Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Gershon Tenenbaum, Florida State University, College of Education, Dept. of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 15, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2004. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 202-208). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of West Florida, 2009. / Submitted to the Dept. of Psychology. Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 58 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-90).

Three of the major controversial issues in the field of intellectual styles are: 1) whether or not styles can be changed; 2) whether or not styles are value-laden; 3) whether styles are distinct from or they are part of personality traits. The main purpose of this research was to address these three issues by 1) exploring the socialization process of students’ thinking styles through tracing the change of thinking styles over one year and examining the competing influence of students’ perceived parenting styles, perceived learning environment, and personality traits on their thinking styles; and 2) exploring the role of thinking styles in students developmental outcomes with regard to career decision self-efficacy and subjective well-being. The research adopted a quantitatively-driven mixed method design and it involved three phases: the pilot study (a quantitative study), the main study (a longitudinal, quantitative study), and the follow-up study (a qualitative study). The pilot study validated a series of inventories that were subsequently utilized in the main study and preliminarily explored the relevant relationships among three hundred and forty-one Chinese university students from Shanghai, mainland China. In the main study, nine hundred and twenty-six students from the same university responded to a questionnaire consisting of the modified inventories and some demographic information at the beginning of an academic year. One year later, they responded to the same questionnaire again. After that, based on the results of the main study, 29 students were selected to participate in a follow up study that involved individual face-to-face interviews. Results of the main study generally supported the research hypotheses. With regard to the malleability of thinking styles, the research found that students’ thinking styles changed over one year and the change of thinking styles can be at least partially attributed to the two environmental factors (i.e., parenting styles and learning environments). These findings suggest that, albeit relatively stable, thinking styles can be socialized/changed. With regard to the role of thinking styles in student development, results indicated that mainly Type I thinking styles (characterized by creativity, nonconformity, and autonomy) positively contributed to students’ career decision self-efficacy and subjective well-being. Furthermore, Type I thinking styles were also major mediators in the relationships of parenting styles and learning environments to career decision self-efficacy and subjective well-being. These findings suggest that thinking styles are value-laden, with Type I thinking styles being more adaptive than other styles. With regard to the relationship between personality and thinking styles, results indicated that thinking styles and personality traits overlapped with each other to limited extents and both of them made unique contributions to student development. Moreover, thinking styles were more malleable than personality traits. These findings suggest that styles are distinct from rather than subordinate to personality traits. Results from the follow-up interview study further confirmed the results of the main study and provided explanatory information on how the identified relationships happened. Generally speaking, the present research has both theoretical and practical implications. It significantly contributes to the discussion on the aforementioned major controversial issues in the field of styles. Furthermore, based on the research findings, specific suggestions on how to optimize the development of students’ thinking styles are provided for parents, teachers, and university administrators. Finally, the limitations of this research and the recommendation for future studies are discussed. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Self-efficacy and causal attributions have been suggested as potential predictors of academic achievement and motivation. The few studies that have looked at the relationship between these constructs have been conducted in Western cultures. The purpose of this study was to explore self-efficacy and attributional differences between under-achieving and high-achieving Korean students in reading. Self-efficacy and causal attributions were examined in the framework of learned helplessness with 55 sixth grade Korean students. The students' self-efficacy scores in reading and persistence time on a non-academic task were analyzed using a two-way analysis of variance procedure. Students' attributional responses were analyzed using the qualitative methods. Significant differences were found between under-achieving and high-achieving students for self-efficacy and persistence time. Results revealed a positive relationship between level of achievement and self-efficacy scores in reading, and level of achievement and persistence time. Students' attributional response for their failure on the non-academic task indicated task difficulty as the primary attributional factor. No significant indices of personal learned helplessness were observed. The research findings were discussed in terms of the application of the self-efficacy and causal attribution theories cross-culturally, educational practices, and implications for future research.

Even though pain is common and often chronic in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), the management of pain is complicated and frequently woefully inadequate. Many factors influence the way PLWHA experience and communicate their pain. These factors can be categorized as both physiological and emotional. PLWHA often resort to self-care activities to control their pain because of the pervasive lack of adequate pain management by health care providers. The purposes of this study were to increase understanding of the pain management experiences in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) who report chronic pain and to elucidate the factors that influence this experience. Recruitment was conducted at 3 locations in Central Texas, USA; serving over 3,000 clients/year. A cross-sectional descriptive design and open-ended questions were used to explore PLWHA experiences in reporting chronic pain needs for at least 3 months and to describe pain management choices (self-care and/or seeking care activities) and communication with health care providers. Variables of interest were assessed with paper-pencil surveys (HIV-Self Efficacy Questionnaire, Coping Inventory for Pain in Persons Living with HIV/AIDS and Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire) and open-ended questions. Interviews ranged from 7-35 minutes each. One hundred PLWHA participated in the study, 53% African-American, 21% Hispanic and 25% Caucasian. They were primarily male (66%), 34% female, reported a mean age of 48 years and a mean of 13 years living with HIV. 83% of the participants rated their pain as consistently moderate to high levels; 82% rated they are likely to “tolerate the pain.” A majority of the participants (63%) reported they exercise or walk as a way of self-managing their pain. There was a significant association between use of pain management choices (self-care and/or seeking care activities) and confidence in performing life activities (r= 0.344, p<0.05). These findings indicate a need for health care providers to move beyond quantitative measures for this complex problem. Clinicians can use this information to understand the coping strategies used by PLWHA to manage pain. Future implications will be to develop appropriate pain management approaches (behavioral and pharmacological) for health care providers to improve control of chronic pain in PLWHA. Longitudinal studies are needed to explore the causative relationships between pain management choices (self-care and/or seeking care activities) and functional outcomes in PLWHA. / text

The development of work self-efficacy in people with life-long physical disabilities was investigated using qualitative methods. A series of three semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of three participants between the ages of 23 and 44. Research participants included two males with cerebral palsy and a female with rheumatoid arthritis. Developmental comparisons were made between the two participants that grew up expecting to go to work as adults and the one participant who did not. All of the participants were working at the time of the interviews. Each of the semi-structured interviews focused on a separate topic: (1) the childhood developmental events that contributed to their becoming adult workers, (2) how these events contributed to their work self-efficacy, and (3) how they described their work self-efficacy. Qualitative analysis of the interview data was guided by Bandura's (1997) social cognitive theory and Lent and Brown's (1996) social cognitive career theory. Results indicate that the mastery experiences of performing household chores, vicarious learning acquired by having working parents as role models, and verbal persuasion in the form of parental encouragement and teacher support all contributed positively to the participants' sense of work self-efficacy. The most common inhibitors of work self-efficacy were parental overprotection, negative school experiences related to being placed in special education, and having people with disabilities as poor role models for working. How the participants cognitively processed developmental experiences also played a role in work self-efficacy development, as they each described actively resisting inhibiting events and readily accepting positive events. A model of work self-efficacy development is proposed that shows that children with disabilities need support for their future work goals in order for the formation of outcome expectations of working as adults. Finally, 12 characteristics of work self-efficacy were identified in the areas of work cognitions (intrinsic rewards, self-confidence, service-orientation, and job-specific knowledge), work behaviors (maintaining a schedule, possessing the physical ability to do essential tasks, possessing required job skills, and ability to meet job performance requirements), and socio-environmental supports (social support from family and loved ones, customer or client positive feedback, coworker support, and supervisor support).

The purpose of this research is to see if people’s motivation can be developed by the practice of the method focusing. The motivational constructs used to reflect the participants sense of motivation is; autonomy and competence. Autonomy is in this study derived from the theory of self-determination and is concerned with the participant’s degree of expressing their personal or autonomous desires, choices and goals (Skinner &amp; Edge, 2002). Competence is in this study, a construct derived from Self-efficacy theory, and is concerned with the participants’ degree of using their capabilities effectively (Bandura, 1997). I have used qualitative methods; more specifically I have been inspired by phenomenology, to explore the common essences of the effects of focusing on their sense of motivation. I have interviewed three participants which have at least completed two levels of focusing. They are thus considered familiar with the essence of focusing, which practically means spending time or listening to a bodily felt issue, experience or problem (Gendlin, 1996). The raw data were analyzed by using a phenomenological reduction which resulted in four themes. The three themes that caught the essence of their experience of motivation were; “I focus on what I can do in my career,” “I am clearer about me in relationship with other people,” and “I want to do this.” The degree of their motivation was discussed with literature from Albert Bandura (1997, 2001), Edvard Deci and Richard Ryan (1985, 2002). The final theme representing their experience of focusing; “I can read what is going on,” was used together with relevant literature from Eugene Gendlin (1996, 2003) to gauge the effect of focusing, on the participants’ sense of motivation. The Findings in this study indicate that there is a positive effect from the practice of focusing on the participants’ motivation. The participants seem to use their competence and autonomy better. Focusing seem to contribute in terms of; higher levels of self-aiding thoughts and feelings, a stronger inward relationship and a stronger control in terms of overcoming negative states and perceived challenges. The participants seem more inclined to  act from personal or autonomous desires and goals and to use relevant competence effectively in social and occupational settings.

Companies, also financial institutions, realign, redesign, restructure and downsize on an ongoing basis, increasing tension in employees to survive in the work environment. Besides coping with the impact of recessions and layoffs, employees also have to cope with increased workloads and the pressures of modem life. Employment is not only a means of financial viability, but also defines individuals' identities. Job loss - or even the threat of it - can be psychologically devastating and may influence the psychological well-being of employees. This may impact their perceived job satisfaction as well. The current trend within organisations is to move towards a model that focuses on strengths, where individuals take charge of their own lives and have effective working conditions where they successfully cope and perform optimally. The objective of this research was to determine the relationship between psychological wellbeing (i.e. self-efficacy, positive and negative affect, and sense of coherence) and job satisfaction of employees in a financial institution. The research method for this article consisted of a brief literature review and an empirical study using a cross-sectional survey design to collect data. An availability sample (N = 117) was taken from employees from different levels in a financial institution. The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), Generalised Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), Affectometer 2 (AFM), Orientation to Life Questionnaire (OLQ) and a Biographical questionnaire were administered. The statistical analysis was carried out with the help of the SPSS-programme. The statistical methods utilised in the article consisted of descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha coefficients, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients, Regression analysis and Manovas. The results showed acceptable internal consistencies for all the constructs. Product-moment correlation coefficients showed significant positive correlations between self-efficacy, positive affect, sense of coherence and job satisfaction and significantly negative correlations between negative affect, self-efficacy, positive affect and sense of coherence. Self-efficacy, positive and negative affect, and sense of coherence predicted 19% of the variance in job satisfaction with sense of coherence the only significant predictor of Job Satisfaction. No differences in terms of biographical characteristics in the experience of self-efficacy, positive affect, negative affect, sense of coherence and job satisfaction could be found. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.