The aim of this thesis was to investigate the impacts of both the group boundary permeability (with a novel concept) and the social identity salience on the low-status group members&rsquo / behavioral preferences, feelings, and social identity level with reference to the social identity theory. The participants were 138 undergraduate students from Abant izzet Baysal University. All participants completed behavioral alternatives questionnaire, negative feelings of personal treatment questionnaire, and the Organizational Identification Scale. In the experimental design, group boundary permeability (permeable/ hierarchically permeable/ impermeable) and social identity salience (high/ low) were manipulated / and participants were randomly assigned to the conditions. In line with the expectations, the results showed that collective actions were more preferred in the impermeable and hierarchically permeable group boundary conditions compared with the permeable group boundary condition. In addition, results indicated that being the most disruptive action, collective protest action was the least preferred action regardless of the conditions. Furthermore, although the effect of group boundary permeability on the social identity level was not supported, the results demonstrated in part that participants felt more negative feelings when group boundary condition was impermeable. Finally, the results provided considerable evidence that as the novel concept, hierarchically permeable group boundary condition is viable in the permeability studies.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of concrete materials on fourth grade students&rsquo / geometry achievement. The secondary purpose was to investigate their opinions and feelings about instruction with concrete materials. The study was carried out in a private school in Ankara with 32 fourth grade elementary school students. One group pretest-posttest design was used. Geometry Achievement Test was administered to collect the necessary data. The instruction with concrete materials was applied by the researcher five hours per week in 10 weeks. The data were analyzed by using one-way repeated measures analysis of variance. Also, an interview was conducted with 11 students to determine their opinions and feelings about instruction with concrete materials. The results of the study revealed that there was a statistically significant change in geometry achievement of fourth grade students who participated in the instruction with concrete materials over three time periods. In other words, there were statistically significant positive changes in students&rsquo / geometry achievement across pre-intervention and post-intervention and across pre-intervention and followup. Moreover, there was no statistically significant change in students&rsquo / achievement across post-intervention and follow-up. The other results can be deducted from the study: most of the students enjoyed the class more when concrete materials were used / some of the students became anxious when they first saw the questions in preintervention / most of the students stated that questions become easier after instruction with concrete materials / cubes and the geoboard were the most useful and most liked as perceived by the students.

User experience with public products needs special attention considering the specific context. Different from other consumer or personal products that users own, public products do not belong to the user / they are shared with and used in front of other people. Thus, different concerns and problems are incorporated affecting the user experiences. This thesis dwells on the effects of presence of other people on user-public product interaction. The relationships between social context, users&rsquo / feelings, and task performances constitute the basis of the thesis. These relationships were investigated by consulting to the literature, but mainly by conducting three empirical studies. All these studies revealed that the presence of other people affects the users&rsquo / feelings and task performances greatly.

<p>This essay aims to investigate the perceptions of responsible personnel in a primary school about the use and importance of EQ, emotional intelligence, in the school's early years. With a hermeneutic approach and by qualitative interviews, we have taken note of the respondents perceptions about EQ. The result shows that EQ can be understood in different ways. Instead of having a common understanding of what EQ is the respondents mention that there are different areas associated with EQ.  Two major results are 1. The respondents who work in the lower age groups prefer to work with EQ regularly in scheduled lessons, but also integrated during the school day. 2. The respondents who work in the older age range (year 4) prefer only an integrated approach and considers that there may be perceived as artificially in the process of EQ, but that it should be about natural dilemmas from everyday life. The result also shows that the children have changed over time when the society has changed. Children are now, more than ever before, being admitted to the various media and use a lot of awake time to computer games and watching TV and film. As a consequence, today's school requires a higher degree of emotional and social skills.</p><p> </p> / <p>Denna studie har till syfte att studera hur pedagogiskt ansvarig personal på en skola reflekterar kring betydelsen av och arbetet med EQ, emotionell intelligens, i skolans tidiga år. Med hjälp av en hermeneutiskt inspirerad forskningsansats och kvalitativa intervjuer har vi tagit del av respondenternas uppfattningar kring EQ. I resultatet framgår det att EQ kan uppfattas på olika sätt. Istället för att ha en gemensam uppfattning om vad EQ är menar de olika respondenterna att det finns olika områden som förknippas med EQ. De respondenter som arbetar i de yngre årskurserna föredrar att arbeta med EQ regelbundet på schemalagda lektioner, men också integrerat i verksamheten. Respondenterna som arbetar i de äldre åldrarna (årskurs 4) föredrar enbart ett integrerat arbetssätt och anser att det inte får upplevas som konstlat i arbetet med EQ, utan att det ska handla om naturliga dilemman ur vardagen. Resultatet belyser även att barnen har förändrats över tid i samband med att samhället har förändrats. Då barn nu i högre grad än tidigare blir upptagna av olika media och använder mycket vaken tid till dataspel, TV-tittande och film kräver dagens samhälle en högre grad av emotionell och social träning i skolan.</p>

This essay deals with the various difficulties that can arise in conversations and meetings with parents and colleagues in the preschool world. The essay is based on two self-perceived stories that culminate in dilemmas that are difficult to assess, where our own actions come into question. The purpose of this essay is to gain a greater understanding and awareness of why we become insecure when our communication with others fails. Our research questions assist us in gaining an understanding that our own and others' behavior in meetings and conversations can be influenced by past experience, ourvalues and our emotions. This means, for example, that we must be aware that our values - ideal images, functions as both our guide and trip wires. We must also bear in mind that our ability to manage our own emotional reactions is  significant when it comes to facing our own and others' feelings. This essay also explores what kind of knowledge we may need in order to make conversations and meetings professional. Our writing is based from a hermeneutic perspective in which we interpret and reflect on the foundation  of our own experiences. The method we use is essay writing, a process that alternates between writing, reading and reflecting. We then connect our reflections to theories in psychology, philosophy and sociology to get an understanding of our complex dilemmas.  Some of the new theoretical knowledge that we gained comes from systems theory that has helped us to understand how we can create change in relationships by behaving differently. Conscious change in our own behavior is an important aspect in order to acquire new practical knowledge. In this way, we can become more professional in our conversations and meetings. / Denna essä handlar om olika svårigheter som kan uppstå vid samtal och möten med föräldrar respektive kollegor i förskolans värld. Essän utgår från två egenupplevda berättelser som mynnar ut i svårbedömda dilemman, där vi ifrågasätter vårt eget handlande. Syftet med vår essä är att få en ökad förståelse och medvetenhet om varför vi blir osäkra när vår kommunikation med andra misslyckas. Våra frågeställningar hjälper oss att få en förståelse för att vårt eget och andras beteenden i möten och samtal kan påverkas av de erfarenheter vi bär med oss, våra värderingar och våra känslor. Det innebär exempelvis att vi måste bli medvetna om att våra värderingar - idealbilder, fungerar både som våra vägvisare och snubbeltrådar, samt att vår förmåga att hantera egna känsloreaktioner har betydelse för att möta egna och andras känslor. Essän handlar även om vilken typ av kunskap som vi kan tänkas behöva för att samtal och möten ska bli professionella. Vårt skrivande utgår från ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv där vi tolkar och reflekterar utifrån våra egna erfarenheter. Metoden vi använder oss av är essäskrivande, en process som växlar mellan skrivande, läsande och reflekterande. Reflektionerna kopplar vi sedan till teorier inom psykologin, filosofin och sociologin för att få en förståelse för våra svårbedömda dilemman. Några av de nya teoretiska kunskaperna som vi fått kommer bland annat ifrån systemteorin, som har hjälpt oss att förstå hur vi kan åstadkomma förändringar i relationer genom att göra något annorlunda. Medvetna förändringar i vårt eget beteende är en viktig aspekt för att kunna erövra ny praktisk kunskap. På så sätt kan vi bli mer professionella i våra samtal och möten.

Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the status of brand loyalty to art festivals with reference to Klein Karoo national Arts Festival (KKNK). This was achieved by firstly analysing and discussing the role of branding in tourism marketing. Secondly, a literature study was conducted to analyse the concept brand loyalty. Thirdly, the results of the empirical research were discussed and finally the conclusions were drawn from the research and recommendations were made with regard to visitors’ loyalty to the KKNK. Literature indicated that when marketing a tourism product or service it involves a complex bundle of value, which is intangible, inseparable, variable and perishable. Therefore the tourist’s experience with the product is important to keep in mind. Every tourist counts in the tourism industry therefore knowledge related to the needs and wants of the tourists. This can be determined by market research that is designed to collect, analyse, interpret and report information. The marketer can use this information to create a marketing mix, however, in the tourism and hospitality industry the four P’s (price, promotion, product, place) are extended with more P’s, namely people, physical environment, processes, packaging, participation, productservice mix, presentation mix and communication mix. The tourism product or festival should be positioned in the minds of the tourists and this cannot be achieved without branding the product. The brand name is used to identify and differentiate the product from its competitors. It also creates meaning for the tourist and establishes a competitive position in the minds of the tourist. Brand loyalty should be an important marketing goal of the tourism product because it reduces a brand’s vulnerability to competitors’ action and create a committed relationship with the tourists that insure lifelong visiting behaviour among tourists or positive word-of-mouth recommendations. Brand loyalty is build on six levels which can also be utilised to determine the visitors loyalty towards the brand and to assist the marketer on focussing on areas which should be improved to achieve a higher level of loyalty. The aim of the marketer should be to achieve the highest level of brand loyalty namely Resonance. For the purpose of this study the visitors’ profile and the current status of brand loyalty, were measured by means of a questionnaire and the objective of the questionnaire was to determine how loyal the visitors were to the KKNK. The questionnaires were distributed among the visitors at the KKNK in Oudtshoorn, in April 2009. Availability sampling was used to collect the data based on the fact that the respondents were conveniently available on the festival grounds and at show venues and willing to complete the questionnaires. A total of 422 questionnaires were completed during the festival. The factor analysis determined that Brand Feelings were the loyalty level that was rated the highest by the respondents to the KKNK. Therefore it was determined that the visitors’ loyalty to KKNK is currently at the fifth loyalty level and will have the most influence on the visitors when deciding to visit or recommend the KKNK. This is expected for a festival that is 15 years old however, the organisers of the KKNK can continue to improve the visitors loyalty until they reach the sixth and highest, loyalty level. This study contributes to the limited available literature on brand loyalty to arts festivals. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

Hela det mänskliga genomet var sekvenserat i april 2003 och sedan dess har utvecklingen av genetisk testning avancerat snabbt. Sjuksköterskor kan komma att ha en central roll gällande att informera personer kring den genetiska testningen, rådgiva personer som genomgår genetisk testning och hjälpa dem att tolka resultaten. Genom att beskriva personers känslor kring att genomföra genetisk testning kan sjuksköterskor få hjälp till en ökad förståelse. Syftet var därför att beskriva personers känslor kring att genomföra en genetisk testning för genetiskt betingade sjukdomar med en möjlig dödlig utgång. För att få en överblick av det aktuella forskningsläget genomfördes en systematisk sökordsbaserad litteraturöversikt. Totalt tolv artiklar granskades och kodades. Resultatet presenteras i fyra teman: Rädsla och lättnad, som handlar om rädsla för sjukdomen, oro och ångest men också lättnaden när resultatet var negativt; Ovisshet kring hanterandet, där känslor av frustration, chock och orättvisa framkom men även förväntningar inför resultatet; Hopp och hopplöshet, vilket syntes som hopp inför framtiden och personlig kontroll samt en känsla av att vara besegrad, maktlös och förrådd; samt Gemenskap och utanförskap inom familjen, som uppstod i relation till andra där känslan av att vilja dölja samt behov av stöd var framstående. Då hälsa är vårdandets mål diskuteras resultatet utifrån Katie Erikssons hälsokors samt i förhållande till hälsa som rörelse. Ytterligare forskning och utbildning krävs för att sjuksköterskor ska erhålla kunskap om personcentrerat vårdande genom processen av genetisk testning. / The human genome was sequenced in April 2003 and since then genetic testing has developed rapidly. Nurses may come to have a central and significant role regarding informing people about all the potential outcomes of genetic testing, advising people undergoing genetic testing and helping them interpret the results. By describing people's feelings about implementing genetic testing, nurses be helped to a better understanding and ability to perform a person-centered care. The aim was therefore to describe people's feelings about implementing a genetic testing for genetic diseases with possible fatal outcome. To get an overview of the current state of research, a systematic search-terms-based literature review was performed. A total of twelve articles were reviewed and coded, resulted in four themes: Fear and relief, which is about fear of the disease, worry and anxiety but also relief when the result was negative; Uncertainty surrounding the handling, where feelings of frustration, shock and injustice emerged but also expectations for the outcome; Hope and hopelessness, which appeared as a hope for the future and personal control but also a sense of being defeated, powerless and betrayed; and Community and exclusion within the family, which arose in relation to others where feeling of wanting to hide and needs of support were prominent. The goal of caring is health. The result of this study is therefore discussed with reference to Katie Eriksson's health cross and in relation to health as a movement. Further research and education is required for nurses to obtain knowledge about person-centered care through the process of genetic testing.

“Fröknarna von Pahlen”, is a series of novels written by the author Agnes von Krusenstjerna. Especially the fourth and fifth parts, published in 1933, raised questions about sexuality, especially about what was conceived as perverse and provoking descriptions. “Fröknarna von Pahlen” became a part of heated debates about what is acceptable to write about. How can the so called Pahlen feud be understood from an intersectional perspective, and from a focus on values, and by discussing imagined communities? The purpose is to find out what is going on in these debates. Six different values are being pointed out; art and skill, truth, freedom of speech and freedom of the press, the value in the young, the value in female perspectives, and moral values. There is a number of knot points tied to these values, and differentiating processes such as sex, class, age, ethnicity, religion etc. are all intertwined in these debates. From an intersectional understanding, none of these processes are more primal than another. The knot points are both of an emotional nature and thematic. The individual voices that emerge in the feud are named small narratives, and the more intersubjective narratives are called grand narratives. These narratives are being investigated rhetorically; for instance how some stories can appear more as truths than others, and it is analyzed how they separate people in groups and create hierarchies. They are also being seen from an emotional perspective; how individual feelings are a part of emotions, larger contexts and meaning coherences. These feelings are also understood as actions. Throughout the investigation there is a hermeneutic will to make things intelligible, and respect and point out the many different perspectives. This is being made in a cultural relativistic attempt. By focusing on imagined communities, different comradeships and groups in the feud can be pointed out. People can consider themselves parts of these groups, but they can also, more or less involuntarily, be considered as parts of these groups. In the writers opinion, the most important question is how “extreme” sexual descriptions an author is allowed to bring forth.