Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Florida, 1993. / Description based on print version record. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-144).

Zweite Studienarbeit Hochschule für Angewandte Psychologie Zürich, 2005.

Thesis (M.Psych.Org.) - University of Queensland, 2007. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (M.A.)--Northern Kentucky University, 2007. / Made available through ProQuest. Publication number: AAT 1443795. ProQuest document ID: 1324373731. Includes bibliographical references (p. 42-47)

Submitted by Oliveira Santos Dilzaná (dilznana@yahoo.com.br) on 2014-01-20T13:03:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Laila Carneiro.pdf: 1385298 bytes, checksum: c3f86b420c3a2de852f5b5adb2f377b4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Portela (anapoli@ufba.br) on 2014-02-03T14:35:13Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Laila Carneiro.pdf: 1385298 bytes, checksum: c3f86b420c3a2de852f5b5adb2f377b4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-02-03T14:35:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Laila Carneiro.pdf: 1385298 bytes, checksum: c3f86b420c3a2de852f5b5adb2f377b4 (MD5) / A temática do bem-estar do trabalhador vem ganhando cada vez mais espaço na agenda de estudos em Psicologia Organizacional e do Trabalho. É no trabalho que o indivíduo passa a maior parte do seu tempo, por isso, torna-se necessário que ele se sinta bem em relação a este ambiente. Tendo como foco contribuir para o conhecimento sobre os benefícios da interação indivíduo-trabalho-organizações, utilizou-se como construto central desta pesquisa o bem-estar pessoal nas organizações (Paz, 2004), o qual pressupõe que a satisfação das necessidades e realização dos desejos dos indivíduos ao desempenharem seus papéis nas organizações é influenciada tanto por características contextuais quanto por características de personalidade de cada trabalhador. Adotando como objetivo geral a análise das implicações do lócus de controle no trabalho em relação ao bem-estar pessoal nas organizações, este estudo buscou avaliar se o fato de o trabalhador se perceber como controlador da situação (internalidade) ou perceber ao outro (organização, sorte ou acaso) como detentor deste controle (externalidade) interfere no seu nível de bem-estar. A pesquisa foi de caráter quantitativo e contou com a participação de 200 trabalhadores de duas organizações privadas de Salvador (BA), uma do ramo de varejo e a outra do ramo de logística de distribuição. Os indicadores avaliados através do instrumento de bem-estar pessoal nas organizações (Dessen & Paz, 2010b) foram: “salário”, “crescimento/autonomia”, “suporte ambiental”, “relação com os colegas”, “relação com os clientes”, “relação com a chefia”, “identificação com a organização”, “identificação com o trabalho” e “valorização do trabalho”. Os resultados encontrados proveram suporte para a hipótese de que o fator internalidade é capaz de prever tanto a medida global de bem-estar pessoal nas organizações (R²=.11, β=0,34, p<.001), quanto todos os seus indicadores separadamente, destacando-se o seu poder explicativo sobre o indicador “identificação com o trabalho” (R²=.18, β=0,43, p<.001). Já a externalidade, apresentou associação negativa e fraca, apenas sobre os indicadores “identificação com a organização” e “suporte ambiental”, não apresentando força explicativa sobre a medida global do bem-estar. Nesse sentido, indivíduos com maior orientação para a internalidade tendem a experimentar maiores níveis de bem-estar do que aqueles com maior orientação para a externalidade. Diante dos dados, compreende-se que o lócus de controle no trabalho deve continuar sendo estudado em sua interação com o bem-estar pessoal nas organizações, a fim de aprofundar o conhecimento sobre os antecedentes que podem influenciar a percepção dos trabalhadores quanto ao seu bem-estar, permitindo que sejam pensadas novas práticas de incentivo e promoção do bem-estar do trabalhador. The theme of worker’s well-being is receiving progressively more attention on Organizational and Work’s Psychology agenda of studies. The individual spends the most part of his time at work, so, it’s mandatory that he feels good at this place. Focusing on contribute to knowledge about the benefits of individual-work-organization’s interaction, it has been used as the central construct of this research the personal well-being at the workplace (Paz, 2004), which assumes that the satisfaction of needs and the fulfillment of desires when the individual is performing his job at the organization is influenced both by contextual characteristics and personality characteristics of each worker. Presenting as main goal the analysis of the implications of work locus of control on relation to personal well-being at the workplace, this study intended to evaluate whether the fact of the worker perceive himself as controlling the situation (internality) or perceive other (organization, luck or chance) as the holder of this control (externality) interferes with their level of well-being. This research had a quantitative nature and involved the participation of 200 workers from two private organizations in Salvador (BA), one of the retail branch and the other of the logistics distribution branch. The indicators evaluated by the instrument of personal well-being at the workplace (Dessen & Paz, 2010b) were: “salary”, “growth/autonomy”, “environmental support”, “relationship with coworkers”, “relationship with clients”, “relationship with leaders”, “identification with the organization”, “identification with work” and “appreciation of work”. The results have provided support for the hypothesis that the factor “internality” is able to predict both the overall measure of personal well-being at the workplace (R²=.11, β=.34, p<.001), as all his indicators separately, highlighting the explanatory power on the indicator "identification with the work" (R²=.18, β=.43, p<.001). On the other hand, the “externality” orientation was weakly and negatively associated only with the indicators “identification with the organization” and “environmental support”, not presenting significant explanatory power on the global measure of well-being. Accordingly to those results, individuals with greater focus on internality tend to experience higher levels of well-being than those with greater focus on the externality. From the data, it is understood that locus of control at work should continue to be studied on its interaction with personal well-being at the workplace, in order to deepen the knowledge about the antecedents that may influence the perception of workers about their well-being, enabling new practices to be designed to encourage and promote the well-being of the worker.

Increases in the number of users of the medical delivery system, along with an ever-increasing variety of available services, makes it desirable to identify those individuals who will benefit most from its services. With the growing reliance on third party payment, economic limitations no longer effectively restrict the use of the system's resources to those individuals who are truly ill. A framework is needed whereby individuals who are medically ill can be separated from those whose needs might be more effectively addressed by other services. A variety of means, including locus of control, has been used in the attempt to make such discriminations. In conclusion, it was observed that the low magnitude of obtained relationships presents opportunities for future research, but disallows meaningful prediction at the present time.

The relationship between learned helplessness (Seligman, 1975) and dependence on the judgment of others, as measured by an Asch-type conformity task, was investigated. Relevant constructs were reviewed: helplessness, locus of control, depression, self-esteem, dependency, and Campbell's (1961) epistemological weighting hypothesis. It was reasoned that experience with uncontrollable outcomes would not only result in learned helplessness, but also subjects' confidence in their own ability to control outcomes would be undermined so that they would rely heavily on the judgments of others as opposed to their own. Anxiety, psychological reactance, frustration, anger, or some combination of these resulting in a facilitation of performance was offered as a possible explanation for the unexpected results. Most plausible was that subjects' resulting performance deficits may have represented loss of initiative to control social reinforcers. It this is so, the deficits seen in helplessness experiments should be greater when test tasks involving social reinforcers are utilized. Further research is needed to clarify the interrelationship of helplessness, depression, and conformity/anti-conformity.

The aim of the study was to conceptualise psychological empowerment as perceived in a South African context in terms of the dimensions and contributing factors. The study was conducted by means of quantitative and qualitative methods. The sample included employees from different geographic areas, genders, races, level of education and positions in organisations in different sectors. Relationships between demographic variables and psychological empowerment were determined. To determine to what extent South Africans are psychologically empowered, according to Spreitzer’s (1995) model, means and standard deviations were calculated for the four dimensions (meaning, competence, self-determination and impact) and overall psychological empowerment (PE) and a percentile table was utilised to establish a norm and compare it with a norm established in previous research. Management practices were found to be significantly related to PE. However, when regression analysis was done, only the practices, motivation, delegation and job and role clarity significantly predicted PE. Perceptions of empowerment were investigated and it appeared that economic empowerment is emphasised in the media, while the majority of interview respondents seemed to have a balanced or positive view of empowerment as enabling. The psychological experiences of employees were explored and dimensions of psychological empowerment that are similar to what was found by previous research emerged. Some characteristics were found to be unique given the present context. Dimensions and characteristics that emerged from the study were resilience, sense of competence, sense of achievement, sense of control, sense of meaning, making a difference and empowerment of others. The theoretical frameworks proposed by Menon (2001) and Zimmerman (1995) were investigated, which confirmed the importance of a goal orientation and pro-active behaviour in psychological empowerment. These theories were evaluated and compared to cognitive theories as suitable frameworks for the study of psychological empowerment. Contributing factors that emerged from the qualitative study most prominently were opportunity and recognition. Locus of control emerged as a possible intrapersonal factor and it was explored further as a contributing factor. Together with the significant factors from the quantitative survey, these factors were employed to recommend a strategy for the development of psychological empowerment with the dimensions of empowerment as outcomes. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

Aims There is an increasing focus on factors associated with resilience in parents of children with disabilities. Two such resilience factors are hope and locus of control. This thesis aimed to review the existing literature on hope and its relationship to psychological outcomes, in parents of children who have a disability. A research study aimed to explore relationships between two resilience factors, hope and locus of control, and their links with knowledge of behavioural principles and challenging behaviour. Methods To address the first aim, a systematic review of the literature was conducted for hope (operationalised using Snyder’s model of hope). Nine online databases were systematically searched using a set of pre-defined criteria. Eligible papers were rated for quality using an established tool (SIGN, 2008) adapted for this review. Secondly, a cross-sectional research study sampled mothers of children with an intellectual disability (N=32) who completed four self-report measures online: State Hope for the Child Scale (based on the State Hope Scale), Parental Locus of Control Scale (child control and parental control subscales), Behavior Problems Inventory for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities – Short Form, and the Knowledge of Behavioural Principles Questionnaire (KBPQ), which was developed for the study. Results The systematic review identified 11 papers; three were rated as good quality, seven rated as fair quality and one rated as poor. Studies included participants whose children had a range of disabilities. Participants in the following groups were overrepresented: white, middle to high socio-economic status mothers, educated to college or graduate degree level and who self-selected to participate. For all studies, mean hope was higher than the median value for each scale used, suggesting the presence of hope in most parents. Hope was positively associated with a range of variables, such as, quality of life, and negatively associated others, including stress. There were differences in the interactions between hope components of agency and pathways, and psychological variables. There were also differences between how maternal and paternal hope related to psychological variables. The characteristics of those recruited to the research study mirrored those found in previous research. The majority of participants were married/cohabiting mothers, living in areas of higher socio-economic status, and caring for a child with a moderate or severe ID. In addition, there was a higher incidence of children with autism spectrum disorder in this sample. Mothers reported feeling hopeful, although they experienced a range of challenging behaviours (mean 14.6 behaviours per child). Due to poor psychometric properties of the KBPQ, data was not included in the analysis; however, some areas of strength and weakness in knowledge were evident. Correlational analysis showed that higher levels of resilience factors were associated with lower levels of self-injurious and aggressive/destructive behaviour. Stereotyped behaviour was not associated with either hope or locus of control. In contrast to previous research, higher hope was associated with a more external locus of control for the child control subscale. Conclusions and implications Hope is an established resilience factor in the general population. Findings from both the systematic review and research study suggest that hope is present in parents and caregivers of children with a disability. The systematic review demonstrated consistent adaptive relationships between hope and psychological variables. This highlights hope’s role as a resilience factor in parents of children with a disability. The research study added to the literature on how maternal hope and locus of control inter-relate in this population. Generalisability of study results was limited by sample size, population characteristics and by scales used. However, overall findings suggest that it would be beneficial to consider resilience factors when planning and evaluating interventions and research. Furthermore, examining specific aetiologies of disability, such as ASD, might also clarify whether these affect the relationships between hope and other psychological variables.

Although gazillion of studies have been conducted regarding what influences auditors’ judgment, few studies examined the impact of conformity pressure on auditors’ judgment. Despite the few attempts to discover this area, different results rendered from these studies.The purpose of this study is to explain how the conformity pressures affect auditors’ judgement. The effect of other factors was taken into consideration such as professional commitment, Locus of control and the characteristics of Swedish culture. The method was quantitative using data collected by surveys sent to auditors working in big-four and non-big-four audit firms.The findings show that conformity pressure does not affect the judgment of the Swedish auditors.The limitations of the study are the number of responses received through the survey and the difficulty of accurately target the Swedish auditors.