Mountain Scholar :: Browsing by Author "Rhodes, Matthew, committee member"

Browsing by Author "Rhodes, Matthew, committee member"

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Open Access
Categorical evidence, confidence and urgency during the integration of multi-feature information
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Braunlich, Kurt, author; Seger, Carol, advisor; Anderson, Charles, committee member; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member; Troup, Lucy, committee member
The present experiment utilized a temporally-extended categorization task to investigate the neural substrates underlying our ability to integrate information over time and across multiple stimulus features. Importantly, the design allowed differentiation of three important decision functions: 1) categorical evidence, 2) decisional confidence (the choice-independent probability that a decision will lead to a desirable state), and 3) urgency (a hypothetical signal representing a growing pressure to produce a behavioral response within each trial). In conjunction with model-based fMRI, the temporal evolution of these variables were tracked as participants deliberated about impending choices. The approach allowed investigation of the independent effects of urgency across the brain, and also the investigation of how urgency might modulate representations of categorical evidence and confidence. Representations associated with prediction errors during feedback were also investigated. Many cortical and striatal somatomotor regions tracked the dynamical evolution of categorical evidence, while many regions of the dorsal and ventral attention networks (Corbetta and Shulman, 2002) tracked decisional confidence and uncertainty. Urgency influenced activity in regions known to be associated with flexible control of the speed-accuracy trade-off (particularly the pre- SMA and striatum), and additionally modulated representations of categorical evidence and confidence. The results, therefore, link the urgency signal to two hypothetical mechanisms underling flexible control of decision thresholding (Bogacz et al., 2010): gain modulation of the striatal thresholding circuitry, and gain modulation of the integrated categorical evidence.
Open Access
Cognitive ability testing for employee selection: implications for age discrimination
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Naude, Megan N., author; Fisher, Gwen, advisor; Gibbons, Alyssa, committee member; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member; Henle, Chris, committee member
Existing theory and empirical research suggest that tests of fluid cognitive abilities have the potential to lead to age-based adverse impact and may be stronger predictors of job performance for younger job candidates compared to older job candidates. However, the evidence suggests that tests of crystallized cognitive abilities are not as susceptible to age-based adverse impact issues and should be strong predictors of job performance for candidates of any age. The two present studies used cognitive ability test scores collected from management employees in a large company in the United States in conjunction with supervisory performance ratings to examine adverse impact based on age, linear relations of test scores with age, and differential validity and prediction based on age. In the first study, a sample of N = 214 employees completed a test of fluid cognitive abilities, and in the second study, a sample of N = 232 employees completed a test of crystallized cognitive abilities. Contrary to hypotheses, results indicated that age-based adverse impact was more likely to be present for the test of crystallized abilities, age was negatively related to test performance for both tests, and neither test resulted in significant differential validity or prediction for the two age subgroups. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Open Access
Color memory for objects with prototypical color mismatch
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Opper, Jamie K., author; Monnier, Patrick, advisor; Draper, Bruce, committee member; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member
Many studies have demonstrated the effect of top-down influences on color preference and memory, but these have primarily studied short-term memory or color memory in the abstract (e.g., the experimenter names an object or substance and the subject produces a subjective match without first being exposed to a stimulus). The present study examined the effect of object color prototypicality and how such prototypicality might influence memory for colors of objects presented in non-prototypical colors (e. g., a banana presented as blue). A match between an object's prototypical and presentation colors appeared to facilitate the accuracy of matching and increase participants' confidence that they achieved a correct match; a prototypical color mismatch impaired subjects' ability to achieve a correct match. For stimuli presented in their prototypical colors, subjects tended to remember highly saturated stimuli as less saturated, and desaturated stimuli as more saturated, indicating a sort of "regression to a saturation mean". This effect did not occur for stimuli presented in a non-prototypical color or stimuli presented as simple colored circles. Evidence was not found, however, for systematic influence of object color prototypicality on the hue and/or luminance of subjects' produced matches.
Open Access
Counteracting student resistance to spaced learning using the Theory Of Planned Behavior
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Mattingly, Victoria Prescott, author; Kraiger, Kurt, advisor; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member; Beier, Margaret, committee member; Chermack, Thomas, committee member
Despite the proven benefits of spaced learning, students are reluctant to use this study technique. I proposed that students do not space their studying because they lack basic competencies needed to successfully engage in this behavior. According to the Theory of Planned Behavior, behaviors are the product of one’s intentions, which are derived from attitudes and beliefs. Using this theoretical framework, I designed and evaluated a classroom intervention with the goal of changing debilitating attitudes towards spaced learning. I hypothesized that students exposed to this spaced learning classroom intervention would have stronger intentions to space, higher rates of spaced learning behaviors, and consequently higher exam scores compared to the control group. Intentions to space and the beliefs and attitudes contributing to those intentions were improved by the classroom intervention. Students who spaced their studying also performed better on the exam compared to students who did not space. However, the classroom intervention did not significantly predict whether or not students would space their studying. Implications and future research directions based on the study's findings are also discussed.
Open Access
Employee engagement in the interpersonal context
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Stelman, Samantha A., author; Byrne, Zinta, advisor; Albert, Lumina, committee member; Kraiger, Kurt, committee member; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member
To advance the theoretical understanding and research on engagement, I examined how engagement spreads within the interpersonal context. I developed and tested a theoretical framework built upon Kahn’s (1990) conceptualization of employee engagement, Byrne’s (2015) newly proposed mechanism of engagement contagion, and research on team dynamics. The study sample included students (N = 148) working in teams on a semester-long course project. Through the measurement of engagement levels and individual differences related to emotional and cognitive contagion, I assessed two potential mechanisms for the transmission of engagement. Results showed that emotional contagion (as assessed with emotional contagion susceptibility) is not a significant predictor of change in affective engagement scores between two time points. Further, although cognitive contagion (as assessed with perceptions of shared mental models) significantly predicted change in cognitive engagement scores, students reporting higher levels of this construct experienced small changes in cognitive engagement. Based on these findings, recommendations for future research are discussed.
Open Access
Examining the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon with scalar judgments
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Claxton, Alexander B., author; Cleary, Anne, advisor; Davalos, Deanna, committee member; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member; Davies, Patricia, committee member
The Tip-of-the-Tongue (TOT) state, which is the feeling of being on the verge of retrieving a word that is as of yet unretrieved, occupies a space between a lack of recall and successful recall. Recent work has found that when someone experiences a TOT state they are more likely to attribute fluent characteristics to the sought after item. The present study sought to explore whether this TOT heuristic was driven by attribution of fluency and what, if any, relationship exists between the TOT heuristic and the subjective intensity of a given TOT state. Initial experiments were able to identify the TOT heuristic with both a binary and scalar TOT rating, but did not find any impact of objective fluency on the TOT heuristic. Follow-up experiments expanded on these findings by utilizing both a scalar (1 to 10 intensity rating) and binary (yes or no) TOT rating. A positive relationship between TOT magnitude ratings and the TOT heuristic was identified. This relationship was significant for both ratings of whether an item had been previously presented and font color ratings.
Open Access
Experiencing information: using systems theory to develop a theoretical framework of information interaction
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Raymer, Steven D., author; Byrne, Zinta, advisor; Prasad, Joshua, committee member; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member; Fisher, Ellen, committee member
This study outlines the construction, development, and initial testing of a proposed theoretical framework and measure for information interaction. To address the challenges associated with experiencing information, I synthesized existing literature from complementary and multidisciplinary domains of cognitive psychology, computer science, and organizational communication. I initially proposed theoretically driven components of information interaction based on a literature review, followed by a multimethod evaluation to further develop and refine the framework. Quantitatively, I researched organizational practices used for managing the information environment. Empirically, I collected data using multiple samples to test the psychometric properties of a proposed measure of information interaction. I used structural equation modeling to assess relationships associated with information interaction to develop its nomological network. The findings of these studies have implications for research and practice by establishing a new theoretical space in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, using a systems approach to construct development and application, and providing organizations with a mechanism for constant, minimally obtrusive collection and assessment of the information experience of members within the organizational system.
Open Access
Familiarity-detection from different facial feature-types: is the whole greater than the sum of its parts?
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Carlaw, Brooke N., author; Cleary, Anne, advisor; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member; Thomas, Michael, committee member; Blanchard, Nathaniel, committee member
Prior research indicates that perceived familiarity with a cue during cued recall failure can be systematically increased based on the amount of feature overlap between that cue and studied items in memory (Huebert et al., 2022; McNeely-White et al., 2021, Ryals & Cleary, 2012). However, these studies used word or musical stimuli. Faces represent a special class of stimuli, as evidence suggests that unlike other types of stimuli (such as word or musical stimuli), faces may be primarily processed in a holistic fashion. A recent study demonstrated that even when a person's identity was prevented by the presence of a facial occlusion like a surgical mask or sunglasses, familiarity-detection with the occluded face could still occur, suggesting that holistic processing was not a requirement for facial familiarity-detection (Carlaw et al., 2022). However, some researchers have suggested that although faces can be decomposed into component parts when partially occluded, when faces are presented unoccluded in their entirety, the holistic face processing system may then be obligatory (Manley et al., 2019). The present study suggests that this is not the case. Isolating specific feature types at encoding through partial occlusion of faces at study (via a surgical mask or sunglasses), then embedding those familiarized feature sets in otherwise novel whole faces at test, systematically and combinedly increased the perceived familiarity of the otherwise novel whole faces. These results suggest that even whole faces are processed as sets of component parts.
Open Access
Glass kickers: training men as allies to promote women in leadership
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Mattingly, Victoria Prescott, author; Kraiger, Kurt, advisor; Fisher, Gwen, committee member; Henle, Chris, committee member; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member
Despite making up nearly half of today's workforce, women are disproportionately unrepresented in leadership roles—a phenomenon referred to as the glass ceiling. In an attempt to achieve workplace gender parity, organizations invest considerable resources in diversity and inclusion training programs. Such programs often fail to achieve intended outcomes, however, commonly placing the onus of responsibility on women themselves and neglecting to address the systemic cultural biases that perpetuate gender discrimination. With men holding the vast majority of leadership positions, they are in a position to use their power to advance women in leadership initiatives by actively supporting aspiring female leaders and serving as change agents to eradicate culturally embedded gender biases. The purpose of this research was to build and evaluate a training program that equips men to effectively serve as allies to women in the workplace. This randomly-assigned, treatment-control evaluation design used self- and other-report data to assess training effectiveness on skill-based, cognitive, and attitudinal outcomes. Data was collected from a sample of senior male leaders (n = 37) from a global manufacturing company. The results provided mixed support for increased frequency of trained ally behaviors, enhanced knowledge about workplace gender equality, and more favorable attitudes about the participants' role as allies to women in the workplace. This study provides a promising first step toward effectively inviting men into workplace gender equality initiatives, empowering them to break the glass ceiling from their position above in partnership with women trying to break it from below.
Embargo
Going with the flow: employee flow experiences across the creative profession spectrum
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Lizerbram, Ryan S., author; Fisher, Gwen, advisor; Dik, Bryan, committee member; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member; Beer, Laura, committee member
Ties between the psychological state of flow and creativity, as well as flow and occupational health, have been documented relatively well within the organizational psychological literature, but fewer studies attempt to bridge these relationships together in a single study, especially when considering the lens of work design. In this study, I sought to test a model comprising work design, creative processes, flow experiences, and occupational health variables to empirically examine whether creative problem-solving and work-related flow mediate the relationship between job characteristics and worker well-being. I conducted an online self-report survey among a convenience sample of 326 workers employed in a variety of occupations. In general, the results provided support for the hypothesized model. Results indicated that job characteristics relate to creative problem-solving, flow, and worker well-being, which can inform ways to possibly increase flow at work. This research contributes to the broader literature that has previously identified numerous benefits of work-related flow, such as positive mood, overall well-being, in-role job performance, organizational citizenship behaviors, work recovery, and depleted burnout.
Open Access
Intrinsic motivation to learn: can individual differences decrease susceptibility to undermining effects?
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Wehe, Hillary S., author; Seger, Carol, advisor; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member; Conner, Bradley, committee member; Hoke, Kimberly, committee member
This study extended the theory of the undermining effect on motivation to a learning context and examined the interaction with individual goals for learning. The undermining effect suggests that the removal of external rewards can decrease levels of internal motivation. Students possessing a desire to improve, or learning goal individuals, often appear to be more internally motivated to engage in challenging tasks, whereas, performance goal individuals tend to engage in tasks that confirm their intelligence. Students were assigned to either a reward or non-reward condition and completed a word-learning task. They were allowed to engage in studying the words during a free period. An undermining effect was found: A greater amount of time was spent studying by individuals in the non-reward group, no matter the personal goals for learning. Learning goal subjects were hypothesized to show little difference in study time between groups, whereas performance goal subjects were predicted to be more sensitive to motivational undermining and therefore engage in the task more in the non-reward group; however, the interaction between undermining and goal orientation was not significant and these hypotheses were not supported. These results have significant implications for verifying the impact of motivation on learning behaviors and provide support for the encouragement of intrinsic motivation and contribute to the current literature exploring the cause for differences in performance success among students.
Open Access
Item content versus contextual strengthening following retrieval
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Rowland, Christopher A., author; DeLosh, Edward, advisor; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member; Dik, Bryan, committee member; Robinson, Daniel, committee member
Despite a substantial literature describing the memory benefit resulting from testing (i.e., memory retrieval), relatively few investigations have attempted to detail how retrieval acts as a memory modifier. One core issue concerns the extent to which testing and studying effect fundamentally similar or different processes or components of memories. The present paper introduces two computational models, both based in REM theory (Shiffrin & Steyvers, 1997) and designed to provide a plausible basis for describing the testing effect at a more mechanistic level than existing theories. The two models are derived from the same set of core assumptions about the functioning of the memory system, and differ only in their specifications of the components of memories that are modified as a result of retrieval. The “Item Model” (IM) assumes that retrieval serves primarily to strengthen the target item content representation of information that is retrieved. In contrast, the “Context Model” (CM) assumes that retrieval serves to embed additional contextual information into the target memory trace, facilitating the subsequent ability of the memory system to locate such items. This manuscript provides coverage of relevant areas in the literature that have bearing on the IM and CM, details the implementation of the models and their larger framework, and reports on 4 experiments designed to test contrasting predictions of the IM and CM. Experiment 1 observed a testing effect using a mixed list, but not a pure list design, implying that testing may serve to enhance the search process by strengthening context information in memory. Experiments 2-4 were designed to examine the effects of reinstating contextual information during final testing on the testing effect. Experiments 2 and 3 found that reinstating either perceptual contextual elements (Exp. 2), or semantic context cues (Exp. 3) at the time of final test did not significantly impact the magnitude of the testing effect. However, Experiment 4 found that reinstating the initial learning mental/temporal context at the time of final test mitigated the magnitude of the testing effect. Potential nuanced interactions between testing and context in memory are discussed.
Open Access
Mastery quizzing: assessing a novel testing technique in the classroom and the laboratory
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Bates, Lauren Elizabeth, author; DeLosh, Edward, advisor; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member; Graham, Daniel, committee member; Folkestad, James, committee member
Research promotes the use of frequent quizzing, as well as the use of feedback to promote long-lasting learning. In this dissertation, I propose a method for promoting long-lasting learning using mastery quizzing. Participants read an expository text and then answered questions about that text. Some participants were required to take quizzes until they achieve a perfect score, which I refer to as mastery quizzing, whereas other participants were forced to take quizzes a certain number of times. I explored how mastery quizzing can contribute to students' classroom learning and whether this method is more effective than traditional quizzing. In Experiment 1 I first looked at whether the benefits of mastery quizzing may emerge due to the benefits associated with frequent testing and feedback. Next, In Experiment 2 I explored the role that feedback may play in the mastery model, exploring students' use of feedback and how that may impact final test scores. Experiment 3 explored whether attending to and processing feedback led to increased performance on a final test. My results supported an overall benefit of mastery quizzing relative to standard quizzing techniques, even when controlling for number of quiz attempts, the presence of feedback, and conditions meant to simulate a need to use the feedback to improve performance. These results imply that the mastery technique may be a more effective method to improve student learning than standard quizzing techniques.
Open Access
Mental models and feedback reactions: how knowledge and belief structures relate to the acceptance of feedback
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Garrison, Lauren L., author; Gibbons, Alyssa, advisor; Kraiger, Kurt, committee member; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member; Maynard, Travis, committee member
Feedback acceptance has been found to be an integral step in the feedback-development process and increasing acceptance is a prime goal of performance appraisal and human capital management. This study investigated how feedback receivers' mental models for professional skills relate to their acceptance of professional skill feedback. University students participated in a leaderless group discussion and completed multiple measures of mental model knowledge and belief structure before receiving and responding to feedback. The hypothesis that knowledge structure accuracy would predict feedback acceptance was supported for multiple measures, while a significant relationship was not found for belief structure. The results of this study support the propositions of multiple theories and lend promise to the practical value of understanding and influencing mental models for employee learning and development.
Open Access
Radical enhancement as a moral status de-enhancer
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Gray, Jesse, author; Gorin, Moti, advisor; MacKenzie, Matthew, committee member; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member
Human enhancement has worried many thinkers. Some have focused on the potential harms that may befall us, should we walk the path of enhancement. One such harm may be that enhancements serve to undermine our unique human dignity. I argue that the concept of human dignity is better replaced by that of moral status. Others have worried that radical enhancements—those enhancements that give us abilities greatly outside our species typical functioning will lead to a new moral status. I argue that the sorts of enhancements we are likely to seek, namely direct mental state control, will give us reason to think the enhanced will have a moral status subordinate to our own. Finally, I argue that despite the radically enhanced not existing, we still have obligations to create them. I call this the competing known identity problem. Assuming some persons will exist in the future, we have reasons to create the best versions of these persons.
Open Access
Recognition without identification (RWI) and the feeling of knowing (FOK): a comparison of retrospective and prospective-based familiarity judgments
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Nomi, Jason S., author; Cleary, Anne M., advisor; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member; Rickey, Dawn, committee member
Recognition without identification (RWI) and the feeling of knowing (FOK) are two memory paradigms that attempt to tap awareness of memory states in the absence of identification of a target. Although both RWI and FOKs have been described using the example of recognizing a face as familiar without recalling who that person is, no empirical evidence has yet demonstrated that they are based on a common underlying mechanism. The presented studies attempted to directly compare RWI and FOK judgments by utilizing a hybrid paradigm containing commonly used RWI and FOK methodologies that differed by a single manipulation of instruction type. The data demonstrated that participants gave significantly different patterns of ratings in the RWI condition than the FOK condition, suggesting different underlying mechanisms of RWI and FOK judgments.
Open Access
Shedding light on grey areas: examining the effect of technology-based collaboration on the learning outcomes of older and younger adults
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Wolfson, Natalie E., author; Kraiger, Kurt, advisor; Beier, Margaret, committee member; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member; Diehl, Manfred, committee member
Given the emergent aging workforce and the rapid rise of technology-based training tools in organizational settings, I designed two studies to gain greater insight into whether or not older learners require computer-based instructional designs that are different from younger adults. Specifically, I conducted two studies to examine the effect of technology-based collaboration on older and younger adults' learning outcomes. In Study 1, older and younger participants completed an online audiovisual training and reviewed training concepts either individually or in a chatroom context with other trainees. Results indicated that, across conditions, older adults performed worse on learning outcomes compared to younger adults and that older adults had a more negative perception of their chatroom experience compared to their younger counterparts. In Study 2, I strengthened the collaborative learning manipulation, re-assessed the relationship between online collaboration and learning across age groups, and investigated turn-taking as a method of facilitating performance during the chatroom discussion. The two main findings for Study 2 were the following: 1) Age and instructional design condition (individual vs. collaboration) interacted to predict transfer performance. Quite surprisingly, younger adults performed similarly in the individual and collaborative conditions while older adults improved their performance in the collaborative condition compared to the individual condition. In effect, collaboration eliminated the performance gap that existed between older and younger adults in the individual condition. 2) Within the collaboration groups, those who engaged in a turn-taking protocol did slightly worse in terms of recall performance compared to those in the free-for-all collaboration condition. These findings speak to the need for age-specific instructional design and suggest that turn-taking might not be a strategy for boosting learning in a chatroom setting.
Open Access
The complexity of the mind: rejecting modularity on the basis of cognitive penetration and cognitive phenomenology
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Hershberger, Joelle, author; MacKenzie, Matthew, advisor; Tropman, Elizabeth, committee member; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member
Historically, cognitive scientists and philosophers have accepted a theory of the mind known as modularity, whereby individual thought processes are completely separate and insulated from one another—meaning that cognitions have no influence on perceptions. However, the recent literature has seen a resurgence in support of a thesis of cognitive penetration, which suggests that cognitions can and do influence perceptions in a way that would be impossible if the mind were modular in the traditional sense. In addition to calling the idea of modularity into question, cognitive penetrability raises some passing concerns for the objectivity of scientific observation, and certain philosophical distinctions such as that between cognition and perception. Along similar lines, the literature has also seen an increase in the exploration of cognitive phenomenology, which similarly calls into question the distinction between cognition and perception and requires a model of the mind which is less clear-cut than the modular view. As such, it seems that given the evidence, one cannot accept either penetrability or cognitive phenomenology without accepting the other, given that they both rest on a similar view of the mind. In addition to calling into question the literal distinction between cognition and perception (though it may remain intact on a conceptual level), a subsection of cognitive phenomenology, known as evaluative phenomenology (the unique phenomenal character of emotions) similarly makes ambiguous the philosophical distinction between reason and emotion. Breaking this dichotomy, as well, makes the possible epistemic consequences of penetrability pale in comparison to those implied by cognitive phenomenology. While this is not an answer to the issues raised by penetrability, it does contextualize the difficulties in a way which opens the system up to a deeper understanding.
Open Access
Undermining learning: the impact of rewards on learning behavior
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Wehe, Hillary, author; Seger, Carol, advisor; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member; Conner, Bradley, committee member; Hoke, Kim, committee member
The undermining effect suggests that external rewards can decrease levels of internal motivation. Research exploring student motivation shows that internally motivated students appear to engage longer and in more challenging tasks compared to students focused on external rewards or performance feedback. The current study tested variables that may decrease susceptibility to motivational undermining for learning behaviors. In all studies, students were assigned to either a reward or non-reward condition and completed a word-learning task followed by a final test. Subjects were given the option to choose to re-study the words at two times during the task—pre- (while reward is still achievable) and post-test (after reward is given and no further extrinsic reward is achievable). Across all studies, an undermining effect was expected: Non-reward subjects would spend a greater amount of time reviewing the words during the post-test interval compared to the reward group. Study 1 directly tested the hypothesis by observing whether or not the reward groups behaved differentially at the pre- and post-test choice. Reward subjects spent significantly less time engaging in the task during the post-test review phase, supporting the presence of the undermining effect (t (1,60)=2.06, p = .02, 1-tailed) but a 2 (group: reward x non-reward) x 2 (study time: pre-test x post-test) repeated measures ANOVA comparing the mean study times for the reward and non-reward subjects’ pre-test study and post-test review time revealed that the interaction between group and study time did not reach significance (F (1,60) = 3.52, p = .065). Study 2 was identical to the first study but with the addition of a surprise, 24-hour delayed memory test to examine whether the extra post-test study had beneficial effects on long-term retrieval. Non-reward subjects were hypothesized to recall more items on a delayed memory test compared to reward subjects due to increased study time. A 2 (group: reward x non-reward) x 2 (study time: pre-test x post-test) repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to compare the mean study times for the reward and non-reward subjects’ pre-test study and post-test review times. The interaction between group and time spent on task was significant (F (1,241) = 4.24, p < .05) but there was not a significant main effect for the between subjects variable of reward on the amount of time spent engaging in the task during the pre- and post-test phases (F (1)= .63, p = .44). A 2 (group: reward vs. non-reward group) x 2 (test performance: immediate x delayed) repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to compare the average accuracy between groups on the delayed memory test. There was not a main effect of group on performance (F (1, 110) = .82, p = .38) and the interaction between reward group and immediate or delayed test was not significant (F (1,156) = .201, p = .65). Study 3 was similar to the first study but subjects were allowed to choose the material they were learning (i.e., Swahili or Lithuanian words). The element of choice was expected to increase the degree of control and internal motivation students experienced and consequently decrease the effect of undermining between the reward and non-reward group. Specifically, study times between the reward and non-reward group were hypothesized to be equal between groups and higher than then a forced choice condition. A 2 (group: reward x non-reward) x 2 (choice: self-determined x forced-choice) x 2 (study time: pre-test x post-test) x 2 (language: Swahili x Lithuanian) repeated measures ANOVA was conducted. The main effect of choice condition was not significant (F (1,60) = .140, p = .71). The main effect of reward was also not significant (F (1,60) = .920, p = .34) but the interaction between choice and reward on time spent on task was significant (F (1,60) =4.11, p < .05). A 2 (group: reward x non-reward) x 2 (choice: self-determined x forced-choice) repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to compare performance on an immediate memory test for the self-determined and forced choice group but the effect was non-significant (F (1,60) = .67, p = .16); in addition, there was not a significant main effect of reward (p =.32) nor was there an interaction (p = .16).
Open Access
Williams on external reasons
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Viney, Marcus Wayne, author; Tropman, Beth, advisor; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member; Losonsky, Michael, committee member
Bernard Williams has argued for the controversial thesis that there are no external reasons for action. External reasons are desire-independent reasons for action, i.e. reasons whose existence does not depend on the desires of an agent. The thrust of Williams' argument is that an agent's reasons for action must always depend on his or her desires. The overall purpose of this thesis is to clarify and critically examine Williams' argument against external reasons. In chapter 1 I formalize and explain Williams' argument step-by-step. In addition to this I confront one prominent objection to the argument's validity, which alleges that it contains an equivocation on the term "reason." I argue that this objection fails and that Williams' argument is valid. In chapter 2 I turn to the soundness of Williams' argument and examine the truth of the premises one by one. In doing this I attempt to uncover important assumptions that underlie Williams' reasoning. I confront several objections to the premises, but I argue that none of them succeed in blocking Williams' conclusion. In the final chapter I consider the wider issues facing Williams' argument. First I confront three objections which allege that Williams' conclusion has certain unacceptable consequences. I draw from Williams' work to exonerate his argument on all three counts. Second I discuss two ways the critic might grant the soundness of Williams' argument, but neutralize the impact of his conclusion. While I defend Williams' argument on nearly every point, my primary aim is not to offer a definitive case for the argument. Rather my aim is simply to show that Williams' argument is stronger than some critics might suppose and that it is worthy of further consideration.