Date of Award
6-2010
Document Type
Union College Only
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Stephen Romero
Language
English
Keywords
practice, participants, imagined, optimistic, pessimistic
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate how one’s degree of optimism or pessimism affects the cognitive and motor aspects of explicit and implicit learning. Optimistic and pessimistic participants were assigned to either a physical practice or imagined practice conditions with a digit data entry task on a computer. It was anticipated that optimistic participants would do better on an immediate typing test and tests of explicit and implicit memory for the numbers they typed during practice compared to pessimistic participants. Specifically, the participants expected to do the best on the tests following practice were those who were optimistic and used imagined practice. Those expected to do the worst were the participants who were pessimistic and used imagined practice. Significant interactions were found between the optimism/pessimism continuum and the physical/imagined practice conditions.
Recommended Citation
Goodman, Diana S., "The effect of optimism and imagined or physical practice on learning" (2010). Honors Theses. 1139.
https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/1139