published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

A theoretical analysis of the relationship between social structure and cognitive structure is presented. Based upon this analysis, a study was done in which the cognitive activity of high and low self-esteem (SE) women was assessed under some particular social conditions. The factors manipulated were: focus of attention on either orientation toward a career or on orientation toward family; activation (via priming) of either the cognitive structure encoding masculine tendencies or that containing information on feminine tendencies; and perceptions of how well family and career functions fit together for most women. The primary dependent measures used were tests of hand-eye coordination, of creativity, of memory and of level of negative emotion. The results partially supported the hypotheses. They indicated four-way interactions for the recall measure and for one measure of use of defense mechanisms. Two three-way interactions were observed in the analysis of the measure of creativity. The measure of emotion showed only a main-effect of the focus-of-attention manipulation, such that women in the family-focus condition exhibited significantly more emotion. There were no significant effects on the measure of hand-eye coordination. High self-esteem subjects were much more likely to use defense mechanisms, including repression of threatening information. Conflict increased creativity only when focus of attention was congruent with chronic or situationally-induced (masculine or feminine) tendencies. The applicability to this data of both cognitive-psychological and psychodynamic concepts and mechanisms is assessed. It is concluded that neither theory can completely account for the data. Some practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Matching teaching style to learning style has been proven to be beneficial in (1) increasing academic achievement, (2) improving students' attitudes toward school, and (3) reducing discipline problems. Thus, over the years, learning-style inventories have been developed to ascertain a student's learning styles. However, traditional paper-and-pencil inventories can be time consuming and sometimes provide inaccurate reports. Therefore, this study, descriptive in nature, was designed to examine the feasibility of delivering a learning-style inventory via computer. The questions posed were: (1) Is the computer-based delivery system easier to use than the paper-and-pencil method? (2) Does the computer-based delivery system reduce the amount of mathematical errors made by the instructor or student in scoring the inventory as compared to the paper-and-pencil method? (3) Does the computer-based delivery system reduce the amount of time needed to take the inventory and compile the results as compared to the paper-and-pencil method? (4) Does the computer-based delivery system reduce the amount of paperwork required of the instructor as compared to the paper-and-pencil method? (5) Do the instructor and student find the information compiled by the computer-based delivery system useful? To conduct the study, a sample of 295 students and six teachers from a southwestern high school was selected. One-half of the students received a paper-and-pencil version of the inventory and the second half received a computer-based version. After completing the inventory, each student was asked to complete a short questionnaire. The six instructors were then asked to complete several tasks involving retrieval and manipulation of information about the students. When finished, the instructors also completed a questionnaire. Data was collected on the students' and instructors' perceptions of the inventory, time to complete the inventory, and error rate in completing the inventory. From this data, it was concluded that there was no significant difference in the students' preferences between the two methods. However, a significant advantage became evident for the computer-based version when the completion times, error rates and instructors' perceptions were examined.

Several explanations have been offered to account for information processing of visual forms and the influence of verbal labels associated with those forms. These accounts have differed in their emphasis on processes of encoding, storage, or retrieval as that primary locus of the effects of label-form association. While the three acounts are not incompatible, previous explanations have failed to provide an integrated explanation of the process of form memory. The present study was composed of two experiments that addressed psychological perception of form stimuli. In the first experiment, a novel mathematical method was used to describe and generate four families of random-polygon form stimuli of graded similarity. The model's Euclidean metric provided a close linear fit to the obtained judgments of similarity among polygons. The second experiment examined the associative influence of verbal labels on memory for the polygons used in the first experiment. Subjects learned to associate either the same label or two different labels with two form stimuli from the same family and one "control" polygon and one label from the third and fourth families. A paired comparison recognition test was used in which training stimuli were presented with unfamiliar stimuli from the same family either immediately, two days or four days after training. Subjects' recognition gradients on the control forms demonstrated a clear differentiation between the correct training form and incorrect variation forms. Recognition gradients were markedly different, however, for same- vs. different-labeled forms. Training with different labels produced a gradient with a mode centered over the correct target form. Training with same labels produced a recognition gradient with a mode shifted in the direction suggested by the same label. Results of the present study are most consistent with a model of form memory in which different processes may predominate as a function of stimulus complexity and degree of training. In some cases an associative encoding process is the result of label-form association. In others, including the present study, label-form association directs dynamic processing, resulting in novel assimilational representations of stimulus information.

In this study, six educationally disadvantaged children were taught beginning letter sounds under two teaching conditions. After a baseline of no intervention, a single subject alternating treatments design was used to compare contingent elaborations and token reinforcement within children. Performance between treatments was analyzed in terms of cumulative number of letter sounds learned, total number of letter sounds learned, and maintenance of learning. Token probes were implemented to ascertain whether tokens remained functionally reinforcing over the course of the study. Five children responded to treatment over baseline. Three of these, characterized by above average Wepman auditory discrimination scores, performed better under elaborations until the final third of the study when differential performance between treatments was less pronounced. Remaining subjects, characterized by below average auditory discrimination, showed similar learning under both treatments or, as in the case of one child, no learning. No differences in maintenance were observed. Implications for the classroom and suggestions for further research were discussed.

By applying geometric analysis to some experimental maze situations the present study attempted to determine if a continuity in the responding of experimental Ss existed. This continuity in responding might suggest the presence of alternative explanations for the behavior of these Ss in some maze problems. The study made use of a modified version of the Tolman, Ritchie, and Kalish (1946a) experiment using six runways during training rather than one. The results of the study show that three of the six groups obtained the identical angle of choice, angle between the runway trained on and the runway chosen during the experimental trial, indicating the possibility of an underlying behavioral factor determining this continuity in responding.

Four college student subjects were trained to match graphic figures (A stimuli) to other figures (B stimuli), and then to match the B figures to numerals (C stimuli). Then in a test of application subjects answered simple math problems, presented as novel sample stimuli, by selecting one of the A figures, presented as comparisons. The application test was an analog for the academic task of answering math problems with newly learned Spanish number names. Three subjects performed accurately in the application test, which required the emergence of CA equivalence. All subjects demonstrated equivalence in test sessions after the application test. The study examined whether accuracy, fluency (rate of correct responding), practice, or stability of original relations performance corresponded to test accuracy. Accuracy, fluency, practice and stability corresponded to test accuracy for two subjects. Fluency corresponded to test accuracy for one subject, and stability corresponded to test accuracy for another subject.