Date of Award:

1975

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Psychology

Advisor/Chair:

Elwin Nielson

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of experimenter

status and subject dogmatism on anagram solving. The subjects were

90 college students. Only those subjects scoring in the upper or lower

thirds on the Dogmatism Scale were utilized. The same experimenter was

described as being of either high or low status in each class. In the

low status condition, the experimenter was introduced as a student making

up an incomplete, while in the high-status condition, the experimenter was

introduced as a Doctoral student doing research for a Federal Grant Agency.

Therefore, four experimental groups were formed in relation to two different

levels of dogmatism and two different statuses for the experimenter.

A two-way analysis of variance with one covariate {Composite ACT scores

to account for intellectual functioning) was computed using subject dogmatism

and experimenter status as the independent variables and anagram

performance as the dependent variable. It was found that neither the main

affects of subject dogmatism and experimenter status, nor the interaction

between the two variables were significant. Analysis of a questionnaire

designed to evaluate the status manipulation indicated that the manipulation

had not been effective. The problem of devising an effective status manipulation for a female experimenter was discussed in relation to future

research.

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