Fairness, forgiveness and grudge-holding are concepts which underlie many aspects of our interpersonal relationships. Fairness is the foundation of our day-to-day communication with others and forgiveness is concerned with a positive strategy used to manage negative emotional experiences of underserved [i.e. undeserved] unfair treatment. Grudge-holding results as an accumulation of negative feelings, which are associated with the original experience of unfairness. Two experimental studies investigated children’s perceptions of, feelings about, and reactions towards the unfair behaviour of a mother and a friend, by individually inviting the children to scenario-based interview sessions, which included three imaginary tasks. The children were asked to judge the fairness of a mother and a best friend’s treatment towards a child protagonist and to report their associated feelings, after listening to a scenario that described an interaction between a child and a mother and an interaction between a child and a friend. They further responded to three scenario-based experimental tasks, regarding their willingness to grant forgiveness, as opposed to expressions of hostility. In the first study, the children’s willingness to forgive, as a result of unfairness, was explored with 82 local primary school children in Palmerston North, New Zealand, whose ages ranged from 8- to 11-years-old, in addition to 50 parents of these participating children. The parents also completed a questionnaire about their approaches to their children’s common misbehaviours. The study found that the children were typically willing to grant forgiveness to a mother, even though she had been unfair. Their forgiveness tendencies were not related to aspects of parental disciplinary behaviour. However, an examination of the children’s verbatim responses through the use of thematic analysis revealed the complex nature of the relationship between parent and child concerning tolerance for mistakes. In the second study, I explored on whether the children’s repeated exposure to unfairness would contribute to their display of grudge-holding against a mother or a best friend in the scenarios and this investigation involved 55 local primary children, whose ages ranged from 8- to 12-years-old, in Wellington, New Zealand. The children participated in individual scenario-based interview sessions, which included three imaginary tasks over the two time periods, one week apart from each other. The children’s levels of grudge-holding was measured by analysing the possible increase in hostility, which the children expressed from Time 1 to Time 2. The study showed that a repeated experience of unfairness had a noticeable effect on the children’s level of hostility towards the person who was unfair and especially towards the best friend. The children’s verbatim comments also suggested some evidence of accumulated negativity in their responses to an unfairness experience. Thus, this study proved to be a suitable paradigm for operationalising grudge-holding in children.

Psychosis typically emerges after a heterogeneous range of premonitory symptoms. This has been labelled the ‘pre-psychotic period’ (PPP). Emotional disturbances are prominent features of this state and have shown to be risk factors for psychosis. The present study had two interrelated aims: to explore in-depth the experiential nature of the emotional changes that occur during the PPP; and to examine whether there are similarities between these pre-psychotic emotional changes and the concept of delusional atmosphere. Twelve men experiencing first-episode psychosis with delusional thought content were recruited for the study. Information regarding their emotional experiences during the PPP was gathered using a semi-structured interview format. Corroborating information about observable changes in the men’s behaviour during the PPP was also gathered from a family member or friend of theirs who had close contact with them during this time. The data was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. A variety of strong emotional changes were reported during the PPP, including depression, anxiety, anger, and guilt, as well as love and happiness. Negative emotions were prominent during this time, but positive emotions were also found to be a feature of this state for some people. Overall, the PPP was characterised by an increase in distress over time. Features of delusional atmosphere that were evident during the PPP included: experiences of derealisation and the environment feeling different; anxiety and confusion and a drive to find and explanation for the changes that were being experienced; and a sense of apprehension that something significant was about to happen. The relevance of these findings to researchers and clinicians working in this area is discussed.

The 'model minority' label given to Chinese populations in New Zealand and other Western countries have made it difficult to truly comprehend the difficulties faced by some Chinese ethnic minorities. Despite comparable rates and types of mental health problems to their European counterparts, identifiable barriers have led to Chinese ethnic minorities underutilising mental health services. The present study investigated the mental health service utilisation in native- and foreign-born Chinese youth in New Zealand, paying particular attention to barriers to service utilisation and viable solutions for these difficulties. It consisted of three individual projects and explored the views of Chinese community and mental health professionals and Chinese university students, comparing their perspectives to university students of other ethnicities. Findings showed that despite a willingness to seek help from their family and mental health professionals (e.g., psychologists, school counsellors), respondents identified a myriad of obstacles to the help seeking of Chinese youth. These included physical barriers (e.g., financial and transport constraints), personal barriers (e.g., stigma, problems accepting their difficulties), service barriers (e.g., paucity of knowledge regarding mental health problems and available services) and family barriers (e.g., obstruction from family members). Family and service barriers distinguished the difficulties faced by Chinese in comparison to European youth, particularly with regards to the adherence of professionals to stereotypes of Chinese youth, a unique finding of this study. In order to reduce such barriers, the Chinese university students and professionals advocated for greater education regarding mental health problems and services in the Chinese community, education for Chinese parents regarding adolescent issues, an increase in the number of practicing Chinese professionals that is coupled with improved cross-cultural training for non-Chinese professionals, as well as individual assessment and treatment approaches with Chinese youth and their families. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.

This dissertation investigates the management of teams at work. A thorough examination of the literature on small groups, coupled with field research on the implementation of teamwork in the New Zealand operations of a large multinational provides insights about how members of a team think. It is shown that the perception of membership by team members influences their ability to make effective use of resources and make informed decisions, not only within the team, but also with regard to its impact on the organisation. Social identity theory provides a theoretical model for the psychological processes of team membership. The processes of categorisation, self-categorisation and social identification are mapped against the introduction of teamwork over a period of two years to assess whether or not they are relevant. The results from surveys of and interviews with senior staff members support the processes described by social identity theory, where groups can operate as separate cognitive and emotional units as relevant for the management of teams at work. Because of the unique psychological processes, team members at work have to be interacted with (and be given information) differently than individuals in order to behave as a high-performing team. This study develops the implications of social identity theory for the introduction and management of teams at work, leading to high performance for the organisation. Key words: Teamwork, social identity, social cognition

Five experiments were carried out to discover whether there is a subjective enhancement of temporal contours analogous to the Mach band effects in spatial vision. A transient overshoot in the incremental threshold occurred immediately after the crest of rising linear ramps at photopic levels. A psychophysical matching experiment verified that this peaking effect is perceived as a bright pulse and can be considered the temporal equivalent of the bright Mach band. No equivalent of the dark Mach band at the foot of rising linear ramps was found. Rather there was an anticipatory decrease of sensitivity (Crawford effect) at the base of ascending gradients. The magnitude of this effect was directly proportional to the rate of change of the stimulus at photopic levels. Data from descending ramps was less simple to interpret. A small rise in incremental threshold was sometimes observed at the crest of ramps, but this effect was much less pronounced than the peak at the crest of equivalent ascending ramps. Matching procedures located troughs at the foot of descending ramps which correspond to the dark spatial Mach band. This effect was less apparent when incremental threshold techniques were employed. An experiment using exponential rather than linear change in luminance over time gave results in general accord with the above. The Crawford effect was found to follow the Bunsen-Roscoe Law. It was found that the transient undershoot and overshoot effects were related to the rate of change rather than the actual form of the ramp when the rate of change was greater than about 300mL per second. Impulse responses were derived by differentiating step responses. Ascending steps generated a biphasic impulse response and descending steps give a triphasic unit impulse response. This lack of equivalence over conditions is diagnostic of system nonlinearity. Fourier analysis of the impulse responses showed equivalent spectral components and lowpass filter action in each case, indicating change in gain and phasing rather than time constants occur between 'on' and 'off' conditions. The system was shown to be quasilinear within conditions since linear convolution of the impulse responses with appropriate ramps generated functions that were a fair approximation to the psychophysical response to such ramps. The relationship between the impulse response and the spatial equivalent line spread function was discussed and the similarity of the impulse responses to dynamic changes in sensitivity inferred from results of masking experiments pointed out. The results were then considered in relation to a multichannel model for processing spatiotemporal information.

Emotional child abuse is recognised as the unifying construct of child abuse (Brassard & Gelardo, 1987). Defining emotional child abuse (ECA) is an area of debate in the literature and a widely recognised definition has yet to be developed. There is general agreement on the definition of resilience with most making reference to adapting and coping well in the face of adversity. Recent research has questioned the implied unidimensionality of the term. A research study was designed with several aims: to explore how ECA is defined by professionals working in the area of child abuse, and by members of the general public; to develop an understanding of the nature of ECA from adults who self-identified as having experienced ECA; and, to examine the ways in which these adults coped, and dealt with ECA and its effects. Further aims of the research following from these were to develop a definition of ECA, and to identify implications for practice for those working in the area of ECA. Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969, 1988; Crittenden & Ainsworth, 1989) was the theoretical base for the research. The literature on resilience was reviewed with a particular focus on ECA. Consistent findings in the literature on the cost of resiliency in the area of emotional well-being and functioning were explored and used to critically examine the clinical utility of the term. Two surveys were developed, one for distribution to all the professionals working in the area of child abuse in statutory agencies in Auckland; and one for distribution to a sample of adults living in the greater Auckland area. Comparison of the conceptual and specific categories derived from the definitions of ECA provided by the professional group (N=l8l) and the lay group (N=142) indicated considerable agreement. Differences between the groups on the relative frequency of use of the categories were explained and directions for future research were suggested. Concurrence between the findings of this study and others on developing a definition of ECA supported the existence of ECA as a separate and consistent form of child maltreatment. Adults who saw themselves as having experienced ECA were identified through the general public and professional surveys (N=30). They were individually interviewed using a semi-structured format about the nature of the ECA they had experienced and how they had coped with it as a child, adolescent, and adult. The interviews, and relevant material from the surveys, were analysed using a Grounded Theory approach. The themes that emerged from the material on the nature of ECA were grouped into four areas: the nature of ECA; the effects of ECA; the context of ECA; and, disclosure of ECA. The themes that emerged on how participants coped and dealt with the ECA they had experienced revealed a range of coping strategies and changes in these across the broad developmental stages of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. An important distinction that emerged was that between coping with the ECA and dealing with it. The cost of coping was a prominent theme and concurred with findings in the literature. The implications for practice and directions for future research generated by these findings are discussed. A theoretical definition developed from the research findings is presented and applied to specific examples from the research.

Self-control theory of crime has had considerable impact on mainstream criminology since it was first published in 1990 by Gottfredson and Hirschi. It is regarded as the most parsimonious criminological theory currently available and has been empirically tested across diverse populations and behaviours. Considerable empirical evidence supports the generality of self-control in predicting crime and analogous behaviours, with low self-control ranked as one of the strongest risk factors for crime. Of substantive concern however is a lack of explanatory power in the theory, a problem that besets criminological theorising in general. This study attempted to integrate self-control theory with theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Whilst self-control provides a stable-dispositional explanation for propensity to crime, TPB is interested in the decision-making processes related to involvement in crime. As such, the study examined the relationship between time-stable self-control and the mediating role of situational-specific factors in the causation of crime. The purpose of the study is twofold. Firstly to investigate the underlying mechanism by which a person with low self-control may have greater propensity to crime and secondly to increase the explanatory value of self-control theory. Three disparate groups were used to explore the single theories and the integrated theory; female students, male students, and prison inmates. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were conducted to examine the sufficiency of the theories to explain intention to commit crime across three groups. Low self-control was unable to explain behavioural intentions for students but was successful in explaining intentions to do crime in a prison population. The motivational elements of TPB, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control, were shown to exert considerable influence on intention to do crime across the three samples but not attitude. The integrated theory increased the explanatory value of self-control theory for prison inmates over and above its constituent theories. These findings were not replicated with male and female students, raising questions about the generality of self-control theory. Implications for self-control theory are discussed, especially the need to include significant others and behavioural control variables in understanding the causes of crime

This dissertation investigates the management of teams at work. A thorough examination of the literature on small groups, coupled with field research on the implementation of teamwork in the New Zealand operations of a large multinational provides insights about how members of a team think. It is shown that the perception of membership by team members influences their ability to make effective use of resources and make informed decisions, not only within the team, but also with regard to its impact on the organisation. Social identity theory provides a theoretical model for the psychological processes of team membership. The processes of categorisation, self-categorisation and social identification are mapped against the introduction of teamwork over a period of two years to assess whether or not they are relevant. The results from surveys of and interviews with senior staff members support the processes described by social identity theory, where groups can operate as separate cognitive and emotional units as relevant for the management of teams at work. Because of the unique psychological processes, team members at work have to be interacted with (and be given information) differently than individuals in order to behave as a high-performing team. This study develops the implications of social identity theory for the introduction and management of teams at work, leading to high performance for the organisation. Key words: Teamwork, social identity, social cognition

Five experiments were carried out to discover whether there is a subjective enhancement of temporal contours analogous to the Mach band effects in spatial vision. A transient overshoot in the incremental threshold occurred immediately after the crest of rising linear ramps at photopic levels. A psychophysical matching experiment verified that this peaking effect is perceived as a bright pulse and can be considered the temporal equivalent of the bright Mach band. No equivalent of the dark Mach band at the foot of rising linear ramps was found. Rather there was an anticipatory decrease of sensitivity (Crawford effect) at the base of ascending gradients. The magnitude of this effect was directly proportional to the rate of change of the stimulus at photopic levels. Data from descending ramps was less simple to interpret. A small rise in incremental threshold was sometimes observed at the crest of ramps, but this effect was much less pronounced than the peak at the crest of equivalent ascending ramps. Matching procedures located troughs at the foot of descending ramps which correspond to the dark spatial Mach band. This effect was less apparent when incremental threshold techniques were employed. An experiment using exponential rather than linear change in luminance over time gave results in general accord with the above. The Crawford effect was found to follow the Bunsen-Roscoe Law. It was found that the transient undershoot and overshoot effects were related to the rate of change rather than the actual form of the ramp when the rate of change was greater than about 300mL per second. Impulse responses were derived by differentiating step responses. Ascending steps generated a biphasic impulse response and descending steps give a triphasic unit impulse response. This lack of equivalence over conditions is diagnostic of system nonlinearity. Fourier analysis of the impulse responses showed equivalent spectral components and lowpass filter action in each case, indicating change in gain and phasing rather than time constants occur between 'on' and 'off' conditions. The system was shown to be quasilinear within conditions since linear convolution of the impulse responses with appropriate ramps generated functions that were a fair approximation to the psychophysical response to such ramps. The relationship between the impulse response and the spatial equivalent line spread function was discussed and the similarity of the impulse responses to dynamic changes in sensitivity inferred from results of masking experiments pointed out. The results were then considered in relation to a multichannel model for processing spatiotemporal information.

The aim of this study was to explore the experience of hearing voices in the general New Zealand adult population. This included mapping the topography of voices and the impact of the experience on participants’ lives, exploring participants’ explanatory models, investigating coping strategies and support structures, and developing a model of the essence of hearing voices. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of questionnaire (n=154) and interview (n=50) data revealed a great diversity of experiences, both within and among participants. Of all topographical variables significantly related to emotional impact (content, form, duration, intrusiveness and control), voice content was the only significant predictor variable, accurately predicting the emotional response of 93.3% of participants. Overall, participants who valued their voice experiences tended to have spiritual beliefs, a more positive emotional reaction and less contact with mental health services. In contrast, participants who experienced mostly unwanted voices tended to have biological and/or psychological understandings of their voice experiences, a more negative emotional reaction to them, and increased contact with mental health services. Participants reported using a vast array of coping strategies, with varying degrees of success. Individualised techniques were reported to be the most effective, followed by setting aside a time to listen to the voices. In terms of help and support, participants called for a model of intervention that accepted their voice experiences as real, took an holistic approach incorporating contextual, cultural and spiritual factors, and worked with voice-hearers, their families and the public to provide information about voice phenomena and normalise the experience. Using a phenomenological approach, a model of the essential structure of hearing voices is proposed, comprising five components: the content of the voices is personally meaningful to the voice-hearer; the voices have a characterised identity; the person has a relationship with their voices; the experience has a significant impact on the voice-hearer’s life; and the experience has a compelling sense of reality. The implications of this research include validating voice-hearers’ perspectives of the experience, informing clinical work with voice-hearers, and informing the development of local and national-level services, such as a New Zealand Hearing Voices Network.