This study investigated color discrimination as a possible localized function of right or left cerebral hemispheres in humans. Previous studies have shown conflicting results. Studies implicating the left hemisphere have contaminated color discrimination with verbal-symbolic ability. Other studies implicating the right hemisphere emphasized color-matching ability. This study pointed out the importance of response latency as well as accuracy and also the importance of testing the data for meeting the assumptions of the statistical technique utilized. It was concluded that color discrimination is normally a right-hemisphere function in right-handed individuals. Differences in individual ability, although large, were not found to be systematically related to sex or eye dominance, but may be learned individual differences. The study further pointed out the inappropriateness of referring to a major or dominant cerebral hemisphere without stipulating which function is being considered.

The problem investigated is that of determining if there are differences in the ability of mentally retarded persons over age 21 to learn motor skills as opposed to those under 21. Data were gathered at the Denton State School on 110 subjects. The first chapter is concerned with the theoretical background, purpose, and the hypothesis. The second chapter contains information on subjects, materials, method, and statistical treatment. The third chapter covers presentation and discussion of the data, and the fourth chapter includes the summary, conclusions and recommendations. Results of the study indicated that there were few differences between the two groups. Future studies should be run with samples from individual age groups extending from 6 through 21. This would be realistic in establishing a motor learning curve for this population.

This research demonstrates that experience with uncontrollable reinforcement, here defined as continuous non-contingent positive feedback to solution attempts of insoluble problems, fails to produce the proactive interference phenomenon, learned helplessness, while uncontrollable aversive events, here defined as negative feedback to solution attempts of insoluble problems, produces that phenomenon. These results partially support the "learned helplessness" hypothesis of Seligman (1975) which predicts that experience with uncontrollable reinforcement, the offset of negative events or the onset of positive ones, results in learning that responding is independent of reinforcement and that learning transfers to subsequent situations. This research further demonstrates that experience with controllability, here defined as solubility, results in enhanced competence.

The Purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of the repression-sensitization dimension and leisure preferences, specifically threatening versus nonthreatening physical activity and television program preferences. The hypotheses were that sensitizers would prefer threatening (violent) television programs and threatening (competitive) physical activities to a significantly greater degree than repressors. Sixty college undergraduates were designated repressors, sensitizers, or middle group by their scores on Byrne's Repression-Sensitization Scale. Preference sheets determined subjects' preferences for threatening and nonthreatening television programs and physical activities. Simple analyses of variance revealed no significant differences in repressors', sensitizers', or middle group's preferences for threatening television programs or physical activities, and thus the hypotheses were rejected. Non-significant tendencies in the data, in hypothesized directions, suggest further research.

This study compared women with a highly positive interest in becoming mothers with women having little interest in having children,with respect to biographical data, childrearing attitudes, and personality characteristics. One hundred twenty-one undergraduate college women were administered a biographical questionnaire, the Parental Attitude Research Instrument, the Adjective Check List, and an attitude index designed to assess level of interest in having children. A statistical analysis revealed the remarkable similarity of the two groups of women, as the groups differed significantly in only two areas. Women with little interest in having children scored higher on the subscale Ascendancy of the Mother, and the women also differed in their view of the ideal situation for an adult woman.

The purpose of this research study was to compare the treatment effects of relaxation therapy and the tranquilizing agent Chlordiazepoxide (Librium). The subjects were 37 hospitalized alcoholics who had been identified as anxious. Elevations of scales two and seven of the MMPI was used as a criterion of anxiety. Thirteen subjects were given Librium, 12 were given a placebo, 12 were given nine sessions of relaxation therapy. Although the results did not indicate significant differences among the three groups, the relaxation group showed the least amount of anxiety at post-testing. It was concluded that relaxation therapy was equal to drug therapy in effectiveness and thus more desirable due to the lack of undesirable side effects. Suggestions for further research were given.

This study investigates (1) whether infants in a day-care setting exhibit sexual preferences in the choice of a playmate, and (2) whether males exhibit more overt acts in play than do females. Eight male and eight female infants, attending a day-care center, paired by age (ages twelve to twenty-four months), were selected as subjects. Each of the sixteen children was observed for a ten-minute period on four separate days, over a two-week period, a total of forty minutes' observation time per child. No significant differences were found between male and female infants involving the preference of the sex of a playmate, or between male and female overt behaviors.

To assess psychologically unhealthy Protestant beliefs a Religious Sentence Completion Inventory (RSCI), and scoring Manual, were developed from a pilot study. In the main study 103 undergraduate students were subjects. Interscorer reliability for the RSCI was .83. Results revealed significant positive correlations between the RSCI, and maladjustment validity criteria: a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) total weighted score; and MPI clinical scales 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8; but not validity scale F; for females. Only MMPI scale 6 correlated with the RSCI for males. These data appear to partially support the proposition that whether Protestant beliefs hinder or do not hinder mental health depends upon the particular kind of beliefs a Protestant holds.

This study investigated the use of electromyographic feedback in regulating the frequency of part-word repetitions. Two adult stutterers, one female (Subject A) and one male (Subject B) were employed. The frequency of part-word repetitions during baserate, EMG uV raising, and EMG uV lowering conditions was assessed for Subject B. As hypothesized, results indicate that there was a notable decline in the frequency of part-word repetitions during the EMG uV lowering sessions. However, contrary to the second hypothesis, (i.e. that an increase in EMG uV would correspond with an increase in part-word repetitions) there was also a decline in the frequency of part-word repetitions during the EMG raising sessions.

An avoidance response was conditioned to three stimuli presented in serial order. Following conditioning, each group of subjects received a different treatment procedure. The group I procedure involved distributed CS trials, contingent, non-anxious CS terminations, and individualized treatment durations. Group 2 subjects received massed CS trials, non-contingent CS terminations, and non-individualized treatment durations. Group 3 subjects experienced distributed CS trials, contingent non-anxious CS terminations, and non-individualized treatment durations. Individual izing treatment duration (termination contingent upon operational ized measure of anxiety dissipation) was found to significantly hasten the extinction of avoidance responses. Implications for the effective practice of implosive therapy were discussed. Yoked control methods were criticized for confounding the variable of individualization of the yoked variable.

This study investigates (1) whether infants cared for by a single caregiver exhibit more attachment behaviors than do infants cared for by multiple caregivers and (2) whether sex differences are found in these behaviors. Twenty-six Black infants, nine to twenty-three months of age, in a day-care center, were observed during one brief low-stress separation from a caregiver. Data were taken using six indices of attachment: maintaining proximity, visual regard, touching, protesting, seeking proximity, and greeting. Where subjected to a two-way analysis of variance, the obtained results showed no significant differences in the effects of the two types of care. However, visual regard and greeting behaviors were observed significantly more frequently in females than in males.

It is hypothesized in this study that children reared with "concerned" mothers (N) will display significantly superior intellectual performance and less neurological impairment as compared with children reared with neglectful mothers (MN) and children diagnosed as failure to thrive (FTT, falling below the third percentile in height and weight). The FTT children will show significantly more deficits than both N and MN groups. The participants in this study were forty-five children rigidly matched on all possible variables. F-tests and Newman-Keuls' analyses reveal severe intellectual deficits in both MN and FTT groups. The FTT group displayed significantly more neurological deficits lending support for a nutritional basis of this syndrome as opposed to the traditional psychogenic explanation.

Anxiety levels of partially sighted were compared with totally blind people. Using the Anxiety Scale for the Blind, the primary hypothesis tested was that the partially sighted would manifest more anxiety than would the totally blind. The study was designed to ascertain whether the primary hypothesis would hold within the structure of this study, and to obtain information useful in future anxiety studies of the visually handicapped. A residential center for the blind furnished subjects, facilities, and biographical data. The primary hypothesis lacked statistical significance at the .05 level as did comparisons of anxiety levels by age, sex, economic need, and age at onset. The use of a different instrument may be indicated for future studies.

This study was an investigation of the relationship between the self-concepts of hearing-impaired children and the self-concepts of normal hearing children. Sixty-four hearing-impaired children and nineteen normal hearing children were given the Primary Self- Concept Inventory, the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, and were rated by a teacher using the Bristol Social Adjustment Guide. The differences between means were analyzed and tested for significance. It was concluded that there is no difference between the self concept of the hearing-impaired child and the self-concept of the normal hearing child. It was further concluded that the instruments currently available for measuring self-concept are poor and inadequate. Further research on the self-concept of the hearing impaired child was recommended.

This study investigated the value of headache presence during elecromyographic (EMG) feedback relaxation training and the contribution made by home relaxation practice in the elimination of tension headache. Eighteen participants, mainly coeds in their twenties, recorded headache and medication data for two baseline weeks, and were assigned to one of three training groups. Group A received EMG feedback training with headache presence during the session and home relaxation practice. Group B received EMG feedback without headache Presence and home practice. Group C received only home relaxation practice. Statistically significant treatment differences were not found, but declining trends of headache activity and medication use tend to support the efficacy of EMG training with headache presence.

The primary concern in today's educational system is the rate of progress students achieve in the classroom. Research has shown token reinforcement programs to be an effective method of increasing rate of work in the classroom; however, token economies are time consuming and do not meet the needs of all classroom situations. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of the use of free time as a reinforcer in increasing rate of speed in working arithmetic problems and peer acceptance (how well an individual is accepted by his peers). The data indicated that free time as a positive reinforcer did increase the rate of speed in working arithmetic problems correctly; however, it did not affect peer acceptance.

A fifty-item questionnaire, representing personality attributes related to behaviors used to index the phenomenon of learned helplessness, was administered to 152 undergraduate students. Based upon factor analysis of the results, six subscales were developed to predict latency of response, failures to solve, and trials to task criterion of anagram solving, this being used to index the phenomenon of learned helplessness. The subscales comprised a ninety-item questionnaire given to seventy-seven undergraduate students three days before participation in the experiment proper. The subjects attempted to solve Levine (1971) discrimination problems (designed to be insolvable) and then attempted to solve patterned anagrams. Contrary to the learned helpless model of depression (Miller and Seligman, 1973), depression was curvilinearly related to latency of response and failures to solve in the anagram task. In addition, internal locus of control was linearly related to trials to criterion.

Second-graders were tested for negative transfer and retroactive interference using an A-B, A-D paradigm. Four-pair, word-number lists were aurally presented to the children. Subjects were classified as being whole-only encoders or multiple encoders by the use of a recall test presented after list one. Significant negative transfer and retroactive interference were found. The multiple encoders experiences less difficulty in learning the second list that did the whole-only encoders, but these two groups did no differ with regard to transfer or retroactive interference effects. The results were considered in the context of Martin's encoding variability hypothesis.

The present study evaluated two hypotheses concerning the comparability of scores of the WISC and WISC-R through correlation of obtained scores on both scales. Forty subjects, representing 10 age levels, constituted the experimental sample. Each subject was administered the WISC, followed in 28 days by the WISC-R. Data analysis revealed significant (.05) correlations between scores on comparable WISC and WISC-R subtests except Arithmetic and Coding. The Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQ scores correlated .5468, .5773, and .6240 respectively (p < .01). Conclusions were drawn that caution should be taken in comparison and interpretation of scores on the two scales due to several low correlation coefficients obtained as well as numerous changes between the scales. Further study is recommended.

The problem with which this study is concerned is establishing the relationship between scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT). The findings indicated a highly significant positive relationship between the WISC-R and WRAT, yielding a a < .001 for all rs between WISC-R Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQs and WRAT Reading, Spelling, and-Arithmetic. Analysis of WISC-R and WRAT subtests revealed slightly less significant relationships (a of at least .01) for all possible combinations. Results of this study indicate the possibility of using the WRAT Arithmetic score as a quick estimate of general level of achievement.

This study was undertaken to determine whether the Mini-Mult is able to function as well as the MMPI for a limited clinical purpose, the discrimination of psychosis and neurosis by Goldberg's rule. The smaller size of the Mini-Mult (71 items) allows conservation of time .and energy by subjects and professionals. Thirty male residents of the Austin State Hospital completed two standard MMPIs and one oral Mini-Mult. A fourth set of scores was obtained by extracting Mini-Mult from the first MMPI. Correlations and tests of significance were computed for raw scores and Goldberg's index scores. Results indicate no significant differences in the discrimination of psychosis and neurosis between the MMPI and the Mini-Mult.

One hundred and fifty-five Texas juries were examined to determine the sex of the person elected foreman. Because the role of the foreman is traditionally a male role and a leadership role, it was hypothesized that few women would strive for the position of foreman and that few would be elected to it. It is believed that the proportion of women foremen is a reflection of lack of achievement orientation (or learned helplessness) on the part of women in this situation, and of the degree to which members of the group have internalized the concept that women are less competent than men for a traditionally male leadership role. Of the 155 foremen only 14 were women, a finding which is significant at the .00001 level.

To determine the relationship among learned helplessness, locus of control, and academic achievement, data from 86 sixth graders were gathered and intercorrelated. Contingency of teacher-administered rewards and punishments as perceived by school children, and helpless behavior of students as judged by their teachers were measured. The Children's Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale was used to measure locus of control orientation. A positive relationship between academic achievement and locus of control was found. The contingency of reward scale was found to be predictive of academic achievement and helpless behavior. Virtually no significant relationships were found between any of the other variables and the contingency of punishment scale. Helpless behavior was found to be predictive of low academic success and an external locus of control.

This investigation was designed to determine relative effects of monetary reward and knowledge of results on complex-choice reaction time tasks. Subjects were twenty-five male and thirty-two female undergraduate students. Apparatus consisted of nine stimulus lights and eight response keys. Subjects were required to add the number of lights presented, subtract the sum from a constant, and press the correctly numbered response key. Reward subjects received twenty-five cents for responses faster than a predetermined criterion, and twenty-five cents was deducted for slower responses. Knowledge of results subjects were told their reaction times after each trial. Results indicated (1) no significant differences between any conditions, (2) a significant overall practice effect (.01 level), and (3) that males were significantly faster than females (.01 level).