Both positive and negative effects of exercise participation on health are shown in the literature. However, exercisers’ perceived health is still unexplored from this two-line influence perspective. The Perceived Health and Sport/Exercise Participation model (PHS/EP) served as theoretical framework for the study that aimed at testing the Perceived Health and Exercise Participation Profile (PHEPP) Questionnaire and examining factors involved in exercisers’ tendencies towards healthy versus unhealthy exercise participation and their association with perceived health, exercise satisfaction, goal orientation, self-esteem and physical self-perception. A package of four instruments was completed by 148 exercisers. The healthy tendency of exercise participation represented in the PHS/EP model was supported by the results obtained, whereas the unhealthy tendency needs further investigation and some related changes in the PHEPP questionnaire. Regression analyses confirmed some relationships between the PHS/EP model and established concepts such as goal orientation, self-esteem and physical self-perception dimensions. The results are discussed with reference to previous research and the PHS/EP model.

This paper studied whether threats to self-esteem and goal orientation affected an individual?s propensity to ask for help. Eighty-two undergraduate students from the University of Waterloo completed a self-esteem and goal orientation questionnaire in addition to completing two tests. One test was designed to be more self-relevant than the other, making that test more potentially threatening to an individual?s self-esteem. In each test, subjects were given the opportunity to ask for help on each question. The results show that the use of social comparison motivates individuals to engage in self-protection by reducing their willingness to ask for help. In situations where many others had asked for help, help seeking behavior increased. These results extend other research in showing the impact of social comparison on individual behaviour.

This paper studied whether threats to self-esteem and goal orientation affected an individual?s propensity to ask for help. Eighty-two undergraduate students from the University of Waterloo completed a self-esteem and goal orientation questionnaire in addition to completing two tests. One test was designed to be more self-relevant than the other, making that test more potentially threatening to an individual?s self-esteem. In each test, subjects were given the opportunity to ask for help on each question. The results show that the use of social comparison motivates individuals to engage in self-protection by reducing their willingness to ask for help. In situations where many others had asked for help, help seeking behavior increased. These results extend other research in showing the impact of social comparison on individual behaviour.

Det huvudsakliga syftet med mitt examensarbete var att undersöka hur elever i årskurs 7 resonerar kring sitt deltagande på idrottslektionerna, deras motiv huruvida de väljer att avstå eller delta i undervisningen. Min undersökning bygger på kvalitativa intervjuer, där eleverna intervjuats i frågor rörande förväntningar, olika slags motivation, kommunikation och relationer. Jag har studerat och jämfört likheter och skillnader mellan elevernas motiv. Studien visar på få skillnader i motiven men desto fler likheter. Resultatet pekar på att aktiviteterna, deras nivå och kommunikationen mellan lärare- elev och elev- elev är en väsentlig grund för elevernas deltagande. Vidare visar det sig att eleverna är hälsomedvetna och att denna medvetenhet bidrar till rörelse på lektionerna. De faktorer eleverna beskrev som anledningar att sitta vid sidan om var bland annat sjukdom och skador. Eleverna visar dock ett allmänt genuint intresse för att vara fysiskt aktiva då de sysselsätter sig med andra fysiska aktiviteter, även om de inte deltar i den obligatoriska idrottsundervisningen. / The main purpose with this study was to investigate the motivational behavior of pupils in an elementary school, with respect to whether they participate in the PE class or not. The study is based on interviews, where I have asked the pupils questions concerning expectations, external and internal motivation, communication and relationships. Afterwards I made comparisons on likeliness and differences in their answers, where patterns were discovered. The study shows a small amount of differences and a larger set of likeliness on their purposes to attend or not attend PE. The result indicates that the activities, their level and the teacher-pupil and pupil- pupil communication are the most important reasons to participate. Moreover it is shown that pupils that are aware of their health and this awareness promotes movement. Illness and injuries were described as the main factors to step aside and not participate. The pupils show a genuine interest about physical activities in general, as they keep themselves occupied with other physical activities, even though they’re not participating in the compulsory PE class.

In this dissertation I seek to answer the research question of who are those people that have the ability and motivation to facilitate other people’s creative thinking. Actors who are in the creator’s social environment, such as her coworkers and family members, can potentially enhance the creator’s level of creativity. Although these contacts can be active collaborators of the creator’s thinking processes and can eventually have a significant impact on organizational creativity, so far their role in organizational life has been overlooked by researchers. Consequently, in my dissertation I develop a theory of “creativity catalysts”, and define a creativity catalyst as an employee who helps to improve the usefulness and novelty (i.e. creativity) of the ideas and products produced by another employee (i.e. the creator) through direct interpersonal interaction with the creator. I examine two aspects of serving as a catalyst to another’s creativity: the intensity of a creativity catalyst’s contribution and the span of a creativity catalyst’s contribution. Intensity of contribution is conceptualized as the extent to which the creativity catalyst can improve the output generated by the creators to be more novel and useful. Span on the other hand, is the number of people that perceive an individual as a catalyst for her own creative performance. To answer the research question, I develop and empirically test a theory of creativity catalysts by integrating a social capital theory lens (i.e. structural social capital and relational social capital) with a stable motivational orientation (i.e., learning goal orientation). First, I argue that a catalyst’s relational social capital (i.e., quality of relationships with her coworkers) in the organizational communication network determines her motivation to take the role of a creativity catalyst. Second, I argue that the catalyst’s structural social capital (i.e., the extent to which she can connect with the disconnected others in her network structure) underlines her ability to contribute to others’ creativity. Integrating these two arguments, I hypothesize that the catalyst’s relational social capital (i.e., the motivation to become a creativity catalyst) interacts with her structural social capital (i.e., the ability of a creativity catalyst) in predicting both the intensity and span of the catalyst’s contribution to her coworkers’ creativity. Second, I hypothesized that learning goal orientation, a stable motivational orientation, interacts with the situational motivational characteristic of relational social capital in predicting both the span and intensity of a catalyst’s contribution to her coworkers’ creativity. To test my hypotheses, I first ran a pilot study on a sample of full-time MBA students in order to validate the creativity catalyst measure; and then tested my hypothesized model on employees from two companies, using multiple data sources over multiple phases of data collection. Consequently, I found support for both of these interaction hypotheses on the intensity and span of a creativity catalyst’s contribution to her coworkers’ creativity. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings, and future research directions are discussed.

Women from across the globe purchase and consume cosmetics in order to achieve their appearance goals and it is generally agreed that a consumers’ goal orientation may influence their interpretation of advertising materials and thus the purchase decision-making process. The cosmetics industry promotes their products using almost exclusively images of attractive, young, highly idealised women, and thus has a significant influence on female appearance ideals worldwide. Extensive research connects viewing idealised images to negative outcomes for consumers’ self-concept, however there are mixed results regarding the effectiveness of idealised models in advertising. Moreover, there are mixed results regarding the effectiveness of different message frames. The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate the effects of possible selves and cosmetic advertising on the consumption of cosmetic products. This research draws together areas of literature which have been studied in varying settings in order to determine the individual and collective effects of these independent variables; possible selves, model idealisation and message framing, on women’s attitude toward cosmetic advertisements and purchase intentions in the cosmetic product context. To understand the effects that goal orientation, as well as the images and text of cosmetic advertisements have on cosmetics consumption, an online experiment was conducted using a 2x3x2 between-subjects factorial design. The study manipulated three independent variables, namely, salient possible self (hoped-for and feared), model idealisation (more idealised model, less idealised model and no model) and regulatory message framing (desired reference and undesired reference) and measured the impact of these variables on attitude toward the ad and resulting purchase intention. The final data set was comprised of 420 responses from 18-35 year old females. A series of ANCOVA analyses were used to determine the effects of possible selves, model idealisation and message frames on consumers’ attitude toward the ad and their purchase intention. The results indicate hoped-for selves, no model advertisements and desired message frames are independently the most effective in the cosmetics context. However, the goal-compatibility hypothesis was not supported. Furthermore, findings indicate an interaction between the image and the message of cosmetics advertising, which suggests cosmetic advertisers must carefully consider the combination of the images and messages they use to promote their brand and products. The theoretical and managerial implications, as well as direction for future research are discussed.

Motivation inom skolan är avgörande för elevers lärande. I self- determination theory (SDT) betonas vikten av inre motivation genom autonomi, kompetens och samhörighet. Stöd, höga förväntningar och målsättningar har visats sig ha positiv inverkan på motivation. Syftet med denna undersökning var att studera vad som främjar ungdomars motivation, med utgångspunkt i SDT samt ungdomars och vuxnas perspektiv, utifrån skilda tillvägagångssätt i motivationsarbete. Intervjuer genomfördes med 8 deltagare från en friskola och 8 från en ungdomsverksamhet. Analysen genomfördes i tre steg: gemensamma komponenter, skillnader mellan verksamheterna och i relation till SDT. Resultatet visade på viktiga gemensamma nämnare som individanpassning, lärarstöd samt mål- och utvecklingsfokus. En skillnad som framträdde verksamheterna emellan är huruvida det går att arbeta med höga förväntningar eller om ungdomen bör styra sin process själv. Ett öppet klimat, med stor individanpassning och tillitsfulla relationer, har framkommit vara grundförutsättningar för den inre motivationen.

No description available.

No description available.

While intergroup contact is effective in reducing prejudice toward outgroup members, especially under positive conditions (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006), more research is needed to concentrate on how to avoid and overcome negative psychological experiences of intergroup contact, e.g., intergroup anxiety and discomfort (Dovidio, Kawakami, & Gaertner, 2002; Stephan & Stephan, 1985). The anxiety and discomfort people feel during intergroup contact largely involve ego concerns (Crocker & Garcia, 2006), or the implications of cross-group interactions for one’s self (see also Vorauer & Kumhyr, 2001). Therefore, it is suggested that one approach to improving peoples’ expectations for and experiences in intergroup contact is setting the goals that would shift their focus away from the self and toward learning about their outgroup partners. Adapting a goal distinction framework from the academic achievement literature (Dweck & Elliot, 1983; Grant & Dweck, 2003), we hypothesized that shifting one’s focus from performance to learning will reduce their negative affect and enhance group members’ expectations for and experiences in intergroup contact. In both studies 1 and 2, participants’ self-reported data did not converge with our original predictions. However, participants’ nonverbal behaviors observed in Study 2 evidenced support for the positive effect of the learning orientation on participants’ experiences in anticipation of and during intergroup contact.