Term of Award

Winter 1982

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Department

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Richard L. Rogers

Committee Member 1

Paul R. Kleinginna, Jr.

Committee Member 2

Robert Haney

Abstract

Two experimental procedures reporting individual differences in subjects reaction time (RT) data using a "same-different" comparison task design (Cooper, 1976; Hock, Gordon and Marcus, 1974) were compared by utilizing the two procedures to classify the hypothesized individual differences using the same subjects. The subjects were 30 volunteer college students, 17 male and 13 female. A contingency coefficient relating Hock's (Hock et al. 1974) categories of "structural" and "analytic" subjects to Cooper's (1976) categories of "Type I" and "Type II" subjects indicated no relationship between the two classification procedures (C= .070, p > .05), although descriptive terminology used to discuss these differences had indicated that the findings would be related. Further analysis of RT data indicated that a significant correlation (rs = .480, p<.01) existed between procedures relevant to subjects overall mean RT's. A phi coefficient relating reaction time to category type within Hock's procedure was insignificant (φ= .200, p>.05). A phi coefficient relating reaction time to category type within Cooper's procedure was significant (φ = .509, p<01) with Type I subjects having shorter RT's. This reaction time data was inconsistent with the indication from previous studiei that analytic and Type I subjects were faster than structural and Type II subjects respectively. Factors possibly contributing to the inability to correlate the two procedures and specific methodological differences were presented as they related to the present findings. Suggestions for further research were included.

Copyright

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