Summaries in Afrikaans and English / Ons bevind ons in 'n nuwe Suid-Afrika waar die klem baie sterk op die uitwissing van die spore van die apartheidsera gele word. Die oopstelling van skole het nie daartoe bygedra dat kinders hulle vooroordele oorboord gooi en mekaar spontaan aanvaar nie. Die verandering in wetgewing wat 'n eksterne verandering is, het nie noodwendig tot verandering van gesindhede gelei nie. Daar kan derhalwe tereg gevra word hoe versoening tussen mense van verskillende kulture tot stand kan kom. In hierdie studie is gepoog om vas te stel of 'n verrykingsprogram in groepverband interpersoonlike vaardighede en verhoudinge van persone van uiteenlopende kulturele agtergronde kan bevorder. Die program is onder gekontroleerde omstandighede aangebied en die idiografiese navorsingsmetode is gebruik. Daar is bepaal watter faktore die aard en die kwaliteit van verhoudinge tussen persone van verskillende kulturele herkoms be'invloed. Riglyne is gestruktrueer en kriteria is ge'identifiseer waarvolgens die program saamgestel is. Die ouderdomme van die leertinge het tussen 15 en 21 jaar gewissel. Tydens die multikulturele groepsbelewing het die leertinge die geleentheid gehad om persoonlike en interpersoonlike vaardighede te ontwikkel sodat daar 'n openheid en 'n beg rip vir mekaar ontstaan het. Die interaksie met persone afkomstig van 'n verskeidenheid oriemtasies het daartoe gelei dat raakpunte in die diversiteit ontdek is en hulle het mekaar as individue begin erken en verstaan. Nuutgestigte verhoudings was gekenmerk deur vertroue, warmte en empatie. Deur middel van verbeterde selfbegrip en interpersoonlike vaardighede het die verhoudings tussen groeplede in verskeie dimensies beduidend verbeter. Hierdie navorsing het aangetoon dat mense van uiteenlopende kulturele orientasies soos in Suid-Afrika die geval is, deur middel van ervaringsleer in groepverband, tot grater eenheid en verdraagsaamheid saamgesnoer kan word. / Psychology of Education / D.Ed. (Psychology of Education)

This dissertation set out to understand the decision processes used by decision makers in adversarial environment by setting up an adversarial decision making microworld, as an experimental platform, using a real time strategy (RTS) game called Rise of Nations (RON). The specific objectives of this dissertation were: 1.Contribute to the validation of recognition-primed decision (RPD) model in a simulated adversarial environment; 2.Explore the roles of common-sense strategies in decision making in the adversarial environment; and 3.Test the effectiveness of training recommendations based on the RPD model. Three related experimental studies were setup to investigate each of the objectives. Study 1 found that RPD model was partly valid where RPD processes were prevalently used but other decision processes were also important in an adversarial environment. A new decision model (ConPAD model) was proposed to capture the nature of decision making in the adversarial environment. It was also found that cognitive abilities might have some effects on the types of decision processes used by the decision makers. Study 2 found that common-sense strategies were prevalent in the adversarial environment where the participants were able to use all but one of the warfare related strategies extracted from literature without teaching them. The strategy familiarization training was not found to significantly improve decision making but showed that common-sense strategies were prevalent and simple familiarization training was not sufficient to produce differences in strategy usage and performances from the novice participants. Study 3 also found that RPD based training (cue-recognition and decision skill training) were not significant in producing better performance although subjective feedback found such training to be useful. However, the participants with RPD based training conditions were able to perform on the same level as the expert participants bridging the gap between novices and experts. Based on the findings, it was recommended that decision training should involve not just RPD based training, but comparisons of attributes as well. A more interactive training combining common-sense strategies, cue-recognition and decision skill training might be more useful. More theoretical experimentation would be required to validate the new decision model proposed in this dissertation. / Ph. D.