Thesis (Ph. D.)--Syracuse University, 2005.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 156-162).

Thesis (M.S.) in Zoology--University of Maine, 2006. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-65).

Thesis (PH.D.) -- Syracuse University, 2006 / "Publication number AAT 3242508."

No description available.

This thesis proposes a theory for fundamental aspects of the evolution and development of the representational mind. Building on Perner's (1991) theory of representational development, it is suggested that mind evolved from the ability to represent current reality (primary mind) to further entertain secondary representations of hypothetical content (collating mind) to finally represent representational relations themselves (metamind). In child development these transitions can be observed by about 18 months and by about 42 to 48 months. In comparative analysis only the great apes show signs of a collating mind. Young children and great apes can, for example, pretend, consider a limited future and past, solve problems by insight, and consider others' basic mental states. By about age four children begin to show evidence for metarepresentation in their ability to pass theory-of-mind tasks. At about the same age they also gain considerable executive control which, together with metarepresentation, is the key cognitive advance of metamind. Empirical evidence suggests that various skills co-develop with metamind and the thesis includes four studies that investigate such associations. It was found that gestural representation with imaginary objects and the generation of creative problem solutions were robustly correlated with theory-of-mind measures. These results substantiate the claim for a domain-general change in cognitive ability by about age four. Understanding delayed video feedback, however, was not found to correlate with such measures and it is questioned whether delayed feedback tasks measure an extended sense of self as has been proposed (Povinelli, 1995; Suddendorf & Corballis, 1997). Great apes, while showing evidence for a collating mind, have not yet provided any convincing evidence for metamind. It is thus suggested that metamind developed after the split from the line that led to modern chimpanzees about five million years ago. Metamind, it is argued, was a prime mover in human phylogeny and is a crucial step in human ontogeny. / Subscription resource available via Digital Dissertations only.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 248-271).

<p> This study was an investigation of the proportions of male and female adolescents who commit violent crime and also exhibit depression or conduct disorder. The National Comorbidity Survey: Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A) database of 10,148 surveyed male and female adolescents was examined to determine adolescents who reported having been arrested for committing a violent crime or committing a violent crime without being apprehended (the violent crime group) and who had also been diagnosed with depression or conduct disorder according to DSM-IV-TR criteria. Findings showed that 72 (22.9%) of the 314 violent males had been diagnosed with depression and 146 (46.5%) with conduct disorder. Fifty-nine (44.4%) of the 133 violent females had been diagnosed with depression and 61 (45.9%) with conduct disorder. Chi-square tests revealed that the proportion of violent females with depression was significantly larger than the proportion of males (P = 0.001). There was no significant difference between violent males and females in diagnoses of conduct disorder.</p>

A general account is given of the development of Daphnia magna from the egg to the mature adult. A review of previous work reveals that authors have concentrated on the early development, neglecting the later development. An adequate technique has been developed. An account of the development based on living material gives a detailed series of stages. A summary of the present state of knowledge of the physiological aspects of development is included. The development of the parthenogenetic egg is described. The early development includes a superficial cleavage and gastrulation by immigration. The mesenteron develops from a solid rod of cells in the ventral part of the egg, and acquires a central cavity which never contains yolk. The yolk cells develop from the blastoderm. The mesoderm develops a single small pair of coelomic cavities, and the heart develops from a compact group of cells. The history of the dorsal organ is described. The development of the ephippial egg resembles that of the parthenogenetic egg except in some features related to the smaller and more even sized nature of the yolk globules. Daphnia magna hatches from the brood pouch of the mother as an immature adult. The account of the anatomy of the adult is a confirmation and extension of previous work, including histology and indicating function. The muscles of the mesenteron are striated, and the heart wall contains anincomplete longitudinal, as well as a circular, layer of muscles. A suggestion is made for a new interpretation of the cells of the branchial sacs. The results obtained and the importance of a large quantity of yolk are discussed.

Methods of assessing the self concept were reviewed. Two measures of the self concept stated by previous experimenters to be related to psychological adjustment as measured by other psychological tests were discussed. These two measures were, uncertainty about what the self is really like, and self acceptance. An experiment was carried out to investigate the relationship of these two aspects of the self concept in children to psychological adjustment, as measured by tneir anxiety, neuroticism ana extraversion scores on the Childrens Personality Questionnaire (C.P.A.T). The subjects were 127 children, between the ages of 7--12 years, and their 6 teachers. An attempt was also made to investigate the reported relationship between the children1s self concept, and the personality of their teachers as measured on the 16 Personality Pactor Questionnaire (I.P.A.T.), and the teachers attitudes to certain teaching situations as assessed on the Sargant Insight test using specially devised armatures. It was found that increase in uncertainty about the self concept in children between the ages of 7 and 12 years,was associated with significantly higher neuroticism scores than decrease in, or no change in uncertainty scores. (The change was assessed over a 10 week period in a normal school term). Both increase and decrease in uncertainty about the self were found to be associated with significantly higher anxiety scores than no change in uncertainty. It was found that high self acceptance and medium self acceptance were associated with significantly lower anxiety and neuroticism scores than low self acceptance. However, looking at the separate age levels tested it was found that: a) the level of anxiety shown by children with high self acceptance scores rose with age. b) the numbers of children with very high self acceptance scores decreased with age. It was found that the anxiety scores of children in the classes of the three more introverted teachers were significantly higher than those of the children in the classes of the more extraverted teachers.