Tidigare forskning har visat att människor överskattar chanserna för att positiva händelser ska inträffa dem och underskattar riskerna för att negativa händelser ska inträffa dem jämfört med genomsnittet. Detta kallas orealistisk optimism (OO). En faktor som påverkar detta är grad av upplevd kontroll. Studiens huvudsakliga syfte var att undersöka sambanden mellan upplevd kontroll och OO. I en enkätstudie undersöktes OO och upplevd kontroll för diverse händelser. Deltagarna fick t ex svara på hur sannolikt det är att de utsattes för vissa händelser jämfört med genomsnittet. Händelserna var bl a hälsorelaterade. Deltagarna var studenter från en högskola i Mellansverige, 18 män och 109 kvinnor. OO uppstod för alla händelser utom två. Det fanns vissa samband mellan OO och upplevd kontroll. Nytt med studien är att vissa händelser som i tidigare undersökningar skattats som okontrollerbara i själva verket kan upplevas som delvis kontrollerbara. Sambanden mellan OO och upplevd kontroll bör vidare undersökas.

<p>Visual search, the process of detecting relevant items within an environment, is a vital skill required for navigating one's visual environment as well as for careers, such as radiology and airport security, that rely upon accurate searching. Research over the course of several decades has established that visual search requires the integration of low- and high-level cognitive processes, including sensory analysis, attentional allocation, target discrimination, and decision-making. Search abilities are malleable and vary in accordance with long-term experiences, direct practice, and contextual factors in the immediate environment; however, the mechanisms responsible for changes in search performance remain largely unclear. A series of studies examine variation in visual search abilities and performance and aim to identify the underlying mechanisms.</p><p>To assess differences associated with long-term experiences, visual search performance is compared between laypersons (typically undergraduates) and specific populations, including radiologists and avid action video game players. Behavioral markers of search processes are used to elucidate causes of enhanced search performance. To assess differences associated with direct practice, laypersons perform a visual search task over five consecutive days, and electrophysiological activity is recorded from the scalp on the first and last days of the protocol. Electrophysiological markers associated with specific stages of processing are analyzed to determine neurocognitive changes contributing to improved performance. To assess differences associated with contextual factors, laypersons are randomly assigned to experimental conditions in which they complete a visual search task within a particular framework or in the presence or absence of motivation, feedback, and/or time pressure.</p><p>Results demonstrate that search abilities can improve through experience and direct training, but the mechanisms underlying effects in each case are different. Long-term experiences are associated with strategic attentional allocation, but direct training can improve low-level sensory analysis in addition to higher-level processes. Results also demonstrate nuanced effects of experience and context. On searches that contain multiple targets, task framework impacts accuracy for detecting additional targets after one target has been identified. The combination of motivation and feedback enhances accuracy for both single- and multiple-target searches. Implications for cognitive theory and applications to occupational protocols are discussed.</p> / Dissertation

There is increasing interest in the personal benefits of writing poetry and a growing field of practical application within healthcare. However, there is little direct research and a need for practice-based theoretical integration to improve understanding of the specific changes, creative processes and challenges involved. This study investigates the way that writing poetry can affect self-experience. It also contributes to the development of combined modes of creative and critical inquiry. A first-person account of the experiential and creative outcomes of writing poetry over an extended period is presented. The results of this are subjected to reflexive analysis and a critical theoretical explication. Four factors relating self-experience to the experience of writing poetry are identified: a failure of conscious intention; an inhibiting objectification of experience; an implicit assumption of a separate self, and a changed experience of self that felt more embodied and fluid. These findings are the basis of a theoretical examination that utilizes the work of Ignacio Matte Blanco and Michael Polanyi, in conjunction with insights derived from contemporary psychoanalysis, embodied cognition, neuroscience and attention training. An original theoretical integration is developed. It is proposed that poetry has a characteristic bi-logical form that condenses and integrates difference and identity in a simultaneous and concentrated manner. The process of composition requires a reciprocal interplay of conscious and unconscious processes, which can be enhanced by an increase in embodied awareness, a decrease in the exercise of deliberate volition, and the facilitative use of images. This involves a flexible oscillation of awareness that, modulated by the breadth of attention and the degree of identification or separation from experience, directly alters the boundaries and quality of self-experience. This framework avoids the limitations of reductive or eliminative views of the self and allows for the creative operation of what is dubbed the 'nondual imagination'.

Theories about exposure and risk-taking in an everyday environment show a connection between parental strategies, parent-child relationship and exposure on the Internet. In the present study, the Internet is presented as an everyday activity. Negative exposure is seen as an outcome of risk-taking. The purpose of the study was to examine in what way parental strategies together with the parent-child relationship were related to the teenagers’ negative experiences on the Internet, which consisted of three categories: 1) Exposure to pornographic sites, 2) Exposure to upsetting and violent material, 3) Digital bullying. The regression analysis showed that the parent-child relationship was linked to all negative experiences. Parental knowledge, disclosure, rules, safe usage of the Internet and solicitation were also linked to negative experiences on the Internet. Parental strategies that were not significant were parental control and shared web activities. / Teorier kring utsatthet och risktagande i traditionella vardagsmiljöer visar på ett samband mellan föräldrastrategier, föräldrabarnrelationen och tonåringens utsatthet på nätet. I den aktuella studien är Internet som vardagsmiljö i fokus. Negativa Interneterfarenheter ses som en konsekvens av risktagande. Syftet var att undersöka hur sambandet mellan föräldrastrategier tillsammans med föräldrabarnrelationen och tonåringens negativa Interneterfarenheter såg ut. De negativa Interneterfarenheterna delades upp i tre kategorier: 1) Tvivelaktigt material, 2) Upprörande material samt 3) Erfarenhet av hot. Regressionsanalysen visade att föräldrabarnrelation har samband med alla negativa Interneterfarenheter. Vidare visade resultatet att föräldrarnas insyn, disclosure, regler, säker användning och solicitation också hade samband med de negativa Interneterfarenheterna. Föräldrastrategier som inte var signifikanta var kontroll och sällskap vid Internetanvändning.

The goal of this thesis was to reposition individual preparedness within a social environmental context. First, a theoretical model was developed to more accurately represent the social environmental considerations neglected in current preparedness research and policy. A series of three studies tested this model using a mixed-methods approach: First, subjective conceptualizations of preparedness were explored in a qualitative analysis (N = 12). Findings revealed that participants evaluated their readiness not in terms of prescribed activities, but perceptions about their current resourcefulness as well as past local hazards. Participants’ had positive social environments which also reinforced their perceived coping ability in future emergency events. Subsequent thesis studies investigated the role social environment further, using quantitative data. The second study explicitly tested whether perceptions of risk and coping could explain differences in preparedness based on demographic attributes linked to variations in social environment. Data from a survey examining Canadians perceptions regarding terrorism threats (N = 1503) revealed that greater anticipated response was significantly associated with increased age, as well as female gender, higher education levels, and higher income levels. Statistically significant differences in threat appraisals were also reported based on these demographic groupings. However, mediation analyses demonstrated that with the exception of gender, differences in anticipated response could not be explained via risk perceptions or perceived coping efficacy, suggesting that social environment’s role in preparedness is not related to the internal processes often targeted in current campaigns. The third study used a multilevel design to investigate the contextual role of neighbourhood social environment in anticipated emergency response. Results demonstrated that a more deprived social neighbourhood context was related to lowered anticipated emergency response. This relationship was maintained after controlling for significant individual-level factors such as previous experience and sociodemographics, highlighting the importance of neighbourhood social context in facilitating emergency preparedness. Taken together, these findings provide novel evidence that focusing preparedness strategies to primarily target internal processes is misguided, and that future research and policy must position preparedness efforts in the context of existing social environmental resources and barriers in order to build capacity for effective emergency response.

This study aimed to find out the effect of type of advertisement &amp / number of advertisement manipulation on memory for and attitude towards advertisements. Type of advertisement was manipulated via embedding either superimposed advertisement(s) or traditional commercial(s) in a movie. The number of advertisement manipulation was made through embedding either 1 or 7 advertisements for both types of advertisements in the same movie. With respect to type of advertisement manipulation, it was hypothesized that, both superimposed advertisements and traditional commercials may have an access to LTM for later recall and recognition. However, it was expected that, the recall and recognition scores of the viewers exposed to superimposed advertisement(s) will be lower compared to traditional commercial viewers due to the shorter duration and background distraction characteristics of superimposed advertisements. Regarding number of advertisements manipulation, it was hypothesized that, regardless of the type of advertisement, the recall and recognition scores of the viewers exposed to 7 advertisements will be lower compared to viewers exposed to only 1 advertisement due to retroactive and proactive inhibition. Secondly, it was hypothesized that, for both types of advertisements the viewers exposed to 7 advertisements will be able to recall at most 5 advertisements concerning that, at most 4 or 5 chunks (advertisements) could be processed in STM at one time (Simon, 1973). Further, it was expected that, the processing capacity of STM for viewers exposed to 7 superimposed advertisements might be reduced due to simultaneous view of the advertisements with the ongoing program, which may result in less processing of chunks (advertisements) and therefore lower levels of recall as compared to viewers exposed to 7 traditional commercials. In the present study, in addition to attitude towards the embedded advertisements, viewers&rsquo / attitude towards to program was also measured concerning the potential effects of program environment related variables on attitude towards advertisements. However, in relation to both attitude towards program and attitude towards embedded advertisements, it was proposed that, the variations will be on an individual basis / thus, no main effect was expected with respect to both aspects of attitude measurements. 60 undergraduate students from METU participated in the study. Data gathered via administration of 2 different attitude scales and 3 different memory scales. The results of the present study confirmed some of the hypothesizes. However, some were only partially confirmed and for some, no evidence could be obtained. On the whole, it was concluded that, the effectiveness of traditional commercials are superior compared to superimposed advertisements with respect to memory for advertisements. However, when individuals are exposed to multiple advertisements (7 in our case) this difference was negligible between traditional commercials and superimposed advertisements. The implications of the study were discussed.

Inom den offentliga sektorn har individuell lönesättning blivit ett vanligare tillvägagångsätt för att öka anställdas prestationsnivå. Även tro på den egna förmågan har en betydande roll för hur arbetsgivare bör hantera sin anställda vid lönesättning. Personer med hög self-efficacy söker sig till arbetsplatser med individuell lönesättning i högre grad än anställda med låg self-efficacy. Studiens syfte var att undersöka anställda inom den offentliga sektorns attityd till individuell lönesättning utifrån grad av self-efficacy och självskattad prestationsnivå. 174 anställda i åldrarna 19-68 tillfrågades om att delta i studien. Enkäten bestod av påståenden om attityd till individuell lönesättning, arbetsrelaterad self-efficacy och självskattad prestationsnivå. Resultatet visa på ett signifikant samband mellan attityd till individuell lönesättning och self-efficacy samt en tendens till ett positivt samband mellan attityd till individuell lönesättning och prestation. Slutsatsen blev att anställda med högre self-efficacy har en mer positiv attityd till individuell lönesättning men att det krävs mer forskning inom ämnet.

Syftet med denna studie var att kvalitativt undersöka vilka förväntningar som finns på HR-funktionen utifrån chefernas perspektiv på en mindre kommun i Sverige. Studien baserades på elva intervjuer och analyserades genom induktiv tematisk analys. Resultatet visade att respondenterna saknade stöd från HR-funktionen samt en tydlig ansvarsfördelning i arbetsuppgifter. Respondenterna upplevde dessutom en otydlighet i vad de kunde förvänta sig av HR-funktionen. Resultatet visade även att respondenterna saknade en grundlig arbetsplatsintroduktion för att klara av sitt arbete som chef inom organisationen. Dessutom upplevde respondenterna att HR-funktionen var underbemannad då de inte upplevde att de fick det stöd de behövde. Förslag till förbättringsområden är att förtydliga vilket stöd som erbjuds från HR-funktionen, förtydliga ansvarsfördelningen mellan HR-funktion och chef samt skapa en välfungerande arbetsplatsintroduktion. Dessutom behöver HR-funktionen förtydliga riktlinjer och policys samt utforma dokument om vad HR-funktionen faktiskt erbjuder inom organisationen.

Svenska kvinnor sjukskrivs oftare än män till följd av utmattningssyndrom och det sociala stödet har visat sig vara viktigt för återhämtningen. Studiens syfte var att undersöka effekten av högskolestudenters kön och tidigare akademiska prestationer på andra studenters allvarsuppfattningar av symptom och empatiska respons, när målpersonerna uppvisar symptom på utmattningssyndrom. En vinjettstudie med enkäter i fyra versioner genomfördes, där målpersoners kön och prestationer hade manipulerats. Två skalor för skattning av empati respektive allvarsuppfattning användes. Deltagarna var 84 (n män = 40, n kvinnor = 42, n annat = 2) högskolestudenter i åldrarna 20 - 40 år (M = 25.3, SD = 4.93). Resultatet visade att kvinnliga målpersoner väckte mer empati än manliga. Inga skillnader i allvarsuppfattning eller effekter av målpersoners tidigare prestationer kunde beläggas. Ytterligare forskning behövs för att se om effekten på empati finns i andra populationer som exempelvis yrkesverksamma, arbetsgivare eller anställda inom psykiatrin.

Onlinespel tillåter spelare över hela världen att interagera med varandra på nya sätt i virtuella världar. Genom att skapa visuella representationer av sig själva kan spelarna nu kommunicera och uttrycka sig bortom den fysiska världens gränser. I denna fenomenologiska studie undersöker vi hur och om HBTQ-personer upplever sig ha möjligheten att uttrycka sexualitet och könsidentitet i online rollspelet Final Fantasy XIV samt om detta påverkas av spelets gemenskap. Med kvalitativa metoder intervjuades spelare från Final Fantasy XIV för att fånga denna upplevelse och med en queerteoretisk lins titta kritiskt på normerna i spelet. Dessa upplevelser analyserades även ur ett dramaturgiskt perspektiv och ett fokus på identitetsteorier. Resultatet från denna studie antyder att spelaren trots begränsningar finner nya och kreativa sätt att uttrycka sexualitet och kön i spelvärlden. Spelarna gör detta genom att konstruera alternativa identiteter och uppträda med sina avatarer på scenen som är den virtuella världen. Gemenskapen är en stor del av detta då den accepterande atmosfären upplevs uppmuntra till öppenhet. / Online games allow players all over the world to interact with each other in new ways in virtual worlds. Through the creation of visual representations of the players they can communicate and express themselves beyond the limits of the physical world. In this phenomenological study we investigate how and if LGBT individuals experience that they can express sexuality and gender identity in the online roleplaying game Final Fantasy XIV and if the game community affects this experience. With qualitative methods players of Final Fantasy XIV were interviewed to capture this experience and through a queer theoretical lens critically examine the norms of the game. These experiences were also analysed from a dramaturgical perspective and a focus on identity theories. The results suggest that the player, despite restrictions, find new and creative ways of expressing their sexuality and gender in the game world. The players do this by constructing alternative identities and perform with their avatars on the stage that is the virtual world. The community is a major part of this as the accepting atmosphere is perceived to encourage openness.