Degree Discipline

States

Genotypic Handedness, Memory, and Cerebral Lateralization (open access)

Genotypic Handedness, Memory, and Cerebral Lateralization

The relationship of current manual preference (phenotypic handedness) and family history of handedness (genotypic handedness) to memory for imageable stimuli was studied. The purpose of the study was to test the hypothesis that genotypic handedness was related to lessened cerebral lateralization of Paivio's (1969) dual memory systems. The structure of memory was not at issue, but the mediation of storage and retrieval in memory has been explained with reference to verbal or imaginal processes. Verbal mediation theories and supporting data were reviewed along with imaginal theories and supporting data for these latter theories. Paivio's (1969) dual coding and processing theory was considered a conceptual bridge between the competing positions.
Date: August 1980
Creator: Perotti, Laurence Peter
System: The UNT Digital Library
Programmed Instruction as a Means of Enhancing Group Intelligence Test Performance of Externalizing Children (open access)

Programmed Instruction as a Means of Enhancing Group Intelligence Test Performance of Externalizing Children

This study focused on two major areas of investigation: (1) locus of control and (2) the influence on test performance of anxiety and motivation. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of programmed instruction dealing with motivation, anxiety, and test-wiseness as a means of enhancing group intelligence test performance of externalizing children. While earlier research demonstrated the viability of this technique x^ith a heterogeneous sample, no studies have utilized any kind of instruction to facilitate the performance of externalizers on standardized tests. It was hypothesized that intelligence test performance would be enhanced by programmed instruction. Furthermore, externalizers were expected to demonstrate greater gains than internalizers, which would thereby suggest that locus of control provides a source of variance in intellectual assessment.
Date: August 1980
Creator: Petty, Nancy Elizabeth
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Multi-Element Psychological Management Program for Chronic Low Back Pain (open access)

A Multi-Element Psychological Management Program for Chronic Low Back Pain

This investigation utilized a novel, self-help, multi-element psychological program to manage chronic low back pain. A literature review indicated that this disorder was costly and prevalent, yet a large percentage of chronic low back pain patients did not respond to traditional treatment. Recent research has demonstrated that numerous psychological difficulties have been associated with this disorder, including depression and anxiety. It was hypothesized that these psychological concomitants of chronic low back pain maintain and promote further pain, as part of a vicious cycle. Self-help treatment attempted to break this tension-pain-anxiety cycle using various stress reduction, and cognitive and behavioral management strategies.
Date: December 1980
Creator: Goldsmith, David A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Depression: Assessment of Factors (open access)

Depression: Assessment of Factors

Depression received much attention in the professional literature as a stimulus both for experimental as well as applied research. It continued to be the subject of much controversy in respect to its definition, identification, and classification. Attempts were made to objectify the assessment of depression using self-report scales to tap various aspects though to be related to its etiology as well as its symptomology. Two of the most popular and reportedly well-validated self-report scales identified in the literature for determining and quantifying depressive symptoms were the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck) and the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (Zung).The present study was designed to determine if there were factors in common between the Beck and the Zung scales and, in addition, to test whether these factors would differentiate subjects by sex class membership, diagnostic category, and by some linear combination of biographical or life-history information. The major purpose was the identification of outstanding charactersitics of depression predicted from biographical data and the determination of the relationship of these data to self-rating psychometric measures of depression. This study makes it clear that the Beck and Zung scales are measuring different aspects of depression and thus are likely based on separate constructs. The need …
Date: May 1980
Creator: Cozort, Donna
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment Approach for Heterosocially Anxious Males (open access)

A Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment Approach for Heterosocially Anxious Males

The present study examined the efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral therapy package and a highly credible attention-placebo in the treatment of male heterosocial anxiety. Previous research provided evidence that cognitive factors are important in the etiology and maintenance of heterosocial anxiety, and suggested that a cognitive-behavioral approach should be effective in the treatment of this problem. Despite such evidence, relatively few therapy outcome studies have been conducted using cognitive-behavioral procedures.
Date: December 1980
Creator: Neumann, Karl F.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Individual, Group, and Self Behavior Therapy for Weight Reduction in High and Low Self Reinforcing Persons (open access)

Individual, Group, and Self Behavior Therapy for Weight Reduction in High and Low Self Reinforcing Persons

An experiment was conducted to contrast the effectiveness of Behavior Therapy administered in self, individual, or group therapy versus a no-treatment control condition. The therapy conditions were administered to two subgroups, high and low self reinforcers, as defined by Rosensky and Bellack (1976). The general hypothesis was that high self reinforcers would engage in countercontrol and therefore do poorly in group and individual therapy, but would lose weight in self therapy. Individual behavior therapy showed the best long term results, but self and group therapies also showed significant weight loss. It was also found that low self reinforcers as a group lost more weight than did high self reinforcers.
Date: August 1980
Creator: Bell, David Bradford
System: The UNT Digital Library
Locus of Control of Reinforcement Applied to the Prediction of Use of Medical Services (open access)

Locus of Control of Reinforcement Applied to the Prediction of Use of Medical Services

Increases in the number of users of the medical delivery system, along with an ever-increasing variety of available services, makes it desirable to identify those individuals who will benefit most from its services. With the growing reliance on third party payment, economic limitations no longer effectively restrict the use of the system's resources to those individuals who are truly ill. A framework is needed whereby individuals who are medically ill can be separated from those whose needs might be more effectively addressed by other services. A variety of means, including locus of control, has been used in the attempt to make such discriminations. In conclusion, it was observed that the low magnitude of obtained relationships presents opportunities for future research, but disallows meaningful prediction at the present time.
Date: May 1980
Creator: Flynn, Michael Howard
System: The UNT Digital Library
Perceived Maternal Behavior, Field Dependence, and Rapidity of Response to Treatment in Enuretic Males (open access)

Perceived Maternal Behavior, Field Dependence, and Rapidity of Response to Treatment in Enuretic Males

Child-rearing behaviors and attitudes have been implicated by some authors in the persistence of bed-wetting after the age of three. In this study, maternal child-rearing behaviors were evaluated from the point of view of the child. Perceived maternal behaviors were assessed through the use of the Child's Report of Parent Behavior Inventory. Field dependence/independence was measured by Children's Embedded Figures Test scores. Correlational analysis of the data suggested the following conclusions: 1) The rapidity of response to conditioning treatment for enuresis is not related, to scores of Acceptance, Psychological Control, and Lax Control. 2) Degree of field dependence/independence is unrelated to the rapidity of response to conditioning treatment for enuresis. 3) Child's Report of Parent Behavior Inventory factor scores of Acceptance, Psychological Control, and Lax Control are unrelated to Children's Embedded Figures Test scores. 4) Primary enuretic boys do not differ from nonenuretic boys along the dimension of field dependence/independence.
Date: May 1980
Creator: McWilliams, Sheldon Thomas
System: The UNT Digital Library
Olfactory Correlates of Induced Affect (open access)

Olfactory Correlates of Induced Affect

That odors play a significant role in subhuman intraspecies communication is a generally accepted fact explained in part by the production and reception of species specific pheromones. Recently the effects of human produced odors on human communication have received research attention, particularly in the communication of such biological phenomena as menstruation onset and gender assignment. Again pheromones have been posited as the explanatory mechanism. Whether a pheromone-like odor cued process exists in the communication of human emotions is unknown, though a number of anecdotal accounts of odor-emotion interactions suggest that such may be the case. It was the purpose of the present study to investigate a possible odor-emotion interaction by determining whether humans could differentially detect other humans' odor collected under varying emotional conditions.
Date: December 1980
Creator: Owen, Patricia Ruth
System: The UNT Digital Library
Group Social Skills Training of Adolescents with School Adjustment Problems (open access)

Group Social Skills Training of Adolescents with School Adjustment Problems

The purpose of the present study was to compare a traditional therapeutic technique (client-centered) to a structured social skills training package in the group treatment of adolescents with school and social adjustment problems, An additional consideration was made of the efficacy of the specific training program used as applied to this population. Seven indices of change (four of which are behavioral and three self-report) were included in the study as dependent variables. Subjects were students attending an "alternative" high school whose population consisted primarily of pre-adjudicated juvenile delinquents, status offenders, and other students experiencing various social adjustment difficulties in more traditional high school environments.
Date: August 1980
Creator: Tofte-Tipps, Sharry J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Pain Management in Severely Burned Adults: A Test of Stress Inoculation (open access)

Pain Management in Severely Burned Adults: A Test of Stress Inoculation

The present investigation sought to explore the efficacy of stress inoculation in the management of pain with severely burned adults. Subjects were 16 adult burn patients randomly assigned to either the stress-inoculation or no-treatment comparison group. The focus of the analysis was the amount of change or improvement from pretreatment to posttreatment periods. The stress-inoculation group showed significant improvement on all nine dependent measures, while the no-treatment group improved significantly on only two (physical and emotional self-ratings). The overall comparison of the amount of change between groups revealed that the stress-inoculation group showed significantly greater improvement in pain management than the no-treatment group during this time. It was concluded that stress inoculation, as a flexible treatment package, was efficacious in the management of pain experience of burn patients.
Date: May 1980
Creator: Wernick, Robert L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Effects of Evaluative Modeling on Client Behavior and Self-Evaluation in Behavior Rehearsal for Assertive Training (open access)

Effects of Evaluative Modeling on Client Behavior and Self-Evaluation in Behavior Rehearsal for Assertive Training

A technique for altering subjects' self-evaluations and subsequent performance was developed and tested. Two types of therapist evaluative modeling, positive and critical, were compared, for effectiveness in training subjects to be assertive, with a no-modeling control and an insight treatment group. All modeling conditions used a behavior rehearsal paradigm, while the insight treatment employed a Rogerian therapy design. Dependent measures included a paper-and-pencil self-evaluation scale and a behavioral role-playing test of assertiveness. No significant differences were found among the modeling conditions, but the behavior rehearsal strategy brought about significantly greater increases in assertiveness among the severely unassertive subjects than did the insight treatment.
Date: May 1980
Creator: Lloyd, Sidney William
System: The UNT Digital Library
Learned Helplessness and Attentional Focus (open access)

Learned Helplessness and Attentional Focus

Ninety undergraduate students who scored as high or low on the Snyder Self-monitoring Scale participated in an experiment designed to determine the joint effects of self-monitoring and controllable or uncontrollable outcomes upon subsequent performance on three short-term memory tests. High and low self-monitoring subjects were assigned to one of three conditions: (1) controllable feedback, in which subjects received response contingent positive, "correct," and negative, "incorrect," feedback on a word association task; (2) uncontrollable feedback, in which subjects were given noncontingent feedback (70% negative and 30% positive); and (3) no-treatment. Measures of attentional focus were included in order to examine the role of attentional processes in the obtained results. In addition, the joint effects of treatment and self-monitoring on subjects' attributions were investigated. As predicted, the performance of high selfmonitors was significantly impaired by uncontrollability (learned helplessness), while that of low self-monitors was facilitated by controllability (learned competence). Results were discussed as supporting the contention that high self-monitors rely heavily on knowledge of environmental contingencies in order to control their environment. When their typically effective strategy is unsuccessful, "helplessness" is induced. Low self-monitors, who are less concerned with exercising control over environmental events, evidence diminished attention to and utilization of external …
Date: August 1980
Creator: Rahaim, Sara
System: The UNT Digital Library
Self-Structure: Relationship with the Prediction of Behavior and Life History from Thematic Projections (open access)

Self-Structure: Relationship with the Prediction of Behavior and Life History from Thematic Projections

Slides of TAT cards 1 and 2 were shown to 87 college students asked to write stories about them. Subjects also ranked the importance of 5 attributes in understanding their personalities. Attribute scores from projections and centrality scores from rankings, for achievement and autonomy, were regressed onto college GPA, trail-making, and autonomy by life history. Predictions failed to reach suitably low significance levels. Subscaling the life history questionnaire by factor analysis and subsequently regressing toward subscales resulted in multiple correlation significant at p < .01. Important to the model was the significant (p < .02) improvement in using the attribute by centrality interaction over either variable alone. Results were discussed in terms of a cognitive model for projectives.
Date: December 1980
Creator: Rudolph, Diana Cox
System: The UNT Digital Library
Treatment of Preorgasmic Women Utilizing Group Threapy [sic] and Home-Based Training (open access)

Treatment of Preorgasmic Women Utilizing Group Threapy [sic] and Home-Based Training

There have been various approaches to the treatment of nonorgasmic women, including psychoanalysis, desensitization, relaxation, masturbation, and group therapy. The present study was conducted to examine the efficacy of group therapy combined with home-based training in the treatment of primary nonorgasmic women. A no-treatment control group was also employed. Treatment consisted of two weekly 1- hour group sessions for 5 weeks. Educative processes were employed, such as detailed information on physiology of female sexual response. Structured homework exercises were also utilized, such as mastubatory techniques, role-playing orgasm, strengthening vaginal muscles, and assertiveness training in sexual and nonsexual situations. Results indicated an 88% success rate in the treatment group and no change in the control group.
Date: May 1980
Creator: Cole, Carolyn Fillis
System: The UNT Digital Library
Conditioned Reinforcement with an Equine Subject (open access)

Conditioned Reinforcement with an Equine Subject

Historically, horse trainers have relied primarily upon repetition, negative reinforcement, and punishment to teach new behaviors. Positive reinforcement has been eschewed, largely on the basis of the wides read belief that positive reinforcement is not effective with horses. Additional difficulties in the timely application of such reinforcement have further inhibited its use. After repeated pairing of an auditory stimulus with an established primary reinforcer, the auditory stimulus was predicted to be a reinforcer. An equine subject was then successfully trained to perform five different, novel tasks using only the auditory stimulus. Subsequently, extinction of behavior was noted in the absence of the conditioned reinforcer. Implications for many phases of horse training were discussed. Some weaknesses of the present study were noted along with suggested issues for future investigations.
Date: May 1980
Creator: Flynn, Karen Kolb
System: The UNT Digital Library
Biofeedback Training: Avoidance Conditioning of Frontal EMG (open access)

Biofeedback Training: Avoidance Conditioning of Frontal EMG

The present study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of utilizing an avoidance conditioning paradigm in EMG biofeedback training and to compare this method to the standard biofeedback training paradigm. Frontalis EMG levels of 20 college students were monitored during non-stress and stress conditions. Half then received standard EMG biofeedback training. The other half received biofeedback with contingent aversive stimulation. Both groups received training to a relaxation criterion of 3 microvolts for 100 seconds or, for a maximum of two 20 minute sessions. Subjects were then monitored again during non-stress and stress conditions. Both groups obtained significant EMG reductions due to training with no significant differences between them. Standard biofeedback training required less time for subjects to achieve the relaxation criterion than did biofeedback with a shock-avoidance contingency. Possible applications of avoidance contingent biofeedback were suggested.
Date: December 1980
Creator: Catalanello, Michael S.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Menstrual Cycle and Caffein Effects on Physiological and Psychological Processes (open access)

Menstrual Cycle and Caffein Effects on Physiological and Psychological Processes

This study was directed toward investigating effects of menstrual cycle stages and caffein ingestion on various physiological and psychological processes. Subjects maintained a daily log of basal waking temperature (BWT), occurrence of menstruation, and consumption of caffein containing beverages and medications. At each session, visuo-spatial discrimination, depth perception, and time estimation (15 and 30 sec) were assessed. The Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ), The Measurement of Depression (MOD), and a self-report scale were completed.Multiple linear discriminant analyses were conducted on menstrual cycle and caffein ingestion data. Variables that contributed significantly to the discrimination of level of caffein ingestion were visuo-spatial discrimination; MDQ Water Retention and Control; cervical, lumbar, and saccral temperatures; time required to reach baseline; and total daily consumption of caffein-containing beverages.
Date: August 1980
Creator: Burke, Angela J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Blood Pressure Biofeedback and Relaxation Training: The Effects of Home Practice on Reduction of Blood Pressure in Persons with Essential Hypertension (open access)

Blood Pressure Biofeedback and Relaxation Training: The Effects of Home Practice on Reduction of Blood Pressure in Persons with Essential Hypertension

Blood pressure biofeedback at home was compared with relaxation training and a combination of the two procedures for the treatment of essential hypertension, Ten subjects were taught to monitor blood pressure (BP) at home with electronic sphygmomanometers designed for self-use. Although situational factors appeared to have rather potent effects on BP levels, results suggested that training to control BP did generalize across situations. Although pretreatment BP level seemed to be related to the amount of reduction obtained, there was some evidence to indicate that subjects trained in behavioral methods of control could maintain BP in the average range after medication was discontinued, even if no significant reductions were obtained during treatment . Home practice of BP biofeedback was found to be the most successful single treatment for reducing systolic BP in the practice setting.
Date: August 1980
Creator: Bradley, Robert W. (Robert Wayne)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Human Learned Helplessness: Uncontrollable Negative Feedback or Total Amount of Negative Feedback? (open access)

Human Learned Helplessness: Uncontrollable Negative Feedback or Total Amount of Negative Feedback?

To determine if learned helplessness results from lack of control over negative events or simply the number of negative events experienced, 60 university students were assigned to one of five treatments: controllable low negative, uncontrollable low negative, controllable high negative, uncontrollable high negative, and no treatment. Backward digit and letter span tasks served as test tasks. The generally nonsignificant results were discussed as possibly due to a procedural error. Further research on this question is needed.
Date: August 1980
Creator: Martin, Daniel Richard
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Assessment of Suicidal Risk in Hospitalized Patients: Hope, Competence, Threat, Succorance, Helplessness, and Control (open access)

The Assessment of Suicidal Risk in Hospitalized Patients: Hope, Competence, Threat, Succorance, Helplessness, and Control

Although the suicide literature is replete with studies approaching risk assessment from the standpoint of the external observer, research into the intrapsychic mechanisms involved is rare. This study investigated the importance of hope, threat, competence, succorance, helplessness, and control among inpatients hospitalized for suicidal behavior.
Date: August 1980
Creator: Kary, Clifford A. (Clifford Arthur)
System: The UNT Digital Library