The aim of the research was to establish how accurate an Objective Thematic Apperception Test can measure typical behavioral constructs of adolescents such as anxiety, stress, aggression, interpersonal relations and self-concept. An empirical investigation was carried out using a newly developed questionnaire, the Structured Objective TAT (SOTAT) as well as a control questionnaire (CQ). The items of the SOTAT were based on a selection of TAT cards and the CQ measured certain affective variables in the traditional way. Both questionnaires were completed by 378 adolescents. The SOTAT was found to be reliable but not construct valid since low correlation coefficients between the SOTAT and CQ were obtained. There is the possibility that projection did not occur during completion of the SOTAT. / Psychology / M. Ed. (Voorligting)

A new method is developed to determine a set of informative and refined interface assertions satisfied by functions that are represented by feed-forward neural networks. Neural networks have often been criticized for their low degree of comprehensibility.It is difficult to have confidence in software components if they have no clear and valid interface description. Precise and understandable interface assertions for a neural network based software component are required for safety critical applications and for theintegration into larger software systems. The interface assertions we are considering are of the form &quote if the input x of the neural network is in a region (alpha symbol) of the input space then the output f(x) of the neural network will be in the region (beta symbol) of the output space &quote and vice versa. We are interested in computing refined interface assertions, which can be viewed as the computation of the strongest pre- and postconditions a feed-forward neural network fulfills. Unions ofpolyhedra (polyhedra are the generalization of convex polygons in higher dimensional spaces) are well suited for describing arbitrary regions of higher dimensional vector spaces. Additionally, polyhedra are closed under affine transformations. Given a feed-forward neural network, our method produces an annotated neural network, where each layer is annotated with a set of valid linear inequality predicates. The main challenges for the computation of these assertions is to compute the solution of a non-linear optimization problem and the projection of a polyhedron onto a lower-dimensional subspace.

The aim of the research was to establish how accurate an Objective Thematic Apperception Test can measure typical behavioral constructs of adolescents such as anxiety, stress, aggression, interpersonal relations and self-concept. An empirical investigation was carried out using a newly developed questionnaire, the Structured Objective TAT (SOTAT) as well as a control questionnaire (CQ). The items of the SOTAT were based on a selection of TAT cards and the CQ measured certain affective variables in the traditional way. Both questionnaires were completed by 378 adolescents. The SOTAT was found to be reliable but not construct valid since low correlation coefficients between the SOTAT and CQ were obtained. There is the possibility that projection did not occur during completion of the SOTAT. / Psychology / M. Ed. (Voorligting)

Text in Afrikaans / Practical research has shown that children experiencing learning restraints may suffer from high stress levels. These children encounter difficulty adapting to normal scholastic challenges and their performance often appear marginalised. The objective of this study is to explore the phenomenon of stress experienced by three eleven year old learners with learning restraints in the intermediate phase. The literature study on this topic has shown that learning restraints not only affect a child scholastically, but in his entire being. Based on this understanding, learning restraints may cause stress due to habitual underachievement in the learning environment. These learners might not necessarily have extremely poor cognitive abilities, but perceive themselves as incompetent or "dumb". In the empirical study, projection techniques were mainly utilised to determine stress levels experienced by learning restrained learners, from their internal frame of reference. From these findings, certain recommendations are proposed for psychotherapy. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counseling)

Afrikaans text / Hierdie navorsing spruit uit die behoefte om doeltreffendheid van hulpverlening by kliente in die ouderdomsgroep elf- tot veertien jaar te verbeter. Die doel was om vas te stel of die projeksietegniek storievoltooiing by vroee adolessente nuttige responsies oplewer. Twee bestaande storievoltooiingsmedia, naamlik die Doss Fabels en die Madeleine Thomas Toets is toegepas saam met ander projeksiemedia en die responsies wat by storievoltooing gekry is, is geevalueer. Deur middel van 'n literatuurstudie is die eienskappe van die vroee adolessent nagegaan. Daar is spesiale aandag gegee aan die probleme wat kliente in hierdie ouderdomsgroep by hulpverlening vir die hulpvertener oplewer. Navorsing dui daarop dat die vroee adolessent 'n relatief hoe risiko loop om wordingsprobleme te ontwikkel. Vanwee die kenmerke van hierdie spesifteke ontwikkelingstadium, is erkende metodes van hulpverlening soos onderhoudvoering, nie altyd die aangewese of mees suksesvolle metode van hulpverlening nie. Tydens die empiriese ondersoek is gevind dat die proefpersone gunstig gereageer het op die storievoltooiingsmedia en nuttige responsies gelewer het. Die gevolgtrekking is gemaak dat storievoltooing as tegniek, moontlik 'n rol te speel het naas die meer bekende projeksiemedia soos die TAT en die OAP as hulpmiddel by diagnose van probleme by vroee adolessente. / This reseach evolved from the need to increase the efficiency of therapy with early adolescents. The objective was to establish whether story completion as projective technique elicits useful responses. Two existing story completion media, the Duss Fables and the Madeleine Thomas Test, were applied in addition to other projection media and the responses were evaluated. The characteristics of the early adolescent were studied as found in the literature. Research indicates that the early adolescent is at risk for various ontological and psychological problems. Because of the characteristics of clients in this specific developmental stage, accepted techniques in therapy, for example the interview, are not entirely successful when counseling early adolescents. It was found that testees responded positively to the story completion media and produced useful responses. The conclusion was that story completion may have a role to play as an instrument in diagnosing the problems of early adolescents. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Voorligting)

Text in Afrikaans / Practical research has shown that children experiencing learning restraints may suffer from high stress levels. These children encounter difficulty adapting to normal scholastic challenges and their performance often appear marginalised. The objective of this study is to explore the phenomenon of stress experienced by three eleven year old learners with learning restraints in the intermediate phase. The literature study on this topic has shown that learning restraints not only affect a child scholastically, but in his entire being. Based on this understanding, learning restraints may cause stress due to habitual underachievement in the learning environment. These learners might not necessarily have extremely poor cognitive abilities, but perceive themselves as incompetent or "dumb". In the empirical study, projection techniques were mainly utilised to determine stress levels experienced by learning restrained learners, from their internal frame of reference. From these findings, certain recommendations are proposed for psychotherapy. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counseling)

Afrikaans text / Hierdie navorsing spruit uit die behoefte om doeltreffendheid van hulpverlening by kliente in die ouderdomsgroep elf- tot veertien jaar te verbeter. Die doel was om vas te stel of die projeksietegniek storievoltooiing by vroee adolessente nuttige responsies oplewer. Twee bestaande storievoltooiingsmedia, naamlik die Doss Fabels en die Madeleine Thomas Toets is toegepas saam met ander projeksiemedia en die responsies wat by storievoltooing gekry is, is geevalueer. Deur middel van 'n literatuurstudie is die eienskappe van die vroee adolessent nagegaan. Daar is spesiale aandag gegee aan die probleme wat kliente in hierdie ouderdomsgroep by hulpverlening vir die hulpvertener oplewer. Navorsing dui daarop dat die vroee adolessent 'n relatief hoe risiko loop om wordingsprobleme te ontwikkel. Vanwee die kenmerke van hierdie spesifteke ontwikkelingstadium, is erkende metodes van hulpverlening soos onderhoudvoering, nie altyd die aangewese of mees suksesvolle metode van hulpverlening nie. Tydens die empiriese ondersoek is gevind dat die proefpersone gunstig gereageer het op die storievoltooiingsmedia en nuttige responsies gelewer het. Die gevolgtrekking is gemaak dat storievoltooing as tegniek, moontlik 'n rol te speel het naas die meer bekende projeksiemedia soos die TAT en die OAP as hulpmiddel by diagnose van probleme by vroee adolessente. / This reseach evolved from the need to increase the efficiency of therapy with early adolescents. The objective was to establish whether story completion as projective technique elicits useful responses. Two existing story completion media, the Duss Fables and the Madeleine Thomas Test, were applied in addition to other projection media and the responses were evaluated. The characteristics of the early adolescent were studied as found in the literature. Research indicates that the early adolescent is at risk for various ontological and psychological problems. Because of the characteristics of clients in this specific developmental stage, accepted techniques in therapy, for example the interview, are not entirely successful when counseling early adolescents. It was found that testees responded positively to the story completion media and produced useful responses. The conclusion was that story completion may have a role to play as an instrument in diagnosing the problems of early adolescents. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Voorligting)