Historically, moral awareness and conscience have been considered matters for speculation by philosophers and moralists and it is difficult to find many studies that set out explicitly to gather empirical evidence concerning conscience. A few psychologists, however, have attempted to measure these phenomena. These studies can be criticized because the moral categories and questionnaire items used were derived by "armchair" methods rather than by empirical methods. This study was undertaken as an attempt to develop, empirically, a reliable set of conscience items. From these items a scale to measure conscience in children of the age range found in grade eight in Vancouver schools could be constructed. In order to develop a set of conscience items by empirical methods, two tasks were undertaken: 1. To obtain empirical data regarding behavioural situations illustrating instances of moral awareness and conscience. 2. To construct, from these data, items describing these behavioural situations, to administer these items to a sample population and to test these items for reliability. The data were collected by presenting to 200 grade eight students a word list of categories evolved in a previous study. The subjects were asked to write statements, from their own experience, which would illustrate the meaning of each of these words. In this manner 5,440 statements were collected from which were evolved 247 items. These items were checked for understanding by presenting them to a sample drawn from the original population. Two scales were constructed from the original 247 items. Each of the scales was administered to 100 grade eight students and the results analysed. The analysis of the results consisted of testing the answers to the questionnaire items for significant differences in the way in which the subjects answered these items. A limitation of this thesis is that it excludes any reference to the areas of Lust and Sex. This exclusion was a condition set by the Vancouver School Board in granting permission to conduct the study in one of the schools. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that of the original 247 items, 229 items would lend themselves to a scale which would measure conscience in both boys and girls of the age range found in grade eight in Vancouver. While such a scale is outlined in the present study, the checking of its reliability and. validity is left for future study. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

More and more, accident studies conclude that accident-involved individuals can be identified by their personal characteristics and background. The problem of this study was to compare drivers who had incurred more than their share of accidents as opposed to drivers with relatively few accidents during a three year period of initial bus driving experience, using psychological tests and biographical data. Nine areas of biographical data and twenty-nine psychological test variables were analyzed from a group of seventy-three bus drivers. This psychological test battery, used at selection time, consisted of the Wonderlic Personnel Test, the American Transit Association Test, the Kuder Preference Record - Vocational, and a personality questionnaire. The top and bottom 20% of drivers in an accident distribution, involving all collisions, were established for comparison. Only four differences were significant dealing with the tests alone. It was found that the low accident bus driver has a higher intelligence factor, although most of the low accident group still fall in the lower average range of the general population. Minimum intelligence test scores were determined for selection purposes. The low accident driver has less interest in social service type of work and is not as strong in tolerance as the high accident driver. Dealing with the biographical data it was found that the low accident driver has been a resident in the city in which he is driving for a longer period of time, has had more previous commercial driving experience, has had fewer jobs in the past and has no recent work history of being in business for himself. Further indications, although lacking required statistical significance, are that the low accident driver tends to have more dependents, a better education, a better credit rating and is more likely to be a home owner. It was determined that the accident pattern forms early in service and that drivers with a record of repeated accidents in any one unit of time would repeat the accidents in another unit of time. It was suggested that a twelve month probationary period be in effect for all drivers. It was also suggested that a re-training program might be effective at the end of twelve months of service especially for those drivers having more than their share of accidents. An important result of this study was to point out the increasing importance of biographical data in determining characteristics of accident-involved bus drivers. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to explore some of the possibilities of a promising new culture-free, individual performance test of intelligence. This test, the Bhatia Patterns Test, was originally designed for a test battery that was used on Indian school children. The problem of this study was to determine if the Patterns Test had any value in a North American setting. One hundred and sixty-five pupils were tested with the Bhatia Patterns Test and the Porteus Maze Test. In addition, the I.Q. scores of the California Short Form Test of Mental Maturity, the scores of the Stanford Achievement Intermediate Battery (Form K) and the grade scores of the pupils were collected. More specifically, this study wished to ascertain whether there were any differences between sexes with the Patterns Test, whether the Patterns Test and the Maze Test correlated significantly, whether the Patterns Test was related to a standardized group achievement measure, and whether the Patterns Test was related to the pupils’ grade scores. One hundred and sixty-five school pupils were chosen at random from grades four, five and six from five Vancouver elementary schools. The subjects were given the Patterns Test and the Maze Test in a counterbalanced design to determine whether either of the tests had an effect upon each other. The counterbalanced design was analyzed by a two by two latin square. In addition, all the scores were correlated with each other to determine what relationships existed between the various measures. It was concluded that there were no sex differences among the scores of the subjects. The Bhatia Patterns Test and the Porteus Maze Test did not correlate significantly. The Patterns Test correlated higher with a standardized achievement test than did a group measure of intelligence. The Patterns Test did not correlate significantly with the pupils’ grade scores. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that positive transfer is a function of the degree of inter-list stimulus similarity, and the degree of learning of an initial list. More specifically, the following hypotheses, derived from E. J. Gibson's theory of verbal learning, were tested: 1. Positive transfer is a function of inter-list stimulus similarity. A decrease of inter-list stimulus similarity will result in a decrease in the amount of positive transfer. 2. Less positive transfer will occur to a second list if practice of an initial list is continued after discrimination has been established among the stimulus items. The effect of the interaction between inter-list stimulus similarity and the degree of initial list learning was also assessed. Since the status of Gibson's theory did not enable the deduction of a hypothesis, the null hypothesis was tested. Sixty subjects learned an initial list of eleven stimulus forms paired with nonsense syllables of zero associative value. The subjects were required to learn each syllable so that they could spell it when the appropriate form was presented. Learning was by the method of right associates, and material was presented at the rate of two seconds per item, with a six second interval between trials. Thirty of the subjects learned this list to a criterion of one perfect recitation, and the other thirty subjects learned it to a criterion of five consecutive perfect recitations. When the criterion had been reached, the subjects were given a ten minute interval in which-to rate a series of thirty jokes. The subjects were then assigned to three groups. Each group consisted of ten subjects who had learned the initial list to a criterion of one perfect recitation, and ten who had learned it to five consecutive perfect recitations. As a transfer task, each group received a different list of paired associates, whose stimulus members were of either medium, low or zero similarity to those of the initial list. Each group learned this task to a criterion of one perfect recitation. Th8 main findings and conclusions of the study were as follows: 1. Positive transfer is a function of the degree of inter-list stimulus similarity. Significantly less transfer occurs to a list of zero similarity than to a list of medium similarity or to one of low similarity. There is no significant difference between the amount of transfer to a list of medium similarity and the amount of transfer to one of low similarity. This indicates that the relationship between positive transfer and inter-list stimulus similarity is indirect, whereas Gibson's theory indicates that the relationship should be linear. 2. Increasing the degree of initial list learning from one perfect recitation to five consecutive perfect recitations does not significantly decrease the amount of positive transfer. This was considered to be an inadequate test of Gibson's hypothesis, because the criterion of one perfect recitation did not allow discrimination to be established among the items. 3. There is no interaction between inter-list stimulus similarity and the degree of initial list learning. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to investigate certain psychometric procedures, and to ascertain their value in relation to the problems of selection and prediction for clerical and mechanical trades in the service. The tests selected were the Otis S-A (which were also marked for twenty minute performance as well as the standard thirty), the Wonderlic Personnel R Test, the SRA Primary Mental Abilities Test, the Detroit Mechanical Aptitude Test and the Detroit Clerical Aptitude Test. Included in the study were the marks obtained on a service-administered Classification Test - the Navy "G". The samples that were used were New Entry Trainees in the Canadian Navy who were about to take courses either as Writers (clerical trade) or Stokers (mechanical trade). The criterion used to evaluate the tests was the course marks obtained by the Stokers and Writers on their final examination. The tests were analyzed individually for types of distribution and amount of dispersion or variability. All the tests and subtests were correlated with the criterion to obtain validity coefficients. Similarly all the tests and subtests were correlated with the Otis, and intercorrelations were worked out for all the intelligence and classification tests. Multiple correlations of prediction were also calculated. The tests of the Primary Mental Abilities Test were intercorrelated for independence of "factors". The validity correlations found were low but were considered to have practical significance. The lowness of the correlations was probably due to the restrictions placed on the sample by the effects of enlistment qualifications. It was found that the twelve minute intelligence test, the Wonderlic, was apparently as good a measure of prediction as the thirty minute Otis. In the Primary Mental Abilities Test, the Number Test, proved to be the best measure of prediction of any test or subtest for Stokers, and with the Reasoning Test was predictive of success in the Stokers' course. It also was the only test of the PMA which showed any possibilities for prediction with the Writers. The Detroit Clerical Aptitude Test proved to be the best measure of all for predicting success with Writers. As for Stokers, the Mechanical Aptitude Test, while not as good as the Clerical Aptitude for Writers, appeared to be useful if used in conjunction with an intelligence test. In fact, multiple correlations were worked out with the criterion and the Otis thirty minute, the Number test of the PMA and either the Detroit Mechanical or Clerical Aptitude Test, depending on whether the multiple was for Stokers or Writers. The coefficients ware .41 and .47 for Stokers and Writers respectively. Certain of the tests and subtests were found to be unsatisfactory on the basis that they did not distribute their scores in accordance with the normal curve and, in some instances, proved to be too difficult for the group. The Navy "G" Test was found to be unsatisfactory for the purposes of prediction, and the Space Test of the PMA was too difficult. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Researchers have suggested that knowledge of how to take a test decreases the validity of achievement test scores as measures of content knowledge. Further, teaching students test taking skills generally improves student achievement test scores. However, little research exists regarding the efficacy of commercially prepared materials for formal test-wiseness instruction. Fourth and fifth grade students in 15 elementary schools participated in this study. Students in the Volunteer Selected group received instruction in test taking skills using the Riverside Improving Test Taking Skills materials. Students in the Volunteer Not-Selected group received whatever test taking skill instruction their teachers provided as a result of wanting, but not being selected, to participate in the study. Students in the Control group received what was considered "normal" instruction in test taking skills. A gain score ANOVA of NCE scores from standardized testing was used to determine statistical significance on the Composite Battery and the Reading and Mathematics subtests. When reliable differences were indicated effect sizes were calculated. Formal instruction in test taking skills resulted in significant effects for fourth grade students on the Composite battery and the Mathematics subtest. However, average gains for students in the Volunteer Not-Selected group were as great as for students who received instruction using the Riverside materials. Significant effects for the Reading subtest were indicated only for achievement level. Positive effects were indicated for fifth grade students in the Volunteer Not-Selected group on the Composite and Mathematics subtest. At the fourth grade differential effects were indicated for achievement level, sex, and SES, but not for ethnicity. At the fifth grade achievement level, sex, SES, and ethnicity resulted in differential effects for students in all three groups. In summary, test taking skill instruction appeared beneficial to fourth grade students regardless of whether the instruction was delivered using the Riverside materials or using teacher made or teacher collected materials. At the fifth grade data the results were less clear cut. Further research must be conducted before policies can be established and educators can use with confidence, or not use at all, commercially prepared test taking skill instructional materials.

Stankov's work on attention and intelligence suggests that the dual task paradigm, requiring the division of attention, is a better measure of general intellectual ability than the single task paradigm which does not make this demand. Sixty right handed undergraduates remembered digit and visual-spatial sequences alone and in two dual task conditions involving lateralized key tapping as the primary task. R gher intercorrelations were found under dual task conditions in which the tasks competed for the same hemisphere's resources. Better memory performance resulted when both tasks were lateralized to the same hemisphere. Hierarchical models combining general attention resources with ,lateralized hemispheric resources best account for these resutsi

Aujourd'hui, les logiciels se doivent d'être efficaces, rapide à exécuter, etc. Ils peuvent être configurés dans le but de répondre à des besoins spécifiques donnés par l'utilisateur. De fait, chaque configuration donne lieu à un système unique, spécialisé pour des besoins précis. Le nombre de configurations possible devient tellement grand qu'il est impossible de générer tous les systèmes associés résultant en une impossibilité à évaluer leurs performances dans leur globalité. En plus de cela, différentes exécutions des systèmes sont souvent nécessaire, en utilisant différents cas de tests qui représentent différents contextes, pour évaluer correctement ces performances. Il y a donc un enjeu en terme d'énergie et de temps à pouvoir cibler correctement les configurations intéressantes pour un utilisateur ainsi que les cas de tests pertinents pour évaluer les performances d'un système. A partir de cette première analyse, deux dimensions émergent: la sélection de configurations de systèmes qui permettent par la suite de générer des systèmes respectant les besoins utilisateurs et, d'autre part, la sélection de cas de tests qui permettent d'observer les performances des systèmes dans différents contextes. Nous proposons dans cette thèse de représenter ces deux dimensions comme une matrice (de performance) dans laquelle : une dimension représente les systèmes sélectionnés (avec leur configuration) tandis que l'autre représente l'ensemble des cas de tests à exécuter sur chaque système. Chaque cellule de la matrice est alors le résultat de l'exécution d'un programme sur un cas de test. Les contributions principales de cette thèse sont : premièrement, l'utilisation de techniques d'apprentissage automatique pour spécialiser une ligne de produit logiciels visant à réduire l'espace de configuration pour sélectionner plus facilement une configuration qui satisfasse les besoins utilisateurs. Les utilisateurs doivent donc être capable d'exprimer leurs besoins de telle sorte que l'on se place dans un problème de classification binaire (i.e., permettant de dissocier les configurations qui ont la capacité à respecter ces besoins et les autres configurations qui n'ont pas l'air de pouvoir). Après cela, une technique d'apprentissage automatique est utilisé pour créer un modèle mathématique séparant les deux classes permettant par la suite de spécialiser la ligne de produits logiciel et de proposer des configurations partielles réduisant l'espace de configuration. Au final, ce travail permet de réduire la première dimension de la matrice qui traite des systèmes. Deuxièmement, nous proposons une nouvelle méthode permettant d'évaluer la capacité d'une suite de tests à montrer des différences de performances significatives exécuter par différents programmes qui présentent la même fonctionnalité. Cette méthode peut être utilisées dans différents cas, par exemple pour savoir si un nouveau cas de tests doit être ajouté ou non à une suite de tests existantes or bien pour réduire une suite de tests existante. Cette méthode vise à réduire la seconde dimension de la matrice. / Nowadays, software have to be efficient, fast to execute, etc. They can be configured to adapt to specific needs. Each configuration leads to a different system and usually it is hard to generate them all. Thus, the exhaustive evaluation of their performance is impossible. Furthermore, several executions of systems, under different conditions, are needed to properly evaluate performances. Two dimensions emerge from this description of performance testing: the selection of system configurations allowing to generate associated systems that meet expressed needs and the selection of test cases allowing to observe performances of systems under different conditions. We propose to represent those two dimensions as a (performance) matrix: one dimension represents selected systems that can be observed while the other dimension represents the set of test cases that will be executed on each of these systems. Each cell is the execution of a program variant regarding a test. The contributions of this thesis are as follows : First, we leverage Machine Learning techniques in order to specialize a Software Product Line (in this case a video generator) helping in selecting a configuration that is likely to meet requirements. End users must be able to express their requirements such that it results in a binary decision problem (i.e., configurations that are acceptable and those that are not). Machine Learning techniques are then used to retrieve partial configurations that specialize a Software Product Line to guide end users and reduce the configuration space. In the end, this work aims at diminishing the first dimension of the matrix that deals with systems and programs. Second, we propose a new method assessing the ability of test suites to reveal significant performance differences of a set of configurations tackling the same task. This method can be used to assess whether a new test case is worth adding to a test suite or to select an optimal test set with respect to a property of interest. In the end, it might help structuring the execution of tests. For instance, it can create an order of execution resulting in using less test cases that are presented in the second dimension of the matrix. We evaluated our approach on several systems from different domains such as OpenCV or Haxe.

The paper-and-pencil integrity test, which is used in industry as an employee selection device, has been largely developed outside the mainstream of psychological testing. The result has been that some testing programs have inadequately standardized testing conditions and/or other safeguards to ensure valid test results. Studies have shown that response distortion, or faking, is a problem with all types of tests, integrity tests being no exception. A correlation between the construct underlying integrity testing, such as the personality trait of conscientiousness, has yet to be investigated. The primary purpose of the present study was to determine how response distortion on integrity tests is affected by the instructions given by test administrators. Also, the connection between integrity tests and conscientiousness is examined. Finally, comparisons were made between currently published integrity tests/scales. Two hundred and forty-nine college students participated in this study by completing the following three integrity tests and two personality test scales: The London House Personnel Selection Inventory (London House Press, Inc., 1980); The Tescor Survey (Bullard, 1992); The Reid Report (Reid, 1967); The Value Orthodoxy Scale from The Jackson Personality Inventory (Jackson, 1976), and the Work Orientation Scale from the California Personality Inventory (Gough, 1985). The three integrity tests offer a variety of validation studies in support of their scales. Also, all three test publishers participated in a pre-publication review of the 1991 APA Task Force Report on integrity testing (Goldberg, Grenier, Guion, Sechrest, & Wing). Results show that responses were affected by instructions given by the administrator. For example, the analysis shows that in a job application situation, an applicant who believes a prospective employer is using an integrity test to identify undesirable applicants will tend to distort his/her responses on a theft scale to appear more favorable. Also for the theft scales, instructions to deliberately give false responses in a socially desirable way did not differ from a standard job applicant instruction set. Instructions emphasizing the ability of the tests to identify high integrity employees also did not differ from the standard instruction set's results. Results also show that conscientiousness is correlated with integrity test scales. Finally, the integrity tests and personality scales studied here are significantly correlated. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2008. / Title from title screen (site viewed Sept. 18, 2008). PDF text: iii, vi, 155 p. ; 4 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3303721. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.