No description available.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between the cognitive levels of play and the child selected play activities of younger and older preschool children. Hypotheses were formulated to examine this relationship, and the age and sex differences in the cognitive levels of play and the child-selected play activities.The Play Activity Observation Instrument (PAOI) was developed by the researcher. From Smilansky's cognitive levels of play, the PAOI assessed functional, constructive, and dramatic play. Modifying Rubin' s list of the most frequently observed preschool play activities, the PAOI assessed family-work, art, block, wheel toy, table, sand-water, and climbing play.The subjects, twenty-two males and twenty-two females, were enrolled in two preschool programs at a midwestern university. The younger group had a mean age of 41.8 months and the older group had a mean age of 54.0 months.Agreement among the seven trained observers, using was .7564. Data were collected three days a week for six weeks during thirty-minute observation periods.A multivariate analysis of variance used the sex and age of the subjects as the classification variables, and the cognitive levels of play exhibited in the child-selected play activities as the dependent variables. Post hoc analysis, using univariate techniques, was conducted to further interpret the results.Statistical analysis of the mean frequencies of cognitive levels of play exhibited in the child-selected play activities revealed the following results:Significant age differences were found for the cognitive levels of play (p<.0450): older children engaged in more dramatic play. No significant age differences were found for functional or constructive play.No significant age differences were found for the child-selected play activities (p .1214).No significant sex differences were found for the cognitive levels of play (p<.0889).Significant sex differences were found for the child selected play activities (p .0001), and for the child selected play activities by cognitive levels of play interaction (p<.0001).Sex differences could be interpreted only when examining specific child-selected play activities: (A) no sex differences were observed for family-work play; however, both sexes exhibited higher levels of dramatic family-work play and lower levels of functional and constructive family-work play; (B) females exhibited higher levels of constructive art play; (C) males exhibited higher levels of constructive and dramatic block play; (D) males exhibited higher levels of dramatic wheel toy play; (E) no sex differences wore found for table play or sand-water play; (F) males engaged in more dramatic climbing play.Significant differences were found for the overall child-selected play activities by cognitive levels of play interaction (p<.0001). Post hoc analysis indicated that there was more dramatic family-work play than functional or constructive family-work play, more constructive table play than functional or dramatic table play, and more constructive sand-water play than functional or dramatic sand-water play.Several educational implications were presented, including the following:Dramatic play has been linked to later symbolic functioning in creativity, problem solving and reading. This study indicated that the greatest potential for dramatic play occurred in family-work play.Since art, block, wheel toy, and climbing play evoked sex differences in the cognitive levels of play, teachers should encourage cross-sex play behaviors in these activities.

The purpose of this study was to construct and gather data on an "Observation of Group Self-Concept Schedule" and a parallel "How I Am A t School Self-Report," in an attempt to produce valid and reliable scales of measurement of group self-concept. The significance of the study was founded in the lack of instruments assessing group self-concept.Group self-concept was defined as: A social structure exhibited by interactions which indicate values, attitudes and beliefs that determine the self-perception of a group, wherein individuals mirror the composite group perceptions demonstrated through group behavior. It is an attribute that is capable of change.The related literature supported the term group self-concept through references to the organization and structure of the self, as well as in the recommendations for analyzing the data in terms of group assessments. The conclusions of several studies on self-concept indicated a need for parallel instruments to gather data on the complex structure of the self.The construction of both the observation and self-report instruments was based on criteria that promoted descriptive rather than judgmental items. The process of instrument development included close examination of students in an operational setting and review of literature relevant to self-concept, instrument design in the affective domain and analytical procedures for reliability and validity estimates. The instruments were exposed to field-testing and constructive criticism for in-depth clarification and refinement. Observers and instrument administrators were trained until the researcher was comfortable with their skills in the data collection procedure.The sample included fourth, fifth and sixth grade pupils who were involved in the Westinghouse *PLAN which included computer assisted instruction, open-education and team-teaching.The data collection process included five pairs of trained observers rating each pupil group in each grade level, wherein pairs of observers rated a group simultaneously for twenty minutes. Twenty-five per cent of the ratings of pairs of raters obtained a correlation coefficient of .80 or greater and seventy-four per cent of the ratings of the pairs of raters obtained a correlation coefficient of .50 or greater.Statistical analysis of the data produced a reliability coefficient of .84 (L.05) for test-retest procedures using a three week interim. A stability coefficient of .72 (<.05) was obtained overa ten month period.A panel of Educational Psychology Faculty assessed the content validity of both instruments and agreed that both contained a pool of items which related to individual indicators of public self-concept.The analysis of the data attempting to interpret the construct validity was an intellectual and analytical number of students to factor analyze the data. Oblique and orthogonal simple structure rotations produced factors that could be interpreted.A correlation coefficient of .55 was obtained between the observation schedule and the self-report.The problems of negligible variation and weak items as revealed through statistical analysis were pursued. The revised instruments contain expanded response systems and syntactically refined items in an attempt to resolve the aforementioned problems.It is recommended that if similar studies are carried out that there be a balance maintained between intellectual and statistical approaches in constructing the instruments and analyzing the data.The primary stage of this study has produced guidelines and has supplied implications for further research.

No description available.

Individuals with autism experience specific deficits in the area of executive function. A differentiated view of executive function was recently described by Metcalfe and Mishel, in which a distinction was made between hot, affective components and cold more purely cognitive, non-affective components. The "Hot/Cold" distinction of executive function was examined in a group of children with autism in relation to a group of typically developing children matched on verbal, pattern and Leiter mental ages. Two hot (Gamble and Delay of Gratification) and two cold tasks (DCCS and SOP) were administered. Children with autism successfully completed fewer trials of the SOP, irrespective of the matching variable, and experienced more difficulty switching rules on the DCCS in relation to typically developing children when matched on non-verbal and performance mental ages. No differences were found on the hot executive function tasks, except for the group matched on VMA. These findings underscore the importance of using multiple matching groups in the study of persons with autism, and provide evidence for cold rather than hot executive function deficits as a primary in autism.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii, 1969. / Bibliography: leaves [105]-109. / iii, 109 l illus., graphs, tables

Typescript (photocopy) / Appendix, 26 leaves, in end pocket / xix, 497 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Dept. of Psychology, University of Adelaide, 1983

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Mar. 3, 2008). Directed by Robert E. Guttentag; submitted to the Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references (p. 50-52).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1969. / Bibliography: leaves 74-75.

Thesis (Ph.D.) Dept. of Psychology, University of Adelaide, 1983. / Typescript (photocopy). Appendix, 26 leaves, in end pocket.