Human systems are changing rapidly and entering novel, complex futures. Human resource personnel must evolve new understandings of problem-solving and holistic methods of analytical and creative problem-solving to deal with future, unique, and uncertain problems which are not manageable with problem-solving strategies that have worked well in the past. / This study tested the effects of Problem-Solving Strategy and Outcome Expectancy Cueing on creative task performance within a 3 x 2 fixed-effects, post-test only factorial design with a sample of 222 undergraduate business students. Three strategy levels were operationalized: Creative-Imaginal, Analytical, and Non-Treatment Control groups. Two levels of Outcome Expectancy were used: Specific Answer Expectancy and Non-Specific Answer Expectancy related to tasks subjects undertook. Five performance outcomes were extracted from three performance tasks: ideational fluency (two measures), flexibility, originality, and convergent production. The Alternative Uses Test (SPS, 1985), the Paired Identification Task, and an Analogy Task comprised the instrumentation set. / MANOVA, Two-Way Analysis of Variance, Bonferroni and Newman-Keuls post hoc tests, and correlational methods were used to evaluate performance outcomes. Results suggest that subjects cued to use a Creative problem-solving strategy performed significantly better on divergent tasks than Analytical or control group subjects. No significant difference was found between strategy groups on the Analogy Task. Outcome Expectancy had minimal impact on performance except in significant interaction effects with the Creative strategy on two divergent outcomes. Strong, positive correlations were found between the divergent outcomes, although the association between divergent and convergent outcomes remains unclear. Results suggest that congruence between one's problem-solving strategy and the nature of a problem tends to increase problem-solving performance. It appears that cognitive and contextual sets can and do influence task performance. Implications are specified for research in problem-solving and creativity, training and therapy, and problem-solving theory. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-07, Section: A, page: 1711. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

Employee Assistance Programs (EAP's) are rapidly becoming an integral part of the corporate world. Implementation of these programs has resulted in considerable humanitarian and financial benefit to business and industry. The success of EAP's is largely dependent on the supervisor's willingness and ability to utilize these programs. Despite the recognized importance of the supervisor's role in EAP's, little research has been conducted on factors which might enhance or impede a supervisor's use of an EAP. This study examined the effects of supervisors' interpersonal need structure, and level of experience on: (1) supervisors' use of confrontation with problem employees; and (2) supervisors' referral rate of employees experiencing job performance problems to the company EAP. / Subjects consisted of 85 supervisors, all of whom work for one branch of state government in Florida. Every supervisor in the organization was asked to participate in the study. Subjects attended an all day workshop consisting of three hours of human relations training and four hours of employee assistance training. During the workshop subject's interpersonal need structure was assessed via the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation--Behavior (Schutz, 1966). The FIRO-B consists of three interpersonal dimensions, inclusion, control, and affection, which are held to be sufficient to explain and predict interpersonal phenomenon. Five months later a survey was sent to all supervisors who participated in the training. The primary purpose of the survey was to assess both the confrontive and referral behavior of supervisors following the training. / Results of the study indicated that supervisors who tended to relinquish responsibility were less likely to confront employees than supervisors who tended to accept responsibility. In addition, it was found that less experienced supervisors were more likely to refer employees to the company EAP than more experienced supervisors. Supervisor's use of confrontation was found to be the strongest predictor of referral behavior. Implications of the findings for counselors are discussed. Also discussed are the limits of Schutz' FIRO theory to work place behavior. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-02, Section: A, page: 0342. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

Past research (e.g., Hunt, 1978) found a small but consistent statistical association between psychometric tests of verbal ability and performance on a letter-matching task common in psychological research. This task purports to demonstrate the interaction between pattern recognition and processes requiring conversion from a visual to a verbal code. In particular, the measure indicating the speed of code conversion was shown to be correlated with verbal ability tests. The question raised in this dissertation was whether a test of language proficiency (TOEFL) could be similarly linked to letter-matching performance. The essential assumption underlying the research was that, for this purpose, TOEFL could be reasonably compared to the aforementioned tests for native speakers of English. The letter-matching task was administered by computer to a group of university age foreign students, half of whom were studying ESL; half were already regularly enrolled students at American universities. This partition was meant to demonstrate the stability of the letter-matching data as measures of individual differences. A postiori, two other subgroups were identified: a group of subjects whose native language is regularly written in Arabic script, and another group whose native language is written using the Latin alphabet. Since the required task utilized letters of the alphabet, the selection of these groups made it possible to a degree to examine the effects of past training. Results were not conclusive. Letter-matching association with the Listening Comprehension section of the TOEFL was strongest for low proficiency individuals; for high proficiency individuals, the Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension scores were the strongest correlate. Some differences emerged according to native language writing system. For the Latin alphabet subgroup, the correlation between the / code conversion measure and Reading Comprehension scores was -.398. It was suggested that this value parallels previous findings, in that this section of the test most closely resembles verbal ability tests for native speakers. Oller's (1978) suggestion that all psychometric tests tap similar abilities was judged to be confirmed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-06, Section: A, page: 2092. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of three modifications (auditory, visual, and combined) of a computer program designed to increase the sight vocabulary of learning disabled children. Seventeen first, second, or third graders, identified as having a learning disability, were exposed to two word sets under each of three treatment conditions and a no treatment condition. Identical pre, immediate-post, and delayed post tests were administered to each subject to measure improvement in the number of words read accurately and the number of target words chosen correctly from a group of three words. These tests were also used to determine whether or not the time required to read the word-set and to choose the target word from a group of words decreased. All three modifications were found to be effective in increasing the number of words read accurately and the number of correctly chosen words. The three treatment conditions were found to increase the speed with which the word-sets were read as well as the speed with which the correct word was chosen from a group of words. The auditory and combined conditions were found to be more effective than the visual condition in maintaining the decreases made from pre- to post-tests in the speed with which the correct word was chosen. Otherwise, no differences in effectiveness were found to exist between the three treatment conditions. The no treatment condition did not produce significant changes in the subjects' abilities to read the words accurately or quickly. The results indicate that any of these three modifications of the computer program can effectively be used to supplement teacher instruction to build the sight vocabulary of learning disabled children. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-05, Section: A, page: 1670. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

The problems of motivation and academic achievement among high school students have long been a recurrent concern of the educational community. The primary purpose of this research was to investigate the use of indirect suggestions contained in metaphors and the use of direct suggestions, to determine what effect each may have on the academic achievement of high school students in mathematics. / Sixty-three high school sophomores were randomly assigned to three groups, two experimental and one placebo. The first experimental group received the treatment of indirect suggestions embedded within metaphors. The second experimental group received the direct suggestion treatment. The placebo group received a pep talk. / In this study, the pretest consisted of the subjects' mid-year average in geometry. The posttest was the geometry final examination. The analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data collected. / The subjects' regular classroom geometry teacher delivered each of the experimental treatments and the placebo experience. Each of these was written verbatim, and the teacher read the appropriate text to the assigned group. / Indirect suggestion may encourage the subjects to search her/his memory for learnings already achieved and to use these in a motivational manner in the present. Direct suggestion may facilitate change if the subject knows exactly what change is desired and has the necessary resources available so as to produce that change. / The results of this statistical analysis overall indicate that a treatment approach using a combination of relaxation and suggestion did not contribute to enhanced performance on a geometry examination F(3,59) = 2.54, p $<$.08 due to the fact that statistical significance was not achieved. / It would seem to hold true from the anecdotal observations that the techniques with indirect suggestions in metaphors and the techniques used in direct suggestions, but not in the pep talk, had some positive effect on the geometry test outcome. These results seem promising and need to be further investigated. Implications for further research in the area of indirect suggestions embedded in metaphors and direct suggestions were discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-10, Section: A, page: 2584. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

A program of research was conducted to assess the need for and the impact of structured classroom management procedures with elementary and middle school aged gifted students attending centralized enrichment classes. A methodology was developed for obtaining reliable measures of students' classroom behavior using frequently repeated observations within a single class session. These methods allowed for a fine-grain experimental analysis of students' classroom behavior in relation to instructional activities and behavior management strategies implemented by teachers. / The teachers at the gifted enrichment center unanimously agreed that students in their classes were more inattentive and disruptive than they preferred. Six different behavior management studies were conducted within six different classes of gifted students. Results of these studies indicated that gifted students spent a large portion of class time appropriately engaged in assigned activities, but did so intermittently with considerable variability in their behavior across instructional activities. / Without behavior management interventions, all students rarely were on-task for more than a few minutes at a time, and classrooms were characterized by a continuous background of moderate disruption. An intervention using a semi-automated feedback and response cost apparatus to mediate both immediate behavorial feedback and delayed positive reinforcement for task engagement was demonstrated to be effective with both individual students and entire classes. / The advantages and limitations of group versus individual interventions were discussed in relation to demands on teachers' time, teachers' perceptions of students' classroom behavior and teachers' skills. The need for teachers to learn behavior management procedures for actively shaping greater attentiveness and task involvement in gifted students was supported. / The methods used in this research were presented as a general model for empirically evaluating the effects of instructional and disciplinary procedures used with intellectually gifted students. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-09, Section: A, page: 2293. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

The effects of contingent child and parent reinforcement on levels of parental involvement with a take-home spelling packet, as well as on subsequent in-class spelling performance were assessed with 250 students in grades two through five over a five-week period. Repeated measures analysis of variance on parent involvement measures showed a significant main effect for child reinforcement, and for grade level. A significant interaction between child reinforcement condition and grade level was also shown. The reinforcement procedures did not significantly affect spelling performance. Student, parent and teacher satisfaction ratings supported the use of the spelling packet procedure. Results are discussed in terms of effects of contingent reinforcement, child-mediated parental involvement, and effects on academic performance. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-11, Section: A, page: 2836. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

Clinical judgment, or the informal cognitive processes clinicians use to arrive at diagnoses, is subject to the same types of errors that people show in everyday intuition (Chapman & Chapman, 1967, 1969; Meehl, 1955). According to the medical diagnostic and social cognitive literature, diagnosticians will generate a limited number of hypotheses Dr. Schemas early in their diagnostic formulation and will attempt to fit subsequent information into these hypotheses (Elstein, Shulman & Sprafka, 1978; Taylor & Crocker, 1980). It was predicted in the present study that the schematic nature of clinical judgment would lead clinicians to show a primacy effect in their diagnostic preference. It was further predicted that this effect would be reduced if clinicians were encouraged to generate hypotheses continuously. / In order to test these predictions, 32 professional clinicians and 32 clinical psychology graduate students were administered two experimental diagnostic problems. The problems were designed to start out looking like one diagnosis and end up looking like another. To manipulate hypothesis generation, half of the subjects were randomly assigned to a condition in which they generated multiple hypotheses during pauses in symptom presentation. / The results indicated that on Problem 1, the professional clinicians showed a primacy effect in the non-hypothesis condition for diagnostic preference and schematically based recall. This effect disappeared in the hypothesis-generation condition, in which subjects seemed to pay more attention to symptoms occurring late in the problem. Students showed less of a tendency to be influenced by primacy effects and continuous hypothesis generation. Examination of the data in Problem 2 revealed that it was not designed sufficiently to induce the desired experimental manipulation. / Based on the subjects' responses in Problem 1, it appears that clinicians will weight more heavily information that appears early in a problem. This tendency may be reduced if clinicians generate hypotheses continuously. The use of the types of heuristics examined in this study seems to be more prevalent in more experienced diagnosticians. The findings suggest that it may be useful to train students to generate multiple hypotheses continuously, rather than only at the beginning of their problem formulation. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-07, Section: A, page: 2290. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

This study was designed to examine the effects of pictures in a printed text lesson on state anxiety and rule-learning performance. Seven line-drawings of human subjects designed to be redundant with the text were included in the experimental group. Text-only was the instructional media in the control group. The participants in this study were 55 female paraprofessionals employed at two of Florida's state hospitals. It was hypothesized that pictures would (1) improve rule-learning performance, (2) reduce post-instructional state anxiety, and (3) increase rule-learning performance more for high anxious learners than low anxious learners. / Reading vocabulary was a covariate. The dependent variables were a 19-item post-test and post-instructional Anxiety State on the State Trait Anxiety Inventory, X-1. Independent variables were pre-instructional A-State anxiety and presence or absence of pictures in the instructional text. Instructional time was also recorded for both experimental groups. / When considering rule-learning achievement only, the group who saw pictures in the text scored significantly higher than the text-only group (F(1,54) = 4.43, p < .05). However, when considering all 19 achievement items including the prerequisite objectives, no significant difference in achievement between the two groups was detected. the data did not support the hypotheses that pictures would reduce state anxiety or interact with anxiety to produce differential effects on the performance of learners in different anxiety states. / The female paraprofessionals in this study did not score as highly on the A-state scale as expected but rather scored comparably (X(' )=(' )34.9) on the scale to college females. As anticipated, the reading vocabulary scores of the paraprofessionals were low (X(' )=(' )7.9, out of a total of 36). Overall achievement scores indicated that they learned the objectives and that systematic design procedures are effective with such learners. The data supported the hypothesis that pictures help low-reading adults learn rules in a printed text. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-02, Section: A, page: 0440. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

This study investigated how the linkages between and within memory structures could be affected by using elaboration schemes to support the retention and transfer of a rule. Three treatment conditions were designed to serve as elaborative mediators to enhance the memory structure formed by the skills embodied in a rule from matrix arithmetic. One condition used an elaborated expository text featuring added stories about how to use matrices. This condition was designed to elaborate the relationship between the primary memory structure representing the target rule and another type of structure which was propositional and knowledge-based. The second condition supplemented the elaborated expository text with the addition of instruction on a superordinate skill. This condition elaborated the relationships within the primary memory structure by linking the target skill with an added superordinate skill. The third condition used additional practice within the expository text, which also served to elaborate the relationships between skills in the primary memory structure. In this condition, practice exercises were spaced throughout the text. A spare expository text with no augmentation served as the control condition. Participants included 187 seventh grade students who were at or above the thirty-second percentile rank on the reading and mathematics subtests of a nationally normed achievement test. Each participant was randomly assigned one of the texts representing the treatment conditions. After reading the assigned text, the students completed a posttest which measured performance on the target skill (i.e., the rule), its subordinate skills and transfer items. Analysis of covariance comparisons among the treatment groups yielded nonsignificant differences for contrasts of target skills, transfer to related skills, subordinate skills and overall test / performance, with total CAT achievement test scores used as the covariate. Implications of the results for elaboration schemes and rule-based memory structures are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-02, Section: A, page: 0441. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.