This study aimed to examine the relationship between romantic self-concept (self-concept in the realm of love) and satisfaction in one’s love life. Drawing from a population of mainly college students, overall self-concept was measured using the “Six-Factor Self-Concept Scale for Adults” (Stake, 1994). Additionally, the assessment was augmented by incorporating several more curated questions specifically designed to measure one’s romantic self-concept. Moreover, their satisfaction in love life was measured using Neto’s (2005) “Satisfaction with Love Life Scale”. Lastly “The Relationship Assessment Scale” (Hendrick, 1988) was used to measure couple satisfaction for those who were not single. The guiding hypothesis proposed that those with a higher (more positive) romantic self-concept will experience greater satisfaction levels within their love lives. This research highlights the intricate dynamics and influences shaping the link between individuals' self-perceptions and their experiences in romance.

The purpose of this thesis will be a contrast of the Buddhist and the Christian responses to this-worldly suffering. Many scholars have proposed that the best way to create a better world with less suffering is to make Christianity more like Buddhism, so that an interfaith synthesis between the two religions results. These scholars’ proposals are described in Chapter 2. However, what these scholars desire (i.e. less this-worldly suffering) will not logically result from the solution they suggest (i.e. Buddhicizing Christianity). For to make Christianity more like Buddhism in its essentials would render Christianity less potent to oppose this-worldly suffering. The thesis will thus contrast Buddhism with Christianity in five crucial areas, namely, their viewpoints on ultimate reality, ultimate attachments, ultimate aversions, ultimate example, and ultimate purpose. These five areas provide the content to accurately define Buddhist compassion and Christian love. Chapter 3 describes Buddhism’s struggle to ground love of neighbor ontologically, whether by the ontological givens of dependent co-arising or nirvana. Buddhism struggles to ground not only whether we should love our neighbors, but also whether we can do so. Christianity, on the other hand, proves entirely capable of grounding love of neighbor—whether should or can—given its theistic ontology. Chapter 4 describes the Buddhist and Christian responses to suffering when it comes to attachments. Buddhism asks us to let go of rigid attachments to persons, truth and goodness. Meanwhile, Christians are to cling to God, and as a result of loving God, they are to love people, hunger and thirst for the good, and rejoice in the truth. These ultimate attachments to persons, truth, and goodness help overcome this-worldly suffering. According to Chapter 5, Buddhism and Christianity differ sharply when it comes to aversion to and grief over sin. Buddhists cultivate equanimity toward the sin, reasoning that the problem is not actually the person’s fault and, furthermore, that the problem is not really a problem. Christians, however, are to love people enough that they hate the sin which destroys them. In hating evil and restoring people, Christianity undermines immense worldly suffering. Chapter 6 contrasts Gautama and Jesus as examples of combatting suffering. At each juncture, Jesus offered more to actually fight against suffering than did Gautama. Incredibly, the interfaith scholar who would Buddhicize Christianity’s ultimate example would mar the portrait of the paradigm who exemplifies the very qualities the interfaith scholar wants to emulate. Chapter 7 examines the Buddhist emphasis on “thusness” and the Christian emphasis on purposefulness. Insofar as the interfaith scholar would Buddhicize Christianity’s ultimate purpose, the robust purposefulness that gives one’s life meaning and motivation would erode into a purposelessness which, however emancipating, leaves one comparatively impotent in the face of this-worldly suffering. In light of these five contrasts, Christian love and Buddhist compassion are able to be defined and contrasted. The logical conclusion drawn is that to Buddhicize Christianity’s ultimacy would be to truncate Christianity’s efficacy, a result which should motivate these interfaith scholars to reconsider their proposals. / PhD, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The purpose of this thesis will be a contrast of the Buddhist and the Christian responses to this-worldly suffering. Many scholars have proposed that the best way to create a better world with less suffering is to make Christianity more like Buddhism, so that an interfaith synthesis between the two religions results. These scholars’ proposals are described in Chapter 2. However, what these scholars desire (i.e. less this-worldly suffering) will not logically result from the solution they suggest (i.e. Buddhicizing Christianity). For to make Christianity more like Buddhism in its essentials would render Christianity less potent to oppose this-worldly suffering. The thesis will thus contrast Buddhism with Christianity in five crucial areas, namely, their viewpoints on ultimate reality, ultimate attachments, ultimate aversions, ultimate example, and ultimate purpose. These five areas provide the content to accurately define Buddhist compassion and Christian love. Chapter 3 describes Buddhism’s struggle to ground love of neighbor ontologically, whether by the ontological givens of dependent co-arising or nirvana. Buddhism struggles to ground not only whether we should love our neighbors, but also whether we can do so. Christianity, on the other hand, proves entirely capable of grounding love of neighbor—whether should or can—given its theistic ontology. Chapter 4 describes the Buddhist and Christian responses to suffering when it comes to attachments. Buddhism asks us to let go of rigid attachments to persons, truth and goodness. Meanwhile, Christians are to cling to God, and as a result of loving God, they are to love people, hunger and thirst for the good, and rejoice in the truth. These ultimate attachments to persons, truth, and goodness help overcome this-worldly suffering. According to Chapter 5, Buddhism and Christianity differ sharply when it comes to aversion to and grief over sin. Buddhists cultivate equanimity toward the sin, reasoning that the problem is not actually the person’s fault and, furthermore, that the problem is not really a problem. Christians, however, are to love people enough that they hate the sin which destroys them. In hating evil and restoring people, Christianity undermines immense worldly suffering. Chapter 6 contrasts Gautama and Jesus as examples of combatting suffering. At each juncture, Jesus offered more to actually fight against suffering than did Gautama. Incredibly, the interfaith scholar who would Buddhicize Christianity’s ultimate example would mar the portrait of the paradigm who exemplifies the very qualities the interfaith scholar wants to emulate. Chapter 7 examines the Buddhist emphasis on “thusness” and the Christian emphasis on purposefulness. Insofar as the interfaith scholar would Buddhicize Christianity’s ultimate purpose, the robust purposefulness that gives one’s life meaning and motivation would erode into a purposelessness which, however emancipating, leaves one comparatively impotent in the face of this-worldly suffering. In light of these five contrasts, Christian love and Buddhist compassion are able to be defined and contrasted. The logical conclusion drawn is that to Buddhicize Christianity’s ultimacy would be to truncate Christianity’s efficacy, a result which should motivate these interfaith scholars to reconsider their proposals. / PhD, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The aim of the study was to determine the influence/effect of discourses on love and marriage in the lives of people from their childhood uptil this day. Twelve people participated in the study. These participants were defined as being "white, Afrikaans speaking, married couples between 30 and 50 years of age, with or without children and belonging to a church in the RSA of the Reformed tradition". The study sought to discover how people respond to dominent and marginalised discourses on love and marriage and how they portray this in their marital relationship. A further objective was to reflect on some modernistic descriptions of discourses on love and marriage and the deconstruction thereof. Factors such as the marital relationship of the parents, peer groups, church dogma and theological interpretation, sex education at the time they grew up, culture, customs, etc. were related by each participant and contextualised within each life story. Interviews were conducted with each participant / Practical Theology / M. Th. (Pastoral Therapy)

This study examines the ancient Greeks’ attitudes to children during the Classical and Hellenistic periods. The investigation is limited to literary sources in selected pre-Christian texts. Problems which might bias interpretation have been noted. Parent-child relationships, as revealed in literary examples of parental love and concern, are of particular interest. Hazards affecting survival in early childhood, and factors which influenced attitudes regarding the fetus, abortion, exposure and infanticide are considered. Legal, political and socio-economic factors are amongst motivating forces. Childhood experiences such as education, sport, pederasty, step-families, slaves and slavery, preparation for marriage, and deprivation due to war and environmental factors are also examined. Ancient attitudes to children are compared with modern attitudes to children in similar situations prevailing in Western culture in the 21st century. The findings reveal that basic human behaviour has changed little over the millennia; however, factors influencing attitudes have undergone some change as society evolved.

Several studies have described emotional expressions used by speakers from different linguistic and cultural areas all around the world. It has been demonstrated that there are universal cognitive bases for the metaphorical expressions that speakers use to describe their emotional status. There are indeed significant differences concerning the use of emotional expressions, not only across languages but also language-internally. Quite a number of studies focus on the language of emotions in several European languages and languages of West Africa, whereas not enough research has been done on this regard on Eastern African languages

Le développement de techniques de focalisation et d'imagerie à haute résolution pour les sources acoustiques et vibratoires à basse fréquence est l'un des enjeux de la recherche actuelle en acoustique, notamment pour exciter localement et analyser des structures vibroacoustiques complexes tout en conservant des propriétés de haute résolution. Ces propriétés sont nécessaires lorsque la taille des objets étudiés est plus petite que la longueur d'onde mise en jeu. Nous désirons une méthode flexible, rapide, précise, non invasive, et unifiée d'excitation et d'analyse. Celle-ci doit être applicable tant dans le domaine des vibrations dans les structures que dans le domaine des ondes acoustiques tridimensionnelles. Pour cela, nous nous basons sur la technique du puits à retournement temporel, qui n'a, à ce jour, été mise en oeuvre que pour la focalisation d'ondes de Lamb dans une cavité ergodique ou avec des ondes électromagnétiques. Aucune technique d'imagerie n'a, avant cette thèse, été dérivée du puits à retournement temporel. La méthode du puits à retournement temporel est adaptée pour la focalisation à basse fréquence. Elle permet d'exciter localement une structure avec une grande intensité, et possède des capacités de super-résolution. Malgré tout, nous démontrons que cette méthode est difficilement applicable en situation pratique, puisqu'elle fait perdre le caractère non invasif nécessaire à la plupart des applications. En revanche, nous présentons dans ce manuscrit une technique nouvelle d'imagerie de sources vibratoires et acoustiques, basée sur le puits à retournement temporel. Cette technique non invasive d'imagerie, utilisant des dispositifs de mesure similaires aux techniques de formations de voies ou d'holographie en champ proche, permet d'obtenir une image des sources vibratoires ou acoustiques à très haute résolution de manière rapide. L'approche de cette nouvelle méthode d'imagerie est décrite. Des applications à l'imagerie de sources d'impact sur une plaque encastrée, ainsi qu'à l'imagerie de sources acoustiques en champ libre et en milieu sous-marin profond sont proposées. Une application à l'imagerie de sources acoustiques à basse fréquence sur une guitare est développée. Ces résultats représentent les premières applications de l'imagerie par puits à retournement temporel numérique. Les limites, la théorie, et la mise en oeuvre de cette technique d'imagerie à haute résolution sont étudiées et détaillées. II est démontré que cet outil possède des performances et des limites similaires à l'holographie en champ proche, tout en dépassant les capacités à basse fréquence des techniques classiques de localisation limitées en résolution couramment utilisées, comme le beamforming ou le retournement temporel.

The focus of this study is to compare works by the Canadian poet Dorothy Livesay (1909-1996) and by the Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad (1935-1967). Although Farrokhzad and Livesay were from different generations, their love poems emerged around the same time. Farrokhzad published her poems between 1955 and 1965, and Livesay's collection of love poemsThe Unquiet Bed was published in 1967. There are interesting similarities between the use of voice and theme in their love poems.The speakers in the poems try to keep their individuality and are looking for freedom in love, but often see love as disappointing. My discussion highlights Livesay's"The Touching,"The Taming," and"Consideration" as well as Farrokhzad's"The Sin,"Love Song," and"My Beloved." I also refer to many of their other love poems, discuss their biographies and map out their respective cultural contexts, all of which reflect different worlds. A comparison of Farrokhzad's and Livesay's personal lives shows that Livesay's father and her mother, who were both journalists, helped her to improve and publish her writings while Farrokhzad's parents discouraged their daughter from composing and publishing poems. Livesay was a highly educated woman who lived and studied in different countries, but Farrokhzad did not have access to advanced academic studies. Neither had happy marriages and both left their marriages in search of more freedom. Through their love poems, Farrokhzad and Livesay questioned the patriarchal conventions of their respective societies and tried to express their need for freedom and individuality as women. One of the most important differences between Iranian and Canadian societies was that Iranian society was deeply affected by conventional Islamic ideologies. Farrokhzad's love poems resisted these Islamic ideologies and, as a result, her works were ignored for years. Again, at the time Livesay publishedThe Unquiet Bed (1967), there were some similarities between gender constructions in Iran and Canada, for example, the importance of marriage and the confinement of women to the private sphere, but to a very different degree. Since Livesay lived in a society that was being greatly affected by the feminist revolution in the 1960's, the feminism in her love poems was better received. As this research is done in English, translated versions of Farrokhzad's poems are used. A translated poem never conveys the exact meaning of the original poem.The translator of a poem should be a poet herself or himself. What he or she should do is to read and understand the original poem and reproduce a new poem in the target language. This research discusses some interesting images in Farrokhzad's love poems. As a native speaker of Farsi, I explain the real intention of these images to see if translated versions could convey a similar meaning. I also consider the challenges when translating poetry from Farsi to English and the effects of reading Iranian poetry that has been mediated by translation. An important approach to Farrokhzad's and Livesay's works is to analyze their poems in terms of feminist ideologies. There is a great difference between Iranian and Canadian feminist ideologies. Feminist thought in Iran is based on Islamic ideologies.The question is if Islamic feminism can defend women's rights against men or not. Farrokhzad was one of the anti-Islamic feminists who opposed Islamic rule in her poems. Canadian feminist ideologies, however, are divided into liberal, Marxist, radical, and French schools, and are most often based on secular ideologies. This thesis examines the critical reception of poetry by both poets in the context of different schools of feminist thought in Canada and Iran. Livesay traveled to Zambia later in life and one of the love poems she wrote after that called"The Taming" comments ironically on women's submission to a dominant male lover.The comparison of poems by two authors from different worlds shows how their love poems, their feminist voice, and their themes of freedom, independence, and disappointment in love are rooted in the cultural context of their lives.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Intimate and satisfying relationships in adolescence are connected to mental health and well-being and have significant implications for adolescent psychosocial development. Despite the benefits of romantic involvement, research into adolescents’ experiences within their romantic relationships is limited. Few studies on adolescent intimacy experiences, especially those leading to conceptualizations of intimacy, have been undertaken. The majority of studies that have been conducted on adolescents’ intimacy experiences have been conducted in White, Euro-American, middle-class samples, using quantitative methodology and researchers’ definitions of the construct. In South Africa adolescent romantic relationships are often studied because of their links with pressing social issues, such as teenage pregnancy, intimate partner violence and risky sexual behaviour and HIV/AIDS, rather than for the value of understanding the relationships themselves. The resultant negative constructions of adolescent romance in research literature serve to continue the narrow scope of inquiry into adolescent intimate relationships and also limit the ability of professionals and care-givers to respond to the relationship challenges of South African youth. The present study was aimed at addressing some of the limitations of previous research on adolescent romantic relationship experiences, with a particular focus on intimacy. Coloured adolescents from a low-income, semi-rural community in the Western Cape were selected as participants for the inquiry due to the overwhelming lack of knowledge about the constructions of intimacy in this group. Social constructionism was used as a theoretical framework to ground and inform the study. The research objective was to develop an understanding of the constructions and experiences of intimacy of middle adolescents within the specific target community. A social constructionist grounded theory method was used. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 young men and women. The social constructionist grounded theory analysis indicated that participants appeared to strive toward having ideal relationships as portrayed in the Western popular media. Participants’ constructions of intimacy centred on behaviour rather than on abstract, emotional experience, Their relationship experiences and behaviours reflected discourses of gendered romantic relationship interaction, with boys emphasizing commitment and girls focusing on “doing emotion work” as pathways to experiencing and expressing intimacy. The researcher raises the possibility that adolescent boy’s and girl’s striving toward ideal Western relationships, media and peer reinforcement of these ideal relationships and adolescents’ specific developmental cognitive limitations may limit their capacity for knowing themselves and their partners in their romantic relationships and contribute to inauthenticity in romantic relationships. As Western mainstream intimacy discourses stress the importance of self and partner knowledge, as well as authenticity in romantic relationships, these discourses therefore make it difficult to recognize and validate adolescents’ intimacy experiences. In fact these discourses imply that adolescents have a limited ability to experience intimacy. The researcher argues that by situating intimacy in the context of behaviours rather than emotional experience, understandings of intimacy can move beyond the essentialist depictions of what is and is not intimate, thus allowing for a range of behaviours to count as intimate, broadening the possibilities for conceptualizing and acknowledging intimacy. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Intieme en bevredigende verhoudings in adolessensie is verbind aan geestelike gesondheid en welsyn en het beduidende implikasies vir die adolessent se psigososiale ontwikkeling Ten spyte hiervan, is navorsingoor adolessentese ervaringsin hulromantiese verhoudingsbeperk. Minstudies ooradolessenteintimiteit, veral dié wat lei totbegrippevanintimiteit, isonderneem.Diemeerderheid van studiesooradolessente seintimiteitservaringsis uitgevoer inWit,Euro-Amerikaanse, middelklas steekproewe. In Suid-Afrika word adolessente se romantiese verhoudings dikwels bestudeervanweehul assosiasie met dreigende sosiale kwessies soos tienerswangerskappe, intieme maatgeweld, riskante seksuele gedrag en MIV/VIGS, eerder as vir die waarde van die begrip van die verhoudings self. Die gevolglike negatiewe konstruksies van adolessente se romantiese betrokkenheid dra by tot die beperkte fokus en omvang van ondersoekeoor adolessente se romantiese verhoudings, en ook die beperkte vermoë van professionele mense en versorgers om te reageer op die verhoudingsuitdagings van die Suid-Afrikaanse jeug te beperk. Die huidige studie was daarop gemik om van die beperkings van vorige navorsing oor adolessente se romantiese verhoudingservarings, met 'n besondere fokus op intimiteit, aan te spreek. Kleurling adolessente van 'n semi-landelike gemeenskap in die Wes Kaap is gekies as deelnemers as gevolg van die oorweldigende gebrek aan kennis oor die konstruksie van intimiteit in hierdie groep. ‘nSosiaal-konstruktionistiese raamwerk is gebruik om die studie te begrond en te rig. Die navorsingsdoelwit was om 'n begrip van die ervarings van intimiteit van middel-adolessente binne die spesifieke teikengemeenskap te ontwikkel. Hierdie doel is bereik deur gebruik te maak van 'n sosiaal-konstruksionistiese gegrondeteoriemetode.In-diepte onderhoude is gevoer met 20 adolessente mans en vrouens. Die sosiaal konstruktionistiese gegronde teorie analise het aangedui dat deelnemers se konstruksies van intimiteit gedrag eerder as emosionele ervaring in hul intimiteitsvertellings beklemtoon het. Hul verhouding ervarings en gedrag weerspieël diskoerse van geslagtelike romantiese verhoudinginteraksie met seuns wattoewyding en meisies wat die "doen van emosie werk" beklemtoon as roetes na intimiteit. Deelnemers blyk om te streef na ideale verhoudings soos uitgebeeld is in die Wes-populêre media, duer ‘n behoefte om in te pas en aanvaar te word deur hul eweknieë. Hierdie proses kan deelnemers lei om op te tree en hulle gedagtes oor romantiese verhoudings uit te spreek in ooreenstemming met wat algemeen aanvaar word binne hul portuurgroep, eerder as in die maniere wat hulle eie oortuigings, begrip en begeertes weerspieël. Hierdie proses lei tot 'n beperkte kennis en bewustheid van die self as' n romantiese vennoot sowel as 'n neiging tot onoutentieke grdrag in romantiese verhoudings. Hierdie beperkte self-bewustheid en onoutentieke gedrag inhibeer dan adolessente se vermoë om intimiteit te ervaar wanneer dit volgens die hoofstroom konstruksies daarvan beskou is. Die bevindinge dui op die behoefte aan die gebruik van breër definisies van intimiteit in die oorweging van adolessente romantiese verhoudings, die bou van alternatiewe diskoerse van intimiteit en‘n verhoging van leiding deur volwassenes ten opsigte vanadoloesente se romantiese verhoudings Sekere beperkings van die huidige navorsing het ook verwys na 'n behoefte aan meer navorsing oor die invloed van' n wyer kontekstuele faktore in adolessente se konstruksies van intimiteit.

The everyday dinner usually involves a number of different and sometimes conflicting ambitions that may include striving for self-fulfillment and striving to care for one’s family and society at large. To understand the consumption that occurs in connection with these ambitions, consumer researchers must understand the context surrounding the everyday dinner. In this dissertation theories of practice are utilized as a conceptual framework to emphasize the importance of context. Theories of practice have gained renewed interest within the field of consumption. Yet, Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) has neglected practice theories’ ability to operationalize the consumption context. The aim of this dissertation is to develop further CCT’s practice perspective to increase the understanding of the consumption context and thereby better understand consumption as a social and cultural phenomenon. An ethnographic approach is employed to identify what practices operate within a complex consumption situation such as the everyday dinner among single mothers; how these practices incorporate consumption in their strivings and how the different practices operating within the consumption situation interact with one another. This new approach comes to the conclusion that mothering, defined as a meta-practice, dominated the consumption situation and organized the other practices involved. A meta-practice is one with major influence over consumption and thus a type of practice consumption researchers should look for. Furthermore in Western society consumption situations, like the everyday dinner, seem to be especially important when it comes to anchoring meta-practices and thereby the social order. A preliminary characterization of the meta-practice is proposed as consisting of four different traits: I) its impact on the social order; II) its generalizability, density and superiority; III) its regulation and IV) its stability or slow change. However, more studies are necessary to explore these characteristics further.