Diversity in Perception of Alternatives as Related to Selected Aptitude and Background Factors

• Main Author: Lott, Jane Agaya
• Format: Others
• Published: DigitalCommons@USU 1968
• Subjects: Aptitude; Background; Factors; Economics
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/2239; https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3241&context=etd

The relationship between breadth of perspective, defined as the range of alternative solutions that one is able to bring to mind whn presented with a problem, and selected aptitude and background factors was studied. Scholastic aptitude was the chosen aptitude factor. The background fac tors chosen were: (1) size of home town; (2) number of towns lived in; (3) number of children in the family of origin; (4) the subject ' s perception of his travel experience; (5) number of books read during the past year; and (6) number of friends of other nationalities. The sample consisted of 130 female students from five selected classes in the College of Family Life at Utah State University during the 1967 - 68 school year The instruments used were: (l) a background questionnaire; (2) scholastic aptitude, as measured by the students' ACT scores; and (3) Warshay's three unfamiliar problem situations . The statistical t es t used was the Independent x2 t es t of significance. No significant relationship was found between the number of alterna tives perceived and scholastic aptitude, size of home town, number of towns lived in, number of children in the family of origin, or number of books read during the past year. Perception of alternatives was related to the subject's perception of his travel experience at the .05 level and to number of friends of other nationalities at the .10 level .