The purpose of this study was to analyze selected art education textbooks to determine if art education majors were receiving exposure to attitude formation and change information as it relates to the teaching of art. This study was limited to textbooks designed for use in art teacher training courses.To initiate the study, university level art educators were asked to identify prominent art education textbooks from Books in Print. A list was compiled of the books collectively identified by the educators which was then further narrowed to seven texts based on number of editions and longevity.The content of each text was analyzed using attitude-related words as recording units to isolate attitude statements or context units. After all seven texts had been analyzed, each text's context units were sorted into statements of definition or statements suggesting action. Statements of definition, which revealed the author's understanding of attitudes, were subdivided into six characteristics of attitudes as identified by Morris and Stuckhardt (1977). Statements suggesting action were sorted into categories related to attitude formation and change as recognized by Berscheid and Walster (1969).Of the seven texts analyzed, five of the seven authors made frequent reference to attitudes and values, yet only one explicitly discussed their relationship to the art classroom. When discussing attitudes, the explicit author did so almost entirely in statements of definition with only 13.6% suggesting ways to nurture positive attitudes in students. The overall assessment of context units revealed that a total of 451 context units were found in the seven texts, of which 69.4% were statements of definition and only 28.4% suggested ways to nurture positive attitudes in the art classroom.With the one limited exception, the authors virtually ignored in their texts the body of attitude research from art education and social psychology. The frequency with which attitude concepts appeared in five of the seven texts suggested that their authors considered them important to art learning, yet no one discussed what they are, where they come from, or how they can be affected in an organized, systematic way.

Attitude control of spacecraft in low Earth orbits can be achieved by exploiting the torques generated by the geomagnetic field. Recent research has demonstrated that attitude stability of a spacecraft is possible using a linear combination of Euler parameters and angular velocity feedback. The research carried out in this thesis implements a hybrid scheme consisting of magnetic control using on-board dipole moments and a three-axis actuation scheme such as reaction wheels and thrusters. A stability analysis is formulated and analyzed using Floquet and Lyapunov stability theorems.

Self-compassion has recently been introduced to Western psychology literature and is defined as a kind, understanding, and nonjudgmental toward oneself (Neff, 2003a). While self-compassion has been conceptualized as a construct that is important to ones overall sense of self, it might also be relevant to more specific self-attitudes, including ones attitude toward the body. Body-related attitudes have received much attention from sport and exercise psychology researchers in kinesiology and it was anticipated that body self-compassion would be relevant to women who exercise, as women often exercise for body-related reasons. The purpose of this study was to explore the meaning of body self-compassion for young adult women who exercise and have experienced a change in their attitude toward their body over time; and to discover the essential structure of the womens experiences. <p>Five women between the ages of 23 and 28 years participated in this study. The women identified themselves as Caucasian and middle-class, were university students, and indicated that they exercised at least four times a week. Each woman participated in an individual interview in which she was asked to describe two instances where she experienced body self-compassion. The womens interviews were analyzed using an empirical phenomenology method (Giorgi, 1985; Giorgi & Giorgi, 2003) to identify the components of the womens stories that were essential to their experience of body self-compassion. A follow-up focus group discussion provided the women with the opportunity to offer feedback on the essential structures. Four essential structures emerged from these interviews: appreciating ones unique body, taking ownership of ones body, engaging in less social comparison, and body self-compassion as a dynamic process. A facilitating structure, the importance of others, also emerged. The findings of this study are generally consistent with Neffs (2003a) conceptualization of self-compassion as they reflect Neffs overall description of self-compassion without merely replicating the three components of self-compassion: self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness. <p>The findings of this study provide support for the exploration of more specific domains of self-compassion, such as the body. This study also makes a significant contribution to the body image literature, which has been criticized for being pathology-oriented and for focusing mainly on appearance-related attitudes (Blood, 2005; Grogan, 2006). This study explored a positive body attitude and highlighted the womens attitudes toward their physical capabilities in addition to their appearance. Further research is needed to develop the body self-compassion construct by exploring the generalizability of the essential structures that emerged in this study to broader populations.

This is an observational study concerning relationships between personality openness and attitudinal openness. 209 volunteers from two samples, participated in this study. The Ohio sample contained data from 36 self-identified feminists (age 18-65) at the Annual National Women Studies Conference in Akron, Ohio, 1990. The Oregon State university (OSU) sample contained data from 173 undergraduates (age 18-52). Personality openness was assessed by the short form of "Openness to experiences" sub-scale from NEO (Neurosis Extraversion Openness) Personality Inventory (Costa and McCrae, 1985); attitudinal openness was assessed by the Feminism scale (Dempewolff, 197 4). The results suggested that the correlation between openness and feminism was significantly positive across all samples. Feminism attitudes were found to be correlated with course selection, gender, and class standings. On the other hand, personality openness was found to be fairly stable regardless of course selection, age, gender, or class standing. The findings are consistent with a personality construct of openness as a stable disposition, and with feminism as an accumulated attitude that is influenced by experiences, beliefs, and values. / Graduation date: 1993

It has been demonstrated that people often feel happier, healthier, and more relaxed after a vacation. However, there is still lack of research on how people perceive the benefits of travel and how these perceptions influence their travel behavior. Thus, the primary purpose of this research was to examine the effects of perceived tourism benefits on travel behavior based on the model of attitude importance. Since existing scales of tourism benefits failed to incorporate some important items or factors, particularly the health benefits of tourism, this dissertation involved three online panel surveys, including: (1) a preliminary study (n=566) to elicit new benefit items, (2) a pilot study (n=434) to trim down the number of items, and (3) a main survey (n=559) to finalize the scale. As a result, several items associated with health benefits were elicited from the preliminary study; in the later stages of scale development, these items were identified and validated as a convergent dimension of perceived health benefits. Further, several hypotheses pertaining to the effect of perceived tourism benefits and the applicability of the attitude-importance model in tourism were tested. The results showed that: (1) the premise of the attitude-importance model that important attitudes can instigate the process of knowledge accumulation was supported; (2) the applicability of the attitude-importance model in tourism was supported; (3) the three factors of perceived tourism benefits – experiential, health, and relaxation benefits, had positive effects on travel behavior through attitude importance. These results had theoretical and practical implications. First, while previous tourism studies on tourists’ information search have tended to incorporate information search behavior in the context of vacation planning, this research demonstrated that the accumulation of product-related knowledge can be on a regular basis. Second, while previous tourism studies have a strong preference for the evaluative features of attitudes, this research demonstrated that attitude importance as a dimension of attitude strength is relevant in tourism. Finally, the experiential, health, and relaxation benefits were shown to have positive effects on travel behavior, which indicates that the tourism industry can encourage people to travel more by convincing them taking vacations is beneficial.

Den ekonomiska och fysiska tillgängligheten av narkotika är idag historiskt hög, vilket bidrar till att narkotikan numera ses som en normalitet i samhället. Denna kvalitativa intervjustudie skildrar hur sex personer, alla med någon form av narkotikabakgrund, upplevt att narkotikan på ett eller annat sätt varit en del i deras liv. Deltagarna ger en bild av människors olika anledningar till att börja, fortsätta och sluta ett narkotikabruk samt beskriver hur attityden hos narkotikabrukare ofta förändras över tid. Resultatet visade att det sociala nöjet samt upplevelsen att bli fri sin inre oro var komponenter som medförde en positiv attityd, medan destruktiva konsekvenser i form av självförstörelse, kontrollförlust och sociala problem var komponenter som resulterade i en negativ attityd. Då den mänskliga attityden är en följd av våra tankar, känslor och handlingsinriktningar kom dessa aspekter att utgöra fokus för studien. Materialet analyserades utifrån en induktiv och deskriptiv ansats genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys.

Plusieurs recherches suggèrent que les attitudes des futurs enseignants du primaire par rapport aux mathématiques ne sont pas des plus positives et qu'une fois que ceux-ci se retrouvent devant la classe, leurs attitudes influencent entre autres leur façon d'enseigner et les attitudes de leurs élèves. Comme la résolution de problèmes est présentement au coeur des programmes de mathématiques et que peu de recherches ont été effectuées sur les attitudes des enseignants et/ou des futurs enseignants quant à leurs attitudes par rapport à cette activité mathématique, nous avons décidé de nous attarder à celles-ci. Nous avons demandé à des étudiants de résoudre des problèmes, tout en répondant à des questionnaires portant sur certains aspects de la résolution de problèmes pour connaître leurs attitudes par rapport à cette activité mathématique ainsi que l'évolution de ces attitudes dans le cadre d'un cours de mathématiques dans lequel la résolution de problèmes est importante. Après l'expérimentation, nous avons examiné les écrits de onze volontaires pour en dégager leurs attitudes affectives, cognitives et sociales par rapport à la résolution de problèmes ainsi que l'évolution de ces attitudes au cours de la session. Nous avons remarqué, entre autres, que les attitudes des futurs enseignants du primaire ne sont pas si négatives que nous le pensions au départ. Par exemple, environ la moitié affirme aimer la résolution de problèmes et certains aiment avoir des défis à relever. Nous retrouvons tout de même certaines conceptions erronées par rapport à la résolution de problèmes, comme l'idée qu'un problème admet toujours plus d'une méthode de résolution. Notre recherche nous a aussi permis de voir que les attitudes peuvent être modifiées, mais ce n'est pas chose facile. Par exemple, plusieurs semblent avoir plus confiance en leurs habiletés à résoudre des problèmes à la fin de la session, mais peu semblent avoir changé d'attitude par rapport à leur appréciation des discussions entre collègues.

La comptabilité sociale et environnementale (CSE) constitue un nouveau défi à relever par le professionnel comptable dans le but de maximiser le bien-être de l'humanité. Ainsi, le professionnel comptable doit défendre la production d'une information qui s'adresse à d'autres parties prenantes que celles qui se sont intéressées traditionnellement à la maximisation du profit. On s'attend à ce qu'il agisse comme catalyseur des changements requis pour permettre à l'entreprise de gérer de manière responsable et de rendre des comptes à l'égard des impacts sociaux et environnementaux de ses activités avec le plus de transparence possible. Or, des études ont montré que le professionnel comptable n'a pas toutes les compétences requises pour assumer un tel rôle (Bebbington et al, 1994; Wilmshurst & Frost, 2001). La CSE constitue pour le professionnel comptable un nouveau champ d'expertise, qui se traduit par des activités pour lesquelles il doit adapter ses propres connaissances aux exigences de la situation à laquelle il est confronté et aux caractéristiques qu'il décode lui-même sur l'objet à apprendre. Notre objectif est donc d'enquêter sur l'implication du professionnel comptable dans des situations professionnelles à caractère environnemental (variable implication), sur les ressources auxquelles il a recours pour construire une compétence dans le domaine de la CSE (variable formation), sur son habileté à mobiliser des ressources sociales, c'est-à-dire ses partenaires en matière de CSE (profession comptable, entreprise, État), sur la représentation qu'il se fait de ses partenaires (variable attitude), et enfin sur l'effet de son interaction avec l'objet environnemental sur la manière dont il se définit et se représente son rôle comme professionnel (variable attitude). Nos résultats permettent de constater que le professionnel comptable s'implique faiblement dans les activités reliées à la comptabilité environnementale. Ce manque d'implication peut s'expliquer par le faible recours aux ressources permettant au professionnel comptable de développer une expertise environnementale qui pourrait l'aider à faire face à la problématique environnementale. Malgré sa volonté de s'impliquer dans la problématique environnementale, il n'a pas les ressources (compétences, expertise, formation) nécessaires pour mettre en action cette volonté (soit une pleine implication dans les activités reliées à la comptabilité environnementale). Une législation adéquate, obligeant les entreprises à tenir compte des considérations environnementales, pourrait inciter le professionnel comptable à bien s'adapter à la problématique environnementale. De plus, une implication plus importante des ordres professionnels comptables à la consolidation des compétences et des connaissances du professionnel, de manière à le préparer à s'impliquer pleinement dans les activités reliées à la comptabilité environnementale à partir notamment de l'intégration d'une formation spécialisée sur le sujet environnemental, pourrait favoriser une plus grande implication de sa part.

Although explicit attitudes have traditionally been used in predictive models of health behaviour, recent theorizing suggests that implicit attitudes might be more useful in predicting socially undesirable or addictive behaviours. In Studies 1 through 3, smokers’ explicit and implicit attitudes were examined to compare the predictive utility of each. Results confirmed that implicit attitudes are better at predicting impulse-driven behaviours, such as smoking consumption. Consequently, implicit attitudes also predict whether a quit attempt will be successful. In contrast, explicit attitudes are better at predicting deliberative outcomes, such as having intentions to quit, and making planned quit attempts. Extending these findings, in Studies 4 and 5, the effectiveness of a novel affirmation intervention designed to break the association between smoking and stress-reduction is evaluated. Preliminary results demonstrate that an affirmation intervention designed to break the smokers’ reliance on smoking as a means of coping with stress can have beneficial and sustainable effects in cessation outcomes. The impact on smokers’ implicit attitudes as a possible mediating role is discussed. Implications for more effective health interventions are also discussed.

The theme of this essay is literacy training in pre-school. The theme takes it starting point in a project, where my colleagues and I noticed our children playing with writing and symbols. It leads to an exciting, reflecting and developing project, a project that will go on for six months together with twenty children in the age of five and six. The essay describes how I and the rest of the staff work with the project, and also how we try to find challenges that are meaningful for our children. When we worked with the project I ended up in a dilemma how I as a teacher was to retain the children’s joy and curiosity for writing without making it boring. How shall I as a teacher behave in this matter? Is there any right or wrong here? The research authorities in this field agree on a number of things: They agree about the importance of literacy training in pre-school. The learning should be playful in a meaningful context. The scientists also agree that self-esteem is important for the children when they are writing. If the pre-school works with self-esteem in different ways, and also with a positive reinforcement combined with an inspiring environment, this can prevent difficulties in school with writing and reading. But literacy training in pre-school seems difficulties according the scientists, which I illustrate in my essay. The essay also describes three girls writing in different ways according to the theories of the scientists. I describe literacy training and also place high emphasis on the influence of the pre-school environment. I also place emphasis on the importance of the knowledge and the pedagogical approach of the teacher.