This thesis is about climate change attitudes in Alberta, Canada. It applies a bivariate logistic analysis to the data gathered from a random stratified sampling survey held in Alberta in 2008. It finds that belief in the anthropogenic climate change and Conservative political ideology factors have a high predictive probability on an individuals willingness to pay a tax that addresses the negative effects of climate change. The subjects of individual capacity and reflexivity are examined in the light of these results and suggestions for future researchers are made. It thus offers insights on how to find human potentials within society that can help to cope with the idea of climate change. / Rural Sociology

No description available.

The problem of this study was to determine the relationship between the nature of an individual's self-concept and belief system to his orientation toward internal versus external control of reinforcement. This study was designed to investigate the relationship of two variables, self-concept and open versus closed belief system, to a third variable, locus of control.

This study explores self-efficacy as an explanation for individual differences in participation in a manufacturing organization with a structured participation program. Participation covers three distinct dimensions of behavior: (1) decision-making pertaining to tasks, (2) good citizenship in the form of extra effort and helping others, and (3) contributing to improvement in work processes. Self-efficacy refers to an individual's belief that he/she can successfully perform an activity in a specific situation. The project was based on an action research design in which the first phase examined the dimensionality of participation self-efficacy, the relationship between participation self-efficacy and actual ratings of participation, and the relationship between perceptions of situational factors and self-efficacy. Exploratory factor analysis found preliminary support for the three proposed dimensions of participation self-efficacy and also for a fourth communication dimension. Weak (e.g., r=.27) and non-significant correlations were found between self-efficacy and actual participation ratings. Situational factors were examined as perceptions of barriers which were proposed to be inversely related to self-efficacy. As expected, negative correlations (ranging from -.28 to -.45) were found between perceptions of situational factors and participation self-efficacy. Phase two of the project evaluated a critical thinking training program designed to increase employee participation. A Pre-test Post-test! Nonequivalent control group design was used to study the influence of training on learning self-efficacy and participation self-efficacy. ANOYA and ANCOVA found no significant differences in post-training self-efficacy between the trained group and the control group. / Ph. D.

This thesis examines current practices of music and prayers in the context of Jam ritual among the Ahl-e Haqq, a vernacular religion group in Iranian Kurdistan. I examine the construction and sacralization of the sacred instrument of the Ahl-e Haqq, tanbūr. I also explore the sacred prayer, kalām, and the association of prayer and music. Through the ethnographic method, participant observations, and interviewing religious figures and master musicians during the fieldwork in Sahneh, Iran, I investigate the relation of the Ahl-e Haqq prayers and music, and their effect on healing during their sacred ritual performance. Drawing primarily on scholarship from David Hufford and Bonnie Blair O’Connor, I theorize to show the distinction between healing and cure. Also using Leonard Primiano’s concept of vernacular religion, my aim is to show how the Ahl-e Haqq define their vernacular health belief system. This thesis examines the effect of music and prayers on healing in particular contexts and how it influences the daily wellbeing.

Thesis advisor: Stephen Pfohl / This work inquires about the subjectivity construction individuals perform in our contemporary media culture. It examines the structure of believing that can be inferred from the narrative elaboration of beliefs exerted in social conversations when pop-media related to spirituality or transcendency are used as inputs for conversation. For this purpose, I investigate the consumption of three films that triggered for their audiences intense controversies that included topics belonging to the blurry crossroad where spirituality, science, and religion intersect: What The Bleep do We (k)now!? (USA 2004), The Da Vinci Code (USA 2006), and The Passion of the Christ (USA 2004). My approach departs from the sociology of spirituality perspective, and draws on some insights developed by ritual studies, sociology of religion, social psychoanalysis, consumer studies, and visual studies. Based on a multi-method strategy of inquiry, formal film analysis, focus and discussion groups, and interview data collected from the audience, this dissertation finds that the burgeoning of a media driven popular culture spirituality in Mexico is creating a wave of Pop-Esotericism. As a rational narrative with consumption and conversational drives, Pop-Esotericism is not only a resonant media-reference, but also constitutes a pre-text in the construction of ephemeral and collective conversational spaces wherein the belief system is engaged and refurnished. To give a full account on the pop-esoteric phenomenon and on overall contemporary belief systems, I propose a theoretical model aimed to uncover the dynamics and strategies we engage to articulate spirituality, identity, and reality in our current global media context. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Submitted by Kleber Silva (kleberbs@ufba.br) on 2017-05-31T19:45:42Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Versão final - Carol Passos.pdf: 2786576 bytes, checksum: 51176f0a4d3c8a2ac70f4fa2b6818b2c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vanessa Reis (vanessa.jamile@ufba.br) on 2017-06-06T14:52:01Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Versão final - Carol Passos.pdf: 2786576 bytes, checksum: 51176f0a4d3c8a2ac70f4fa2b6818b2c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-06T14:52:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Versão final - Carol Passos.pdf: 2786576 bytes, checksum: 51176f0a4d3c8a2ac70f4fa2b6818b2c (MD5) / Many theories in health care and business administration seek answers to the fundamental question of why people behave the way they do. They aim to understand the beliefs underlying an intention or behavior. These theories are currently used to find out how people progress from intention to practice in business environments. In this dissertation, we focus our attention on understanding belief systems behind software engineering practice. Our work aims to characterize a belief system applying behavioral theories in software project teams in terms of the influence factors, such as beliefs, attitude, organizational culture and values, subjective norms, team confidence and autonomy, that actually impact on software practices in industrial settings. Our research went through two cycles, comprising three years of study in Brazilian software companies. A long-term ethnographic case study was conducted, employing participant observation, interviews, and document analysis. A set of interviews on origins and impacts of beliefs was performed with professionals from different project teams and companies. Conceptual frameworks were built based on behavioral theories models to focus and bound the collection of data and guide the synthesis of the results on the research questions posed. The results showed the strong influence of past experiences and organizational contexts on the software development practices of project teams. Based on the findings of the research, it became clear that beliefs alone do not lead project teams to action and behavior. Factors such as attitude toward behavior have a significant influence on practice. New information about something contribute to shape an opinion or predisposition to act and have the potential to affect the attitude depending on the strength of related beliefs, which leads to behavior intention. Another important issue is how consonant are the beliefs of a project team. Common strong beliefs are reflected into practices that project teams actually adopt. However there are beliefs without attitude that do not result in action, as well as team conflicts that hinder the adoption of new practices. All these findings motivated a search for behavioral theories that could explain and conceptualize human behavior. The study showed that it is possible to characterize belief systems in software project contexts within a behavioral perspective. We were able to provide rich narrative accounts for software engineering research and our approach has led to practical and useful recommendations for companies. The main contribution of this dissertation is to deepen relevant knowledge and experience on the characterization of beliefs in organizational contexts and how they and other influence factors actually impact practices, processes and decisions in software industry projects.

Since 2008 with the Russo-Georgian war we observe the gradual deterioration of relations between Russia and the European Union which achieves its apogee during the Ukrainian crisis and the annexation of Crimea. The cultural approach is to be applied for understanding and exploration of the conflict: its reasons and mechanism. The work is aimed to define conflicting beliefs and values, considering them on a cultural basis. The current escalation of relationships is reviewed as a cultural conflict, the author claims different mentality as one of the influential factors and possible dimensions of conflict analysis. This work also points out internal cultural mechanisms and features provoking aggressive external policy and considers cultural identity as a container of ideas which justify and originate opposition and conflict with other cultures. This work is an attempt to introduce a concept of an individual's mentality, to link personal and group mentality and find out how cultural meaning content influences on formation of a personal mindset - a system of personal beliefs and values. Research part consists of preliminary comparative questionnaire-based survey with 30 respondents, secondary analysis of World Value Survey, and 10 depth interviews based on 3 survey questions, analyzed by means of mental...

No description available.

The intention of this project is to examine whether or not; Anthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair, experienced any belief changes or learning, during the period he was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK), a period which lasted 10 years commencing 1997 until 2007. Our analysis will cover a timeline beginning from 1999 a point in time when the UK participated in NATO’s Operation Allied Force during the Kosovo War until 2006 when Britain took on the reins of the EU presidency for a six-month period. An exploration, of the beliefs behind a leader’s decision making logic, should always be considered a prudent undertaking especially when it comes to foreign policy studies. This is because, it is only through such activity scholars can comprehend the distinction between decisions and actions. Thus, understanding when and how; an individual leaders’ belief system changes, is of central importance in furthering our ability in explaining not only state behaviour, but, also the relationship between ‘self’ and ‘other’. The main purpose of an operational code analysis is to enable political scientists and policy makers alike, to deduce from a particular leader’s verbal content, what that actor's beliefs are and the premises they take in relation to their decision-making process. The first of our two part hypotheses seeks to determine whether Tony Blair exhibited changes in his beliefs at various stages of his premiership. These stages were signified by events which were also crucial in defining his political legacy. The events are divided into three categories, Post Kosovo – Pre Iraq, Pre 9/11 – Post 9/11 and Pre EU – Post EU. On completion of our VICS and SPSS analysis on Tony Blair’s operational code belief we discovered that there were no statistically significant changes in any of his operational indices. So, due to the lack of statistically significant changes in Blair’s Philosophical and Instrumental indices we could not classify the events selected for this analysis as having produced any influence on his belief system. Thus we rejected our null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis.