In the light of inconclusive evidence regarding the comprehension of idioms by children with semantic-pragmatic difficulties, this study aimed to investigate the extent to which difficulty with idiom comprehension was characteristic of a group of primary school children considered to have semantic-pragmatic difficulties. It further aimed to explore whether such difficulty constitutes a valid means of discriminating children diagnosed as having "semantic-pragmatic disorder", Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism, from children considered to have language disorders not primarily of a semantic and/or pragmatic type. It also compared these two groups with normallydeveloping children aged 6; 6 to 7; 6 or 10; 6 to 11; 6. In view of the limitations of available procedures for assessing idiom comprehension in children with semantic-pragmatic difficulties, a new play-based methodology was developed for this study. Supplementary information was obtained from an additional definition task and from a symptom checklist. The results indicate that the children with semantic-pragmatic difficulties did, as a group, demonstrate significantly fewer appropriate idiomatic interpretations and significantly more inappropriate interpretations than did any of the other three groups. However, the higher level of inappropriate scores reflected a larger number of "fuzzy" responses rather than significantly higher rates of literality. Despite relative weakness, the children with semantic-pragmatic difficulties displayed appropriate interpretations considerably more often than they evidenced inappropriate ones. Within-group analysis reveals that the children diagnosed with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism performed less well than did those diagnosed with "semantic-pragmatic disorder". Nevertheless, both of these subgroups encompassed a considerable range of comprehension ability. This variation appears to reflect essential differences in the critical semantic and pragmatic skills underpinning idiom comprehension. In combination with definition task data and broader knowledge of particular children, the play task may be used to identify the sites and sources of idiom comprehension breakdown in individual children.

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Flow has been described as a state of cognitive efficiency and intrinsic enjoyment, whereby a person feels at one with the activity. The existence of an autotelic personality’, an inter-individual difference dimension characterised by the propensity with which a person experiences flow, has been proposed, but the construct has proven to be relatively elusive. The overall aim of this PhD dissertation was to advance flow theory, and in particular enhance the knowledge of individual differences in flow experiences by the investigation of a new construct, flow metacognitions. Flow metacognitions were defined as people’s metacognitive knowledge and beliefs on flow as a state of optimal cognitive functioning. Building upon the concepts of adaptive and maladaptive metacognitions (Beer & Moneta, 2010; Wells, 2000) that were found to impact self-regulation efforts during demanding situations, it was postulated that people would also hold metacognitions on flow, a cognitive state of deep absorption usually elicited by a demanding activity. However, to date, flow metacognitions had not been defined, measured, or tested for their relevance in the context of flow experiences (or in other contexts of optimal experience). This dissertation presents four studies that were conducted to identify flow metacognitions, comprising the development and validation of a self-report questionnaire to measure them validly and reliably, as well as the examination of the scientific relevance of the operationalised constructs. Preliminary instances of potential flow metacognitions were identified in qualitative analyses, whereby the qualitative content of Flow Questionnaires (FQ, Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi, 1988) administered to a sample of 371 workers was analysed. In addition, semi-structured interviews with 12 workers were held about their experiences of flow in work (Study 1, Chapter 2). From these analyses, two broad metacognitions emerged: people’s beliefs in the ‘usefulness’ of being in flow, and individual differences in their beliefs and confidence in the self-regulation of flow experiences. Based on the metacognitive constructs identified in the qualitative analyses, a 53-item pilot Flow Metacognitions Questionnaire (FMQ) was developed and tested on a sample of 204 UK students. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a two-component solution, with item reduction procedures leading to a 12-item scale. Subsequent principal component analysis on the same sample confirmed that the 12 items loaded onto two main components: Beliefs that Flow Fosters Achievement (FMQ-1) and Confidence in Ability to Self-Regulate Flow (FMQ-2). The subscales explained a total of 52.4% of the variance; 28.3% for FMQ-1; and 24.1% for FMQ-2 (Study 2, Chapter 4). Confirmatory factor analysis performed on the data of a sample of 159 workers supported the two subscales of the final 12-item FMQ. After gathering evidence of the construct validity, the FMQ was used to test the impact of flow metacognitions on the frequency (measured by the FQ), and the intensity of people’s flow experiences, as measured by three well-established flow scales (the Short Dispositional Flow Scale-2, Jackson, Martin, & Eklund, 2008; the Flow Short Scale; Rheinberg, Vollmeyer, & Engeser, 2003; and the Short Flow in Work Scale, Moneta, 2012a). Flow was measured as a general disposition in the context of work. Analyses controlled for maladaptive metacognitions (MetaCognitions Questionnaire, Wells & Cartwright-Hatton, 2004), and adaptive metacognitions (Positive Metacognitions and Meta-Emotions Questionnaire, Beer & Moneta, 2010). Confidence in Ability to Self-Regulate Flow (FMQ-2) was found to be a significant predictor of the intensity and frequency of flow experiences in work, and outperformed established measures of flow, adaptive, and maladaptive metacognition. The results indicated a positive relationship between people’s confidence in self-regulating flow experiences and work-flow. Interestingly, people’s beliefs about the positive consequences of flow in terms of achievement did not predict flow in work (Study 3, Chapter 5). These findings supported the predictive and concurrent validity of the FMQ-2. Building upon these correlational findings, a longitudinal study was conducted in order to identify potential causal mechanisms between flow metacognitions and flow at work. A sample of 101 professionals took part in a two-wave longitudinal study by completing the FMQ and the three flow scales used in Study 3, measuring the experience of flow as a domain specific trait in the context of work. A series of structural equation models (SEM) supported a longitudinal causal relationship between FMQ-2 and flow. For FMQ-1, this relationship was not found (Study 4, Chapter 6). Overall, the findings from the four studies conducted in this dissertation indicate that the FMQ-2 could be conceptualised as an antecedent of flow and a marker of the autotelic personality, because it was found to causally influence people’s experience of flow in the work context. The dissertation concludes with an outline of its limitations as well as an outlook for future research. In particular, avenues for gaining a more in-depth understanding of the underlying processes with which flow metacognitions might influence the experience of flow, e.g. by investigating moment-to-moment variations of flow as a state, are given. It is believed that this PhD dissertation has met its aims by having identified a new and important construct that was found to be positively associated with flow as well as adaptive metacognitions. Furthermore, it has provided a starting point for future programmes of research – both in terms of flow and adaptive metacognitions, as well as applications in achievement contexts, in particular work environments.

This study set out to explore the development of a professional identity in trainee Counselling Psychologists in the United Kingdom. Professional identity development involves the acquisition of attitudes, values, knowledge and skills pertaining to the profession (Page, 2005), as well as the acquirement of new role behaviours and new views of the self (McElhinney, 2008). Bucher and Stelling (1977) argued that the basic foundation of a professional identity is constructed during the professional training period when the individual undergoes an initial socialisation to the profession. Yet, research exploring professional identity development in trainee Counselling Psychologists in the UK is limited. Adopting a constructivist grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006), this research expected to identify and understand which factors aid and inhibit professional identity development in trainee Counselling Psychologists. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore how nine trainee Counselling Psychologists from a selection of universities and training stages experienced the development of their professional identity. Four interconnected concepts were identified as influential in professional identity development: process, competing/selling, character and subjugating. The results indicated that professional identity development involves attaining a sense of authority, competence, responsibility and autonomy in the professional role through engagement with self, others and the wider contexts of the training. Role ambiguity and role conflict were found to impede the trainee’s identification with the professional role. It appears that the process of developing a professional identity includes a willingness to negotiate tensions between the subjective and the objective, engage with a multitude of demands, and that the development of a professional identity occurs throughout the training. The findings were discussed, with particular consideration to how trainee Counselling Psychologists can be facilitated in their development of a professional identity.

There is much controversy about the value that psychoanalytic theory can add to the study of organisational behaviour, which goes beyond the rational and technological explanations offered by orthodox management perspectives. A key tenet of psychoanalytic theory is that mental processes that are "hidden" and operate at an "unconscious" level can impact employee behaviour, outside of their awareness (Kets de Vries, 2009). (In this thesis such processes are referred to as "below-the-surface" motivation.) Given the value of this knowledge to organisational leaders, it is surprising that so little is known about the potential impact of "below-the-surface" motivation on employee attitude, engagement and performance. This four-study thesis investigates the role of "below-the-surface" motivation in employees' "propensity to resist change", "avoid conflict" and "show less commitment to the organisation", which are implicit processes referred to in this thesis as "below-the-surface" motivation. It does so firstly by describing the researcher’s positioning and philosophical approach, and the theoretical and practical objectives of the thesis. The researcher was guided by the belief that organisations exist as concrete entities, which prompt employees to react to them in psychological ways (Durkheim, 1895). Having adopted a combination of positivist and post-positivist approaches, the process of "operationalising" was used in an attempt to measure "below-the-surface" motivation in a standardised way (Arnaud, 2012). Opportunity sampling was used to select participants from three public-sector organisations in the UK and the Middle East region. Study 1 reviewed two psychoanalytic-informed coaching methods and found evidence of their usefulness for improving self-awareness of implicit processes, and for working/consulting at a "below-the-surface" level. Study 2 examined the relationships between employees' use of "immature psychological defence mechanisms" and their propensity to resist organisational change, finding evidence that employees' level of "core self-evaluation" played a mediating role in this. Study 3 found evidence to suggest that adopting a systems-psychodynamic coaching approach was useful for helping leaders from the Middle East region to develop awareness of their conflict avoidance behaviour. Study 4 applied Winnicott's (1952) "good-enough" care theory and found evidence to suggest that it could further understanding of the relationship between employees' perception of organisational support (POS) and affective commitment (AC) in the context of organisational change. The thesis concludes with a reflective account of the overall findings, which suggest that "below-the-surface" motivation can impact employee behaviour in the workplace. The implications of these findings for the occupational psychology community are that psychoanalysis can offer an alternative and critical perspective of organisational behaviour, which has wide explanatory power. Reflective and reflexive statements are offered throughout to highlight some of the challenges that the researcher encountered during this doctoral journey. For example, despite the philosophical choices made, due to the researcher’s involvement in the process, at first it was a struggle to "step back" from defending the theory, attending to the limitations, partialities and flaws in the evidence base. The underlying reasons for the researcher’s appeal for positivist and post-positivist approaches are also reflected on. Recommendations are made for the design and delivery of development interventions to raise awareness of "below-the-surface" motivation within organisations, and suggestions made around possible areas of future investigations. The thesis adds nuance to our understanding of organisational behaviour, and it evaluates the value and contribution of psychoanalytic thinking to the practice of occupational psychology.

Acquired deafness is relatively common but has been little researched and has received scant attention from writers on disability. A review of personal experiences, professional observations and the few empirical studies which have been reported, provide enough evidence for the hypothesis that acquired hearing loss may have serious consequences for psychological adjustment. This hypothesis was tested on a sample of 211 adults obtained from 3 NHS hearing aid clinics in the Greater London Area. All respondents had owned a hearing aid for a minimum of one year. At the interview session pure tone audiometry and a test of speech discrimination was carried out; a number of other audio-logical variables were also quantified. An inventory designed to identify the psychologically disturbed, with norms for the general and psychiatric populations, was administered. A number of discrete questions on general wellbeing, health, employment, social and family life were asked, each one controlled on the general population. Finally, a scale designed to measure suspiciousness was included. Thirty nine (19%) respondents were identified as psychologically disturbed, compared with 5% found in the general population. Those who had a severe hearing loss coupled with poor speech discrimination ability form a small subsample of 23, of whom 11 were psychologically disturbed. Conclusions pertaining to psychological disturbance were supported by an analysis of discrete questions in the interview schedule, firstly by controlling them on the general population, and secondly by examining their relationship to psychological disturbance. There was no evidence to support the commonly held belief that bearing loss is associated with suspiciousness. Studies concerning the relationship between other handicaps and psychological disturbance are reviewed briefly. When the findings from these studies are used as a yardstick it is concluded that if the criterion of psychological disturbance is employed then acquired deafness is indeed a serious handicap.

Children’s and adults judgements of semantic relatedness amongst a set of animal terms were compared in order to examine the validity of a spatial model of conceptual development in schoolchildren.

This thesis focuses its examination on the communication in the mother-child interaction over a year. Interactions between eight mothers and their children from child age eight to eighteen months were video-recorded at five week intervals throughout the year of investigation. The study sought to develop and apply an instrument for a parallel analysis Incorporating communicative, 'manual’ and metamessage categories. The results revealed a useful descriptive analysis of the communication over the year as well as evaluating the new instrument. It was found that the ratio of total mother to child categories was essentially consistent across time; change was revealed over categories; for certain categories mother use of categories correlated with child use of categories; mothers emerged as either more monologic or more dialogic, differing in terms of their category use. Measures were taken not just of frequencies of categories but also of patterns of conversation. At child age 8 months, the conversations of 75% of dyads were characterised by Mother Bids for Attention and Child Responses. At child age 18 months, the conversations of over 60% of dyads were characterised by Mother Assertions and Requests and Child Assertions. The new Category Analysis Tool was found to be efficient and useful. A discussion of possible amendments and improvements was undertaken. A main emphasis of this study is that the research was longitudinal, measured both sides of the interaction and using the same measures. It did this at the difficult to access social-functional level and assessed both inter- and intra-observer reliability.

Normative conceptions of age, as with other social markers such as gender, inform how persons are perceived by self and others. This thesis provides a critical view of ways in which age intersects with gender in the context of higher education in Britain. Located with the backdrop of discourses such as 'successful' or 'active' ageing and ‘Lifelong Learning’, experiences of older age are explored in the context of undergraduate study. Drawing on the accounts of twenty-one undergraduate students and six recent graduates, the thesis explores social constructions of older people, and of undergraduate students, and how these constructions play out in participants’ subjective experience of higher education. All (27) participants were aged over forty and twenty were aged over fifty. Foucault’s notions of Technologies of the Self , including his concept of power, is used here to explore how participants are positioned by, and also resist, normative discourses of age and gender. Judith Butler’s concept of performativity is mobilised to explore how performance of age varies according to gender and between subject roles such as student, friend or partner. I argue that the performativity of age is exposed within undergraduate courses. I contend that the presence of older undergraduate students disrupts constructions of what undergraduate study is, and should be, what it means to be a student, what it means to be a mature student and what it means to be older. The data are organized in three chapters: starting university, being at university and, then, life outside of university. The study reveals how older students’ claimed space in the university. I show that neoliberal imperatives, such as are contained in discourses of ‘Lifelong Learning’ and 'Active Ageing', become the standards by which individuals are measured and measure themselves. I find that participants’ age-associations, and identity-conceptions as an undergraduate student, have implications for relationships outside of the university and involve changed and changing identities. The participant's stories reveal varied experiences of student life, and thus unsettle notions of the 'traditional student' in new ways, calling attention to the complexities of what being an undergraduate student is like in contemporary Britain. In uncovering links and contradictions between old age and undergraduate study, I seek to illuminate the experiences and concerns of older undergraduates and to contribute to debates in both the sociology of education and social gerontology.

The chief aims of this practice-based research are to investigate the nature of attachment between person and object in respect to transformation; to find ways in which objects (jewellery) can be transformed to engender a wearer’s emotional attachment; and to demonstrate the different ways of applying such transformations that are pertinent to jewellery. This research has developed a certain type of transformation, which slowly makes traces on the surface of jewellery over time, and is used as an effective way to engender a wearer’s emotional response. The research is situated in the field of contemporary jewellery, and is specifically related to emotion and sentiment; a category of jewellery that relates to the wearer’s emotional feeling. The scope of the study extends to research on emotional design since this research focuses on user experiences in developing emotional relationships with the object and on how the designer/maker can promote the formation of such an attachment to the object. Two practical experiments have been conducted in this research to determine and construct appropriate and effective characteristics of transformation that engender an emotional relationship between the jewellery and its wearer, through the examination of the transformational character of emotional objects and the interactions that people have with transformational jewellery. These two experiments involve the process of making in order to provide a way of thinking through the hand manipulating a material. The use of this material thinking, develops a more broader understanding of the relationship between the transformational object and emotional attachment. Towards the end of the research, a definition of transformational jewellery is constructed that identifies its four important elements. It also provides two sets of practice work that demonstrate the findings and that facilitate the communication of the author’s tacit knowledge gained from the experiential knowledge. This research expands the field of contemporary jewellery by involving studies of emotional design and applying the element of transformation to create an emotional relationship between jewellery and its wearer. This specific transformation, which has been identified in both text and practical works, constitute the main contribution to knowledge in the field of contemporary jewellery.