published_or_final_version / English Studies / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the combined effects of the two personality constructs of field dependence and locus of control on self-disclosure. This area was previously unresearched in terms of examining the utility of these two constructs as predictors of willingness to self-disclose. Subjects were placed into the congruent (field independent-internal; field dependent-external) group or the incongruent (field independent-external; field dependent-internal) group on the basis of scoring either in the upper or lower thirds of the distribution of their scores on the personality measures. The effects of the congruent group were compared to the effects of the incongruent group on total self-disclosure scores on the Self-Disclosure Situations Survey, indicating willingness to self-disclose. A two-way analysis of variance revealed no significant difference between the congruent and incongruent groups on self-disclosure. It was concluded that the congruence - incongruence dimension was not an accurate predictor of willingness to self-disclose. It was-recommended that research be continued using the congruence - incongruence dimension on self-disclosure and that a behavioral measure of self-disclosure be incorporated into the experimental design.

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The influence an individual’s perspective has on her or his perceptions is a critical issue in the field of counselling. Counsellors are required to maintain a considerable level of self-awareness in order not to confuse their own experience with the experience of their client. It is proposed that an essential component of such self-awareness includes a knowledge of self-relations. The term self-relations implies both a self-structure - a relatively stable developmental integration of patterns and awarenesses - and the dynamic, shifting relationships within that self-structure. This study addressed the question: “How do four counsellors describe their self-relations?” The purpose of the inquiry was to gain knowledge about a range of self-relations, from functional to problematic, therefore counsellors who work with individuals meeting diagnostic criteria of borderline personality disorder [BPD] were selected. Borderline personality disorder is significant to the study in that the most commonly cited criterion for this disorder is the experiencing of difficulties concerning self-integration. Following a detailed methodological description of the interview and analysis procedures, the resulting themes are explicated. Themes emerged from four general categories: (a) events that took place in the interview, (b) personal themes, (c) professional issues, and (d) the interviewer’s perspective. The principal finding was the identification of an inherent correspondence between the participants’ self-relations and their therapeutic interventions. The manner in which figurative language constituted the individual styles of self-relations is explored. Implications for practice include a discussion of dissociative processes that focuses on the significant qualitative difference between theoretical conceptions and lived experience. An exercise is included in the appendixes that assists in the process of describing self-relations. It is recommended that this exercise be included as a component of counsellor education. / Graduate

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Medicine In the Health Science Faculty University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg February 2014 / The act of self-mutilation has sparked much interest over the years. Various research has been conducted into this phenomena with researchers asking questions about why some individuals self-mutilate, what psychological functions self-mutilation may serve, who is most affected by self-mutilation and what are the links between self-mutilation and other forms of psychopathology. This research study considered the prevalence of self-mutilation seen in the cases of suicide at the Johannesburg Forensic Pathology Service Medico-Legal Mortuary. This study was a prospective and descriptive study which considered the available literature on the phenomenon of self-mutilation and its link with suicide. This study also observed the external patterns of injury associated with the method of suicide as well as self-mutilation. It was found that self-mutilation is prevalent in 8 % of the suicide population in Johannesburg and that it was more common in men. The most common chosen method of suicide seen in this sample was that of toxicity of ingested substance. The second most common method of suicide in the self-mutilation was that of hanging. Future recommendations and future areas of research were also identified suggesting that there is still much information which needs to be gathered on the phenomenon of self-mutilation, especially within the South African context.

Despite the extensive investigation into murder, violence and aggression, it continues to be a pervasive problem in the modern world. As Menninger (in Halleck, 1967) said, "We still don't know how to protect Abel and we still don't know what to do with Cain." The position of this thesis is that if we want to know why Cain murdered his brother then we should ask him - a phenomenological perspective. That is to advocate that the subjective experience an individual has, offers the reality about the intention of the action. Traditionally objectivism and the desire to obtain absolute truths has taken precedent over constructivist thought, which values the idea that reality belongs within the mental representation an individual makes of the world. Thus this research supports narrative theory which offers a framework that invites the exploration of these mental representations of the self and the world. This theory with mounting support illustrates how people think and make sense of their lives as stories. Didion (in McAdams 1988) succinctly says 'We tell ourselves stories in order to live.' The life story is seen as being synonymous with self-identity. This research set out to explore the idea that a problem in the self-identity of murderers may be intrinsic in the emergence of murder. Following McAdams 1988 proposal, self-identity was viewed as being reflected in the self-narrative. The narrative accounts of fifteen homicide offenders were collected from Nottingham Prison by two interviewers. These were tape recorded then transcribed for analysis. The narratives were deconstructed and assigned to groups of how structurally similar they were to each other based upon a scheme founded by McAdams' idea that there are six criteria for a good narrative form vis a vis mature identity; coherence, credibility, openness to change, reconciliation, differentiation and generativity. Apart from the group where the offenders claimed to have changed, each group appeared to be defined by lacking in at least one of the criteria. (Apart from differentiation which was seen to be an underlying process upon which these other criteria depended). Moreover there appeared to be a cumulative structure from coherence to generativity. Thus the aim of the analysis was threefold. Firstly to demonstrate the cumulative structure from well formed narratives to incoherent narratives. Secondly to show how this ability to make sense of ones life (or not) manifest itself in the account an offender gives about himself, his life and the murder. Thirdly to explore the issue of change. The results showed that there was a cumulative structure based around how well formed the narrative accounts were. The "better" the narrative the more sense it made and the more the offender had to offer with respect to information about himself and his life. The group who has changed, told reflective stories about a central character who had changed over time, how personal issues had been resolved not least coming to terms that they were killers. It was then found that murderers could be seen to be dysfunctional on a scale of development. This shows how well they can make sense of themselves and their lives. The change having taken place in the offenders in the last group suggests that change comes about through being able to make sense of oneself and incorporate the disparate parts of ones identity. This then has implications for the possibility of change. The likelihood of change decreasing as the narrative becomes less well formed. In commenting on the assertion that we tell ourselves stories in order to live. The findings of this research suggest that we need to be able to tell good stories in order to live functional lives.

archives@tulane.edu / These two studies focused on the development of infants’ functional body knowledge. Many aspects of infant body knowledge have been researched extensively. For example, body parts are mapped onto the somatosensory cortex at least coarsely in infants as young as a few days old or older (Le Cornu Knight, Cowie, & Bremner, 2016; Milh et al., 2007). Infants also have some integration of sensory inputs and motor outputs, as evidenced by their ability to look toward the source of a sound during the first half-year of life (Ashmead, Davis, Whalen, & Odom, 1991; Morrongiello, Fenwick, Hillier, & Chance, 1994). Additionally, infants have some knowledge of body structure, as they can detect discrepancies in the arrangement of the configuration of these body parts and distortions in body part size as early as 3.5 months of age (Zieber, Kangas, Hock, & Bhatt, 2015). Most previous research has focused on nervous system structure, knowledge of body structure, or reactive responses to the environment. Less is known about the development of the agentive response of infants localizing targets on their bodies. In a longitudinal study, vibrating targets were placed on eight different face locations approximately every other week starting as young as 2 months of age to test the development of infants’ ability to reach to targets on the surface of the body. The primary findings were that the ability to reach to targets on the face improved with age, and infants could reach to the mouth earlier than the other face locations. In a second study, these infants then received additional experience with a visual-proprioceptive-tactile contingency in the mirror, which accelerated mirror self-recognition relative to two control group. / 1 / Lisa Chinn

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