A correlational study on group-based guilt and shame of white South Africans in post-Apartheid South Africa investigates the role of the perception of social change and how it impacts on the group-based emotions guilt and shame as well as reparation intentions when controlled for ingroup identification. The study also aimed to control for the antecedents of group-based guilt and collective shame. Results revealed that guilt is predicted by perceived responsibility and is influenced by shame, while shame is predicted by image threat and guilt. The results further propose that the perceptions of status change for the ingroup and the outgroup predict the feelings of shame for high ingroup identifiers while status change (or lack thereof) for the ingroup predicts the willingness for symbolic reparation for low ingroup identifiers. The results are presented and discussed.

This thesis is aimed at Faculty of Management innovation process of presentation methods at the European Education and Lifelong Learning Exhibition Gaudeamus 2010. The theoretical part explains the sensory and social perception of advertising and the role of trade fairs in marketing communication. The practical part deals with the current presentation system of Faculty of Management at the European Education and Lifelong Learning Exhibition Gaudeamus 2010 and suggests a new innovation concept in order to increase efficiency of institute presentation.

The child's understanding of open systems, as exemplified by an ecosystem and a socio-economic system, was assessed in a Piagetian type interview with 8 males and 8 females in each of grades 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and first year post-secondary (n=96). Since Piagetian theory has been based on tasks using mainly inanimate, physical content, the generalizability of Piagetian stages and sequences to the two open systems content domains was tested. Tasks assessing the four concrete operations examined were repeated in each of the physical, the bio-ecological and the societal domains. Typical stage and sequence patterns were observed in all three domains. Post-concrete operations were represented by three formal operations in the physical domain and four systemic operations in each of the open systems domains. Logical and philosophical arguments for the qualitative difference between formal and systemic logic were presented. Three blind judges reached spontaneous agreement on 84.6% of the scores assigned for the systemic task protocols. A scalogram analysis and comparisons of the differences between pass/fail proportions indicated that the systemic operations of systems synthesis and transitive recycling were more difficult than the formal operational tasks by a Guttman step of the same size as that between the formal and concrete stages. A cluster analysis showed those most difficult systemic tasks to be grouped as if they were a part of a separate structure d'ensemble. Further analyses indicated that the greater difficulty of these two systemic operations could not be attributed to the greater un-familiarity of the task contents. Systemic task success rates were zero for respondents below grade 9 (14 years) and consistently fell far below formal task success rates for same aged peers'. The most difficult systemic operations satisfied the criteria for membership in a fifth stage as well as any other Piagetian operations do for their imputed stage membership. Nevertheless, an alternative interpretation construing systemic operations as post-concrete developments parallel and complementary to formal operations could not be ruled out. The implications of the findings for the areas of cognitive development, social development and social psychology were discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

A number of investigations have been conducted to examine social cognition and psychopathology among adolescents, yet little is known about the social cognitive reasoning of adolescents identified as having severe behavioral disorders. The purpose of the present study was to explore the social cognitive reasoning of adolescent boys with behavioral disorders in comparison to their peers without behavioral disorders. Group differences were examined with respect to epistemic reasoning and the dimensions of adolescent egocentrism. In addition, the relation between social cognition and social relationships was investigated. Finally, the relation between social cognition and psychopathology was explored. Thirty-one adolescent boys with behavioral disorders and 32 of their peers without behavioral disorders (matched forage, race, and SES) participated in the study. All participants were individually administered measures designed to assess epistemic reasoning, imaginary audience and personal fable ideation (i.e., invulnerability, omnipotence, personal uniqueness), and personal-intimacy and groupintegration with peers and family. In addition, boys with behavioral disorders completed a measure of internalizing, externalizing, and total problem behaviors. Teacher-ratings of problem behaviors were also completed for each participant in the study. Results revealed that adolescent boys with behavioral disorders were lower in epistemic reasoning than were adolescent boys without behavioral disorders. Groups were not found to differ with respect to imaginary audience or personal fable ideation. For boys with behavioral disorders, no relation was found between social cognition and social relationships. In contrast, for boys without behavioral disorders, personal uniqueness was negatively related to group-integration with peers and omnipotence was positively related to group-integration with family. Social cognitive reasoning was found to predict self-reported problem behaviors for boys with behavioral disorders and teacher-re ported problem behaviors for boys without behavioral disorders. Overall, these results suggest the importance of epistemic reasoning in understanding the relation between social cognition and psychopathology. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Compassion is one of the fundamental experiences which signify human existence. Person perception is the constructive process with which we form an opinion or judgment of another person. Two experiments (N =277) were conducted in this study. Experiment 1 examined the effects of a mindfulness meditation on compassion in a large sample of young adults. Participants (n =76) were randomly assigned to three groups. Participants in group 1 received the mindfulness meditation, group 2 received an alternate version of the mindfulness meditation (self-focus only), and participants in group 3 were asked to complete an attention task and read a geological text. It was hypothesized that mindfulness meditation is significantly associated with the experience of compassion. Results showed that participants in the experimental group 1 experienced significantly higher levels of compassion compared to participants in the control group 3. The participants in group 2 were not different from experimental group 1 or from control group 3. Gender differences in the effects of meditation on compassion were explored. Different measures yielded conflicting evidence for gender differences in experienced compassion. For the second experiment a Solomon four-group experimental design was employed to examine the possible effects of compassion on person perception. Participants (n = 201) were randomly assigned to 4 groups. The effect of pretesting impression formation on posttest performance was investigated. It was hypothesized that compassion has a significant effect on impression formation. The Stouffer's z -method was used to investigate this effect. Results indicated that participants in the experimental groups after completing a mindfulness meditation rated a target person significantly more favorable, compared to participants in the control groups. Results also indicated that pretest had no significant effect on post-test ratings of the impression formation task. Transcendental applications for the inducement and experience of compassion in psychotherapy and the role of compassion in human society are considered. Limitations of this study are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.

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Cette thèse résolument appliquée tente de montrer l’apport de la psychologie sociale en s’appuyant sur les théories de la communication et des relations intergroupes. Le but est d’optimiser la prise en charge des personnes placées sous main de justice (PPSMJ) par la compréhension des relations entre différents acteurs du suivi. Les deux premières études (1 et 2) permettent de faire émerger les représentations entre les différents professionnels et les PPSMJ. Nos résultats nous amènent à considérer l’importance du rôle de chacun dans la représentation qu’ils ont les uns des autres. Ainsi, nous avons établi un sociogramme des relations entre les professionnels (étude 3) afin de comprendre comment les différents types d’équipe travaillent ensemble dans la prise en charge des PPSMJ. Il en ressort qu’un acteur est privilégié de ses partenaires, le SPIP. Notre dernière étude (étude 4) s’est donc intéressée aux relations mutuelles entre Conseillers Pénitentiaires d’Insertion et de Probation (CPIP) et les détenus. / (à vérifier) This resolutely applied thesis tries to show the contribution of social psychology, based on theories of communication and intergroup relations. The goal is to optimize the care of offenders (PPSMJ) by understanding the relationships between different actors monitoring. The first two studies (1 and 2) allow the performances to emerge between professionals and PPSMJ. Our results lead us to consider the role of each in the representation they have of each other. Thus, we have established a sociogram relationships between professionals (study 3) to understand how different types of teams working together in support of PPSMJ. It appears that an actor is privileged to its partners, the SPIP. Our last study (study 4) therefore interested in mutual relations of Advisers Prison Integration and Probation (CPIP) and prisoners.

This thesis deals with twins in a socio-cultural perspective and the main aim is to explain, how stereotyping of twins influences the perception of twin identity in twins. The theoretical and empirical work includes a theoretical part explaining the key terms and concepts (eg. twins, history of twin studies, social perception and stereotyping of twins) and an empirical part based on a qualitative research survey, supplemented by knowledge from the theoretical part. The empirical study introduces the methodological process of the research survey and the resulting results, which comes from the analysis of interviews by ten respondents. Key words: twins, twinship, stereotyping, social perception, identity, identification

This study compared the social cognition and object relations of 39 physically abused children to a clinical group of 39 children with no recorded history of abuse.

The termination of a romantic relationship, be it by breakup or divorce, is a fairly ubiquitous experience. Most individuals will recover from a traumatic experience of this nature; some however, experience substantial difficulties in recuperating that persist over time. For these individuals, relationship termination can invoke a variety of negative physical and psychological health outcomes. This project examines the role of social cognitive maturity, operationalized as Interpersonal Decentering, in recovery following a relational loss. Participants in this study were assigned to a pre/post control or measurement intensive (four visits) condition over the course of nine weeks. Individuals in the latter condition completed a Stream of Consciousness (SOC) task in which they discussed their breakup experience out loud for four minutes. These narratives were then transcribed and scored using the Interpersonal Decentering manual as adapted for Expressive Writing. Results indicate that – for women only – mature social cognition is inversely related to depressive mood at the initial visit. However, it is not related to initial PSTD symptomatology for men or women, nor does it predict decreases in depression and trauma symptomatology from the initial visit to the nine-week follow-up. Implications, limitations, and future directions for research of this nature are discussed.