This thesis develops a general theory of choice behaviour which is applied to the analysis of response to development programmes in rural India. The theory focuses on the social processes which structure perceived choice parameters for individuals differentially situated within the village communities. It examines those mechanisms which influence the range of alternatives likely to be considered, appreciation of their varied consequences, or the likely outcome of new proposals, and their perceived and actual feasibility. A basic concept in the theory is "power", defined here as "the ability to influence the structuring of choice parameters of others", through control over critical mechanisms of information flow, persuasion, and access to input facilities. Ten hypotheses are derived from the basic theoretical axiom of rational action, concerned with how such control will be exercised, and the implications which this has for the scope of choices open to others. Rural development programmes in India provide the substantive context for testing the utility of these hypotheses. These programmes are directly concerned with promoting innovation among villagers, and they incorporate a wide range of specific choices. The theory predicts that within the highly stratified village communities, first hand access to new information, and further diffusion at second hand, will be concentrated among members of the same faction and* social stratum as initially privileged informants. Vertical diffusion of information across strata will be minimal, and its content strongly biased by the particular interests of initial informants. The theory further predicts that evaluation of the merits of any new proposals will be strongly influenced by the character of relations between informant and recipients. As information flows vertically between strata, its persuasive impact will decline, as a function of relatively poorer quality information, the extent of tensions and conflicting interests between strata, and perceived economic disparities. Lastly, the theory predicts that access to any input facilities will be concentrated among members of the same faction and social stratum as those persons responsible for their distribution. Access by members of other strata will decline with increasing social distance, and their preferences are progressively less likely to be considered in the investment of resources for community projects. The study succeeds in demonstrating the utility of these hypotheses in predicting response to development projects within the five village communities. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

The effects of deadlines in contingency-specifying stimuli among nine 4 to 5 year old children were investigated. Each child was given verbal statements differing in the specified deadline, the delivery of the reinforcer, and the opportunity to respond. The results indicated: (a) statements not specifying deadlines or reinforcers failed to control the children's behavior reliably, (b) specifying deadlines, either immediate or delayed, and immediate reinforcers exerted reliable control over the children's behavior when the opportunity to respond was immediately available, and (c) specifying delayed deadlines or no deadlines and immediate or delayed reinforcers did not reliably control the children's behavior when the opportunity to respond was delayed.

The current study consisted of two experiments, both of which were comparisons of choice conditions replicated across four participants. Four typically-developing pre-school children participated in this study. Experiment 1 evaluated participants' preference for choosing consequent stimuli prior to engaging in academic tasks (pre-session choice) versus choosing consequent stimuli each time criterion for reinforcement had been met within the session (within-session choice). In Experiment 2, preference for choice-making was evaluated when outcomes for both choice and no-choice conditions were identical. For two participants, results indicated strong preference for choice-making.

In this collection, the typical and the peculiar collide with the necessary and familiar. Where life, love, and loss, are random quantum elements that may or may not hold the universe together. Some of these stories explore characters that are a bit off, a tad quirky, underdogs trying to find something to hold on to. From musing about the atomic bomb and Hubba Bubba gum, to jogging at the speed of a particle in the Hadron accelerator, or ruminating on the awesome power of the sit-com, to taking a selfie with co-workers in the dark, to what bored kids do to preserve memories, this collection connects the absurd and the mundane, the universal and particular. These stories deal with choices and events that have the potential to change lives and shape character. And whether it's breaking the record for highest jump in a mattress outfit, longing for meatballs, what the downtown bus hub can teach, secret tattoos, cutting off your pinkie to save a relationship, or whales on the high sea, this collection oscillates between the random and the significant in order to enlighten or at least to entertain.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of choice and environmental control on perceived control. A paired associate choice task was presented to all subjects and they were allowed to choose the response terms to be learned. When each of the response words was chosen aloud, the screen on which the words were printed went blank in the 100% implicit control and 100% explicit control groups. In the latter group, the subjects were informed a priori that the words would be removed from the screen, while in the no-control group, the screen did not go blank when the subjects responded. In the 50% implicit control and 50% explicit control groups, the screen went blank upon responding on a random half of the decision trials. Half of the subjects received an uncontrollable continuous white noise (90 dB) throughout the decision trials, while no noise was presented to the remainder. Upon completion of the choice task, subjects were presented with a dice game, which measured the generalized effects of perceived control. The relationships between environmental control and perceived control were different in the explicit control and implicit control conditions. In the presence of noise, environmental control produced an increment in the perception of control. Finally, consistent environmental control produces greater perceived control than does random control. The motivation model and applications of environmental control were discussed. / Ph. D.

..."there was less similarity between the response pairs comprising the PA list than there was between the response alternatives presented during the practice trial. Consequently, the anticipation of control developed from experience with the practice trial could have been reduced when the subjects chose the response words for the PA trials. It is this reduction in perceived control which is assumed to be responsible for the failure to obtain the predicted differences in PA performance between Choice and Force subjects. One method of testing the above explanation would be to introduce the experimenter's request to choose only preselected response words during the practice trial, thereby reducing the possibility of subjects experiencing a reduction in perceived control later in the experiment." / Master of Science

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 98-104).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed October 2, 2007). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 88-93).

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-68). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.