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The thesis reports seven studies, detailed in four empirical research papers, which provide evidence to suggest that greater autonomy leads to more adaptive responses to health-risk mformation.

The chronic underrepresentation of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) fields is a recognised, and widely investigated, social issue. This thesis reports a programme of research testing whether women's experience in STEM can have a psychological impact that extends beyond their academic domain. Four studies examined the differential effects of counter-stereotypical experiences on women from STEM and non-STEM fields. Results provided only partial support to the hypothesis, with two studies detecting a differential effect of exposure to counter-stereotypical priming, and two studies detecting superior STEM women's performances regardless of priming condition. Further investigation is required to interpret more accurately both the broader impact of chronic exposure to challenging experiences, and also the interaction between such experiences and further counter-stereotypical priming. Hopefully, this will support the call for a novel perspective on the issue of promoting women's entry to STEM field; that is, exploring not only the barriers that keep women away from the sciences, but also the benefits associated with entering those fields. Four more studies investigated whether exposure to stereotyping not only reduces women's willingness to engage in STEM, but stifles broader egalitarian concerns. Only one study broadly supported the hypothesis, by showing that women exposed to gender-occupational stereotypes felt less angry about the condition of women in STEM, endorsed more the negative stereotypes about women in STEM, and were marginally more resistant to social change in general. This line of research has the potential to highlight the importance of tackling gender stereotypes not only because they exclude women from maledominated careers, but also because of a potentially pervasive negative impact on broader egalitarian concerns. By exploring the issue of women in STEM from novel perspectives, this thesis contributes to the public and scholarly debate of the impact of stereotyping and gender inequalities in STEM fields.

The aim of this thesis is twofold. First, to put forward a societal explanation to the concept of 'taking the perspective of the other'. Secondly, and based on the first, to investigate the difficulties of Israeli children to take the perspective of the Palestinians. I argue that perspective taking is mediated by social representations, power interests and ideologies, by minds shaped by particular socio-historical circumstances, to reproduce or challenge, sustain or resist the diverse realities of the conflict. Aiming to break away from previous individualistic conceptualisations of perspective taking, the theoretical perspective developed through this thesis is grounded in G.H. Mead social and ethical psychology, and eclectically draws on contemporary ideas such as dialogical epistemology, narrative, social representations, and rhetoric. While not disputing the relevance of emergent cognitive skills to the child's ability to role take, the view put forward in this thesis proposes that taking the perspective of the other is something whose nature is social and whose origin lie, in some good measure, in the interpersonal and social-ideological matrix of which the child is part. The concept of perspective taking is operationalised along two interrelated dimensions: (a) the ideological construction of the other and (b) perspective negotiating. The research comprises three empirical studies: (i) ethnography description of the Israeli (collective) self (ii) children's drawing of the other and (iii) children role-play narrative compositions. This study has shown that 'entering' the perspective of the Palestinians is impeded by the ideological comprehensions of the conflict as experienced by the Israeli children. That is to say, the ability to construct the Palestinian viewpoint is constrained by the boundaries of the Israeli representational field and discourse in relation to the conflict, and the dynamics of knowledge, affect and practices that maintain them.

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By its very nature, the 'Risk Society' has compelled individuals to consider its implications in a self-preserving manner. Although it is acknowledged that such individual concerns are now generated around the world, further discussion should highlight the notion that certain groups of people may feel and perceive these societal forces in different ways. This thesis will initially address the self-definition and identity of young people as risk takers with specific reference to the gender divide. Furthermore, an investigation into the context of risk behaviour during adolescence in relation to the Risk Society is essential, highlighting the positive consequences of this era of insecurities. Finally, the theoretical foundations behind why and how young people make decisions about risk will be analysed. The central theme running through this discussion is the perception of, and the involvement in the use of cannabis. Conclusions will suggest a critical evaluation of initiatives of intervention, which attempt to de-bias decision making, in light of the risk debate. Empirical data, taken from a small-scale school sample, will support where appropriate.

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Beck asserts that since the 1950s, broad social transformations have radically altered collective relations. According to Beck, these changes have rendered conventional materialist analyses no longer appropriate to describe the new times we are living in. Beck links radical restructuring of organisational forms with the reorientation of cultural experience and modern selfhood as we move from ‘class’ to ‘risk’ positions (Beck, 1992: Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2003). This thesis employs a creative operationalisation of the key dimensions of Beck’s predictions, allowing them to be tested as hypotheses using data from the women’s magazine sector. Beck’s idea that cultural organisational practice is coming under increasing pressure to reorganise and encompass new principles of social orientation is critically evaluated. The magazine titles selected for analysis represent the different socioeconomic, age and family responsibility status of this sector’s target audience. A longitudinal sample of the representation of food and eating is subject to a textual analysis to catalogue the historical development of these processes. In addition, interviews with editorial staff examine the underlying production principles of mediated selection and framing practice. Empirical evidence is generated to assess whether changing institutional practice is involved in society’s move from one set of social arrangements to another. This thesis essentially evaluates Beck’s assertion that the forces transforming organisational practice are rooted in an innovative institutional drive to democratise. The findings suggest that Beck’s explanation is insufficient and that classical materialist and market-driven accounts of institutional policy and practice remain appropriate.

The purpose of the study is to explore the engagement and consumption experiences of motorcycling edgeworkers. In understanding motorcyclists’ experiences, the thesis takes the position that participants are now living in new times of an ‘advanced industrialised society’. With a variety of sites, services and goods available for consumption, it is argued that the contemporary high-risk performer is free to subjectively negotiate the meanings of their experiences from the multiplicity of choices available, which has implications for methodology. That is, the study moves away from utilising a standardised methodological approach of developing ‘general high-risk typologies’ or ‘stress-seeking personality types’ towards an approach that stresses its diverse and plural characteristics. Hence, the position is taken that motorcyclists’ experiences are characterised by highly diversified patterns of interests and activities and therefore seeks to understand motorcycling as a complex, reflexive process where riders assign different meanings to their riding experiences. Hence, drawing upon narrative theory, the thesis aims to understand the ‘lived experiences’ of motorcyclists, exploring the personal, social and material context of riders’ lives. That risk-taking involves a complex interplay between sensual or emotional apprehending but also a reflexive understanding of the discursive notions associated with high-risk activities. More specifically, the study adopts what Ussher (1997) and more recently Ussher and Mooney-Somers (2000) describe as a ‘material-discursive intrapsychic perspective’. This considers the manner by which cultural/community understandings impact riders’ accounts of their experiences but also examines the physical/intrapsychic aspects of the activity which are arguably highly i interrelated. The study also seeks to explore motorcyclists’ biographical accounts, examining the diverse ways in which riders draw upon their past in making sense of current motorcycling practice. Using a narrative approach to data collection and analysis, the data presented is collected in thirty-three in-depth narrative interviews. The data was analysed using a voice-centred relational approach to narrative analysis called the ‘Listening Guide’, based on the Harvard Project on Women’s Psychology and Girls’ Development at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (Brown and Gillian, 1991, 1992, 1993 and more recently Milnes 2003) and the data is presented in the form of an analysis of narrative themes from the accounts of the riders, however what separates this ‘themed’ analysis is differences amongst the accounts are considered alongside similarities. Finally, in exploring motorcyclists’ individual biographies, the personal narrative accounts given by nine of the riders are presented focusing on key turning points or ‘epiphanies’ in their stories. In order to ‘contextualise the narratives’, participant observation was conducted at a variety of popular motorcyclist enclaves including motorcycle track days, cafés and venues as well as the review of existing popular text such as magazines, papers and specialist motorcycle press. Several conversations also took place with those who deliver the experience such as motorcycle shop owners and track day tutors. The research reveals that riders’ experiences are more diverse and complex than more traditional studies have often suggested. The analysis of the participants’ narratives show that participants draw on both physical/intrapsychic explanations but also on ii community understandings in describing their riding experiences. Hence, it is argued that the materiality of the body, its connections to thrill, desire, to the performance of the activity are all intimately tied to the more discursive factors involved (Ussher 1997). Furthermore, by identifying key turning points in the stories told by the motorcyclists, the diverse ways in which individual riders adapt their motorcycling practice is revealed. The individual accounts show how riders are influenced by their past experience, but also by dominant cultural and/or community understandings which, as acting as cultural resources, guide riders understanding of their experiences. Therefore, in taking a ‘material-discursive intrapsychic perspective,’ the study aims to present a more comprehensive understanding of motorcyclists’ experiences. Particularly concerned with commitments to TCR (Transformative Consumer Research), the research may therefore assist in informing future road safety research and motorcycling initiatives. That is, due to the manner by which participants engage in their activity in an ongoing and reflexive manner, the opportunity exists for those interested in re-directing motorcyclists’ aspirations, such as marketing campaigners or rider education/assessment training schemes, to encourage participants to adopt more safety conscious, responsible riding styles, focusing on competence, wisdom and safety rather than excitement, performance and speed. iii