Browsing by Subject "Developmental psychology"

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    The effect of functional fixation in problem solving among preschool, second grade, and ninth grade children
    (2014-12) Nehring, Michael Kenneth
    Functional fixedness is a cognitive function whereby an individual becomes fixated on a given function of an object, which prevents the individual from using the object in an alternative fashion to solve a problem (Duncker, 1935/1945). The current study analyzed the effect of functional fixedness on 36 children from three different age groups, preschool, second grade, and ninth grade. The children were presented with a problem solving activity based on a problem used by German and Defeyter (2000), in which they concluded that young children are immune to the effects of functional fixedness. Research conducted by Chrysikou (2006) indicated using an alternative categorization task could reduce the effects of fixation. The current research sought to answer three research question: are children susceptible to the effects of functional fixedness; are there differences in the effect of functional fixedness based on age; and does participating in an alternative categorization task reduce the effect of functional fixedness. The results indicated that children are susceptible to the effects of functional fixedness, when the children use the target object in a typical preutilization function, regardless of age. The results also did not demonstrate a reduction in the effect of functional fixedness after participating in an alternative categorization task.
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    Extending the developmental and behavior genetic literature of psychopathy from a personality-based approach: continuity and change from adolescence to adulthood and gene-environment interplay
    (2008-08) Blonigen, Daniel Michael
    Objective: In two studies, this dissertation investigated the development and etiology of psychopathy from a personality-based approach. Study one examined patterns of continuity and change in psychopathic traits of Fearless Dominance (FD) and Impulsive Antisociality (IA) from late adolescence to early adulthood. Study two tested models of gene-environment interplay between psychopathic traits and deviant peer affiliation (DPA) in late adolescence. Method: Both studies used a community sample of male and female twins from the Minnesota Twin-Family Study (MTFS). Utilizing the older cohort of the MTFS, study one examined rank-order, mean- and individual-level change in self-reported FD and IA, measured via the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; Tellegen, in press), at ages 17 and 24. In addition, study one employed longitudinal-biometric models to decompose stable and unique sources of variance across time into genetic and environmental contributions. Study two used twins from both the younger and older MTFS cohorts at the age 17 assessments to explore whether genetic and environmental sources of variance in FD and IA are moderated by DPA. Results: FD and IA exhibited comparable rank-order stability yet divergent patterns of mean- and individual-level change. Biometric analyses observed greater genetic variance for stability and greater nonshared environmental variance for change over time. Biometric moderation was suggested for men with declining genetic effects for IA in the context of significant genetic correlations with DPA for both FD and IA. In women, nonshared environmental effects increased as a function of DPA in FD and IA. Conclusions: The results extend the growing body of developmental and behavior genetic research on psychopathy from a personality-based conceptualization.