Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 25-12, page: 7095. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1964.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 27-01, Section: A, page: 0114. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1966.

Effects of discourse structure and schema utilization upon prose learning were investigated in a sample of 112 Brazilian seventh grade students who participated in a prose reading task and took an immediate and a delayed free recall test in an actual school setting. Specifically, this study investigated the effect upon learning of the level of the information in the prose structure (regarding discourse structure) and the use of learner's specific prior knowledge (regarding schema utilization). The level of information was investigated by manipulating three levels of ideas (high, middle, and low). Specific prior knowledge was investigated by providing students with an advance organizer and classifying text ideas as they related to students' prior knowledge. The ideas were classified as prior knowledge (schema) implied, prior knowledge (schema) modifying, and prior knowledge (schema) irrelevant. / Subjects were randomly assigned to the organizer and no organizer groups and studied the same text with or without an organizer. They attended two research sessions, one for the reading task and immediate test, and one for the delayed test. Subject's recall was assessed by determining the presence of the research text ideas in the subject's test answer. ANOVA procedures were used for analyzing the data. The independent variables were one between-subject factor (provision of an organizer), and two within-subject factors (level and type of ideas). The dependent variable was subject's learning as indicated by subject's amount of recall of the research text in the free recall tests. / The results for immediate and delayed recall were consistent in showing a main interaction effect between level and type of ideas upon subject's recall. Furthermore, the compensatory positive effect of prior knowledge in situations of low level ideas was found. Yet the results also showed an unexpected reinforcing joint effect of prior knowledge and high level ideas on recall. In synthesis, the research results supported the constructive hypothesis, which predicts prose learning as a product of interaction between discourse structure and learner's schemata. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-09, Section: A, page: 2633. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of two instructional strategies (provided diagram and self-constructed diagram) on delayed retention of classifying skills. One hundred forty-nine students at a small southern university participated in the study. One hundred and nine students were divided according to high, medium and low pretest scores and then were randomly assigned to two treatment groups and the control. The remaining 40 students in an intact class were assigned to a third treatment group. An untreated control group design with pretest and posttest was employed. Each of the three treatment groups received a systematically designed lesson. One group received the instruction only; the second group was provided with the same instruction plus a content summary diagram. The third group had been taught to construct content diagrams in an earlier lesson and was required to construct a diagram for the experimental lesson. After a 7-day delay all participants received a retention lesson. The retention test required students to classify new instances of the marketing concepts taught in the experimental lesson. Before the test, groups were given additional instructions. Students who were provided a diagram or who constructed a diagram during the lesson were asked to image the diagram and reconstruct it. They were then asked to use the diagram to help answer the test questions. Students in the instruction only group and the control group filled out a study habits survey before the test. / ANCOVA results indicate significant main effects for treatment groups over the no-treatment control group. Significant interactions were revealed between treatment groups based on prior knowledge. Inexperienced students who were provided a diagram during instruction scored significantly higher on the retention test than similar students who had instruction only. There were no significant differences between treatments for students who scored high on the pretest. The self-constructed diagram condition was as effective as the provided diagram and the instruction-only conditions. Verbal ability was not found to be a significant factor in the results. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-01, Section: A, page: 0133. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

Although runaway youth have been the focus of a good deal of research in recent years, there remains considerable confusion regarding the causes of runaway behavior. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the personality and psychological characteristics of runaway and non runaway youths, all of whom had come to the attention of social welfare, mental health and judicial systems. / Subjects were 199 males, between the ages of 12 and 18, constituting the population of a large residential treatment center in the midwest. Personality and psychological characteristics were assessed using the Millon Adolescent Personality Inventory (MAPI). Demographic data were collected via self-report questionnaire. / This investigation addressed the following two research questions: (1) Are there similarities in personality and psychological characteristics between runaway and non runaway youths? (2) Can subjects be accurately classified into runaway and non runaway groups on the basis of their psychological style and demographic characteristics? / Factor analysis was performed to reduce MAPI variables and compare structures of the two groups. Direct discriminant analysis was performed to identify variables that would lead to effective classification. / Visual inspection and comparison of the rotated factor structures suggests that both groups present as lonely, insecure, with poor impulse control and an unwillingness to comply with social regulation. The runaways appear to be aggressive in their resistance to social regulation. In contrast, the nonrunaways behave in a passive defiant manner in response to societal regulation. However, these differences were not sufficiently robust to significantly discriminate between the two groups. This finding may reflect the subtlety in the differences in psychological style between the two groups. It was concluded that there appears to be substantial similarity in personality and psychological characteristics between runaways and non runaways but only subtle differences. The differences were not sufficiently robust to generate a classification function. Recommendations for future research were offered. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-09, Section: A, page: 2623. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

The primary purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects that various reward/feedback strategies have on changes in intrinsic motivation (persistence on a task) and the subject's self-described interest for a task. Additionally, the interactions of reward/feedback and gender were observed along with the changes in intrinsic motivation and interest during the initial and subsequent free choice observation periods. Male and female subjects (N = 140) were selected after screening for their initial interest on the stabilometer (target task). Subjects were randomly assigned by sex to one of five treatment groups: no reward or control (CL), contingent reward (CT), noncontingent reward (NCT), contingent reward/positive feedback (CTPF), and noncontingent reward/positive feedback (NCTPF). Treatment consisted of ten 30 sec balancing trials on the stabilometer with a 20 sec rest period between each trial. Appropriate rewards and feedback were given upon completion of each even numbered trial. Control subjects received no reward or feedback. / Following treatment, subjects were observed in three posttreatment (initial, 3-week, 6-week) free choice settings. Data were obtained for the dependent measures of persistence (time with target task) and interest. Data were analyzed using a 2 x 5 x 3 ANOVA with two levels for gender, five levels for reward/feedback, and three repeated measures. Analyses of the data revealed that contingent rewards enhanced intrinsic motivation and interest, whereas noncontingent rewards undermined intrinsic motivation and interest. Feedback conditions produced increased intrinsic motivational levels for the CTPF group, while the NCTPF group remained similar to the CL group. Gender differences were not significant on all occasions except for the CTPF group. Interest and intrinsic motivational shifts returned to pretreatment levels by the 6-week posttreatment observation period. Research findings indicated support for Deci's cognitive evaluation theory. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-12, Section: A, page: 3662. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

Human systems are changing rapidly and entering novel, complex futures. Human resource personnel must evolve new understandings of problem-solving and holistic methods of analytical and creative problem-solving to deal with future, unique, and uncertain problems which are not manageable with problem-solving strategies that have worked well in the past. / This study tested the effects of Problem-Solving Strategy and Outcome Expectancy Cueing on creative task performance within a 3 x 2 fixed-effects, post-test only factorial design with a sample of 222 undergraduate business students. Three strategy levels were operationalized: Creative-Imaginal, Analytical, and Non-Treatment Control groups. Two levels of Outcome Expectancy were used: Specific Answer Expectancy and Non-Specific Answer Expectancy related to tasks subjects undertook. Five performance outcomes were extracted from three performance tasks: ideational fluency (two measures), flexibility, originality, and convergent production. The Alternative Uses Test (SPS, 1985), the Paired Identification Task, and an Analogy Task comprised the instrumentation set. / MANOVA, Two-Way Analysis of Variance, Bonferroni and Newman-Keuls post hoc tests, and correlational methods were used to evaluate performance outcomes. Results suggest that subjects cued to use a Creative problem-solving strategy performed significantly better on divergent tasks than Analytical or control group subjects. No significant difference was found between strategy groups on the Analogy Task. Outcome Expectancy had minimal impact on performance except in significant interaction effects with the Creative strategy on two divergent outcomes. Strong, positive correlations were found between the divergent outcomes, although the association between divergent and convergent outcomes remains unclear. Results suggest that congruence between one's problem-solving strategy and the nature of a problem tends to increase problem-solving performance. It appears that cognitive and contextual sets can and do influence task performance. Implications are specified for research in problem-solving and creativity, training and therapy, and problem-solving theory. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-07, Section: A, page: 1711. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

Employee Assistance Programs (EAP's) are rapidly becoming an integral part of the corporate world. Implementation of these programs has resulted in considerable humanitarian and financial benefit to business and industry. The success of EAP's is largely dependent on the supervisor's willingness and ability to utilize these programs. Despite the recognized importance of the supervisor's role in EAP's, little research has been conducted on factors which might enhance or impede a supervisor's use of an EAP. This study examined the effects of supervisors' interpersonal need structure, and level of experience on: (1) supervisors' use of confrontation with problem employees; and (2) supervisors' referral rate of employees experiencing job performance problems to the company EAP. / Subjects consisted of 85 supervisors, all of whom work for one branch of state government in Florida. Every supervisor in the organization was asked to participate in the study. Subjects attended an all day workshop consisting of three hours of human relations training and four hours of employee assistance training. During the workshop subject's interpersonal need structure was assessed via the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation--Behavior (Schutz, 1966). The FIRO-B consists of three interpersonal dimensions, inclusion, control, and affection, which are held to be sufficient to explain and predict interpersonal phenomenon. Five months later a survey was sent to all supervisors who participated in the training. The primary purpose of the survey was to assess both the confrontive and referral behavior of supervisors following the training. / Results of the study indicated that supervisors who tended to relinquish responsibility were less likely to confront employees than supervisors who tended to accept responsibility. In addition, it was found that less experienced supervisors were more likely to refer employees to the company EAP than more experienced supervisors. Supervisor's use of confrontation was found to be the strongest predictor of referral behavior. Implications of the findings for counselors are discussed. Also discussed are the limits of Schutz' FIRO theory to work place behavior. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-02, Section: A, page: 0342. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

Past research (e.g., Hunt, 1978) found a small but consistent statistical association between psychometric tests of verbal ability and performance on a letter-matching task common in psychological research. This task purports to demonstrate the interaction between pattern recognition and processes requiring conversion from a visual to a verbal code. In particular, the measure indicating the speed of code conversion was shown to be correlated with verbal ability tests. The question raised in this dissertation was whether a test of language proficiency (TOEFL) could be similarly linked to letter-matching performance. The essential assumption underlying the research was that, for this purpose, TOEFL could be reasonably compared to the aforementioned tests for native speakers of English. The letter-matching task was administered by computer to a group of university age foreign students, half of whom were studying ESL; half were already regularly enrolled students at American universities. This partition was meant to demonstrate the stability of the letter-matching data as measures of individual differences. A postiori, two other subgroups were identified: a group of subjects whose native language is regularly written in Arabic script, and another group whose native language is written using the Latin alphabet. Since the required task utilized letters of the alphabet, the selection of these groups made it possible to a degree to examine the effects of past training. Results were not conclusive. Letter-matching association with the Listening Comprehension section of the TOEFL was strongest for low proficiency individuals; for high proficiency individuals, the Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension scores were the strongest correlate. Some differences emerged according to native language writing system. For the Latin alphabet subgroup, the correlation between the / code conversion measure and Reading Comprehension scores was -.398. It was suggested that this value parallels previous findings, in that this section of the test most closely resembles verbal ability tests for native speakers. Oller's (1978) suggestion that all psychometric tests tap similar abilities was judged to be confirmed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-06, Section: A, page: 2092. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of three modifications (auditory, visual, and combined) of a computer program designed to increase the sight vocabulary of learning disabled children. Seventeen first, second, or third graders, identified as having a learning disability, were exposed to two word sets under each of three treatment conditions and a no treatment condition. Identical pre, immediate-post, and delayed post tests were administered to each subject to measure improvement in the number of words read accurately and the number of target words chosen correctly from a group of three words. These tests were also used to determine whether or not the time required to read the word-set and to choose the target word from a group of words decreased. All three modifications were found to be effective in increasing the number of words read accurately and the number of correctly chosen words. The three treatment conditions were found to increase the speed with which the word-sets were read as well as the speed with which the correct word was chosen from a group of words. The auditory and combined conditions were found to be more effective than the visual condition in maintaining the decreases made from pre- to post-tests in the speed with which the correct word was chosen. Otherwise, no differences in effectiveness were found to exist between the three treatment conditions. The no treatment condition did not produce significant changes in the subjects' abilities to read the words accurately or quickly. The results indicate that any of these three modifications of the computer program can effectively be used to supplement teacher instruction to build the sight vocabulary of learning disabled children. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-05, Section: A, page: 1670. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.