In today’s changing environment, creation of projects by organizations has become more common. The problem is, though, that the knowledge of the subject is still limited which causes many projects to fail. This has made it extra important to have a good project manager whocanlead the project in the right direction. While doing this both the project method and the project manager’s motivation are contributing sources. That is why this studywill take a deeper look into the project methodand the motivation of the project manager and also the relationship between these two. To do this, this study is based on a theory of motivation, the Vroom’s expectancy theory. The purpose with this study is to create a greater understanding for the project methodand how it is affected by the motivation. This is a qualitative study in which interviews with four project managers has been done. The results showed that there is a connection both between the different variables in the Expectancy theory, but also connected to how these are affecting the project method. / I dagens ombytliga samhälle har det blivit allt vanligare att företag skapar projekt. Kunskapen kring området har dock inte hunnit med i utvecklingstakten vilket har gjort att många projekt misslyckas. En viktig faktor är projektledaren som påverkar projektet på många plan vilket gör att både projektledarens arbetssätt samt motivation spelar in. Det är just dessa två eller närmare bestämt projektmetoden och projektledarens motivation samt relationen mellan dem som den här studien kommer atttitta närmare på. För att göra det såhar studien utgått från en teori om motivation som heter Vrooms förväntansteorin. Syftet med studien är att skapa en ökad förståelse för projektmetodenoch hur den kan påverkas av motivationen. En kvalitativ studie där intervjuer med fyra projektledare har gjorts vilka resulterade i att samband mellan både de olika variablerna i förväntansteorin kunde hittas och samband i hur dessa påverkar projektmetoden. Utifrån resultaten drar studien slutsatsen att motivationen kanpåverka hur projektledaren använder projektmetoden via de olika variablerna i förväntansteorin.

“Who says what to whom and of what consequence?” is a fundamentally communicative question. This dissertation provides answers to this question by examining receivers’ expectations about, perceptions of, and responses to, requests for compliance. This dissertation asks: What impact does source credibility have on responses to and evaluations of request for compliance? Do people who receive requests for compliance have different language expectations for high and low credibility sources? If receivers perceive self-benefit from complying with a request, will that affect their responses to or evaluations of the message or message source? To answer these questions, this dissertation responds to the call for studies to extend language expectancy theory by focusing on interpersonal influence attempts; the results herein provide researchers with the opportunity to offer refined specifications when making predictions about social influence outcomes. In addition, this dissertation is novel in that it examines the intersection between language expectancy theory and predicted outcome value theory. / text

Research has shown alcohol expectancies to be critically important in understanding maladaptive drinking patterns within alcohol use disorders. Alcohol expectancies, thought to be automatically elicited in the presence of environmental alcohol-related cues, represent both cognitive and affective associations with drinking behavior. However, the automatic and affective properties of alcohol expectancies have not yet been thoroughly measured in the literature. Psychophysiological measures, including skin conductance, heart rate, and the acoustic startle response in particular, offer a uniquely powerful set of indices for the automatic affective processing of alcohol-related cues. Therefore, the present study was designed to examine how alcohol expectancies moderate affective processing of alcohol cues and how they relate to other known risk variables for alcohol use disorders.Fifty-eight college-aged participants viewed pictures from three categories (neutral, alcohol-nonsocial, and alcohol-social) and gave subjective ratings of valence, arousal, dominance, and craving for each cue. Skin conductance, heart rate and startle responses were obtained during picture viewing. The startle eyeblink reflex was probed early in the picture viewing sequence to assess arousing and attentional cue properties and late in order to address affective and motivational cue properties.Analyses indicated that participants reporting more positive, arousing, and social alcohol expectancies rated alcohol cues as more pleasant, arousing and craving-inducing. Individuals with greater positive/arousing alcohol expectancies displayed blunted cardiac deceleration during alcohol-related cues, indicating that they processed these cues as less aversive than other participants. In addition, individuals with greater social alcohol expectancies displayed greater skin conductance response to alcohol-related cues, indicating increased arousal during alcohol pictures. Startle response patterns indicated that individuals at greater risk for alcohol use disorders (i.e. family history positive, greater positive/arousing alcohol expectancies) displayed blunted processing of alcohol-related cues, while individuals at lower risk processed alcohol-related cues as more pleasing and attention-grabbing. Ultimately, alcohol-related cues were processed as more pleasing and appetitive among lower-risk individuals, lending support to affective and automatic processing component of alcohol expectancy theory. This study also lends further evidence to support blunted affective processing of alcohol-related stimuli among high risk individuals.

Considerable evidence indicates that the expectations individuals hold about the effects of alcohol determine, to a degree, the amount of alcohol they drink. However, the bulk of this evidence was acquired using verbally-based measures of expectancy. The present study sought to extend the validation network by utilizing an electrophysiological measure -- the P300 component of the Event Related Potentials (ERPs) -- which is thought to index fundamental neurophysiological processes sensitive to expectancy.Previous research has demonstrated that, when presented with various outcomes of alcohol consumption, heavier drinkers endorse statements that assert positive and arousing effects of alcohol, while lighter drinkers endorse sedating and negative effects of alcohol. Given the sensitivity of the P300 to violation of subjective expectancies, it was hypothesized that P300 amplitude elicited by stimuli violating one's alcohol expectancies (e.g., statements describing sedating effects of alcohol for individuals with high positive expectancies) would be correlated with the participants' alcohol expectancies measured by traditional self-report measures.Participants were presented with statements reflecting a wide range of alcohol outcome effects, which either violated or confirmed the participant's own set of alcohol expectancies, while the ERPs evoked by these stimuli were recorded. As predicted, the P 300 amplitude elicited by negative alcohol expectancy stimuli was positively correlated with the degree of endorsement of positive/arousing expectancies on the self-report measure. That is, the higher the individual's positive/arousing expectancies, the larger the P300 elicited by stimuli asserting the negative effects of alcohol. There was no significant correlation, however, between P300 amplitude elicited by positive alcohol expectancy stimuli and the degree of endorsement of negative/sedating expectancies on the self-report measure.In sum, variations in the amplitude of the P300 were consistent with the model of Alcohol Expectancies: Namely, words imputing negative/sedating effects of alcohol elicited a large P300 in individuals with high but not low positive alcohol expectancies. By indexing the brain's electrophysiological response sensitive to expectancy violations, these findings demonstrate concordance between verbal measures of alcohol expectancies, which by their very nat ure are introspective, and a psychophysiological index of expectancy thought to operate automatically and to be independent of overt responding.

A high degree of physical functioning is necessary for independently performing the numerous routine and valued tasks of daily life. Poor functioning not only hinders independent living, it can lower the quality of life, impede full social participation, and elevate the risk of death. However, not all adults are at equal risk of poor functioning: women experience worse functioning and live a greater number of years functionally impaired compared with men. Studies of this gap have focused on inequities in adult circumstances, such as socioeconomic status, but have generally fallen short of fully accounting for it. Recasting this research within a life-course, epidemiological framework points to the potential role of early-life circumstances. Early-life circumstances may impart a biological imprint, and they may also launch long-term trajectories of social circumstances, that could differentially shape functioning for men and women. Thus, this dissertation examines the life course origins of the gender gap in functioning and active life expectancy among older U.S. adults using two nationally-representative datasets: the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States and the Health and Retirement Study. In sum, the findings reveal that: (a) a host of early-life circumstances, such as parents’ education levels, leave an indelible stamp on functional ability and active life expectancy for women and men, irrespective of adult circumstances, (b) while some early-life adversities, such as extreme poverty, were marginally more consequential for women’s than men’s functioning, they appear to be primarily more consequential for precipitating metabolic conditions such as diabetes and obesity rather than directly impacting functioning, (c) explanations of the gap must incorporate endogenous biological differences between men and women; explanations that focus exclusively on socially-structured inequities are insufficient, and (d) exposures to socioeconomic resources accumulate across the life course to shape functioning differently for men than women; particularly between white men, who enjoy better functioning with higher educational attainment irrespective of early-life socioeconomic exposures, and white women whose functioning gains plateau if they experienced early-life socioeconomic adversities. Overall, the results underscore the importance of a life course perspective in explicating gender disparities in functioning, longevity, and active life expectancy. / text

Current U.S. college graduates are part of the millennial generation, which is the largest and most well-educated generation of all time (PEW, 2014; Twenge, 2006) and are the future of the workforce. Moreover, recent college graduates have unique job searching and career expectations, which underlie the communication strategies used to search for jobs. While the process of job searching is inherently communicative in nature, job searching is an under studied context within communication research. Although previous research outlines the career related expectations of young job seekers, it fails to examine how recent college graduates search for jobs and communicatively respond to violated job searching expectations. This goal of this study was to determine the communicative strategies recent college graduates use to search for jobs and the role communication plays in responding to job searching expectation violations. Expectancy violations theory (Burgoon, 1978), a communicative framework, is applied in this study to understand how recent college graduates respond to violated job searching expectations. Six research questions guided this study to determine the job searching communication strategies, job searching expectations, career expectations, and expectancy violations that occurred throughout the job search. To answer these questions, I conducted interviews with 20 participants, twice over a three-month period, to qualitatively understand and analyze the job searching processes of recent college graduates. The findings from this study demonstrate that recent college graduates use a combination of traditional job searching strategies and online social networking strategies to find, research, and apply for jobs. While participants expected the job search to be difficult, they were surprised at the amount of intensity and effort job searching required. Interpreting the results through the lens of EVT helped note that the participants with the most realistic job searching and career related expectations had greater success job searching over a three-month period and at the time of the follow up interview, several participants had accepted full-time, post graduate jobs. Expectancy violations theory was essential in interpreting how participants network with interpersonal contacts by offering insight for why participants strategically communicate with contacts based upon their potential reward value. The reciprocation and compensation mechanisms of expectancy violations theory also provided an explanation as to why some participants increased their job searching activity in response to violated expectations and others did not. An especially interesting finding illustrates that participants preferred to receive bad news over no news at all, and even evaluated bad news as a positive expectancy violation because it reduced their uncertainty. Collectively, expectancy violations theory (Burgoon, 1978) and anticipatory socialization research (Dubinsky, Howell, Ingram, & Bellenger, 1986) highlight how recent college graduates form their job searching and career expectations. The findings from this study also contribute to existing job searching research by examining the job searching strategies and behaviors of recent college graduates to better understand how they job search and what they expect from their future employers. Lastly, the findings from this study provide several practical application suggestions for organizations to implement in order to recruit and retain the best young job seekers in light of their current expectations and job searching strategies.

This dissertation is a historically comparative study of adult mortality between Taiwan and the United States throughout the 20th century. The 20th century was characterized by the largest rise in life expectancy at birth and the most rapid decrease in mortality in recorded human history. This dissertation aims not only to examine and compare the trends and levels of life expectancy in Taiwan and the United States over an extended period of time, but also to evaluate the extent to which smoking behavior and obesity play an important role in the recent levels of adult mortality in the United States. I used logistic models of mortality to examine and compare the trends and levels of life expectancy in Taiwan from 1906 to 2008 and in the United States from 1933 to 2007. Second, I re-estimated life expectancy by introducing smoking-attributable mortality to further compare the levels of life expectancy between the two countries. Third, I estimated event history models to investigate whether and how smoking behavior and obesity are related to mortality in the United States in the 1990 to 2006 and the 2000 to 2006 periods. At the end of the 20th century, the level of life expectancy at birth for females in the U.S. was higher than in Taiwan, but they were close. In this century, however, the level of life expectancy at birth in Taiwan has increased to a higher level than in the U.S. The levels of male life expectancy at birth for the two countries are similar in this century, but there were significant differences in the 20th century. The great improvements in juvenile, background and senescent mortality rates in Taiwan may be used to explain this correspondence of life expectancy between the two countries today. Besides, higher smoking-attributed mortality can also serve as another possible reason for the stagnant levels of life expectancy in the U.S. Finally, smoking-related and obesity-related mortality have become progressively more important as predictors of adult mortality in the U.S. in past decades.

Previous studies examining memory biases for threatening faces in social anxiety (SA) have yielded inconclusive results. In the present study, memory and expectancy biases were tested within the context of a novel face recognition paradigm that was designed to offset some of the methodological challenges that have hampered previous research. Undergraduates with high (n = 40) and low (n = 40) levels of SA viewed a series of neutral faces randomly paired with phrases that communicated positive or negative social feedback. Participants’ recognition memory was tested for previously encountered faces, and for their categorization of each encoded face as having been associated with negative (mean) or positive (nice) interpersonal statements. For new faces, participants were asked whether the person seemed mean or nice. Results provided no evidence in support of a general memory bias for threatening (mean) faces among high SA individuals, but instead suggested that high SA individuals lack a positive expectancy bias to appraise new social partners as being nice. Implications are considered for cognitive behavioral and interpersonal models of SA.

Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 186-194). / Electronic reproduction. / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / xi, 194 leaves, bound ill., 29 cm

The primary focus of this thesis was to examine the relationship of reward sensitivity and outcome expectancies, variables traditionally associated with alcohol use, to cannabis use behaviour and to explore the relationship of affect and locus of control to alcohol and cannabis use. It was hypothesised that hazardous alcohol and cannabis use would be related to higher levels of reward sensitivity and to the endorsement of more positive outcome expectancies. It was also hypothesised that positive outcome expectancies would mediate the relationship between reward sensitivity and cannabis use, and that the relationship between reward sensitivity and both alcohol and cannabis use would be moderated by punishment sensitivity. No specific hypotheses were formulated for the relationship of negative outcome expectancies, affect and locus of control of reinforcement to substance use. A total of 465 young adults aged between 18 and 35 years completed a questionnaire which assessed substance use patterns, reward and punishment sensitivity, outcome expectancies, locus of control, and affect. Results indicated that higher levels of reward sensitivity reliably distinguished hazardous from non-hazardous alcohol and cannabis users as well as cannabis users from cannabis non-users. The relationship between reward sensitivity and substance use was partially mediated by outcome expectancies, but not moderated by punishment sensitivity. An exploratory factor analysis demonstrated a high rate of concordance between alcohol and cannabis outcome expectancies. Locus of control of reinforcement was found to be unrelated to alcohol and cannabis use behaviour. There was little commonality in the relationship of sensitivity to punishment, negative outcome expectancies, and affect to alcohol and cannabis use. The second focus of this thesis was to pilot an intervention aimed at reducing alcohol use via the challenging of expectations regarding the rewarding outcomes associated with alcohol use in a group of young adult Australian males. A three session intervention was completed by three males aged between 19 and 31 years. The results demonstrated no reduction in hazardous alcohol use or global positive alcohol outcome expectancies at the completion of the intervention program or at a 3-month follow-up. Furthermore, there was no reduction in expectancies of increased sexual interest for any of the participants at the 3-month follow-up compared to baseline, despite a reduction in these expectancies for one of the three participants at the completion of the intervention. A reduction in monthly drinking levels and in expectancies of increased confidence compared to baseline was noted for two of the three participants at the 3-month follow-up. It was concluded overall that there is consistency between the relationships of reward sensitivity and positive outcome expectancies to alcohol and cannabis use and that outcome expectancies may be a proximal mechanism through which reward sensitivity influences alcohol and cannabis use. It was further concluded that whilst causal inferences regarding the effectiveness of the intervention could not be made, the results provide some evidence for the usefulness of this treatment in changing a proportion of the studied outcomes. This potentially provides an incentive for future controlled design research in larger samples and with alternate substances.