The short-term stability of the empirically-derived, psychological test-based, classification system for criminal offenders was examined. Twenty adult federal offenders of each of the types Able, Delta, Easy, George, How, and Item (total 120) were readministered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Subjects were selected on a first available basis a short time after they had completed "Admissions and Orientation", classified an offender type, and moved to permanent dormitory living quarters. / Forty percent of the sample maintained their entry type designation on the second testing. Individual types varied from 10% stability (George) to 60% stability (Item, Able). Of the 60% of the sample that changed and who had an opportunity to change in a positive direction (all but Items), 64% changed in a positive direction. Four demographic variables (age, number of prior incarcerations, time incarcerated prior to arrival, time before release) were examined and found to be unrelated to stability of type or severity of type. There is an apparent initial, situationally-induced adjustment period to which a substantial number of offenders react and a change in their type results. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-03, Section: B, page: 1120. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

This study investigated the effects of therapist modeling of positive and negative feedback to group members and of therapist self-delivery of positive and negative feedback, on feedback patterns in structured therapy groups of junior high educable mentally retarded (EMR) students. In addition, the relationship between feedback delivery and feedback receipt and self concept was investigated. The therapist modeling treatment was effective in eliciting significantly higher levels of feedback delivery, compared to baseline delivery, in at least one of the groups for the following feedback measures: positive feedback to members, negative feedback to members, positive feedback to therapist, negative feedback to therapist, and positive feedback to self. / In many of these instances, the feedback delivery in the treatment groups was significantly greater than in the comparison groups. Discontinuation of therapist modeling of feedback delivery led to dramatic decreases in most of the measures of member feedback delivery. Thus therapist modeling of feedback clearly affected the rates of member feedback. Self concept scores were found to be significantly related to negative feedback delivery to members, negative feedback to self, and receipt of negative and/or positive feedback, for certain groups in the study. Such relationships were most often found in the treatment groups, where relatively high levels of feedback occurred in relation to the comparison groups. The various meanings of self concept scores in relation to characteristics of the EMR children in this study are discussed; and it is suggested that high self concept scores may reflect either positive adjustment or a defensive response to negative feedback. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-03, Section: B, page: 1122. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

Subjects were 31 self-identified dysmenorrheic sufferers (spasmodic and congestive types) who volunteered to participate in a 4 month long biofeedback research project. These women paid $25 and were free of medical and psychological disorders contraindicative to biofeedback treatment modalities. Women were randomly assigned to one of four of the following groups: temperature biofeedback (BF), transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), biofeedback placebo control group (PC) and finally a waiting control (WC). The number of subjects in each group were 7, 8, 8 and 8, respectively. This investigation assessed the relative effectiveness of the TENS and thermal biofeedback training for alleviating menstrual pain. A one-way Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA revealed a significant difference between groups, H (3) = 11.29, P < .01. Multiple comparisons revealed that women in the BF group reduced their symptoms better than women in PC conditions. Further, a breakdown of the DSS components using a Kruskal-Wallis revealed significant findings for invalid hours, H (3) = 8.11, P < .05. BF subjects reduced their bed rest better than all other groups. However, TENS did worse than the PC and WC conditions. A one-way repeated ANOVA revealed nonsignificant differences between groups on measures of temperature and EMG. A discriminant functional analysis identified three variables to successfully predict 85% of cases who improved with treatment. Those variables were the MMPI K and SI scale and the number of pills reported on the RSS prior to treatment. Possible explanations for unexpected nonsignificant findings were explored for DSS components and TENS women requiring statistically significant additional bed rest than PC and WC conditions. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: B, page: 2517. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

The purpose of this study was to test whether Schachter's theory of obesity, as modified by Herman and his colleagues, could be extended to understand the drinking behavior of alcoholics. Extrapolating from the model proposed by Herman and his colleagues, two propositions were put forth. First, it was predicted that people respond to external cues as a function of their level of arousal. They are predicted to be most external (i.e., hypersensitive to environmental cues, and undersensitive to physiological cues) under conditions of either low or high arousal. Second, it was predicted that restrained persons are consistently more aroused than unrestrained persons. The hypotheses were based upon the above propositions. This study was a 2 x 2 factorial design with arousal (threat of low or moderate shock--no shock was administered) and restraint in drinking (restrained vs. unrestrained drinkers as measured by a questionnaire) as the independent variables. The dependent variables were the scores on the externality tasks (Trailmaking test completed through a mirror and a task of distraction via a random numbers tape while proofreading) and pulse rate. Subjects were 60 male alcoholics currently in inpatient treatment. / The generalizability of the concept of restraint to drinking, in terms of its effects on externality, is tentatively supported by the results. Under conditions of low arousal, restrained drinkers were more external than unrestrained drinkers as predicted. But under conditions of moderate arousal, rather than restrained drinkers being less external than unrestrained drinkers as predicted, they evidenced equivalent degrees of externality. This finding may be due to the only moderate effectiveness of the arousal manipulation. In addition, there was not a significant positive correlation between restraint in drinking and pulse rate as predicted. Also, rather than the predicted curvilinear relationship between externality and pulse rate, the association appears to be linear. As arousal level increased, externality increased. Finally, while the data indicate that the questionnaire used in this study is a reliable and valid measure of restraint in drinking, the data do not support the use of the Reversed Trailmaking Test as a measure of externality. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: B, page: 4206. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: B, page: 4483. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: B, page: 4473. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: B, page: 4494. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: B, page: 4504. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: B, page: 4506. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Fourteen withdrawn second grade children and 22 withdrawn third graders referred by their teachers as underachievers in math, participated in a study comparing the effects on math performance of an Experimental treatment employing anger-arousal and assertive-training with an Attention-placebo Control treatment emphasizing encouragement and feedback. Blood pressure readings were taken to determine the validity of the Experimental treatment in producing anger. Subjects were not tutored. Treatment sessions lasted for 15-minutes each day for six weeks. Both second and third grade Experimental Subjects were able to increase their performance in math by one to two letter grades over baseline, and maintain these gains during a three week follow-up period. Control subjects' performances did not improve. Diastolic blood pressure readings reliably differentiated between Experimental and Control Subjects, and supported the efficacy of the Experiment treatment in reliably producing anger. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-05, Section: B, page: 1923. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.