Mit der immer stärker werdenden Präsenz unterschiedlicher Verkörperter Digitaler Technologien (Embodied Digital Technologies, EDTs) in die bisher ausschließlich menschliche Gesellschaft ergibt sich die Frage nach der Integration dieser künstlichen Akteure in sogenannte Hybride Gesellschaften (Hybrid Societies). EDTs umfassen unterschiedliche Technologien wie beispielsweise bionische Prothesen zur Funktionswiederherstellung und -erweiterung an Menschen ebenso wie Roboter als (teil-)autonome Systeme. Deren Wahrnehmung und in weiterer Folge die Rolle von moralischer und rechtlicher Verantwortungsübernahme in Hybriden Gesellschaften wurde im Rahmen dieser Dissertation untersucht. Sozialpsychologische Forschung zeigte wiederholt, dass sich die soziale Wahrnehmung, traditionell zweidimensional (Kompetenz und Wärme) oder dreidimensional (Kompetenz, Sozialität, Moralität) gedacht, auf gesellschaftliche Prozesse auswirkt. In Hybriden Gesellschaften, wo nicht nur menschliche Akteure in diese Prozesse eingebunden sind, stellt sich nun die Frage, ob und wie menschliche soziale Wahrnehmungsdimensionen anwendbar auf künstliche Akteure sind. Unterschiedliche Modelle zeigen, dass Menschen ursprünglich menschliche Interaktionsmuster auf künstliche Akteure übertragen, beziehungsweise dass die Einschätzung der Kompetenz Auswirkungen auf die tatsächliche Nutzung von technischen Systemen hat. Es wurde daher in zwei Studien (Artikel II und III) untersucht, inwieweit menschliche Attributionen hinsichtlich der Dimensionen Kompetenz, Sozialität und Moralität anwendbar auf Industrieroboter, soziale Roboter und androide Roboter sind. Dabei zeigte sich, dass die Kompetenzdimension überwiegend anwendbar war. Demgegenüber waren die inhärent menschlichen Dimensionen Sozialität und Moralität zu geringeren Anteilen auf EDTs übertragbar: Hier zeigte sich, dass Proband:innen ungerne sehr menschliche Attribute auf EDTs anwandten. Daher wurde, auf Basis vorhergehender Studien, ein Erhebungsinstrument entwickelt und validiert, welches im Speziellen die soziale Wahrnehmung von Robotern auf den Dimensionen Anthropomorphismus, Moralität/Sozialität und Aktivität/Kooperation abbildet (Artikel IV). Dieses Instrument wurde in einer weiteren Studie angewandt, um die soziale Wahrnehmung von EDTs basierend auf einer Interaktionsszene mit einem Menschen zu erfassen (Artikel V). Hierbei zeigte sich, dass menschenähnliches Design sowohl bei Robotern als auch bei Telepräsenzsystemen eine Rolle in der Zuschreibung sozialer Dimensionen spielt. Darüber hinaus wurden interindividuelle Unterschiede in der Attribution sozialer Dimensionen zu EDTs in den Artikeln II, III und V untersucht. Zwar zeigten sich einzelne Zusammenhänge als replizierbar, jedoch ist die Gesamtheit der Zusammenhänge weiterhin als arbiträr zu betrachten. In Abhängigkeit der menschlichen Integration in EDTs stellen sich außerdem Fragen nach moralischer und rechtlicher Verantwortlichkeit: In menschlichen Gesellschaften wird von vollwertigen Mitgliedern erwartet, Verantwortung für ihr Handeln in moralischer und rechtlicher Hinsicht zu übernehmen. Wenn allerdings nicht mehr Menschen die Handelnden sind, sondern autonome Systeme, so wird hier ein Rahmenmodell benötigt, welches einerseits die unterschiedlichen Akteure definiert und andererseits die benötigen Fähigkeiten zur Verantwortungsübernahme und deren Zuordnung zu den Akteuren umfasst. Dieses vorläufige Modell wurde in einem interdisziplinären Zugang aus psychologischer und juristischer Perspektive konzeptualisiert und legt somit eine umfassende theoretische Basis für weitere Forschung (Artikel I). Es wurden sieben Akteure und sieben Fähigkeiten definiert, wobei sowohl aus psychologischer als auch juristischer Perspektive zum gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkt nur der Mensch als Akteur vollständige Verantwortung übernehmen kann. Die Kombination dieser beiden Forschungsziele – die theoretische Konzeptualisierung von moralischer Verantwortung und die Untersuchung sozialer Wahrnehmung von EDTs – fand in Artikel V statt: Es wurden Interviewdaten von Personen, welche mit einem mit Künstlicher Intelligenz ausgestatteten Sortiersystem arbeiteten, erfasst und untersucht, welche Fähigkeiten des Modells zur Verantwortungsübernahme und welche sozialen Dimensionen erwähnt wurden. Dabei fanden sich alle Fähigkeiten der psychologischen Verantwortungsübernahme und die sozialen Dimensionen Kompetenz, Sozialität, Anthropomorphismus, Aktivität und Kooperation wieder. Nicht zuletzt auf Basis dieser Befunde zeigt sich die Relevanz der in dieser Dissertation dargestellten Forschung: Hybride Gesellschaften werden in Zukunft immer stärker an Präsenz gewinnen, was eine frühzeitige wissenschaftliche Begleitung nötig macht. So ist der Aspekt der Verantwortungsübernahme unbenommen nicht nur aus psychologischer, sondern insbesondere auch aus juristischer Perspektive von großer Brisanz. Auch der Aspekt der sozialen Wahrnehmung, welcher schlussendlich die Vorbedingung für die tatsächliche Nutzung unterschiedlicher EDTs in angedachten Bereichen wie Pflege oder Bildung darstellt, verdient Beachtung. Letztlich wurde im Rahmen dieser Dissertation ein Modell zur Verantwortungsübernahme in Hybriden Gesellschaften erstellt und der Frage danach, ob EDTs als soziale Akteure betrachtet werden, nachgegangen – auch wenn diese Frage nur vorläufig und unter bestimmten Bedingungen bejaht werden kann.:I. Synopsis 1. Introduction 1.1. Actors in Hybrid Societies – who (or what) are they? 1.2. Issue of responsibility 2. Hybrid Societies 2.1. Embodied Digital Technologies (and the like) 2.1.1. Industrial Robots 2.1.2. Social Robots 2.1.3. Telepresence Systems 2.1.4. Conclusion 2.2. Models of humans interacting with EDTs 2.2.1. Technology Acceptance Model 2.2.2. Computers are Social Actors 2.2.3. Anthropomorphism 2.2.4. Sociomorphing 2.2.5. Conclusion 2.3. Social Perception 2.3.1. Social perception of humans 2.3.2. Social perception of EDTs 2.3.2.1. Competence 2.3.2.2. Warmth 2.3.3. Individual differences associated with social perception 2.3.4. Assessment of social perception of EDTs 2.3.4.1. The Godspeed Questionnaire 2.3.4.2. The Robotic Social Attributes Scale 2.3.4.3. General Attitudes Towards Robots Scale 2.3.4.4. Attitudes towards social robots scale 2.3.5. Conclusion 2.4. Responsibility in Hybrid Societies 2.4.1. Moral agents and moral patients 2.4.2. Moral machines? 2.4.3. Conclusion 3. Research objectives 3.1. General objective 3.2. Key questions 4. Study summaries 4.1. Responsibility in Hybrid Societies: concepts and terms 4.2. Embodied Digital Technologies: First Insights in the Social and Legal Perception of Robots and Users of Prostheses 4.3. Social perception of embodied digital technologies – a closer look at bionics and social robotics 4.4. The Social Perception of Robots Scale (SPRS): Developing and Testing a Scale for Successful Interaction Between Humans and Robots 4.5. Social perception of Embodied Digital Technologies interacting with humans 4.6. Exploring key categories of social perception and moral responsibility of AI-based agents at work: Findings from a case study in an industrial setting 5. Discussion 5.1. Social perception of EDTs 5.1.1. Anthropomorphism 5.1.2. Competence 5.1.3. Sociability/Morality 5.1.4. Activity/Cooperation 5.1.5. Personality traits associated with social perception 5.1.6. Are robots perceived as social actors? 5.2. Moral responsibility 5.3. Practical implications 5.4. Critical reflection of the studies 5.4.1. Stimulus material 5.4.2. Items 5.4.3. Sample composition 5.5. Future research 5.5.1. Type of contact and scenario 5.5.2. Gender 5.5.3. Diversity aspects 5.6. Conclusion 6. References II. Papers 7. Paper I: Responsibility in Hybrid Societies: concepts and terms 8. Paper II: Embodied Digital Technologies: First insights in the social and legal perception of robots and users of prostheses 9. Paper III: Social perception of embodied digital technologies – a closer look at bionics and social perception 10. Paper IV: The Social Perception of Robots Scale (SPRS): Developing and testing a scale for successful interaction between humans and robots 11. Paper V: Social perception of Embodied Digital Technologies interacting with humans 12. Paper VI: Exploring key categories of social perception and moral responsibility of AI-based agents at work: Findings from a case study in an industrial setting Publication List / With the increasing presence of different Embodied Digital Technologies (EDTs) in the so far exclusively human society, the question of the integration of these artificial actors in so-called Hybrid Societies is being explored. EDTs comprise different technologies such as bionic prostheses for function restoration and enhancement on humans, or robots as (partially) autonomous systems. Their perception and subsequently the role of moral and legal responsibility in Hybrid Societies was investigated in this dissertation. Social psychological research repeatedly showed that social perception, traditionally thought of as two-dimensional (competence and warmth) or three-dimensional (competence, sociability, morality), affects social processes. In Hybrid Societies, where not only human actors are involved in these processes, the question arises whether and how human social perception is applicable to artificial actors. Different models show that people do transfer originally human interaction patterns to artificial actors, respectively that the assessment of competence has an impact on the actual use of technical systems. Therefore, two studies (Papers II and III) investigated the extent to which human attributions regarding the dimensions of competence, sociability, and morality are applicable to industrial robots, social robots, and android robots. Results showed that the dimension of competence was predominantly applicable. In contrast, the inherently human dimensions sociability and morality were applicable to EDTs to a lesser extent: Subjects were reluctant to apply very human attributes to EDTs. Therefore, based on previous studies, a questionnaire was developed and validated, which specifically maps the social perception of robots on the dimensions anthropomorphism, sociability/morality, and activity/cooperation (Paper IV). This instrument was applied in a subsequent study to assess the social perception of EDTs based on an interaction scene with a human (Paper V). Here, human-like design was shown to play a role in the attribution of social dimensions for both robots and telepresence systems. Interindividual differences in the attribution of social dimensions to EDTs were further examined in Papers II, III, and V. Although individual correlations were shown to be replicable, the totality of correlations must still be considered arbitrary. Depending on human integration in EDTs, questions of moral and legal responsibility arise: In human societies, full members are expected to assume responsibility for their actions in moral and legal terms. However, if the actors are no longer humans but autonomous systems, a framework model is needed that on one hand defines the different actors, and on the other hand includes the required capacities for taking responsibility, and their allocation to the actors. This preliminary model was conceptualized in an interdisciplinary approach from a psychological and a legal perspective, thus laying a comprehensive theoretical foundation for further research (Paper I). Seven actors and seven capacities were defined, and from both a psychological and a legal perspective, only humans can assume complete responsibility as actors at this stage. The combination of these two research objectives – the theoretical conceptualization of moral responsibility and the investigation of social perception of EDTs – took place in Paper V: Interview data of persons who worked with a sorting system equipped with artificial intelligence were examined for the unprompted mentions of the capacities from the responsibility model and dimensions of social perception. All capacities and the social dimensions competence, sociability, anthropomorphism, activity, and cooperation were mentioned by actual users of an AI-based system. Not least on the basis of these findings, the relevance of the research presented in this thesis becomes apparent: Hybrid Societies will gain more and more presence in the future, which makes an early scientific monitoring necessary. Thus, the aspect of responsibility is unquestionably highly relevant, not only from a psychological, but also from a legal perspective. The aspect of social perception, which ultimately represents the precondition for the actual use of different EDTs in various envisaged areas such as care or education, also deserves attention. Ultimately, in this dissertation, we created a model for responsibility in Hybrid Societies and the question of whether EDTs are considered as social actors was explored – even if this question can only be answered in the affirmative provisionally and under certain conditions.:I. Synopsis 1. Introduction 1.1. Actors in Hybrid Societies – who (or what) are they? 1.2. Issue of responsibility 2. Hybrid Societies 2.1. Embodied Digital Technologies (and the like) 2.1.1. Industrial Robots 2.1.2. Social Robots 2.1.3. Telepresence Systems 2.1.4. Conclusion 2.2. Models of humans interacting with EDTs 2.2.1. Technology Acceptance Model 2.2.2. Computers are Social Actors 2.2.3. Anthropomorphism 2.2.4. Sociomorphing 2.2.5. Conclusion 2.3. Social Perception 2.3.1. Social perception of humans 2.3.2. Social perception of EDTs 2.3.2.1. Competence 2.3.2.2. Warmth 2.3.3. Individual differences associated with social perception 2.3.4. Assessment of social perception of EDTs 2.3.4.1. The Godspeed Questionnaire 2.3.4.2. The Robotic Social Attributes Scale 2.3.4.3. General Attitudes Towards Robots Scale 2.3.4.4. Attitudes towards social robots scale 2.3.5. Conclusion 2.4. Responsibility in Hybrid Societies 2.4.1. Moral agents and moral patients 2.4.2. Moral machines? 2.4.3. Conclusion 3. Research objectives 3.1. General objective 3.2. Key questions 4. Study summaries 4.1. Responsibility in Hybrid Societies: concepts and terms 4.2. Embodied Digital Technologies: First Insights in the Social and Legal Perception of Robots and Users of Prostheses 4.3. Social perception of embodied digital technologies – a closer look at bionics and social robotics 4.4. The Social Perception of Robots Scale (SPRS): Developing and Testing a Scale for Successful Interaction Between Humans and Robots 4.5. Social perception of Embodied Digital Technologies interacting with humans 4.6. Exploring key categories of social perception and moral responsibility of AI-based agents at work: Findings from a case study in an industrial setting 5. Discussion 5.1. Social perception of EDTs 5.1.1. Anthropomorphism 5.1.2. Competence 5.1.3. Sociability/Morality 5.1.4. Activity/Cooperation 5.1.5. Personality traits associated with social perception 5.1.6. Are robots perceived as social actors? 5.2. Moral responsibility 5.3. Practical implications 5.4. Critical reflection of the studies 5.4.1. Stimulus material 5.4.2. Items 5.4.3. Sample composition 5.5. Future research 5.5.1. Type of contact and scenario 5.5.2. Gender 5.5.3. Diversity aspects 5.6. Conclusion 6. References II. Papers 7. Paper I: Responsibility in Hybrid Societies: concepts and terms 8. Paper II: Embodied Digital Technologies: First insights in the social and legal perception of robots and users of prostheses 9. Paper III: Social perception of embodied digital technologies – a closer look at bionics and social perception 10. Paper IV: The Social Perception of Robots Scale (SPRS): Developing and testing a scale for successful interaction between humans and robots 11. Paper V: Social perception of Embodied Digital Technologies interacting with humans 12. Paper VI: Exploring key categories of social perception and moral responsibility of AI-based agents at work: Findings from a case study in an industrial setting Publication List

The effects of childhood exposure to parental intimate partner violence (EPIPV) on dating violence (DV) were examined through two layers of mediations. Based on attachment theory, individuals who are exposed to parental intimate partner violence are less likely to experience secure parent-child attachment, which in turn transfers to insecure adult attachment that is prone to perceive significant others as less trustworthy and less reliable as well as higher likelihood of over-reacting and/or staying in an unhealthy relationship. In the second layer of mediation, insecure adult attachment would lead to biased SIP which in turn, would result in an increase of DV. A total of 327 university students participated in the study by voluntarily completing the research questionnaires. Among them, 253 reported having experienced mild to severe DV and were included in the final data set. The data analyses procedures included examinations of the measurement models and structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses. Findings from the final models best supported by the data indicated that EPIPV predicted both dating violence perpetration and victimization and that EPIPV predicted adult attachment anxiety and avoidance, both of which are consistent with existing literature. However, findings revealed that EPIPV did not predict SIP and SIP was not predictive of DV perpetration. In addition, neither adult attachment anxiety nor attachment avoidance was predictive of DV perpetration and victimization. For DV victimization SEM model, adult attachment anxiety predicted SIP, however, SIP did not predict DV victimization. Findings are discussed based on DV literature and attachment theory. Limitations, clinical implications, and future research directions are also outlined.

No / Qualitative research has suggested that spousal carers of someone with dementia differ in terms of whether they perceive their relationship with that person as continuous with the premorbid relationship or as radically different, and that a perception of continuity may be associated with more person-centered care and the experience of fewer of the negative emotions associated with caring. The aim of the study was to develop and evaluate a quantitative measure of the extent to which spousal carers perceive the relationship to be continuous. METHODS: An initial pool of 42 questionnaire items was generated on the basis of the qualitative research about relationship continuity. These were completed by 51 spousal carers and item analysis was used to reduce the pool to 23 items. The retained items, comprising five subscales, were then administered to a second sample of 84 spousal carers, and the questionnaire's reliability, discriminative power, and validity were evaluated. RESULTS: The questionnaire showed good reliability: Cronbach's alpha for the full scale was 0.947, and test-retest reliability was 0.932. Ferguson's delta was 0.987, indicating good discriminative power. Evidence of construct validity was provided by predicted patterns of subscale correlations with the Closeness and Conflict Scale and the Marwit-Meuser Caregiver Grief Inventory. CONCLUSION: Initial psychometric evaluation of the measure was encouraging. The measure provides a quantitative means of investigating ideas from qualitative research about the role of relationship continuity in influencing how spousal carers provide care and how they react emotionally to their caring role.

Thesis (MEdPsych)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Little is known about the experiences that previously disadvantaged bursary and scholarship learners have in independent South African schools. Many scholarship and bursary recipients are from homes that fall into the low to middle income groups and they find themselves surrounded by boys and girls who are from high income, affluent homes. The aim of this study is to gain an understanding of the experiences that scholarship learners have within independent school environments and to find out what the opportunities and challenges are that they may face. Bronfenbrenner‟s bioecological model was used as theoretical framework as it incorporates a number of different interconnected systems that will influence the participant's lives and their experiences. These microsystems included parents, school, peers and the individual. This study's research methodology is a phenomenological approach which is embedded within the interpretative paradigm. Purposeful sampling was used to select eight learners from four different independent schools in the Western Cape. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted within two months of each other, with each of the participants. Phenomenological data analysis was conducted to analyse the information provided in the interviews. The research findings indicated that previously disadvantaged scholarship learners face a great deal of pressure in the form of high expectations being placed on them, both academically and behaviourally. Racial stereotyping was found to be prevalent with regards to assumptions made about learner's academic abilities and financial backgrounds. Challenges related to cultural difference and financial challenges were also noted. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Min is bekend oor die ervarings wat voorheen benadeelde beurs-leerders in onafhanklike (private) Suid-Afrikaanse skole. Baie beurshouers kom uit huise wat in die lae tot middel inkomste groepe val, en hulle vind hulself tussen seuns en meisies wat van hoë-inkomste huise kom. Die doel van hierdie studie is om die ervarings wat die beursleerders in onafhanklike skool omgewings beter te verstaan en vas te stel watter geleenthede en uitdagings hulle ervaar. Bronfenbrenner se bioëkologiese model word gebruik as ‟n teoretiese raamwerk omdat dit verskillende stelsels insluit wat ‟n invloed sal hê op die deelnemers se lewens en ervarings. Die mikrostelsel sluit die ouers, skool, portuurgroep en individu in. Hierdie studie se navorsingsmetodologie is 'n fenomenologiese benadering wat binne die interpretatiewe paradigma ingebed is. Doelgerigte steekproefneming is gebruik om agt leerders van vier verskillende onafhanklike skole in die Wes-Kaap te kies. Twee semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude is gevoer met elkeen van die deelnemers tussen ‟n tydperk van twee maande. Fenomenologiese data-analise is gebruik om die inligting van die onderhoude te analiseer. Die navorsingsbevindinge het aangedui dat die deelnemers baie druk ervaar in die vorm van hoë verwagtinge wat op hulle geplaas word, in terme van hul akademiese prestasie en gedrag. Algemene rasse-stereotipering was gevind met betrekking tot die aannames wat gemaak is oor die leerders se akademiese vermoëns en finansiële agtergronde. Kulturele verskille en finansiële uitdagings is ook opgemerk.

The theories of social cognition and personal constructs compose the theoretical backdrop to this dissertation which deals with people's expectations regarding romantic partners and relationships.Five women were interviewed and a qualitative analysis undertaken and discussed with a view to elucidating the influence of one's parents, cultural background and individual identity on the development and functioning of expectations. These expectation are based on beliefs about men and relationships in general and about healthy and unhealthy relationships in particular. Attension is given to the role of relationship beliefs and expectations in evaluations of romantic relationships and the consequences of such evaluations for relationship satisfaction and commitment. It is concluded that expectations play an important role in the process of partner and relationship eva,uation and thus, in the outcome of relationships. Parental and cultural influences are found to play an important part in shaping individual values and expetations, albeit in an indirect manner. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

M.A. (Research Consultation) / Adolescent and sexual reproductive health has been identified as among the most important health and development priorities by the South African development (Department of Health, 1995; African National Congress, 1994). The South African government, like many governments in the sub-Saharan region view with concern the region’s rapid population growth and high birth rates particularly among adolescents. This study investigated the perceptions of young mothers regarding teenage pregnancy. Eight participants who live in Vredendal, a predominantly Coloured area in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, were selected for interviewing using convenient sampling. Transcripts of unstructured interviews were analysed using thematic content analysis. The findings of the study suggest that young mothers initially perceive teenage pregnancy negatively. These perceptions progressively changes to a positive one. Furthermore, the results indicate a limited awareness of available preventative interventions. Results further show participants tend to experience their relationships with significant others as positive. / Psychology

Background: Breastfeeding confers health and social benefits on both mother and baby and is thus a key global public health priority, with exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months recommended. A variety of factors can influence a woman’s decision to initiate breastfeeding but a short duration of breastfeeding appears to be common in developed countries. In the UK, promotion of breastfeeding has been government policy since 1974 and gradually the incidence has increased. In Scotland in 2010 the incidence was 74% but by one week 17% of women had given up. A minority of women find that their babies attach easily at birth and more than half report problems at this time. The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding falls sharply in the first few weeks and the introduction of formula is associated with a shorter duration. It is therefore crucial to understand what happens at this time to enable women to continue breastfeeding effectively. Study Aim: To use Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) to explore and help explain the expectations, knowledge and experiences of women and midwives with regard to breastfeeding initiation. Methods: A systematic review of qualitative studies synthesised using thematic analysis and SCT was conducted and afforded insight into what had been known before and highlighted further aspects that needed to be explored with a qualitative study. The qualitative study was comprised of five focus groups with ten antenatal women, eight postnatal women and eighteen midwives. Photographs included in a leaflet “Feeding cues at birth”, and the chart of “Feeding cues after the first few hours” were developed and used as focussing exercises during the focus groups and interviews. The focus groups and interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using a hybrid process of inductive and deductive thematic analysis which integrated data driven codes with theory driven codes based on SCT. Results: Twenty one studies were included in the systematic review and identified clear differences in the experiences of women when breastfeeding was going well as compared to when it was going wrong at the start. There were also differences in the midwives’ knowledge, experience and confidence when breastfeeding was going well in contrast to when it was going wrong. The synthesis did not identify any qualitative studies relevant to initiation which explored skin contact, instinctive behaviour or strategies to resolve failure to attach in the first few days after birth, from the perspectives of mothers and midwives. These topics were therefore explored in detail in the qualitative study. Few mothers recruited to my study experienced instinctive behaviour and successful attachment (in SCT enactive behaviour) at birth. The majority of mothers did not experience attachment at birth and struggled to persist and maintain their motivation to enable breastfeeding initiation in an unfamiliar environment. Midwives’ social expectations and environmental circumstances made women centred care difficult. Midwives considered that sleepy babies who were unable to feed were normal, but women were unprepared for this, compounding the difficulties in initiating breastfeeding. The triangulation of the findings from the systematic review and the qualitative study provide a more complete picture of contributory factors to understanding of difficulties in breastfeeding initiation. Conclusion: It is recognised that behaviour interacts with emotions, perceived abilities and the environment, as in triadic reciprocal causation, which affects peoples’ decisions, experiences and abilities to enable the successful initiation of breastfeeding. Social Cognitive Theory could be used as a framework to develop strategies and materials to enhance women’s confidence both antenatally and in the postnatal period. In a minority of women, breastfeeding goes well and is more likely when the baby is an active participant and the midwife a knowledgeable and confident supporter. This is not the case for the majority of women and babies or their midwives. There is a need to consider strategies to develop appropriate skills and environmental changes that would in turn lead to changes in behaviour and successful interventions. More emphasis should be made clinically on facilitating instinctive behaviour. The current position where babies’ sleepy behaviour is considered normal in this particular environment could be challenged. Social Cognitive Theory could be utilised in research to develop strategies to increase women’s and midwives’ confidence specifically in initiation.

60 undergraduate students evaluated male and female counselors on fifteen counselor variables based on listening to a tape recording of a counselor self-introduction paired with an attractive or unattractive picture. Two groups served as control groups; they heard the tape but received no picture. The attractive counselor was perceived as significantly more decisive, interesting, caring, open-minded, likable and better adjusted than the unattractive counselor. These effects were more pronounced for the female counselors than for the male counselors.

Un déficit de la cognition sociale incluant l’attribution d’états mentaux, la perception sociale et la perception des émotions est l’une des caractéristiques les plus handicapantes de la schizophrénie. Les résultats d’une étude par Hardy-Baylé et al. (2003) suggèrent que les difficultés des schizophrènes (SZ) à attribuer des intentions aux autres seraient dues à l’incapacité à utiliser l’information contextuelle. Certaines études (Ivanko & Pexman, 2003; Pexman & Olineck, 2002b) démontrent que des facteurs comme le degré d’incongruité entre le contexte et l’énoncé, l’intonation de la voix et les caractéristiques des personnages peuvent influencer la compréhension de l’intention ironique chez les sujets sains (CT). L’objectif de cette étude est de manipuler des informations contextuelles afin de déterminer si le type de métier du locuteur est un indice social facilitant la compréhension de l’intention du locuteur (théorie de l’esprit ; TdE) et de la perception sociale chez les patients SZ. Trente participants SZ appariés avec trente participants CT ont été recrutés. Ils ont été évalués sur la compréhension de l’ironie et sur la mémoire de travail. Les histoires étaient développées selon deux conditions de métier: un métier favorisant la compréhension de l’ironie (e.g. comédien) et un métier ne favorisant pas la compréhension de l’ironie (e.g. prêtre). Les résultats montrent que les patients SZ ont un trouble de TdE et ils ne semblent pas sensibles aux stéréotypes contrairement aux participants CT. Toutefois, les résultats indiquent que les participants SZ n’ont pas de déficit concernant la perception sociale. / Individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) have a deficit in social cognition including mental state attribution, social perception and emotional perception. The results of a study by Hardy-Baylé et al. (2003) suggest that their inability to infer intentions and beliefs to others may result from their inability to use contextual information. Studies (Ivanko & Pexman, 2003; Pexman & Olineck, 2002b) showed that several factors such as level of incongruity between context and speaker’s utterance, vocal inflections and character’s features can influence the comprehension of an ironic intent among healthy (HT) subjects. The aim of this study is to manipulate contextual information to determine if stereotypes (type of speaker’s occupation) are social factors that cue comprehension of speaker’s intention (theory of mind; ToM) and social perception in schizophrenia. Thirty SZ patients and thirty HT participants were recruited for this study. Participants were tested on working memory and irony comprehension. Each story had been manipulated with two conditions of speaker’s occupation: occupation that cues ironic intent (e.g. actor), and occupation that does not cue ironic intent (e.g. priest). The results showed that SZ patients have an impaired ToM and are not sensitive to stereotypes as CT participants. However, the results revealed that SZ participants do not have a deficit in social perception.

Risk taking (RT) and self-harm (SH) are clinically, conceptually, and empiricallyrelated, yet separate constructs, which occur most frequently during adolescence. The current study utilized retrospective reports of college students to determine reported ages of engagement in RT and SH behaviors. Reported ages were compared with predictions for ages of high frequency engagement in RT based on the Dual Systems Model of Adolescent Risk Taking (DSMART; Steinberg, 2010). The sample consisted of 228 college students, ranging in age from 18 to 48 years (mean 22.8), who completed a survey of commonly investigated RT (12 items) and SH (18 items) behaviors. A positive correlation between the RT and SH scales supported a relationship between RT and SH, as predicted. The mean ages of engagement reported for both RT and SH behaviors were significantly higher than the ages predicted by the DSMART. However, the mean ages of engagement varied significantly by behavior grouping (RT, SH), and by subgroups within each behavior group. The NSSI subgroup of SH and the Situational subgroup of RT were noted to have the lowest mean age of high frequency engagement at the subgroup and behavior item level. A relationship between RT and SH was supported and information regarding ages of engagement in RT relative to ages of engagement in SH in the sample provided a further basis for understanding the emergence of these behaviors. The findings are discussed with regard to the DSMART and the relationship between RT and SH behaviors