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    Unconscious processing in children : developing mathematical concepts through mathematical puzzles : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1994) Moxham, Marion Judith
    The degree of occurrence of unconscious versus conscious processing of information in children is unclear. Also unclear is knowledge of mechanisms and reasons for selective transference of unconsciously processed sensory and perceptual information into conceptual, conscious and verbal awareness. Examples of unconscious processing were evidenced in the difficulty some children experienced verbalising processes and naming classifications after solving some mathematical puzzles. Correct solutions indicated children had clear conceptual understanding of the structure of the task. A series of personally designed junior mathematical puzzles utilising environmental materials to aid development of pre-mathematical concepts of classification, patterning, seriation, ideas of conservation and one to one correspondence in five and six year old New Zealand primary school children were used, and extended to incorporate mathematical concepts taught to twelve year old children at New Zealand intermediate school Form 2 level. These senior puzzles incorporated concepts of set theory, probability, matrices, tessellations, and rotational patterning and ordering, with some puzzles developed to adult difficulty levels. Some adults had difficulty with some junior puzzles, and found senior puzzles as difficult as the twelve year olds they were designed for. Mathematically able six year old children solved some senior puzzles successfully. A hypothesis developed that children could master mathematical concepts considered beyond their age ability defined by the current school curriculum, provided concepts were presented in manipulable and visual form. This was supported in the present study in 1985-1986 where 92 six to ten year old junior and senior children with the highest and lowest mathematical ability or special learning difficulties in three primary schools researched the puzzles. Schools selected senior children from national age normed Progressive Achievement Tests (P.A.T.) mathematics results. Junior children were teacher assessed. Unexpected findings included unconscious processing of some unfamiliar concepts with difficulties verbalising unfamiliar and familiar concepts, contrasting conscious deliberation required for multiple concepts, transfer of learning and use of strategy, indicating ability, especially in conjunction with speed, novel approach, use of symmetry and a younger age of child. Puzzles were diagnostic in detecting and in remediating mathematical understanding of single concepts. The formal mathematics of some remedial and extension children improved, suggesting unconscious transfer of concepts, and some children who previously disliked mathematics or school in general developed a liking for both. No gender performance differences emerged. P.A.T. performance did not correlate with puzzle performance, emphasising differences between P.A.T. formal verbal mathematics and nonverbal visual spatial logic puzzle mathematics, or predominantly left versus right brain mathematical processing respectively, possibly explaining difficulties children had verbalising nonverbal actions. Two P.A.T. average children included with extension children performed above the highest P.A.T. children. Lack of P.A.T. correlation indicates formal mathematics alone may be inadequate to identify all mathematically able children, to remediate all having difficulties, or to extend those needing lateral enrichment. As pre-mathematical concepts incorporated into junior puzzles are prerequisites for formal mathematics, mathematical concepts incorporated into senior puzzles may aid unconscious transfer into formal mathematics through conscious awareness from verbal introspection, providing useful remediation and enrichment if embedded within future curricula.
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    Territoriality and playground disturbances : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Education
    (Massey University, 1973) Anderson, Neil Alan
    The concept of 'territoriality' has become a fairly common term within social scientific literature - and yet its application in the analysis of human behaviour appears to have been made with little reference to, or regard for, the concept's original form. The present investigation serves two purposes - first, to attempt to use the concept in the description and explanation of the etiology of social disturbances in school settings; and second, to look closely at the concept and assess its general worth in the analysis of human behaviour. Before investigating the possibility of a correlation between disturbances and the manifestation of territoriality, observations were made of the school pupil population during intervals to establish whether or not the pupils tended to occupy specific locations for protracted lengths of time - perhaps the most basic requisite of territorial behaviour. Observers gathered data in terms of the specific activities occurring and the sex and number of players. Time sampling was used, and the data confirmed that pupils do tend to return to the same geographical location to perform the same activity over a period of time. The stability of the pupil activity groups over time provided the foundation for a participant observer subsequently to investigate a second feature of territoriality - that territories are defended. The observer's task was to interview those involved in identified disturbances, and attempt to establish the etiology of the disturbance. The hypothesis was that the disturbances would be a function of the territorial behaviour of the groups. In so far as territorial behaviour can be defined in terms of Barker's (1968) 'maintenance mechanisms', the hypothesis was supported. 83% of disturbances were deemed to involve at least one feature of territoriality - be it membership, equipment, space, boundaries, or a combination of these. A further feature of the concept of 'territoriality' within animal behavioural research is that the territorial group members recognise each other on the basis of certain membership criteria. Within the pupil activity groups observed to investigate this feature among humans, membership criteria were also found to exist. These criteria were identified as being sex, class level, the amount of space available, family relationships, and physical size. On the basis of these criteria pupils were observed to be accepted or rejected from activity groups during school intervals. The findings of these initial investigations into the existence of three features of animal territoriality within human group behaviour, lend weight to an acceptance of the concept of territoriality as an adequate unit of analysis in the explanation of human group behaviour. However, throughout the investigations certain assumptions which underlie the concept tended to surface from time to time and raise doubts about the concept's applicability in human behavioural analysis. These assumptions included the idea that the territorial behaviour was manifested by members of both sexes; that territorial groups were family groups only; and that territorial behaviour was designed to repel intruders. All of these were shown in the present study to be not accurate. Added to these assumptions, the ethological literature reflects two crucial points of dissention. Ethologists, it seems, can not agree whether or not man is a territorial species. Again, among those who do accept that man is a territorial species, there is an argument over whether the territorial behaviour manifested by man is learned or instinctive. There are apparent problems in transferring a unit of analysis of animal behaviour to cover human behaviour as well. The problems are accentuated in the assumptions and debates outlined above, and compounded by the fact that within the social sciences there already exists a number of other theories and concepts which serve to explain the same human behaviour as territoriality attempts to do. While not completely rejecting the applicability of the concept of territoriality within human behavioural analysis, the conclusion arrived at was that the concept was of limited utility to the social scientist.
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    A study of some aspects of classification and grouping : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an M.A. paper
    (Massey University, 1975) Jenkins, Annette Patricia
    This investigation is concerned with how children group objects and with the underlying rules they may use to categorize experience. The sample consisted of three hundred and twenty children with equal numbers of boys and girls in each group of eighty, five, eight, ten and twelve year olds. Subjects were given two free sorting tasks using attribute blocks and an array of everyday objects. Verbal explanations were recorded. Developmental trends were sought in terms of the numbers of groups formed (discrimination), criteria chosen as the basis for grouping, and the potency of stimulus material as a possible determinant of criteria. The differences in logical sorting, pattern making and figural arrangements were examined and also found to be age rather than sex related. Language responses showed increasing sophistication in criterial choice and in the ability to explain groupings. Highly significant results were obtained showing age related trends for all groups. Younger subjects formed more groups which they were less able to explain than older children. Younger children showed more responses with partial logic and simple pairing of objects, and they also formed groups on the basis of perceptible (colour, shape, size), while older children used more functional criteria (use). Older subjects showed greater stability in logical grouping and formed fewer groups, each with more objects. Attribute blocks evoked more geometric pictorial and pattern making in younger children than did array materials. Significance was not found for any of the independent variables except age. These included sex, age, parental occupation, size of family, position in the family, pre-school and school attendance.
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    Curiosity and self-concept of school adjustment : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1974) Doyle, Michael Dennis
    This study, as a piece of descriptive research, is an extension of a similar one done by Maw and Maw (1970) concerning the relationship between curiosity and the self-concept. Whereas they hypothesised that children high in curiosity are also those who have successfully interacted with their environments, the general hypothesis for this study was that children who have positive self-concepts of themselves in the school environment will also be ones who exhibit curiosity in that situation. This hypothesis was formulated as a consequence of the writer's adherence to a theory of active intelligence, and view of self-concept as a highly task-specific construct. Measures of curiosity, global self-concept, and self-concept of school adjustment were taken. In general terms curiosity was defined as a preferred cognitive strategy which is utilized to cope with challenging stimuli and manifested in the way in which the individual is predisposed to achieve and resolve conceptual conflicts. Global self-concept was defined as an individual's perception of his innate capacity to cope effectively with his environment. Similarly self-concept of school adjustment was defined as a student's perception of his innate capacity to cope effectively in the specific environment of the classroom. Each of these three variables was operationally defined in terms of the instruments used to measure them. Where possible, the same instruments as used by Maw and Maw in their study were used in this research. No new instruments were constructed for this study. Measures of curiosity were taken from Maw and Maw: (1) Teacher's Rating Scale of Curiosity, (2) Self-appraisal of curiosity, (3) The Which to Discuss Test. Measures of global self-concept were obtained from the following instruments: (1) Parts of the California Test of Personality (C.T.P.), (2) Parts of the Children's Personality Questionnaire (C.P.Q.). A measure of self-concept of school adjustment was obtained from subjects recorded responses to factor 2 E : School Relations, of the California Test of Personality (C.T.P.) and from the tester's recorded observation on the Bristol Social Adjustment Scale: factor U (Unforthcomingess). P.A.T. results for reading comprehension and maths were taken from school records. The subjects were 20 children from the senior room of a local two-teacher school. There were ten boys and ten girls. It is felt that they are representative of New Zealand rural children. Administration and scoring of the tests was done by the writer, who at the time of testing was also the children's teacher. The results of the study did not support the general hypothesis, and only partly supported Maw and Maw's (1970) findings. However, some relationship between the variables curiosity, self-concept and self-concept of school adjustment was shown to exist. Also a highly significant relationship was recorded between curiosity and school achievement. A lack of significant relationship recorded between the teacher's rating of curiosity and the C.T.P. measure of Total Personal Adjustment was taken to suggest that either the tests in fact measure different things than curiosity and personal adjustment or, that there was error in administration or scoring of at least one of the tests. Both of these factors, as measured on the same tests, correlated significantly in the Maw and Maw study. Unfortunately the lack of correlation mentioned above also affected the recorded relationship between the teacher's rating and the school adjustment measure from the C.T.P. One implication of these results is that curiosity as a task-specific concept is merely one aspect of cognition. The possibility of marker bias was discussed, but if this can be discounted then the significant correlations which existed between curiosity, school adjustment and school performance can all be taken as evidence that curiosity is in fact connected with intelligence. Consequently, it would seem that better school adjustment is more readily found in higher achievers.
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    The effect of day-care on empathy : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1977) Davey, Janet
    The study incorporated three areas of concern. Literature and research findings related to day-care focussed on the social-emotional effects of attendance. It was found that fears regarding harmful consequences of mother-child separation and multiple caretakers were not substantiated. Although many findings were equivocal, there was considerable evidence indicating beneficial outcomes of day-care. In particular, prosocial behaviours were found to be improved. An important variable in day-care is interaction with peers. The nature of peer influence on children's social development was, however, largely theoretical. It was concluded that peer experiences should facilitate the loss of eogcentrism and coincident increase in empathy in preschool children. Emphasis was placed on the recent change in viewpoint that the preschool child is not necessarily egocentric but capable of responding empathically. Empathy in children was found to be influenced by socialisation experiences and prosocial behaviours were linked, at least theoretically, to empathy. "Cognitive" empathy was within the capabilities of young children and defined as understanding what another person is feeling. The aim of the study, therefore, was to investigate cognitive empathy of children attending day-care. Borke's (1971) Interpersonal Perception Test was used to measure empathy in sixty day-care children (30 male and 30 female) between three and four-and-a-half years of age. Social and interpersonal skills were assessed by a Social Behaviour Rating Scale and the PPVT served as a measure of verbal intelligence. Factors included in the design were length of stay in day-care (NEW, OLD, XOLD), age (3yr.old, 4yr old), sex and a retest after twelve weeks of day-care attendance. Results were analysed in terms of a 5 x 2 (Treatments x Sex) design with length of stay in day-care and age defining treatment classifications. The results indicated that children who had attended day-care for some time were more empathic than children who had not had this experience. Empathy was found to increase with age but there were no differences between male and female children. The extent to which children were empathic was found to be related to their prosocial behaviours and interpersonal skills. Although increases in empathy over the test-retest interval were slight, NEW children showed a greater development in empathy than OLD children. The results also showed that empathy varied with the emotion being identified and there were differences between item - correctness and response - correctness. The study supported the idea that day-care can be a growth-enriching experience and can promote the development of empathy. It is implied that early interaction with peers is the factor largely responsible for improved social development. Finally it was suggested that child-rearing and formal education have great potential for facilitating prosocial behaviours and empathy by offering socialised activities and experiences. Given the implications of this for behaviour modification, especially aggression and violence, it seems particularly important that direct attention be given to facilitating mature levels of empathy and social development.
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    Brief cognitive-behavioural therapy for children with anxiety disorders : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2000) Girling-Butcher, Robyn Denise
    The aim of the present study was to determine the efficacy of a shortened version of an efficacious cognitive-behavioural programme for anxiety in children. Four children (aged 8-11 years) diagnosed with anxiety disorders, and one or both of their parents participated in the study. Pre-treatment and post-treatment measures including structured diagnostic interviews, parent report, teacher, and self-report were administered. In addition, weekly measures of the child's trait anxiety and coping ability were obtained from the child and the parents. The programme led to marked changes in the children's functioning. All four children showed improvement on child self-report, parent report and independent clinician's ratings following treatment. Specifically, internalising and externalising behaviours, as well as their ability to cope with specific anxious situations improved in the four participants. Additionally, in most cases, parents involved in the programme showed slight improvement in their own anxiety and depressive symptoms at post-treatment. Moreover, scores for some participants had reduced to within a non-deviant range indicating clinically significant change following intervention. Most importantly, these gains were accompanied by all four children no longer receiving an anxiety diagnosis at post-treatment. Findings are discussed in terms of methodological issues (i.e., comorbidity, critical components of treatment, and duration of treatment), implications for clinical practice, and relevance for future treatment outcome research. Limitations of the research are highlighted and recommendations for future research directions are outlined. Suggestions for future research include testing the effectiveness of the programme on a large and diverse sample of children, investigating the long-term effects of treatment, and bridging the research-practice gap. Additional research is also required to find out to what extent parental involvement in the programme enhances the impact of treatment. Overall, the findings provide preliminary support for the effectiveness of a brief cognitivebehavioural programme for treating anxiety disorders in children.
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    Body image and attitudes in preadolescent children : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1995) Mason, Shari
    Research into the area of body image and satisfaction is diverse, although several areas have not been adequately studied. The main aim of the current research was to study some of these areas. Areas of assessment included male body satisfaction, satisfaction with body parts and functioning, the effect of puberty on female body satisfaction, body size perceptions and attempts to change the muscularity or size of the body. Male and female participants, aged 10 to 13 years were given the Body Image and Attitudes Questionnaire which was devised for the current study. Participants were divided into three groups for the sake of analysing results: Males, Non-menstrual females and Menstrual females. The distinction between the female groups proved invaluable as the two groups responded in vastly different ways. Post-pubertal females appeared to be the least satisfied with their body, although males and pre-pubertal females also showed some degree of dissatisfaction. A large number of children had attempted to change their body, and there was no significant difference between weight loss attempts in males and females. Several areas for future research were recognised, including Maori body satisfaction, effects of puberty on male body satisfaction and further research into male satisfaction with their body and its' functioning.
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    Working memory in children and its relationship to academic achievement and behaviour : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2013) Colenso-Mita, Jill
    For children, Working Memory WM capacity underpins the ability to acquire knowledge and skills in school curriculum areas. The present study aimed to examine WM function in a group of New Zealand primary school children, and to investigate a possible association between reading and maths achievement and WM function. It also investigated whether WM deficits are reflected in children’s behaviours as observed by teachers in the classroom and parents at home. A related aim investigated the prevalence of learning disorders or experiences that have been linked to WM deficits. WM ability was assessed with a group of 60 children aged 9 – 11 years using the Automated Working Memory Assessment Screener, AWMA Screener, or fully tested on the Automated Working Memory Assessment – Long version AWMA-L which assesses both verbal and visuo-spatial Short Term Memory STM and WM components. Twenty percent were found to have low scores in at least one component of WM. Two groups of children were selected from the 60 children based on their reading and maths achievement,13 average and 16 below average. Eighty three percent of children with low WM were below average on academic performance. The below average academic group performed significantly lower than the average academic group on all but one subtest of the AWMA-L. There was a significant difference in performance by age for one of the verbal short term memory subtests of the AWMA-L, but no between group significant differences for sex or ethnicity. The two groups of children were rated by their teachers on the WM Rating Scale WMRS, and parents on the WMRS-for parents WMRS-PC. The children with low WM scores were rated as having more frequent behaviours relating to WM problems than children with average and above average WM. Children in all WM ability groups were reported as having experiences or disorders related to WM deficits. The results corroborate previous findings and may be of interest to educators in that WM ability is a building block that may affect the acquisition of information during learning episodes at school. The child with low WM may not have inherent difficulty with the academic work, but in taking in the information. Assessment of WM may identify children who may need to learn in a different way in order to reach their academic potential.
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    Young children's meaning-making about the causes of illness within the family context : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2013) McIntosh, Caroline Mary
    With the current prioritising of child health promotion, practitioners in health, education, and social services are facing the challenge of providing effective health education programmes for young children. Appreciation of the role that families play in young children’s meaning-making about the causes of illness is likely to assist practitioners to reach this goal. To date, researchers have largely sought to determine children’s understanding at various stages of cognitive development rather than exploring how children might acquire, process, and share their knowledge within particular social contexts. However, attention is increasingly turning to sociocultural aspects of children’s learning and development, and the need to explore the various ways in which children’s knowledge of health and illness is acquired in everyday contexts. Adopting a socioconstructivist perspective of children’s learning and development, and using a narrative methodology, this study sought to identify the ways in which young children’s illness causality concepts are embedded in the sociocultural context of the family. In-depth interviews were undertaken with five four-year-old children, their parents/guardians, sibling/s aged five to nine years and two other family members (29 participants in total). Participants reflected a diversity of cultural communities, spiritual orientations, and family structure. To aid the elicitation of young children’s narrative accounts of illness causality, children were invited to create a storybook about ‘getting sick’ utilising art materials and photographs of children experiencing illness. A social interactional approach was then employed to interpret participants’ narratives. Findings indicate that preschoolers draw heavily on their family contexts in their meaning-making about the causes of illness. Furthermore, young children’s illness causality constructions are significantly influenced by the particular illness experiences, illness prevention messages and behavioural rules within their families. Consequently, researchers are encouraged to further explore the social construction of children’s knowledge, and practitioners are urged to utilise children’s existing understandings and associated family practices as the context for children’s learning about health and well-being. By viewing family members as essential partners in the education of young children, practitioners may be better placed to develop effective health education programmes and provide enhanced psychosocial support for young children and their families.
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    Affect and memory : an investigation of a learning task that utilizes affect as an aid to memory : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1985) Steffens, Stephen Frederick
    This thesis explored through experimental and correlational conditions the relationship of affect and memory. Some of the individual and situational factors that were associated with the variance in performance were identified. One hundred and twenty children between nine and twelve years of age in three widely separated schools participated in the study. The children were provided with lists of words to learn by using five learning tasks. A learning task that involved affect achieved memory performances that were quantitatively greater than the results achieved after other learning tasks. The empathic ability of the children was measured through an analogue. The children responded how individuals felt in certain video excerpts. The empathic ability of the children was related significantly to memory performances achieved after the learning task that involved affect. A questionnaire was answered by the children that gave their perceptions of their mother's and their father's behaviours and feelings. Various statments appeared that were consistently and significantly related to the empathic ability of the children. These items indicated that the factors of support, anger-anxiety, and demand were differentially related to the empathic ability of the children. A model of relationships that included the child's perceptions of the parents, the empathic ability of the child, and memory performances achieved after the learning task that involved affect was presented. Some implications for classroom implementation were advanced.