Thesis (M.I.T.)--The Evergreen State College, 2009. / Title from title screen (viewed 7/30/2009). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-79).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Psychology." Includes bibliographical references (p. 29-31).

This thesis comprises three main sections: a literature review, research report, and a critical appraisal of the research process. The literature reviewed is the existing research relating to trust as a construct. An attempt is made to clarify the conceptual confusion that exists in the area, by suggesting a comprehensive definition of what is meant by the term trust for the purposes of both the current study and future research. The importance of trust in relation to mental health and therapeutic relationships is discussed. Current measures of the construct are critically examined, and the ‘scientist’ versus ‘humanist’ divide is explored. It is concluded that a new multidimensional trust measure is required to further research efforts in the area. The aim of the research project was to develop a trust measure to form a part of a larger endeavour to operationalise the concept of mental health via key set of basic human emotions and responses. The research reported in Section 2 consists of a Pilot Test, Main Study, and follow up validation study of a new multidimensional measure of trust. Three bases of trust were hypothesised and tested. These were: self trust, interpersonal trust, and environmental trust (that is, trust in wider social, cultural, or political context). A new measure was constructed and validity tested using an inductive approach, and the relationship between trust and trait anxiety was also examined. The results supported the hypothesis that trust is a multidimensional construct, and demonstrated a strong relationship between trust and trait anxiety. It is hoped that this work will rekindle research interest in this important area. The final section is the researcher’s critical appraisal of the research process based on her personal research diary. It is a reflective piece that examines the impact of the research on the researcher (and vice versa) and the critical events in the research process.

Thesis (doctoral)--Technische Universität, Dresden, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-199).

Cette recherche vise à mieux comprendre ce que signifie le déchet pour les personnes qui le créent, le génèrent et le gèrent. A partir de l’étude d’un double système, formel et informel, de production et de gestion des déchets ménagers, il s’agit de questionner notre responsabilité et nos actions (ou absence d’action) et d’interroger la cohérence entre penser, sentir et agir. À partir de ce lien entre pensée, sensation et action, un changement de comportement est-il possible chez chaque individu face au déchet, et en parallèle et par conséquent dans la façon d’aborder sa gestion. Ce questionnement se matérialise par la mise en évidence du concept « d’acte d’abandon du déchet » dans les espaces urbains, avec un regard sur les « dépôts sauvages ». L’analyse est centrée sur le cas de la ville de Fortaleza au Brésil, ville touristique, capitale de l’État de Ceará, connue pour sa beauté mais aussi ses disparités sociales. Au-delà de l’objet déchet en lui-même, l’approche considère l’ensemble des acteurs, des fonctions et espaces impliqués dans sa production et le partage de sa gestion. S’appuyant par une méthodologie combinant approche interprétative, psychologie de l’environnement, rudologie et cartographie croisée des dépôts sauvages ( révélateurs de l’acte d’abandon) des caractéristiques des acteurs. La recherche interroge les évolutions des politiques de gestion des déchets au Brésil dans leur complexité. Dans le sillage de l’établissement de la Politique Nationale Brésilienne sur les Résidus Solides en 2010, de nouvelles potentialités émergent et permettent d’entrevoir un cercle vertueux autour du déchet comme vecteur de transformation sociale et environnementale, ce qui constitue l’envers des significations et des perceptions aujourd’hui attachées au déchet. Les disparités infra-urbaines reflètent en effet cette mise à l’écart du déchet et demeurent fortes, avec des déchets rejetés des zones patrimoniales et touristiques, et relégués dans les quartiers périphériques précaires. Cependant, l’étude fine du circuit du déchet et des acteurs sociaux qui y sont impliqués, comme les catadores, deposeiros et les habitants, permet de mettre en évidence une valorisation potentielle par une gestion partagée, sur les plans de la politique publique, économique, environnemental et social incluant, entre autres le comportemental et l’éducation environnementale, et fondée sur l’existant. / This dissertation aims to better understand what the meaning of waste is, for people who create, generate and manage it. From the study of both formal and informal systems of production and waste management, it is an invitation to question our responsibility and our actions (or absence of action) in relation to waste. Besides, it questions the coherence between feeling, thinking about and acting for waste. From this link between thought, sensation, and action, is a change of behaviour possible in each individual towards waste and, consequently in the way of dealing with the management of waste? This question is analyzed by highlighting the concept of “act of abandonment of waste” in urban spaces, as well as “wild deposits” within these same spaces. The analysis centers in the case of the city of Fortaleza in Brazil, which is a touristic area. It is the capital of the State of Ceará, recognized for its beauty but also for its social disparities. Beyond waste in itself, the approach considers all the involved ones (stakeholders), functions, and spaces, implied in waste production and its shared management. The research questions the evolution of waste management policies in Brazil in their complexity. This is done through a methodology that combines the interpretative approach, psychology of the environment, “garbology” and cartography combining dumps (symptomatic of waste dumping) and the actors’ characteristics. Since the establishment of the 2010 Brazilian Policy of Solid Residues, new potentialities have emerged and allowed to glimpse a virtuous circle around waste : as a vector of social and environmental transformation, which turns around current meanings of and perceptions waste. Indeed, the infra-urban disparities reflect this sidelining of waste and remain strong, with waste rejected by the patrimonial and tourist zones, and relegated to precarious suburbs. However, the detailed study of the circuit of waste and of related actors, allows us to highlight a potential valuation for their shared management, on the economic, environmental, and social (social including, among other elements, behaviours and environmental education), level based on the existing.