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Transitive inference refers to the ability to use knowledge of pre-existing relationships to infer relationships between entities that have not been directly compared. This form of logical inference is an important skill for many social species, and has been thought to arise in an immature form in humans between the ages of four and six years. The experimental methods used to test this ability in humans often require some verbal skill, gross or fine motor coordination, a memory capable of containing numerous relationships, and often a great deal of time and repetition in testing. These methods of testing may have been too demanding on other physical and cognitive abilities to be successfully completed by children under four years of age, regardless of their ability to make transitive inferences. The present study used methods sensitive to infant cognition to test the current theory that the ability to make transitive inferences does not develop until the age of four. Nine-month-old infants were tested in three separate experiments using a visual habituation paradigm similar to that used by Woodward (1998) and through investigation of infants’ own imitative actions. Experiment 1 verified that infants can track the goals of others in a habituation paradigm when the goal object changes position throughout habituation trials, both through looking time measures and imitative action. Experiment 2 used an extension of this paradigm to examine the ability to make transitive inferences across a three item chain, serially ordered by the actor’s object preference, and no evidence of transitive inference was observed. Experiment 3 tested infants’ ability to habituate to and recall multiple goals using context as a cue to actor choice. Infants were able to consistently track only one of the pairings, suggesting that avoidance, in addition to selection, may play a role in infant performance in the visual habituation paradigm. / Thesis (Master, Neuroscience Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-08-14 09:10:37.385

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The purpose of the present study is to extend past outcome-dependent models of Sport Competition Anxiety (SCA) to include attribution theory as an appraisal process of past performance outcome. It was hypothesized that unstable causal attributions for past unexpected performances would lead to uncertain expectations of future performance and subsequent SCA. Sixty-three male subjects were assessed for initial expectations of how they would perform in a cycling task, i.e., high and low, in which each subject received false feedback about his performance (success or failure). After completing the task, subjects completed questionnaires assessing the discrepancy between expected and actual outcome, attributions for past performance (Causal Dimension Scale), expectation for future performance, and the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 which measures state cognitive and somatic anxiety and state self-confidence. Contrary to predictions, results indicated that attribution did not mediate SCA, but rather attributions were made systematically in response to success and failure and not unexpected outcome. However, path analysis carried out on a modified model of SCA that includes outcome and expectations of future performance, indicated that somatic anxiety and state self-confidence are mediated by expectation of future success. The findings are discussed in terms of attribution theory and other cognitive constructs (e.g., self-schemata and efficacy expectations) that might have an impact on attributional patterns that lead to performance expectations and SCA. It is noted that because only male subjects were used, generalizability to female competitors may not be appropriate due to differences in sport socialization. / Department of Psychological Science

Since the early 1970's numerous researchers have been questioning the existence of sex differences in causal attribution. From those who claim differences exist, three models have been proposed: the general externality model, the female self-derogation model, and the female low expectancy model. This study proposed that two variables, sex role and task investment, might mediate the relationship between sex and causal attribution. A structural equation model was proposed and analyzed using LISREL VII (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1989).For this study, 208 undergraduate psychology students were asked to complete the following: a demographic sheet, the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (Spence, Helmreich, & Stapp, 1975), a task investment measure created for this study, a short performance task (10 mathematics or anagram problems), and the Causal Dimension Scale (Russell, 1982).Results did not support the proposed overall model; however, some findings were significant. First, women were more likely to make unstable attributions for success than were men, consistent with the female low expectancy model, but the difference was very small. Also, in the failure condition, masculinity was negatively correlated with stability.Second, women reported being more invested in the tasks and said they had more experience at these tasks than did the men. Additionally, femininity was positively correlated with task investment, contrary to predictions. Finally, outcome was correlated with all three causal attribution dimensions. The perception of success was positively correlated with higher internal, stable, and controllable attributions, suggesting a type of self-enhancement bias for both sexes. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

This study is an examination of the relationships between alcoholics' and nonalcoholics' attributions and their emotions of anxiety and depression. The research design is an ex post facto/causal comparative analysis. Subjects were 150 white males. The treatment factor is separated into three levels: no treatment for alcoholism (50 nonalcoholics), two or three day treatment for alcoholism (50 alcoholics in detoxification units), and three to six months of treatment for alcoholism (50 alcoholics in a supportive living situation, halfway house, three-quarterway house). The Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST) was used to separate nonalcoholics from alcoholics. The variables measured for the three populations are: attributional style (as measured by the Attributional Style Questionnaire-revised for drinking practices) and emotional state (as measured by the Profile of Mood State).One-way MANOVA analysis was used to examine the data because there are three attributional areas measured by the ASQ (internality, stability, and globality) and two emotional areas measured by the POMS (tension-anxiety, depression-dejection). MANOVA analysis resulted in a significant F. The three groups were significantly different at the multivariate level in terms of attributional and emotional states.Discriminate analysis was used to determine if the groups were reliably different. Both synthetic variables analyzed resulted in significant results. The first synthetic variable was labeled "emotional stability," and the second was labeled "specific causal attribution."Univariate analysis showed: (1) no significant difference between groups on the internal/external dimension or the stable/unstable dimension, (2) significant difference at the .01 level on the global/specific dimension when comparing alcoholics in recovery and nonalcoholics, and (3) significant difference at the .01 level on anxiety and depression levels of each of the three group comparisons.Pearson Product Correlations were examined to understand the relationships between attributions and emotional states for alcoholics and nonalcoholics. The stable/unstable and global/specific dimensions are positively correlated with depression and the global/specific dimension is positively correlated with anxiety.All the hypotheses were supported:1. Alcoholics in detoxification make different attributions and have different mood states than alcoholics in recovery.2. Nonalcoholics make different attributions and have different mood states than alcoholics in treatment and in recovery.3. There are correlational relationships between the attributions and emotional states for alcoholics and nonalcoholics.Some alcoholic treatment recommendations were made. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

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Escalation of commitment is the voluntary continuation of investing resources into what appears to be a failing course of action whose outcome is uncertain. Investigation into the escalation of commitment phenomenon is important to organizations because such behavior could result in grave economic loss. This research investigates two cognitive biases that we posit lead to IT escalation of commitment, namely, attribution bias and overconfidence in an escalation decision, as well as desire to rectify past outcomes (DRPO) for its potential role as a mediator. To test our research model, 160 IT managers participated in a web-based role-playing experiment. Attribution was manipulated at two levels (internal and external), creating two treatment conditions. We posited that the participants assigned to the internal attribution condition would escalate their commitment to the failing IT project to a greater extent than participants assigned to the external attribution condition; that individuals that have a high, versus low, level of overconfidence would have a greater tendency to escalate; and that DRPO would mediate the effects of attribution and overconfidence on escalation of commitment. Attribution bias was significant at the .1 level, but in the opposite direction of what was hypothesized; overconfidence showed a significant main effect on escalation. The effect of attribution bias on escalation was significantly mediated by DRPO, but the effect of overconfidence on escalation was not mediated by DRPO. Implications of these findings for both research and practice are discussed.

This research contributes to the employee selection literature by examining the various aspects of value creation derived from systematic approaches to selective hiring and onboarding best practices. These best practices covering the end-to-end spectrum of talent acquisition activities from pre-recruitment to post-hiring performance management are examined through the construct of employee selection bundles. A rigorous type of employee selection bundle called Topgrading is examined across six case studies. This research builds on the employee selection literature by exploring the cross section of organizational learning theory, goal setting theory, and process management theory on the employee selection bundle as a mechanism that positively impacts firm performance.

Background The most common reading disability is dyslexia. This reading disability encompasses various symptoms such as poor spelling outcomes, reading fluency and difficulties in expressing oneself. Failur to diagnose children coping with dyslexia is a potential risk of discrimination and social exclusion. Aim The aim of this Master thesis is to explore if the primary school teachers in Prishtina are conscious of the term dyslexia. This provides a better understanding of teacher’s perceptions about dyslexia and to which extent they are aware of it. An additional purpose is to investigate teachers’ awareness of their responsibilities to provide equal opportunities for these children. Method A qualitative research, using an open-ended and semi-structured questionnaire had been utilized to collect data about teacher’s awareness and knowledge concerning dyslexia and its issues. The texts provided by the surveys were subjected to thematic analysis. Result The results of the presented qualitative research helped to understand the awareness of the primary teachers in Prishtina concerning the term dyslexia. The findings showed that most of the teachers heard about dyslexia, but demonstrated clear misconceptions of what dyslexia is. Even though the majority of teachers had misconception of dyslexia, more than half of them considered their role as very important to provide equal opportunities for children coping with dyslexia. Conclusion One of the significant findings to emerge from this thesis is that the primary teacher's of Prishtina have misconceptions about dyslexia. The results of this study support the idea that due to the lack of knowledge among teachers about dyslexia, children coping with dyslexia might be at risk of discrimination and exclusion comparing to other children.