This experiment investigated the effect of centering techniques of college students. These techniques include exercises in the areas of feelings and communication, dreams, meditation, relaxation, intuition, and transpersonal values. The dependent variables considered were anxiety, self-esteem, and openness to experience. Two control groups of equal size were included. A treatment control group, derived from the same college setting, focused on Transactional Analysis. The second control group consisted of elementary psychology students who volunteered to take the pre- and posttests. The nine sessions for both the centering and personality laboratory control groups were held once a week for two hours. Centering subjects were also assessed as to their level of involvement in the exercises. Analysis of covariance data were not significant, though two trends were evident. Post hoc comparisons yielded significant differences (p < .05) in these areas. The centering group scored higher on the openness scale 4, constructive use of fantasy and dreams, as compared to the testing-only control group. The treatment control group manifested significantly higher self-esteem than the centering group, but not the testing-only control group. These results are confusing, as are the negative correlations found between depth of involvement and initial openness scores for the centering group. These findings were not only significant but also in contradiction to the results of previous meditation research. A trend in the expected direction was found for the correlation between anxiety (posttest) and depth of involvement, indicating a negative relationship. The results of earlier research which revealed a positive relationship between openness and anxiety were corroborated.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cue-controlled relaxation on reducing test anxiety of elementary school children. The major research hypothesis was as follows: There will be a statistically significant difference in posttest median scores obtained on the Test Anxiety Scale for Children among the cue-controlled relaxation treatment, the treatment placebo and the no-treatment control groups.The research was conducted at Heidelberg American Elementary School Number Two, a Department of Defense school located in West Germany. Nine fourth and fifth grade teachers volunteered their intact classes for this study. The intact classes were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: cue-controlled relaxation, treatment placebo or no-treatment control. All students who had parental permission received their assigned experimental conditions; however, only students who received parental permission, scored 13 or higher on the pretest and who were present for the posttest were designated as subjects. Students who did not receive parental permission were taken to the library during pretesting, posttesting and when the experimental conditions were being given.The Sarason Test Anxiety Scale for Children (TASC) was used to measure test anxiety before treatment and after treatment. The TASC consists of 30 items relating to test anxiety. Each item was read to the students by their teachers. The students then responded by circling "yes" or "no" on the answer sheets.An extension of the median test for k independent samples was used to test the major null hypothesis. A chi square of 2.192 was obtained from the median test, which was not significant at the .05 level. Therefore, it was concluded that there was no statistically significant difference in TASC posttest scores among the cue-controlled relaxation, the treatment placebo and the no-treatment control groups.

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Chan David. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [73]-76). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgement --- p.ii / Contents --- p.iii / List of Figures --- p.vi / List of Tables --- p.viii / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2. --- Relaxation Phenomena --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2 --- Relaxation Phenomena --- p.8 / Chapter 2.3 --- Ising Model as an Example --- p.9 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Monte Carlo Simulation --- p.10 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Transition Matrix Method --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Results and Comparison --- p.13 / Chapter 2.4 --- Conclusion --- p.17 / Chapter Chapter 3. --- Stochastic Processes --- p.18 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.18 / Chapter 3.2 --- Stochastic Processes --- p.18 / Chapter 3.3 --- Markov Processes and Markov Chains --- p.19 / Chapter 3.4 --- Transition Matrix --- p.20 / Chapter 3.5 --- Detailed Balance Condition --- p.21 / Chapter 3.5.1 --- Weaker Balance Condition --- p.22 / Chapter 3.6 --- Ergodicity --- p.22 / Chapter 3.7 --- Conclusion --- p.23 / Chapter Chapter 4. --- Master Equation --- p.24 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.24 / Chapter 4.2 --- Master Equation --- p.24 / Chapter 4.3 --- Properties of the Transition Matrix W --- p.25 / Chapter 4.4 --- Eigenvalue Equation --- p.26 / Chapter 4.5 --- Relaxation Time --- p.28 / Chapter 4.6 --- Properties of Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors --- p.29 / Chapter 4.7 --- Power Method --- p.32 / Chapter 4.7.1 --- Power Method for λx --- p.33 / Chapter 4.7.2 --- Power Method for λx --- p.35 / Chapter 4.7.3 --- Power Method for λ2 of W --- p.38 / Chapter 4.8 --- Conclusion --- p.39 / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Decimation --- p.40 / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.40 / Chapter 5.2 --- Method of Decimation --- p.40 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Exact Formalism --- p.42 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Iterative Formalism --- p.44 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Approximate Formalism --- p.46 / Chapter 5.3 --- Decimation as an Effective Master Equation --- p.46 / Chapter 5.4 --- One Dimensional Energy Landscape --- p.47 / Chapter 5.5 --- Conclusion --- p.58 / Chapter Chapter 6. --- Mean Field Theory --- p.59 / Chapter 6.1 --- Introduction --- p.59 / Chapter 6.2 --- Toy Model A --- p.59 / Chapter 6.3 --- Toy Model B --- p.61 / Chapter 6.4 --- Mean Field Theory : a Lower Bound of Relaxation Time --- p.62 / Chapter 6.5 --- Mean Field Theory with the Decimation Formalism --- p.62 / Chapter 6.6 --- Mean Field Theory with Fluctuations --- p.63 / Chapter 6.6.1 --- Fluctuation Phenomena with the Decimation Formalism --- p.67 / Chapter 6.7 --- Conclusion --- p.69 / Chapter Chapter 7. --- Conclusion --- p.70 / Bibliography --- p.73

Chau Kin Chiu. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT (Chinese) --- p.i / ABSTRACT --- p.Iii / ACKNOWLEDEMENT --- p.v / Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1-9 / Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- INSTRUMENTS / Chapter 2.1 --- Laser Light Scattering (LLS) --- p.10-18 / Chapter 2.2 --- Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) --- p.19-28 / Chapter 2.3 --- Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) --- p.29-31 / Chapter 2.4 --- Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) --- p.32-35 / Chapter 2.5 --- Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) --- p.36-43 / Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- EXPERIMENTAL / Chapter 3.1 --- Preparation of Neutral Polystyrene Particles --- p.45-46 / Chapter 3.2 --- Characterization of Neutral Polystyrene Particles --- p.46-47 / Chapter 3.3 --- Preparation of Carboxylated Polystyrene Particles --- p.47-48 / Chapter 3.4 --- Characterization of Carboxylated Polystyrene Particles --- p.48 / Chapter 3.5 --- Film Formation --- p.49 / Chapter 3.6 --- Investigation Polystyrene Latex Film by AFM --- p.49 / Chapter 3.7 --- Determination of Changes of Confined Polystyrene Chains --- p.50 / Chapter 3.8 --- References --- p.50-51 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS / Chapter 4.1 --- Basic Observations --- p.53-64 / Chapter 4.2 --- Findings from Preliminary Study --- p.65-73 / Chapter 4.3 --- Relaxation of Polymers in Neutral Polystyrene Particle --- p.74-92 / Chapter 4.4 --- Is there really on change when particles annealed below Tg? --- p.93-94 / Chapter 4.5 --- Relaxation of Polymers in CPS particles --- p.94-99 / Chapter 4.6 --- Summary --- p.100-101 / Chapter 4.7 --- Future Work --- p.101 / Chapter 4.8 --- References --- p.101-102