The intent of this study is to determine the effects on the reading and math scores of females segregated into single-gender alternative classrooms that had the benefit of an individualized, self-paced curriculum. The Challenge Academy testing clerk, using the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement in the areas of reading and math, collected data on the students’ first and last days of enrollment. Significant main effects for gender, time, educational status, age, and ethnicity were probed using a general linear model of repeated measures. This quantitative model was used because it provided more flexibility to describe the relationship between a dependent variable and a set of independent variables, manipulated one at a time. Comparisons of between-subject effects and within-subject effects were made using a summary ANOVA followed by ad hoc testing when significance was found when there were three factors being tested, such as school age group and ethnicity. Significance was set at 0.025. Of the 500 students enrolled over the seven-year existence of the program, only students who had been pre and post tested were included in this research. After removing students who did not meet the criteria, a sample of 150 students remained. This resulted in small and non-existent cell sample sizes, and adjustments were made to the original intent of the study. The findings observed in this body of research suggest that the gains achieved by males in reading surpassed those of females. Both genders achieved equally in math. A statistical comparison based on gender in special education, school age group, or ethnicity could not be made due to small cell size. Recommendations for further studies include: (1) a study using a larger sample size allowing for greater numbers in each category; (2) longitudinal studies in elementary, middle, and high schools using annual TAKS scores as the data source; (3) a study considering the gender of the instructor; (4) a study comparing high schools whose majority school population represented each of the three ethnic groups; (5) a study of private schools with single-gender populations.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary, 1983. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-103).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 1966. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 179).

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--State University of Iowa. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

In the last twenty years, relational psychoanalysis has emerged as an important voice in psychoanalytic theory and practice. Relational approaches operate within the tension between intrapsychic and interpersonal levels of explanation. On the one hand, intrapsychic explanations assume the existence of a private inner life focusing on internal processes such as fantasy, desires, repression, and unconscious motivations. On the other hand, interpersonal explanations focus on transactions with others, the daily give and take of our relationships, and our inextricable participation in the social realm. Schools in the relational movement often struggle to integrate these two poles, but the risk seems to be collapsing one explanatory pole into the other. This work argues that framing this discussion within a wider philosophical horizon can suggest a compelling new way of thinking about these matters. The theoretical psychology of Jack Martin and Jeff Sugarman (1999, 2000), the philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer (1977, 1994), and Martin Heidegger (1993, 1996), offer a view of selfhood that transcends the problematic internal-external dichotomy pervasive in relational approaches. / text

Self-control is arguably one of the most beneficial adaptations of the agentic self. It enables humans to alter spontaneous, impulsive responses in order to fit one’s goals and standards. Variations in self-control capacity are strong predictors of a wide array of individual and societal outcomes including psychological adjustment, academic achievement, physical health, financial condition, and criminality. In this respect, investigating how to prevent self-control failures is a promising way for psychologists to improve human well-being. To this end, it is important for researchers to understand why people fail to control themselves. The limited-energy model suggests that self-control behaviors draw on a limited, depletable internal resource. People will become more vulnerable to self-control failures if the internal energy is depleted by prior use. Research demonstrates that an initial volitional act would undermine subsequent self-control performance as if the initial exertion exhausts an internal resource that is required for all self-control behaviors. This phenomenon is known as ego-depletion. Although much research lends credence to the validity of the ego-depletion phenomenon, little is known about its underlying psychological mechanisms. To fill this research gap, the present research tested a self-efficacy account of ego-depletion, which suggests that reduction in self-efficacy mediates the effect of initial self-control exertion on subsequent performance. A series of four experiments were conducted to examine the self-efficacy account. Experiment 1 found that initial self-control exertion resulted in lower self-efficacy to regulate eating habits. Two subsequent experiments found that self-efficacy mediated the negative effect of initial self-control exertion on mental calculation performance under distraction (experiment 2) and persistence on anagrams (experiment 3). In experiment 4, self-efficacy explained how implicit theory of willpower moderated the ego-depletion effect. In particular, participants who believed that “willpower is unlimited” were less affected by ego-depletion because their self-efficacy did not decrease after initial exertion. Taken together, the current data suggest that self-efficacy is one of the cognitive processes underlying ego-depletion. Moreover, the current research distinguishes task-specific, prospective self-efficacy from other positive beliefs such as retrospective confidence of the initial task (experiment 2 and 4), outcome expectation (experiment 3) and general confidence in one’s ability (experiment 4). It shows that among these positive beliefs, only self-efficacy serves a mediation role in ego-depletion. The current findings not only enrich the self-efficacy theory by identifying a potential source of efficacy belief, but also contribute to a fuller mechanistic understanding of self-control failures. Implications for intervention and human agency are discussed. / published_or_final_version / Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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