Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemSources and consequences of classroom empathy( 1977)In Carkhuff's model of interpersonal relations, the helper's level of facilitative functioning is linked with psychological change in others. if empathy is used as a general measure of facilitative functioning in teaching, it would therefore be expected that the level of empathic functioning exhibited by a teacher would be related to growth or deterioration found in pupils. However, while some studies have offered evidence in support of the contention that the model applies to teaching as well as to psychotherapy, all the issues involved in such an extrapolation have not been fully explored. In particular, the part played by helpee and contextual variables appears to warrant further examination. For these reasons, this investigation sought to study the cumulative effects of experience of empathy in a functioning teacher system. This was accomplished firstly by examining change in levels of functioning of teachers in training and then relating these changes to differences in outcome among pupils taught by some of these trainees. Effects on pupil outcomes of teacher functioning level, pupil level of empathic experience, and information about pupils made available to the teacher were studied. The results of the investigation indicated that type of training influenced trainee level of empathic functioning. In addition, level of functioning affected the degree to which trainees were able to develop empathic relationships with ' pupils, but did not reach significance for pupil learning or adjustment. However, the pupils' own levels of empathic experience did influence their adjustment, while the contextual information variable also affected some outcomes. In the discussion of these findings, it is suggested that while higher level empathic functioning in teachers may lead generally to beneficial effects, it may also produce divergent rather than convergent change in a class of pupils. Since, in addition, specific outcomes for particular individuals are each influenced by unique combinations of pupil and contextual variables, it is possible that nomothetic measures may be inappropriate for discerning effects of teacher level of empathic functioning on the learning of a class group of pupils.
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ItemDelimitation of state and trait curiosity in relation to state anxiety and performance on a learning task( 1977)The present study aimed to test the validity of the state-trait curiosity distinction; to investigate the effect of manipulating state curiosity (via written instructional sets) upon subsequent learning; and to assess further the reliability and validity of the state (C-State) and trait (C-Trait) curiosity scales. Subjects comprised 300 senior secondary school students (159 males, 141 females) in grades 10, 11, and 12 of a Melbourne suburban high school. The students were assigned randomly to one of three instructional treatment groups in an attempt to differentially stimulate different levels of C-State. The instructional treatments comprised: (i) Curiosity Stimulating Instructions (CSI); (ii) Neutral Instructions (NI); and (iii) Boredom Inducing Instructions (BII) respectively. These treatments preceded the first administration of the test-battery (comprising the C-State, SECS, STAIC A-State, and C-Trait scales in that order). A learning task (a prose passage about moon landings) ensued, followed immediately by the second administration of the test-battery. Finally, a posttest of immediate retention permitted an assessment of each treatment group's performance on the learning task. Alpha coefficients were high for both the C-State and C-Trait scales and subscales (ranging from .86 to .92). As expected, stability (test-retest) correlations were higher for the C-Trait scale and subscales than for the C-State ones. However in view of the short time interval of only 15-20 minutes between the two testing occasions, a higher correlation than .77 might have been expected for the C-Trait scale. Correlations between the respective curiosity measures were all positive and significant at better than the 1% level. Correlations between each curiosity measure and the A-State scale were all negative and significant at better than the 1% level. Correlations between the reversed and nonreversed subscales of the various measures generally supported these findings. However only tentative support for the state-trait curiosity distinction resulted. The factor analytic results were dominated by the reversed and nonreversed items and subscales which loaded orthogonal factors to a large extent. These findings (in conjunction with the ANOVA results) suggested that the reversed items should be eliminated from the C-State and C-Trait scales. ANOVA results also indicated that only for females in grade 12 did the instructional sets influence state curiosity and subsequent learning performance as predicted. Hence the present findings provided only partial support for the experimental hypotheses. The implications of these findings were discussed both with reference to the experiment .per se, and also in regard to previous conceptualization in the curiosity domain.
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ItemIntelligence and originality, and the manifestation of humour under varying conditions( 1971)On the basis of experiments with a group of gifted American adolescents, Getzels and Jackson (1962) reported that whilst the written and artistic productions of their "highly creative" subjects were characterised by the presence of humour, those of their "highly intelligent" subjects were not. The present study describes a partial replication of Getzels and Jackson's work using as subjects, older adolescents from a different culture and of a lower mean I.Q. Originality, a more manageable concept than creativity, has been employed and operationally defined. An investigation using specially constructed Originality and Humour Tests, and involving a partitioned chi-square and an analysis of variance was adopted as being a more controlled examination of humour as an aspect of Creativity than the anecdotal approach adopted by previous experimenters. The presence or absence of humour on a paper and pencil test and the degree of humour displayed, seems to depend mainly on the type of instruction given, and to a lesser extent on level of intelligence. Less humour of the type evident in Getzels and Jackson's protocols was manifested in the scripts in this study, paralleling findings by Hudson (1967) with a group of clever English schoolboys. The pattern emerging from a factor analysis of types of humour, although not definitive, indicates that certain types of humour may be associated with particular situations. Humour may well be in part situationally determined and in part the result of a specific or generalised set rather than being the salient feature of a particular mode of cognitive functioning. Further replications using similar instruments are needed on subjects differing from those in the present study in age, social-class and cultural background. Detailed examination of scripts, using more precisely defined "popular" types of humour may reveal differences in degree and type of humour which could add to the understanding of the functioning of the "original" or in broader terms, the "creative" individual.
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ItemChildbirth and childbirth education: a study of critical factors in psychological adaptation among primigravidae( 1978)Factors which facilitate or retard psychological adaptation in the stressful period of childbearing have been the focus of a continuing theoretical controversy, begun by Grantly Dick-Read (1944) and Helene Deutsch (1945). Their disagreement centred on the effectiveness of ante-natal education in reducing maternal anxiety through the provision of information about the reproductive process, as well as the advisability of attempting to reduce anxiety. For Dick-Read and subsequent childbirth educators, anxiety in pregnancy was predictive of physical and psychological maladjustment. Consequently, the elimination of anxiety and the production of self-esteem have been fundamental aims for ante-natal education programs. Deutsch argued that Dick-Read had ignored important primal anxieties which neither could nor should be removed through ante-natal education, because of the crucial role they played in preparing women for the stresses of labour. The theoretical disagreement between these two writers provided a context within which subsequent empirical research findings were evaluated, and informed the experimental hypotheses of the present study. Ninety primigravidae, of whom 45 attended ante-natal education classes and 45 did not, took part in the investigation carried out between May 1976 and May 1977. Subjects were tested late in pregnancy, during labour and early in the post partum, on a variety of questionnaire measures concerning attitudes towards various aspects of reproduction, state and trait anxiety, and attitudes towards self and significant others. Subjects were also interviewed individually about their labour experience in the early post partum. During labour, subjects were randomly assigned to a no treatment group, a group which listened to popular music, and one which listened to a tape giving information on coping with labour. Only state anxiety level was ascertained during labour. Contrary to prediction, women who had attended ante-natal education classes did not have significantly lower levels of state or trait anxiety on any of the testing occasions than did untrained women. Similarly, there was no significant difference in state anxiety depending on an interaction between group membership and treatment level during labour. There were no significant differences favouring trained women over untrained women on any of the obstetrical indices of labour. Of the significant results which were obtained, most favoured untrained women. Thus, in the post partum, untrained women perceived greater congruence between current self-concepts and those relating to 'doctors', 'pleasant and good things', 'nurses', 'childbirth' and 'the ideal mother', contrary to prediction. There were also highly significant changes in state and trait anxiety over the testing occasions regardless of group membership. It was concluded that the significant changes in state and trait anxiety supported the notion of childbearing as a crisis which ante-natal education did little to ameliorate. The possibility that anxiety played a useful role in preparing women for labour was considered. Ways of improving antenatal education, based on the findings of the current study and those from the research literature on coping with stress, were discussed.