Thesis (Th. M.)--Covenant Theological Seminary, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-178).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Covenant Theological Seminary, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-178).

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-107).

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-107).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Texas, May, 2008. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brown University, 1988. / Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

The present study sought to investigate the relationship between psychological reactance, as a component of paradoxical intention and locus of control.The Rotter I-E Scale, which measures individuals locus of control on a scale ranging from zero to 23, was utilized to determine subjects' external or internal ranking. A research design was developed which included a pilot study and an experiment which contained pretest and posttest conditions for examining subjects' choice change, From the pilot study two pictures were selected which were not biased towards internals or externals in the experimental conditions. Choice change was measured by subject's pretest choice against subject's posttest choice of the two pictures.The study was designed to answer the following research questions:1) Would there be a significant difference in the choices made by the experimental subjects from those made by the control subjects, thereby indicating that psychological reactance had occurred with the experimental group? 2) Would the findings of psychological the experimental reactance indicated in question one above, be significant if differences were compared by quartile scores on the I-E Scale?In the experiment, 122 experimental subjects were compared against 31 control subjects for choice change between pretest and posttest conditions, The experimental subjects were placed into four groups, which represented approximate quartile divisions of the I-E Scale and a comparison of the frequency of psychological reactance in the four quartiles was made.Previous studies in this area had used a mean or a median split on the I-E Scale or had used the extremes of the scale.Two null hypotheses were tested by using the Standard Normal Test and by using Chi-Square, The .05 level of significance was established as the critical probability level for the non-acceptance of hypotheses.Findings1) Reactance was exhibited by the experimental subjects. 2) Differences in reactance were not significant when compared by quartiles.ConclusionsBrehm's (1966) theory of psychological reactance was supported. Me findings do not support the conclusions of Cherulink and Citrin (1974).On the basis of the findings, conclusions were drawn and speculations were made concerning the utilization of paradoxical psychotherapy.

This essay argues that the Anglo-Saxon poet of Beowulf presents the reader with a series of paradoxes and attempts to find a balance within these paradoxes. At the forefront is the paradox of past and present, explored through the influence of the past on the characters in the poem as well as the poet. Additionally, the poem offers the paradox of light and dark, which ultimately suggests light and dark as symbols of Christianity and paganism. Finally, the land and the sea offer the third primary paradox, indicating the relationship that the characters and poet had with land and sea, while also reflecting the other paradoxes in the poem. The result is the desire to find balance within the paradoxes through the recognition of ongoing tension.

No description available.

The aim of this dissertation is to show that precisely in the indeterminacy of literature we can find the possibility of ethics and it will start with the examination of a work that clearly has a paradoxical nature. The work in question is Sreten Ugričić's Infinitive. The paradox of Infinitive consists in the fact that it is a monograph, but a monograph about a non-existent book. The examination of the paradox on which Infinitive is based will be associated with Maurice Blanchot's analysis of the (im)possibility of literature from his essays “Orpheus's Gaze” and “Encountering the Imaginary.” This dissertation will claim that two most important features of the (im)possibility of literature are: the passage from je to il and the temporal paradox of the time of time's absence. These two features are interconnected: a loss of personality (and the inability to subsume the work of art under terms of decision and intention) leads to a strange realm that is governed by the time of time's absence. This is the realm of imaginary or a place where, to paraphrase Blanchot, language becomes its own image. Through the analysis of specific literary works (Infinitive, Marbot: A Biography and The Lost Estate) this dissertation will try to describe the most important paradoxes of literature. In the final part of this dissertation, through a dialogue between Maurice Blanchot and Emmanuel Levinas, two theses will be formulated: 1.) the passage from je to il will be associated with the impossibility of death. Close reading of Blanchot's reworking of Levinas's concepts will open a perspective according to which art is capable of offering the experience of fundamental alterity. 2.) the time of time's absence will be described as the temporality of artwork, but also as the temporality of the other.