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Yes / The paper addresses the problem of pursuing ethical business practices purely under the aegis of ‘integrity’, as frequently used to characterise morally desirable traits. Drawing on the work of philosopher Thomas Kasulis, the paper pairs ‘integrity’ with ‘intimacy’ as a critical concept, placing greater attention upon relational properties, helping to understand ethics as existing between individuals, things and the environment. The argument is that by paying careful attention to spatial and temporal dynamics and proximities of exchange, businesses can better maintain and extend practices of integrity. It reminds us that ethics are developmental (not transcendental); that the cultivation of ethics provides greater depth and ownership and pertains to matters of the body and habits. The paper contributes a way of reading exchanges in the marketplace beyond prescriptive accounts of integrity. Through the lens of both integrity and intimacy, it identifies how we actually ‘live’ or practice greater responsiveness to exchanges.

Kink has a long history of being condemned in Western society. Even though kink is prevalent in popular culture (and in many people’s bedrooms) it continues to be considered abnormal and associated with deviance. Through nine in-depth qualitative interviews, this thesis explores the experiences of kinksters with kink, their engagement with the kink community, and their negotiations of stigma in everyday life. These experiences are analyzed using Foucault’s theories on discourse and technologies of the self and Goffman’s conceptualization of stigma. The thesis found that while the social condemnation of kink has resulted in members of the kink community struggling to manage their identity as kinksters, they also find joy and a sense of belonging within the kink community. Moreover, through the kink community, kinksters learn to conceptualize and practice consent in a new way; one that is rooted in being an ethical subject. The thesis concludes with a call to challenge the normative tropes and stigmatic assumptions of deviance that continue to marginalize and oppress kinksters.

The purpose of this study was to examine factors that influence the experience of urinary incontinence (UI) as it relates to sexual intimacy for older women. Additionally, I wanted to identify perceived areas of intervention that might positively influence the experience of UI as it relates to sexual intimacy for participants. The sample consisted of 10 women who ranged in age from 65 to 81. The theoretical framework guiding this study was a systemic perspective in which how participants make meaning is given prominence. Symbolic interactionism, social constructionism, and systems perspective are interwoven to provide the foundation for this study. Data were collected utilizing in-depth interviews. Self-portraits were introduced to enrich conversation during the second interview. Three conclusions were drawn from this study. First, feelings of secrecy that permeated this project were manifested in the lack of willing participants as well as brevity of responses during interactions with participants. Second, participants indicated a tendency to minimize their incontinence and to manage their symptoms without formal medical intervention. Third, participants offered perceived potential interventions that might positively influence the experience of UI. These included the provision information related to UI in a way that does not require individuals to request the information, such as brochures at physicians' offices, post-surgical follow-up, and individuals from whom participants would be most comfortable receiving such information. / Ph. D.

M.A. / The purpose of this study was to add, through the lens of social and crosscultural psychology, to the much needed body of knowledge of African intimate relationships. Western romantic relationships are generally characterised by intense attraction and emotional attachment, idealisation of the other, sexual attraction and the want for total acceptance by the other. African love is less well known but seemingly tied up in culture bound collectivism as well as other social phenomenon. The study set out to explore the applicability of the lovestyle model in a Black South African population. The study explored various theories of love which have been developed within the Western canon. These include 1) evolution and love, 2) social exchange theory, 3) attachment theory, 4) love stories and 5) Lee’s lovestyles. Special emphasis was given to Lee’s colours of love theory which consists of a typology of lovestyles namely eros (passionate love), ludus (game-playing love), storge (friendship love), mania (obsessive love), pragma (practical love) and agape (altruistic love). In addition African love was examined from various perspectives including 1) culture; 2) individualism and collectivism; 3) the African collectivistic society; 4) acculturation and; 5) African love. This study’s main focus was on 1) the validity and reliability of the LAS instrument when applied to an African population, 2) the lovestyles of this group as mediated by their Africanness and 3) the possible gender differences. The lovestyles typology was found to be factorially valid for a Black South African population. A key and surprising finding was that individuals high in Africanness were significantly more likely to endorse eros as their dominant lovestyle than individuals low in Africanness. The study found that African men were significantly more agapic than African women and that African women were significantly more erotic and manic than African men. Males who were high in Africanness showed a significant association with eros andpragma in that the more Africanness a male had, the higher the endorsement of eros or pragma was expected to be.

According to the interpersonal process model, interactions characterized by self-disclosure and empathic responding foster emotional intimacy between the two participating individuals (Reis & Shaver, 1988). This study provided “insider” and “outsider” perspectives of this model, examining the relation between perceived and observed behaviors in couple interactions and their relative contributions to the development of intimate feelings. The sample consisted of 102 community couples who completed measures of intimacy after engaging in videotaped discussions about relationship injuries that occurred both within and outside of the relationship. Both self-report and observational measures were used to assess disclosure and empathic responding during these discussions. There was significant agreement between self- and observer-report of men’s behavior, between self- and observer-report of women’s male partner’s behavior, and between partners’ report of disclosure and empathic responding. There was mixed support for global distress and attachment style as predictors of differences between self- and observer-report. Whereas an earlier study using observational measures found gender differences in the effect of self-disclosure and empathic responding on intimacy (Mitchell et al., 2008), in this study self-report measures from the same sample indicated that perception of both an individual’s own and his or her partner’s disclosure and empathic responding predicted intimacy for both men and women. Observational measures provided incremental validity relative to self-report measures in predicting intimacy. These findings suggest that targeting certain personal and relational characteristics may be helpful in treating intimacy deficits and also indicate that self-report and observational measures provide unique information about the influence of behaviors on the development of intimate feelings in couple relationships.

According to the interpersonal process model, interactions characterized by self-disclosure and empathic responding foster emotional intimacy between the two participating individuals (Reis & Shaver, 1988). This study provided “insider” and “outsider” perspectives of this model, examining the relation between perceived and observed behaviors in couple interactions and their relative contributions to the development of intimate feelings. The sample consisted of 102 community couples who completed measures of intimacy after engaging in videotaped discussions about relationship injuries that occurred both within and outside of the relationship. Both self-report and observational measures were used to assess disclosure and empathic responding during these discussions. There was significant agreement between self- and observer-report of men’s behavior, between self- and observer-report of women’s male partner’s behavior, and between partners’ report of disclosure and empathic responding. There was mixed support for global distress and attachment style as predictors of differences between self- and observer-report. Whereas an earlier study using observational measures found gender differences in the effect of self-disclosure and empathic responding on intimacy (Mitchell et al., 2008), in this study self-report measures from the same sample indicated that perception of both an individual’s own and his or her partner’s disclosure and empathic responding predicted intimacy for both men and women. Observational measures provided incremental validity relative to self-report measures in predicting intimacy. These findings suggest that targeting certain personal and relational characteristics may be helpful in treating intimacy deficits and also indicate that self-report and observational measures provide unique information about the influence of behaviors on the development of intimate feelings in couple relationships.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Georgetown University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Marriage and Family Therapy, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 102-109).