University students' smartphone usage in academic settings is commonplace. In this dissertation, I aim to explore different sides of smartphone usage among university students to address the gap in prior research and reach more accurate findings. I utilized various research methodologies to examine the research objective. I started by observing…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe university students' motivations for using Facebook as an informal learning tool and explore the key barriers that may inhibit learning on the social media platform. Design/methodology/approach: A case study approach was adopted in this study. Participants were 82 university students who…

The minimal control principle (Taatgen, 2007) predicts that people strive for problem-solving strategies that require as few internal control states as possible. In an experiment with the Abstract Decision Making task (ADM task; Joslyn & Hunt, 1998) the reward structure was manipulated to make either a low-control strategy or a high-strategy…

This study examined a model in which the need for reassurance from others and the capacity for self-reinforcement mediated the relationships between two dimensions of perfectionism (evaluative concerns [EC] perfectionism and personal standards [PS] perfectionism) and anxiety and depression. Results from structural equation modeling of data from…

This article examines the nonachievement syndrome. It attempts to illuminate and capture the struggles that one individual experienced as he learned to take initiative in determining the direction of his life. This process of change is conveyed in a series of poems that the client wrote. (Author)

Two studies involving college students examined mechanisms responsible for observed self-reinforcement effects. Results seemed to support the view that self-reinforcement procedures work by setting a socially available standard against which performance can be evaluated. (CL)

Assessed the motivational effects of criterion-setting in self-reinforcement and compared the effects of external criteria with self-imposed criteria and self-presented rewards in undergraduates (N=180). Results indicated that criterion-setting and rewards are both important components of self-reinforcement procedures; and self-imposed criteria…

Educators are becoming increasingly concerned with social psychological variables affecting classroom behavior. This study attempts to determine if the achievement attribution model is supported in an actual classroom setting with college students actually taking an important exam. Participants were 35 volunteers from an introductory social…

Five studies are reported which examine the free vs. earned reward phenomenon in humans. The 420 subjects were distributed over all grade levels from preschool through college. Candies and coins were used as rewards. In preschool through sixth grade groups, black, as well as white subjects and experimenters were used. The California Psychological…

The relative efficacy of training in self-monitoring, self-reward, and planning as aids to self-control was examined. Subjects received training in a standard study method and received degrees of training in self-control. The group that received training in self-monitoring, self-reward, and planning strategies significantly outperformed other…

College students, 48 males and 48 females, were interviewed about attempts to self-control overeating, smoking, studying, or dating. Results indicated successful self-controllers used more techniques for longer periods of time, use of self-reinforcement procedures was an important discriminant of successful self-management, and methods varied…

Attribution theorists have argued that if an intrinsically motivated activity is extrinsically reinforced, the activity will be devalued and extinguished when the reward is removed. Hypothesizing that activities performed for their instrumental outcome are valued less than activities not so externally oriented, and that activities performed for…

Although the behavioral element of the Type A pattern has been identified, the cognitive component of the complex is less well understood. To examine the relationships of self-focused attention, standards for performance, and performance evaluation to Type A behavior, 72 undergraduates were studied. Subjects were classified as Type A (N=36) or…