This study begins with the assertion that gender-role stereotypes exist in society, and that these influence the way the members of society perceive themselves and others. These stereotypes consist of sex-typed personality traits, attitudes, interests and behaviours, and they vary to a greater or lesser extent according to the culture that they originate in. Just as ordinary members of society are influenced by these stereotypes, so too are researchers, although this is not something that is often readily admitted. A great deal of research has been undertaken on gender-roles in past years, but researchers have tended to re-use existing conceptualisations of gender without examining whether they are in fact salient for the culture or generation under study. This study begins with the premise that (in South Africa as much as anywhere) before truly accurate assessment of the distributions of gender roles in a culture can be initiated, the culturally specific content of its gender-roles must be discovered. This firstly involves the description of the culture's gender-role stereotypes. Such explication would hopefully also help researchers to avoid making biased interpretations as a result of the stereotypes. Secondly, the relationship between stereotypes and self-perceptions must be established to see if scales based on the former are valid for use on the latter. This study's aim was to begin to investigate these two areas in English and Xhosa students. 94 white English speaking, and 48 black Xhosa speaking undergraduate students responded to an open ended, and a Likert-type questionnaire on various traits, attitudes and behaviours, by rating each for the "typical" male and female as well as themselves. Descriptions of stereotypes and self-ratings were obtained from performing within culture t-tests, comparing ratings of typical males and females, and male and female self ratings. Data from the open ended questionnaires was used to fill out these descriptions, which were then compared across sexes and across cultures. Gender stereotyping proved to be salient in both cultures, and gender stereotypes of the two cultures shared some similarities but also had menaingful differences. In both cultures, stereotypes and self-descriptions paralleled one another in some areas, but also differed significantly. It was concluded that the same gender-role scale would not be equally valid for use in the two cuItures, and that scales based on stereotypes would not be altogether valid for assessing self-perceptions. Various issues and implications arising from the results are discussed critically, including the proposal for a redefinition of the terms "stereotype" and "culture" to suit South African society.

M.Ed. (Tertiary and Adult Education) / The purpose of this empirical study which forms part of a team research project, was to identify personality variables which may influence the academic achievement of first-year engineering-students. It was undertaken in the light of the relatively high failure rate of first-year students and the negative implications this has for an institute of higher learning and the students. The Bureau for University Education aims to establish a better student selection mechanism. The test group consisted of first-year engineering-students who registered at the Rand Afrikaans University during 1989, 1990 and 1991. This study focused on a single non-cognitive factor, namely personality, and its influence on academic achievement. The 16-PF-Questionnaire was used as a measuring instrument. student's t-test was utilized to establish significant differences between the two identified groups. The available data was processed by means of the BMDP-3S computer programme. The findings of this empirical study indicate that personality cannot be utilised in the prediction of academic achievement as a single factor, but in combination bined with other factors it forms an integral part of the selection mechanism. The successful engineering-students differed significantly from the less successful enigeering-students with regard to the following factors of the 16-PF-Questionnaire: * Factor G (dutyfullness) * Factor N (shrewdness)

D.Ed. / The research nature of this study was primarily explorative, and also descriptive. The objective of this study was to explore and describe community experiences of aggressive behaviour exhibited by police officials towards them. This research was of a qualitative nature. Four steps of psycho-educational programme development were followed. In the first step a situational analysis was carried out. The sampling component was purposively selected police officials working under the jurisdiction of specific police stations in Gauteng Province and community members as victims of aggression at the hands of police officials. Data gathering methods used in this research were phenomenological individual and focus group interviews and observations. The researcher conducted the observation for this study during interviews and field notes were written during interview process. The researcher conducted interviews with victims of aggressive behaviour by police officials and other participants were police officials and stakeholders who are dealing with inappropriate behaviour of police officials. The participants had to comment on their experiences of aggression exhibited by police officials and other participants who are police officials in the South African Police Service talk about their experiences when they were involved in aggressive action towards the community. These interviews formed the basis of this study to facilitate the attainment of the primary objective, which was to explore and describe the experience of aggression behaviour exhibited by Police officials towards the community. The data from these interviews were analysed using an open coding method. An independent coder did an analysis independent from the researcher. A consensus validation discussion was held with the independent coder on the codification of the data. The detailed discussion of results obtained from the interviews and observations were presented in verbatim quotes, descriptive and reflective notes and the illustration of emergent themes and categories. Rigour and adequacy were ensured by data collected and the results obtained from data analysis indicated convergence and saturation. The integration of trustworthiness, that is, credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability were applied throughout the study. Ethical considerations and consent letters were presented to the participants, including preserving of anonymity, confidentiality, voluntary participation, understood consent and the ethical role of the researcher has adhered to. The research is very important as the experiences of aggression by community members were explored and described. The research results indicated that there is tension among the community and police officials in the South African Police Service. The Police officials under study are demoralised and tend to become negative towards the public because they are of the opinion that enough is not done to support them in performing their difficult duties. It is evident from the results that there is lack of effective communication stakeholders who are dealing with inappropriate behaviour in the South African Police Service with other structures like the Independent Complaints Directorate. In step two the psycho-educational programme was developed. Firstly a conceptual framework was derived from the result of step one. The conceptual framework served as framework of reference for the description of a psycho-educational programme. In step three the programme was implemented and in step four the programme was evaluated. In conclusion, it is evident that aggression really exists in the workplace and officials are affected by such aggression. The recommendations of dealing with aggressive behaviour exhibited by police officials towards the community was done in line with the situational analysis after the conclusion drawn from the findings and were described in a psycho-educational perspective.

M.Ed. / The aim of this study was to describe the most prominent needs for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) amongst Educational Psychologists in South Africa, in order to provide guidelines for further provision of CPD activities. This was done by implementing a questionnaire in a cross-sectional survey. The questionnaire was mailed to an initial sample of 1000 (out of 1100) registered Educational Psychologists, whose details were obtained from the Health Professions Council of South Africa. A total of 386 Educational Psychologists replied to the questionnaire. The study was mainly quantitative in nature...

The central problem guiding this research focuses on the nature of Siyabuswa adolescent learners' future perspective. An in-depth literature study pertaining research methodology was undertaken. Qualitative research methodology was applied to gather information. A situation analysis was conducted in order to scrutinize the orientation of learners towards education and to determine the nature and impact of parental involvement, on the future perspective of their adolescent learners. A pilot study was executed and data gathered for this study were analysed and interpreted. The results served as indicators for the compiling of questionnaires for the unstructured interviews with parents and adolescents. The empirical study indicated various factors that impact negatively on the future perspective of the Siyabuswa adolescent learners. Learners were negatively affected by the following: <ul><li> Surrogate parenting. </li><li> Educational level of parents. </li><li> Learning culture. </li><li> Personal circumstances of parents. </li><li> Teachers' attitude in the Siyabuswa area. </li><li>The impact of the country's state of affairs. <br></li></ul> Two main questions of the study were answered as follows: The nature of the future perspective of the adolescent learners in the Siyabuswa area reflected: <ul><li> a negative attitude towards school tasks, </li><li>a negative attitude towards authority, </li><li> a negative attitude towards the "self",</li><li> failure to comply to academic demands, </li><li>poor school attendance, </li><li> non participation in school-related co-curriculum activities, and </li><li>lack of self-responsibility. <br></li></ul> The nature and extent of parental involvement in the development of the adolescent learners' future perspective indicated that: <ul><li> parents do not set examples by reading for pleasure, </li><li> limited provision of extra learning material is made available at home, </li><li> limited goal setting for the year is done with the child, </li><li> parents lack interest in their children's school work and school related activities, </li><li> limited motivation and encouragement is provided, and </li><li>limited authoritative guidance and control is offered. <br></li></ul> / Dissertation (MEd (Orthopedagogics))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

This study aimed to examine the construction of the identity of the participants within the reality TV programmes (Style Her Famous, My Celebrity Home and How Do I Look) as well as examined the representation of that identity as reflected in the change in participants from the beginning to the end of the program. Drawing on literature from fields such as postmodernism and its influence on culture, identity constructions and ordinary people as celebrities, an analysis of the three American reality TV shows Style Her Famous, My Celebrity Home and How Do I Look was conducted. An indepth content analysis with specific reference to comparative analysis further aided this study. A total of 18 episodes (six episodes for each programme) were collected and thoroughly analyzed where the ‘cut and paste identity’ of ordinary people as ‘celebrities’ constituted the hermeneutical key of the study. The episodes and programs have been scrutinized and have been systematically classified to enable an analysis of the observations. This study attempted to not only describe, but also to foster change in the representation of the identity of the participants of the above mentioned reality TV programmes. The study found that reality television plays a role in shaping the postmodern identity of ordinary people as celebrities. The study also found that the participants involved in the above mentioned programmes found it easy to make someone else’s identity their own. It appeared that the postmodern mind is easily influenced and willing to adopt an identity especially that of a celebrity. The participants involved in these programs claimed this identity as their own and then believed that the new identity was in fact who they ‘really are’ but in actual fact it is a beginning of a new sameness with somebody else. Hence the participants possessed a ‘cut and paste identity.’

Case study research allows for an in depth study of an individual and yields relevant insight and results while examining an individual in their entirety. This approach allows the researcher to capture the uniqueness of a subject and thus provide an interesting understanding of that individual. The study is a case study of Kurt Donald Cobain. Cobain (1967-1994) was an American musician who served as songwriter, lead singer and guitarist for the band, Nirvana. He struggled with drug addiction during the last years of his life, and died on 8 April 1994 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head (Sandford, 1995). The study is a single case research design, utilizing both qualitative and quantitative data. It aimed to explore and describe Kurt Cobain’s personality according to the Five Factor Model of Personality. He was chosen as the research subject by means of purposive sampling on the basis of the researcher’s interest and on his uniqueness and inspirational influences on the general public. Collected data was analyzed in accordance with Huberman and Miles’s (1994) general approach which consists of data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing and verification. Descriptive tables from the NEO-PI-R personality measure were further interpreted to provide quantitative information regarding the personality traits of the subject. The findings of this study suggest that Kurt Cobain portrayed a complex personality profile as an individual, and it appears that he experienced much distress and emotional instability within his life. However, he was able to provide the youth a means of expressing themselves through his music.

This study assessed the extent to which exposure to traumatic events affected the traumatic stress response of male and female police officers. A convenience sample of male and female police officers (N = 66: n Male=46, n Female=20) was surveyed at an Eastern Cape police station. The following instruments were used: 1) Biographical questionnaire 2) PTSS-10 scales 3) The 39-item stress incident scale. Findings of this study indicate that the frequency of exposure to stressful incidents especially for more serious events is significant higher than that of Peltzer (2001) study. The four most frequent stressful incidents experienced by all participants were 1) Finding a corpse after murder (86.4 percent), 2) Responding to a scene involving accidental injury of a child (84.8 percent), .3) Finding a corpse (died of natural causes) (84.8 percent), 4) Duty related violence (non-shooting) (84.8 percent ).The four least frequent incidents experienced by participants were: (1) Response to the depressing social situation (71.2 percent), (2) Dragging of a corpse (74.2 percent), (3) Taking a life in the line of duty (75.8 percent), (4) Violent death of a colleague (77.3 percent ).Female participants results indicated a positive relationship between frequency of stressful incidents and total threat, anxiety, helplessness and PTSS-scale , where male participants’ results indicate no significant relationship between frequency of stressful incidents and total threat, anxiety, helplessness and PTSS-scale. Findings on male participants however indicate a positive relationship between years of service in police, age of police officers and PTSS-scale, while female participants’ results indicated no relationship between years of service in the police, age of police officer and PTSS-scale.

M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / This research was undertaken as a result of the researcher dealing with bright children who were not achieving in school. Many of these children seemed to be depressed and lacking in motivation, and the researcher was unable to find recent information directly related to these psychological variables and underachievement. A sample of children were selected from a group of children who had approached the researcher and a colleague for career guidance. Very few of the parents of the children in the sample approached were willing to allow their children to participate in this study, and as a result the study only comprises a small number of subjects. The subjects who did participate in the intervention completed questionnaires related to their motivation levels and their feelings of hopelessness and depression, as these traits were 'considered important in assessing why these children were not succeeding academically. The children then each spent an hour a week for six weeks with the researcher, discussing why they were not achieving at school. These meetings took place for six weeks. The results of this study indicate that the intervention did change some of the levels of motivation, hopelessness and depression for some of the children.

M.A. (Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract