Superstitious behavior is still a common occurrence in modern society, seemingly impervious to intellectual progress that humans have made throughout history. While the desire to maintain a sense of control over one's environment has been investigated as one of the key motivations behind superstitious behavior, it has yet to be examined within the context of the self-concept. Threats to one's sense of control can also be construed as general threats to one's global sense of self-worth. Consequently, while superstitious behavior may be triggered by control threats, it may also occur as a result of any general threat to self-integrity. Moreover, if superstitious behavior is motivated by the desire to maintain overall self-integrity, then depriving individuals of a chance to engage in superstitious behavior should elicit subsequent attempts to repair self-integrity via alternative means. Three studies were conducted in order to establish this link between self functioning and superstitious behavior. Studies 1a and 1b did not find any evidence that manipulating the self-concept prior to an event designed to evoke superstition would increase the desire to engage in superstitious behavior. Threatening (or boosting) one's self-esteem prior to a game of chance did not affect participant's desire to use a superstitious strategy (aura color). Study 2 provided evidence that superstitious behavior is motivated by a desire to maintain self-integrity by showing that individuals deprived of their aura color prior to a game of chance were more likely to engage in self-affirmation subsequently. It also showed that the impact of depriving individuals of a superstitious strategy is independent of belief in such strategy. / Study 2, however, did not find evidence that chronic self-esteem, self-esteem stability, or an individual's desire for control moderated this effect. Possible reasons for this lack of support for our hypotheses are discussed. / by Ryan M. Moyer. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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On-line experiments by physics education at basic school The aim of this diploma thesis is to prove the usefulness of on-line experiments during physics teaching. The work is divided into two parts: theoretical one and practical one. The theoretical part deals with the teaching in primary schools, the possibility of the usage of informational and communication technologies, the increase of student´s motivation through new teaching methods and the student´s life in a school surrounding. The practical part consists of the experiment complex created by the set PASCO. The working sheets, which are given to some of the experiments, enable to attest the effectiveness of the chosen experiments in practice. The results of the didactic samplers to the particular classes are enclosed and described.

The thesis deals with the issue of singletons. Its main question is directed to the childhood of singletons and its importance for the whole life of a human. It wonders whether the childhood of singletons affects humans in adulthood, or in which areas and which way. The thesis is divided into two parts, theoretical and part of the research. In the first part basic terms are defined which constitute the basis for the second part of the work. The research part of the work is more extensive and forms the core of the thesis. It is a qualitative research. Biographical design, specifically the realistic biography, has been used as the most appropriate research plan. First, three interviews were made and processed - depth probes of the respondents who grew up as the singletons. The analysis of the probes divided the interview into three stages: childhood upbringing, the upbringing of their own children and self-education. After processing the individual parts of the research, the final synthesis revealed that the childhood of the respondents and the fact of being an only child had a significant impact on their overall life. It affected their childhood and also the following life stages. The biggest deficit of the singletons was in socialization, predominantly in the area of interpersonal relations and...