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The study was an investigation of the personality characteristics of a group of champion swimmers. Thirty-five subjects were divided into two groups, "selected" and "non-selected" champion swimmers. Selection refers to the team named to represent Canada at the VIIth British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia, 1962. Two problems were examined. First, whether or not the champion swimmers employed in this study differed, as a group, from the mean group score of the average general population in any of the sixteen personality factors measured by the test instrument. Second, whether or not there was a difference between the selected and non-selected champion swimmers in the personality areas measured by the test instrument. The writer administered the Cattell "Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire" to each of the subjects under standard conditions. This test involved the answering of 374 questions by each subject of the particular test form used by the writer. The subjects did the test only once. The results indicated that the subjects, as a group showed differences from the average population in fifteen of the sixteen factor areas. Only in one factor was the difference between the populations not significant. There appeared to be no significant differences in personality between the groups of selected and non-selected champion swimmers. Individual descriptions of the personalities of members of the selected swimmers group were shown using graphic profiles. The results agree with earlier studies which showed that champion athletes apparently possess marked extremes in personality factor scores. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The problem in this thesis developed out of a consideration of the relationship between personality and perception, and particularly, a consideration of how an important autochthonous determinant of perception might be differentially affected when the perceptual system is serving the purposes of the organism generally. Perception has been considered as a functional process with its main experiential and autochthonous determinants and it has been suggested that both types of determinants are instrumental in bringing the perceptual process within the overall consistency of organismic function. The experiment undertaken in this thesis is an attempt to examine one part of this last-mentioned proposition, namely, that an autochthonous.determinant will differentially contribute to perceptual functioning as the "Anschauung" or 'personality style' of the organism varies. The personality attribute Security-Insecurity proposed by A.H. Maslow was chosen as one variable for this study. It was chosen because that author's theoretical approach to the problem of personality functioning seemed consistent with a view of 'the organism as a whole', as well as with a view of the perceptual and other processes acting in accord with the characteristic 'style of organismic functioning. Maslow has stated that an 'insecure' person will emote, think, perceive, and in every way function insecurely. In addition to the relevance of this theoretical approach, Maslow devised a questionnaire type Security-Insecurity Test which, he believes, serves to identify those individuals who are relatively 'secure' and 'insecure'. This test was consequently available to use as the instrument for measuring the personality variable in this experiment. The autochthonous perceptual determinant, 'visual perceptual closure', was chosen for this study as it was identified by L.L. Thurstone as being one of the most important of the perceptual determinants. Moreover, in his study where he identified closure and other variables, Thurstone suggested that the characteristics of the person as a whole might be inferred from the dynamics of one these functions. This is in accord with Maslow's above stated view. Bruner and Postman also postulate a relationship between personality functioning and the determinant 'closure'. When Thurstone identified 'closure' he did so on the basis of tests which measure that ability. Measuring instruments for the perceptual variable were consequently available. The Gottschaldt Figures Test was used here together with the Mooney Closure Test. Though this second test was not used by Thurstone, it is derived mainly from the Street Gestalt Completion Test which he did use. The Gottschaldt and the Mooney tests served as separate measures of the perceptual variable in this experiment. The experiment consisted of a test of the hypothesis that 'insecure' subjects would have impaired closure ability as compared with 'secure' subjects. Introductory psychology students at U.B.C. were tested and the relationships between their 'insecurity' and 'closure' scores were determined. This was done, firstly, by finding intercorrelations (Pearson Product-Moment 'r'), and secondly, by determining the differences between the means of closure test scores of matched 'secure' and 'insecure' groups. The hypothesis was not supported by the data obtained in either of these experimental designs. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

This study was designed to test the theoretical interpretation of the Field-Independence Dimension of intellectual functioning. Witkin (1962, 1964, 1965) and Silverman (1968) proposed that consistent individual differences, which were found when subjects responded to the Rod and Frame Test (RFT) and the Embedded Figures Test (EFT), reflected differences in ability to analyse a complex perceptual field and to resist the attraction of irrelevant elements of the field. Field-independent (FID) subjects were thought to be highly analytic and highly resistant to distraction whereas field-dependent (FD) individuals were thought to be overwhelmed by the complexity of the perceptual field. Elliott (1961) suggested that the responses of field-independent and field-dependent persons were determined by brain function and were not affected by the nature of the perceptual field. A discriminant identification task was designed so that the effect of variations in stimulus input could be studied in relation to FID, intermediate (N) and FD groups of subjects. The subjects were 96 male volunteers who were divided into FID, N and FD groups on the basis of their combined scores on the RFT and EFT. They were presented with complex visual arrays and were asked to focus upon a designated part (or item) of each array. Their task was to name a feature of the designated item which distinguished that item from all other items on the array. The stimuli were altered in three specific ways: firstly there were either three or six separate items; secondly each item carried either three or six attributes (e.g. shape, size and colour of the central figure, colour of the background, number and design of borders); thirdly the subject's chance of finding a correct response by "luck" (chance) could be either one in three (high) or one in six (low). Thus the amount of input that the arrays carried was varied in two ways (items, attributes) and the need to analyse complexity was also varied (probability of chance success). The response measures were latency of response and the number of errors. On the basis of Witkin's and Silverman's interpretations, increases in the amount of stimulus input or in the need for stimulus analysis should cause differential changes in the response latencies and error scores of FID, N and FD subjects. The FID-Group should show least increase in latencies of response and in error scores and the FD-Group should show the greatest increase on these measures. The response latencies and error scores of the N-Group should increase to an intermediate degree. The alternate interpretation which Elliott proposed generated the prediction that changes in stimulus parameters would not cause differential changes among FID, N and FD groups. According to this author, all changes on response measures should be of the same magnitude and in the same direction. The results of the study supported Elliott's interpretation of Field Independence. There was no interaction between increased stimulus input and level of field dependence, or between decreased probability of success and level of field dependence. The results showed that there were significant differences among the FID, N and FD groups with respect to latency of response (.025) and error scores (.05). The differences were in the predicted direction. Changes in the amount of stimulus input and in the probability of success by chance were also reflected in significant differences in response latencies (items, p<,001; attributes, p<.001; probability of success, p<.001). Error scores were a less sensitive measure of stimulus manipulations. There was a significant effect, in the predicted direction, which was due to probability of success (p<.001), but the other significant effects (items, p<.05; attributes, p<.001) were in the opposite direction to that which had been predicted. Fewer errors were made when the amount of stimulus input was increased. When the amount of stimulus input was varied, the number of errors appeared to be a function of the latency of response. Less than 10% of responses were error responses. It was concluded that differences between FID, N and FD groups do not reflect differential responsiveness to external stimulation, and it was suggested that more attention should be paid to consideration of the manner in which stimulus inputs are processed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The research reported in this study compares equalitarian and authoritarian personality types in terms of the use of prescribed leadership styles. Authoritarian and equalitarian individuals were used as leader subjects in two separate experimental small groups situations. In one experimental situation, an autocratic leadership style was prescribed for the subject. In the other experimental case, the individual used a prescribed democratic leadership style. The research involves testing with the use of an "F-scale" test, a population of M.B.A. students at the University of British Columbia in order to draw out six subjects which demonstrate authoritarian personality tendencies and also six subjects which demonstrate equalitarian personality tendencies. These twelve individuals were used as the leader subjects in the experimental runs. This study contains the results obtained from placing the authoritarian and equalitarian subjects in leadership positions for two small groups per leader subject. In one experimental run, the leader subject used an imposed democratic leadership style. In the second experimental run, an imposed autocratic leadership style was used. To make the experimental situation more realistic, an actual construction group task was simulated. The leader subject was given materials and a blueprint for the construction of a model skyscraper. Each leader was given instructions as how to divide the construction tasks among the workers of the group. Immediately after the elapse of the construction time limit the productivity of the group was assessed by the measurement of the height of the skyscraper completed. The anxiety perceived by the leader subjects during the experimental runs was assessed by their response to a self-reporting anxiety test administered immediately after each experimental run. The anxiety test used in this study is based on the anxiety test developed by Fenz and Epstein. Before the start of the experiment hypotheses were formulated regarding the expected results of the experiment. They were as follows: (1) For a given personality tendency, a congruent imposed leadership style is likely to be more effective as measured by group productivity than is an incongruent leadership style. (2) Leaders with democratic tendencies combined with an imposed democratic leadership style are likely to be more effective as measured by group productivity than are leaders with authoritarian personality tendencies with an imposed autocratic leadership style. (3) Where personality tendencies are apparently incongruent with the leadership style which is imposed, greater anxiety is likely to be perceived by the leader subject than in a congruent situation. The results of the study tend to support hypothesis No. 1 but are not significant at the 5% confidence level. The findings regarding productivity indicated that the congruency of personality tendencies and an imposed leadership style affected productivity more when the leader had authoritarian personality tendencies than when the leader had equalitarian personality tendencies. The experimental results relevant to hypothesis No. 2 did not substantiate it. The group productivity was higher in authoritarian congruent situations than it was in democratic congruent situations. However the difference was not large nor significant at the 5% confidence level. In general, the results tended to substantiate hypothesis No. 3. The greatest difference in anxiety scores was noted in experimental runs where the leader subjects had authoritarian personality tendencies. The authoritarian leaders had a mean of 24 for perceived anxiety in incongruent runs while equalitarian leaders had a mean for perceived anxiety of 18 in incongruent runs. However, this difference was not significant at the 5% confidence level. This study must be considered as an exploratory study. Although the results tended to substantiate the first and third hypotheses, the sample of leader subjects was small. It is recommended that further research be done with a larger sample of leader subjects using a refinement of the tools used and developed in this study. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

The main purpose of this research was to investigate the psychophysiological correlates of socialization and sensation seeking during a period of reduced stimulation. The subjects were male university students divided, on the basis of self-report measures of socialization and sensation seeking, into four groups of 14 subjects each: high socialization-low sensation seeking; low socialization-low sensation seeking; high socialization-high sensation seeking; low socialization-high sensation seeking. A fifth group consisted of 14 subjects with median scores on each scale. Continuous physiological recordings were made while each subject was exposed to 70 minutes of sensory isolation in an acoustically shielded room. In addition, self-report data on subjective experiences were obtained prior to and following the isolation. The need for stimulation and a deficiency in socialization have been experimentally and theoretically linked with antisocial behaviour. It was hypothesized that the low socialization-high sensation seeking subjects would bear some resemblance to the antisocial personality identified in criminal populations. The results indicated that compared with the other groups, these subjects admitted to a greater degree of alcohol and drug use, and to having a poorer academic and occupational history. Several of these subjects admitted having had criminal convictions. In general, the responses of the low socialization-high sensation subjects on the self-report and physiological measures were consistent with similar data obtained from inmate populations. During isolation they became drowsy and appeared to use reverie and perceptual distortion as sources of stimulation. They were disturbed by the physical restraints imposed by the recording devices. Despite this, they demonstrated autonomic stability throughout the experimental period. The results suggest that research on selected noncriminal populations might be a fruitful way of investigating antisocial behaviours in general. For example, it may be possible to identify factors that determine to what extent socialization and the need for stimulation influence the development of prosocial and antisocial behaviour. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate