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ACQUISITION OF BRAINSTORMING BEHAVIOR: DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTS OF MODEL STATUS AND SYMBOLIC INSTRUCTIONAL, EXEMPLARY, AND COGNITIVE MODELS
Abstract
The effects of model status and of variant modeling cues provided by instructional, exemplary, and cognitive models on brainstorming behavior were investigated. Subjects were 136 college undergraduate women randomly assigned to one of eight experimental conditions. Subjects received one of the following treatments, which were presented in a symbolic (written) form: brainstorming instructions (instructional model), a list of solutions to a problem situation (exemplary model), the thought processes of an individual generating solutions to the problem (cognitive model), or written passages irrelevant to the solution of the problem (control group). Half of the subjects were informed that the material was part of a presentation given by a Ph.D. consultant in education (high status model), and half were informed that it was given by a fourth year undergraduate student in education (peer status model). Subsequent to exposure to the experimental treatment, subjects were asked to generate solutions to a problem similar to but not identical with that purportedly confronted by the model. A follow-up questionnaire was administered to assess subjects' recall of materials presented and their perceptions of the model in terms of effectiveness, helpfulness, and level of expertise. The following hypotheses were formulated: (1) Subjects receiving the instructional, exemplary, or cognitive models would emit significantly more solutions than the control group on the posttreatment task. (2) There would be significant differences among the experimental modeling groups as follows: Cognitive model > exemplary model > instructional model. (3) Subjects exposed to the Ph.D. model would generate significantly more solutions than those exposed to a peer model. Results indicated that subjects in the instructional, exemplary, and cognitive model conditions generated significantly more solutions than the control group, and that subjects in the Ph.D. model group produced more solutions than subjects who received the peer model. However, no statistically significant differences were found between the instructional, exemplary, and cognitive models. Results supported earlier assertations that modeling procedures are a potent source of social influence in the learning of abstract classes of behavior, and that status of the model is an important factor in response acquisition. Findings failed to corroborate the thesis that implicit information cues (as furnished by exemplary and cognitive models) which allow subjects to discern rules and regularities for behavior, would result in higher levels of learning than instructions which provide subjects with guidelines for behavior. However, subjects' responses to the follow-up questionnaire suggested that the exemplary and cognitive models were perceived as more helpful and effective than the instructional and irrelevant models. This observed trend in the data supported the notion that a more sustained or intensive treatment procedure, such as that provided by extended or multiple models, might produce significant effects in the predicted direction for the experimental modeling groups. Implications are that modeling can exert some impact on the behavior of observers on a practical problem solving task and that the model should maximize the representation of his/her training and background to facilitate the transmission of problem solving skills. Future investigations may attend to the design of specific modeling procedures to aid individuals in approaching practical problems adaptively.
Subject Area
Educational psychology
Recommended Citation
REVELS, OI HING, "ACQUISITION OF BRAINSTORMING BEHAVIOR: DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTS OF MODEL STATUS AND SYMBOLIC INSTRUCTIONAL, EXEMPLARY, AND COGNITIVE MODELS" (1980). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8100774.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8100774