity of problem, social support, and willingness to seek counseling. These hypotheses were as follows: Hypothesis 1: Social Support is negatively related to willingness to seek counseling. Hypothesis 2: Severity of problem is positively related to willingness to seek counseling. Hypothesis 3: There will be a stronger positive relationship between severity of problem and willingness to seek counseling at low levels of social support (as compared to high levels of social support). The method of the research involved having 98 college students complete a packet of questionnaires that included a measure of social support and questions about a help-seeking scenario. Severity of problem was manipulated by having some subjects (randomly determined) respond to questions about a scenario involving a high-severity problem and the remaining subjects respond to questions about a low-severity problem. Two indices of willingness to seek counseling were derived from the responses to the questions about the scenarios, an absolute index and a relative (to other helpers) index. The first hypothesis of the thesis received moderate support. ...

Description: "To best meet student needs, university counseling centers must be aware of gradual changes within the campus population and how needs change across time. A needs assessment can help match services to student needs. The university counseling center at F.H.S.U., the Kelly Center, has not conducted a needs assessment of it`s services since expanding the nature of services in 1991. The present study examined how services at the Kelly Center are perceived and measured the level of knowledge students/faculty have of those services. 54 faculty members and 672 students at F.H.S.U. completed surveys during the last two weeks of Spring 1995 classes. The following hypotheses were supported by this study: (1) Faculty have greater knowledge than students of the services provided by the Kelly Center; (2) Students who have previously used Kelly Center services have greater knowledge of the services offered; (3) Faculty rated personal counseling and psychological services higher in importance than did students."

Description: "The purpose of the present field study was to examine the relationships between controllability of stressful events and helpfulness ratings of different types of social support. The method of the research involved asking 87 college students enrolled in spring session classes to complete a packet of questionnaires concerning stressful situations and social support. The subjects were asked to identify the most stressful situation that they had encountered during the past semester. Two of the questionnaires were designed to obtain helpfulness ratings for different types of received and preferred social support with reference to the identified stressors. Another questionnaire measured the subject it`s appraisals of the degree of controllability of the stressors. Correlation coefficients were computed to test three hypotheses that were based on the Cutrona-Russell model for optimal matching between types of stressors and social support (Cutrona, 1990; Cutrona & Russell, 1990). These hypotheses were that there would be positive associations between (a) uncontrollability of a stressor and the helpfulness of emotional support, (b) controllability of a stressor and the helpfulness of instrumental support, and (c) controllability of a stressor...

Description: "This study surveyed the attitudes and beliefs of school personnel regarding inclusion policies for students in several Southwestern Kansas school districts. There were 58 regular and special educators as well as administrators who participated in this study. Educators were given the School and the Education of All Students (SEAS) survey and were asked to respond to items concerning their beliefs and attitudes regarding inclusion. Demographic information was also included in the survey to identify and compare different subgroups. Different subgroups were compared to one another using one-way analysis of variance. Elementary teaching staff were found to hold more positive attitudes toward inclusion than secondary teaching staff. The results of this study did not indicate support for the hypothesis that educators with fewer years of experience in education have more positive attitudes toward inclusion than educators with many years of experience in education. Likewise, support was not found for the hypothesis that educators with more training and experience in implementing an inclusive educational program have more of positive attitudes toward inclusion than those educators with less training and experience. Furthermore, results of this...

Description: "Intelligence has been of interest to psychologists for decades. There are many comprehensive measures of intelligence. However, the lengthy administration times of such tests often preclude their usefulness in many circumstances. There have been several attempts to develop brief measures of intelligence. One of the most recently developed measures is the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT) (Kaufman & Kaufman, 1990). This test has proven to be a valid and effective screening measure for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) (Wechsler, 1974), when used with juvenile delinquents and students referred for academic difficulties. There have been no studies to date that examine the relationship between the K-BIT and the WISC-III, the most recent revision of the Wechsler scales. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the K-BIT and the WISC-III when used with adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Data obtained from psychological evaluation records of adolescents admitted to Osawatomie State Hospital were analyzed. Comparisons were made between the scores obtained by these adolescents on the K-BIT and on the WISC-III. These comparisons were carried out to determine if the...

Description: "Concern over the inclusion of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) as a proposed diagnosis in the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual--Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) has renewed interest in the phenomenon known as Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS). The primary goal of this study was to determine if gender differences exist in the perception of PMS. Using a bipolar 8-point scale of the most commonly studied symptoms, this study found no difference in the severity assigned to overall symptomology, a psychological symptom subscale, or a physical symptom subscale. This study did find gender differences in several discrete symptoms, as well as differences between the genders in the sources of knowledge about PMS."

Description: "Rape has increased in frequency across time and has now become a major problem in this society. The effects of rape are often severe and persistent and may lead to a person seeking help via counseling. Empathy may be one factor involved in successful treatment of rape victims. This empathy may evolve due to similarities of experience between the victim and the person providing comfort and support. If similarity of experience plays a large part in fostering empathy, then it is possible that a person who feels victimized in general will have higher levels of empathy for a rape victim due to the analogous feelings of being a victim. A devised victimization questionnaire and a rape empathy scale were u used to determine if a relationship existed between feelings of victimization and rape empathy levels. A multiple regression procedure was used to determine the relationship between perceived feelings of victimization and rape empathy levels. The results of the current research indicate that a significant, negative correlation exists between scores on the Victimization Questionnaire (VQ) and the Rape Empathy Scale (RES). A significant relationship was found between gender and RES scores. Additionally, negative relationship was discovered...

Description: "The following study looked at the relationship between the types of television shows a person watches, either violent, neutral, or nonviolent, and his/her score on the Character Counts Questionnaire (CCQ), which measures a person`s character and ethical values. Subjects were asked to complete the CCA and rate on a five point bipolar scale, whether thy enjoyed or did not enjoy watching the selected television shows. While using the CCQ, several problems were found and changes were made to overcome them The most prevalent problem was that the original scoring method was so rigid it did not give a reflective measure of the person`s character. In order to derive a more reflective measure of the subject`s character an alternate scoring method was implemented. Results from both scoring methods were analyzed and discussed. It was hypothesized that the results would show a negative correlation between the CCQ scores and the enjoyment of violent television shows, as well as a positive correlation between the CCQ scores and the enjoyment of both nonviolent and neutral television shows. The Pearson product-moment correlation was used to measure the relationships. The results using both the original and alternate scoring supported the hypothesis...

Description: "This study surveyed 132 (94 women and 38 men) members of Kansas Association of School Psychologists (KASP) concerning their levels of involvement in activities related to the education about and risk reduction for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). This research was a partial replication of Peterson and Gettinger`s (1991) study, ""Involvement in Service Deliver Activities for Children Affected by AIDS: A Survey of Wisconsin School Psychologists. Due to advances in treatment and the spread of the disease to the heterosexual population, more and more AIDS-infected children will be attending our schools. In addition to those infected themselves, many students may have family members who have contracted the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that leads to AIDS. The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP; 1988) released a position statement affirming the rights of such students to attend school and stating that school psychologists` training may favor their taking an active role in AIDS programs. Participants received a questionnaire requesting demographic and AIDS-related information, their levels of actual and preferred involvement in AIDS-related activities, and apparent barriers to their involvement in...

Description: "Fort Hays State University has never conducted a consumer-oriented self-study of its graduate program in school psychology, but such a study was completed that assessed the clinical program. This study closely followed the method Joseph Guydish used to assess the clinical program in 1982. The following study attempted to contact all graduates receiving an Ed.S. degree in school psychology since the degree was reinstated in the late 1980`s. The graduates` initial employers were also contacted, as it was believed these two populations could provide the best consumer-oriented information. These two populations were asked to complete questionnaires that addressed the three following hypotheses: (a) Adequate Training: Is Fort Hays State University adequately preparing its graduates? (b) Rural Employment: Are the majority of Fort Hays State University graduates seeking jobs in a rural setting? (c) Professional Development: Do program graduates continue to develop professionally by seeking advanced degrees, certification, publication, and membership in professional organizations? Of the three primary hypotheses, the graduates confirmed hypotheses B and C, but did not confirm hypothesis A. Only hypothesis A related to employer input,...

Description: "Perceptions of barriers to behavior modification, as related to knowledge, stress, and perceived utility, were surveyed in a sample of 80 educational staff members in several rural Kansas school districts. The results of this study found a relationship between knowledge of behavioral methods and perceived utility, thus supporting the hypothesis that personnel with more knowledge of behavior methods will perceive it as more useful. In addition, results indicated that personnel with high stress perceived institutional constraints to be a barrier to effective implementation of behavioral techniques. This finding lends support to the hypothesis that staff members with high stress will perceive more barriers to behavioral techniques. The present study provided no support for the hypothesis that, personnel with less work experience will report more barriers to behavioral methods, and will have higher stress scores. Further analyses indicated that perceptions of barriers and perceived utility varies among work assignments, and that personnel with academic training in behavioral methods perceived it as more useful, and reported fewer barriers, than personnel with no training. "

Description: "Very little is known about the perceptions of students as they progress through a postgraduate program (Phillips, 1980). Using a longitudinal methodology, this study investigated the process of transition and the trajectories of change in personal meaning that occurred in students during the graduate school experience at Fort Hays State University in the Master`s Level Psychology Program. Two repertory grids and two surveys were administered to eleven graduate students during three sessions over a 1 1/2-year period. At the final session, the examiner conducted an informal interview with each student. Results indicated that even though students shared many similar experiences on a daily basis, the pattern of change for each student was different. However, as a group, students began to define roles of self and activities of graduate school more coherently near the completion of the program. In general, grid based self-esteem measures increased over time and most students claimed they felt satisfied with the graduate training program and career choices. Perceptions of social interaction appeared to be an important component of the graduate school experience for students and was directly related to self-esteem. Moreover, students...

Description: "Although much research has been conducted on individual factors associated with Aids-preventive behavior, there has still been some question as to which factors most strongly affect behavioral changes toward risk reduction, particularly in young adults and adolescents. There has also been some question as to whether sexual educational programs in high schools have long lasting effects upon later assessed knowledge concerning AIDS. The present study was designed to investigate the factors of friend perceptions, communication with sexual partners, parental communication in sexual education, knowledge about AIDS, and perceived risk as predictive variables of behavior that would put students at risk for being infected with the HIV virus and AIDS. The present study also examined whether high school sexual education programs have long term effects upon AIDS knowledge. Data were obtained through the use of a demographic questionnaire, a sexual behavior questionnaire, a Knowledge About AIDS (KAA) questionnaire, and a perceived peer norm scale from a sample of 145 college students ages 18 and older. The questionnaires were distributed and then collected the following day in classrooms at Fort Hays State University and Nebraska Wesleyan...

Description: "Marriage is a dynamic relationship that changes over time. The experience of loneliness within marriage and the attitudes marital partners hold about communicating with each other may also vary. The present study examined the effects of marital life-span stage and communication apprehension on levels of loneliness in marriage. Subjects were sixty married couples representing equal sized samples of each of four marital life-span stages: newlywed, parental, post-parental, and retirement. Loneliness was measured using the self-report UCLA-3 Loneliness Scale (Russell & Cutrona, 1984). Communication apprehension was measured using the self-report Personal Report of Spouse Communication Apprehension (Powers & Hutchinson, 1979). The UCLS-3 was subjected to a factorial analysis to determine the possible presence of an ""Intimate Others"" factor, representing loneliness that is specific to the marital relationship. Marital loneliness and communication apprehension were graphed across marital lifespan stage. A multiple regression procedure was used to examine the relative effects of marital life-span stage and communication apprehension on marital loneliness. The data generated by this study suggest that the...

Description: "The effect of contingent teacher touch delivered with verbal praise for desired academic and/or social behaviors on student on task behavior was examined in two elementary classrooms. After baseline data were gathered on contingent touch and verbal praise the teachers were instructed to increase their use of contingent touch while maintaining their baseline level of verbal praise. It was hypothesized that greater amounts of contingent teacher touch with verbal praise would result in increases of on-task behavior in elementary students. The present study sought to strengthen this hypothesis y replicating and extending previous studies with the use of a multiple baseline across classrooms and ages design. Upon preliminary viewing of the videotapes it became apparent that the expected data had not been gathered. It was not possible to determine the effects of touch on student on-task behavior because nether teacher increased her rate of touch paired with praise during the treatment phase. In order to complete the Field Study project, it was suggested that other measures be drawn form the videotape record to correlate with student behaviors. Thus, measures for positive teacher attention and proximity were correlated with rates of...

Description: "Sixty-nine students at Fort Hays State University participated, as subjects, in a magnitude scaling experiment which investigated their perceptions of the severity of various crimes when the offenders characteristics of age, race, and sex were varied. Two competing theories of crime severity which attempts to account for disparity in criminal sentences were examined. Black`s theory (Black, 1976) indicated that the severity of law was a function of five structural variables: stratification, morphology, culture, organization, and social control. Alternatively, Randall Gordon (Gordon, 1988) suggested that the disparity of sentencing between groups could be connected to attribution theory. In this study, six hypotheses were examined. First, violent crimes committed by African-Americans would be perceived as more severe than violent crimes committed by Whites. Second, racially motivated crimes would be an exception to this rule. Third, white-collar crimes committed by Whites would be perceived as more severe than white-collar crimes committed by African-Americans. Fourth, crimes committed by Asians would be viewed as being of similar severity to those committed by Whites. Fifth, crimes committed by women would be viewed as less...

Description: "The identification of personality characteristics found to distinguish pregnant teenagers from established adolescent norms may eventually help various professionals to identify those females adolescents who are at greatest risk of becoming pregnant during their teen years. The ability to target at-risk teens before they become pregnant may also aid in the development of school programs and support groups which focus on the prevention of teenage pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to examine the personality characteristics common to pregnant teenagers. The Minnesota Multiphastic personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) was administered to 38 pregnant teenagers. Results of the composite profiles were within the normal range of personality functioning. However, the Hispanic subjects in this study were found to have lower self esteem and to experience more feelings of alienation than the white and black pregnant teenagers who participated in this study."

Description: "Numerous investigations have been conducted to examine the effects of demographic variables on performance on the Wechsler Intelligence Scales. Research, however, has not been conducted on the effects of urban-rural residence on Wechsler scores for those under the age of 16. The present study focused on differences in demographic variables that may be related to scored on the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and the Wechsler Intelligence Score for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III). Particular emphasis was placed on the picture Arrangement and Comprehension subtests of the Wechsler scales because of their relationship to social intelligence. Wechsler protocols were randomly selected from school psychologist`s files and then analyzed for differences in regard to age, gender, and urban-rural residence. It was predicted that rural students would score higher than urban students on Picture Arrangement and Comprehension. Differences were also predicted to be found between males and females and two age groups on these and other subtests of the Wechsler scales. Multivariate and univariate analysis of variance found that rural subjects outscored urban subjects on the Picture Arrangement subtest, Object...

Description: "The extent of belief in a variety of psychic phenomena (PSI) was examined with regard to the religious orientation of students enrolled in general psychology and undergraduate classes at a small midwestern university. Religious orientation was divided into three categories: orthodox Christian believers, non-orthodox religious believers, and the nonreligious including agnostics and atheists. A correlation and regression analysis was conducted by using the Paranormal belief Scale by Tobacyk and Milford (1983), the Inventory of Psychic Beliefs and Experiences by Atkinson (1993), and the Christian Orthodoxy Scale by Fullerton (1982). Additional variables included were the influence of the media, belief in scientism, and personal PSI experiences. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant difference between the orthodox and unorthodox endorsement of beliefs in the psychic; this was not borne out. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant difference between the orthodox and unorthodox endorsement of beliefs in the psychic; this was not borne out. It was also hypothesized that the orthodox and non-religious would have negative correlations, and the unorthodox would have a positive correlation with psychic belief. All...

Description: "A reading level design was employed to assess differences between children with reading disabilities, their chronological-age matched, and reading-level matched peers. These differences were hypothesized to exist in the use of lower level and higher level processes recruited during word recognition and comprehension. A masked priming paradigm, coupled with a lexical decision task, was used to assess lower level form based lexical access. A second experiment in which strong and weak semantic associates were used, assessed differences in the use of higher level contextually based processes. The results failed to support the notion that disabled readers perform more like children of the same skill level. Moreover, differences between children with reading disabilities and their age-matched peers implicate the later post-access processes. in the present sample, the early encoding process appear to be intact."

Description: "This study focused on Gur, Gur, and Harris`s (1974) finding that lateral eye movements (LEMs) reflected differences in hemispheric lateralization in response to verbal or visouspatial questions, and that, in part, LEMs were controlled by the experimenter`s location relative to the subject. Specifically, this study examined the role of subject anxiety levels given the experimenter`s location relative to the subject. Both verbal and visuospatial questions were presented to initiate eye movement via the left and right hemispheres, respectively. Anxiety measures were taken from 40 undergraduates from both General Psychology courses and a campus housing facility using the Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory (SSAI); systolic blood pressure was also used as a measure. Verbal questions elicited significantly more right eye movement than spatial questions in the experimenter absent (EA) condition, yet no difference in LEMs occurred in the experimenter facing subject (EFS) condition. The latter was associated with significantly higher anxiety measures from the SSAI. In addition, the proportion of subjects who looked in the expected direction while correctly answering a specific question, was significantly higher than the proportion of subjects...

Description: "College students are quickly becoming a population with one of the fastest rising human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection rates that, in turn, will lead to an increased prevalence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Researchers proposed that a heightened sense of invulnerability is present in this population, making prevention efforts difficult. The present study examined the effects of three different cassette tapes on college students` perceived personal risk, actual sexual practices, and intent to engage in risky behaviors in the future. Subjects listened to either a cassette tape containing education about AIDS, a cassette tape consisting of AIDS education plus a personalized component, or a control cassette tape. Data were obtained through the use of questionnaires measuring perceived personal risk, current sexual practices, and intent to engage in risky behaviors. A pretest/posttest control group design with follow-up was utilized. It was found that subjects who were currently at risk for acquiring HIV and listened to the personalized tape did not have an increased sense of personal risk after being exposed to the tape, and subsequently did not make significant changes in their current behaviors and future...

Description: "Recent concerns about the significant impact of current educational reforms in Kansas on the nature of school psychology services have surfaced. The present study is intended to provide relevant information to the profession of school psychology concerning the implementation of Kansas educational reform via the Kansas State Board of Education Quality Performance Accreditation (QPA) process. In order to obtain mutually desirable outcomes, a needs assessment survey was designed to provide data that might be useful for planning and decision making. The needs assessment survey was sent to 46 pilot school districts implementing the QPA process. In order to obtain mutually desirable outcomes and to coordinate efforts toward achieving the outcomes, a needs assessment survey was designed to provide data that might be useful for planning and decision making. The needs assessment survey was sent to 46 pilot school districts implementing the QPA process. The survey asked a total of 131 administrators, regular educators, school psychologists, and special services personnel about the perceptions and attitudes surrounding the role of the school psychologist within the QPA process. A rank ordering of all 21 items on the survey questionnaire was...

Description: "Ageism is a term that has evolved in recent years to describe prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behaviors that occur toward members of the human population as a result of the members` chronological or perceived age. Recent studies suggest that ageism exists within the context of post-secondary education. Research also indicates that age-based stereotyping exists as a specific component of ageism. The present study proposed to investigate the possible existence of ageism and/or age-based stereotyping at the University level. Specifically, the research attempted to determine whether negative stereotyping or age-based discriminatory attitudes exist toward nontraditional aged students on the part of traditional and/or nontraditional aged students at Fort Hays State University. Similarities and differences in demographic information were also examined. Demographic information, scored responses to non-leading inquiries (""Neutral""), scored responses to leading inquiries (""Biased""), and scored responses to non-leading and leading inquiries combined (""Ageism"") were obtained from each respondent. Descriptive statistics, including means, standard deviations and frequency...

Description: "It has been widely documented that most Americans will marry at least once in their lifetime, however evidence suggests that marital success and satisfaction are not so widespread (Bornstein & Bornstein, 1985; Cargan, 1991). The increase in divorce and the rising demand for marital therapy serve as evidence that marriages are not succeeding. Factors contributing to marital dissatisfaction are mainly focused around communication. Many couples who experience communication apprehension also experience loneliness (Sadava & Matejcic, 1987). During the newlywed stage of marriage, the time of marriage before the birth of the first child, the couple is focused on the marriage and experimenting with different communication styles. Loneliness has been found in this stage of marriage (Sadava & Matejcic, 1987). The present study explored the relationship between communication apprehension, rhetorical sensitivity, and loneliness in early marriage. Forty couples were each given a demographic questionnaire, the UCLA-3 Loneliness Scale, the Personal Report of Spouce Communication Apprehension, and the Rhetorical Sensitivity Scale. Correlationship were conducted on the data gathered to determine any significant relationships between the scores. The...

Description: "Schizophrenia has various symptoms that are characteristic of the disease. One such symptom is verbal hallucinations. Hoffman (1986) proposes that the ""language production mechanism"" is dysfunctional in schizophrenics and that this aberrant mechanism is the cause of the hallucinations. This study investigated whether Hoffman`s notions are correct. One subject group was ten schizophrenic patients from Larned State Hospital in Larned, KS. The second subject group was the control group of ten volunteers from the Hays area. The control group was matched to the schizophrenic group according to age, education, and gender. The subjects were tested according to an active-passive paradigm. The materials involved in this study included a six-sentence preamble and a picture. The preambles are designed to reflect one of two conditions in which the conceptual focus is either in the active or passive voice. A computer was used to present the preamble as well as the picture. The subject`s reaction time and accuracy of their first response was recorded. There was a significant main effect for groups, i.e., between the subjects with schizophrenia and their matched controls. Generally, subjects with schizophrenia...

Description: "Over the past 25 years the psychosocial environment of elementary and secondary level classrooms has been the subject of much research and a number of instruments have been developed for assessing student and teacher perceptions of actual and preferred classroom environment. Research with these instruments has revealed that students preferred a more favorable climate than they perceived as being present and teachers perceived the actual classroom environment more favorably than did their students. To date, very little analogous research ahs been conducted at the level of higher education. The present study examined student and instructor perceptions of actual classroom climate and student perceptions of the preferred classroom climate using the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI; Treagust & Fraser, 1986a, 1986b). Subjects were 103 graduate and undergraduate university students and 15 university instructors. Results of the present research revealed significant differences between students` perceptions of the actual classroom environment and the type of classroom environment students preferred. Contrary to previous research finding, the data generated from this study revealed no significant differences...

Description: "This study assessed causal attributions on the children`s Attributional Style Questionnaire (CASQ) for 30 learning disabled (LD), 30 gifted, and 29 normal achieving elementary school children. In addition, gender differences in attribution style were examined. The results provided no support for the hypotheses that LD students have more external, unstable, and specific attributions for positive events (maladaptive attributions) and more internal, stable, and global attributions for negative events (maladaptive attributions) than normal achieving or gifted students. Instead, the present study found that overall, the LD and normal achieving students had more adaptive attributions for positive events than the gifted students. Analyses of the CASQ scores for positive events indicated that the LD students had more stable attributions than the gifted group and that there were no significant differences between the groups for internal or global attributions. In response to negative events, analyses of the CASQ scores indicated that the LD students had less internal attributions than the normal achieving or gifted groups; there were no significant differences between the groups in stable and global attributions for negative events. The...

Description: "Cohen, Serrod, and Clark (1986) suggested that social support has no real effect on its own, and that it is nothing more than a proxy for social skill. The main aim of the present thesis was to use multidimensional measures to clarify the nature of the relationships between social skill, social support, and problem behaviors in boys in residential facilities for conduct disorders. The main features of the method of the thesis involved having 92 boys and staff members of the residential facilities complete a packet of questionnaires. The boys were asked to complete a measure of their perceived social support and a self-rating of social skills. The staff were asked to complete ratings of the boys` social skills and a checklist to assess the boys` problem behaviors. Correlations were computed between these multidimensional measures. Additionally, multiple regression analyses were performed with problem behaviors as the conceptualized dependent variables. The results indicated a consistent pattern of positive relationships between social skills and social support and problem behavior. Consistent patterns of negative relationships were found between the staff ratings of boys` social skills and problem behaviors; clear but less consistent...

Description: "This study is a program evaluation of the Community Support Services program at High Plains Mental Health Center. The Community Support Services program utilizes the Kansas Case Management model for the Severe and Persistently Mentally Ill, formerly labeled the Chronically Mentally Ill. The present study examined the patterns of patients` movement as they relate to several propositions that underlie the philosophy and implementation of the deinstitutionalization movement. Subjects were the members of the Community Support Services program who met the criteria for classification as Severe and Persistently Mentally Ill in the state of Kansas. Statistical analyses were performed, comparing hospital daily log admission information to the Larned State Hospital from the High Plains mental Health Center for the fiscal years 1986-1989 to 1990-1992. Additional information of patterns of patient movement were illustrated from information gained from clinical files of consumers of the Community Support Services at High Plains Mental Health Center. Results of this study indicate a statistically significant increase in admissions to Larned State Hospital from the High Plains Mental Health Center catchment area even with the implementation...

Description: "Our society`s attitudes and beliefs about family violence influence both the course of action taken in the legal system and the enforcement of the laws pertaining to family violence. Traditional sex-role attitudes as they are related to the acceptance of violence in the home are believed to be involved in perpetuating the continued use of violence in families (Finn, 1986; Gentemann, 1984; Straus, Gelles & Steinmetz, 1980). The structural theory of violence holds that ""For any set of behaviors characteristic of a population, there will develop a normative counterpart that rationalizes and justifies that behavior"" (Owens & Straus, 1975, 210). A significant degree of family violence has been reported in the literature; this suggests norms must exist within our society that rationalize and justify the use of violence (Owens & Straus, 1975). In our investigation of the relationship of attitudes toward family violence and sex role orientation, three questionnaires (Interpersonal Violence Approval Index, Personal Data Questionnaire, and Bem Sex-Role Inventory) were administered to two professional groups (judges & clinicians) and the general population. A total of 648 questionnaires were mailed with a response...

Description: "Amoroso and Ware (1981) found that young children have a positive attitude toward the police, but that this attitude decreases with older children, especially among males. Reiser (1970) suggests that many people react negatively toward the police because of the influence of the police officer`s uniform. Frank and Gilovich`s (1988) research found that those individuals who wore black uniforms were perceived as being more aggressive, and actually performed in a more aggressive manner than those individuals who wore uniforms of a different color. Several researchers have found a positve white/negative black bias among children (Bhana, 1977; Porter, 1971; Sparks-Davidson, Rahman, & Hildreth, 1982). The present study investigated children`s perceptions of police officers as a function of the uniforms that the police wear, the race of the police officers, and the children`s gender. The results from the present study found a more positive perception of the black police officer than the white officer (p < .05), which is inconsistent with earlier research concerning color bias (Bhana, 1977; Porter, 1971; Sparks-Davidson et al., 1982). Contrary to past research (Amoroso & Ware, 1981), the present study also found that boys` and girls`...

Description: "Literature pertaining to college transition has identified social integration as an important component to persistence decision (Christie & Dinham, 1991). This study examined the relationship between cognitive development and social integration in college freshmen from the perspective of Personal Construct Theory. In a transitional process, such as entering college for the first time, individuals are faced with a disintegration of their social network. While freshman are still in a process of cognitive development, they are also in a process of reconstruction. Sixteen students were evaluated at the beginning and at the end of their first semester in college. A high percentage of students in one stage of cognitive development hindered comparisons between groups. The results suggested that most of the students identified more with their peers than with adults regardless of their stage of cognitive development."

Description: "The purpose of the present study was to examine whether the use of the DSM-III-R decision trees increases the accuracy and confidence and decreases the time of DSM-III-R diagnosis across subjects with varying levels of DSM-III-R experience. Subjects consisted of 20 undergraduate students, 20 graduate students, and 20 experienced users of the DSM-III-R. Subjects were presented with 10 case vignettes and instructed to make an Axis I DSM-III-R diagnosis for each vignette. On five of the vignettes, the subjects were instructed to use the DSM-III-R in their usual manner that they make diagnoses with the exception that they are not to use the decision trees provided in the manual. On the other five vignettes they were instructed to use the decision trees and were provided with two suggestions on how to use the tress. The main analysis consisted of a 3 x 2 x 2 multiple analysis of variance to determine whether the use of the decision trees increased diagnostic accuracy and diagnostic confidence, and decreased diagnostic time. Results showed that the experienced subjects tended to make more accurate diagnoses than the less experienced and the no experienced subjects. In addition, the decision trees along with some practice increased class...

Description: "This study investigated the perceptions of adolescents and their parents regarding the effectiveness and context of sexuality, AIDS, and HIV communication. There were 37 adolescent subjects ranging in age from 13 to 16 years in this study. An additional 35 subjects consisted of one parent for each of the adolescent subjects. Parents and adolescents were given a questionnaire from the Revised Family Sex Communication Quotient (RFSCQ) and asked to respond to items across four dimensions: context, information, comfort, and value. Additional items in the questionnaire identified source of sexual information, frequency of sex related communication, and primary sex educator. Parent scores were compared to adolescent scores using t-tests and chi-squares. Parents reported that they are the major source of information on sexuality and AIDS for their children; adolescents did not perceive their parents as being a major information source, nor did adolescents report their parents as being most informative or providing the most useful information about sexuality and AIDS. Significant differences between parent and adolescent perceptions of the context of sexuality discussions were also found, with parents reporting more planned...

Description: "This thesis focused on the extent to which cancer patients desired, sought, and received social support, as well as on the extent to which the patients were satisfied with the social support they received. The three types of social support studied were informational, aid/assistance, and emotional support. These types of social support were examined for two sources of social support--health care workers, and family members/friends. Additional aims of the research were to study relationships between social support and the patient`s physical and psychological adjustment to their cancer, and to examine relationships between aspects of social support and the degree of stress associated with the two support sources. The method of the thesis involved asking a sample of 39 cancer patients (18 male, 21 female) with different types of cancer to complete mailed questionnaires. The questionnaires were sent with a cover letter that explained the general purpose of the research as well as their medical center`s cooperation with the study. Each questionnaire consisted of self-report measures that included a modified version of the UCLA Social Support Inventory and measures of the patient`s physical and psychological adjustment to their...

Description: "As of the 1991-92 school year, states accepting federal funds for young children with disabilities must guarantee a full range of services for 3- to 5-year-olds. This legislative mandate brings with it specific questions regarding the appropriateness of screening instruments designed for use with the preschool population. Screening instruments are designed for the purpose of identifying those children ""at risk"" for experiencing later school-related problems. Screening instruments typically provide a gross classification of ""pass,"" ""rescreen,"" or ""refer."" The successful use of a screening instrument depends upon the instrument`s reliability and validity. In addition to the more commonly reported correlational validity, the predictive validity of the instrument provides useful information. Predictive validity is used to ascertain the extent to which the instrument correctly makes long range predictions regarding school performance. The purpose of the current study was to determine the predictive validity of the Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning (DIAL) (Mardell, & Goldenberg, 1975) and Developmental Indicators for the Assessment...

Description: "Strong (1968) predicted that the social influence theory, derived from experiments by social psychologists, would be an essential component in counseling and psychotherapy. The theory states that there are three important characteristics that one must possess when one wants another person to conform. The characteristics are (a) Attractiveness, (b) Trustworthiness, and (c) Expertness. The proposed study further investigated the social influence theory with particular attention given to the interrelation between expertise and a physical disability (wheelchair or epilepsy). College students were assigned to one of six groups of a 2x3 factorial design. In this experiment the following were manipulated: The status of the therapist (Expert 1, Inexpert) and the Disability condition (Epileptic, Wheelchair, No Disability). The results of the study indicated that in general, the disabled therapist was not perceived more negatively than the nondisabled therapist, nor were the subjects less satisfied with his performance. In fact, the disabled therapist was rated higher than the nondisabled counterparts on the Counselor Rating Form - Short (CRF-S) (total). Only the therapist in the inexerpt wheelchair condition was rated about equal with his...

Description: "The present study investigated the moderating influences of hypnotic susceptibility and posthypnotic suggestions on induction of lucid dreams. Forty two subjects - 13 high, 14 medium, and 15 low hypnotizable - were selected for inclusion in the study. All subjects were screened for hypnotic susceptibility levels initially on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (HGSHS:A), then later on the Group Stanford Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (GSHSS:C). Subjects were then required to maintain a dream diary for 2 weeks, after which they were given a posthypnotic suggestion to increase their frequency of lucid dreaming. Subjects were then asked to maintain their dream diaries for another 2 weeks. A two-way analysis of variance failed to yield significant differences as a function of hypnotic susceptibility (F(2, 39) = .46, ns) Similarly, the frequency of lucid dreams failed to increase as a function of the posthypnotic suggestion (F(1, 39) = .36, ns). Implications for theory, practice, and future research were discussed."

Description: "Subjects viewed photographs of themselves and mates in true and reversal conditions and rated the photographs on a scale from 1 to 8 for ""likability."" These same photographs were rated by graduate students for attractiveness. Additionally, subjects completed the Tennessee Self Concept Scale (TSCS). An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) yielded a significant difference between men and women in their ratings of likability for photos, with men rating photos of their mates higher in true and reversal conditions and also higher than women rated themselves of the men. The analysis failed to yield significant preferences for true versus reversal photographic images. Also, correlations between ratings of ""likability"" and attractiveness as rated by graduate students, as well as those between self -concept and ratings of ""likability"" were not significant. Implications of these results for theory, future research, and practice were discussed."

Description: "Although there have been a considerable number of empirical findings providing evidence for the beneficial effects of social support on psychological and physical well being, the research has been limited in that it has often failed to determine which specific types of social support are most effective in helping people cope with different types of stressors. The purpose of this study was to test hypotheses derived from a recently presented specificity model by Cutrona and Russell (1990) in which they predicted which specific types of social support would be most effective with particular stressors. A secondary purpose of this study was to attempt to replicate results of a study recently conducted by Wadkins (1991) in which she asked if particular types of social support are effective in helping persons cope with threats as compared to their effectiveness in helping persons cope with challenges. A sample of 160 students was asked to complete questionnaires that measured types of perceived social support, intensity of negative effect associated with identified threats and challenges, and mood levels. It was hypothesized that instrumental social support and esteem social support would be more effective in helping people cope with...

Description: "The issue of when children should enter school to ensure later academic success continues to be of concern to educators, administrators, and parents. Numerous studies investigating the age effects on achievement of the youngest and oldest students within a grade have found some achievement differences in favor of the older students. The differences are usually not evident after the primary grades. The practice of voluntarily delaying a child`s entrance to kindergarten, to avoid being the youngest within a grade, has become more commonplace in the past few years. The present study, modeled after a previous study, compared 74 delayed entrants (those who were age six when entering school) to 189 young entrants (those who were age five when entering school) in grades three, six, and nine, on the variables of academic achievement as measured by the SRA Survey of Basic Skills, and on rates of placement in special education. Results from the present study reveal significant differences on three achievement measures (composite, reading, and language) between the delayed and young entrants in favor of the young entrants. No significant results were found between the delayed and young entrants for placement rates in special education. ...

Description: "This thesis was designed to address two questions. Question 1 was ""What kinds of coping strategies do people use in dealing with anger-provoking incidents?"" Question 2 was ""What kinds of coping strategies are associated with effective and ineffective anger management for anger-provoking incidents?"" The method of the research entailed asking 122 undergraduate students (48 males, 74 females) to complete a packet of self-report instruments. Students were asked to identify the incident that had made them the most angry in the past several weeks. The packet included a questionnaire that assessed their situation specific coping responses to this incident as well as a questionnaire that assessed effective and ineffective anger management with respect to the incident. Students also responded to a questionnaire that measured general-provoking incidents, and a questionnaire that measured traits that reflected general effectiveness and ineffectiveness of anger management with respect to anger-provoking incidents. Question 1 findings for dispositional coping styles and situational coping responses revealed significant differences in usage of coping strategies for dealing with anger-provoking...

Description: "Although much research has been conducted on knowledge, attitudes, and prevention of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in urban areas of the United States, relatively little attention has been focused on rural areas of the country. This study investigated the relationship between level of AIDS-related knowledge and perceived susceptibility to acquiring the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in a sample of college students (N=49) from a small university in western Kansas. Data were obtained through the use of a Knowledge About AIDS (KAA) questionnaire measuring perceived susceptibility to HIV. A pretest/posttest control group design was utilized. Subjects in the experimental group design was utilized. Subjects in the experimental group viewed an educational film entitled, Sex, Drugs, and AIDS, prior to completing the posttest measure. It was found that although students have an adequate understanding of AIDS and its routes of transmission, they generally perceive themselves to be at minimal risk of acquiring the HIV. Due to the fact that the prevalence of AIDS in rural areas is rising drastically, and that college students are at high risk of acquiring the disease (DiClemente, Forrest, & Mickler, 1990), it is hoped that...

Description: "Subjects were middle school students enrolled in a public school setting. Initially, students` cognitive styles were measured with the Test of Cognitive Style in Mathematics which depicts three styles labeled as ""Inchworms"", ""Medial"", and ""Grasshoppers"". Only students with Inchworm and Medial learning styles were found in this study. Subjects were given instruction on concept mapping. Following classroom instruction covering a unit of mathematics, students were given a list of words (i.e., concepts) pertinent to the unit and asked to construct their own concept map. Concept maps were scored using Novak and Gowin`s (1985) methodology. Classroom test scores covering unit material were compared with cognitive styles. Date were analyzed using Pearson product-moment correlations and t-tests. General findings suggested Medial students exhibited better integration for mathematical concept meanings. They failed, however, to demonstrate understanding which was relational and hierarchical in nature. Results also indicated that Inchworm students did not achieve significantly better on the unit classroom test compared to Medial students."

Description: "The primary purpose of this research was to study relationships between the personality construct of hardiness, transformational and regressive coping styles, and levels of endorsement of irrational beliefs. These relationships were studied by examining hypotheses and sub hypotheses derived on the basis of Maddi and Kobasa`s (1984) and Ellis and Harper`s (1975) descriptions of their hardiness intervention. Accordingly, negative associations between certain irrational beliefs and hardiness might provide important leads as to which dysfunctional cognitions one might need to modify in order to facilitate the development of hardiness and transformational coping skills. It was also considered that the present research findings might provide more specific information about the content of cognitions involved in transformational and regressive coping. A sample of 177 Fort Hays State University students (75 males; 102 females), aged 17 to 56, responded to self-report questionnaires that included a measure of hardiness (Personal Views Survey; Kobasa, 1986), scales from the COPE inventory (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989b) that were used to measure transformational and regressive coping, and the Irrational Beliefs Test (Jones, 1977). The...

Description: "The purpose of this study was to investigate whether differences in self-presentation styles lead to differences in tactics used to influence others. Specifically, do consistent and flexible impression managers differ in their use of attributive and/or repudiatve tactics in self-report questionnaires? The subjects in this study were 199 undergraduate students, recruited from introductory psychology and sociology courses at Wichita State University. Subjects first completed the Iowa Personality Inventory and the Impression Management Checklist (IMC; Olson, 1991), which was used to classify subjects as ""consistent"" of ""flexible"". After completion of the IMC, subjects were given either standard instruction, or instruction which informed subjects that attempts at distortion would be detected. Subjects then completed the Self Presentation Scale (SPS; Roth, Snyder, and Pace, 1986). Before receiving either standard or detestability instruction, 75 of the subjects completed the IMC a second time. A 2 X 2 analysis of the variance was used to analyze the data. Self-presentation style (consistent vs. flexible) and instructions (standard vs. detectable) were the independent variables. The dependent...

Description: "This study investigated individual rape reactions from the perspective of personal construct theory. Structured interview which included both traditional survey devices and repertory grids were held with eight adult female sexual assault victims. The present study attempted to identify and examine the meaning of the rape experience for both victims of stranger and acquaintance rape. Subjects participating in this study were six acquaintance rape victims, one victim of stranger rape and one incest victim. Because only one stranger rape victim participated, hypotheses regarding a comparison of the effects of stranger and acquaintance rape were not able to be investigated. Other hypotheses were tested, however, pertaining to the acquaintance rape victim group. Results of the study indicate that the rape event results in lowered self-esteem, feelings of self-blame and difficulty trusting others. Subjects who received psychological treatment did not report significantly few or less severe trauma symptoms than t hose who received treatment. All subjects reported they continue to experience some trauma symptoms presently, even after 3-40 years after the rape. Victims reported increased substance abuse, sleep disturbances and eating...

Description: "The purpose of the current research was to examine: (a) if a relationship existed between an individual`s sex-ole orientation and that individual`s method of copying; and (b) which sex-role orientation was most adaptive in coping with stress. According to Bem (1974), extreme amounts of masculinity or femininity ""become negative and even destructive"", while the androgynous sex-role is related to ""adaptiveness"" and ""psychological health"". There were four hypotheses in the current research: (a) the androgynous sex-role orientation will have higher problem-focused and emotion-focused coping scores than the other three sex-role orientations; (c) androgynous individuals will have a higher total c coping score than the other sex-role orientations; and (d) undifferentiated individuals will tend to use a significantly greater among of less useful coping strategies tan the other three sex-role orientations. Ninety-eight college students enrolled in courses at Fort Hays State University were asked to complete two questionnaires: (a) a Short Bem Sex-Role Inventory, and (b) the COPE questionnaire. The Short Bem Sex-Role Inventory is designed to measure an individual`s sex-role...

Description: "The present study investigated teachers` rating of acceptability as a function of student gender, socio-economic status, and intervention typ. Using the Intervention Rating Profile (IRP) and case studies to manipulate the variables of interest, it was established that teachers tend to rate positive interventions as more acceptable than reductive. When intervention was paired with SES, an analysis of variance indicated a significant interaction, with teachers rating positive interventions as more acceptable for middle-income students and reductive interventions as more acceptable for low-income students. Post hoc comparisons supported the initial analysis. Student gender, as well as grade level taught, and years of teaching experience, did not significantly affect treatment acceptability. These findings are discussed with respect to past acceptability research and implications for future research and practice."

Description: "The main purpose of this thesis was to study relationships between coping and adaptional outcomes. The first hypothesis of the study predicted that adaptive coping as measured by COPE will be positively related to adaptional outcome (examination score); the second hypotheses predicted that maladaptive coping responses as measured by COPE will be negatively related to adaptional outcome. The third hypothesis proposed that the relationship between coping and adaptional outcome will be stronger when coping is measured as a response to a stressful situation (examination)than when it is measured as a personality disposition. The fourth hypothesis predicted that challenge appraisals will be positively related to adaptive outcome and threat appraisals will be negatively related to adaptive outcome. Participants (79 females; 52 males) in the study were enrolled in the Fall 1990 General Psychology course at Fort Hays State University. These students were administered two formats of the COPE by asking them to respond to the items of this coping measure with reference to (a) their third General Psychology examination (situational response format), and (b) what they ""usually do"" when they experience a stressful event...

Description: "The purpose of this investigation was to examine the types of coping strategies, social supports, and perceived control that traditional versus nontraditional students use when faced with stressors in college. The questionnaire was administered to General Psychology students, General Introductory Sociology students, and nontraditional students in a middle-sized Midwestern state university. The questionnaires included the COPE scales that assesses fifteen types of coping strategies and skills; the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL) which assesses the perceived availability of four types of social supports; the Tiffany Control Scale (TCS) that assesses one`s experience of control from within oneself, control over oneself, control over one`s environment, and control from one`s environment in eight common life situations; and a Self Report Questionnaire (SRQ) which assesses demographic information and asks the subject to identify and rate on a five point scale the most significant experience she/he had upon entering college. The results of this study suggest that, when faced with stressors in college, nontraditional students perceive themselves as having less available social supports than do traditional students. Regarding...

Description: "Much is known about the problem-solving process. Despite this availability of information, however, many individuals are not effective when faced with a problem. Bandura (1977) suggested that perceived personal competence or self-efficacy affects the amount of effort expended and also persistence at an activity, and both factors may e necessary for successful problem-solution. The Problem-Solving Inventory (PSI, Heppner, 1988), developed to measured perceived perceptions of problem-solving approaches to success in solving problem tasks. Subjects reporting problem solving confidence and greater perceived control over task outcomes on the PSI attempted more alternative solutions to the problem tasks, but were not more successful in achieving correct solutions. Responses to the PSI did not significantly related to successful completion of the problem task or to the time subjects spent working on the solution. The PSI has proven useful for planning effective counseling programs to help students solve some kinds of problems. The tasks used in this study could have been solved correctly if the standard problem-solving procedures upon which the PSI was based had been followed, yet the scores on the PSI did not successfully predict success...

Description: "The purpose of this study was to examine: (a) if a relationship exists between an individual`s sex-role orientation and that individual`s method of coping; and (b) if a relationship exists between an individual`s gender and that individual`s method of coping. Considering the adaptive behavior to be an individual`s coping abilities, several hypothesis were developed based on the androgyny theory (Bem, 1975, 1979; Block, 1974; Schaffer, 1980; Spence, Helmreich, & Stapp, 1975). The theory stated that individuals with a balance between masculine and feminine characteristics should be better adjusted than strongly sex-typed individuals. There were five hypotheses in the present study: (a) that an androgynous individual would use greater degrees of both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping as compared to other sex-role orientations; (b) that with the exception of the androgynous sex-role, a masculine sex-role orientation would use more problem-focused coping as compared to the other sex-roles; (c) that with the exception of the androgynous sex-role, a feminine sex-role orientation would use more emotion-focused coping as compared to other sex-roles; (d) that an undifferentiated sex-role would uses greater degree of less useful coping...

Description: "The purpose of the study was to gain information regarding the relationship of playing computer video games to problem-solving ability and task motivation. Subjects in the study consisted of ninety-five school-aged children in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Ninety-five subjects were divided into three groups based upon their computer video game performance: 1) 32 good computer video game players, 2) 31 intermediate computer video game players, and 3) 32 poor computer video game players. The dependent variable for the study was the subjects accumulated scores (on 10 trails) from the problem-solving computer video game ""TETRIS."" Te independent variable was the subjects` scores from the Performance Scale of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). The independent variable was administer only to groups #1 and #3. The data from the study were analyzed using direct, single discriminant analysis with two groups and one predictor variable. The results showed that good computer video game players did perform significantly better than poor computer video game players on 3 of 5 WISC-R Performance Scale subtests. Those subtests included: Block Design, Object Assembly, and Picture Completion....

Description: "One purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between three measures of learning styles among 110 undergraduate college students. An additional purpose was to determine if students` major areas of study could be differentiated on the basis of their learning styles. The students consisted of 48 male and 62 female Composition I (n=37) and Composition II (n=73) English students from 40 different major areas. Data gathered from the Inventory of Learning Processes Scale, the Learning Style Inventory, and the SOLO Taxonomy were analyzed using ANOVA. In addition, students were assessed concerning their motivation for learning in the college environment. Significant differences in learning styles were revealed between males and females, between college major areas and between students` motivation for learning. Significant correlations were displayed among various subscales of the ILP and LSI, and among the ILP and the SOLO Taxonomy levels. No significant relationships were found among the LSI subscales and the SOLO Taxonomy levels. Suggestions were made for introducing students to the concept of learning style in order to increase their potential for academic success in the college environment."

Description: "An exact definition of time has alluded scholars since the era of St. Augustine. Like all ""big"" questions, however, this has not prevented numerous studies from being undertaken and distinct categories of time from being isolated. Future time perspective (FTP) and its component dimensions (extension, coherence, directionality, density, and attitude/affectivity) are perhaps the most studied of the time categories, but this concept still lacks a widely supported and psychometrically sound assessment instrument. The Daltry (1982) FTP instrument was specifically designed to fill this void, but it has not been sufficiently replicated. If the scale proves psychometrically sound, it has a great deal of promise in clarifying the association between FTP and depression. The purpose of the current study was to gain systematic information regarding the relationship between FTP and depression, and to determine if the results of Daltry`s work can be replicated. One hundred thirty-two subjects were recruited from undergraduate psychology classes at Fort Hays State University and then were randomly assigned to three groups. Two groups underwent a mood induction procedure, Velten`s (1968) depression or elated statements,...

Description: "The purpose of this study was to assess individuals who suffer from bulimia and make a comparison with an equal number of subjects who do not suffer from bulimia. Literature has suggested that certain personality characteristics exist which may be correlated with the possibility of developing such a disorders. The data derived from the responses on the Tiffany Control Scales were gathered from volunteer subjects diagnosed with bulimia. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Family Environment Scale (FES), and the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI), have all been utilized in previous research with bulimics. The purpose of utilizing them in this study was to determine if the results from thesis instruments will be consistent with the results from previous studies. This analysis, it was hypothesized, would show that data from all instruments is consistent with previous research and that the TCS was be useful in detecting specific personality characteristics of those diagnosed as having an eating disorder. Results indicated that the MMPI was partially consistent with previous results found when utilizing this instrument. Elevations occurred on scales 2, 4, 7, 8, 9 and the MAC. The...

Description: "This thesis studied relationships between social support and the adaptive outcomes of mood, perceived competence, and self-efficacy for individuals who served in a care giving role for adults with mental retardation. First, the study hypothesized a negative relationship between social support and dysphoric mood. Secondly, a positive relationship was predicted between social support and vigor, a positive mood status. The third hypothesized relationship was that there would be a positive association between social support and perceived competence. Finally, a positive relationship between social support and generalized self-efficacy was also predicted. The present research also sought to answer the question ""Which types of social support are more strongly associated with each of the adaptive outcomes?"" A sample of 94 employed in direct care positions in a community-based agency that serves adults with mental retardation were recruited to complete a series of self-report questionnaires that assessed the above relationships. These questionnaires included a measure that indexed the frequency of a variety of socially supportive acts and a measure of appraised social support specific to the work environment. The...

Description: "The present research was designed to examine the role that self-efficacy plays in psychotherapy. Thirty-one consenting clients of 18 years and older voluntarily receiving psychological services from practicum students at the Kelly Psychological Service Center (KPSC) on the Fort Hays State University (FHSU) campus were the subjects in this study. All the therapists used in the present research were first year graduate students at FHSU enrolled as practicum students at the KPSC. The clients were randomly assigned to a Treatment Group or a Control Group. Prior to beginning therapy, clients in the Treatment Group completed two Self-Efficacy Questionnaires (SEQ) and the Current Adjustment Rating Scale (CARS), while the Control Group completed only the CARS. Therapy was then administered by the assigned therapists in a normal fashion. Prior to the fourth session, clients in the Treatment Group completed the SEQ, CARS, Patient Global Outcome Rating (PGOR), and Client Rating Form-Short (CRF-S). The Control Group competed the same instruments, except for the SEQ. The therapists completed the CARS (as pertains to the client) immediately following the initial session of therapy. Therapy was then be administered in the normal fashion. ...

Description: "Aaron Beck (Beck, Emery, & Greenberg, 1985) has proposed that Acceptance, Competence, and Control schemata function as core-issues in mental/emotional disorders. Using Derry and Kuiper`s (1981) criterion for the schematic processing of information ( the speed at which self-referent personality judgments are made), the study sought to determine whether individuals processed social information related to self concerning acceptance, competence, and control issues schematically. The SPACK Battery (Piper, 1987), which obtains measures of an individual`s schema strength for Acceptance, Competence, and Control and records the response delay on each item, was administered by computer to 151 Fort Hays State University undergraduates. The correlations between schema strength and response delay on the related items indicated that Acceptance and Competence issues (but not Control issues) were processed schematically in conformity with Beck`s hypothesis. The Revised SPACK Inventory, a subtest of the SPACK Battery consisting of items giving a significant score/response delay correlation, produced a score/response delay correlation of -.179 on the Acceptance schema, -.159 on the Competence schema, and no significant correlation on the Control...

Description: "Kirton`s Adaption-Innovation Theory of cognitive style and the Kirton Adaption Innovation Theory (KAI) have been applied to organizational settings, but they have not previously been utilized in clinical psychology. The KAI and Adaption-Innovation Theory may have implications for the scientist/practitioner model of training for clinical psychologists. The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between cognitive styles of therapists, clients, and various dimensions of therapy. This study also examined the cognitive climate of the clinical psychology environment, in terms of adaption-innovation theory. The Counselor Rating Form - Short version (CRF-S) was used as a dependent measure in this study. The CRF-S instructions were altered so that therapists were able to rate clients in terms of expertness, trustworthiness, and attractiveness. The implications and psychometric properties of this altered version of the CRF-S were explored. The subjects were clients and therapists at the Kelly Psychological Service Center at Fort Hays State University. There were seven therapists and 31 clients. The KAI and outcome measures were administered to therapists and clients prior to therapy. The outcome measures were the Current...

Description: "Two hundred and eighteen psychology and math students of Fort Hays State University helped to investigate the relationships between math anxiety and a coping style based on the attentional process. These two constructs were measured by the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) and the Miller Behavioral Style Scale (MBSS). The actual investigation used two subscales from each of the measures; the Mathematics Test Anxiety Scale and the Numerical Anxiety Scale (Rounds & Hendel, 1980) from the MARS, and the Monitor and Blunter Subscales from the MBSS (Miller, 1987). A monitor looks for more information when under threat while a blunter avoids seeking information when under threat. Each individual was categorized as a high or low monitor and blunter, as well as high or low anxious on both of the math anxiety subscales. Relations between subscales were examined within and between various categories of subjects. A relationship was found between the 2 high monitor categories and high math anxiety. A factor analysis of the MARS replicated the existence of the two subscales developed by Rounds and Hendel (1980)."

Description: "The purpose of this thesis was to study the effectiveness of different modes of social support in helping people cope with threats and with challenges. The main features of the method of the present research involved asking 96 university or college students enrolled in summer session classes to complete a packet of self-report instruments. These students were asked to identify the most stressful threat and the most stressful challenge that they encountered during a specified 45-day period of time prior to (and which did not include) the past several weeks. This period was selected because it was recent and spanned a time when it seemed reasonable to assume that students might experience significant stressors. One of the self-report questionnaires administered measured the intensity of the students` identified threats and challenges. Other instruments included measures of different modes of social support during the 45-day period, as well as open-ended questions designed to index intended supportive acts that were helpful and unhelpful to the students in coping with their threats and challenges. Students also responded to a scale that measured their predominant mood levels during the past several weeks. To answer questions posed by...

Description: "The present study examined the maximum temperature outside and reports of violent crime, property crime, and status crime. This study was modeled after a study that was conducted by Anderson, Bushman, & Groom in 1997 In which the investigators took daily maximum temperatures and found that arrests for violent crimes increased as temperatures increased. The also found that arrests for property crime remained stable, even when temperatures increased. An added variable in the present study was status crimes, or crimes for which only people under the age of 18 can be charged. This study utilized reports from 1464 juveniles (905 males, 559 females) with ages ranging from 6 to 17 who live in Wyandotte County, Kansas. All reports that were used in this study were from records obtained by the Wyandotte County Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center (JIAC) of juveniles arrested and charged with one of the identified charges. The information that was gathered by the JIAC staff during the assessment process was used as data in this study. There was a significant positive linear correlation between maximum daily temperatures and arrests for violent crimes in youth, R²=.30, bL= .174, t=2.70, p<.01. The present study hypothesized that this...

Description: "It has long been theorized that self-concept and self-esteem have an affect on achievement in school, especially in children with problems in learning such as those with specific learning disabilities. Many studies have been done looking at the effects of self-concept on achievement. Problems exist, though, in that a specific model of self concept is rarely used, homogeneous sample populations are difficult to develop, and the scales used to measure self-concept many times measure variables other than self-concept. Self-concept has been seen to be a multifaceted construct and, as such, different concepts may exist for academics, peers, parents, and physical attributes. In the present study, Shavelson`s hierarchical model of self-concept was used as a base from which to measure the general self-concepts and academic self-concepts of 22 learning disabled and 27 regular education students in grades three through five. The Self Description Questionnaire, a scale based on the hierarchical model of self-concept, was used as the instrument to measure the level of academic and general self-concepts between the two groups. The results from the present study reveal no significant differentiation between academic self-concept of children...

Description: "This paper provides as extensive literature review regarding the effects of divorce on children. The stages of divorce, as well as the factors which influence post divorce development are discussed. However, there is little research available which evaluates parents perceptions of the effects of divorce on children. This study also serves to add to that limited body of existing research. The sample consisted of 50 parents, 25 custodial and 25 noncustodial, and were selected from southwestern Kansas communities. The criterion for involvement in the study were: Parents who had undergone a divorce within the last 5 years; had a child ranging in age from six to twelve; were either the custodial parent or the noncustodial parent and lived within a radius of 60 miles from the custodial parent, and were willing to complete a Perception of Divorce Impact Questionnaire (PODI). The 15 subscale areas of the PODI and the demographic information developed on each respondent allowed comparisons to be made to determine if noncustodial parents` perceptions of the effects of divorce were different than custodial parents. The analysis revealed that the Custodial (CP) group and the Noncustodial (NP) group were cohesive. The response pattern on...

Description: "The purpose of this study was to compare the level of assertiveness in college freshmen males and college freshmen females versus college senior males and college senior females. In addition, the association between assertiveness and two variables, coping and experienced control, was assessed. Sixty traditional undergraduate students were given the following three self-report inventories to complete: College Self Expression Scale to measure assertion, COPE to assess coping skills, and Tiffany Control Scales for the reporting of experienced control. Data were analyzed by comparing group means and correlations. Results indicated that no significant differences were reported by the four groups of subjects when using the designated measurement inventories. An ANOVA procedure did indicate a significant intergroup difference on the ECT score of the TCS when the subjects were grouped by grade level and sex. Although the inventories correlated as hypothesized, only CSES and Active Coping of COPE had a significant relationship."

Description: "The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between anxiety and need for cognition. Computer anxiety has been defined as being concept specific and covering a wide variety of situations in which people interact with computers (Gilroy & Desai, 1986). Need for cognition has been defined as an individuals` tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activity (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982). This research utilized 184 subjects from Fort Hays State University. The subjects were administered the following paper-and-pencil questionnaires: the Computer Anxiety Rating Scale, the Attitudes Toward Computers Scale, the Computer Thoughts Survey, the Need for Cognition Scale, and the Personal Construct Inventory. The questionnaires were administered to groups of 40-50 subjects at a time and took approximately 45 minutes to complete. The subjects were offered extra credit points from their respective classes for their participation. The results were analyzed through a variety of co relational analysis. It was found that subjects high in need for cognition experienced less computer anxiety. Subjects high in need for cognition also had more positive thoughts, feelings and attitudes towards computers. Higher levels of...

Description: "This field study obtained information from parents of present and former students who have participated in special education, as well as students presently receiving services in mildly handicapped special education programs. Information was sought to aid in determining parent and student expectations for post high school experiences to assess whether current programs were addressing these needs. Additional information was sought from parents of former special education students to evaluate what types of skills they have found necessary in their real life experiences. Results suggested the need to reevaluate the current high school curriculum and determine if it is meeting the needs of the students it serves in terms of occupational guidance and preparation, independent living and personal skills development. Students in special education appear to expect to be independent once they leave school. The crucial question is whether special education services, as they are currently provided, address the issues of skill development to help promote this independence, as much as is possible and is needed. "

Description: "One hundred forty-nine children in grades kindergarten though 12th, ages 5 to 18 years of age participated. Children in this study were referred to special education for an evaluation or for counseling. They were referred for learning difficulties (LD), behavioral problems (BD), or they were performing exceptionally well in the classrooms (Gifted). One third of the children were from divorced homes. There were significant differences between children from divorced homes and non-divorced homes for IQ scores and a variety of academic subtests. The children from divorced homes scored lower than children from non-divorced homes, but the mean scores for both groups were within average range. Children actually being placed in special education and children not being placed in special education were also significantly different on certain variables (primarily IQs). As was expected, gifted children scored higher on more variables than did BD or LD children. BD children generally scored higher on more variables than did the LD children. "

Description: "The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) have been used as predictors in post-baccalaureate study. Results of the test are a verbal, a quantitive and an analytic score. The verbal and quantitative scores have even used more extensively in research than the analytic score. Analytic scores have been found to be predictive of admission to graduate study and advancement to Ph. D. candidacy when used in combination with other predictor variables (Mowsesian & Hays, 1985). The analytic score has also been found to be related to areas of study, with physical science majors obtaining higher mean analytic scores (GRE Interpretation Pamphlet, 1988). However, it would be advantageous to identify what constructs, beyond reasoning abilities, may be related to the analytic examinations. The establishment of a relationship with a singular, valid, and reliable construct would be beneficial. The construct of need for cognition was examined in this study. Need for cognition is defined as an individual`s ""tendency to engage in and enjoy thinking."" p. 116 (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982). The research attempted to identify a relationship between the need for cognition and a measure of a subject`s analytic ability. Analytic ability...

Description: "The purpose of this investigation was to assess the ability of the Tiffany Control Scales (TCS) to differentiate between those persons at risk and those persons not at risk for alcohol related problems in their lives. Recent literature indicates there is no adequate screening tool or clinical instrument that does not contain some fundamental difficulty with: (a) distinguishing between different samples (e.g., clinical vs. normal), (b) distinguishing between the sexes, or (c) psychometric weaknesses (e.g., reliability and error rates). A pilot study, conducted by the author, indicated that the TCS was an instrument that could be an accurate discriminator across samples, between sexes, and with a low error rate. A more in-depth assessment was warranted by the results of the pilot study. Historically relevant, and more recent theoretical views of alcohol use and abuse was reviewed, with an emphasis on an interactionist paradigm within which the TCS fits well. The interactionist view point is that people are active and effective participants in a non-deterministic world: A world in which physiological make-up, ecological and environmental influences, and personality variables influence behavior. Data, in the form of responses on...

Description: "One of the primary objectives of this study was to examine whether or not the same relationship pattern for adjustment, variability, and identity applies to a measure of a person`s adjustment to their social relationships (interpersonal adjustment) as to a measure of a person`s internal state of adjustment (intrapersonal adjustment). Two differing viewpoints were adjustment is related to developmental sources of identity in which the greatest degree of adjustment (i.e., mature flexibility) is found in a person who strongly endorses both a social and personal identity orientation was tested against the views of Miller and Thayer (1988). The present study attempted but failed to provide a more definitive conclusion. The current inquiry failed because, rather than clearly supporting either Miller and Thayer (1988) or Hogan and Cheek (1983), it produced results that were distinctly different from either of those investigations. As a result, the relationship of identity and adjustment is still unresolved. The present study did not show either est. or poorest adjustment for people who simultaneously endorse personal identity and social identity. It was found that people high on personal identity had the greatest tendency to exhibit...

Description: "Local norms in curriculum based assessment (CBA) for Kindergarten and First Grade were developed in Math and Reading for a rural Iowa community school district. One minute CBA probes of Counting Figures, Number Recognition, Addition, Subtraction, and Word Recognition were administered individually to each of 184 students. Counting Figures was administered only for Kindergarten. Addition and Subtraction was administered only for First Grade only. The Normative data is presented as descriptive statistics and cumulative frequency distributions. A correlation matrix of student performances on CBA measures and items on the Teacher Rating of Academic Performance scale demonstrate the adequacy of most forming procedures. High correlations were found for all comparisons except Counting Figures. Addition and Subtraction show only moderate relationship to teacher ratings. Students` Word Recognition skills seem to contribute to teacher perceptions of student performance levels most consistently in both grade levels. Teacher data indicate tat they view their classrooms as being above average."

Description: "The present study investigated the effects of misattributed physiological arousal on experienced anxiety and subjective arousal. Cantor, Zillmann, and Bryant (1975) and Zillmann, Johnson, and Day (1974) found that unperceived exercise-induced arousal led to increase in sexual excitement and anger and aggression, respectively. In the main experiment, 29 men and 27 women were randomly assigned to one of three groups. Subjects were tested individually. The first group of subjects viewed the four violent (frightening) film segments and rated them according to their self-perceived arousal, excitement, and anxiety induced after each segment. Measurements of pulse rate and blood pressure were taken after each segment. They then viewed a 10 minute neutral tape while seated on an exercise bicycle equipped with an ergonometer and then viewed the four frightening (violent) film segments and rated them as before. The subject pedaled the cycle for one minute wile viewing the neutral tape. The subject in group 1 pedaled during the ninth minute of the neutral tape and was expected to be aware of his or her physiological arousal. Subjects in Groups 2 and 3 also did the above, but subjects in Group 2 pedaled the bicycle for one minute at...

Description: "The formal teaching of social skills in schools has often been proposed due to their importance for academic and vocational success as wall as for long-term mental health adjustment. Research has shown that the vast majority of handicapped students have social skills deficits. This paper describes the state of the art of social skills training research and contrasts this with the state of practice with mildly handicapped students. Program evaluation methodology, including teacher surveys and interviews and a review of student`s IEPs, provides a description of current practice in a small special education cooperative. Results were consistent with previous research indicating that teachers focus on academically-related social skills. Results also suggested that mainstreaming decisions were primarily based on academic in contrast to social performance standards. Survey results suggested a lack of resources to establish in-service train gin and a lack of commitment to improving social skills training practices. Suggestions were made for additional program evaluation studies which should focus on assessment of a narrower range of social skills involving interpersonal skills only. A program evaluation/development role is proposed...

Description: "Previous research has found that individuals performing either physical (Latane`, William, & Harkins, 1979) or cognitive (Petty, Harkins, & Williams, 1980) tasks alone or in groups exert less effort in groups, an effect called social loafing. Need for cognition is defined as ""the tendency for an individual to engage in and enjoy thinking"" p. 116 (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982). Research by Petty, Cacioppo, and Kasmer (1985) compared the need for cognition with social loafing on a cognitive task. Their results showed that individuals low in need for cognition loafed on the task when they were part of a group, but that individuals high in need for cognition did not loaf on the task. The present study further investigated the influence of need for cognition on social loafing behavior. Fifty-five subjects were randomly assigned to group or individual treatment conditions. All subjects were asked to generate counterarguments to a proposal involving the institution of Senior comprehensive examinations. Measures of both overt and covert cognitive activity were taken. Results indicated that differential social loafing behavior did not occur, with subjects in the individual and group conditions generating approximately...

Description: "Violence in premarital relationships is a national problem that has only recently become a topic of interest to researchers. Previous research has shown that about 1/2 of the violent dating relationships continue after violence has occurred. Reasons for the continuation of marriages after violence has occurred have been a topic of much concern in the research of late, but reasons for the continuation of violent dating relationships have been overlooked. Learned helplessness is one reason put forth for husbands and wives continuing their relationships after violence. It has been hypothesized that women in violent relationships become helpless because they face situations within the relationship where their responses and the subsequent outcomes are not related. This present research was designed to test the theory of learned helplessness within the dating relationship and to study the relationship between courtship violence and other variables including experience with violence in the family of orientation, attitudes towards violence, and perceived alternatives to the violent situation. Of the sample, 71 percent (n=134) had been involved in a physically and/or emotionally violent relationship. Almost all of these subjects (97...

Description: "The main problem of this research was the study of relationships between perceived self-efficacy and coping. Relationships between self-efficacy and irrational though patterns were also studied. Although it has been shown that persons who are highly self-effacious effectively deal with life stressors, there appears to be no knowledge of the specific ways in which such persons cope. Hypothesis I: There is a positive relationship between perceived self-efficacy with respect to dealing with a significant stressor and the following coping mechanisms: perseverance, positive thinking, self-adaptation, rational action, and restraint. Hypothesis II: There is a negative relationship between perceived self-efficacy with respect to dealing with a significant stressor and the following coping mechanisms: escapist fantasy, self-blame, passivity, indecisiveness, sedation, and hostile reaction. Hypothesis III: There is a positive relationship between perceived self-efficacy with respect to dealing with a significant stressor and the complexity of coping responses used, as indicated by the number of different coping mechanisms employed to deal with that stressor. Hypothesis IV: There is a negative relationship between perceived self-efficacy with...

Description: "This study looked at parents` ratings of the acceptability of intervention strategies which can be used for children not completing classroom assignments. Subjects were 53 parents of elementary school children from small Midwestern towns. Three independent variables, type of intervention (positive and reductive), place of intervention (home and school), and level of behavior severity (mild, moderate, and severe) were studied. Subjects rated written behavior case descriptions and interventions using the 15 item Parent Intervention Rating Profile. A 2X2X3 analysis of variance was calculated to determine the extent to which the variance in rating scores was accounted for by the three main effects and interactions. No significant main effects were found, but all interactions between the variables were significant and thus accounted for differences in subject`s ratings of interventions. Parents` ratings of intervention acceptability were found to differ from ratings by teachers reported in previous research."

Description: "The purpose of this present study was to compare self-reported and actual self-presentational behavior. One hundred two students from several undergraduate courses were asked to take part in two separate sessions. In session one, subjects were administered a bogus ""personality inventory"". Part of this ""inventory"" was the Impression Management Checklist (Olson, 1987). The checklist was used to identify self-reported impression management style for ""consistents"" and ""impression managers"". In the second session, subjects were observed for actual self-presentation behavior. A 2x2x2.2 analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. Between subjects variables were self-presentation style, audience, and profile. The within subjects variable was item relation. A main effect for self-presentation style and a three-way interaction effect for audience by profile by item relation were obtained. The first 48 subjects participated during the spring semester, and the other 54 subjects participated during summer session. The spring semester group produced the expected results, while the summer group produced no significant effects. Differences...

Description: "This investigation is a conceptual replication of Gould, Horn, and Spreemann (1983b) designed to assess perceived sources of stress in Junior and Senior high school students participating in basketball. The participants rated the frequency with which they typically experienced thirty-three sources of stress during competition. Gould`s et al. (1983b) research revealed that ""performing up to one`s ability"", ""improving on one`s last performance"", ""participating in championship meets"", ""not wrestling well"", and ""losing"" were identified as major sources of stress. The present study found similar results with ""making mistakes"", ""performing up to one`s level of ability"", ""not playing well"", ""what my coach will think or say"", and ""improving upon one`s last performance"" as major sources of stress for basketball players. It was predicted that the same rank order of perceived sources of stress would be found as Gould`s et. al., (1983b) study. However, the correlation of the ranks from the two studies were not significant. ...

Description: "The reported study proposes an adapted version of an existing instrument which has been changed to measure the amount of control experienced by employees at work. Experienced Control Theory is presented and contrasted with Locus of Control Theory. Construction and reliability of the instrument are reported and discussed. Results of discriminant validity and the possibility of using the instrument as an indicator of coping are presented, using a sample drawn from a Midwestern hospital. Suggestions for scale refinement and recommendations for further research are discussed."

Description: "The research problem for this study was whether a woman is perceived to be as competent as a man when in a leadership role. The Attitudes Toward Women Scales (AWS) was used to classify men and women subjects into either profeminist attitude groups or conservative attitude groups. The groups rated a scripted male or female leader on the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire. Four cells were formed from the subjects` responses, high and low AWS men rating alternating male or female leaders, and high and low AWS women rating alternating male or female leaders. A three-way MANOVA was used to analyze the data. It was found that there were no significant differences between conservative and profeminist subject`s judgments of a leader`s effectiveness regardless of the leader`s gender. The results found no significant differences in leader behavior ratings from low AWS men and women subjects, which was not what was expected. "

Description: "The purpose of the study was to gain information about the effects of divorce on school-aged children. Subjects in the study consisted of thirty-seven children from intact homes and thirty-seven children from divorced homes for a total of seventy-four subjects. The independent variables for the study were the home status of the child (divorced versus intact), gender (male versus female), and grade-level (third grade versus sixth grade). The dependent variable was the subjects` scores on the Children`s Depression Inventory (CDI) developed by Maria Kovacs. The results of the study were analyzed using a two by two by two analysis of variance. The results showed that there was not a significant discrepancy in levels of depression between children from intact and divorced homes. A significant discrepancy between boys and girls and their level of depression on the CDI was not found. A 2 way interaction did reveal, however, that third grade boys and sixth grade girls showed higher levels of depression than their counterparts."

Description: "The purpose of this study was to demonstrate differences in cognitive structure between novices and experts in the domain of art history. Novice subjects were six undergraduate students at a local university who had recently completed the introductory survey course in art history. Experts were five instructors of art at the university level and a person engaged in an art-related public service occupation. All experts had been involved in art as their major profession for over 10 years. A sorting task was used to elicit verbal protocol data. The protocols were then transcribed, scored, and analyzed using concept mapping and content analysis procedures. Most of the results were in the direction the hypotheses predicted, but failed to reach statistical significance. Several factors may have contributed to the lack of significance including small sample size, large variability, particularly within the expert group, and selection procedures that failed to predict group membership accurately. On the positive side, evidence was found to support the finding in the literature that individuals tend to classify novel exemplars in the direction of their dominant schemas."

Description: "Despite the importance that is attributed to both social support and coping in determining psychological and somatic health outcomes, little is known about the relationship between social support and coping. It has been suggested that one way social support may work to protect one from stress-induced illness is through facilitating the coping of the person under stress. Recently, Thoits (1986) proposed that social support be reconceptualized as coping assistance because of the similar typologies of social support and coping. Do the kinds of social support one receives have a relationship to the way one copes with a stressful situation? A community sample of 85 women and 34 men, ages 18 to 79, completed self-report questionnaires for the investigation of relationships between social support and coping. The participants were first asked to describe their most stressful situations they had experienced in the past six months. Participants then completed the Support As Coping Assistance Measure (SACAM) in which subjects indicated the quality of assistance received from both persons helpful and unhelpful, the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (Cohen, S. Mermelstein, R., Kamarch, T., & Hoberman, H., 1986), A Support Network List...

Description: "This study was conducted to determine if release from proactive inhibition (PI) could be demonstrated for visual/nonverbal stimuli as has been previously observed in the verbal domain. Forty undergraduate students received a modified version of the Wickens` Release from Proactive Inhibition paradigm in which subjects memorized visual stimuli from one category over four trials followed by a switch to a second category or a continuation of the same class of visual material on the fifth trial. The subjects did demonstrate significant build-up of proactive inhibition over the first four trials, in addition, they released from proactive inhibition when the category of visual stimuli was changed on the fifth trial. The results were found with both the traditional error measure of memory and with a new response time measure."

Description: "A cueing treatment has been conceptualized as a means by which a novel, neutral stimulus (or stimuli) may come to elicit a conditioned response without any explicit pairing of the cue with the unconditioned stimulus. One other procedure which produces a similar result is higher-order conditioning. It is important to determine the relationship between a cueing treatment and higher-order conditioning to determine whether they may be one in the same. That is, is the mechanism underlying what has been called "" cueing"" the same that underlying higher-order conditioning. The present study utilized rats in a first or second-order conditioning design. The first-order groups were tested to a CS1 or a contextual cue to determine if similar levels of conditioning were attained. Results indicated that a contextual cue can effectively replace a CS1 in first-order conditioning. However, attempts to use a cue in place of a CS1 in second-order conditioning produced mixed results. One pairing of forward second-order conditioning using CS2-CS1 and CS2-cue did not result in significant conditioning to the CS2. Likewise, a backward second-order pairing of CS1-CS2 did not produce conditioning to the CS2. However, by...

Description: "This study was designed to assess the relationship between shyness and several aspects of sensitivity to nonverbal communication. Correlations were made between scores obtained on a shyness scale and scores of overall nonverbal sensitivity, sensitivity to positive nonverbal messages, sensitivity to negative nonverbal messages, and the judging of positive nonverbal messages as being negative nonverbal messages. Subjects were 38 male and 50 female undergraduate students. The subjects viewed a number of videotaped scenes and made judgments about the scenes. These judgments were scored to determine the various aspects pertaining to nonverbal sensitivity. The subjects also completed a shyness scale, a depression scale, and a loneliness scale. It was hypothesized that the shyness scores would be (a) negatively correlated with the scores of overall nonverbal sensitivity; (b) negatively correlated with the scores of sensitivity to positive nonverbal messages; (c) positively correlated with the scores of sensitivity to negative nonverbal messages; (d) positively correlated with the number of positive nonverbal messages judged as negative nonverbal messages. No significant correlations pertain to the hypotheses were obtained. The...

Description: "The purpose of the study was to ascertain if there was a change in self-reported attitudes of the court-ordered participants between the beginning of session I and following session II of a Pre-divorce workshop, and if there was a relationship between self-reported attitude and pre- and post-test scores over information presented in the workshop. The fifty-five subjects (22 males, 33 females) comprised the sample. Highly positive correlations were found between initial and post-class attitudes and between initial and post-test of knowledge scores. The subjects` initial attitudes were not found to be correlated with pre- or post-test of knowledge scores. When the subjects were divided into low, medium and high initial attitude groups, it was found that all groups showed improvements in attitudes scores with the low attitude group demonstrating more significant improvement than the high attitude group. A MANOVA was performed to assess the factors that may have influenced the subjects` attitude toward the workshop: subject gender, age, and desire for divorce. A significant main effect for sex of the subject and a significant three way interaction for age, sex and desire for divorce were found. For both effects, the attitude...

Description: "School phobia has been frequently discussed since the 1930`s, yet there has been little agreement regarding etiology or appropriate treatment. Although the incidence is only approximately 2 percent of the school aged population (Kennedy, 1965, Millman, Schaefer, & Cohen, 1981), there has been much attention paid to this behavior in the literature. There is little agreement regarding the demographics, personality characteristics or family structure of the school phobic. Popular theories were psychoanalytically oriented in the past, and there has been considerable debate that school phobia is actually a form of separation anxiety. Current explanations are more behaviorally inclined, yet there is still no consensus. Treatment recommendations have followed the same pattern of emphasis being initially psychoanalytic and more recently behaviorist in nature. Although it is agreed that treatment should be rapidly initiated, there are no ""state of the art"" treatments. The lack of adequate, empirical, and comparative research is discussed. There is a need for practical guidelines for school professionals in order to provide rapid and effective treatment. A Treatment Guideline and Decision Matrices were developed...

Description: "To date, no research has focused on the type A individual`s ability to discriminate between assertion and aggression. Lange and Jakubowski (1976) concluded that before individuals can be assertive they must first be able to discriminate between assertion, aggression, and passivity. The purpose of the present research was to determine if type A individuals lack assertiveness and lack the ability to discriminate between assertion, aggression, and passivity. The subjects listened to and rated a tape containing 36 randomly ordered interactions (12 assertive, 12 passive, and 12 aggressive). Fifteen type A individuals and 15 type B individuals were used. To determine if the subjects were type A or type B the Jenkins Activity Survey was used. In addition, the subject`s level of assertiveness was assessed using the Adult Self-Expression Scale, Personal Assertion Analysis, and a self-rated question on assertion. The results indicated that type A individuals made more errors at discriminating assertiveness, aggressiveness and passivity. Type A and B subjects were not found to differ on assertiveness as measured by the ASES. However, on the PAA the two groups differed significantly on both assertiveness and passivity. Results did not indicate a...

Description: "Prediction of long-term academic achievement is an important characteristic of tests that measure intellectual ability. While it has been demonstrated tat the scores from standardized achievement tests can be predicted, it was not known if SRA Achievement Series scores could be predicted from WISC-R IQs. The purpose of the present study was to examine if the WISC-R IQs (Verbal Performance) could accurately predict SRA Reading, Mathematics, and Language Arts scores for a sample (N=198) of female and male subjects at five grade levels. Results revealed that both the Verbal and Performance WISC-R IQs made a statistically significant contribution to the prediction equations for Reading and Mathematics at grades 1 through 5 and for Language Arts at grade 2. Only the Performance IQ score contributed significantly to Language Arts at grades 3, 4, and 5. Separate equations for females and males were developed for Reading at grades 1 and 3 and for Language Arts at grades 2, 3, and 4. The standard error of estimate for each equation made it impractical, from a practioner`s point of view, to use only WISC-R IQ scores to ascertain an individual`s expected performance on the SRA Achievement Series. Prediction of SRA scores could perhaps be...

Description: "This study investigated the effects of visual feedback and token reinforcement on voice volume changes in mentally retarded adults with voice intensity disorders. A voice-volume feedback apparatus was used in training six subjects who spoke too softly. In addition to visual feedback, three subjects from the ""Loud"" group and three from the ""Soft"" group received reinforcement, in the form of tokens (plastic chips), for speaking at the appropriate intensity. There was a significant improvement in control of voice volume in the ""Loud"" and ""Soft"" groups pre- and post (five, 12 and 19 days post-training) baseline decibel readings, cumulative totals of time for the green light on, and team member ratings of each participant. There were no significant differences between the token reinforcement subgroup and the non-token reinforcement subgroup for decibel ratings on time for the green light on. Visual feedback alone was sufficient to motivate these subjects to speak at an appropriate volume level. The decreases and increases in speech volume generalized to the non-training setting."

Description: "The purpose of the present study was to examine a possible correlation between a child`s skill in recognizing the labels and logos in his/her environment and scores on a reading readiness test. Preschool children age three years eight months to five years eight months were recruited from the local area. A total of 38 subjects, males and females, were tested. The subjects were administered three measures: a test of receptive vocabulary (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, PPVT-R), a measure of reading readiness (Test of Early Reading Ability, TERA), and a measure of environmental print awareness (Environmental Print cards). Ten logos were presented to the subjects, each appearing in three forms. The first form consisted of the logo with all content (color, form, etc.) cues, the second form had some content cues and presented the logo in block print. Pearson correlations were run. The results partially supported the first hypothesis that the older subjects performed better on the measure of environmental print awareness than did younger subjects. The results failed to support a second hypothesis that a significant correlation would be found between scores on the environmental print cards and the TERA. "

Description: "The relationships between induced uncertainty and curiosity and between induced uncertainty and learning were investigated in young, middle-, and older-aged adults. Participants were asked to select the most frequently occurring words in the English language from word lists. Uncertainty was induced by varying the difficulty of this task. Participants gave confidence ratings about their performance and curiosity ratings about the answers to the tasks. Learning was measured by an incidental recognition test of the correct task words. Results indicated that distinct levels of uncertainty were induced by these tasks. While performance decreased with increasing task difficulty for all age groups, confidence ratings followed this declining trend for young adults only. Decreased performance trends were not reflected in the confidence ratings of older adults. While curiosity ratings about the task were high for all groups, a linear relationship was found between increasing uncertainty and increasing curiosity for young adults only. Results also indicated an inverted U relationship between uncertainty and learning for all age groups. Finally, no age differences were found on state and trait curiosity measures given to all...

Description: "The relationships between induced uncertainty and curiosity and between induced uncertainty and learning were investigated in young, middle-, and older-aged adults. Participants were asked to select the most frequently occurring words in the English language from word lists. Uncertainty was induced by varying the difficulty of this task. Participants gave confidence ratings about their performance and curiosity ratings about the answers to the tasks. Learning was measured by an incidental recognition test of the correct task words. Results indicated that distinct levels of uncertainty were induced by these tasks. While performance decreased with increasing task difficulty for all age groups, confidence ratings followed this declining trend for young adults only. Decreased performance trends were not reflected in the confidence ratings of older adults. While curiosity ratings about the task were high for all groups, a linear relationship was found between increasing uncertainty and increasing curiosity for young adults only. Results all indicated an inverted U relationship between uncertainty and learning for all age groups. Finally, no age differences were found on state and trait curiosity measures given to all participants."

Description: "The present investigation examined the level of depression in a sample of 100 learning disabled and nonlearning disabled fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students. Levels of depression were assessed using a Children`s Depression Inventory (CDI) developed by Kovacs (1979). Students were rated by their classroom teachers on behaviors related to depression based on the DSM-III criteria using the Hall Behavior Rating Scale. Children were matched according to grade levels, sex, and educational placement (learning disabled vs. regular education). It was found that children identified as learning disabled obtained significantly higher scores on the CDI than children in the regular education classroom. There were no significant differences among levels. There was a significant correlation between CDI scores and teacher ratings of the students. It was found that children with high CDI scores were also perceived by their teachers as having a loss of interest in usual activities, fatigue, psychomotor agitation or retardation, feelings of worthlessness and diminished ability to concentrate."

Description: "The following study examines the possibility of gender differences in mathematical performance. The study differs from previously conducted studies in that: 1) the influence upon achievement in mathematics from general intelligence was statistically controlled; 2) the subjects involved in the study fell within the normal range of intelligence and do not indicate difficulty in learning, and 3) the subjects` performance were analyzed at grade levels two, four, and six which are lower grade levels than the majority of previous studies. Normal Curve Equivalency (NCE) scores from Science Research Associated (SRA) Achievement Series at grade levels two, four, and six were collected over the past eleven years of administrations. A set of three mathematics NCE scores for each student in each grade level was included, those being: Mathematics Concepts, Mathematics Computations and Total Mathematics. A Wechsler test of intelligence was administered to the subjects during their first grade year. The Full Scale Intelligence Quotient Score was co varied out to control for influence of intelligence and it also indicated those subjects whose scores were in the normal range to include them in the study. A multivariate analysis of covariance with...

Description: "The main purpose of this research was to examine relationships between the personality construct of hardiness and specific coping responses used by persons to deal with stressful life events. The following hypotheses were tested: Hypothesis I: There is a positive relationship between hardiness and the following coping mechanisms: perseverance, positive thinking, drawing strength from adversity, self-adaptation, humor, rational action, and restraint. Hypothesis II: There is a negative relationship between hardiness and the following coping mechanisms: fatalism, escapist fantasy, intellectual denial, self-blame, sedation, avoidance, withdrawal, wishful thinking, passivity, indecisiveness, and hostile reaction. Hypothesis III: There is a positive relationship between hardiness and the complexity of coping mechanisms employed, as indicated by the number of different coping mechanisms used by subjects to deal with a significant stressful event. Hypothesis IV: There is a negative relationship between hardiness and the intensity of stress caused by a significant stressful event. The need for this research stems from the lack of studies of the influence of personality factors on coping. Moreover, although conceptual links between hardiness...

Description: "Using a multidimensional approach, this study investigated the relationships between personality variables and death concern. The study utilized Durlak and Kass`s (1981) conceptualization of death concern in terms of five factors. These factors are (a) Negative Evaluation of Personal Death, (b) Reluctance to Interact with the Dying, (c) Negative Evaluation of Pain, (d) Reactions to Reminders of Death and (e) Preoccupation with Thoughts of Dying. Personality and death concern was studied by examining hypothesized relationships between these factors and personality variables. Examining the hypothesis entailed using a sample of 116 participants. The sample consisted of college students as well as heterogeneous subgroups of non-college adults (75 females, 41 males). These participants responded to a demographic data sheet, the 16PF (16 Personality Factor Questionnaire) and a battery of four death concern measures. The latter measures were selected so as to provide indices of each of the five death concern factors. Of ten hypotheses about personality-death concern relationships, one was strongly supported, three received partial support, and six received no support. Results pertaining to four additional hypotheses about relationships...

Description: "This study examined the effect of the personality construct of cognitive rigidity/flexibility on critical decision-making behaviors. The specific behaviors were planning, scanning and verification of information prior to and subsequent to making a decision. The effect of rigidity/flexibility on decision-making was studied under two conditions of information availability about the decision task. The two conditions were ""without"" and ""with"" information. These conditions were designed to create either a well- or ill-defined situation for the subjects. Performance was measured in terms of quality of decision, number of strategies used, and speed of decision-making. Measurements were also made of time spent searching for information and time spent verifying the correctness of the decision. It was hypothesized that Rigid subjects would be more susceptible to perceptual and cognitive set or ideation perseveration. This was expected to lead to poor performance relative to Flexibles in the Ill-defined condition. However, in the Well-defined condition it was expected that the Rigid subjects would more readily accept the set provided by the task instructions and perform better than the Flexibles. The...

Description: "This study investigated revised applications of therapeutic music In childbirth, specifically examining its effects upon stress and pain. After examining literature on childbirth stress and pain, the applications of therapeutic music in psychophysiology, and current practices in music-assisted childbirth, it was concluded that implementation of music-assisted childbirth needed simplification in order to survive as a hospital program. A post test-only control group design tested the hypothesis that a simplified music program could reduce stress and pain during prepared natural childbirth. Consenting subjects from local Lamaze natural childbirth classes were randomly assigned to music or control groups. Music subjects used a set of programmed music tapes with their Lamaze techniques, both during home practice and at the hospital. Information collected on et systolic blood pressure change (labor and delivery average minus prenatal average) and number of standardized pain medication doses administered were compared by group via multivariate analysis of variance. Univariate analyses and personal phone interviews provided follow-up information. Although it was hypothesized that the music group would show significantly less blood pressure...

Description: "The present investigation was designed to study the relationship between the ability to forget unwanted information and age. Hypotheses were evaluated through the use of the Directed Forgetting Paradigm (Bjork, 1972) in which the position of a cue to forget items of information was varied. Parts of the present investigation were a replication of a 1974 Timmins study. The two groups participating in this study were an ""elderly"" group of 24 subjects between 60 and 80 years of age, and a ""young"" group of 24 general psychology students. Each subject participated in four conditions, and in each condition the subjects were given 3 lists of words. They were asked to forget one of the 3 lists in each condition and the other two lists they were asked to remember. In general the results showed that an F-cue was most effective when it preceded the list of words to which it referred. Both recall and recognition test results showed the same overall patterns. As hypothesized, the young recalled significantly more words on three dependent measures. These results show less efficient memory processes for the elderly. Two of the conditions in the present investigation could be directly compared to the...

Description: "A substantial body of evidence indicates that the two cerebral hemispheres differ in their contributions to emotional behavior. This research suggests that the right hemisphere plays a dominant role in the perception of affective stimuli and the production of negative mood states such as depression. Evidence also exists implicating greater left hemisphere participation in positive mood states such as euphoria. The purpose of the present study was to determine if females who engaged in self-generated emotional mutation varying demonstrated asymmetries in cerebral activity. A 3 (quality of emotion) X 2 (cognitive strategy) repeated measures design was used. Each of ten female subjects performed the emotional tasks using either a verbal or visual cognitive strategy. Frontal lobe EEG alpha was recorded bilaterally. The results indicated that the experience of negative emotion produced a shift towards greater right hemisphere activity that differed significantly from both the neutral and the positive emotional tasks. The positive emotional tasks produced a shift in laterality towards greater left hemisphere activity, but this shift did not differ significantly from the non-emotional condition. Heart rate served as an indicator of...

Description: "The purpose of the present study was to replicate and expand on a study conducted by Feltz (1980). A path analytic procedure was utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of three theoretical models (an anxiety-based, Bandura, and Feltz) in predicting approach/ avoidance behavior with 40 male and female highly test-anxious college students exposed to an anagram solution task. An anxiety model, based on Mowrer`s two-factor theory and a ""tree-systems"" approach to anxiety, assumed that cognitive anxiety, physiological arousal, and previous related performance all have a direct causal effect on avoidance behavior. Self-efficacy was only considered an effect of these three anxiety components. For the Bandura model, previous performance and autonomic arousal indirectly influenced avoidance performance via self-efficacy. Self-efficacy was presumed to be the only variable to have a direct effect on avoidance performance. The Feltz model. which was a respecification of Bandura`s self-efficacy model, assumed that previous anagram performance had both a direct and indirect influence by way of self-efficacy on succeeding performance. Physiological arousal was hypothesized to predict the initial anagram attempt only. The...

Description: "To date, no research has been published on therapist assertiveness and its relationship with adaptive client behaviors, other than client assertiveness, during therapeutic process and outcome. Janzen and Myers (1981) proposed that assertive behavior is required for the affective implementation of any therapy technique. Based on this proposal, the authors formulated 9 therapist rights that they conclude are essential for an effective, assertive therapist. In addition several studies have found that therapist. In addition, several studies have found that therapist gender and client/non-client expectations interacts with many variables, including assertiveness, in therapy process and outcome (e.g., Angle & Goodyear, 1984; Fried Lander, 1982; Kirschner, Genack, & Hauser, 1978; Lee, Hallberg, Jones, & Haase, 1980). In general , females who behave assertively receive more negative reactions than do males with assertive behaviors (e.g., Kern, Cavell, & Beck, 1985; Kelly, Ker, Kirckley, Patterson, & Keane, 1980). In light of this, the present study represents an extension of the above mentioned research. The purpose of this study was to determine possible effects of therapist assertiveness and gender on non-client expectations for a...

Description: "This research investigated the relationship between altruism and dishonesty as they were affected by appearance of the perceived victim, location of the experiment, monetary value, and sex of the potential helper. To determine this relationship, a field experimental procedure was used in which a female student confederate, either well-dressed or casually dressed, dropped either a half-dollar or quarter while approaching a subject (total number of subjects was 64 males and 64 females). The subject was either a student walking through a college campus or an adult citizen walking through a section of a business district. An observer recorder whether the subject picked the coin up and returned it to the confederate (altruism), picked it up and kept it (dishonesty), or ignored the dropped coin (apathy). Based upon past research, it was predicted that the subjects located on campus would respond altruistically towards casually dressed confederates and dishonestly towards well-dressed confederates. The subjects located in the business district were expected to respond altruistically towards well-dressed confederates and dishonestly towards casually dressed confederates. It was also hypothesized that an interaction would occur between...

Description: "The purpose of this study was to examine: 1) possible gender differences in children`s expression of aggression in story sequences; 2) possible gender differences in children`s expression of aggression control in story sequences; 3) the relationship between aggression content of stimuli and amount of fantasy aggression (FA) expressed; and 4) the relationship between aggression content of stimuli and the amount of aggression control expressed. Subjects were randomly selected from a group of 2nd and 3rd grade volunteers. The Fantasy Aggression Task (FAT), a projective technique developed by Brodzinsky, Messer, and Tew (1979), was modified for use in the present study. Six stimulus cards were used. The six stimulus cards selected depicted one of 3 different situations, with males in 3 scenes and females in the other 3 scenes. Subjects` stories were scored for FA content and aggression control. Results indicated no gender differences for the expression of FA or FA control in story sequences. No differences were found in subjects` responses to male and female stimulus characters. Total FA expressed varied with aggression content of stimuli. Low aggression content stimuli elicited the least amount of Total FA and progressively more Total...

Description: "Relaxation training was integrated into the regular education program of 2 rural Kansas communities. The treatment group, totaling 9 Kindergarten students, received 9 training sessions of approximately 15 minutes in length. Physiological indices of relaxation were provided by a hand held finger thermometer. A significant average increase of 1.77o in finger temperature from base-line to post-treatment indicates a positive outcome of the procedures. Self-report measures of chronic anxiety were made using the Revised Children`s Manifest Anxiety Scale. No significant change was obtained following relaxation training. Measurement of the subjects` anxiety-related behavior was made using a combination of three behavior rating scales. A total of 45 items were drawn from the Quat-Peterson Behavior Problem Checklist, Connor`s Teacher Rating Scale, and the David`s Rating Scale. These items comprised the two orthogonal factors labeled Hyperactive and Shy-Inept. Children`s behavior was assessed in school by the classroom teacher. Teacher reports indicated no significant change in anxiety-related behavior due to the intervention."

Description: "Kinsbourne`s (1972) hemispheric activation model proposes that the left and right cerebral hemispheres are activated differentially in response to different question sets depending on the type of information being processed (verbal or spatial). Further, Kinsbourne argues that this activation may be measured by the direction of lateral eye movements (LEMs) following a given type of question. Using two types of question sets (verbal and spatial), two modes of question presentation ( visual and auditory), and male and female college students, the present study obtained mixed results, many of which failed to support a number of predictions derived from the hemispheric activation model. In particular, the data suggest that the female brain is no necessarily less lateralized than the male brain, but rather, may be lateralized in a different manner than that of the male brain. Spatial question do no appear to differentially activate the right hemisphere (generally considered involved with spatial processing) nor do verbal questions primarily elicit left hemispheric processing (generally considered involved with verbal processing). These results are discussed in terms of the utility of using LEMs to measure activation of the two cerebral...

Description: "The present study inquired into the question of influence of birthdays on mortality in rural western Kansas. It was hypothesized that dying would be postponed until after a birthday, resulting in significantly increased frequency of deaths after this date and a significant decrease before. Data were collected from obituaries of a local newspaper in issues between January 1, 1980 thru December 31, 1984. A one tailed 1x2 Chi Square analysis was performed. The results failed to support the hypothesis in full. Only males, 54 and younger showed a significant dip in the frequency of death before the birthdate and a significant increase after the birthdate."

Description: "The study examined reversal frequencies of three ambiguous figures (the Necker cube, the Schroeder stairs, the Rubin vase) in seven viewing conditions. One hundred and fifty-eight undergraduates volunteers enrolled in general psychology classes were randomly assigned to each of the 7 conditions. The subjects passively viewed one figure for 3 minutes followed by a 3 minute rest, then viewed a second illusion for 3 minutes. The experimenter recorded the number of reversals verbally reported by the subjects. Three conditions were unmixed conditions, in that, the same illusion was viewed for each of the two trials, Condition I (N-N) consisted of viewing the Necker cube for both trials. Condition II (S-S) consisted of viewing the Schroeder stairs for both trials and Condition III (R-R) consisted of viewing the Rubin vase for both trials. The last four conditions were mixed conditions, in that, a different illusion was viewed during each trial. Condition IV (N-S) consisted of viewing the Necker cube first followed by the Schroeder stairs. Condition V (S-N) consisted of viewing the Schroeder stairs first followed by the Necker cube. Condition VI (N-R) consisted of viewing the Necker cube first followed by the Rubin vase, while...

Description: "The current study utilized 114 subjects and was divided into two sections: The first dealt with the development of a scale assessing boredom (the Subjective Boredom Rating Scale; SBRS). The factor analysis of the results of the scale indicated that three factors were assessed. The factors were named ""Repetitive Boredom,"" and ""Interactive Boredom."" This scale was used in the collection of the data for the second part of this study. The second part of the study dealt with Frankl`s view of humanity`s purpose in life and how this construct is related to seeking notice goals, sensation seeking, and boredom. The first hypothesis found that there is a moderate inverse relationship between boredom and purpose in life; the hypothesis was supported. The second hypothesis found an inverse relationship between SSS and SONG was almost nonexistent; this hypothesis was not supported. The fifth hypothesis found that a multiple regression equation was supported, that is, the PIL, SSS, and SONG were used as predictor variables, and the SBRS was the criterion variable. Two secondary hypotheses were also supported. The second secondary hypothesis found that the SBRS and SSS have very little in common; the...

Description: "Jacobson and Anderson`s nonempirically-based pilot observations for their 1982 study revealed that subjects tended to give high ratings of social skill to those individuals who self-disclosed only when directly solicited to do so and who tended to avoid unsolicited self-references. The present study hypothesized that individuals who gave only solicited self-disclosures would receive higher ratings of social-skillfulness, social appropriateness, and interpersonal attraction than individuals who give only unsolicited self-disclosures. In the present study, classes of male and female students taking general education courses were randomly assigned to listen to one of four audio taped scenarios which consisted of one male and one female actor conversing. In each tape, one actor was giving either solicitated or unsolicitated self-disclosure to the opposite-sexed nondisclosure. After subjects had listened to the audiotape, they related both the discloser and nondisclosure on the three dimensions of social appropriateness, social skillfulness, and interpersonal attractiveness. A three-way multivariate analysis of variance was conducted to determine the existence of significant relationships within the data. This analysis confirmed the...

Description: "Dovidio and Morris (1975) conducted a study that examined the effects of stress and commonality of fate on males` helping behavior. These authors found that high stress facilitated helping behavior when individuals shared a common fate, but inhibited helping behavior when fate was dissimilar. A design replication (Hayden, Jackson, & Guydish, 1983) of this study examined the effects of these variables on females` helping behavior. Consistent with the original study, Hayden et al. (1983) found a significant stress-fate interaction and also a greater overall amount of helping behavior than that found by Dovidio and Morris (1975). The present study was a replication and extension of the Dovidio and Morris (1975) study with the addition of the following two variables: sex of confederate and sex of subject. This experiment was a 2 (stress) X 2 (fate) X 2 (subject sex) X 2 (confederate sex) factorial design. There were high and low stress conditions and common and dissimilar fate conditions, with both males and females employed as subjects and confederates. Each subject was randomly assigned to one of four stress-fate conditions: high stress-common fate (both subject and confederate told they would participate in a shock experiment), high...

Description: "The main purpose of this study was to examine relationships between burnout and 13 intervention variables that have been proposed to prevent or alleviate burnout. Seven of these variables describe the behavior or personality characteristics of the human service worker (helper); six of the variables describe characteristics of the helper`s support system. Hypothesis I of the study proposed that there is a relationship between each intervention variable and burnout such that higher values of the variable are associated with scores indicating lower levels of burnout. Hypothesis II was that a combination of all six support system variables discriminates between helpers in a high burnout category and helpers in a low burnout category better than any single support system variable and better than any combination of only some of these variables. The method involved administering a measure of the intervention variables and a measure of burnout to 88 teachers employed in the school district of a small Midwestern town. The measure of the intervention variables was prepared especially for the present study and was referred to as the Employee Attitudes Survey (EAS). Of the 13 EAS subscales, one subscale consisted of the items from the Frequency...

Description: "The following study was conducted to examine the relationship between an individual`s perceived belief of life meaning and motivation to seek meaning, with measures of interpersonal functioning. Areas of interpersonal functioning included loneliness, assertiveness, trust, self-disclosure, inclusion, control and affection. Eighty-six participants were given a test-booklet comprised of paper and pencil questionnaires. Major findings indicated that a relationship does exist between an individual`s feeling of life meaning and interpersonal functioning. The best predictors of life meaning were found to be loneliness and self-disclosure. No relationship was found between an individual`s motivation to seek more meaning and measures of interpersonal functioning."

Description: "A relationship exists between television watching in children and aggression (Eron, Huesman, Brice, Fischer, & Mermelstein, 1983); children viewing violent television programs behave more aggressively than children viewing nonviolent programs. A relationship has also been indicated between sports and aggression (Fisher, 1976; Goldstein, 1979; Lefebvre, Leith, & Bredemeier, 1980). The present study studied the relationship between videogame play and aggression. It was hypothesized that children, after playing a videogame that had been judged violent, would display more aggressive behavior than after playing a videogame that had been judged nonviolent. Subjects (10 male and 10 female) were recruited from local youth organizations and from personal contacts made by the experimenter in Hays, Kansas. All subjects played the violent and the nonviolent videogames in order to serve as their own control. A control dial (CD), enabling subjects to change the brightness level on a confederate`s television set, was used to obtain the dependent measure of either aggressive or nonaggressive behavior. Behavioral measures were obtained under three different conditions: a) baseline, b) after playing a game judged to be violent and c) after...

Description: "Little research has been done on the meaning of sexual intercourse and the way that men and women construe the experience, it`s value (or lack of), and their expectations of the experience. Herold and Goodwin (1981) imposed a three virginity-status group structure on their subjects to assess differences that existed in how individuals made the transition from virginity to non-virginity. The transition, it was suggested, was based on many things unique to the individuals including their expectations of the sexual intercourse experience. It was further suggested (Schechterman, McCabe, & Fulmer, 1982) that one`s expectations not only influence one`s present virginity status, but also how one feels (one`s mood after sexual intercourse has taken place. This post-intercourse affect may stay with individuals and govern many of their future sexual intercourse behaviors, expectations, and post-intercourse moods. In this research, four virginity-status groups were used to assess both status differences and sex differences of post-intercourse expectations and mood: Adamant Virgin (AV), Potential Non-virgin (PNV), Non-virgin (NV), and Regretful Non-virgin (RNV). All four groups were expected to lend information about post-intercourse mood...

Description: "This study investigated the relationship of Originality, Fluency, Flexibility, and Elaboration as measured by the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking to scores taken for the WISC-R`s of 40 EMR students. The Torrance scores of students placed in EMR programs early in their school career were compared to the scores of students at the same grade levels who were placed late in EMR programs. Students placed in EMR programs later in their school careers scored lightly higher on the Torrance than students placed in EMR programs early. However, this difference was not significant. No relationship was found between teacher scores on the Torrance and the mean scores of their respective classes. Scores for creativity were unrelated to scores for intelligence. "

Description: "A multidimensional scaling method was applied to nonclient preferences about psychotherapy as a beginning step toward establishing the basic dimensions along which therapy preferences may be described. Fifty-one therapy preference statements were generated on the basis of a conceptual framework involving a miscellaneous category and Rosen`s (1967) five a priori categories (Counselor Attributes; Counselor Personality; Counseling Procedures; Problems and Topics; Counseling Resources). These preferences were then presented to 84 nonclient university students in the form of a card deck, with one preference typed on each card. Participants were asked to sort the 1 preferences into five categories on the basis of similarity. The number of times any two preferences were placed together was recorded and entered into a data matrix. The matrix was then analyzed by the ALSCAL program in the SAS computer system. A four-dimensional solution appeared to provide the most satisfactory representation of the data. Dimension 1 seemed to represent the preferences in terms of what type of help is preferred: preference for a non-psychotherapeutic, medical type of help seemed reflected at the positive end of this dimension while preference for a...

Description: "This study was an attempt to replicate and extend an experiment by Camp, Monroe, Markley, & Kramer (1982) dealing with the effects of the ""aha"" experience in people of different ages. The ""aha"" experience is defined as a state of noncomprehension followed by a state of comprehension. In order for an ""aha"" to occur, a sudden insight or inference must take place. The Camp et al. (1982) study demonstrated several things. In that study, older adults experience as many ""ahas"" and recalled as many aha-related sentences as younger adults. However, several procedural shortcomings were found. First, there was a need to have a measure of mental processing on a stimulus by stimulus basis. Secondly, a more direct measure of the level of understanding of experimental stimuli was needed. Camp et al. attempted to measure whether or not the sentence made sense to subjects. There was no measure of how well each sentence was understood. the present study represents an attempt to address these points. More importantly, the basic issues examined in the correct research were whether older individuals are as able or willing to make and use inferences as compared with...

Description: "The purpose of this study was to determine relations between measures of aggression and ability level of male and female sports participants. Subjects for this study were randomly selected college students who participated in intramural basketball. Ten male and ten female subjects were chosen from each of four levels of competition (A, B, C, and D leagues). Aggression measures were determined by scores on the Buss-Durkee Inventory and the Zaks and Walters Aggressiveness Scale. Group differences and correlations between the measures were examined. Results included the finding that skilled male and female sports participants were not significantly more aggressive than their less skilled counterparts. However, male sports participants were significantly (p < .05) more aggressive than female sports participants. A strong positive correlation (.37) between the Buss-Durkee Inventory and the Zaks and Walters Aggressiveness Scale was found."

Description: "This thesis had four purposes. These were to study the: (a) information network that exists among clergy and mental health workers; (b) referral network that exists among clergy and mental health workers; © factors that inhibit pastors` referrals to mental health workers; (d) extent to which previous findings about mental health worker-clergy relationships apply to rural settings. Data bearing on these purposes were collected by individually interviewing clergy in a rural Midwestern county. Of 31 pastors and 7 assistant pastors in the county, 34 (89 percent) participated in the study. These pastors were administered a standard interview survey consisting of 20 items within the context of a single interview session. The sessions were conducted by trained interviewers who were graduate students in psychology. Results included the finding that pastors receive most of their mental health related information through workshops at which mental health professionals speak (p<0.05). This finding suggests that relationships between clergy and mental health workers could be improved by insuring that pastors are adequately informed about such workshops. The same finding also suggests that pastors would most likely be receptive to workshops that...

Description: "This study investigated three lines of research and their inter-relationship involving the development of perceptual nonrigidity in children. Perceptual nonrigidity was defined as an individual`s ability to perceive an ambiguous stimulus in a variety of ways. The three lines of research involve susceptibility to illusions, research based on Piagetian theory, and creativity. The literature suggested that susceptibility to illusions generally increased with age in children. Piagetian research indicated that children develop the ability to make deductive inferences and generate multiple hypotheses with advancing age, and thus may be more susceptible to visual illusions as they grow older. Literature dealing with chronological age and creativity indicated that creativity tends to decrease with age. It was suggested that this decrease may be due to the stifling effects of education. However, these findings have not shown consistent linear trends with age. Creativity in college students was shown to be correlated with susceptibility to reversal illusions. The primary hypothesis of this study was that a total flexibility score, made up of equally weighted scores from illusion tasks (Necker cube and a modified version of The Embedded Figures...

Description: "This research investigated whether any correlation exists between self-attention and a response to a visual perceptual illusion. Self-attention was defined to include both the dispositional trait of self-consciousness and the situational state of self-awareness. Perceived reversals of geometric figures were the specific illusion response of interest. Subjects were classified as high or low in private self-consciousness on the basis of a self-report questionnaire. Half of each self-consciousness group was randomly assigned to a condition designed to increase self-awareness. Subjects passively viewed two geometric figures, the order of which was counterbalanced for each group and condition, and reported perceived reversals within a specified time period. The data were analyzed in terms of a 2 x 2 multivariate analysis of variance design to determine the effects of dispositional and/or situational self-attention upon the frequency of perceived reversals. The results indicated no relationship between individual differences in self-attention (either dispositional or situational) and individual differences in susceptibility to visual illusions. Reported reversals for each stimulus were highly correlated. There were no gender...

Description: "Social facilitation refers to the enhancement of an organism`s performance in the presence of other organisms of the same species and is considered one of the oldest experimental paradigms of social psychology. Since 1897, when the first recorded social facilitation studies were performed, an enormous amount of information on this phenomenon has been collected. The data that have been collected on social facilitation have characteristically revealed contradictory results. Many experimenters have investigated this phenomenon in an attempt to explain socially facilitated behavior and three main theories have fared well in this attempt. However, none of these theories have been totally satisfactory. The present investigation offers a new approach in dealing with the social facilitation phenomenon in that this research looks at the sociability on an organism as a possible variable in explaining social facilitation. Eighty-two animal studies from the literature were collected and placed in a table which shows information on each of these studies relevant to this research (i.e., author & date, subjects, sociability, task, social facilitation results). A point-biserial correlation was conducted between sociability of the animal in a...

Description: "This paper proposes an investigation designed to compare the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test- Revised (PPVT-R). The historical development of intelligence testing and emergence of theories of intelligence are discussed. The Wechsler instruments, and the WISC-R in particular, are described as are the PPVT-R and its earlier version the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT). Validation research relevant to the WISC-R and PPVT-R are reviewed. Based on the relative lack of studies designed to establish the concurrent validity of the PPVT-R, four hypotheses are proposed concerning the relationship of this new instrument to the WISC-R. These hypotheses are: 1) the Full scale IQ (FS IQ) of the WISC-R will differ significantly from the standard scores of the PPVT-R; 2) the co relational relationship between the standard scores of the PPVT-R and the three WISC-R IQ scores will adhere to an order of Verbal Scale IQ (VS-IQ) > FS IQ> Performance Scale IQ (PS IQ); 3) the standard scores of the alternate forms of the PPVT-R will not differ significantly from one another; and 4) the order of administration of the PPVT-R and WISC-R will not affect the scores of either instrument....

Description: "This research investigated relationships between moral reasoning, personality variables, and moral behavior. Three hypotheses about these relationships were proposed. The first was that moral reasoning is positively related to moral behavior; the second was that certain personality variables are positively related to moral behavior. The third and major hypothesis was that a combination of moral reasoning and personality variables is the better predictor of moral behavior than either moral reasoning or personality variables separately. This research was an extension of a previous study by Krebs and Rosenwald (1977). The method involved administering a measure of moral reasoning and a measure of personality to 74 subjects from undergraduate psychology courses. The measure of moral reasoning was the short form of Rest`s (1974) Defining Issues Test; the personality measure was the California Personality Inventory. These two tests were administered to a subject in the context of a single group session. During a session the experimenter told the subjects that he would have to cut the session short because of room scheduling problems, and that he would have to give them a third test to take home and complete, and then return by mail. This...

Description: "This thesis death with one aspect of the proposition that rural mental health care is different than urban mental health care. This aspect is the assumption that the population of children seen at a rural mental health clinic is different from the population of children seen at an urban mental health clinic. Eight hypotheses were formulated to serve as guides in studying this assumption. All of the hypotheses involved rural-urban comparisons. The present study was an extension of previous research by Herjanic (1972). Testing the hypotheses of the study entailed recording data from the case files of rural and urban clinic children. The rural group of children consisted of children seen at a mental health center that served a county population just under 30,000; the urban group consisted of children seen at a guidance center that served a population of over 335,000. Both clinics were located in the same Midwestern state. The rural and urban clinic groups were formed by randomly selecting from each clinic 25 percent of the children whose cases were opened during the two-year period of 1978-1979. The total sample size of the rural group was 73 cases, while the total sample size of the urban group was 229 cases. Results included the...

Description: "The present study is a program evaluation of clinical psychology training at Fort Hays State University, aimed at gathering consumer orientation regarding achievement of programmatic goals as well as program strengths and weaknesses. Program goals were examined and stated, and hypotheses were generated based on these goals. Information regarding research hypotheses was gather from two survey groups: (1) Those students completing the clinical psychology training program from 1971 to 1981, inclusive and (2) Initial post-degree employers of the more recent graduates (1977-1981). Results confirmed most research hypotheses, indicating achievement of all stated programmatic goals. Incidental findings and program strengths and weaknesses are discussed, and suggestions for positive programmatic modification are presented."

Description: "The present study examined the relationships among the subjects age, sex, liberal-conservative attitudes, and their fantasies Subjects responded to a questionnaire with seven scales (a) Positive Constructive fantasies, (b) Attentional-Control fantasies, (c) Guilt-Fear of Failure fantasies, (d) Sexual fantasies, (e) Bizarre-Improbable fantasies, (f) Present-Oriented fantasies, and (g) Liberalism-Conservatism attitudes. Total fantasy frequency was determined by combining the other fantasy scales. It was proposed that (a) liberals would engage in more sexual and bizarre-improbable fantasies than conservatives, (b) males would typically be more liberal and engage in sexual fantasy more frequently than females, (c) subjects would typically engage in less sexual and bizarre-improbable fantasies as age increased, and (d) fantasies would be typically present oriented. Results for the research questions were mixed. In general, it was found that age affects the frequency of positive-constructive, sexual, and total fantasies. Liberal-conservative attitudes were also different. Males and females scored differently with regard to sexual and present-oriented fantasies. Sex differences were also found in liberal-conservative attitudes. Finally,...

Description: "Thirty-two mentally handicapped adults living in group residential homes were administered the WAIS-R and the PPVT-R (Form L or M). The subjects were randomly divided into four experimental groups in which the forms and order of administration were counterbalanced. Based on previous research with earlier versions of these tests, it was hypothesized that: the standard scores on the PPVT-R would be significantly lower than the WAIS-R FS IQ; and that the PPVT-R would be significantly lower than the WAIS-R IQs and that the correlations would follow the pattern of Verbal IQ > Full Scale IQ > Performance IQ. It was further hypothesized tat there would be no significant difference between the standard score on Form L and Form M of the PPVT-R. Due to exceptionally low standard scores on the PPVT-R, analysis were completed on both standard scores and the test age equivalents. The results confirmed each hypothesis: standard scores on the PPVT-R were lower than WAIS-R IQ scores; both PPVT-R standard scores and test age equivalents correlated significantly with WAIS-R IQ scores; and there was no difference in the scores obtained on Form L and M of the PPVT-R."

Description: "Teacher questionnaires were distributed to a community public school system that employed 234 teachers. A total of 58 teachers returned usable questionnaires. The questionnaire surveyed teachers` knowledge and attitudes about epilepsy in several different areas. Knowledge areas assessed were: (a) recognition of the signs of epilepsy, (b) knowledge of seizure management procedures, and (c) use of resources for obtaining epilepsy information. The main attitude assessment involved comparing the teachers` semantic differential (SDS) ratings of a student who has epilepsy with the ratings of a student who does not have epilepsy. In addition to making the preceding assessment, the study examined the hypotheses that there are positive relationships between: (a) knowledge about epilepsy and attitudes toward epilepsy, (b) knowledge about epilepsy and years of teaching experience, (c) knowledge about epilepsy and personal experience with epilepsy, (d) attitudes toward epilepsy and personal experience with epilepsy, and (e) use of resources for epilepsy information and knowledge of epilepsy signs and management procedures. Results provided support for only the last of these hypotheses. The SDS findings provided some marginal evidence to...

Description: "The psychological state of non-comprehension followed by comprehension has been viewed as the ""aha"" experience (Auble, Franks & Soraci, 1979). The study explored the ""aha"" experience of comprehension and its relation to memory. Fifty-six college undergraduate psychology students served as subjects. All subjects were orally presented a list of 14 sentences. Ten of the sentences were defined as hard (i.e., incomprehensible without a cue which then makes it comprehensible) and four of the sentences were defined as easy (i.e., comprehensible without the cue). All subjects were presented each sentence by tape recording and asked if each sentence made sense. Next, a cue word was presented after each sentence which could have made the sentence comprehensible. They were then asked again if the sentence made sense. Subjects were then divided into two groups. One group performed a free recall task for the sentences they had previously judged. The other group performed a paraphrasing task in which they were asked to write the meaning of each previously judged sentence in light of its appropriate cue. All subjects were then administered a questionnaire designed to measure cautiousness. ...

Description: The effects of auditory distraction on intelligence test performance was examined for 19 children over a 21-day test-retest interval. A 2 (First/Second Administration) x 2 (Distraction/No Distraction) randomized design was found. Each subject was tested under both conditions with the order of administration counterbalanced. A test/retest effect was observed in that generally higher scores were obtained on the second administration. An interaction was observed between Order of Administration and Distraction in which noise resulted in an overall detrimental effect on intelligence test performance.

Description: "The present study was carried out to see if a possible relationship exists between the type of sport in which an individual chooses to participate (team contact, team noncontact, individual contact, individual noncontact) and a combination of the personality and aggressive traits of the individual. Previous research concerning the relationship between personality traits and sport selection has been inconclusive. As a result of these conflicting results, Sage (1972, in Fisher, 1976) suggested the use of combinations of personality variables to look at sport selection. One hundred male students from Fort Hays State University completed five questionnaires: The Howarth Personality Questionnaire (to measure general personality traits), the Buss-Durkee Inventory (to measure aggressive traits - both specific and general), the Sports Scales (developed by Dorcus Butt to measure sports motivation), Kenyon`s Attitudes Toward Physical Activity, and an Athletic Participation Survey (designed to inquire as to individual sport preference). Numerous analyses were run to see if significant relationships exist between sport selection and the combination of aggressive and other general personality traits. No significant relationships were found...

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Description: "This study investigated the feasibility of using college credit as a motivating factor for parents to learn child behavior management techniques. Sixteen female and four male adults indicated their preference for either a group receiving college credit or the group receiving no credit. Subjects in both groups were measured by pretests and posttest on seven attitude and one knowledge measure. Both workshops were identical in format, instruction, and length of time. Results indicated that all subjects improve din attitude and knowledge of child behavior management techniques but that the presence or absence of college credit made no difference in subject scores. "

Description: "Ninety-six subjects were given four test lists of words in a word reading task. The independent variables in this study were the frequency of words in the English language and the categorization of words into semantically similar sets. The reading time for each list was reported, and as expected, the main effects of frequency and categorization were significant. Combining the two conditions resulted in an additive effect and was contradictory to the interactional effect found by Becker (1979)."

Description: "The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of cognitive functioning between matched eidetic and no eidetic aged subjects. In addition, the relationships between eidetic imagery, color afterimage, and Necker cube were examined. Fifty-nine of the subject volunteers resided in rest homes and the remaining 30 subjects lived in housing for the elderly. The underlying hypothesis of the study was that eidetic imagery re-emerges as a function of advancing age. The eidetic imagery, evaluated by performance on the picture description task, was identified in zero participants in the present investigation. As a result, the relationship of eidetic imagery to cognitive functioning, color after-image, and Necker cube could not be assessed. However, the presence of color afterimage was found to be significantly related to those under the median age (78 years) residing in housing for the elderly. In addition, the absence of Necker cube reversals was significantly related to those above the median age (78 years) from both residences, those above the median age from housing for the elderly, and the total rest home sample. Matched subjects on the Necker task (high frequency of reversal rate versus zero reversals) were...

Description: "This study was designed to investigate the attitudes of people toward individuals displayed as members of same race pairs and interracial pairs. Within this design, the issues of race versus belief congruence controversy were addressed. The Triandis` Behavioral Differential scales with stimuli displayed in photographic slides were used as the dependent measure. Subjects were 94 white students (41 males, 53 females) from lower division social science courses. The subjects were asked to indicate their beliefs regarding interracial marriage (for, neutral, against) approximately one month prior to the second phase of the study. In the second phase of the experiment the subjects were asked to rate the stimuli displayed in colored photographic slides using 15 Behavioral Differential scales modified for use with stimuli in photographic slides. The subjects were divided into two groups, with the subjects in Group A instructed to assume that the stimuli in the same race pairs did not believe in interracial marriage and those displayed in the interracial pairs did. Group B subjects were instructed that the same race pairs did believe in interracial marriage and that the interracial pairs did not. The results necessary to provide...

Description: "Recent research dealing with learning disabled children and locus of control have primarily been based on Rotter`s theory of locus of control, in which two basic loci exist: internal or external. Most results have concurred that learning disabled children view themselves as externally oriented, however it is the contention of this paper that Rotter`s theory may actually be a collapsed view of a boarder concept, experienced control. That is, Rotter expresses control which includes but does not differentiate different dimensions. Experienced control (EC) is a phenomenologically oriented theory which is concerned with both intrapersonal and interpersonal events, and self directed and non-self directed behavior. EC theory posits four kinds of control at two basic loci. The types of control are as follows: From Internal (FI) forces, Over Internal (OI) forces, From External (FE) forces or agents, and Over External (OE) forces or agents. Forty-eight students from USD 489 participated in the study by filling out the Tiffany EC Scale, which assesses experienced control in eight different situations. Twenty-four students from the seventh through the ninth grade LD programs were matched on age, sex,, and socioeconomic status with...

Description: "The present experiment was designed to assess the effects that two different relaxation techniques have on the handwriting quality of college students. The experimental design was a 3 X 4 (conditions x sessions) split-plot design. Twenty-four subjects were randomly selected and assigned to three groups (EMG biofeedback only, EMG biofeedback assisted relaxation training, and control) of eight students each. The dependent variables were micro bolts/second generated during each training session and handwriting samples taken prior to the first training session (pretest) and after the final training session (posttest). The microvolts/second generated by each subject were also analyzed by converting them to corresponding range corrected scores. The pretest and posttest handwriting samples were rated on a 5-point rating scale on each of five handwriting variables. It was hypothesized that EMG biofeedback and EMG biofeedback assisted relaxation training would be more effective in enhancing handwriting quality than the control group. It was also hypothesized that the EMG biofeedback assisted relaxation training procedure would be more effective than the EMG biofeedback procedure in enhancing handwriting quality. The results of the handwriting...

Description: "The direction a person gazes while pondering a question has been shown to correlate with hemispheric activation. Verbal questions tend to elicit Lateral Eye Movements (LEMs) opposite the verbal hemisphere; nonverbal questions tend to elicit LEMs opposite the nonverbal hemisphere. Twenty-four right-handed make college students were observed for right, left or no LEMs via electrooculogram following verbal and nonverbal questions presented via slide projection and tape recording in a 2x2 factorial design. Results supported previous studies in that frequency of eye movement was greater for verbal than for spatial questions when they were presented via tape recording. There was no significant difference in the direction of LEMs following tape recorded verbal and spatial questions. Slide projected questions provided significantly stronger left LEM stimulation than tape recorded questions suggesting that visual presentation may enhance the effectiveness of questions in activating the right (nonverbal) brain hemisphere."

Description: "This study investigates the effects of neutering on male dogs, utilizing three dependent variables; dominance, weight gain, and social responsiveness towards humans. Seven hybrid subjects were divided between pre-puberal and post-puberal subject groups and administered tests measuring the dependent variables. A two week pre-treatment period was followed by the neutering treatment and eight weeks of post-treatment observation. It is hypothesized the neutering treatment would not observably change the dependent variables among the neutered and intact subjects. The present study indicated neutering did not observably change dominance position in either pre- or post-puberal subjects. Also, no major weight gain was discovered in either pre-or post-puberal subject data. A discrepancy was discovered between pre- and post-puberal subject data when post-puberal neutered subjects were found to become more socially responsive to humans following neutering treatment. No observable change was discovered in pre-puberal subjects. Possible explanations for these findings were offered and suggestions for future research were made. "

Description: "Vascular response to cigarette smoking was measured by blood flow change by utilizing photoelectric plethysmograph in 43 subjects. All subjects took part in a smoking control program consisting of self-monitoring for a two-week period. It was hypothesized that there would be a non-linear relationship between blood flow change and various measures of success in treatment. It was also hypothesized that a combination of predictor variables including blood flow change, number of years the subject had smoked, change in heart rate following smoking, age of the subject, and pre-treatment smoking rate would successfully predict success in this smoking treatment. A significant non-linear relationship was found between blood flow change and change in the number of cigarettes smoked from the beginning of the two-week treatment period to the end of the treatment phase of the study. Significant multiple correlations were found for the relationships of the pre-treatment smoking rate and magnitude of the blood flow change with post-treatment smoking rate and the smoking rate at four weeks after treatment."

Description: "The Sensation Seeking Scale, for V (SSSV) was used to survey 146 FHSU undergraduates. Of these, 112 people were varsity athletes and 34 were non-athletes. Both men and women were surveyed. A review of the sports personality and sensation seeking literature culminated in the hypothesis that athletes would score higher on the SSSV than non-athletes. This hypothesis was not supported by the data, and non-athletes scored higher on the Experience Seeking (ES) scale of the SSSV. Mean scores were lower than those reported by Zuckerman (1979). Although the data provide no clues as to the cause of the differences, they could represent rural-urban or athlete-non-athlete effects. Sex differences were found only on the Disinhibition (DIS) scale of the SSSV, with men scoring higher. An effort was made to predict coaches` ratings of athletes` ""Desire to Play"" with the SSSV measures, but was not successful. Athletes in individual sports were found to have significantly higher scores on the Thrill and Adventure Seeking (TAS) scale of the SSSV than team sport members. Team sport members had higher scores, however, on the DIS scale. A comparison of intrasquad differences on the football team showed the Defensive squad to be...

Description: "The present study utilized the TAPE analysis (Pervin, 1967) to determine the person/environment interaction with measures of college satisfaction and performance in college freshman (N=104). Among other hypotheses the study tested the basic premise of the TAPE analysis which is that congruency between person and environment is related to increased performance and greater reported satisfaction. Satisfaction was measured by two measures: the College Student Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSSQ) and the TAPE sixteen item satisfaction questionnaire. The results of the present study do not support the hypothesis that performance increases as there person/environment relationship becomes more congruent. The hypothesis that satisfaction increases as the person/environment fit becomes more congruent was supported. The results also show that satisfaction and performance are highly related. Additional information obtained in this study indicates that the Pervin satisfaction measure can be used effectively as an overall satisfaction measure, although it has not been reported being used in that manner. A comparison of the five parts of the CSSQ with the results of a factor analysis of the Pervin scale indicates that while these scales measure...

Description: "Although previous research has shown that EMR children can be trained to use mnemonic techniques, they are unable to spontaneously transfer this training to dissimilar tasks. In the present study, 18 EMR children were divided into two equal groups. The IM group was trained to use a mnemonic/met cognitive strategy for a PA task, and the C group received no training. After training, both groups were tested for their recall of PA (Maintenance), MA (Near Generalization), and FR (Far Generalization) items immediately after training (Immediate Test) and two weeks later (Delayed Test). The IM group recalled significantly more and studied longer for the Maintenance and Near Generalization tasks, but neither group performed differently on the Far Generalization tasks, but neither group performed differently on the Far Generalization task. Neither group`s performance or study times changed significantly between the Immediate and Delayed tests. The IM group used the trained strategy for Maintenance and Near Generalization tasks, but they tended to discard the use of the strategy for the Far Generalization task. However, it was noted that two IM Ss demonstrated Far Generalization and used the strategy for all tasks. The implications of this...

Description: "The memory performance of four educable mentally retarded individuals was investigated using a multiple baseline across subjects design. Rehearsal training, met mnemonic theory from cognitive psychology, and self-instructional procedures from behavior modification research were synthesized into a training package designed to improve recall readiness skills among retarded adults. Following training, subjects took more time studying, recalled more idea units from the passages, and recalled more pictures on a free recall task. Subjects maintained the trained strategy at posttest on prose learning and generalized the strategy at posttest on a list recall task. The sample was small, adult, and institutionalized which limits the generalizations of the study to other settings (e.g., typical EMR classrooms). Discussion centered around the educational applications of this research in applied settings."

Description: "The present study examined the effectiveness of teaching a self-questioning semantic association strategy as a memory aid in group and individual settings. Students who had completed the first grade were utilized as subjects. Those subjects who were exposed to the semantic association strategy were compared to subjects who received no training. The results indicated that subjects trained to use a self-questioning strategy (semantic association) scored significantly higher than untrained subjects on both the maintenance and generalization tests. During the maintenance and generalization tests, the amount of time spent studying by those subjects who had received training was also significantly longer than those who had received training was also significantly longer than those who had received none. The results did indicate that there was no difference in either the number of correct responses or the amount of time spent studying between the subjects who were trained individually or in a group. The implications of these results and suggestions for future research were discussed."

Description: "A number of studies content that environmental contingencies are important components of behavioral modification programs. The prevalent problem of obesity is currently treated more successfully with behavioral methods than other methods. Improvement on these methods is still needed, however. Review of the literature suggests that attitudes of significant others, particularly spouses, are significant factors in a person`s success in a behavioral weight reduction program. This study examined married women who had previously participated in a didactic-therapeutic program to modify eating behaviors. It was hypothesized that a good knowledge of behavioral principles and a high degree of spouse support as perceived by the dieter would result in more success with weight control efforts than that experienced by those women whose knowledge and degree of spouse support was not as high. Knowledge of the program`s behavioral principles did not seem to be a correlate of weight lost. As measured by this study, spouse support does not account for a significant amount of the variance either. The primary hypothesis was not supported by the data available. "

Description: "This study was designed to assess whether a written demythologizing handout, which points out myths about mental patients and medical model, would affect students` attitudes toward specific behavioral descriptions. Each subject responded to one of six possible behavioral descriptions that was based on two independent variables. The first independent variable was Past Hospitalization, which had two levels, (a) the label ""ex-mental patient"" (experimental group) and (b) no attached label (control groups). The second independent variable was Behavioral Descriptions which had three levels; (a) a behavioral description of a Paranoid Schizophrenic, (b) a description of a Depressed Neurotic, and (c) a description of a ""normal"" person. The subjects were volunteers from an undergraduate introductory psychology course at Fort Hays State University who were randomly assigned to one of the six previously mentioned behavioral descriptions. There were 34 males and 28 females The subjects` attitudes towards the behavioral descriptions were measured by a Semantic Differential and an Association Scale before and after they read the demythologizing material. It was expected that the behavioral descriptions...

Description: "The recent resurgence of interest in serving fitted children in our public school system and the mandate that all gifted children will be served by 1980 (K.S.A. 72-966) has reawakened the search for an identifying device that accurately predicts intellectual potential. In this study, seventy-three (73) children were given the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). Group A (18 children) had five subtests of the California Abbreviated WISC (CAW-IG) administered first. An Equivalent Full Scale Score was computed from these scores. At another time these same children were given the remainder of the subtests that make up the WISC-R. Group B (55 children) was given the WISC-R according to instructions for administration in the WISC-R manual. The five subtest scores from the CAW-IG were then computed and an Equivalent Full Scale Score IQ was determined. Analyses of how well the CAW-IG Equivalent Score correlates with the obtained Full Scale Score was computed by using a Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Correlations of .91, .84, and .84 were obtained for Group A, Group B, and Total Sample, respectively. A test of differences between 2 correlations of independent samples showed no significant differences in these...

Description: "This ex post facto study investigated the relationship between the presence of children and psychological stress in the post divorce adjustment process. The post divorce adjustment process was described as those changes in roles which are the result of divorce. Subjects were 30 divorced, unremarried women between the ages of 21 and 35. A two-group design was employed, with 15 subjects in each group. Women with children were assigned to the Children`s group and women with no children were assigned to the Non-Children`s group. Measures of psychological stress were collected from the two groups through administration of the Post divorce Survey and the Heimler Scale of Social Functioning. Results showed that women with children in the post divorce adjustment process experience greater psychological stress, as defined by lower current life satisfaction, than women without children. Results also showed that women making successful role alterations experience less psychological stress, as defined by higher current life satisfaction, than women not making successful role alterations. Finally, results showed that seeking profession counseling since the divorce and having older children significantly effected psychological stress, as defined...

Description: "Twenty-five special education personnel of a special education Cooperative in rural Kansas and 14 parents who had a child in special education in that cooperative responded to a survey. The surveys were composed of items that attempted to assess the impact of P.L. 94-142 on programs and policies in the school districts and identify problem areas concerning non-compliance and strict interpretations of P.L. 94-142. Parents appeared to believe that progress had been made in improving the number and quality of special education programs. Progress also appears to have been made by greater parental involvement in the education of exceptional children. Parents were concerned by a perceived increase in the educational control the school has over their children. They also felt they needed more information about special education from the school. Special educators indicated concern over increasing paperwork, a perceived increase in length of time required from referral to placement and the number of regulations governing their positions. The educators saw improvements in the extent of parental participation, greater cooperation among all education personnel and a more favorable attitude toward special education in general. "

Description: "This study investigated the conditionability of mentally retarded adults with speech intensity disorders using feedback and various schedules of reinforcement. A voice volume feedback apparatus was used in training with six female subjects who spoke too loudly. Five of these subjects also received social reinforcement in the form of verbal praise when they spoke at an appropriate level. Subjects were randomly assigned to feedback only, continuous reinforcement, fixed interval, fixed ratio, variable interval, and variable ratio conditions. The results indicated that the combination of visual feedback and social reinforcement were effective with these subjects, as they were able to significantly (p=.001) decrease voice volume. Information on the schedules of reinforcement alone was inconclusive due to the confounding effect of change in room size. The decreases in speech volume did appear to generalize to a non-training setting. Explanations of the results are discussed and several improvements for future application of the method are suggested."

Description: "Eighty university students were administered an Erotic Interest Survey that dealt with voyeuristic activity and sexual fantasies, the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) which measures self-actualization, and the P.E.N. which is purported to measure psychoticism, neuroticism, and extraversion. Results indicated that frequency of reported voyeuristic activity showed a positive correlation with self-actualization. Neuroticism and psychoticism showed a negative correlation with scales indicating self-actualization. Frequency of viewing live erotic stimuli, looking at pornography, and fantasizing about sex all correlated positively with each other. Males reported doing more of all three of those activities with each other than did females. Males also reported being more aggressive and powerful while females more often reported being passive and submissive in their sexual fantasies. Females scored higher on neuroticism than did males. Married subjects reported more voyeuristic activity during the age of 17-22 years than did unmarried subjects. Finally, married subjects reported looking at pornography to become sexually aroused rather than because it was readily available or contained interesting articles more frequently than did...

Description: "Dabrowski`s theory of positive disintegration relates that anxiety appears to be the dynamic of self-actualization. A study to assess this hypothesis (Wilkins, Hjelle & Thompson, 1977) indicated that self-actualization was incompatible with chronic, debilitating or neurotic anxiety. However, the test purported to measure or assess self-actualization (the Personal Orientation Inventory) is biased against Dabrowski`s premise because the POI`s theoretical constructs and test construction are base upon the philosophy that anxiety is a hindrance to self-actualization. The findings of this study support the position that self-actualization and anxiety are compatible at both low and high self-actualized levels with self-actualization positively contributing to anxiety at the high self-actualized level. Severely anxious individuals are not necessarily self-actualized but anxiety does not, apparently, inhibit self-actualization growth. Self-actualization appears to precipitate anxiety as a means of growth. However, anxiety does not necessarily precipitate self-actualization. Thus, Dabrowski`s theory of positive disintegration remains viable."

Description: "A group of 70 subjects (30 high school graduates, 10 nineteen to twenty year old high school graduates, 10 high school dropouts, 10 GED students, and 10 GED graduates) both male and female were administered the Tiffany Experienced Control (EC) Scale. The differences between the groups were examined and it was hypothesized that dropouts, including both GED students and GED graduates, would be significantly different on the Experienced Control Scale. The results were somewhat supportive of the hypothesis that dropouts do differ from the other four groups of subjects on several EC Scale components and situations. Dropouts tended to have significantly higher control from their internal impulses and perceived control from the environment than other groups. GED students also received significantly lower scores on items measuring internal impulses and perceived control from the environment than high school dropouts. GED graduates received significantly higher scores on items measuring control of their impulses and the environment than either the dropout of GED student groups. These findings suggest that there are significant differences on how dropouts, GED students and GED graduates perceive control in their environments."

Description: "A group of 70 subjects (30 high school graduates, 10 nineteen to twenty year old high school graduates, 10 high school dropouts, 10 GED students, and 10 GED graduates) both male and female were administered the Tiffany Experienced Control (EC) Scale. The differences between the groups were examined and it was hypothesized that dropouts, including both GED students and GED graduates, would be significantly different on the Experienced Control Scale. The results were somewhat supportive of the hypothesis that dropouts do differed from the other four groups of subjects on several EC scale components and situations. Dropouts tended to have significantly higher control from their internal impulses an perceived control from the environment than other groups. GED students also received significantly lower scores on items measuring internal impulses and perceived control from the environment than either the dropout or GED student groups. These findings suggest that there are significant differences on how dropouts, GED students and GED graduates perceive control in their environment. "

Description: "The present study examined the drinking behavior of both sexes and three age groups in middle class public drinking establishments. Observations were made of type and volume of drink, time to consume and number of sips. Additionally, information was recorded on sex and estimation of height, weight, and age. Significant differences were obtained between men and women in time to consume a drink and a significant interaction between sex and age was found. A significant difference was found when number of sips was correlated with time to consume a drink with drink volume partial led out. A tendency for women to consume drinks more rapidly on weekends was found and women with one companion consumed drinks more rapidly than women with two companions. The finding that men consumed drinks more rapidly than women was in agreement with previous findings. The partial correlations employed here provide unprecedented analysis of public drinking behavior which has implications for therapists involved in controlled drinking."

Description: "Six male recent stroke patients served as subjects for the experiment. The patients were randomly assigned to one of tree groups. All three contained two treatment conditions (B1 B2) and one control condition (A). Each group had a different location of the A condition; AB1B2, B1AB2 and B1B2A. Patients were given EMG biofeedback training to contract the muscles of the forearm on the side of the body affected by the stroke. While in the A condition, muscle activity was monitored but feedback was not given. Each patient was seen for 24, twenty minute sessions. The hypothesis being that the greatest regain of muscle strength would be during the treatment conditions. The results did not support the hypothesis, however, significant differences were found between the groups. The results suggest that the later the control condition appeared in the group, the greater the increase in muscle strength. The ABB group demonstrated no significant change, the BAB group did demonstrate in performance during the A condition followed by an increase in the B2 condition. The BBA group demonstrated a significant Conditions effect F(2,21)=26, P <0.001 and continued to increase in muscle strength during the A condition. It appears there is a critical period...

Description: "The effects of a behavior modification program for weight control was assessed using a didactic classroom approach. Subjects were volunteers from a Psychology of Weight Control class in which they were required to enroll for one-hour college credit. The subjects course grade was contingent on attendance and completion of homework assignments. The 24 overweight women were administered a pre-treatment questionnaire and assigned to Group 1, which proceeded immediately with the treatment, or to Group 2, which waited to begin treatment and acted as a control. The results indicated that the didactic treatment approach was significantly more effective than waiting to begin treatment. The low attrition and high compliance rates make this type of approach for service delivery look promising for future obesity treatment programs and future research."

Description: "Values and moral judgment clearly seem somehow linked and cannot be studied with total independence. No research found, however, empirically or experimentally examined this relationship. It was hypothesized that, specific human values should have different rankings as a function of differing levels of moral development. Volunteers, 31 male and 37 female, were given Rest`s Defining Issues Test (DIT), and Rokeach`s Value Survey, Form D, to determine the moral development level and the values considered most and/or least important by each subject. The original hypothesis was not generally supported. Only three values, Inner harmony, A sense of accomplishment, and Social recognition, were significantly correlated (Pearson r) with DIT P scores. Four values, A sense of accomplishment, Inner harmony, Cheerful, and Courageous, jointly, were able to predict DIT P scores (R=.53). The total group (N=46) ranked Honest, Loving, and Responsible of greatest importance (x~1 through 5), with Imaginative, Social recognition, and Obedient of least importance (x~14 through 18). Male and female subject`s DIT P scores were not significantly different, although males ranked A world at peace, Freedom, Courageous, and Polite of greater importance than...

Description: "The effect of a dependent group contingency procedure on the on-task and disruptive classroom behaviors of a child was examined in a fourth grade classroom of 23 students. Additional measures were taken on the subject`s social status and self-control. Baseline data were gathered on the on-task and disruptive classroom behaviors exhibited by the subject. Disruptive behaviors included out-of-seat, talking-out, and noisemaking behaviors. Next, in the treatment condition, extra recess for all class members was contingent on a criterion level of on-task behavior of the subject. After a noncontingent reinforcement condition of class recess every day, the treatment condition of contingent extra recess was reinstated. Results indicated that the procedures were effective in increasing on-take behavior of the subject. While there was a concomitant decrease in disruptive behavior, variability in the data indicated that the effects may not have been stable. The data further indicated an increase in the subject`s social status as rated by classroom students and in increase in self-control as rated by the classroom teacher for the classroom in which the study was conducted. The classroom teacher for non-experimental class periods rated...

Description: "The relationship of physical attractiveness and locus of control in 126 elementary school children, grades three through six, was investigated. The study was an attempt to replicate, with children, the results found by Anderson (1978) for college aged subjects that a curvilinear relationship exists between physical attractiveness and locus of control. Ten independent adult observers rated yearbook pictures of all subjects on physical attractiveness. The mean physical attractiveness rating for each subject was compared with their locus of control score on the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale for Children (1973). No significant interaction was found between physical attractiveness and locus of control. Locus of control scores did not differ significantly by attractiveness or by sex. Locus of control scores did differ significantly by grade level. Mean locus of control scores were progressively more internal from the third grade to the sixth grade in the subjects sampled."

Description: "This study involved an investigation of the relationships between metamemorial abilities associated with two distinct retrieval processes: direct-accessing versus inferencing. Past metamemorial research has dealt almost exclusively with direct-access fact retrieval . There is a deficit in metamemorial research involving inferential retrieval. This study explored metamemorial abilities associated with direct-accessing versus inferencing in the same individual. Twenty undergraduate college students attempted to answer questions which intended to induce either direct-access or inferential retrieval. First, questions were presented in a recall task. Subjects rated the degree of confidence they had in their answers and predicted whether or not the answer was recognizable. Second, they attempted to recognize the answer to the same questions. The results indicated that the stimuli questions initiated the intended differential retrieval processes. Young adults were found to have more frequent feeling-of-knowing and better confidence accuracy for direct-accessing than inferencing, even though they correctly answered more questions that require inferential reasoning than questions that require direct-accessing. The young adults were...

Description: "This study involved an investigation of the effects of depression on metamemorial processes. Subjects were asked to predict their success at answering question. Some questions induced fact retrieval while others induced inferencing. Measures of depression were also taken. Recent research findings have indicated that depression may be associated with a high degree of memory complaint coupled with a lack of decrement in objective measures of memory performance. If depression is truly characterized by a low degree of correspondence between self-assessment of one`s abilities and an individual`s true capabilities, metamemorial measures might be rather sensitive indices of the presence of depression. Furthermore, improvement in metamemorial abilities might serve as an indicator of remission of these symptoms over the course of treatment. The results of this study failed to indicate tat depression level had any effect on metamemorial processes. However, results from previous research indicting different metamemorial abilities associated with fact retrieval and inferencing were replicated. The relationship between these objective measures of self-monitoring and the levels of depression found in this study are discussed."

Description: "The present study was designed to investigate the relationship between level of commitment to a college course, and information pertaining to the cost of book(s) for the course, and how much variables would interact to affect the subsequent evaluation of the course/instructor. It was expected that a state of cognitive dissonance would be present between the high commitment-higher than average cost group and the low commitment-higher than average cost group, which would manifest itself by less favorable evaluations of the course/instructor by the low commitment-higher than average group, than in the other five experimental groups. Results partially supported the prediction. it also found that a difference existed between the high commitment-lower than average cost group and the low commitment-lower than average cost group. Such a state of cognitive dissonance was apparently reduced by less favorable evaluations of the course/instructor by the high commitment-lower than average cost group, than by the low commitment-lower tan average cost group. The results were discussed in terms of cognitive dissonance theory and suggestions were made as to how and why subjects reduced any dissonance aroused. Suggestions for future research were...

Description: "This study was designed to investigate the relationship between the cohesiveness of a group and the resultant conformity shown by the members to a group and the resultant conformity shown by the members to a group standard. Conformity was measured across three grade levels (4th, 8th, and 11th) with two levels of cohesiveness at each grade (high and low). It was expected that the high cohesive groups would display the most conformity and that the eighth-grade high cohesive groups would conform more than the other grade levels. Subjects were 58 students from a fourth-, eighth-, and eleventh-grade class, with approximately an equal ratio of boys to girls. After a class was divided into four groups, the first task was to enhance the development of high cohesiveness in two groups and low cohesiveness in the other two. Subjects in high cohesive groups played a dart-ball game as a team effort and were free to communicate with each other, whereas in low cohesive groups, the game was played on an individual basis with no communication allowed. After having the subjects rate their level of attraction to their group, conformity was measured by having subjects estimate the number of jelly beans in a jar. The subjects were informed of their group...

Description: "This study was designed to examine the mere presence (Zajonc, 1965) and evaluation apprehension (Cottrell, 1968) hypotheses of social facilitation. The experiment took place in an elementary school with 40 third-grade students from two classes serving as subjects (22 males, 18 females). Students familiar with the task (experimental group) and students unfamiliar with the task (control group) performed under one of the following social conditions: alone, mere presence, or audience. It was expected that subjects familiar with the task would perform better in the audience condition than in the mere presence condition: and, performance by subjects familiar with the task would be superior in the mere presence condition when compared to performance in the alone condition. It was also expected that subjects unfamiliar with the task would perform better in the alone condition than in the mere presence condition; and, performance by subjects unfamiliar with the task would be superior in the mere presence condition when compared to performance in the audience condition. The task consisted of a ""Scrambled Words: game in which subjects attempted to unscramble 15 nonsense words within 3.5 minutes. A Scrambled Words game pretest...

Description: "This study is an investigation of the relationship between depression and memory retrieval processes. Previous research, focusing on direct-access retrieval, is inconclusive and fails to relate the results in terms of clinical depression and its symptomology. This study attempted to show how the depressives` cognitive functioning impairs memory retrieval and how a depressive`s failing memory can best be evoked. Thirty college students were divided into three groups; high, depressed, medium depressed, and low depressed. They answered questions designed to elicit two kinds of memory retrieval processes; direct-access and inferential constructive. The results indicated that the questions did elicit the desired retrieval processes. However, there were no significant interaction effects of depression and question type on any dependent measures. It is suggested that the subject population was homogenous or at least the group procedure made them appear so."

Description: "This study attempted to determine whether visual information in the form of self-maintained graphs of progress toward student selected target dates for completion would percent procrastination in a PSI course. All students were allowed to select one of three target dates for desired completion of the course. About half of the students were provided with a graph depicting the rate of performance necessary to complete the course by their selected target date and were expected to maintain a similar graph of the actual progress rate (experimental group). The other group did not receive any such treatment (control group). It was expected that experimental students would be more likely to finish, to finish by their own deadlines, and to progress at a more rapid pace, than control students. There were no significant differences between groups on any of those variables. A final judgment on the efficiency of self-monitoring was suspended until certain uncontrolled factors could be evaluated in later research."

Description: An individual contingency fro group consequences procedure was used to modify maladaptive work and living behavior in three clients in a work adjustment facility. The first procedure was designed to reduce the number of work errors in a 38 year-old male. All of the other clients in his work area received a free soft drink on the days he met criterion. The second procedure was designed to increase the production level of a 36 year-old female in the prevocational area. Other clients in the same area received a nickel each time she produced at criterion level. The last procedure was conducted in the residential housing using a 37 year-old male. His roommates were reinforced with an extra snack if his room was cleaned according to established criteria. The results of this study indicate that the procedure was partially successful in altering the specified behavior in the appropriate direction.

Description: "The effects of favorable (i.e., normal) and unfavorable (i.e., mentally ill) labels were assessed using a Felt Figure Replacement Technique, a Comfortable Interpersonal Distance Scale, and a 7-point bi-polar scale. Female subjects portrayed various social schemata between figures labeled ""self"" and figures given a favorable or unfavorable label. The assumption was the unfavorably labeled figures would be placed further away from the self figure than favorably labeled figures. When the data of the 108 female college students were analyzed, there was a significant difference in the distance between the self figure and the favorably or unfavorably labeled figure. The self figure was placed closer to the mentally healthy figure than to the mentally ill figure."

Description: A free-response test of ESP was conducted to test Tart`s application of learning theory to the ESP process. The method used was target picture retrieval with immediate feedback given as to correctness of response following each target picture being sent to the subject by a teammate. Honorton`s Binomial Response Code was used to judge the response given. This consisted of 10 binomial categories being set up to which the subject could signify the absence or presence of content in the picture being sent to him. Subjects served as their own control in an earlier session where no feedback was presented. Two of the ten subjects obtained scores significantly higher when feedback was presented. None of the subjects showed a significant decline in scores with the application of feedback. These results corresponded with predictions Tart made concerning the addition of feedback and wit other studies conducted which showed that feedback can increase scoring on ESP tests for some subjects.

Description: "The level of task difficulty has been found to be an important variable to consider in distractibility studies (Sen & Clarke, 1968; Turnure, 1970a, 1970b). Actual as well as perceived task difficulty has also been found to be related to activity levels in mentally retarded children (Stephens & Henry, 1973). These findings suggested that the level of task difficulty may be an important variable to consider when conducting activity level research. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between fidgetometer activity level and the perceived difficulty of academic tasks in elementary school students. In addition, the relationship between fidgetometer activity level and actual task difficulty was examined. Eight English-speaking prospective first and second grade males (CA range six years, three months to nine years, five months) served as subjects. Although subjects employed in this study were determined to be of average intelligence, they were experiencing difficulties in learning in the academic areas of reading and/or mathematics. Activity rates were measured by use of the Ryabik-Farrall Activity Chair (Ryabik, 1976) during five different sessions. Academic stimuli consisted of reading and arithmetic...

Description: "The present experiment was designed to assess the subject`s attitude and overt behavior towards release of privileged information. It was a completely randomized 2x2x2 factorial with the following three independent variables: (a) participation or nonparticipation in an experiment, (b) receiving a survey requesting either personal or impersonal information, and (c) receiving the survey in either a group or individual setting. The two dependent variables were the subject`s attitude (as shown by a 5-point Likert scale) concerning release of privileged information to be placed in the subject`s official University file and the subject`s actual behavior as shown by his depositing the survey in either a box marked ""For Official University Files"" or ""Confidential--For Experimental Purposes Only."" It was hypothesized that more subjects in the experiment condition would consent to release of the information than subjects in the no experiment condition. It was also hypothesized that more subjects in the individual setting would consent to the release than subjects in the group condition. The results showed that females were significantly more amendable towards release of the information than were...

Description: "Relatively little research has been done on the stability of expressed values of children and adolescents. The majority of the studies conducted on the subject suggest that there are many aspects of children and adolescents which remain stable with the passage of time, despite the many advances in today`s society. In 1936, Symonds surveyed more than 1600 junior and senior high school students from Ridgewood, New York, and Tulsa, Oklahoma for their life problems and interests. His work was largely an effort to determine how well the schools` curriculums fit the needs of their students. Although his study did not attempt to measure change in adolescents, his data have since been used as a baseline for such a measure in no less than four replication studies. The present investigator, in an attempt to control for the sampling inadequacies of the previous replications, surveyed 204 students from schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma, using Symonds` design. The investigator hypothesized that no changes would be found in the problems and interests of adolescents over the 43 year period spanning the original and present studies. Raw data was analyzed for means and standard errors. These were then compared to the original results, using...

Description: "72 subjects read aloud two lists of words, constructed to assess the effects on elapsed reading time of contextual vs. random arrangement, intact vs. visually degraded stimuli, and including three conditions designed to elucidate the effects of word repetition on these variables. The data were analyzed to evaluate the extent of semantic priming and semantic satiation produced, and were examined to determine the contribution of the encoding stage of word processing to these effects. Semantic priming effects were found in several groups. An expected interaction between semantic relationship and visual quality of the stimuli was not found. Evidence regarding the possibility of semantic satiation in one of the degraded conditions was discussed, and the role played by the encoding stage of processing was evaluated."

Description: A review of the literature on sex related data employing a variety of measures of assertion indicated that males exhibit greater levels of assertive behaviors than females. The effect of the sex of the confederate upon the assertiveness of the subject was investigated using raters scoring the subjects on five rating scales. The date indicated that males were more assertive than females and that the sex of the confederate did not have a significant effect upon the subject`s assertiveness. The implication of the need for assertive training for women and the composition of the training groups is discussed.

Description: "A validation study of the Alcohol Use Inventory (AUI) for the purpose of differentiating the severity of problem drinking was replicated using a rural population. The variables, social class and age, were controlled statistically. It was found that the (AUI) did significantly differentiate the severity of problem drinking on most AUI scales. The effect of controlling age and social class was to increase significantly the difference among severity levels on two AUI scales."

Description: "Two hundred students from lower division Psychology and Sociology classes each participated in evaluating a male and a female character in one of two short scenes used in this experiment. A pilot study determined that one scene depicted a male behaving in a sexually aggressive manner toward a passive female while the other depicted a female behaving in a sexually aggressive manner toward a passive male. After reading the short scene, subjects rated each character on a 26-word pair semantic differential containing the dimensions of evaluation, Potency, and Activity. Subjects were also asked how they perceived themselves in comparison to their peers in terms of sexual liberation. It was hypothesized that in general the rating would reflect a tendency toward sex-role stereotyping with the traditional roles of the sexually aggressive male and the sexually passive female being viewed more favorably in comparison to the alternate roles of a sexually aggressive female and a sexually passive male. It was also predicted that those individuals who view themselves as just as sexually liberated or more so than their peers would exhibit less of a tendency to stereotype sex roles when compared to those who view themselves as less sexually...

Description: "A study of the effects of different instructions on student ratings of instructor-course evaluations was conducted using freshman-level Introductory Psychology and Introductory Sociology courses at a small Midwestern state university. Each of the four participating classes was divided into three groups according to the type of directions given. The directions for Group 1 were that the ratings would be used by the chairman of the department in decisions concerning promotion, tenure and salary increments; Group 2 was informed that only the instructor would review the evaluations to improve his/her teaching; and, Group 3 was informed simply that feedback was appreciated. Then, each group was asked to complete an evaluation form that included three subscales with differences only in the directions and the order of the subscales, which were counterbalanced within each group. A 3x4x6 analysis of variance on subscale scores revealed only that participating professors differed in terms of rating on the Instructor and Outcomes of Instruction subscales, while no difference was obtained for the Course subscale. There was a trend in the results, however, which suggested that different directions may have had an effect depending upon the...

Description: "The present study was designed to investigate the relationship between the locus of control personality variable and successful alteration skin temperature through biofeedback training. Four groups of six subjects each were determined on the basis of their pre-treatment scores on both the Rotter I-E Scale and the Internal Locus ratio (OI/FI) of the Tiffany Experienced Control (EC) Scale. Those four groups were composed of the subjects who made up the four possible combinations of high and low scores on both the Rotter and Tiffany scales. All subjects were exposed to four consecutive daily temperature biofeedback training sessions. Te dependent variable reflecting success at increasing skin temperature was analyzed within a fixed-effects, 2 X 2 X 4 repeated measures analysis of variance. Each subject rated his/her success at increasing skin temperature in terms of low, medium, or high following each training period. These ratings were then correlated with the ""biofeedback success"" variable analyzed previously. Following the final training session all subjects were readministered the Tiffany and Rotter scales; pre-post change scores were than correlated with the ""biofeedback success"" variable...

Description: "A multiple baseline design across subjects was used to determine the effects of public display and its type on children`s spelling behavior for 42 children in two fifth grade classrooms. The data indicated that public display resulted in a marked increase in correct spelling words for one classroom. Further, the data indicated that the type of public display did not enhance the overall effectiveness of public display when added as a treatment variable. Public display did not yield a marked increase in a correct spelling words for another group of children with an exceptionally high baseline rate, thus limiting the range for improvement. It appears from the present data that public display is an effective method for increasing certain academic behaviors in elementary school children."

Description: "This study investigated referral and evaluation procedures in relation to the final diagnosis and placement of 176 children labeled mildly mentally retarded and described these children in terms of specific biographical educational variables. Also, it examined reasons for referral of these children for evaluation, while surveying the prevalence of behavioral, emotional, social, linguistic, perceptual-motor, and other educational handicaps among them. In attending to the prevalence of certain characteristics and epidemiological trends associated with the mildly mentally handicapped population, descriptive statistics were used to report the results of this investigation in a meaningful form. Certain linguistic and socioeconomic differences were found to exist between Hispano and Anglo children prior to initial diagnosis and placement. While data indicated that the referral rationale differed among ethnic groups, it was found that different criteria for diagnosis based on psycho educational evaluation was being used simultaneously by educational specialists."

Description: "This study was intended to provide information regarding theuse of the EMG to aid students who wish to concentrate and study better. The study hypothesized that the electormyograph could be used to train stubjects to attain specific levels of muscular tension and that these levels of tension would influence performance on a mental task. Twenty volunteer subjects were assigned to four groups: 1) a no treatment group, 2) a relaxation group, 3) a moderate tension group, 4) a high tension group. The study consisted of a baseline session, five treatment sessions and a second baseline session. Those in experiemental treatment condition underwent a training period using the EMG to monitor self-induced tension or relaxation. They then read with the EMG operating, on all treatment days. Dependent measures were 1) total reading time, 2) the number of lines read, 3) the number of times the subject lost concentration, 4) the average number of lines read between lapses in concentration, 5) the number of answers attempted, 6) the number of correct answers. It was expected in accord with predictions from the research of Yerkes and Dodson (1908) that the moderate tension group would perform better than all other groups and that the biofeedback...

Description: Lawrence Kohlberg states that there is no valid psychological definition of moral behavior which considers external behavior alone: moral behavior is unrelateed to social rules. Behavior is considered moral when it is consistent with the decision resulting from the preceding moral reasoning. Current research which compared antisocial or delinquent adolescents with their normal counterparts seems to indicate that there is a relationship between externally defined moral behavior and the level of moral reasoning. There was no extension of this area of research to include adult psychiatric inpatient groups in the literature reviewed. Using Kohlberg`s Moral Judgement Scale this study compared the Moral Maturity Scores of two psychiatric inpatient groups of 20 adult males each: criminal and non-criminal. THere were no significant differences between the Moral Maturity Score of the two groups. The data were discussed in terms of their contributions to current theory and strategies for future research.

Description: "A re-scaling of Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) using multidimensional methods was performed to examine more closely the 43 events of the scale in order to learn more about how stressful events are perceived. Seventy-five subjects sorted cards containing the events into five categories according to their similarity of degree, or amount of stress. The number of times any two events were placed together was recorded and entered into a matrix. The data matrix was then analyzed by the Krushkal-Shepard M-D-SCAL computer program in the OSIRIS system using, alternatively, no starting configuration and two different configurations. The three-dimensional solution using a starting configuration based on the original scale values proved to be the most satisfactory. Dimension 1 was the most-to-least stress continuum, Dimension 2 revealed socioeconomic perceptions of the events, and Dimension 3 was work-related on one end and family-related on the other. Data was also forced into a single dimension and compared to the original scale. There were no important differences between the rankings of the total sample and males or females, or between the total sample and the original sample used to determine the scale values. The results...

Description: "The purpose of this study was to explore one aspect of self-concept in divorced women. The study was concerned with differences in experienced control between a group of wives, a group of recently divroced women, and a group of women who had been divorced for at least one year. In accordance with Experience Control theory, four sources of control were considered: control from iside forces, control over inside forces, control from the environment, and control over the environment. The experience of control was tested in the situations of work, opposite sex, same sex, community, home, other people, and self-in-general. It was found that the three groups did not differ significantly from each other in any of the situations tested. It is suggested by this study that te experience of control is indirectly a variable in the divorce experience. It is suggested that the experience of control is the major difference between divorcees who require psychotherapy and those who do not require intense therapy. Thes results suggest that treatment should be similar to the therapy used with other people undergoing adjustment problems. The area of concern appears to be the person`s ability to successfully deal with stress so that the feeling of being...

Description: "This study was conducted in an attempt to determine the effects of full disclosure on a verbal conditioning task. Four groups of 29 subjects each, participated in this study. Two of these groups were given full disclosure about the experiment immediately prior to their participation, the other two groups did not receive this information. The task for each group was to construct 100 sentences using the verb and one of six pronouns printed on a card presented to them. One group under each disclosure condition was verbally reinforced after the first 20 trials for beginning a sentence with ""I"" or ""We"". The reinforced groups showed significant positive conditioning. A 2 X 2 X 5 Analysis of Variance further showed that te Reinforcement x Trials interaction to be significant (p=.01) as well as the Disclosure x Trials interaction. "

Description: "Four rats were trained on an ascending and descending sequence of response-independent variable-time reinforcement schedules ranging from 1-min to 16-min. A single lever press would turn off the stimuli associated with reinforcement and produce a timeout, during which reinforcement was not available. A second lever press would turn on the stimuli associated with reinforcement and reinforstate the schedule. Although the performances were variable, several general results were obtained: the percentage of session time spent in timeout usually increased when the variable-time schedule was lengthened and decreased when the schedule was shortened; responses that produced timeouts generally occurred within the first minute after reinforcement on the smaller variable-time schedules, and spreading to the second minute after reinforcement on the larger variable-time schedules; timeout duration generally increased with schedule size, although modal timeout duration was less than 2 sec on all schedule sizes. The timeout responding appeared to be an adjunctive behavior in that it twas sensitive to, but not directly controlled by, reinforcemtn. Stimulus chaneg also appears to be an imprtant determinant of timeout responding. "

Description: "This study deals with the question of how homogeneous psychologists are on ethical issues. To answer this question, the author developed a 5-part questionnaire containing statements to which the subjects agreed or disagreed. These sections were the ethical code of the American Psychological Association, psychology and the law, research, testing, and clinical practices. Te questionnaire was sent to 400 members of the Ape representing 4 divisions within psychology, Experimental, Developmental, Social Psychology, and Clinical. The questions were than analyzed by nonmetric multidimensional scaling (MDSCAL). Each of the 4 divisions were analyzed to ways, one across questions and one across individuals. The across individuals MDSCAL results were compared sing x² which gave a measure of within differences. Te across questions MDSCAL results were plotted, and by visual inspection clusters of points were located. The results showed that all the divisions were homogeneous within themselves relative to each other, except for the Developmental division. When the divisions were compared with each other, the four divisions differed most on how they felt about the Law, and APA codes. All four divisions would coerce and deceive subjects, but the...

Description: "Previous research has indicated that physical attractiveness affects impression formation and interpersonal attraction in a wide variety of social situations. However, little is known about the effect of physical attractiveness in the counseling situation. Still other research has indicated that effective counseling training enhances the possibility of effective therapy. Thus, one purpose of this study was to ascertain the effect of the physical attractiveness of a female counselor on university student subjects` evaluation of her warmth and competence. Another purpose of this study was to investigate if subjects; perceptions of the counselor were affected by the stimulus mode--either an audio-visual or an audio-only recording--of the counseling situation. In a 2 (mode of presentation) by 3 (level of counselor attractiveness) by 2 (sex of subject) Analysis of Variance design, 60 male and 60 female subjects each judged the tape recording of one simulated counseling session in which the counselor`s appearance and behavior were controlled by using the same actress and client in all tapes and holding their verbal and non-verbal behaviors constant across all tapes.. The results suggested that the attractive counselor was perceived as...

Description: "This study was designed to assess the effects of four different biofeedback temperature control training procedures on activity rates of sixteen six to eight year old children of normal intelligence. Four conditions were tested: 1) autogenic warming phases with instructions to raise temperature for verbal reinforcement; 2) instructions to raise temperatures for verbal reinforcement, no autogenic phrases; 3) autogenic warming phrases only; and 4) instructions to lower temperature for verbal reinforcement, with autogenic cooling phrases. Minute-by-minute assessments were taken of activity rate as measured by the Ryabik-Farrall Activity Chair, and temperature, as measured by a PM-4 Farrall Biofeedback instrument, throughout the five-minute baseline, ten-minute treatment, and five-minute post-test. Within the four ten-minute training sessions all sixteen children were able to significantly reduce their rate of activity and increase their finger temperature. The results are discussed as relevant to the clinical and educational application of biofeedback finger temperature control training for reduction in activity rates."

Description: "This study investigated the effects of different motivational conditions upon the performance of 128 first-grade public school students using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT). The different conditions used were: (1) reward alone; (2) response cost alone; (3) reward plus response cost; and (4) control. Also in question was whether the sex of the examiner compared to the sex of the subject affects the test performance. No significant differences were found between the reinforcement groups or for the interaction between the sex of the examiner and the sex of the subject. One unexpected significant main effect was found. Males scored significantly higher on the PPVT, which tests verbal receptive abilities, than did the females. This difference was primarily accounted for by significant mean differences between males and female subjects as a function of incentive condition, a second order interaction. An interesting result, though not significant, was found that when reward was given to males, their mean scores increased, while the mean scores for the females decreased when reward was administered. Although the results of this study failed to support findings from previous studies, some suggestions for future research were made...

Description: "This analytic, relational survey explored the effects of ethnic group and sex on school related attitudes and the relationship between academic achievement and attitudes toward school. A direct, self-report measure of attitudes toward various aspects of school, an amended version of the School sentiment index, was administered to 173 intermediate grade school pupils from three elementary schools located in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado. The area is isolated, rural, and economically disadvantaged. Over half the students in the sample were of Mexican-American heritage. The purpose of the study was to examine assumptions implied in the rationale for educational programs attempting to directly influence attitudes of minority and disadvantaged students with the imputation that negative attitudes toward school severely handicap school performance for these students. The study was also an effort to generate data which would be useful in educational program planning and evaluation. Analysis of covariance was used to compare scores obtained on the attitude measure in a 2 x 2 factorial design with composite achievement test score as the covariate. Pearson r correlation coefficients were computed between scores on attitude and...

Description: "Previous studies have shown that the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) has a high drop-out rate and this has been related to low GPA`s, procrastination, and quiz-retaking. Data were collected from two PSI classes on the number of times the students attended class, grades, and GPA`s. Subjects were 144 students at Fort Hays State College. An analysis of variance indicates that students with high GPA`s get more grades of A and B and students with low GPA`s get more grades of I or W. Correlations revealed a strong positive relationship between units completed and grades received in the PSI class; GPA and final grade. Weak negative relationships between total days to finish the class and grades were also found. Descriptive statistics revealed students with I or W retake quizzes more often; have a slower rate of progress; and drop out more often. The study concluded that students who do not finish probably have low GPA`s and retake quizzes more often, and procrastinate. "

Description: "A survey of some of the literature relevant to observer expectancy bias, teacher expectancy bias and experimenter expectancy bias and its influence on subject behavior is presented. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of observer sex bias as it operates in the teachers` evaluations of a child`s written performance. Sixth-grade teachers, 19 female and 19 male, evaluated four essays of equal quality. The four essays varied only in content and name of the writer. Content was manipulated such that each essay portrayed either stereotypic male activities or stereotypic female activities. The data was analyzed by an SPF 2.22 statistical design. The results indicated significant main effects for sex of writer and sex of content. No significant main effect was found for sex of rater. Dunn`s multiple comparison procedures applied to the means of male and female raters indicated that there were significant differences between the mean ratings for sex of content and sex of writer. It was concluded that observer sex bias does operate in teachers` evaluations of a child`s written performance."