This study provides a basic orientation for developing a "sociology of the body" from an analysis of embarrassment phenomena. The primary objective is to give emphasis to the contention that the role of the actor's awareness of his body during the course of social transactions has been undeservedly neglected as a subject of sociological inquiry. This is particularly evident with respect to sociological investigations into the dynamics of embarrassment. A number of arguments exposing limitations, problems and inconsistencies in those investigations are entertained for the purpose of illustrating that many themes of body involvement reflecting bodily organizational procedures have not been considered when in fact they appear to be intimately related to the experience and recognition of embarrassment. Bodily organizational procedures are specified in a concern-for-body dimension of embarrassment paradigm which examines the significance of body awareness to encounters involving episodes of embarrassment. This paradigm reveals that the actor assigns a great importance to his ability to maintain control of bodily features in accordance with standards that conform to the expectations of significant others. A theoretical discussion is provided to account for the nature of this importance. It is concluded from this discussion that many factors underlying issues of social acceptance and rejection are integral to the concern for the management of bodily control / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

The thesis deals with a group of modern Canadian women performing the visible social and economic role of entrepreneur. In general, males are dominant as entrepreneurs. However, the centre of this research is a case study of a female entrepreneur. It is augmented by interviews with other female entrepreneurs and the limited published research available about female entrepreneurs. It addresses the question: in what ways do self-images influence the behaviour of entrepreneurial women? Self-image is conceptualized as an essential component of ourselves, influenced by such themes as our culture, our sex-role socialization, and our environment. Self-image helps to shape our ability to act in society. Self-image can be manipulated and used as a strategy for the entrepreneurial role which is valued in our society. Entrepreneurial experts affirm that a positive self-image is important to entrepreneurial behaviour. Researchers have identified women as a group with a poor self-image, yet women are now becoming entrepreneurs at three times the rate of men. My thesis suggests that a number of factors related to self-image influence the behaviour of entrepreneurial women: 1) through the lack of relevant beliefs, values or images to incorporate into their self-images; 2) through the lack of appropriate beliefs, values or images to incorporate into their self-images; 3) through the presentation of conflicting beliefs, values or images; 4) and through the reinforcement of beliefs, values and images in particular social situations or contexts. The factors related to the self-images of those women who perform the entrepreneurial role suggest important cultural and social changes in the status of women generally. Following the conclusion, a discussion on the illusions that can be a part of women's self-images is included. I look at the illusion associated with images of women and the illusion of choice. I suggest that both these illusions can impact significantly on self-image and often with detrimental effects for women. My point is to make sure we are aware that the self-images do not always reflect objective reality. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

The phenomenon of becoming a more substantial self was investigated using the case study method. The co-researcher, Mary, was interviewed to elicit her experience of the phenomenon. Understanding was built up through collection of data from a variety of sources including early recollections, a diary, and interviews with friends and associates. The data were analyzed and Cochran's dramaturgical method was used to discover the coherent pattern of meaning. A rich, detailed description of the case was then written and summarized. It was found that, for Mary, substantiality involved childhood experiences of powerlessness, incompetence, and lack of social acceptability. In response to these experiences she had formulated the position that she must defend against those painful vulnerabilities by presenting herself as strong person. Implicit in this was the assumption that she was powerless, incompetent and unacceptable and, as a result, dependent on external support. At the age of 33, Mary reached a point where her life circumstances defeated the viability of this position. She felt humiliated and defeated and could see no solution. It was then that she had a supportive spiritual experience and, at the same time, an experience of gentle confrontation from a supportive authority figure. This was the beginning of a 7-8 year transition period which involved two central processes. One process involved a kind of letting go or opening up, the other involved a movement forward involving risk, effort and action. Through many and various experiences Mary experienced that if she let go of her social mask of invulnerability and accepted herself as she was, with painful feelings and imperfections, she arrived at an experience of harmony with herself, other people and the world in general. Profoundly interwoven with this was the process of risk, effort and action. In supportive contexts, Mary began to apply herself and to discover her capacities. She began to take larger and larger risks until she came to experience herself as a competent person capable of pursuing her goals. The emergence of the substantial self was marked by the experience of the self as a capable social being and a harmonious spiritual, physical, and emotional being. Mary's life is no longer oriented around protecting vulnerabilities but around using her full capacities to accomplish social goals while staying in touch with her spiritual self. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This dissertation advanced a life story model of the self-concept, linking the presently understood past and the anticipated future with the experienced present of the individual story-teller. The central components of this model were identified as the story structure (defined as integrative complexity, an information-processing variable) and story content (defined as the significant life events recalled and anticipated by the participants). The nuclear thesis of this dissertation examined the relationship between these two components in various forms and explored their association with other (individual difference) variables. Participants were 30 males and 30 females drawn in equal numbers from three age groups (young, middle, and later adulthood). These participants completed an extensive questionnaire which entailed a written self-evaluation (which was coded for complexity), the identification and evaluation of significant life events (on scales of event pleasantness, outcome desirability, and event intensity, responsibility, adjustment, and anticipation), and the completion of a series of individual difference measures (life satisfaction, attitudes toward aging, repression-sensitization, and self-esteem). Participants were also interviewed regarding the personal significance of each event, discussions which were coded for integrative complexity and a measure of self in relation to others. The major results indicated that the complexity of self-evaluation (and not chronological age) was associated (curvilinearly) with the number of identified events (with low and high complexity characteristic of fewer events than moderate complexity). A similar pattern emerged between life satisfaction and this measure of complexity, but complexity was not related to any of the other individual difference variables. Unpleasant and undesirable events were discussed in more complex terms than were pleasant, desirable events. There was a similar pattern for high versus low intensity events. However, low responsibility, low adjustment, and low anticipation were associated with greater complexity than were events high on these dimensions. Women identified a greater number of events and discussed them more in terms of connectedness with significant others than did men. These results are presented in the context of the life story and their implications for this model of the self-concept are discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between self concept and reading ability at different stages in a child's school career. Subjects were selected at random from grades three, five, seven, eight, ten and twelve from schools in one school district. Approximately 125 to 150 students at each grade level were tested with the Nelson Reading Test or the Nelson Denny Reading Test and the students were then assigned to groups of poor, average or good readers on the basis of their percentile scores for their grade. Twenty students were randomly selected from each ability group at each grade level to receive the Piers Harris Children's Self Concept Scale. Raw scores on the reading test were correlated with self concept scores for each grade level. Correlations were significant at the grade three, five, seven, and eight levels, lower but significant at the grade ten level and not significant at the grade twelve level. Mean scores for each ability group at each grade level were computed and analyzed in a six by three factoral design. Effects for ability group and interaction of grade and reading ability were significant. Differences between means for good and poor readers were significant at the grade three, five, seven and eight levels. Post hoc tests were done to find significant tetrad differences. It appears from the results of this study that although self concept and reading ability are positively correlated in the lower grades, the relationship becomes weaker after grade eight and is nonsignificant at the grade twelve level. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

Reminiscence is a complex phenomenon which is theorized in contemporary gerontological literature to serve adaptive functions in successful aging. This study explores the relationship between reminiscence (as measured using the Reminiscence Survey) and one criterion of adaptation: global self-esteem (as measured by the Total P score of the Tennessee Self Concept Scale) in a sample of 40 older volunteers who range in age from 55 years to 95 years and who still live independently in the community. Significant positive correlations were found between the Reminiscence Survey measures and the Total P scores of the TSCS. As well, life-reviewers reported significantly more uses, triggers, and outcomes of reminiscence and had significantly higher self-concept scores than did non-life-reviewers. These findings serve to demonstrate the positive relationship between the pervasiveness of reminiscence and the positivity of self-conception. Implications for the constructive use of reminiscence as a therapeutic intervention strategy in counselling older adults are discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

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

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The need to take into account the moderating effects of defen- ' siveness in understanding how scores on self report assessments of personality are arrived at is suggested on theoretical and empirical grounds alike. To the extent that people have strong images of who they would like to be (e.g., Horney, 1950; Rogers, 1951) and a basic need for self esteem (Epstein, 1976; Rosenberg, 1979; Snyder, Stephan, and Rosenfield, 197S; Rogers, 1951) it is likely that at least their conscious appraisal of self is subject to distortions of a self-enhancing nature.