The purpose of this study was to empirically support and elaborate upon an integrative theory of career development by examining the worklife adjustment and career development experiences of new Canadian immigrant professionals. In focusing on the participants’ subjective views, the study provided an understanding of the lived experiences of this unique life-career transition, and in so doing, aimed to elaborate upon existing theories of career development towards the development and empirical substantiation of a comprehensive, diversity- and culturally- sensitive integrated meta-theory of the career development of immigrants in Canada. A qualitative methodology was employed and transcripts of in-depth interviews were analyzed using a grounded theory approach to data analysis. The central themes within the narratives that emerged were contrasted against an integrative career development theory and career development theoretical constructs, with the goal of elucidating the role and function of such constructs in immigrants’ Canadian career development. The study’s findings and contribution of a diversity- and culturally- informed, integrated, and enriched meta-theory of career development have implications for career counselling, cross-cultural, immigrant, and vocational psychology literature and practice.

There is popular belief among Kenyans that their government inappropriately distributes resources unequally between different regions in Kenya. A modified version of Zimmerman and Zahniser's (1991) Sociopolitical Control Scale (SPCS) tested for differences in perceived sociopolitical control (SPC) between residents of Kenya's three biggest cities, Nairobi (n = 49), Mombasa (n = 50), and Kisumu (n = 51). Hypotheses were based on expected levels of leadership competence (LC) and policy control (PC), two sub-scales that combine to create SPC. Contrary to the hypothesis, results indicated no significant differences in levels of SPC among the cities. Results could indicate a shared urban culture throughout these cities, or could be due to methodological issues. Suggestions for creating a Kenya-specific SPCS are outlined.

The purpose of this dissertation was to analyze the impact of international experiential education on life choices, specifically those related to career and educational goals. This was accomplished through two main phases of research. In the first phase, a web-based survey was used to explore the question of whether international experiential education did, in fact, impact life choices. Responses from this initial phase were used to identify a purposive sample of eight respondents with whom telephone interviews were conducted in the second phase of the study. The goal of the interviews was to determine, for those who indicated that their life choices had been impacted by the abroad experience, when and why it had happened. The evaluation was done by applying Mezirow’s transformative learning theory to the analysis. The self-reported responses indicated that there was an impact on life choices related to educational and career goals in almost 80 percent of the 74 survey respondents. These data were used as the foundation for the second phase of the study, which examined the catalysts for, and the process of, transformation through the lens of transformative learning theory. Almost all respondents indicated that the international experience had transformed their perspectives on their identity and purpose in life. Seven out of eight respondents discussed how they had gained an understanding of the fact that where one is born defines his or her perspective. One’s sociocultural environment defines who one is and how he or she sees the world. The international experience allows a person to see themselves through the eyes of others. While the timing and specifics of the catalysts varied, each of these seven had gone through the phases of transformation--disorienting dilemma, critical reflection, changed frame of reference--with some relation to the abroad experience.

<p>Motivated by recent academic inquiry into the distinction between relational collectivism and group collectivism that characterize different cultures, I empirically investigate the differential effects of relational and group collectivism on social motivation across cultures. The present research contextualizes motivation in social interactions and illustrates the influences of different types of interaction partners on social motivation through self-construal. To unpackage the psychological process in which social motivation is elicited, I develop a two-step theoretical model: In the first step, I examine how different types of interaction partners activate the individual, relational and collective aspects of the self construal. The second step of my model investigates how the activated self-construal shapes individuals' social motivations toward their interaction partners.</p><p>Empirical studies were conducted in an individualist culture (US) and a collective culture (Singapore). Results from the studies identified both culturally specific and culturally universal patterns in self-construal activation. Interacting with a friend elicits relational self across both cultures. When interacting with a stranger, members of individualist cultures activated their collective and relational selves whereas members of collectivist cultures activated their individual self. Another interesting finding is that interacting with an ingroup member evokes the relational aspect of the self-construal in collectivist cultures, but it elicits the collective aspect of the self-construal in individualist cultures. An outgroup member evokes the collective aspect of the self-construal across both cultures. The studies also examined the link between the activated self-construal and its motivational consequence, and established the mediating effect of self-construal between interaction partner and social motivation. Applying the two-step model to both individualist and collectivist cultures, I demonstrate that individualist and collectivist cultures vary in the self-construal activation process in response to different types of interaction partners, but once certain aspect of the self is activated, it is likely to lead to the same social motivations across the two cultures.</p> / Dissertation

In musikklasser in the Swedish compulsory school a special musical training focusing on choral singing is offered students from the age of ten to sixteen. Regarding singing with children, choir teaching in these classes represents conventions developed in accordance with the Swedish choral tradition. Students are trained in large groups of (30-60); in parallel, they receive individual singing voice training in order for the choir to perform with a communal musical expression. This complexity places high demands on the choir teachers' ability to foster the specific musical skills required in a choir. Starting out from a cultural-psychological theoretical perspective, this study explores two choral teachers' interaction with their choir classes, respectively, by means of a method inspired by ethnography. Participating students were aged 10 and 11. Observation data of four lessons was collected, two with each teacher. Lessons were documented by field notes, one lesson of each teacher was video-documented. Analysis included three methods of data transcription: First of all, by writing thick descriptions. After that all events during the lesson were written down in a timetable and finally, a short representative sequence from each lesson was transcribed into a music score. Thus, the variety of methods enabled a deep analysis of data. The results show, on the one hand, that the teachers use a similar overall pattern for interaction. On the other hand, within this overall pattern they interact with their students in different ways that are being described as personal designs of interaction according to which each teacher uses the available cultural tools in individually different combinations when distributing knowledge to the students. In spite of this, differences in quality between the performances of the two choir classes were not recognised during the observed lessons. Accordingly, one conclusion of this study is that the overall music cultural context has a larger impact on students' ability to perform choral music than teachers' personal design of interaction.

Most psychometric instruments used in South Africa are based on Western theory. Questions have arisen on the suitability and validity of these instruments in this context. Usually tests are imported from foreign countries and then applied with the same confidence in terms of the accuracy and prediction that these tests have in those foreign countries. However, studies in recent times have found that there exist numerous problems with these assessments in the South African context. In South Africa personality assessment instruments are used for the purpose of recruitment, placement, to identify training and development and for performance appraisal of workers. Currently none of the available personality questionnaires have been found to be reliable and valid for all cultural groups. This presents a particular predicament seeing as the Labour Relations Act (66 of 1995), which regulates the use of these assessments, states that these tests are prohibited unless they are shown to be scientifically valid, reliable and can be fairly applied over all without any discrimination. The objectives of this study were to investigate how personality is conceptualised in literature, to identify problems with personality measurement in South Africa, to explore how personality perspectives could be determined and to investigate the personality descriptive terms of the Ndebele people. A qualitative research design was used with an interview as data-gathering instrument. isiNdebele-speaking fieldworkers were recruited to interview 107 isiNdebele-speaking South Africans from the Mpumalanga Province. A total of 4165 responses were obtained from the respondents and translated into English. Content analysis was used to analyse, interpret and reduce these descriptors to a total of 151 personality facets. The personality characteristics were divided into nine categories, namely: Agreeable, Tough-minded, Gregarious, Emotional Stability, Conscientious, Self-absorbed, Intellect/Open, Influential and Relationship Harmony. These findings were compared to the Five Factor Model and evidence was found for all of its dimensions. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

The application of personality assessment for clinical and personnel decisions has long been an activity of interest to psychologists all over the world. In South Africa, personality assessment tools are used for the purpose of hiring, for placement decisions, to guide and assess training and development, and to evaluate the performance of workers. Psychological testing in South Africa was formerly initiated with white test takers in mind. It has been found that, currently, none of the available personality questionnaires provide a reliable and valid picture of personality for all cultural (language) groups living in South Africa. With South Africa's new Constitution in 1994 came stronger demands for the cultural appropriateness of psychological tests. The implicit perspectives of personality of Zulu-speaking South Africans were determined in this study. These will enable psychologists to work towards developing a personality assessment tool that is fair to all South African cultural (language) groupings. A qualitative research design was used with an interview as data-gathering instrument. A Zulu-speaking fieldworker was recruited to interview 141 Zulu-speaking South Africans, mainly from KwaZulu-Natal. The study population was purposely drawn from different sections of the Zulu-speaking population. A total of 6 465 Zulu-speaker personality descriptors was obtained from the respondents and then translated into English. Content analysis was used to analyse, interpret, and reduce these descriptors to a total of 179 (reduced to 128 personality characteristics), which highlight the most important perspectives of personality for Zulu-speaking individuals. The personality characteristics were divided into six categories, namely, drive, emotions, interpersonal factor, meanness, sociability, and other. The majority of the characteristics are representative of the socialistic nature of the Zulu people. Zulu-speaking persons are caring, loving, religious, helping, talkative, in touch with their sexuality, and extroverted. The findings of this study were compared to the Five Factor Model (FFM), and evidence was found for the extroversion factors, but no support or evidence was found for the openness to experience factor, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness. In comparison with the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI), support was found for 13 of the 22 personality scales. Characteristics such as emotionality, responsibility, inferiority versus self-acceptance, meanness, slickness, family orientation, relationship orientation, harmony, flexibility, modernisation, introversion versus extroversion, leadership, and social orientation can be seen as characteristics indigenous to the Zulu culture. Recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Most psychometric instruments used in South Africa are based on Western theory. Questions have arisen on the suitability and validity of these instruments in this context. Usually tests are imported from foreign countries and then applied with the same confidence in terms of the accuracy and prediction that these tests have in those foreign countries. However, studies in recent times have found that there exist numerous problems with these assessments in the South African context. In South Africa personality assessment instruments are used for the purpose of recruitment, placement, to identify training and development and for performance appraisal of workers. Currently none of the available personality questionnaires have been found to be reliable and valid for all cultural groups. This presents a particular predicament seeing as the Labour Relations Act (66 of 1995), which regulates the use of these assessments, states that these tests are prohibited unless they are shown to be scientifically valid, reliable and can be fairly applied over all without any discrimination. The objectives of this study were to investigate how personality is conceptualised in literature, to identify problems with personality measurement in South Africa, to explore how personality perspectives could be determined and to investigate the personality descriptive terms of the Ndebele people. A qualitative research design was used with an interview as data-gathering instrument. isiNdebele-speaking fieldworkers were recruited to interview 107 isiNdebele-speaking South Africans from the Mpumalanga Province. A total of 4165 responses were obtained from the respondents and translated into English. Content analysis was used to analyse, interpret and reduce these descriptors to a total of 151 personality facets. The personality characteristics were divided into nine categories, namely: Agreeable, Tough-minded, Gregarious, Emotional Stability, Conscientious, Self-absorbed, Intellect/Open, Influential and Relationship Harmony. These findings were compared to the Five Factor Model and evidence was found for all of its dimensions. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

The application of personality assessment for clinical and personnel decisions has long been an activity of interest to psychologists all over the world. In South Africa, personality assessment tools are used for the purpose of hiring, for placement decisions, to guide and assess training and development, and to evaluate the performance of workers. Psychological testing in South Africa was formerly initiated with white test takers in mind. It has been found that, currently, none of the available personality questionnaires provide a reliable and valid picture of personality for all cultural (language) groups living in South Africa. With South Africa's new Constitution in 1994 came stronger demands for the cultural appropriateness of psychological tests. The implicit perspectives of personality of Zulu-speaking South Africans were determined in this study. These will enable psychologists to work towards developing a personality assessment tool that is fair to all South African cultural (language) groupings. A qualitative research design was used with an interview as data-gathering instrument. A Zulu-speaking fieldworker was recruited to interview 141 Zulu-speaking South Africans, mainly from KwaZulu-Natal. The study population was purposely drawn from different sections of the Zulu-speaking population. A total of 6 465 Zulu-speaker personality descriptors was obtained from the respondents and then translated into English. Content analysis was used to analyse, interpret, and reduce these descriptors to a total of 179 (reduced to 128 personality characteristics), which highlight the most important perspectives of personality for Zulu-speaking individuals. The personality characteristics were divided into six categories, namely, drive, emotions, interpersonal factor, meanness, sociability, and other. The majority of the characteristics are representative of the socialistic nature of the Zulu people. Zulu-speaking persons are caring, loving, religious, helping, talkative, in touch with their sexuality, and extroverted. The findings of this study were compared to the Five Factor Model (FFM), and evidence was found for the extroversion factors, but no support or evidence was found for the openness to experience factor, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness. In comparison with the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI), support was found for 13 of the 22 personality scales. Characteristics such as emotionality, responsibility, inferiority versus self-acceptance, meanness, slickness, family orientation, relationship orientation, harmony, flexibility, modernisation, introversion versus extroversion, leadership, and social orientation can be seen as characteristics indigenous to the Zulu culture. Recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The purpose of this study was to empirically support and elaborate upon an integrative theory of career development by examining the worklife adjustment and career development experiences of new Canadian immigrant professionals. In focusing on the participants’ subjective views, the study provided an understanding of the lived experiences of this unique life-career transition, and in so doing, aimed to elaborate upon existing theories of career development towards the development and empirical substantiation of a comprehensive, diversity- and culturally- sensitive integrated meta-theory of the career development of immigrants in Canada. A qualitative methodology was employed and transcripts of in-depth interviews were analyzed using a grounded theory approach to data analysis. The central themes within the narratives that emerged were contrasted against an integrative career development theory and career development theoretical constructs, with the goal of elucidating the role and function of such constructs in immigrants’ Canadian career development. The study’s findings and contribution of a diversity- and culturally- informed, integrated, and enriched meta-theory of career development have implications for career counselling, cross-cultural, immigrant, and vocational psychology literature and practice.