M.A. / The aim of the study was to explore motivational profiles and competitive anxiety in secondary school athletes who spend at least eight hours or more on sport during a week. The study included 267 adolescent athletes in secondary school ranging from grade 8 to grade 12, with a mean age of 15.52 (SD = 1.49). These athletes were asked to volunteer for the study in various schools in Johannesburg and Pretoria, South Africa. The sample comprised 189 boys and 78 girls who participated in a variety of sports. They were asked to complete a biographical questionnaire, The Task and Ego Sport Questionnaire (Nicholls, 1989) and the Sport Competitive Anxiety Test (Martens, 1982). The results indicated that the participants had a high task orientation as opposed to a moderate ego orientation in sport. Most of the participants had a moderate level of competitive sport anxiety. Two distinct motivational profiles emerged from the results: High Task/High Ego and High Task/Low Ego. No significant differences were found between gender and age groups with regards to motivational profiles and anxiety levels. A correlation was found between task orientation and ego orientation, but not between motivational profiles and anxiety.

This investigation explored the phenomenon of motivation in the inter-relational space between therapists and clients. Its aim was to give voice to a small group of existential therapists who were trained and practise counselling psychology in the UK. Literature review focused mainly on the theoretical conceptualisation of motivation and its therapeutic implications across different modalities. Using a Relational-Phenomenological Approach, the investigation looked at the dialogical and co-creative nature of motivation in therapy. Themes emerged were indicative of motivation existing as multiple differently motivated selves in both therapists and clients. Differently motivated selves are characterised by their inner- and inter- relationality and give rise to kaleidoscopic relational dynamics in the inter-subjective space. Relational features such as openness, ability to stand on the edge with clients and total acceptance of the is-ness of the moment seem to co-create fertile ground for motivational transformations. I also experienced the co-creational, dialogical and motivationally transformational nature of differently motivated selves throughout the research process, which points at the multi-directional nature of motivation. Awareness of motivation is multifaceted and differently motivated selves and is interactional and dialogical, whereby the therapist cannot remain neutral can be useful in Counselling psychology.

This thesis attempts to assess the impact of a psychological skills training (PST) programme on the athletic performance of sprinters at Technikon Pretoria, South Africa. The structure of the PST programme was based on the structure outlined by Wann (1997), and Winter and Martin’s (1993) Sport Psychology Basic Training Programme constitutes the content of the programme. The programme consisted of five stages: education, pretests of psychological skills, the PST programme per se, an implementation phase, and posttests. The specific psychological skills that the programme attempted to enhance were self-confidence, stress management, attention, intrinsic motivation and mental imagery. Athletic performance was measured by the sprinters’ personal best times on the one hundred meter event at the beginning and end of the PST programme. Firstly, the data was analysed to determine if there was an improvement in psychological skills and athletic performance. Thereafter the difference in athletic performance between the beginning and end of the programme was correlated with the difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the psychological skills measured. The research findings indicated that there was a significant improvement in the reduction of stress levels, mental imagery skills, and a greater number of athletes had an internal focus of attention. No significant differences were found in self-confidence, intrinsic motivation and the number of athletes with a narrow focus of attention. The only significant correlation was between intrinsic motivation and athletic performance. / Dissertation (MA (Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Psychology / unrestricted

This thesis explored different perceptions of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in an intercultural context. The main objective of this study was to investigate similarities and differences concerning extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in the workplace between the German and the South African culture by examining individuals with working experience and tertiary education. It provides background information about motivation and a historical overview of previous and current motivational theories as well as cultural influences and differences. In addition, regarding the two cultures the researcher aimed to investigate similarities and differences between other demographics such as gender, age and income. The literature review provides information about extrinsic and intrinsic motivation retrieved from previous research and puts it into an intercultural context. The researcher conducted a quantitative, exploratory study. The data was gathered using an existing research instrument, which was distributed online. The sample comprised 374 respondents. This sample was conducted by a combination of quota and snowball sampling. The obtained data is evaluated and presented in text and table form. The results revealed preferences for intrinsic motivators for the whole sample and higher motivation for the South African part of the sample. Demographic characteristics played a minor role.

A series of three projective cues, designed to measure fear of success, were administered to fifty women with coeducational backgrounds (twenty-eight from grade 11 and twenty-two from first year university) and forty-eight women from single-sex schools (thirty from grade 11 and eighteen from first year university). The groups were matched for socioeconomic status and intellectual ability. Following the administration of the verbal cues, subjects were tested in competitive and non-competitive conditions on two performance tasks, before which they were asked to estimate their performance. They also completed a Sex-Role Differentiation (SRD) questionnaire and a general information sheet. The results indicated that the level of fear of success was the same for public and private school women in Grade 11 but increased significantly for private school women in university. Women evidencing high fear of success gave lower expectancy estimates of their performance while those low in fear of success made significantly more accurate estimates of their performance on the tasks. Women with high fear of success also held more traditional views of male and female roles as evidence by their higher scores on the SRD scales. However, no significant relationship between fear of success and performance was revealed. The implications of a private school environment for the future education of women were discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

It is no surprise that there is a shortage of women engineers. The reasons for the shortage have been researched and discussed in myriad papers, and suggestions for improvement continue to evolve. However, there are few studies that have specifically identified the positive aspects that attract women to engineering and keep them actively engaged in the field. This paper examines how women engineers view their education, their work, and their motivation to remain in the field. A qualitative research design was used to understand the motivation and adaptability factors women use to support their decision to major in engineering and stay in the engineering profession. Women engineers were interviewed using broad questions about motivation and adaptability. Interviews were transcribed and coded, looking for common threads of factors that suggest not only why women engineers persist in the field, but also how they thrive. Findings focus on the experiences, insights, and meaning of women interviewed. A grounded theory approach was used to describe the success factors found in practicing women engineers. The study found categories of attraction to the field, learning environment, motivation and adaptability. Sub-categories of motivation are intrinsic motivational factors such as the desire to make a difference, as well as extrinsic factors such as having an income that allows the kind of lifestyle that supports the family. Women engineers are comfortable with and enjoy working with male peers and when barriers arise, women learn to adapt in the male dominated field. Adaptability was indicated in areas of gender, culture, and communication. Women found strength in the ability to ‘read’ their clients, and provide insight to their teams. Sufficient knowledge from the field advances theory and offers strategies to programs for administrators and faculty of schools of engineering as well as engineering firms, who have interest in recruitment, and retention of female students. Future research includes expanding the research to other areas of the United States, and improving engineering education pedagogy with more active and experiential learning.

The problem under investigation in this study is to determine whether or not students will give an indication of the strength of their academic motivation through the attitudes and opinions they express. In other words, is it possible to construct a paper-and-pencil test or measuring instrument which will utilize the opinions and attitudes of students to gain a significant clue as to their motivation or drive toward academic achievement? A solution of the problem will be sought by the selection of certain attitudes and opinions, which appear to differentiate between achievers and underachievers, and by the construction of a measuring instrument based on those attitudes and opinions.

The development of a theory of motivation in symbolic interactionism is traced, with particular reference to the work of G.H. Mead, Kenneth Burke, C.W. Mills, Nelson Foote, and Ernest Becker. Specific attention is focused on comparing the original theoretical assumptions of particularly Mead and burke to the varying formulations of the problems of motivation that were later developed by symbolic interactionists. Specifically, it is argued that, primarily due to Burke’s analysis, the traditional practice of deterministically explaining human action as being the result of variously imagined motives “in” people is, in fact, no explanation at all but simply a variety of metaphorical re-descriptions dressed in casual vocabulary. Rather than something “in” people that determines behavior, Burke argued that motives are a particular kind of communication that people use to rationalize given actions in specific situations. Following these assumptions, C.W. Mills was later able to integrate Burke’s analysis with Mead’s (et al.) theory of symbolic interactionism. However, as symbolic interactionism was later developed various theorists reintroduced the deterministic bias into the problem of motivation. A critique of this determinism is developed based on the “fallacy of tautology.” It is finally argued that, as a kind of communication that interactants use, the problem of motivation alludes to a sense of “drama” in social interaction in which individuals negotiate motives in order to influence the behavior of significant others. Thus, motives are seen to derive their meaning problematically in terms of how others respond in social interaction to an individual’s avowed motive.

No description available.

No description available.