Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Dissertation (DPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

This study examines individual decision making in financial contexts. Specifically, the study investigates basic propositions of Prospect Theory (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979) in a variety of decision making contexts that are often faced by corporate managers. In addition, the research explores the effects of ruinous losses, multiple reference points, and prior gains and losses on financial decision making. It was hypothesized that (1) decision makers' risk behavior will be risk avoiding in gain situations and risk seeking in loss situations, (2) prior gains and losses will differentially impact risk taking/avoiding behavior, (3) decision makers will switch from risk seeking to risk avoiding in the presence of ruinous losses (i.e. bankruptcy), and (4) managers' risky behavior will be affected by both target and current levels of performance. Seven experiments were conducted which required experienced corporate managers to choose between alternative investment proposals that varied in their degree of risk. From these choices, risk taking or avoiding behavior was inferred. Results indicated that financial managers exhibit risk taking as well as risk avoiding behavior. Across a variety of investment settings, experienced managers display an underlying tendency towards risk avoidance. However, decision contexts that clearly involve financial losses or offer returns well below potential reference points result in risk taking behavior. In addition, risk behavior was influenced by various contextual factors. The presence of prior outcomes affected risky choices, with greater risk avoidance occurring when prior losses were recently experienced. Managers also switched from risk taking when faced with loss alternatives, to risk avoiding when those losses potentially became ruinous. Finally, corporate managers' risk behavior was influenced by the joint consideration of both current and target levels of performance.

Biliography: leaves 76-79. / Following the action research tradition, a series of four workshops was conducted with 14 - 20 teachers at Songeze Lower Primary School in Guguletu. The workshops were in response to a preceding 'fact-finding' study as to the teachers' perceptions and attributions regarding common emotional and behavioural problems of pupils at their school. This pilot study arose from debate about the relevance of psychological practice in the South African context and in an attempt to identify feasible means of extending the services of the University of Cape Town's Child Guidance Clinic to "oppressed communities" in the Cape Peninsula. It was hypothesized that workshops would be a resource-efficient means of triadic, community - clinical consultation. This workshop series was negotiated with the teachers and comprised: 'Problem Identification and Assessment', 'Discipline', 'Listening Skills' and 'Referral Resources and Group Consultation'. During each workshop, didactic input was supported with hand-outs while large group discussion and problem solving was also stimulated. The last three workshops were quantitatively evaluated by the teachers and in a fifth meeting their qualitative feedback was elicited. An important variable in the above study involved its having been conducted by two researchers, one being "black" and the author being "white". Issues of language barriers, credibility, trust and differing perceptions and expectations between researchers and the participant teachers complicated the workshop process. The teachers' differential responses to the researchers, based on their 'colour', resulted in each experiencing and interpreting their role and relevance differently. It was found that the teachers' most pressing needs concern basic teaching skills and that clinical psychologists have a relatively minor contribution to make via simple, directive input along behaviour modification principles. Workshops were not found to be an optimal mode of intervention. It is suggested that inter-disciplinary team consultation, with clinical psychology interns playing a role in psychological and psychometric assessment and providing workshops on topics such as Discipline may be a more appropriate means of extending the Child Guidance Clinic's services to schools in the Guguletu community. A strong recommendation is made that the study of an "African" language be included in the Clinical Psychology training program. A further suggestion of exploring the need for, and feasibility of, interns conducting teacher support groups is also forwarded.

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Community Psychology) in the Department of Psychology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2002. / This study is about language in psychology. As its central theme, it [study] advocates the cen-trality of language in psychology in general and particularly in community psychology. The study seeks to demonstrate that language is not only a tool for social construction of reality and social communication, but also a powerful influence on human behaviour in a social context. It is argued that psychology has glibly taken the influence of community psychological language on social behaviour for granted, and as such, there is not enough investigation in this area. Drawing from a broad base of research data findings, it is proposed that community socio¬political dynamics and psycho-social experiences, such as racial segregation / integration, politi¬cal strife, peace and reconciliation for instance, are appropriated, shaped and expressed, among other, through and in a community psychological language in context. In other words, it is pro¬posed that there is reciprocity of co-construction and co-influence between community psycho¬logical language and human social behaviour. If the theory of community psychological influence of language on human social behaviour is valid, the dialectical tensions of co-influence may therefore be a high leverage potential that could be tapped by community psychologists to unleash desired community change, conciliation and reconstruction, which is desperately needed in the country. This could be a great boon for applied community psychology. The present study maintains that the psychological and sociological interface process between language and human behaviour in a social context is a research area that has a great potential for the theoretical and practical development of community psychology practice. It is hoped that this thesis will stimulate further academic debate and research.

A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PHD Community Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2003. / The rate of divorce and family breakdown is escalating at an alarming rate. This growth of a substantial number of people experiencing divorce has questioned the effectiveness of family centered orthodox approaches to resolving marital difficulties thereby necessitating exploration of a macro intervention strategy to the epidemic of marital breakdown. In this study methods chosen were focus group discussions and participant observation. A marriage enrichment group was formed for the purpose of giving psychology to the people, and to empower them so that they can solve their own problems, in their own communities, bearing in mind that the number of psychologists who can deal with the increasing number is limited. Couples group meetings were held fortnightly primarily to provide an opportunity for people in intimate relationships to examine the quality of their relationships, to determine what barriers were preventing genuine intimacy, to make decisions concerning how they want to change their lives with each other and to explore their conflicts. The need to form a marriage group arose out of the need for community psychologists to be visible and effect change in couples' struggles. An empowerment model was chosen taking into consideration that the model implies that competencies are thwarted due to social-cultural barriers and a lack of resources, and that these competencies can be strengthened through the support of local community groups, rather than large, centralized social agencies and institutions which control resources. A marriage enrichment group is used as an example of community psychology's macro empowerment intervention strategy to societal problems. The study has demonstrated that in groups couples function better and are able to resolve conflicts with the group serving as a watchdog in fostering accountability.

M.A. / The Department of Education encourages parents to become involved in their children’s education by joining the school governing bodies. However, serving on a governing body is not the ultimate form of parental involvement. Governing bodies are involved at the macro level of planning which involves the holistic planning and management of the school, they are not involved at the micro level which deals with the day to day issues that arise within the classroom. Teachers at the Geluksdal Primary School say that they cannot give children with learning difficulties the individual attention with an average of forty-five pupils per class. They have found that more than fifty percent of the children they teach do not understand the lessons. Teachers feel that the school day is short and the number of children struggling too great for them to intervene effectively. They welcome parental involvement and think that parents should assist their children individually at home. This qualitative action research study is a partnership between the researcher, parents (with children who have learning difficulties) and teachers for the co-creation of community in the best interest of children's educational development. The co-creation of community between parents and teachers requires of them to meet with each other to discuss children's needs and difficulties and to attend to these needs and difficulties. The co-creation of community refers to the joint effort of parents and teachers to better the education of children with learning problems. The focus group consisted of five parents who committed themselves and three parents who moved in an out of the group. Seven teachers participated in this study but failed to commit themselves to the forming of community. These teachers seemed de-motivated from disappointing past experiences to get parents involved in children's education, but to little avail. It appeared as if they did not believe that meeting with parents after school to build a relationship in the best interest of children would make a difference, and did not think it to be important. Another important factor that could be related to the teachers’ reactions, was that they held an ‘out-there’ philosophy which suggested that the problems experienced by children with learning difficulties was caused by the home. The research was continued with the hope to raise the teachers’ consciousness of their involvement in the educational progress of children with learning difficulties. Three teachers were interviewed individually on their views of parental involvement in education. Results showed that the co-creation of community between parents and teachers do have an impact on children’s educational development. Those parents who were committed to become involved in their children's education found that their children’s progress at school improved considerably.

The introduction of community health workers has become important to the delivery healthcare services to communities. Thus, their role and impact on the well-being of the communities they serve as well as their own, has been of interest to researchers. Consequently, one of the themes among literature on community health workers, is on the challenges that they face, including disempowerment. Empowerment is a construct common to community psychology. From the available literature on community health workers, it is unclear what makes them feel empowered. To date, scant South African research is available that could shed light on the factors that develop community health workers’ sense of empowerment. To assist in filling this void, this qualitative study was conducted to explore, through their experiences, the factors that develop community health worker’s sense of empowerment. Data was collected through individual semi-structured interviews with four participants selected through purposive sampling. Experiential thematic analysis was used to identify themes in the data. Five main themes reflected the factors the participants regarded as empowering: their individual factors; their opportunity to acquire new skills, knowledge, and information; having effective support systems; the interactions between them and their community; and factors from their organisations. These findings were noteworthy and have implications for organisations employing CHWs, community psychologists, and other professions that work closely with CHWs. / Mini Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Psychology / MA / Unrestricted

According to Bioecological theory, social and environmental contexts (e.g., parental incarceration) shape child outcomes (Brofennbrenner & Ceci, 1994). Research suggests that children with incarcerated parents are at heightened risk of experiencing adverse outcomes, yet, little research has focused on resilience in this population (Arditti et al., 2020). Conceptualized within a Bioecological framework (Brofennbrenner & Ceci, 1994), the present study used a person-centered approach to investigate emotional resilience in children with incarcerated mothers. Participants were 148 children (Mage = 9.87 years, SD = 1.65 years, range = 7–13 years, 52.7% female, 66% Black), their 116 incarcerated mothers (Mage = 32.8 years, SD = 5.90 years, 62% Black), and their 117 primary caregivers (Mage = 47.6 years, SD = 11.8 years, 74% female, 64% Black). Children completed questionnaires assessing emotion regulation, child receptive vocabulary proficiency, and friendship quality with a best friend. Mothers and caregivers completed questionnaires assessing parenting behaviors and demographic information. Cluster analysis was conducted to group children based on child-reported similarity in anger and sadness emotion regulation skills which yielded a 4-cluster solution including Emotionally Regulated (n = 40), Sadness Dysregulated (n = 48), Poorly Regulated (n = 26), and Immaturely Regulated (n = 34) clusters. Then, differences between clusters were examined on the following variables: parenting behaviors, friendship quality, neighborhood violence, and socioeconomic status (SES). Moderating effects of gender were explored. Emotional resilience was demonstrated in the Emotionally Regulated cluster. Boys in the Poorly Regulated cluster had significantly lower caregiver progressive beliefs than the other three clusters. Additionally, caregiver hostility was significantly greater at high levels of neighborhood violence, and this effect did not vary by cluster. Lastly, children experienced greater negative friendship interactions at low levels of socio-economic status, and this effect did not vary by cluster. Future research is needed to understand factors that promote resiliency in emotion regulation for children experiencing maternal incarceration so that they can buffer children from negative outcomes.

Thesis (D. Phil.(Sielk)--University of Pretoria, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 302-330).