In the study, I assessed the persistence of students who joined fraternities at Western Kentucky University. Also included is a comparison between them and the general student population. The study includes 1467 students who joined fraternities between the Fall 1986 to Spring 1991 semesters. A five-year time period was used as the benchmark for graduation from the institution. Factors that were explored included race, initiation status, year in school when pledging, and organizational affiliation. Pearson Product-Moment Correlations and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data. The results illustrated that students who join fraternities graduate at a higher percentage than the general student population. Black students who join fraternities graduate at a significantly higher percentage than black students who do not join. Pledge Year and Initiation Status proved to be significant factors.

[Partial Abstract} A mirror provides a reflection of the beholder. Not quite an exact replica, there is space and time between the original object and its reflection. Different mirrors produce different angles, lighting, tone, and mood. The mirror is a tool of reference and of introspection; of confinement and of freedom. ... Shifting between poetry and prose, my manuscript is two-fold. I am the one holding the mirror, looking into my own face and heart, translating what I feel and see onto the page. Simultaneously, my family's hands clasp the hilt of that mirror, turning it so that I may view their faces and stories in light of my own adaptation. ...

This work focuses on Western Kentucky University’s Folklife Archives located in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Western Kentucky University has a rich history of folklore scholarship, dating back to at least the early 20th century and the work of Gordon Wilson. Folklore archives across the nation have long been repositories for the fieldwork of folklorists and a place to look to supplement future studies both of folklorists and other disciplines. Western Kentucky’s Folklife Archives are no exception, housing thousands of impressive pieces donated from many generations of folklore scholars. Yet very little has been written about the Western Kentucky Folklife Archives. Through oral history and primary documentation, I have attempted to capture this history from the earliest days of Gordon Wilson, D.K. Wilgus, and Lynwood Montell to the present day. vi

Hemoglobin Zurich is a hemoglobin anomaly that results when one amino acid (histidine) is substituted by arginine at position 63 in the beta chain of hemoglobin molecules [β 63 His—Arg]. When Hemoglobin Zurich individuals are exposed to sulfonamide medication, their hemoglobins denature and subsequently form Heinz bodies which attach to the surface of the plasma membrane. Four Hemoglobin Zurich family members were the subjects of the current study. They included a splenectomized female subject, non-splenectomized female and male subjects, and a non-splenectomized female member without Hemoglobin Zurich as the control. The results collaborate that splenectomy increases the number of erythrocytes containing Heinz bodies in peripheral blood. The menstrual cycle apparently has no statistical affect on the increased ratio of Heinz body-containing erythrocytes to normal erythrocytes.

A replication of the Carter and Craig (1975) investigation comparing the “conceptual peg” and “relational connective” explanations as to the effectiveness of an interaction imagery strategy in paired-associate learning was performed with the suggested changes in methodology. These changes included training the subjects and presenting the stimulus and response nouns on separate screens rather than visually side-by-side. In addition, two separation imagery strategies were investigated so that the nouns were visualized on opposite sides of the imaginary visual field or on opposite walls of an imaginary room. An interaction imagery strategy, a separation imagery—space strategy, a separation imagery—wall strategy, and an overt repetition strategy were compared in terms of performance on a stimulus recognition-response recall task within a paired-associate stimulus interference situation. Pairs of synonyms were employed as stimulus components in the learning trial to produce stimulus interference. In the recognition-recall trial, subjects were presented a list of stimulus and control nouns, and were asked to indicate which nouns had appeared during the learning trial (stimulus recognition) and hwat had been paired with each one (response recall). The results were similar to those found in the Carter and Craig (1975) investigation in that the interaction imagery strategy was found to result in significantly greater response recall than the separation imagery strategies and the overt repetition strategy. Also, the imagery strategies resulted in greater stimulus recognition than the overt repetition strategy. Again, the conceptual peg hypothesis was supported. In contrast with Carter and Craig (1975), the separation imagery strategy was found to be the least effective strategy in response recall and the most effective strategy in stimulus recognition. It appeared that the trained subjects were more successful in employing the instructed strategies and that the conflicting separation imagery data could be attributed to this. There was no significant effect for mode of presentation in either response recall or stimulus recognition. A ceiling effect was indicated from the stimulus recognition data.

Given the recent theoretical emphasis on the process of performance rating (e.g., Landy & Farr, 1980), a test of the suggestion that better raters may use different rating processes than poorer raters was implemented. Specifically, this study was designed to determine if more accurate raters use a systematically different rating strategy than less accurate raters. Accuracy, the proximity of a rating to the ratee’s true score, was operationalized by differential accuracy (Cronbach, 1955), while rating strategies were determined through a policy capturing method (e.g., Zedeck & Kafry, 1977). Seventh-three subjects rated a series of videotapes, developed by Borman (e.g. Borman, 1977), of performances with known true scores. A subject’s ratings on a particular dimension were correlated with the true scores for that dimension (across ratees) to provide each subject’s differential accuracy score for that particular dimension. Then, dimensional differential accuracy ratings were converted z scores (using Fisher’s r to z conversion) and the mean of each subject’s dimensional accuracy ratings was calculated and used as his/her summary accuracy indices. The policy capturing segment of the study required subjects to provide an overall performance rating for 100 hypothetical performance profiles. The subject’s overall ratings were then regressed on the hypothetical performance profiles, providing for each subject a regression equation reflecting his/her particular rating strategy. The variables from each subject’s regression equation used to reflect his/her rating strategy were then correlated with that subject’s accuracy ratings. The results indicated more accurate raters were no more consistent in using their individual rating strategies than less accurate raters, nor did they use information from more performance dimensions than less accurate raters. Also, there was no correlation between the accuracy with which a dimension was rated and the relative weight given that dimension when providing an overall rating. Given the lack of significant relationships between the accuracy of rating and measures of rating strategy, it was suggested that the effect of other rating process variables (e.g. observation and memory processes) on accuracy be examined.

Based upon limited findings dealing with nonverbal behavior and personality traits as they relate to communication apprehension, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of communication apprehension with proxemic establishment, self-esteem, and dogmatism. The study analyzed these variables utilizing subjects who were statistically either high or low communication apprehensives. Interesting results were attained. An inverse relationship between apprehension and proxemic establishment was revealed, such that dyads containing low-low members established greater interpersonal distance than dyads containing high-low members who established greater interpersonal distance than dyads containing high-high members. Communication apprehension overrode the sex variable with relation to spatial usage. Subjects high in self-esteem were low in communication apprehension, while subjects low in self-esteem were high in communication apprehension, thus indicating a negative or inverse relationship. Finally, subjects high in apprehension were high in dogmatism while those low in apprehension were low in dogmatism. Implications of the study are of interest to both researchers and those instructors who teach communications. The need for further research with regard to these variables is most apparent.

The LD50 of Vibrio parahaemolyticus ATCC 17803 for 13- to 18-g male mice, strain ICR, as determined by the 50% endpoint method, was found to be an estimated 7 x 107 CFU, when administered intraperitoneally in 0.5 ml of 24-h broth culture, O. D. 0.5 at 650 nm, diluted to 10-0.72. The elicitation of protective antibody by this bacterium in male New Zealand White rabbits was demonstrated by testing control, baseline, and hyperimmune rabbit sera for their protective effect against 2 LD50 of the bacterium administered intraperitoneally in 13- to 18-g male mice, strain ICR. A comparison of these sera showed that there was a highly significant difference, at the 0.01 level, between the protection conferred by the hyperimmune sera and the protection conferred by the baseline or control area. Significant protection was demonstrated by hperimmune sera at dilutions as high as 1/32. Comparison of results of in vitro tests for preciptins and agglutinins in hyperimmune rabbit sera with results of in vivo tests for protective effect of hyperimmune rabbit sera led to a tentative conclusion that this passive protection afforded by the hyperimmune rabbit sera is probably conferred more by precipitins than by agglutinins.

The psychometric properties of the Need for Cognition Scale (NCS; Cacioppo & Petty, 1982) were investigated in two studies with independent samples of undergraduates at Western Kentucky University. In the first study (N = 379), the internal consistency and factor structure of the NCS were examined, and the NCS was compared to the Achievement subscale of the Personality Research Form (Jackson, 1974) and the State-Trait Curiosity subscale of the State-Trait Personality Inventory (Speilberger, 1979). Also, the possibility of differences in “need for cognition” attributable to socio-economic status (i.e. the educational attainment of the subjects’ parents) were examined. The second study (N = 72) compared the NCS to the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R; Dunn & Dunn, 1981) and, in addition, investigated the possibility that the NCS could explain variance in American College Test (ACT) scores other than that explained by the PPVT-R alone. The findings indicated that the NCS is a reliable instrument in terms of internal consistency. In factor analyses, one primary and one lesser factor emerged. The first factor was interpreted as representing the enjoyment of thinking, which is consistent with the first factor described in previous factor analytic investigations (i.e. Cacioppo & Petty, 1982; Cacioppo, Petty, Kao, 1984). The weaker factor appeared to represent the “amount” of cognitive activity sought by the individual high in NCog. This factor corresponded to one described by Tanaka, Panter, and Winbourne (1988). The NCS correlated positively and moderately with the Achievement and Curiosity subscales. The analyses of SES differences in NCS scores indicate that there is a main effect for SES; the participants whose parents had fewer years of formal education had higher scores on the NCS. In the second study, the NCS correlated moderately and positively with the PPVT-R; however, the NCS did not account for variance in ACT scores which was significant and unique to that accounted for by PPVT-R scores.

Previous research in death anxiety has suggested that marital roles, and especially the male’s role as the family provider, influence the sex differences in death attitudes (Diggory & Rothman, 1961; Tolor & Murphy, 1967). The present study attempted to directly investigate the effect of marital roles by comparing the sex differences in death anxiety scores (as measured by the Templer Death Anxiety Scale) of married persons, with and without children, and single persons. In addition, 20 demographic covariates were investigated to observe their possible effect on death anxiety. The results of the multiple regression analysis indicated that marital status was not significantly related to death anxiety. However, single males were found to have significantly higher death anxiety than single females. Additional multiple regressions revealed that 18% of the variance in death anxiety scores was accounted for by the five covariates of whether a family member or friend had died in the last year, education, race, age and religious preference. These further analyses indicated that higher death anxiety can be expected if the subject had not experienced a recent death of a family member or friend. Persons with less education, as well as black and younger persons, also have higher death anxiety. Finally, persons who have a religious preference have higher death anxiety than persons who do not have a religious preference.