Mentoring has been found to be an effective psychosocial buffer to occupational stress (Chao & Walz, 1992; Noe, 1988; Siege1 & Reinstein, 2001). Mentoring provides support for personal confirmation, acceptance, friendship and role modelling (Kram 1985, 1986) The current study was part of an initiative within the New Zealand Police to introduce mentoring as part of a supported induction for new Police Constables into the organisation. The aim was to evaluate the use of mentoring as a psychosocial support in this induction process. Using a Solomon Four Group design the 254 subjects (180 protégé(e)s and 74 mentors) were randomly assigned to four groups. These groups were (i) those who had a pre-test, assigned a mentor and post test (ii) those who had a pre-test and post test (iii) those who had a mentor and a post test (iv) those who had a post test only. Testing included two questionnaires; a Combined Measures Questionnaire – which incorporated six psychometric tests including BDI, BHS, MHI, CMTS, HSCL-21 and ITQ; and a Mentor Relationship Questionnaire. The former was administered at pre- and post- test in accordance with the experimental design while the later [i.e. latter] was only administered at the end of the mentoring programme. There was no clinically significant effect noted in terms of change in psychological well-being or distress for either protégé(e)s or mentors (p > .05). There was a significant effect of mentoring in terms of an increase in intent to quit, F(1,10) = 7.43, p = .02 and a trend toward significance for decreased general distress levels F(1,10) = 4.80, p = .53 for the mentors at the end of the experimental period. These findings are tempered by a small control group (n=2). The main finding of this study was that positive outcomes were reported about the mentor relationship, on the Mentoring Relationship Questionnaire, from both protégé(e)s and mentors. These results were achieved in less than three sessions. From these findings it may be concluded that there is a place for a formal mentoring programme in the induction process of the New Zealand Police organisation.

This research set out to determine factors associated with text bullying. It examined the relationship between personality traits and the level of hostility expressed by students in reaction to sample text messages. One hundred and ninety eight girls aged 13 and 14 in Canada and New Zealand volunteered to complete a questionnaire consisting of four personality measures - the impulsivity subscale of the PRF-E, cynical distrust scale (revised), needs for power scale (revised), and the rejection sensitivity scale (adult, short). The survey also rated their proposed likely response to eight sample text messages that covered four themes and to two levels of intensity. Results using Pearson’s r correlation of .01 demonstrated a significant relationship between hostility and impulsivity. There was no significant difference in either the results of the personality measures or their level of hostility between the results of the Canadian and New Zealand participants. How these findings contribute to the current theoretical knowledge of adolescent bullying and the practical application of these findings for schools are also discussed.

This thesis uses a discourse analytic approach to the language used by Pakeha in talk about Maori in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The research begins with an assay of a large body of public submissions and, using the finding of common themes and patterns of ideas, images and usages running though the data, proceeds to examine texts arising from other contexts in order to comment on the generality of the original results. It is suggested that the commonalities described amount to an ideological and linguistic resource base for the construction of a powerful "standard story" of Maori/Pakeha relations, which underpins and legitimates the oppressive status quo. Further extensions of the investigation examine changes in the discourse in the contemporary setting and pursue origins of the themes in historical texts arising from the period of contact between Maori and Pakeha prior to the colonisation of the country.

This thesis uses a discourse analytic approach to the language used by Pakeha in talk about Maori in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The research begins with an assay of a large body of public submissions and, using the finding of common themes and patterns of ideas, images and usages running though the data, proceeds to examine texts arising from other contexts in order to comment on the generality of the original results. It is suggested that the commonalities described amount to an ideological and linguistic resource base for the construction of a powerful "standard story" of Maori/Pakeha relations, which underpins and legitimates the oppressive status quo. Further extensions of the investigation examine changes in the discourse in the contemporary setting and pursue origins of the themes in historical texts arising from the period of contact between Maori and Pakeha prior to the colonisation of the country.

The experience of work life is saturated with feelings or emotions (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1995). For humans, as with any social animals, our survival and day to day functioning rely heavily on the communication and perception of emotions (Ashkanasy, Härtel, & Zerbe, 2000b). When attention is paid to increasing awareness and understanding of emotion in our work lives, and how those emotions affect others, there is potential to improve interpersonal interactions and develop more positive, supportive work relationships. The work environment is largely dependent on the quality of these relationships and connections between organisational members (Carmeli, 2009). Despite the centrality of work relationships within organisations, researchers are yet to fully understand the dynamics and the processes that nurture and sustain positive interpersonal relationships at work (Ragins & Dutton, 2007). Collegial relationships are particularly important in organisations such as schools, where the way that staff interact with one another not only affects their job performance and the quality of their work life, but also the lives and learning abilities of their students. The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding how collegial interactions, relationships, and the school environment may change when staff are trained in emotional skills. This research was a smaller, parallel study contributing to a larger three year project – Te Aniwaniwa: Warming up the Classroom Emotional Environment. A mixed method approach utilised quantitative information from questionnaires to assess the school environment and morale, and qualitative information from weekly diaries of emotional interactions and semi-structured interviews. All of the teaching and support staff from a local primary school attended workshops to enhance their emotional skills based on the Harvey-Evans (2003) model of the classroom emotional environment. Although statistical analyses were not sensitive enough to detect changes in quantitative data from questionnaires due to a small sample size (N=18), qualitative information collected from weekly diaries and interviews suggested that staff were noticing changes to their day to day interactions with one another and improvements to their professional relationships. Interview themes highlighted some of the day to day behaviours and expectations that may be important in laying solid foundations on which positive relationships can be built. By delivering training to individuals within School A to enhance their emotional skills, this programme encouraging the development of an atmosphere where emotions could be expressed, understood and managed more effectively. The implications of these results are not necessarily restricted to management and staff relationships in schools but may also be extended to other occupational settings where individuals are required to support one another and share ideas and resources.

Grounded in Green and Kreuter's (1991) flexible research framework (the PRECEDE model), the prime purpose of this doctoral research agenda has been to enhance our understanding of the frequently obscure psychosocial implications of ageing with hearing handicap (HH) in the audible world, by focusing on the dyadic perspectives of older New Zealand (NZ) ex-service personnel and their spouses. Glass and Balfour's (2003) Ecological Model of Ageing guided the multidisciplinary literature review, in order to accommodate the functional implications of age-related losses which could potentially exacerbate the social and emotional sequelae of ageing with HH and tinnitus. In addition, Cohen's (1992) Transactional Model of Stress (which integrates three social support constructs with Lazarus and Folkman's [1984] model describing adaptations to stressful events), illustrates how on-going social and emotional adjustments to hearing losses could potentially affect older adults' health-related quality of life (H-QoL). Infused by these transdisciplinary ecological perspectives, a composite model of Ageing with Hearing Handicap was proposed to explore older dyadic partner perspectives of NZ veterans' adjustment to ageing with hearing handicap; and to identify which factors exerted the most influence over the veterans' self-reported perceptions of HH and H-QoL. Methods: A purposive pilot study sample (N=51 veterans) initially guided the appropriate selection of ecologically relevant biopsychosocial variables and data collection methods (self-report mail out booklets) for two subsequent studies: (i) The main 'parent' study (referred to as the Hearing Aid Research Project [HARP]), which examined the predictors of hearing aid use in veterans aged 50 year and older; and (ii) The doctoral study, which explored dyadic perspectives of ageing with HH. The doctoral study's dyadic partner sample (N=671 dyads) comprised a subset of the 1249 HARP veterans. This subset met the doctoral study's inclusion criteria of male veterans aged 65 years plus, who had responded with a female partner/spouse residing in the same household. Only dyads with reasonably complete mail out survey response sets were selected. The dyadic partner response sets included social demographic details and responses to a number of constructs relevant to the doctoral research context including: aural rehabilitation, HH, H-QoL, emotional wellbeing, social support and memory in everyday life. Results: The results describe significantly different aural rehabilitation coping trajectories between the self-identified 'first time' and more experienced hearing aid users; and dyadic partner comparisons which highlight that the female partners were more acutely aware of the stigmatising impact of hearing losses on the veterans' social and emotional agency. Analyses of the intersecting structural and functional features of social support illustrated that increasing levels of the veterans' hearing handicap (HH) exacerbated both partners' social isolation. Wenger's (1994) support network typology illustrated how both partners' depressive symptoms and the veterans' frequency of forgetting increased significantly across a socially integrated to isolated support network continuum. The composite model of Ageing with Hearing Handicap accounted for 71.5% of the variation in the veterans' self-reported HH; 62.6% of their physical and 37.3% of their mental H-QoL. The multivariate analyses also demonstrated that HH produced a direct and negative impact on the veterans' mental H-QoL, by constraining their social and emotional agency; but only indirectly on their physical H-QoL, through reducing their energy levels and constraining their social participation. Conclusions: These transdisciplinary perspectives provide cross-sectional insights about the social and emotional wellbeing of veterans ageing with HH and their spouses, and suggest downstream links that affect their H-QoL. These findings highlight the importance of hearing health policy agendas and the communication contexts of health service delivery across all age groups. Moreover, by resolving the complex methodological and conceptual challenges inherent in focussing on older dyadic partners' everyday experiences, targets have become apparent for further investigation, to enhance and refine our understandings of engaging ecological perspectives when conducting health research.

As explicações centradas em discursos sobre o cérebro ganham cada vez mais espaço em nosso coletivo, produzindo uma multiplicação no prefixo “neuro” nas mais diversas áreas, como neuropsicologia, neurolinguística ou neuroeducação. A prevalência das explicações neurocientíficas sobre outras perspectivas parece estar relacionada à criação de um plano biológico capaz de conectar objetos das Ciências Humanas e das Ciências Naturais produzindo um apagamento das fronteiras entre as duas através de uma sobreposião do Natural. Essa tese se insere no debate das relações entre psicologia e neurociências cognitivas. Nosso objetivo é propor através de conceito de políticas cognitivas uma forma de discutir as relações entre psicologia e neurociências evitando uma hierarquia pré-definida. Divimos a tese em duas partes. A primeira opera uma discussão histórica a respeito da temporalidade moderna e do progresso como forma de pensar a relação entre teorias, bem como discute a institucionalização das ciências da cognição. Sugerimos bifurcação e acontecimento como conceitos que nos permitem pensar a trajetória científica em outros termos, assim como mostramos que como campo multidisciplinar as ciências cognitivas só foram possíveis por uma oscilação entre a unidade e a multiplicidade da cognição. A segunda parte desenvolve o conceito de políticas cognitivas e o contraste com outras formas de pensar a multidisciplinaridade nas ciências da cognição e em seguida, apresenta diferentes políticas que se organizam ao redor da consciência de si, considerando por fim, como a relação entre essas políticas não precisa se estabelecer a partir da objetividade. Nas conclusões propomos algumas condições para relacionar diferentes políticas, bem como sugerimos uma postura ética necessária para a discussão. / Explanations centered on concepts about the brain gain more and more space in our collective, producing a multiplication in the prefix "neuro" in the most diverse areas, such as neuropsychology, neurolinguistics or neuroeducation. The prevalence of neuroscientific explanations over other perspectives seems to be related to the creation of a biological speech capable of connecting objects of the Human Sciences and Natural Sciences producing a blurring of the boundaries between the two through an overlap of the Natural. This thesis is inserted in the debate of the relations between cognitive psychology and cognitive neurosciences. Our objective is to propose through concept of cognitive politics a way of discussing the relations between psychology and neurosciences avoiding a pre-defined hierarchy. We divided the thesis into two parts. The first operates a historical discussion on modern temporality and progress as a way of thinking the relation between theories, as well as discusses the institutionalization of the cognitive sciences. We suggest bifurcation and event as concepts that allow us to think the scientific trajectory in other terms, just as we showed that as a multidisciplinary field the cognitive sciences were only possible by an oscillation between the unity and multiplicity of cognition. The second part develops the concept of cognitive politics and the contrast with other ways of thinking the multidisciplinarity in the sciences of cognition and then presents different politics that are organized around the self-awareness, considering finally how the relationship between these politics need not be established from objectivity. In the conclusions we propose some conditions to relate different politics, as well as we suggest a necessary ethical stance for the discussion.

As explicações centradas em discursos sobre o cérebro ganham cada vez mais espaço em nosso coletivo, produzindo uma multiplicação no prefixo “neuro” nas mais diversas áreas, como neuropsicologia, neurolinguística ou neuroeducação. A prevalência das explicações neurocientíficas sobre outras perspectivas parece estar relacionada à criação de um plano biológico capaz de conectar objetos das Ciências Humanas e das Ciências Naturais produzindo um apagamento das fronteiras entre as duas através de uma sobreposião do Natural. Essa tese se insere no debate das relações entre psicologia e neurociências cognitivas. Nosso objetivo é propor através de conceito de políticas cognitivas uma forma de discutir as relações entre psicologia e neurociências evitando uma hierarquia pré-definida. Divimos a tese em duas partes. A primeira opera uma discussão histórica a respeito da temporalidade moderna e do progresso como forma de pensar a relação entre teorias, bem como discute a institucionalização das ciências da cognição. Sugerimos bifurcação e acontecimento como conceitos que nos permitem pensar a trajetória científica em outros termos, assim como mostramos que como campo multidisciplinar as ciências cognitivas só foram possíveis por uma oscilação entre a unidade e a multiplicidade da cognição. A segunda parte desenvolve o conceito de políticas cognitivas e o contraste com outras formas de pensar a multidisciplinaridade nas ciências da cognição e em seguida, apresenta diferentes políticas que se organizam ao redor da consciência de si, considerando por fim, como a relação entre essas políticas não precisa se estabelecer a partir da objetividade. Nas conclusões propomos algumas condições para relacionar diferentes políticas, bem como sugerimos uma postura ética necessária para a discussão. / Explanations centered on concepts about the brain gain more and more space in our collective, producing a multiplication in the prefix "neuro" in the most diverse areas, such as neuropsychology, neurolinguistics or neuroeducation. The prevalence of neuroscientific explanations over other perspectives seems to be related to the creation of a biological speech capable of connecting objects of the Human Sciences and Natural Sciences producing a blurring of the boundaries between the two through an overlap of the Natural. This thesis is inserted in the debate of the relations between cognitive psychology and cognitive neurosciences. Our objective is to propose through concept of cognitive politics a way of discussing the relations between psychology and neurosciences avoiding a pre-defined hierarchy. We divided the thesis into two parts. The first operates a historical discussion on modern temporality and progress as a way of thinking the relation between theories, as well as discusses the institutionalization of the cognitive sciences. We suggest bifurcation and event as concepts that allow us to think the scientific trajectory in other terms, just as we showed that as a multidisciplinary field the cognitive sciences were only possible by an oscillation between the unity and multiplicity of cognition. The second part develops the concept of cognitive politics and the contrast with other ways of thinking the multidisciplinarity in the sciences of cognition and then presents different politics that are organized around the self-awareness, considering finally how the relationship between these politics need not be established from objectivity. In the conclusions we propose some conditions to relate different politics, as well as we suggest a necessary ethical stance for the discussion.

<div>The Contextuality-by-Default theory describes the contextual effects on random variables: how the identity of random variables changes from one context to another. Direct influences and true contextuality constitute different types of effects of contexts upon sets of random variables. Changes in the distributions of random variables across contexts define direct influences. True contextuality is defined by the impossibility of sewing all the variables of a system of random variables into a particular overall joint distribution. In the absence of direct influences, the theory specializes to the theory of selective influences in psychology and the traditional treatment of contextuality in quantum mechanics. Consistently connected (i.e., with no direct influences) noncontextual systems are the systems with selective influences. However, observable systems of human behavior are seldom consistently connected. Contextuality-by-Default allows one to classify and measure the degree of deviation from or adherence to the pattern of selective influences, both for consistently and inconsistently connected systems.</div><div><br></div><div><div>The papers here included follow the development of the Contextuality-by-Default theory. The theory is presented for cyclic systems of binary random variables, for arbitrary systems of binary random variables, and for systems that include categorical random variables. Although contextuality has been searched for in human behavior since at least the 1990s, I report here the first experiments that have demonstrated contextuality in choice behavior without making the mistake of ignoring the direct influences present in the systems of random variables. A psychophysical experiment was conducted and then analyzed using the theory for systems of binary random variables. Its results showed no contextuality in a double-detection paradigm, that is, in an experiment in which each participant was asked to make dual conjoint judgments of signal detection for two stimuli at a time. Several crowdsourcing experiments were</div><div>conducted and analyzed using the theory for cyclic systems of binary random variables. These experiments demonstrate contextuality using a between-subjects experimental design. Among them, the Snow Queen experiment, in which each participant made two conjoint choices in accordance with a simple story line, provided a methodological template (used afterward to design the other crowdsourcing experiments) for</div><div>systematically exploring contextuality. Lastly, another psychophysical experiment was conducted and then analyzed using the theory for systems with categorical random variables. This one is the first experiment that demonstrates contextuality in a within-subject design.</div></div><div><br></div><div><div>In addition to the experimental work reported in these papers, I also present the development of the Contextuality-by-Default theory from the theory for cyclic systems to the theory for systems with categorical random variables. The nominal dominance theorem, which states a necessary condition for noncontextuality of systems where all dichotomizations of categorical variables are considered, is the most relevant theoretical result of this development. The role that the notion of contextuality can play in psychology is difficult to fully understand at our present stage of knowledge. Most obviously, contextuality analysis is a generalization of the traditional psychological problem of selective influences. It is, in fact, the only existing theoretical tool for classifying and quantifying patterns of deviations from the hypothesis of selective influences. It is less evident whether the degree of (non)contextuality correlates with specific aspects of behavior that may be of interest. Although some such correlations seem to suggest themselves, to be certain and precise in identifying them, we need to expand our knowledge of the degree of (non)contextuality to a broader class of behavioral systems.</div></div>

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