本研究探討真實自我、理想自我與品牌人格的一致性以及消費幻想，對於消費者品牌偏好度之影響，並將真實自我、理想自我與品牌人格的一致性分為五大構面，探討各構面對於消費者品牌偏好度之相對影響。採用Aaker (1997) 所發展出來的品牌人格量表來衡量真實自我、理想自我以及品牌人格，消費幻想的衡量則是採用黃依婷 (2006) 所發展之幻想程度的量表。 本研究選擇進行問卷調查的品牌包含象徵型及功能型兩類型，且具高知名度、不同來源國、消費者使用目的及產品價格等特質，經由與專家討論，選出台灣的宏碁 (Acer)、法國的路易威登 (LV)以及美國的星巴客 (Starbucks)，並將問卷以品牌分為三類，採隨機發放，共收集428份有效問卷，其中Acer品牌問卷有134份、Starbucks品牌問卷有143份、LV品牌問卷有151份，透過一般線性模式分析，驗證品牌人格與自我一致性以及消費幻想，對於消費者品牌偏好度之影響。 研究結果顯示，真實自我及理想自我與品牌人格的一致性、消費幻想及品牌對於消費者品牌偏好度均無影響，但是真實自我及理想自我與品牌人格的一致性與消費者品牌偏好度間的關係，會受到消費幻想及品牌的影響。對於象徵性品牌而言，消費幻想高的人並不在意品牌與自己之真實自我或是理想自我有無一致，只要品牌的象徵性意涵豐富，能夠滿足其幻想，消費者就會對品牌有較高的偏好，消費幻想低的人比較務實，所以對於象徵性品牌的偏好度較低；就功能性品牌而言，消費幻想高的人除了產品基本的功能性訴求之外，還希望品牌能夠用來表達真實自我或是理想自我，但是消費幻想低的人比較實際，較注重產品的功能面，所以比較不在意品牌是否能展現自己。若將真實自我一致性分為五個構面來看，真實領先自我一致性對於消費者品牌偏好度有影響，且此關係亦會受到消費幻想的影響，真實誠懇自我一致性與消費者品牌偏好間的關係，會受到消費幻想及品牌的影響。 對於廠商而言，若其品牌屬於象徵性品牌，應該將品牌之象徵性意涵更為突顯吸引更多消費幻想高的人，不需在意品牌人格是否與消費者之自我一致，若其品牌屬於功能性品牌，廠商對於消費幻想低的人應該著重加強品牌功能的宣傳，對於消費幻想高的人要使得品牌具有人格特質以表達消費者的自我。對於消費者而言，若能先瞭解自己消費幻想的程度，將有助於選擇適合自己的品牌。消費幻想高的人，在選購象徵性品牌時，可選擇象徵性意涵豐富的品牌，在選購功能性品牌時，建議選擇符合自己所追求人格特質的品牌；若為消費幻想低的人，不建議購買象徵性品牌，在購買功能性品牌時，要特別注意其功能的表現。 本研究將品牌人格與自我一致性分五大構面，探討其對於消費者品牌偏好的影響，確實瞭解真正影響消費者對於品牌偏好度之品牌人格與自我一致性的特質，能夠給予廠商明確的建議。在本研究之前，對於消費幻想的研究僅止於理論的發展及量表的建構，本研究將消費幻想進行品牌偏好度的實務驗證。 / The main purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of real-self congruity, ideal-self congruity, and consumer fantasy on consumers’ brand preferences. Furthermore, the research divided real-self congruity and ideal-self congruity into five dimensions to discuss the effects of each dimensions on consumers’ brand preferences. The American brand personality scale proposed by Jennifer Aaker in 1997 was used to measure brand personality and self congruity, while consumer fantasy was measured using the fantasy scale by Huang, Yi-Ting (2006). Brands in the research included both symbolic brands and functional brands, that are well-known, come from different countries of origin, used for different usage purposes, and carry different prices. After discussions with a professional, Acer, Louis Vuitton (LV), and Starbucks were selected. Questionnaires for each brand were developed and were distributed randomly. 428 valid questionnaires were collected, among which 134 were Acer brand questionnaires, 143 were LV questionnaires, and 151 were for Starbucks. Data was analyzed by general linear model. The results of the research are in the following. 1. There were no effects of real-self congruity or ideal-self congruity, consumer fantasy, and brands on brand preferences. 2. The relationships between real-self congruity and brand preferences or ideal-self congruity and brand preferences are affected by consumer fantasy and brands. 3. For symbolic brands, consumers with high fantasy don’t care whether the personalities of the brands are consistent with their real-self or ideal-self concepts. As long as the symbols of the brands can satisfy their fantasy, they will have high brand preferences. 4. For functional brands, consumers with high fantasy still hope that the brands can express their real-self or ideal-self concepts. In contrast, people with low fantasy are realistic so they focus a lot on the function that the brands can provide them and don’t care whether the brands can express themselves. 5. The relationship between real-leading-self congruity and brand preferences is affected by consumer fantasy. 6. The relationship between real-sincere-self congruity and brand preferences is affected by consumer fantasy and brands. Businesses whose brands are symbolic ones should emphasize the symbols of their brands to attract more consumers with high fantasy levels but don’t need to be as concerned with whether the personalities of the brands are consistent with consumers’ real-self or ideal-self concepts. On the other hand, businesses whose brands are functional brands should emphasize the great functionality of their brands to attract consumers with low fantasy and make the brands have personalities to express consumers’ real-self or ideal-self. Moreover, consumers should understand the degree of their fantasy to help them purchase suitable brands. When purchasing symbolic brands, consumers with high fantasy can select brands with rich symbols, while when purchasing functional brands, they should buy brands with personalities that fit their real-self or ideal-self. Consumers with low fantasy should buy less symbolic brands and should pay attention to the functions of the brands when purchasing functional brands. This research contributes by dividing the real-self congruity and ideal-self congruity into five dimensions and discussing the effects of each of them on brand preferences. This can lead to a better understanding of how the real personalities of brands and consumers’ self concepts affect brand preferences which will be useful to help companies form branding strategies. In addition, prior to this research, the studies about consumer fantasy were limited to the development of theories and the construction of the scale to measure consumers’ fantasy. This research connects consumer fantasy and brand preference to study the relationship between them.

Die wissenschaftliche Begleitung des Schulversuchs „Deutsch-Italienische Gesamtschule Wolfsburg“ hat u. a. eine empirische Untersuchung zur Leistungs- und Persönlichkeitsentwicklung der Schüler an der Modellversuchsschule durchgeführt. In den Jahren 1996 bis 2006 erfolgten sowohl Quer- als auch Längsschnitterhebungen mit diversen Schulleistungstests sowie schriftliche Befragungen zu ausgewählten Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen der Schüler. An diese quantitativen Untersuchungen schlossen sich im Mai und Juni 2006 leitfadengestützte Gruppeninterviews mit Schülern der ersten drei Einschulungsjahrgänge an, die nach der 10. Klasse auf die gymnasiale Oberstufe eines Wolfsburger Gymnasiums gewechselt waren. Ziel dieser Interviews war es ein spezifisches Bild der „Deutsch-Italienischen Gesamtschule“ aus der Perspektive derer zu gewinnen, die einerseits zehn Jahre lang an dieser gelernt und gelebt haben, andererseits Erfahrungen an einer anderen Schule sammeln konnten. Als Ergebnisse lassen sich u.a. festhalten, dass der Entwicklung des Sozialverhaltens der Schüler an der Schule viel Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt wurde. Daher ist die Mehrheit der Befragten auch der Meinung, ein höheres Maß an sozialer Kompetenz zu besitzen, als andere Jugendliche. Obgleich die befragten Schüler ihre Kompetenzen in den Fächern Deutsch und Italienisch als gut bis sehr gut einschätzen offenbaren sich gleichzeitig Übereinstimmungen bezüglich der Defizite der Ausbildung in einigen Unterrichtsfächern. Dies betrifft in erster Linie die naturwissenschaftlichen Fächer einschließlich Mathematik sowie Englisch. Bilanzierend beschreiben die interviewten Schüler die „Deutsch-Italienische Gesamtschule“ als einen Ort, an dem sie sich immer sehr wohl gefühlt und den sie gern besucht haben. Ihre Beziehung zu den Lehrern bezeichnen die Schüler übereinstimmend als sehr eng und freundschaftlich, das Verhältnis unter den Schülern als geprägt von Vertrautheit und einem starken Gemeinschaftsgefühl.

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into whether inattentive, hyperactive/ impulsive, and depressive symptoms differ among young adolescents with negative, accurate, or positive self-perceptions of their academic and social competence. Current literature suggests that elementary-age children with ADHD display overly positive self-perceptions, often referred to as the positive illusory bias (PIB; Owens, Goldfine, Evangelista, Hoza, & Kaiser, 2007). Self-reports of academic and social self-concept were compared to teacher ratings and test scores for 164 middle school students in an effort to determine if the PIB was present within this sample. Inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive symptoms were found to be significantly higher among the positive self-perception group in the academic domain with teacher ratings as the indicator of competence, while depressive symptoms were found to be significantly higher among the negative self-perception group. In the social domain, only inattentive symptoms were shown to be significantly higher in the positive self-perception group compared to the negative and accurate groups. Interestingly, there were no significant differences between groups with achievement test scores as the indicator of academic competence. These findings provide information about the PIB in young adolescents, an understudied group. Implications related to research and practice are also presented.

The purpose of this study was to develop a greater understanding of self-efficacy in music performance. I sought to (a) contribute to fundamental knowledge of self-efficacy in music performance, (b) determine whether scores from the Music Performance Self-Efficacy Scale (MPSES) were valid and reliable, and (c) provide insights for developing self-efficacy among secondary school music students. Participants (N = 290) were middle and high school students in band, chorus, and string orchestra ensembles from 10 schools in the southeast and western regions of the United States. Participants completed four online questionnaires: (a) Music Performance Self-Efficacy Scale, (b) Sources of Middle School Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale, (c) Self-Esteem of Musical Ability, and (d) Advanced Measures of Music Audiation. Teachers provided 5-point Likert-type ratings of their student's music self-efficacy. Data from the MPSES demonstrated good fit with Bandura's proposed self-efficacy model (SRMR = .06, RMSEA = .06). The strength of the relationships between the sources and composite construct were consistent with theory and findings from other studies. Mastery experience was strongest, followed by verbal/social persuasion, physiological state, and vicarious experience. No differences in responses were found between middle and high school students, or among band, chorus, and string orchestra students. Items on the MPSES were also found to assess participants equally across grade levels. Music aptitude was found to predict self-efficacy in music performance (â = .16) and accounted for 3% of the variance in self-efficacy. This finding raises questions about the role of self-efficacy in mediating the relationship between music aptitude and music achievement. The Music Performance Self-Efficacy Scale was found to be a valid and reliable measure of self-efficacy in music performance. Evidence of validity was based on test content, response process, and internal structure, along with convergent, discriminant, and multi-method relationships. Evidence of reliability was based on test-retest correlation (r = .87) and internal consistency (á = .88). Recommendations for researchers were to link the sources of self-efficacy to performance achievement; explore self-efficacy's relationship with aptitude and achievement; and expand the investigation to other populations. Recommendations for educators focused on improving understanding of self-efficacy and interpreting MPSES results.

Consumers acquire products to enhance their lives, but the happiness from these acquisitions generally decreases with the passage of time. This process of hedonic adaptation plays an integral role in post-acquisition consumer satisfaction, product disposal and replacement behavior, and the "hedonic treadmill" that partially drives the relationship between consumption and happiness. Humans are social animals, however, and we know little about the relationship between the social environment and hedonic adaptation. My dissertation addresses this gap by exploring the moderating role of social presence (Essay 1) and self-concepts (Essay 2) on hedonic adaptation to products. Essay 1 explores how social presence affects hedonic adaptation to products. Research on general happiness has shown that significantly positive life events tend to maintain their positivity for longer periods of time when they involve active social interactions. I examine a more common situation in the domain of product consumption, i.e., the presence of others during consumption, and test whether hedonic adaptation to products is moderated by public contexts. By tracking happiness with products over time, I show that a "social audience" (i.e., the presence of others and the perception that those others notice the consumer) moderates hedonic adaptation through a consumer's inference of the social audience perspective. Inferring that the social audience is admiring one's product slows down adaptation, and inferring that the social audience is negatively viewing one's product accelerates adaptation. Essay 2 explores the role the identity-relevance of a product plays in hedonic adaptation. Extant research illustrates that consumers avoid consuming identity-inconsistent products in order to avoid dissonance arising from product choices conflicting with important self-concepts. I show that dissonance can also arise from consuming identity-consistent products because of the force of hedonic adaptation. I provide evidence that consumers feel uncomfortable experiencing declining happiness with identity-consistent products and thus resist hedonic adaptation to such products in order to resolve the dissonance. / text

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The relation between temperament and happiness in children aged 8-12 was examined. Participants included 311 students in Grades 4-6 and their parents, recruited from public and private schools in the Central Okanagan. Parents rated their children’s temperament using the Emotionality, Activity, and Sociability (EAS) Temperament Survey (Buss & Plomin, 1984) and rated their children’s happiness using a single-item measure. Children rated their own temperament using the EAS Temperament Survey and the Piers- Harris Self Concept Scale for Children, Second Edition (Piers-Harris 2) (Piers & Herzberg, 2002). Children also rated their own happiness using a single-item measure, the Oxford Happiness Scale, Short Form (Hills & Arygle, 2002), and the Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999). Confirmatory factor analyses established that parent and child ratings on the EAS Temperament Survey conformed to the four-factor structure proposed by Buss and Plomin (1984). Multiple regression analyses revealed that temperament accounted for between 9-29% of the variance in children’s happiness depending on the rater (i.e., parents vs. children) and the measure of happiness. Individual temperament variables that predicted a unique amount of the variance of children’s happiness over and above the combined effect of all temperament variables varied with the rater of children’s temperament (i.e., parents vs. children) and with the measure of happiness. Children who were more social, less shy, less emotional, and more free from anxiety rated themselves, and were rated by others, as happier. Children who scored higher on the activity temperament rated themselves, and were rated by others, as happier. The results of the current study parallel results of research investigating the relation between happiness and personality in adults. It establishes a strong relation between temperament and happiness, and iii supports the use of self-reports with children. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

This study deals with pastoral guidance for persons who, due to unresolved trauma, are often emotionally and spiritually wounded and consequently exhibit internalised lies. Some important questions relating to this theme put on the table here include the following: * What is the origin of an internalised lie? * What effect do these lies have on the life of the wounded person? * What is truth and how can it be discerned? * How can the wounded person be guided and protected in the renewal of his/her thinking? The basic–theoretical research shows that being emotionally wounded and the accompanying internalisation of lies usually take place during childhood. This is the period when the child does not have the verbal, emotional or spiritual competence to interpret correctly or assimilate trauma and the accompanying injury. Further it transpires that the emotionally wounded person is engaged in a daily struggle with Satan and that the struggle mainly lodges in his heart and thoughts, and is based on lies. From this section it is also clear that only truth can overcome the onslaught of Satan's misrepresentation and that the truth can only be reached in a relationship with Jesus Christ. The wounded person has the choice of whom to follow, Satan or Jesus. It is therefore essential for such a person to take up the daily responsibility for the renewal and control of his mind. For this the Lord provides special weapons with which the struggle for renewal of one?s thoughts can successfully be approached. Meta–theoretical research has shown that optimal brain functioning is of cardinal importance in the renewal of the mind since behaviour, personality, cognitive ability, emotions as well as thoughts all originate in the brain. The brain is the most complex organ in the human body and the way it functions affects a person?s choices, vision and personality as well as success or failure in life. In the case of a person manifesting broken relationships or compulsive behaviour patterns, it must first be ascertained whether the brain functions correctly before labelling the person with some or other abnormality. The study shows that the brain does have the ability to recover with the help of diet and exercise as well as attitude of mind. The empirical study involved six collaborators who had been exposed to inter–generative trauma and consequently had exhibited internalised lies. Information relevant to trauma, medical background, head injuries and the family of origin was collected and after being processed, was presented in a genogram. The structure and style of every family as well as the role of the particular respondent in every family was represented schematically and explained to the respondent. From the practical–theoretical section it clearly emerged that emotional and spiritual healing can only take place by means of God's Word and his truth. In this respect it is essential that the injured person should take daily responsibility regarding the renewal of his mind. After all, transformation is a process demanding patience and practice as well as faith in Christ and it is clear that there are no shortcuts to healing. To reach the necessary goals in this process an integrated holistic approach is necessary where the different neighbouring sciences are involved. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.