Abstract 1. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects whole body vibrations on maximal strength, power output and neuromuscular activity in m. pectoralis major during bench press. Participants consisted of 35 male and 9 female military high school students (m=23, 1 years). On the basis of initial maximal performances in bench press the participants was divided into two experiments groups and one control group. Intervention groups performed a specifically designed push up program on a vibrating plate respectively a step board during 12 weeks Initial load at 60 % of 1 RM showed an average of 46, 5 kg. All groups showed an average increase of 13 kg for each person after 12 weeks. Initial value for power output showed a mean of 265 watt, which also showed an increase with an average of 7 watt (with a load equivalent of 60 % of 1 RM at the current test occasion), respectively an increase of 41 watt (with the load performed during the first test occasion). A positive correlation existed between the load at 60 % of 1 RM and achieved power output. No significant differences between groups were exposed concerning estimated maximum strength or power output in bench press. All participants showed an increase in strength development, indicating that vibration stimuli could be compared to traditional push ups training without vibrations. Vibrations seem to have more effects on the magnitude of recruited motor units, why vibrations training could be a good complement to established strength training. Abstract 2. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects whole body vibrations on strength development, power output and neuromuscular activity in m. pectoralis major during bench press. The purpose was also to examine what roll self-efficacy plays in strength tasks. Participants consisted of 35 male and 9 female military high school students (m=23, 1 years). On the basis of initial maximal performances in bench press the participants was divided into two experiments groups and one control group. Intervention groups performed a specifically designed push up program on a vibrating plate respectively a step board during 12 weeks. All participants answered a battery of questionnaires concerning backgrounds, motives for sport participation, self-efficacy and efficacy sources. Initial load at 60 % of 1 RM showed an average of 46, 5 kg (sd = 13, 8). All groups showed an average increase of 13 kg for each person after 12 weeks. Initial value for power output showed a mean of 265 watt, which also showed an increase with an average of 7 watt (with a load equivalent of 60 % of 1 RM at the current test occasion), respectively an increase of 41 watt (with the load performed during the first test occasion). A positive correlation existed between the load at 60 % of 1 RM and achieved power output. No significant differences between groups were exposed concerning estimated maximum strength or power output in bench press. Gender differences showed that men lifted significantly heavier loads at 60 % of 1RM compared to women. No significant differences could be seen between the groups concerning self efficacy. Gender differences were exposed concerning self-efficacy to push ups with a pat. The efficacy sources “performance accomplishments” was valuated to be the most influential to form self-efficacy expectations. A strong positive relationship between “performance accomplishments” and achieved self-efficacy to push ups with pats were shown. Self-efficacy to push ups with a pat also correlated positively with power output and performed 60 % of 1 RM in bench press. All participants showed an increase in strength development, indicating that vibration stimuli could be compared to traditional push ups training without vibrations. Vibrations seem to have more effects on the magnitude of recruited motor units, why vibrations training could be a good complement to established strength training. Participants relatively high self-efficacy to strength tasks is probably a result of performance accomplishments in there own strength straining rather than the intervention training. Positive relationships between self-efficacy and power output as well as performed 60 % of 1 RM in bench press, indicating that high self-efficacy have a positive influence on strength performance. Keywords: estimated maximal strength (1RM), neuromuscular activity, power output, self-efficacy.

Studien syftar till att se hur personlighet, söka-arbete self-efficacy och locus of control påverkas av arbetslöshet. Personlighet mäts enligt Costa & MacCraes fem-faktor modell och avser dimensionerna extroversion, neuroticism, öppenhet, trevlighet och samvetsgrannhet. Hypotesen är att det finns skillnad mellan nyarbetslösa och långtidsarbetslösa avseende personlighet, söka arbete self-efficacy och locus of control. Frågeformulär innehållande påstående om ovanstående faktorer besvarades av en grupp nyarbetslösa och en grupp långtidsarbetslösa. Resultatet visar inga signifikanta skillnader avseende personlighet och söka arbete self-efficacy mellan grupperna. Avseende locus of control visade den nyarbetslösa gruppen signifikant mer intern locus of control än den långtidsarbetslösa gruppen. Intern locus of control visade positivt samband med söka arbete self-efficacy för nyarbetslösa men inte för långtidsarbetslösa. Resultatet avseende personlighetsdimensionerna är i linje med Costa & MacCraes teori om att personligheten är stabil i vuxen ålder. Studiens resultat indikerar att personlighet och söka-arbete self-efficacy har relativt liten påverkan på arbetssökandet, vilket kan vara en konsekvens av att arbetslöshetsförsäkringen styr arbetssökandet. Locus of control kan tolkas som en mer föränderlig aspekt av personligheten, vilken både kan påverka och påverkas av arbetslöshet.

Människor lever idag allt längre vilket betyder att landets befolkning blir äldre. I och med en ökande ålder ökar risken för ett antal kroniska tillstånd och sjukdomar. Att vara fysisk aktiv kan bidra till en bra hälsa såväl fysisk som psykisk även hos dessa personer. Syftet med studien var att undersöka huruvida två olika typer av fysisk aktivitet påverkar äldre personers motionsspecifika self – efficacy samt deras oro att falla över tid och vilken roll antalet närvarotillfällen spelar. Self – efficacy kan beskrivas som individens situationsspecifika självförtroende, det vill säga tron på ens egna förmåga i en given situation. Oro att falla kan för äldre personer innebära avståndstagande av vissa aktiviteter såsom fysisk aktivitet. Samtidigt kan fysisk aktivitet förebygga fallolyckor hos dessa personer. En experimentell studie har genomförts med 37 försökspersoner mellan 64 och 81 år (M= 71.14 SD= 4.12). Försökspersonerna blev slumpmässigt randomiserade i tre grupper; kontrollgrupp, vibrationsgrupp, styrketräningsgrupp. Tidigare forskning har visat att vibrationsträning är en bra och skonsam träningsmetod för äldre personer. De två aktiva grupperna tränade 2 gånger i veckan i cirka 15 minuter under åtta veckor. Det var en före, en under och en efter mätning där försökspersonerna fick svara på enkäter angående motionsspecifikt self – efficacy och oro att falla. Det statistiska test som användes var variansanalys för upprepade mätningar samt Pearson`s korrelationstest mellan närvaro och self – efficacy respektive oro att falla. Resultatet var inte statistiskt signifikant men en trend fanns. I diskussionen diskuteras resultatet i förhållande till studiens upplägg och genomförande samt i förhållande till tidigare forskning. Vidare diskuteras förslag till vissa implikationer och vidare forskning.

The Internet has become one of the indispensable approaches to information exchange and acquisition in the daily lives of people in most of the world. The emerging Internet and vigorous development of information technology in the recent years have brought us a more convenient and reliable means to access information. With the rapid information transmission, it not only changes the traditional social mode of operations, but also enables immediate commercial activities on the Internet. The development of e-negotiation systems benefit the enterprises in the competitive global environments for saving financial and time costs in travels, transportations and accommodations, as well as assists international negotiators to negotiate with counterparts more efficiently, with no time difference and no boundaries in the global village of e-commerce. While Internet and Information technologies breaking the spaces and limitations in terms of geography, the international negotiators have to break the habits of using native language instead and using the world language ¡V English ¡V to negotiate with their counterparts from different backgrounds and countries with various native languages spoken. Languages and communication are the most important elements in the negotiation, and they affect the success of negotiation processes and outcomes. This research is to explore the impact of language familiarity on negotiators and negotiation strategies, an asynchronous e-negotiation system was developed accordingly and experiments conducted in the groups of native language (Mandarin) and non-native language (English). Research results showed that negotiators who negotiated with native language had higher self-efficacy than the group with non-native language. The language self-efficacy showed significant positive influences on communication efficiency, but revealed negative impact on the relation with anxiety. The findings also indicated that communication efficiency showed statistically positive significance in all the three strategies adapted in this research ¡V Contending strategy, Problem-Solving strategy, and Persuasive strategy. The higher the communication efficiency, the more positively it would impact on the strategies of contending, problem-solving and persuasive. As for anxiety, the results indicated that negotiators with higher anxiety would tend to use contending strategy more, but with no obvious impacts on the relations between anxiety vs. problem-solving, and anxiety vs. persuasive.

Tidigare forskning menar att kvinnor har lägre tilltro till sin förmåga att ta sig an organisatoriska roller än män (A. Dickerson & M. A. Taylor, 2000; K. S. Lyness & C. A. Schrader, 2006). Sveriges statistiska centralbyrå redovisade 2009 att färre kvinnor än män var representerade i ledartjänst. Studien har undersökt studenters nivå av akademisk self-efficacy och deras vilja att ha ledaransvar framledes. Resultat grundas på enkätdata från 78 studenter. Män hade högre nivå av akademisk self-efficacy än kvinnor. Det fanns däremot inga könsskillnader gällande viljan att ha ledaransvar. Studien visar ett positivt signifikant samband mellan nämnda variabler. Även erfarenheter av att utöva ledarskap och pappans ledarposition tycks ha betydelse för deltagarnas vilja att ha ledaransvar i det framtida yrket.

Arbetslösheten är idag ett av resultaten av den pågående lågkonjunkturen. Att vara arbetslös kan kännas psykiskt påfrestande och i längden hota delar av den sociala kompetensen. Social kompetens kan kortfattat sägas handla om förmågan att möta och kommunicera med andra människor samt anpassa sig till nya miljöer. Syftet med studien var att undersöka om det finns ett samband mellan tiden som arbetslös och sociala kompetens i termerna bas- självkänsla, self-efficacy och empati samt hur situationen för den arbetslöse ser ut ifråga om hjälp och stöd från arbetsförmedlingen. En enkätundersökning genomfördes där 128 arbetslösa deltog. Resultatet visade att personer som varit arbetslösa en längre tid inte hade lägre social kompetens utifrån de utvalda delarna men att vissa av delarna enskilt påverkades av tiden som arbetslös vilket tas upp för diskussion tillsammans med resultatet av arbetsförmedlingens insatser för de arbetslösa.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka om medverkan i Ellen-projektet i Linköping hade någon betydelse för tjejer i årskurs åtta med avseende på deras self-efficacy, deras självkänsla samt deras kroppsuppfattning och då närmare bestämt kroppsmissnöje. Sammanlagt ingick 42 tjejer i studien, vilka hade anmält intresse att medverka i Ellen-projektet. Experimentgruppen utgjordes av 25 tjejer som deltog i projektet, de resterande 17 fungerade som kontrollgrupp. Studien var av kvantitativ karaktär och tre självskattningsskalor användes för att mäta self-efficacy (GSES), självkänsla (RSES) och kroppsmissnöje (FRS). En för- respektive eftermätning genomfördes med åtta veckors mellanrum. Resultaten visar på en ökad grad av self-efficacy samt självkänsla för experimentgruppen. För kroppsmissnöje uppnåddes inga signifikanta skillnader mellan experiment- och kontrollgrupp. Studien visar att medverkan i Ellen kan ha betydelse för tjejer i årskurs åtta med avseende på self-efficacy och självkänsla. För att kunna avgöra resultatens generaliserbarhet behövs dock ytterligare forskning.

Karriärcoaching är en tjänst som ökat kraftigt på den svenska marknaden. Tidigare studier inom området har visat att en stark självkänsla stärker en persons hälsa och underlättar för denne att hantera problem. Syftet med studien var att undersöka om karriärcoaching har någon påverkan på prestationsbaserad självkänsla, känslan av kontroll (Locus of Control) samt självbemästring av tankar och känslor (Self-Efficacy). Genom en enkätundersökning har en grupp som genomfört karriärcoaching jämförts med en kontrollgrupp som ej genomfört karriärcoaching. Ett oberoende t-test gav en signifikant skillnad i Locus of Control (p<.05). I den grupp som genomfört karriärcoaching fann vi ett negativt samband mellan faktorerna Locus of Control och prestationsbaserad självkänsla (p<.01). En två-vägs ANOVA visade en interaktionseffekt mellan karriärcoaching och kön (p<.01), vilket kan indikera att män kan sänka sin prestationsbaserade självkänsla efter genomförd karriärcoaching och att det finns tendenser att karriärcoaching överlag kan öka en persons Locus of Control.

Cardiovascular disease is currently the leading cause of death in Canada and other developed countries. Physical activity based cardiac rehabilitation programs have been shown to reduce the likelihood of subsequent cardiac events and even reverse the disease process. However, factors influencing physical activity in cardiac patients are still not clearly understood. The overall objective of this dissertation was therefore to better understand motivation and physical activity in a cardiac rehabilitation context. Specifically, theory-based motivational variables were studied as correlates of physical activity. To accomplish this objective, a two-purpose research approach was taken. First, two articles (Article-1 and Article-2) aimed to test and integrate concepts from two strong motivational theories: Self-Efficacy Theory (SET) and Self-Determination Theory (SDT) into one comprehensive model using the novel and rigorous approach of Noar and Zimmerman (2005). The second purpose of this dissertation was to extend the findings from the first purpose by investigating physical activity and motivational patterns over a 24-month period in cardiac patients (Article 3). With regards to the first purpose, Article-1 revealed that the integration of SDT and SET was feasible as the integrated model had good model fit, explained more variance in self-determined motivation, confidence, and physical activity and supported similar number of hypothesised links in a cross-sectional cardiac sample as well two other samples: primary care adults and university students. Due to the cross-sectional nature of Article-1, Article-2 tested the integrated SDT-SET model from cardiac patients with longitudinal data of patients following a cardiac rehabilitation program. Although no motivational variables predicted residual change in physical activity at 4-months, this longitudinal model was found to have good model fit. Across both articles, the integration of SDT and SET was found to be possible. However, more research is needed to further test the integration of these theories. As for the second purpose of this dissertation, Article-3 investigated physical activity and motivational patterns of cardiac rehabilitation participants over the course of 24 months. Distinct patterns were found for physical activity, self-determined motivation, barrier self-efficacy and outcome expectations. In addition, individuals in the higher patterns of the motivational/expectancy variables had greater probability of being in the maintenance physical activity pattern compared to individuals in the other motivational/expectancy patterns. Therefore, this article extended findings from the first purpose by linking SDT and SET variables to long-term physical activity behaviour. SDT and SET should continue to be investigated together in order to increase our understanding of the mechanisms leading to greater motivation and subsequent increases in physical activity levels. Having a theoretically supported pathway to build motivation is ideal to inform future interventions and cardiac rehabilitation programs.

Abstract Past research has shown that motivation is an important predictor of goal-related behaviors. Sheldon and Elliot (1999) proposed the Self-Concordance Model (SCM), to distinguish between personal goals that reflect intrinsic interests and values (self-concordant goals) and personal goals that are pursued because of self-imposed and social pressures (self-discordant goals). Another important motivational construct is self-efficacy, people’s beliefs in their capabilities to exercise control over their level of functioning and their environment (Bandura, 1996). Self-efficacy has been shown to predict goal attainment and well-being as people who are self-efficacious put more effort and commitment towards their goals (Koestner, Horberg, Gaudreau, Powers, Di Dio, Bryan, Jochum & Salter, 2006). Despite the unique contribution of self-concordance and self-efficacy, little is known about their combined effects. I performed a study with 135 university students to investigate whether two self-regulatory processes could in fact be better than one. Results using hierarchical regression analyses indicated that self-efficacy did moderate the relationship between self-concordance and the outcome variables. Self-concordance was associated with greater well-being and goal progress for those high on self-efficacy (β = .21, p < .05; β = .33, p < .01) while negatively relating to well-being and goal progress for those low on self-efficacy (β = -.22, p = .07; β = -.19, p > .05 ). It appears that two motivational processes combined, self-concordance and self-efficacy, are in fact better than one.