This work is about the way we understand the concept of meaning of life. We particularly dwell upon existential analysis of American psychologist Irvin Yalom. We focus on his work as opposition to pessimism and nihilistic moods in nowadays society. In the other part of this work we have described basic concepts connected with the topic meaning of life and philosophical context with emphasis on Fridrich Nietszche's and Albert Camus's work and psychology of Viktor Frankl. The main goal of this work is to find if there is a way out in Yalom's existential analysis in confrontation with postmodern nihilism and feeling of meaningless of human life. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

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In the present study the overarching aim was to investigate the relationship between commitment, self-differentiation and pride in undergraduate university students with the view to achieve a better understanding of the extent to which identity-related factors such as self-differentiation and pride as a self-relevant emotion may shape the strength of commitments in a higher education setting. Findings of the study may contribute to the literature on the psychology of academic commitment by distinguishing it from academic engagement (Baldwin & Koh, 2012) and by broadening the study of commitment to include identity-related constructs in the development of academic commitment (Lord, Diefendorff, Schmidt & Hall, 2010). I argue that a well-differentiated self is relevant to academic commitment because it may provide coherency and consistency in commitments. Academic commitment was operationalised as the extent to which students experience their studies as a source of satisfaction and meaning, the extent to which they have invested resources in their studies, and the quality of alternatives available (Rusbult, Martz & Agnew, 1998). I examined self-differentiation in terms of the ability to take an I-position in the absence of Emotional Reactivity, Emotional Cutoff and Fusion with Others (Skowron & Friedlander, 1998). Authentic pride was described as a self-relevant emotion consisting of two dimensions, namely Authentic and Hubristic pride (Tracy & Robins, 2007d). The Meaning Maintenance Model (MMM) as discussed by Heine, Proulx & Vohs (2006) was the conceptual framework that guided the study. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was asked for the implementation of a questionnaire that consisted of demographic factors, the Academic Commitment Scale (ACS), the Differentiation of Self Inventory (DSI-R) and the Authentic and Hubristic Pride Scales (AHP). A pilot study was conducted to test the new Academic Commitment Scale’s reliability and construct validity. A one-stage random cluster sampling method was used to complete a sample of undergraduate students from two faculties at the same university. Results of the main study were reported in Chapter 4 and a discussion of findings and conclusions, as well as the contribution, limitations and recommendations for future research were addressed in Chapter 5. Findings of the study indicate that commitment as an identity-level construct, related to identity-related constructs such as differentiation of self and pride, can be utilised in a higher education setting to differentiate between high performance students and students at risk of failure. The results can thus assist policy makers, lecturers, educationists and psychologists to achieve a better understanding of the factors underpinning academic success on the one hand and student dropout on the other hand, in order to develop appropriate support programs. A main feature of the study was the development of a new scale to measure commitment in an academic context. The Academic Commitment Scale was created based on an adapted version of the Rusbult et al. (1998) Investment Model. Meaningfulness was added as a fifth subscale which turned out to be a strong predictor of academic commitment. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

Denna kandidatuppsats syftar till att förklara och förstå hållbarhetsansvarigas upplevelser av företags möjligheter och svårigheter att arbeta med social hållbarhet, samt fånga deras upplevelser av motiverande av såväl företagsledning som medarbetare. Därtill vilka sociala förutsättningar de uppfattar behövs för att möjliggöra arbete med social hållbarhet. På grund av företags paradoxala strävan efter vinst och hållbarhet är detta fenomen viktigt att förstå utifrån en sociologisk vinkel. Studien är genomförd med ett kvalitativt angreppssätt där åtta respondenter från sju olika företag intervjuades. Resultatet analyseras med hjälp av två teorier; Ahrne och Papakostas teori om tröghetens mekanismer och förnyelsens förutsättningar (2014) samt Asplunds teori om social responsivitet och abstrakt socialitet (1987). Studien visar att hållbarhetsansvariga upplever att det krävs engagemang från företagsledningen och en tydlig intern kommunikation för att skapa förutsättningar där ett arbete med social hållbarhet är möjligt. Studien visar också att sociala interaktioner bidrar till en känsla av stolthet och meningsfullhet och är det främsta redskapet för att bemöta negativa synsätt på arbete med hållbarhetsfrågor. Genom att arbeta med social hållbarhet kan företag påverka såväl marknaden som samhället i helhet till det positiva och därmed använda hållbarhetsarbetet som en konkurrensfördel. Näringslivet har en stor påverkan i utvecklandet av social hållbarhet, såväl globalt som lokalt, och därmed är företags samhällsansvar en viktig del i skapandet av en socialt hållbar framtid. / This candidate thesis aims at explaining and understanding sustainability managers experiences of their company’s opportunities and difficulties in working with social sustainability. As well as capturing their perceptions on motivating both company management and employees, and what social conditions are needed to enable work with social sustainability. Due to companies paradoxical pursuit of profit and sustainability it is important to understand this phenomenon from a sociological angle. This study is conducted with a qualitative approach in which eight respondents from seven different companies were interviewed. The result is analyzed by using two theories; Ahrne and Papakostas’ theory about inertia's mechanisms and the conditions of renewal (2014) and Asplund’s theory about social responsiveness and abstract sociality (1987). The result shows that sustainability managers experience a need of commitment from the management and a distinct internal communication in order to create conditions where work with social sustainability is made possible. The study shows that social interactions contribute to a sense of pride and meaningfulness and are the primary tool to counteract a negative view on working with sustainability issues. By working with social sustainability, companies can have a positive influence on both market and society and thus use sustainability efforts as a competitive advantage. Business has a major impact on the development of social sustainability, both globally and locally, corporate social responsibility is therefore an important part of creating a socially sustainable future.

The present study tested a nomological net of work engagement that was derived from its extant research. Two of the main work engagement models that have been presented and empirically tested in the literature, the JD-R model and Kahn’s model, were integrated to test the effects that job features and personal characteristics can have on work engagement through the psychological conditions of meaningfulness, safety, and availability. In this study, safety refers to psychological perceptions of safety and not workplace safety behaviors. The job features that were tested in this model included person-job fit, autonomy, co-worker relations, supervisor support, procedural justice, and interactional justice, while the personal characteristics consisted of self-consciousness, self-efficacy, extraversion, and neuroticism. Thirty-four hypotheses and a conceptual model were tested in order to establish the viability of this nomological net of work engagement in which it was expected that meaningfulness would mediate the relationships between job features and work engagement, safety would mediate the relationships that job features and personal characteristics have with work engagement, and availability (physical, emotional, and cognitive resources) would mediate the relationships that personal characteristics have with work engagement. Furthermore, analyses were run in order to determine the factor structure of work engagement, assess whether or not it exhibits differential validity from organizational commitment and job satisfaction, and confirm that it is positively related to the outcome variable of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The final sample consisted of 500 workers from an online labor market who responded to a questionnaire composed of measures of all constructs included in this study. Findings show that work engagement is best represented as a three-factor construct, composed of vigor, dedication and absorption. Furthermore, support was found for the distinction of work engagement from the related constructs of organizational commitment and job satisfaction. With regard to the proposed model, meaningfulness proved to be the strongest predictor of work engagement. Results show that it partially mediates the relationships that all job features have with work engagement. Safety proved to be a partial mediator of the relationships that autonomy, co-worker relations, supervisor support, procedural justice, interactional justice, and self-efficacy have with work engagement, and fully mediate the relationship between neuroticism and work engagement. Findings also show that availability partially mediates the positive relationships that extraversion and self-efficacy have with work engagement, and fully mediates the negative relationship that neuroticism has with work engagement. Finally, a positive relationship was found between work engagement and OCB. Research and organizational implications are discussed.

13 | P a g e SUMMARY In South Africa’s rapidly changing social and cultural context, where family dynamics and relationships are changing just as quickly, it is essential to discover which factors contribute to successful relationships that persist over time. Previous research has utilised the Investment Model Scale (Rusbult, 1980) in order to understand commitment processes and the constructs satisfaction, quality of alternatives and investment have been identified as key determinants of commitment in romantic contexts. In the present study however I investigated the primary research question, “How can commitment be measured in the context of family relationships?” Data collection took place through the Family Commitment Scale (which was adapted from the Investment Model Scale) and a new meaningfulness scale was added in an attempt to explore whether meaningfulness would be a better predictor of family commitment than satisfaction, quality of alternatives and investment. The statistical analyses were conducted with the purpose of examining the research question and hypotheses. The findings of the present study contribute to commitment literature by underlining the utility of the Invest Model Scale in nonromantic contexts and providing an instrument which can reliably measure family commitment. Meaningfulness is also highlighted as a motivational feature behind family commitment processes. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

This thesis deals with the topic of work engagement. Firstly, various concepts of work engagement and approaches to measuring this concept are presented. Moreover, the context of engagement and its relations to important aspects of working life are being discussed. Lastly, links between work engagement and important organizational indicators of success are being outlined. The research project aims to determine relationships between selected work resources, work engagement and business performance, turnover and client satisfaction within the branch network of a Czech banking company. Research results showed a significant relationship between work engagement and all measured work resources. Part of the relationship between work resources and work engagement has been shown to be mediated through perceived meaningfulness of work. Furthermore, the significance of work engagement as a predictor of business performance was successfully verified. No significant correlations were found between work engagement, turnover and client satisfaction. Keywords work engagement, employee engagement, predictors, work resources, business performance, turnover, client satisfaction, meaningfulness of work

Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka om det fanns ett sambandet mellan KASAM kopplat till psykisk välbefinnande, som enligt teorin skulle kunna vara en positiv motståndskraft för individer att klara påfrestningar i livet genom hanterbarhet, begriplighetoch meningsfullhet. Syftet var även att se om det förekom fler faktorer som kunde habetydelse för relationen mellan KASAM och psykisk hälsa. Genom en kvantitativ enkätundersökning mättes den subjektiva psykiska hälsan med självskattningsformuläret GHQ-12 samt graden av KASAM med KASAM 29. Den rådande Coronapandemin gjorde även att kvalitativa frågor togs med och blev en del av undersökningen. Andra variabler som mättes var ålder, kön, civilstånd, yrke, sociala kontakter samt tro på högre makt. Resultatet av studien visade att KASAM hade en stark signifikant korrelation med psykisk välbefinnande (r = 0.690, p < .001) även när justeringar för ålder gjordes. Slutsatsen blev att KASAMskulle kunna ses som en hälsoförebyggande prediktor för upplevd hälsa och att ålder inte hade någon betydelse för relationen. Studien indikerade även på att leva i tvåsamhet skulle kunna ha en betydande roll för Känsla av sammanhang och det subjektiva välbefinnande.

Bakgrund: Personer med demenssjukdom påverkas och är känsliga för sin omgivning och hur den är utformad. En rörig och orolig miljö kan ha negativa inverkan på dessa personers hälsa jämtemot en miljö som är anpassad och rogivande. Miljön kan användas som en resurs i vårdandet och kan då bidra med hälsofrämjande effekter för människan. Problem: Tidigare forskning har fokuserat på personer med demenssjukdom och deras upplevelser av miljön. Forskning kring vårdares upplevelser av utomhusmiljöns inverkan på personer med demenssjukdom är dock mindre beforskad. Som vårdare är det betydelsefullt att få kunskap om utomhusmiljöns inverkan på personer med demenssjukdom och därigenom förhindra ytterligare lidande för dessa personer. Syfte: Var att beskriva vårdares erfarenheter av utomhusmiljöns inverkan på personer med demenssjukdom. Metod: Allmän litteraturöversikt innehållande tolv vårdvetenskapliga artiklar, sex mixad metod, fyra kvalitativa och två kvantitativa artiklar. Resultat: Fyra kategorier identifierades som hade betydelse för vårdares erfarenheter av utomhusmiljöns inverkan på personer med demenssjukdom. Dessa kategorier var: gemenskap, inverkan på fysisk hälsa och kognition, inverkan på välbefinnande och meningsfullhet. Vårdare erfor att utomhusmiljöns inverkan på personer med demenssjukdom ofta hade en positiv inverkan, dock kunde även utomhusmiljön skapa negativa upplevelser. Slutsats: Utomhusmiljöns positiva inverkan på personer med demenssjukdom bör användas som en hälsofrämjande resurs. / Background: People with dementia are sensitive and easily affected by their environment and how it is designed. A messy and uneasy environment can have a negative impact on health compared to an environment that is adapted and calming. The environment can be seen as an important tool when caring for people and has a health-promoting effect. Problem: Previous research has focused on people with dementia and their experiences of the environment. Research on caregivers’ experiences of the outdoor environment's impact on people with dementia is limited and needs to be examined further. It is important as a carer to gain knowledge about the impact of the outdoor environment on people with dementia and thereby prevent them from further suffering. Aim: To describe caregivers' experiences of the impact of the outdoor environment on people with dementia. Method: A literature review containing twelve care science articles, six articles were of mixed method, four were qualitative and two were quantitative. Results: Four categories were identified that were of significance in caregivers’ experiences of the impact of the outdoor environment for people with dementia. These categories were: community, meaningfulness, impact on physical health and cognition and impact on well-being. Caregivers experienced that the impact of the outdoor environment on people with dementia often had a positive impact, however, the outdoor environment could also create negative experiences. Conclusion: The positive impact of the outdoor environment on people with dementia should be used as a health-promoting resource.

Studiens syfte är att finna hur man arbetar inom grundsärskolan och gymnasiesärskolan med att synliggöra lärandet för eleverna och bedöma vart eleverna befinner sig kunskapsmässigt. Frågeställningarna behandlar vilka metoder speciallärare och specialpedagoger använder för att synliggöra lärandet samt vilka metoder som används för att bedöma vart eleven befinner sig kunskapsmässigt och vilka metoder lärarna använder för att göra lärandet meningsfullt, hanterbart och begripligt.  Kvalitativ metod i form av webbenkäter har använts för insamling av empirin. Den teoretiska ansatsen KASAM har använts för att analysera resultatet. Resultatet visar på att den metod som lärarna använder mest för att synliggöra lärandet för sina elever är genom muntlig återkoppling. Den metod som lärarna använder sig mest av för att ta reda på var eleven befinner sig kunskapsmässigt är samtal med kollegor. För att göra lärandet hanterbart, begripligt och meningsfullt så tar lärarna reda på vilken lärmetod som passar bäst för eleven, utgår från elevens intresse och har en tydlighet kring mål och syfte med undervisningen. Resultatet visar också på likheter och skillnader i valda metoder för de elever som läser ämnesområde kontra de som läser ämne. Studiens specialpedagogiska implikationer är att ge tips på goda exempel om metoder för bedömning och synliggörande av lärande. Resultatet bidrar till förslag för fortsatt forskning kring effekten av beprövade metoder. / The purpose of this study is to find out best practices for teachers within the compulsory special school and the upper secondary special school in Sweden. The goal is to make the learning visible for the pupils and to assess where the pupils are in terms of knowledge. The study addresses what methods special teachers and special educators use to make the learning visible, to assess where the pupil is in terms of knowledge and what methods teachers use to make learning meaningful, manageable and understandable.  Qualitative method in the form of web surveys has been used to gather empirical data. The theoretical approach KASAM has been used to analyze the results. This reveals that the method most teachers use to make the learning visible to their pupils is through oral feedback. The method that teachers use most often to find out where the pupil is knowledgeable is talking to colleagues. In order to make learning manageable, understandable and meaningful, the teachers choose learning method best suited for the pupil based on the pupils interest and have a clear focus on the goals and purpose of the teaching. The result also shows similarities and differences in selected methods for the pupils who read the subject area versus those who read the subject.  The study's special educational implications are to give tips on good examples of methods for assessing and making visible learning. The result contributes to proposals for further research on the effect of tried and tested methods.