Children with severe disabilities have limited ability to communicate with their environment. Understanding how and to what extent these children connect with the environment can be an insurmountable challenge for their caregivers. In this thesis we investigated the degree of interactions between a pair of individuals using their physiological signals. It was hypothesized that stronger social interaction induces greater physiological synchrony. We introduced a multivariate index of synchrony to relate various physiological correlations into the degree of social interaction. 18 able-bodied individuals participated in a study to measure the extent of synchrony between two intimate individuals vs. two strangers during conversation. Stronger correlation was detected for intimate participants in comparison with the strangers. The physiological alignment also increased as the dyad interacted more. A generalization of our method can be used for the study of children with disabilities to understand the degree of their non-verbal interaction with their social environment.

The current study was designed to examine characteristics associated with interaction in group versus dyads in middle childhood. Two classes of children in grades one through five participated in the study. Children were identified by their peers as participating in groups or dyads. Teachers then rated the characteristics of these children. Analyses of children interacting in groups versus dyads showed that both boys and girls in groups were perceived to be more competitive, to value their friends more, to receive more attention from peers and to be more emotionally expressive than children interacting in dyads. It was also found that boys in both groups and dyads were perceived to lack more self-control and to be more active and loud than girls. The measures of self-confidence, lack of self-control, emotional difficulties, activity level, and thoughtfulness did not differ for children who interacted in groups versus dyads. Findings are discussed in terms of the functions of group versus dyadic interaction.

No description available.

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。 / 国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

Teaching children with autism to interact with their typically developing peers can be a challenge. Previous research has documented that there are many effective ways to teach social interaction; however, these interventions were implemented almost exclusively by trained professionals. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of parent-implemented contextually supported play dates. Specifically, two parents were taught to use mutual reinforcement and to design cooperative arrangements to help their child with autism to interact with a typical peer in their homes. Two independent reversal designs were used to demonstrate a functional relationship between parent-supported contextually supported play dates and an increase in synchronous reciprocal interactions for both participants. Social validity was also high for both parents; however, there was no consistent impact on participant, confederate, or parent affect. The results are discussed with reference to previous research, future directions, and implications for practice.

This thesis is concerned with the ways Imperialism (and consequently colonialism) has pervaded the indigenous �primitive� world. Protectorates and �the colonies� reflected imperialist ideals, expansion, territory, external revenue and power. Missionaries were the footmen of colonial policy. The relations forged between these evangelists and the indigene have been thoroughly studied and scrutinised. However, reported interaction has been about missionaries and the �native�, with less about that between the indigenes, individual and tribe, elder and young. The thesis intends to redress this imbalance in the Bay of Islands from 1814 to 1834. The following work is an examination of a process of social change in Aotearoa. In the early 19th century the physical, spiritual and intellectual contact made between Maori peoples and the European explorers, scientists, and missionaries involved a deliberate cultural entanglement. It is the processes of acculturation, assimilation, or simply misunderstanding that are of interest. The study will have several foci involving the reaction of peoples of the Bay of Islands to the missionary institution of religious education. Chapter One addresses the theoretical location of the peoples that interacted in the Bay, while the second chapter is a brief description of a Maori coastal society prior to the arrival of literate missionaries. Chapter Three is about the cultural and social engagements of Ruatara, Marsden, Kendall and Hongi. The final chapter is a biographical exploration in the life of Rawiri Tawhanga and his interactions with missionaries and Maori of the Bay. Fundamentally it is the indigenous interaction during the initial periods of external European contact and, therefore, the effects of internal societal change that the author wishes to examine.

This study sets out to explore and describe the life experience of spirituality within the context of daily life. What is that through daily interaction of their lives, persons interviewed as part of this research experienced as a sense of meaning and wholeness, and which these persons identify and value as contributing to their sense of living spiritually? Thus daily life informed by these kinds of so-called spiritual engagements and practices may provide a way of discovering or recovering the sacred in ordinary situations and activities of their lives. Such engagements and practices may help to strengthen a consciousness that nurtures a spirituality of human development. / Spirtuality in this sense refers to the practices and learning through which individuals and societies attempt to move beyond self-centred positions of power and control, to share experiences that articulate care of the self, and of seeking meaning, wisdom, virtue, joy and harmony in, and with life. To explore the significant human experience of spirituality in daily life, the heuristic methodology developed by Clark Moustakas (1990) was employed. This approach utilizes the concepts and processes of identifying with the focus of the inquiry, self dialogue, tacit knowing, intuition, indwelling, focusing, and the internal frame of reference. The six phases of heuristic research are initial engagement, immersion, incubation, illumination, explication, and creative synthesis. Seventeen participants (co-researchers) were selected from a small group of Western Australian volunteers who claimed to have experienced the topic of investigation. They were interviewed informally and conversationally with the open- ended question, “Describe as fully as possible as possible your experience of spirituality in daily life”. These interviews were analysed, yielding eleven extended descriptions of the experience, three of which make up the individual depictions, a composite depiction of the experience, two exemplary portraits of the experience, and a creative synthesis of the experience. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2004.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, 1989. / Bibliography: leaves 132-145.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2007. / Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Sustainability, Environmental and Life Sciences. Includes bibliographical references (p. [189]-205).

Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri State University, 2008. / "May 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-66). Also available online.