Three groups of nine male hooded rats each were either daily shocked, daily handled, or left undisturbed from three to 22 days of age. When 67 days old, all Ss were administered a series of emotionality tests followed by five days of training in a brightness discrimination task which required a minimum of locomotion. This was followed by a drinking suppression test based on a conditioned fear measuring procedure designed by Leaf and Muller (1965). The shocked rats showed less emotionality and superior learning than the handled and nonhandled rats. The drinking suppression test failed to distinguish between the groups although there was a significant conditioning effect. A correlation of all the dependent measures indicated that differences in locomotor activity might have been reflected in the learning scores. It was concluded that infantile handling and shock affected adult emotionality and learning differently, and that neither manipulation produced unitary effects on the emotionality measures. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The Taylor-Spence Drive (D) theory was investigated by comparing performance of high anxiety (HA), medium anxiety (MA) and low anxiety (LA) Ss, as measured by the Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, on the test list of both a response-equivalence paradigm (A-B, A-C) and a control paradigm (D-B, A-C). The Ss were 60 grade six boys. The paired-associate learning tasks were designed to detect the debilitating effects of associative-stage competition in the experimental group for HA, MA and LA Ss respectively. A two (experimental conditions) by three (anxiety levels) by six (repeated trials) analysis of variance was performed on the data. There is a significant difference in performance between experimental and control groups on the test list (A-C), p < .0005. There are several trends favourable to the Taylor-Spence D theory but chance factors could have been involved since none of the hypotheses generated from the theory reached the .05 significance level. The first favourable trend is that HA and MA Ss' performance tends to be superior to LA Ss' in the control group on the test list (A-C). Also, HA Ss' performance is inferior to LA Ss' in the experimental group on the test list (A-C) giving support to the interaction hypothesis. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

The purpose of this Investigation was to determine whether the Marianne Frostig Program for the Development of Visual Perception is successful in terms of increased reading readiness and visual perceptual abilities, when used in the regular classroom. Thirty-two first grade pupils were selected as subjects on the basis of below-normal scores on the Marianne Frostig Developmental Test of Visual Perception and the Clymer-Barrett Prereading Battery, Form A. Both the experimental and control groups were taught by the experimenter. Three times a week for six weeks the experimental group received fifteen to twenty minutes of physical, three-dimensional and two-dimensional exercises according to the Frostig Program for the Development of Visual Perception. The control group received instruction as prescribed by the course of study. No significant improvement of the experimental group over the control group was found at the .05 level of significance. It was concluded that much further Investigation into the suitability of this program for a regular classroom should be done regarding the optimal age level and class size; training, personalities and attitudes of the teachers involved; and the optimal duration and concentration of the program. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

The role of the regulation of behaviour by speech was studied to determine whether it proceeded in the developmental progression suggested by A. R. Luria, the Russian psychologist. The Ss were 26 male and 28 female children between the ages of 41 and 73 months. The procedure involved the formation of a simple motor response to the onset of a coloured light. Luria’s hypothesis that the ability to verbally regulate behaviour is a function of age was substantiated. However, the transition period from external regulation of speech occurred approximately at age four in Canadian children, a year earlier than Russian children. In contradiction to Luria, the child's own verbalization of "press" and "don't press" while performing the task did not facilitate performance. Also, no support was obtained for Luria' s theory that verbal regulation proceeds from the inability to inhibit impulsivity to the ability to inhibit impulsivity. Finally, it was found that the child's ability to repeat instructions does not necessarily precede his ability to perform the task. Three factors which may have been responsible for the difference in results were discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The major purpose of this study was to relate the performance of Chinese Ss in Hong Kong on Piagetian tasks to two factors: first to a cognitive style variable, and secondly, to achievement motivation. It was hoped that the results from this study would provide some new interpretation to Goodnow's (1962) findings in Hong Kong. This study also provided an opportunity to determine if Piaget's results concerning the order of acquisition of tasks as well as levels of difficulty within tasks can be replicated with Ss from another culture. Finally, the performance of a comparable group of white Canadian children was compared to the Chinese Ss both in terms of achievement on the tasks and relationship between the tasks. It was hypothesized that performance on Piagetian tasks would correlate with scores on the CEFT and with scores on n Achievement. Furthermore, it was believed that the predictions made by Piaget regarding the order of achievement on the Conservation tasks as well as the levels of difficulty within the Water Level Test will be replicated with Ss from Hong Kong. Finally, it was expected that there would be no significant difference in performance between white and Chinese Ss. Thirty-nine Ss from Hong Kong were individually tested on the following tests: Conservation of Substance, Conservation of Weight, the Water Level Test and the CEFT. Group testing was employed for administering the TAT. Scores from a group of previously tested white Ss on Conservation of Substance, Conservation of Weight, the Water Level test and the CEFT were used for comparison with the Chinese Ss. Results for both white and Chinese Ss showed that there was no significant relationship between performance on the Conservation tasks and the CEFT. A significant but low relationship was obtained between performance on the Water Level test and the CEFT for both Chinese and white Ss. Thus, in terms of relationship between Piagetian tasks and the CEFT, the findings were similar for white and Chinese Ss. There was no significant difference in performance between Chinese and white Ss on Conservation of Weight, the Water Level Test, and the CEFT. However, the white Ss performed significantly better than the Chinese Ss on Conservation of Substance. The order of achievement on the Conservation tasks predicted by Piaget was replicated with the white Ss, but the order was not clear for the Chinese sample. Developmental levels of difficulty within the Water Level Test predicted by Piaget and Inhelder was supported by the findings for both white and Chinese Ss. No significant relationship was found for the Chinese Ss between performance on any of the Piagetian tasks and n Achievement. There was some indication of a low negative relationship between Conservation of Weight and n Achievement, but this failed to reach significance at the .05 level. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The research presented in this thesis was designed to investigate the effects of age on infant preferences for stimuli of different complexity levels. The hypothesis was that the older the infant, the more complex the pattern he prefers. Hershenson (1964) presented three checkerboard designs containing 2x2, 4 x4, and 12 x 12 black and white squares to newborn infants. He found that the infants preferred the stimuli in decreasing order of their complexity. The purpose of the first experiment of the present research was to compare the responses of older Infants towards these stimuli with those of Hershenson's newborns. In Experiment I, 10 and 20 week old infants were presented with the three checkerboards in a single stimulus presentation procedure. The length of time during which each stimulus was fixated by an infant was recorded. It was found that the Infants of both age groups preferred the stimuli in increasing order of their complexity. These results complemented those of Hershenson (I964) I n supporting the hypothesis that older infants prefer stimuli of greater complexity than do younger infants. The fact that no difference was found in the preferences of the 10 and 20 week olds was attributed to the fact that the set of stimuli used did not encompass a wide enough range of complexity. Further support of the hypothesis was sought on Experiment II. Using the same single stimulus presentation procedure as that used in Experiment I, three, eight and 14 week old infants were presented with three black and white checkerboards containing 2x2, 8x8, and 24 x 24 squares. In terms of total fixation time for each stimulus, three week olds preferred the least complex stimulus, eight week olds preferred the stimulus of intermediate complexity, and 14 week olds preferred the most complex stimulus. These results support the hypothesis that the older the infant, the more complex the pattern her prefers. However, three week olds did not look significantly longer at the 24 x 24 checkerboard than at a plain gray square with which they were also presented. This suggests the possibility that they could not perceive the pattern of this stimulus. A control study seems warranted. One subsidiary purpose of the research was to compare various response measures, namely total fixation time, length of first fixation, and rate of habituation. The latter response measure was of no value in detecting the preferences of the infants for the stimuli. The total fixation time and length of first fixation measures gave the same patterns of preference with each age group. With both measures an increasing preference for complexity with age was found. However, it was felt that total fixation time was the more sensitive and reliable of the two measures. Another purpose of the research was to compare two experimental procedures in the study of infant attention - single stimulus and pair comparisons. In Experiment III, 8 and 14 week old infants were presented with the 2x2, 8x8, and 24x24 checkerboards in a modified pair comparisons procedure. The results obtained were consonant with those obtained in Experiment II and supportive of the hypothesis. The eight week old group preferred the stimulus of intermediate complexity over the other two, while the 14 week old group preferred the most complex, stimulus over the others. The results of the experiments presented in this thesis were congruent, and were supportive of the hypothesis that increased preference for complexity comes with age. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Seven hypotheses were derived from Piaget's (a) task analysis of the ordinal correspondence and conservation tasks; (b) description of the development from preoperation to concrete operational thinking; and (c) ideas about the necessary and sufficient conditions for this transition. An attempt was also made to solve the methodological problems of (a) how to determine whether a child is a real conserver or a pseudo-conserver; (b) how to determine whether the child understands the terms in a Piagetian task; and (c) variation in performance due to stimulus variables. Twenty-eight four-year-old Ss, 36 kindergarten Ss, and 28 grade one Ss were each given the following seven tests, in addition to a test of counting ability: (1) a test of their ability to match the number of objects in a standard row; (2) a conservation of number test; (3) a test of their ability to anticipate and remember the results of a transformation in a row of objects; (4) a test of the criteria on which they made judgments of quantity; (5) a test of their ability to build two corresponding series of objects; (6) a test of their ability to find ordinal correspondences; and (7) a test of their ability to mentally transform a stimulus. Five of the hypotheses were confirmed and one hypothesis was partially confirmed. The methodological problems were partially solved. A new approach to the development of number conservation ability was suggested by the data. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Childhood incest and sexual abuse was explored in depth to determine the coping skills used by victims, based upon their descriptive recall of these events. Eighteen adult women, who were group therapy members and leaders, were interviewed about their experiences as sexually abused children and adolescents. The critical incident technique was used to identify what hindered or facilitated the victims coping in the eighty-one abuse experiences collected. Each incident was categorized according to the identifiable stress, and the type of coping method used. Three categories of identifiable stress emerged from the data which were labelled offenders, significant others, and victims. Of these, the largest number of incidents related to stress created by offenders. In this sample, victims utilized direct action, inhibition of action, and intrapsychic coping methods, but not information seeking. Of these, direct action was most frequently employed. Independent judges found these categories reliable. Results are examined according to theoretical frameworks in coping theory and current perspectives on sexual abuse. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Clinical child psychology supposedly bridges the gap between clinical and developmental psychology. Nonetheless, there has been a dearth of communication between the two disciplines. For example, there have been no investigations as to whether various behavioral parenting techniques are differentially effective with children of different ages or whether the developmental literature on the use of rationales and modeling with children might be relevant for behavioral parent training. The purpose of this study was to examine whether maternal use of an extinction (ignoring) procedure was differentially effective depending upon the age of the child and whether its effectiveness could be enhanced by the use of verbal rationales and/or modeling procedures. Experimental sessions took place in a laboratory playroom where the mother issued a set of 20 standard commands to the child. Eighty mother-child pairs were recruited through advertisement and randomly assigned to one of four conditions: Ignoring (mothers implemented an ignoring procedure contingent upon child noncompliance), Rationale (in addition to the above, mothers provided the children with a standardized verbal rationale prior to the session), Modeling (in addition to the ignoring procedure and the rationale, mothers demonstrated the procedure to the child prior to the session), and Control (no consequences for noncompliance). Children were from one of two age ranges: 3-4% years or 5%-7% years. Observational measures of child behavior included initiated compliance (within 5 seconds), completed compliance (within 1 minute), and inappropriate behavior (whining, crying, etc.)- Interobserver agreement was at least 8770 for each behavior. A Parental Satisfaction Questionnaire was developed to assess the social validity of the various procedures. Data were analyzed by analyses of variance. With respect to both measures of compliance, children in the Rationale and Modeling groups were more compliant than children in the Control or Ignoring groups. Older children were more compliant than younger children, regardless of group. With respect to inappropriate behavior, children in the Ignoring group were significantly more inappropriate than children in the other three groups. There were no systematic effects of age. On the Parental Satisfaction Questionnaire, mothers in the Rationale and Modeling Groups were more satisfied with the parenting procedure than mothers in the Ignoring group. These results indicate that having parents provide a verbal rationale and/or model ignoring prior to its use enhances child compliance to maternal commands, reduces the extinction burst phenomenon associated with ignoring, and enhances parental satisfaction with the ignoring procedure. The procedures were equally effective with children of different ages. More generally, the results indicate the relevance of empirical research in developmental psychology for enhancing the effects of child behavior therapy. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a nursing intervention on the mother's postpartum adjustment and perception of her infant. The intervention was designed to give information about infant behaviour patterns; and to assist the mother in identifying the behavioural responses and reflex behaviours characteristic of her infant. A quasi-experimental design was utilized with random assignment of the twenty-five married primiparous participants to either an experimental or a control group. The subjects in the experimental group took part in the nursing intervention approximately twelve days following their infants' births; the fathers of the infants were also present during the intervention. All participants completed the Neonatal Perception Inventory and the Postnatal Research Inventory one month postpartum. Data were also obtained from the mothers' hospital records. Statistical analysis comparing the scores for the two groups indicated that experimental group mothers had a more positive perception of their infants. In addition, they reported less depression and irritability and fewer negative feelings towards caring for their babies. There were no differences between experimental and control group mothers on seven other scales of maternal adjustment. Correlations between the perception scale and maternal adjustment inventory across all subjects showed that positive perception of the infant was associated with low scores on scales of depression, irritability, fear or concern for the baby, and the mother's need for reassurance. These findings were discussed in relation to their implications for clinical practice. Suggestions for further research into other variables that may be influential in the postpartum period were also outlined. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate