This study explored the relationship between attributional style and the performance of front line service staff in a call centre environment. Attributional style was evaluated using a well recognised method (Seligman's Attributional Style Questionnaire). This was the first time that the Seligman's Attributional Style Questionnaire (SASQ) has been used in a New Zealand context. Performance was calculated using five independent measures. These measures have been used for several years by the company at the centre of our study as an objective measure of Call Centre Representative (CCR) performance. The association between attributional style and performance was then examined using a combination of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and co relational analysis. People have different ways of reacting to adversity such as failure, rejection or a high-pressure situation. The ability to succeed is closely tied to the ability to handle adversity (DeCarlo et al., 1997; Seligman & Schulman, 1986; Boone, 2000). Research has supported the common sense view that optimistic beliefs can be self-fulfilling prophecies (Sujan, 1999a; Porter, 2000; Furnham et al., 1994). Hundreds of studies have revealed the benefits of optimism such as increased motivation, superior achievement (in various areas e.g. work, school and sports), elevated mood and well-being, and better physical health (Seligman et al., 1990; Seligman et al., 1986). Furthermore, individuals can learn to reduce negative ways of thinking and become more optimistic when it is appropriate (Satterfield et al., 1997; Eronen et al., 1999; Bohart, 2002).Call centres are not new phenomena, however they have become a growth industry in the private and public sector over the last decade (Creagh, 1998). The following definition of call centres was used by Gilmore and Moreland; "A physical or virtual operation within an organisation in which a managed group of people spend most of their time doing business by telephone, usually working in a computer-automated environment." (2000, pg 4)Due to the size and the complexity of tasks undertaken within call centres, there is a growing need for empirical findings to broaden understanding of how to best manage call centres and how to optimise the utilisation of human capital (Feinberg et al, 2000).This cross-sectional study assesses the performance of Call Centre Representatives (CCRs) in a New Zealand based call centre and explores whether there is an association with the Seligman's Attributional Style Questionnaire (SASQ).It was found that the performance measure for soft skills varied significantly when ranked by a measure of optimism. The performance measures considered in this study focus mainly on technical competency and task efficiency, and were therefore not well explained by attributional style. Future research should investigate pre-testing for soft skills at recruitment, interventionist training on attitude and whether that translates into improved soft skill performance, and the reassessment of current call centre performance measurements.

Foucault speaks of the formation of an individual’s identity, or the process of becoming someone else, as a worthy game. For postmodernists, it is considered a life-long process of reconstruction and re-evaluation. The identities that are the focus of this research are psychiatrists, but also the self. This research follows previous post-graduate research that reflected on knowledge, power, space, surveillance, the body and organisational control. The major questions of this earlier research was; “What constituted normality in the work place and who were the arbiters of this normality” Chapter one of this work - Psychiatrists in Post-modernity, introduces the research project through the research questions, motivation for the project and the challenges to be met. Chapter two is a theoretical chapter that presents Post-modern Philosophical Perspective and discusses the history of development of post-modern thought in social research. Chapter three – History, Myth and Reality, places today’s psychiatry in Australia, in historical context. Chapter four – People, Politics and Purpose, considers the current state of mental health policy in Australia. Chapter five – Methodology and Methods, considers the methodological debate in the social sciences between qualitative and quantitative research methods. Chapter six – Outcomes and Interpretation presents an interpretation of the research interviews and discusses the connections and possible meanings of the stories told by psychiatrists, within the context of the post-modern philosophical perspective. Chapter seven – Post-modern Psychiatry considers the question: is there or can there be a post-modern psychiatry? It takes the interpretations, connections and meanings from Chapter six and locates them in the wider social context of the Australian National Mental Health Strategy / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Most stereotypes of youth depict them as problematic. Yet, the effects of those representations on behaviour are not understood. The nine studies conducted for this thesis investigated stereotypic beliefs about youth. This thesis aimed to specify the range of stereotypic beliefs about youth, the sources of those beliefs, and the consequences of those beliefs for adults' and young people's behaviour. Chapter 1 reviews the stereotype literature and provides information about our current understanding of stereotypic beliefs about youth. It also highlights the limitations of existing research and presents the rationale for this program of research. Chapter 2 presents studies 1 to 4, which explored the breadth in the content of four sets of stereotypic beliefs about youth. Study 1 investigated adults' knowledge of the cultural stereotype of youth and Study 2A specified adults' personal beliefs about youth. Adults' knowledge of the cultural stereotype was shown to consist of very negative content, although their personal beliefs were both positive and negative in content. Study 3A compared young people's perceptions of adults' beliefs about youth with their personal beliefs about youth. Young people's perceptions of adults' beliefs were found to be extremely negative, and to be comparable with that identified as adults??? knowledge of the cultural stereotype of youth in Study 1. In contrast, young people???s personal beliefs about youth were found to be more positive. Study 4 investigated the extent to which adults and young people hold multiple stereotypes of youth. Adults and young people formed six conceptually similar subtypes of youth. They were labelled as ???yuppies???, ???lives for today and forget the consequences???, ???depressed???, ???problem kids???, ???active???, and ???conventional???. The ???problem kids??? subtype was the most salient; it had the greatest number of descriptors assigned to it and the greatest agreement across groups regarding the constellation of traits and behaviours comprising it. Studies 2B and 3B, also presented in Chapter 2, were carried out to develop two valid and reliable measures of stereotypic beliefs about youth. In Study 2B, the 20-item Beliefs about Adolescence Scale was developed to assess adults' personal beliefs about youth. Study 3B developed the 26-item Adolescents??? Perceptions of Adults??? Beliefs Scale to assess young people???s perceptions of adults??? beliefs about them. Both measures were shown to be internally consistent and to have good test-retest reliability. The Beliefs about Adolescence Scale also demonstrated good convergent validity. Chapter 3 presents studies 5 and 6, which examined the media as a possible source of stereotypic beliefs about youth. Study 5 investigated media representations of youth as they appear in newspaper reports. Study 6 aimed to establish an empirical association between those representations and stereotypic beliefs about youth. In Study 5, newspaper reports of young people were found to be largely negative; the 'problem kids' stereotype was afforded the most news space. In Study 6, newspaper readership was shown to be predictive of stereotypic beliefs about youth. Further, stereotypic beliefs were found to discriminate between readers of broadsheet and tabloid newspapers. Chapter 4 presents Studies 7 and 8, which focused on the consequences of stereotypic beliefs about youth for evaluations and behaviour. Study 7 investigated the extent to which beliefs that young people are problematic affect adults' evaluations of young people. Subjects who were presented with sentences that described irresponsible and disrespectful behaviours later judged a youth target as more irresponsible and disrespectful than subjects who were presented with sentences that described neutral behaviours. Study 8 investigated whether beliefs that young people are problematic can result in self-fulfilling prophecies. Subjects were exposed to faces of male teenagers or adults and were then paired with partners who had been exposed to faces of male adults. Each pair of subjects played a word-guessing game and their interaction was recorded. Judges who were blind to the experimental hypotheses listened to the recordings and rated each participant for the degree of rudeness that was displayed. Subjects who had been exposed to the teenage faces were rated as ruder than those who had been exposed to adult faces. Moreover, those who interacted with subjects who had been exposed to teenage faces were rated as ruder than those who interacted with subjects who had been exposed to adult faces. In that way, stereotypic beliefs about youth were shown to produce self-fulfilling prophecies. Chapter 5 presents Study 9. Its focus was on young people's perceptions of adults' beliefs about them. It examined the way those beliefs influence young people's engagement in problem behaviour, in interaction with established correlates of problem behaviour. This was explored via the testing of a structural model of problem behaviour. The findings provided partial support for the model, and the model accounted for a substantial proportion of the variance in problem behaviour. Young people's perceptions of adults' beliefs about them made an important contribution to the explanation of problem behaviour involvement. Subsidiary analyses determined that young people's perceptions that adults believe them to engage in problem behaviour was the 'active ingredient' of that construct. Chapter 6 presents the general discussion of the findings from this program of research. It also outlines their theoretical and practical implications, and points to specific research that is needed to add to the findings of this thesis. The findings emphasise the important influences of stereotypic beliefs about youth on adults' and young people's behaviour. Recommendations are made for improving adult-youth relations and preventing adolescent problem behaviour. In particular, the media and adult members of the community need to recognise the role that they play in the causation of adolescent problem behaviour. The media have a responsibility to disseminate accurate and balanced information about young people and youth-related issues. In addition, interventions aimed at reducing adolescent problem behaviour need to incorporate a community-based component that seeks to promote positive adult-youth relations within the wider community.

Summary: An Elders View Ka hoki ano waku korero nei na i runga i nga raputanga i haramai tatou ko te iwi whenua e korerotia ai tona korero i haramai i Hawaikiroa i Hawaikinui i Hawaiki pamamao. Kei hea tenei wahi? Ka rapu te matauranga. I haramai tatou no tehea wahi? Kare kau i kitea e ratou. E kore e kitea. E kore e kitea e ratau na te mea ko taua i haere wairua mai ka hoki wairua taua. I now return to what has been said that we the original people came to this land from Long Hawaiki, from the Great Hawaiki, and from Distant Hawaiki. Where are these places? The learned have searched. From which place did we come from? They will never find it because we came in spirit and we return in spirit. (Chapter 2). A Pakeha View I tell the story as I see it and people can read my material if they wish to but if they don�t then that is their problem. The trouble with New Zealanders is that they do not care about archaeology. The Maoris are the worst offenders. Their attitude is one of indifference, they couldn�t care less. When I have excavated on Maori land I have contacted the Maori organisations concerned and I have invited them to come along and observe what is being done because after all it is their history that I am digging up. However the decision is not really for the Maori to decide when I am working on Pakeha land, and anyway the land does not belong to the Maori, it belongs to all. I admit that I am sorry that archaeologists destroy sites but they do record them in their books. (Chapter 6)--Preface.

The purpose of this investigation was to describe tenth grade students' views of the purposes of geometric proof within the context of their learning. Classroom observations, the curriculum, assessment tools, journal questions, and a preconceptions questionnaire were used to provide context for the views expressed by students from a single classroom. Eleven classroom episodes selected from the classroom observations were used to describe the instructional context as well as discourse among the students during group work. The episodes provided details about how and when the classroom teacher addressed various purposes of proofs involving geometry concepts throughout two instructional units on coordinate geometry proofs and two-column proofs. The episodes also consisted of student discourse relating to the purposes of geometric proof as students worked on assigned proof problems. The students' views were examined through journal questions given at the beginning of selected days and through a post-instruction questionnaire and individual interviews. There were three main findings of the study. First, several students experienced difficulty in expressing their views of the purposes of geometric proof when asked directly. One-third of the students could only list properties or theorems they encountered during the unit on geometric proof. However, when these students were asked to describe the purpose for each column, all of the students listed both explanation and verification. Second, the students expressed limited views of the purposes of proof, referring mainly to verification. Only a few students mentioned explanation, systematization, and communication. However, students generally referred to at least two purposes of proof (explanation, verification, and communication) when describing the proving process involved in coordinate geometry. Third, the students' views of various purposes of geometric proof were diverse. Recommendations for future research include the examination of students' views of the purposes of geometric proofs for students who use paragraph form and studies to investigate the development of students' views of the purposes of proof as they gain more experience with formal proof writing and other methods of proof. / Graduation date: 2004

I assessed influences on women's attitudes toward and experiences with menarche and menstruation using feminist qualitative methodologies. Bronfenbrenner's ecological model interpreted through a feminist lens was the organizing framework for the study, focusing as it does on the sociohistorical and multilayered context wherein the women developed. Fourteen college women between the ages of 18 and 25 completed the Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire (MAQ) for Adult Females and engaged in open ended, tape-recorded interviews. Information was gathered related to their first menstrual period their current attitudes about menstruation, and factors they felt had influenced their beliefs about menstruation. Special attention was focused on women who have reclaimed menstruation as a positive, natural event. Four groups of women were created along the continuum of menstrual attitudes. Those categories included; (a) reclaimers, (b) positive, but not reclaimers, (c) middle, and (d) negative. Scores on the MAQ and interview transcripts were used to support my classification of women as reclaimers or as occupying another place along the continuum of menstrual attitudes. The aim of this study was to examine women's views of menstruation, with a focus on the aspects of a woman's life that have led her to possess reclaiming views or views elsewhere on the continuum of menstrual attitudes. Key factors in leading women to become reclaimers, included exposure to nontraditional attitudes and alternative menstrual products from one's peers in late adolescence or early adulthood. Reclaiming women also tended to be feminists and concerned about the environment. Knowing the factors in a woman's life that lead her to possess reclaiming views, makes it possible to develop educational programs that will help other women to view their bodies and natural bodily functions in an affirmative light. When women are able to accept their bodies and reject cultural messages that menstruation is a dirty event and something to be hidden, there is potential for all women's lives to be improved. It is time for more women to believe menstruation is a natural event, worthy of celebration and pride. / Graduation date: 2004

Educational institutions are exposed to a continuously changing environment. As in business, they experiment with their methods and techniques to improve their outputs. Performance assessment, both in education and business is a gray science. It is not just a question of evaluating performance. Performance is comprised of a number of components such as motivation, ability, organizational support, and rewards. This study looked at the relationship between educational assessment and the performance components. An assessment tool called the Balanced Scorecard, which has seen great success in the world of business, was adapted for use in the classroom. The study utilized quasi-experimental design to compare the effects of the broad-based holistic measurement associated with a balanced scorecard, and a traditional grading structure in two topics-based college courses. The study found that motivation, individual equity, satisfaction, and student engagement were all significantly higher in the experimental group by comparison. This evidence suggests that by utilizing a broad base of performance measures, one can increase student motivation and engagement in the learning process. / Graduation date: 1999

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University, 1984. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-99). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1983. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves 110-115.

The purpose of this study was to develop a model describing the relationship of inquiry-based teaching elements on middle school students’ science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) interests and belief changes. The study utilized pretest/posttest, correlational, and longitudinal designs. Classroom inquiry data (N = 139) and middle school students’ attitudinal data (N = 1779) were collected in middle school classrooms within a 40 mile radius of Texas A&M University during the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years. Results indicated 24% of the variation in middle school students’ change in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) interests was explained by the inquiry-learning element “teacher as listener” was very characteristic of this classroom.” STEM interest change explained 55% of the variation in middle school students’ STEM belief change. Analyses indicated NSF Fellows and teachers affected the rate at which middle school students’ STEM beliefs and interests changed. Middle school students’ STEM interests and beliefs remained significantly unchanged from pre- to post-NSF Fellow each year of the study. Classroom inquiry levels did significantly increase from beginning of school-year to end of school-year each year of the project. NSF Fellows had a positive relationship with the one inquiry element “teacher as listener” was very characteristic of the classroom; which explained middle school students’ change in STEM interests. NSF Fellows had negative relationships with the inquiry elements, lessons involved fundamental concepts of the subject; lessons were designed to engage students as members of a learning community; lessons promoted strong conceptual understanding; and elements of abstraction were encouraged when it was important to do so. No inquiry elements were associated with middle school students’ change in STEM beliefs. Middle school students’ change in STEM interests were positively associated with three inquiry elements, “teacher as listener” was very characteristic of the classroom; students were involved in the communication of their ideas to others using a variety of means and media; and student questions and comments often determine the focus and direction of classroom discourse. The inquiry element, instructional strategies and activities respected students’ prior knowledge and the preconceptions inherent therein, was negatively associated with changes in middle school students’ STEM interests.