Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1964. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: l. 47-48.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University

This study was designed to investigate some features of the stimulus in observational learning which might be used to make a distinction between imitation and identification on an experimental level. The effective stimulus in imitation was considered to be the behavioral task of the model, or "the specific behavioral event" whereas in identification it was defined as general personality characteristics such as status, goodness, or intelligence which are generalized over time from numerous imitative habits to elicit a more global long-term response. On a pre-test, six year olds and nine year olds were shown two symbolic models simultaneously (an imitation model and an identification model) and were asked to perform the task that the models had done (color a picture) to assess their tendency towards similarity to one or the other (by copying one model's picture more than the other); that is, to attempt to identify with or to imitate the models. During the experimental phase, each of the two age groups were divided in to two experimental treatment groups. For one experimental group the effective stimulus in the identification model was emphasized and for the other the effective stimulus in the imitation model was emphasized. It was predicted that such a procedure would alter or strengthen the predominant response. Later, a post-test was administered to see if the alteration or strengthening of the response was stable or if it had occurred only during the experimental phase, For the most part, it was found that six year olds imitated while nine year olds identified in the pre-test. However, the experimental manipulations seemed to be most effective with the six year olds. As well, the effective stimuli used to differentiate identification and imitation had a significant effect on the children throughout the study, confirming the position that the two responses could he differentiated on the basis of the stimuli which evoke them. Some methological problems in carrying out observational learning studies are discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The effect of pointing (presence or absence) as an intervening activity, at the salient features of pictorial representations of differing amounts of visual cues (weight, context, both, or neither) for a concrete weighing operation, was investigated on the acquisition rate of three linear function rules. They were a coefficient rule (a. F = S), an intercept rule (F + b = S), and a complex rule (a. F + b = S), in a rule learning paradigm for Grades 4, 5, and 6 school children. The first two rules were presented in a counter-balanced order. Univariate analyses of variance of total error and ratio of error measures indicated that the pointing response was more effective than not pointing for the faster acquisition of the first task. Pointing was not significantly effective for the second task, although the combination of context and weight cues was more effective for this task than was each visual cue presented alone. The effects of training Ss to point on the two tasks, when transferred to the third, Complex-Rule task with no visual cues present, were negative. The findings were interpreted to mean that the calling of the Ss' attention to visual cues by pointing is only effective for the first task undertaken, and the benefit from pointing diminishes thereafter. The negative transfer to the last task can be accounted for by a presumably inevitable change in strategy as the problem, for those who have been accustomed to making the pointing response, switches from the concrete context of a weighing situation to an abstract problem in numbers. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Two experiments examined the relative ability of different probes in eliciting items occupying various positions in a serial list, the shape of the serial position curve, and the distribution of errors in serial learning. In Experiment I, position, sequential, and backward probes were employed after one presentation of a serial list. The results indicated that all three probes had equal eliciting strengths and that all three probes produced similar serial position curves. Analysis of errors revealed a gradient of generalization around the target word. In Experiment II error distribution and the serial position curve were examined in a learned serial list using the missing scan as a probe. Analysis of correct responding showed flat serial position curves, and the distribution of errors around the target word seemed essentially random. The results were discussed in terms of current theoretical representations of serial learning. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The present study investigated the effects of verbal cues on the learning of visual sequences involving eight elements. Grade two subjects were assigned to three experimental conditions and were given a learning task and a transfer task. The three experimental conditions involved three types of training on a visual sequencing task and differences among the three groups were determined by performance on a posttest after training. The three training conditions were as follows: 1. "Look" group. Subjects were asked to look at the elements in the sequence. 2. "Name" group. Names were attached to the elements of the sequence as they were presented. 3. "Name and Ordinal Position" group. Names and ordinal positions were attached to the elements of the sequence as they were presented. The learning task consisted of a pretest, training according to treatment group, and a posttest. The transfer task consisted of a pretest and a posttest without specific training on transfer task elements. Each subject was put through a four-day cycle: 1. Day 1. Learning task and transfer task pretest. 2. Day 2. Training in visual sequencing according to treatment condition assigned. 3. Day 3. Learning task posttest. 4. Day 4. Transfer task posttest. The findings of this experimental study indicate that attaching names and ordinal positions to the elements in a visual sequence facilitates the learning of the sequence. While the ordinal position factor did not facilitate learning to a statistically significant degree in the learning task, the sample data showed that the group using this cue did perform the task in fewer trials than the "Look" group and the "Name" group. On the transfer task, the performance of the "Name and Ordinal Position" group was significantly better than the other two groups. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

36 Ss randomly selected from 76 volunteers from Grade-XII Richmond Secondary School were randomly assigned to six treatments in a 3 x 2 factorial design to test the effect of instructions (time-stressed, accuracy- stressed, or control) and level of motivation (high or low) on performance on three problems of a predetermined, conjunctive, attribute identification task, with stimuli (64 six-dimensional figures) containing the exemplars and non-exemplars of a bi-dimensional concept, and presented simultaneously; and measured in the postulated three phases by: time interval between reception of the task and selection of the first card (Phase 1 - analysis of the problem); index of dimensional change of attributes from the first exemplar (Phase 2 - selection or development of a strategy-plan); and average time per card choice (Phase 3 - execution of a strategy-plan). Two additional measures, number of cards to solution and total time to solution, were observed in order to confirm the successful manipulation of the instructional variable in terms of its behavioral effects. The results suggest that the manipulation of instructional variable was successful. The results indicate that Ss under accuracy-stressed condition took significantly more time during the time interval (Phase 1) and spent significantly more time per card choice (Phase 3), than Ss without instructional treatment (control); and that Ss under time-stressed condition behaved in Phase 1 and 3 in the very same way as Ss without instructional treatment (control). It was observed that Ss under time-stressed condition spent about the same amount of total time to solution as Ss under accuracy-stressed condition, and since Ss under time-stressed condition spent significantly less time per card choice than Ss under accuracy-stressed condition, then these facts indicate that the accuracy-stressed instructions are responsible for the better performance of Ss under accuracy-stressed condition than Ss under time-stressed condition. This suggests that knowledge of the reason for ignoring the time and emphasis on accuracy may induce Ss to take time to analyze the problem and that this opportunity to follow the postulated logical sequence of behavior may improve execution (i.e., performance) on conceptual task. The results failed to confirm third hypothesis that motivation impairs performance under time-stressed condition and improves performance under accuracy- stressed condition. It was observed during the experiment that Ss shifted the focus card from the first exemplar to other positive instances previously identified, and since the focus card used by Ss can not be identified, the index of dimensional change can not be used as an indicator of the strategy-selection behavior in Phase 2. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

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Call number: LD2668 .T4 1966 L235 / Master of Science