Syftet med denna studie var att få en insikt i förskollärares syn på ärlighet och dess betydelse med koppling till kommunikation och samspel i förskolans verksamhet. Undersökningen har bidragit med en fördjupad förståelse av ärlighetens betydelse i kommunikation och samspel mellan olika individer i förskolan. Bidraget av den ökade förståelse och kunskapen om begreppen är till nytta för de människor i samhället som är intresserade av kommunikation, samspel och ärlighet i olika verksamheter, institutioner eller i privatliv.  Kunskapen har uppnåtts genom att intervjua sex förskollärare från två förskolor samt genom att ha analyserat och kritiskt granskat artiklar och annan vetenskaplig litteratur inom ämnet. Studiens frågeställningar var följande: Hur definierar förskollärare god kommunikation och ett gott samspel? Vad innebär ärlighet respektive oärlighet för förskollärare samt i vilka situationer kan dessa begrepp komma i konflikt med varandra? Och, hur hanterar förskollärare situationer där begreppen ärlighet och oärlighet tvingas tillämpas i praktiken? Kvalitativ intervjumetod, av den semistrukturerade typen, har använts vid insamling av empiri. Symbolisk interaktionism har används som teori och perspektiv i denna studie. Resultatet visade att förskollärarnas syn på ärlighet ansågs vara betydelsefull i kommunikation och samspel med barn och vuxna i förskolans verksamhet. Vita lögner visade sig vara accepterat i vissa situationer för att skydda sig själva eller för att skydda barnet. Respondenterna betraktade vuxna som förebilder och förväntas genom omsorg, fostran och lärande att lära barn att bli ärliga och goda samhällsmedborgare. God kommunikation och ett gott samspelsklimat handlade om att våga uttrycka tankar och åsikter samt att kunna stå för sina ord menade respondenterna. Ärligheten ansågs även vara betydelsefull för att erhålla en god kommunikation och ett gott samspelsklimat. / The purpose of this study was to gain an insight into the preschool teachers' views on honesty and its importance related to communication and interplay in preschool. The study has contributed to a deeper understanding of the importance of honesty in the communication and interaction between individuals in preschool. The contribution of the increased understanding and knowledge of the concepts for the benefit of the people in the community who are interested in communication, interaction or interplay and honesty in various businesses, institutions or in private life. Knowledge is achieved by interviewing six preschool teachers from two preshools, and by analyzing and critically reviewed articles and other scientific literature on the subject. The study's questions were: How does preschool teachers define good communication and good interplay? What does honesty or dishonesty mean to preschool teachers as well as the situations in which these concepts can come into conflict with each other? And, how do preschool situations where the concepts of honesty and dishonesty have to be applied in practice? Qualitative interview method, the semi-structured type, have been used in the collection of empirical data. Symbolic interactionism is used as theory and perspective in this study. The results showed that preschool teachers' views on honesty were considered significant in communication, interaction and interplay with children and adults in preschool. White Lies proved to be acceptable in some situations to protect themselves or to protect the child. Respondents considered adults as role models and is expected by the care, nurturing and learning to teach children to become honest and good citizenship. Good communication and good interplay climate was about to dare to express ideas and opinions and to meet its words meant respondents. Honesty was also considered important to obtain a good communication and good interplay climates.

The purpose of this study was to study experiences of everyday racism in individuals with overseas cultural backgrounds from outside situations. The study was made with five qualitative interviews. Theories that’s been used are about everyday racism, stereotypes, symbolic interactionism and Cooleys looking glass self. The result show that all the respondents have experienced everyday racism in a variety of situations in different places/environments. They have described situations where they have been ignored/excluded, stereotyped, exposed of grossly words and prejudices about their personality. Symbolic interactionism can explain everyday racism based on how the situations are defined, how situations change, which affects the interaction depending on how specific strong symbols are understood; like skin tone and a person looks. / Syftet med studien är att studera upplevelser av vardagsrasism hos individer med utomeuropeiska kulturella bakgrunder. Teori som använts är hur vardagsrasism kan förstås, stereotyper, symbolisk interaktionism gällande fem hörnstenar och Cooleys spegeljag. Det har gjorts fem kvalitativa intervjustudier där det framkommer att vardagsrasism sker på de flesta samhällsområdena i vardagslivet med undantag för fredade zoner som förorter. I intervjuerna framkom det att vardagsrasismen uttrycks genom exkludering, stereotypifiering, grova glåpord som till exempel blatte och svartskalle, fördomar om ens personlighet och att göras annorlunda/olik andra. Med symbolisk interaktionism kan vardagsrasismen förstås med hur situationer är föränderliga som påverkar interaktionen vilket beror på särskilda symboler; som hudfärg och utseende.

Abstract Title: SFI- individualized? A qualitative study on students who combine SFI with work.   A report published by the Government regarding the individualization of the education of Swedish For Immigrants (SFI) has shown that the individualization of SFI studies is essential for students who combine their studies with work. The report also arises a problem, namely that there are largely SFI students working in parallel with their studies that choose to cancel their SFI studies. This became the starting point for our study. What is requested in the SOU report is individual adaptation to a greater extent, especially when the working SFI students are able to complete the education. With our study we aim to understand how these working students experience individualization and the ability to combine work and study effectively, the starting point being that individualization is necessary for students. To gather empirical material for our study we have done a qualitative research including 14 interviews with SFI students who combine their studies with work. After gathering our empirical material from our interviews, we then presented the results and analyzed them with the help of our theories. The theories used in this study are Herbert Blumer's “symbolic interactionism” and Magnus Persson’s “educational resources”.   Based on the study results it appears from several students that most SFI students feel that individualization is needed, but that it is currently inadequate and perceived as problematic by the students. The lack of individualization is made visible in everyday teaching, where the experiences and the consequences of it mean the following; Through the study we have found that in the SFI classes there are major differences among students' knowledge in the Swedish language and their conditions for learning. Nevertheless, these students are put in the same class and have the same school information to solve, which indicates that an individualization of the studies is missing. We have also come to understand that SFI students family situation has a major influence on how they choose to conduct their SFI studies. However, what influences students more in how they feel that the studies are individualized to their needs, are the SFI students earlier educational resources which becomes an important part in this study.

190f. / Submitted by Oliveira Santos Dilzaná (dilznana@yahoo.com.br) on 2013-07-04T18:32:11Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese de doutorado - Virginia Teles Carneiro.pdf: 807997 bytes, checksum: 467f1ac35410091b62f22c0487736326 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Portela(anapoli@ufba.br) on 2013-07-09T16:41:40Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese de doutorado - Virginia Teles Carneiro.pdf: 807997 bytes, checksum: 467f1ac35410091b62f22c0487736326 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-07-09T16:41:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese de doutorado - Virginia Teles Carneiro.pdf: 807997 bytes, checksum: 467f1ac35410091b62f22c0487736326 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / O objetivo desta tese é compreender como estudantes de psicologia tornam-se psicólogos profissionais. Para isso, o interacionismo simbólico e a etnometodologia foram adotadas como referências teóricas que dão sustentação ao estudo. Os meios escolhidos para gerar dados foram entrevistas narrativas e descrições das percepções da pesquisadora contidas em diários de campo. Onze estudantes de psicologia foram entrevistados pouco antes da conclusão da graduação e, novamente, aproximadamente após um ano da concessão da primeira entrevista. Através da interpretação dos dados, defende-se a tese que os estudantes de psicologia tornam-se psicólogos profissionais a partir da interação social, de modo que essa transição é profundamente marcada por perspectivas coletivas, ou seja, desenvolvidas em grupo. Os estudantes ingressam no curso de psicologia carregando valores da cultura leiga que definem, de forma difusa, a profissão de psicólogo. Para transformarem-se em estudantes de psicologia, precisam tornar-se membros de uma cultura estudantil específica e mudar a visão inicial do trabalho do psicólogo. Ao deixarem a universidade, os egressos não têm o mesmo ânimo idealista de quando eram calouros, pois vislumbram as dificuldades relacionadas à como, efetivamente, irão conseguir ocupar um lugar no mundo do trabalho. Quando se tornam psicólogos de fato, passam a fazer uso de valores pertencentes à cultura profissional, sentindo o peso da responsabilidade de suas ações através da expectativa de outros atores presentes na situação. Ao explorar a dimensão subjetiva da experiência dos estudantes em uma perspectiva interacionista, o estudo explicita como ocorrem certas escolhas dos atores envolvidos na situação, e que tipo de suporte social está em jogo nas suas tomadas de decisão, trazendo à tona um modo original de interpretar a vida universitária. The aim of this thesis is to understand how psychology students become professional psychologists. For this, symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology were used as theoretical references that support the study. The tactics chosen to generate data were narrative interviews and descriptions of the researcher’s perceptions contained in field diaries. Eleven psychology students were interviewed shortly before graduation and, again, about a year after granting the first interview. Through the interpretation of the data, it is defended the thesis that psychology students become professional psychologists through social interaction, so this transition is deeply marked by collective perspectives, i.e., group developed. Students enroll in Psychology degree carrying values of the lay culture that diffusely define the profession of psychologist. To turn into psychology students, they must become members of a specific student culture and change their initial vision of the psychologist’s work. Upon leaving the university, the graduates do not have the same idealistic spirit of when they were freshmen, since they catch a glimpse of the difficulties related to how, effectively, occupy a place in the world of labor. When they effectively become psychologists, they start to make use of values belonging to professional culture, feeling the weight of responsibility for their actions through the expectations of other actors present in the situation. By exploring the subjective dimension of student’s experience in an interactionist perspective, this study shows how certain choices of the actors involved in the situation occurs, and what kind of social support is at stake in their decision making, bringing out an original way of interpreting college life. / Salvador

Over the last decade digital technologies have brought significant changes to classroom music, promising support for the realisation of a musical education for all students. National curricula and exam specifications continue to embed technology more deeply. While these changes increasingly impact on music classrooms, there is a growing awareness that the presence of digital technologies may not always promote meaningful compositional development, particularly at GCSE level. A ‘musical’ curriculum seeks to promote meaningful compositional development by building upon a student’s previous musical experience and by providing practical, integrated and collaborative composing experiences. Existing empirical research demonstrates that a wide range of digital technologies are used in secondary classrooms to support students’ compositional processes. When used successfully, such technologies give rise to computer- mediated environments which promote musical composing experiences. At the same time, current models of compositional development do not adequately account for the ways in which such contextual factors mediate students’ compositional development. In response to this, the current research employs a multiple case study approach to explore the ways in which two secondary music students’ compositional development proceeds when working with digital technologies. Drawing from both symbolic interactionism and activity theory as complementary theoretical lenses, students’ own views of their developing composing process are positioned in a critical and reflexive dialogue with the researcher’s own constant analysis. Tools for data collection include a novel synchronous multiple video capture technique (SMV) developed to meet the demands of the project. The methodology draws on ethnographic techniques and the framework for analysis is based on an adapted constant comparative procedure. Set in the context of a UK secondary school the thesis explores several themes which emerge from the stories of Sam and Emily, our two student cases, and which add to current understanding of compositional development with computer-mediated environments. A theoretical model is proposed which presents the process of compositional development in terms of four connections that emerge from Sam’s and Emily’s ways of working. They are: connecting in institutional space, connecting in personalised space, connecting in emancipated space and connecting in shared space. Four developmental points are offered within these spaces: a point of enabling, a point of discovery, a point of transformation and a point of connection. Each point of development is linked to a type of development which, drawing on the literature, have been given the following titles: scaffolded development, serendipitous development, computer-mediated development and creative development. Finally, the study suggests several implications for teachers and avenues for further research relating to the nature of personalised spaces, providing varied contextual opportunities, understanding computer- mediated composing and promoting student ownership.

Police officers have one of the most stressful jobs in existence. However, information pertaining to stress management programs is limited, especially within a Canadian context. Furthermore, little is known about the processes through which officers construct their perceptions of stress and stress management since the literature has mainly focused on enumerating the frequency of existing stressors. The present study addresses these limitations by conducting a content analysis of 24 in-depth interviews with officers from a law enforcement agency in Ontario. By drawing on symbolic interactionism, the present study concludes that police officers gravitate toward the “me” or the socialized aspect of the self (Goffman, 1969) when constructing their perceptions of stress and stress management in order to protect their image and avoid stigmatization. Policy implications based on these findings are presented at the end of the study, along with directions for future research.

There has been much enthusiasm over the power of online brand communities (OBCs). Ensuring that OBCs achieve their potential, however, is a challenge. Adopting the view that an OBC is a social entity at its core, this study examines consumers’ perceptions of OBCs and how consumers manage the continuous tension between social-related and brand-related aspects of OBCs through brand-related and non-brand-related social practices. The researcher took a symbolic interactionist approach and qualitative data were collected using ethnography and in-depth interviews from OBC participants in South Korea. The study was divided into two phases: the exploratory phase and the main study. In the first stage the researcher inspected OBCs and focused on understanding the social context by investigating four OBCs in the fashion and digital camera categories. Evidence of an OBC as a virtual third place (VTP) in the consumer’s mind was revealed. A typology was developed and social practices were revealed and defined. In the main study the researcher developed the framework of brand meaning negotiation and revealed how consumers symbolically interact and negotiate brand meaning through social practices. The tension between social-related and the brand-related aspects during this process was illustrated. The key contributions of this research are as follows. Firstly, the study reveals that an OBC has a strong VTP quality, whereby consumers hate to leave. Second, the study extends our understanding of an OBC by categorising consumers’ different perceptions of OBCs according to their attachment to the brand, the OBC and other participants. Third, the study reveals underlying social practices within OBCs that show the characteristics of a collectivistic culture. The study also fills the research gap by examining the brand meaning negotiation process and suggesting a framework that shows how underlying practices link brand and social-related aspects of an OBC together, which was formerly a “black box”. Lastly, it demonstrates that social bonds, regardless of their importance for making an OBC thrive, can be a double-edged sword and should be balanced carefully with brand-related practice.

Monogamy is recognized as a singularly accepted relationship construct within the United States. As a result, little is understood about alternative relationship constructs and those who choose them. Even less is understood regarding these practices among members of marginalized communities. Despite this lack of knowledge, there is evidence to suggest that approximately 4-5% of the United States population is engaged in some form of consensually nonmonogamous relationship pairing (a percentage comparable to the LGBTQAI community), and an estimated 25% of the population will engage in some form of consensual nonmonogamy over the course of their lifespan. This study looked to understand the lived experiences of African American men and women in married or cohabitating relationships who have participated in consensually nonmonogamous relationships with secondary partners. This qualitative study was conducted with 3 African American heteronormative married couples, using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) and a combined theoretical framework which includes symbolic interactionism and queer theory. Study findings concluded that consensually nonmonogamous couples viewed consensual nonmonogamy as an orientation as opposed to a lived experience in which their primary relationship remained their priority. Emerging themes included rules related to consensual nonmonogamy, emotional regulation, stigma, and the intersectionality between race and sexuality. Implications for social change include reduced stigma related to nontraditional families, a more informed understanding of practices and experiences involving consensual nonmonogamy and the development of sociopolitical interventions, policy and advocacy, and positive and negative consequences of consensually nonmonogamous experiences.

<div>With the rise of individuals’ interests in travelling for a meaningful experience, travelers today not only immerse themselves in consuming food for pleasure but also seek to gain meaningful outcomes. In particular, local food consumption experiences can facilitate travelers to enhance their sense of competence and perceived personal growth, referred to as eudaimonic wellbeing. As travelers experience the culture of the destination and enjoy the sense of exoticness through consumption of local food, they can recognize their capabilities and learn better about themselves through contrast with others. Yet, limited knowledge exists on the higher-level outcomes of such an experience and the process through which travelers encounter local food.</div><div><br></div><div>Therefore, the first study proposed to understand the procedures through which travelers experience local food, utilizing symbolic interactionism as a theoretical perspective. According to symbolic interactionists, role-playing is a paramount process that shapes individuals’ behaviors and experiences (Hewitt, 1976). Accordingly, this study outlined the role-playing process for each role-taking (taking the role of others to understand their role and associated expectations) and role-making (playing their own role and acting based on related expectations). In role-taking, four themes were identified including Utilization of Symbolic Cues, Imitating, Simulation of Other’s Position, and Comparison with Expected Characteristic of a Role. For role-making processes, three themes emerged including Performance of One’s Regular Role, Disassociation of Self from One’s Role, and Creation of a Desired Role. As such, various role-playing activities were identified as critical means through which travelers determine their behavior and appraisal of their local food consumption experience. Such a finding is valuable in extending the existing literature that mostly paid attention to cognition or emotion as the procedures through which people construct their experience (Hume, Mort, Liesch, & Winzar, 2006).</div><div><br></div><div>To understand the higher-level outcome of local food consumption experience that relates to eudaimonic wellbeing, the second study investigated changes in self-concept based on travelers’ encounters with local food. Individuals’ food choice behaviors or food practices have been identified as important bearers of their identity in the general food consumption literature (Valli & Traill, 2005). Yet, travelers’ food consumption activities have been mostly viewed merely as a pleasurable pursuit in the food and tourism studies (Kivela & Crotts, 2006). In line with the characteristic of one’s self-concept being subject to change (Festinger, 1954), the second study explored whether and how travelers modify their self-concept through their local food consumption experiences. The findings showed that self-concept change took place in terms of two themes of General Self-Concept and Eating Self-Concept. Within General Self-Concept, four aspects of self-concept appeared to have changed or emerged including Superiority, Satisfaction, Cultural Competency, and Appreciation. As for Eating Self-Concept, it was found that travelers’ self-concept changes involved Mindful Eating, International Food Expertise, and Eating Characteristics. Some of the factors that caused these self-concept modifications include the characteristic of local food experience being challenging, representative of local culture and identity, and exotic. Therefore, the findings are valuable in demonstrating local food consumption experience as a case in which people can change how they view themselves, what specifically change, and how they change based on their encounters with local food.</div><div><br></div><div>The third study aimed to investigate emotional bonding with the place, place attachment, as another outcome that is associated with eudaimonic wellbeing. Attention was paid to how travelers’ psychological comfort plays a role in their place attachment development. In addition, such an influence of psychological comfort on place attachment was explored by comparing Koreans and Americans to contrast possible cultural differences between the two groups regarding the degree to which comfort is valued in forming their place attachment level. Specifically, comfort was measured for three major elements of the local food consumption experience including atmospherics, interaction with service providers, and food. The findings showed that comfort with all three elements can influence travelers’ place attachment levels and that individuals from different cultures can vary in the degree to which comfort shapes their place attachment levels. Thus, this study expands our knowledge by proposing comfort with local food consumption experience as a critical trigger of emotional bonding development between travelers and the travel destination.</div><div><br></div><div>The synthesis of these key findings from the three studies explicates how travelers’ eudaimonic wellbeing can be enhanced from an overarching viewpoint. In line with the basic premise of self-determination theory which suggests that one’s eudaimonic wellbeing is promoted when three psychological needs (competence, autonomy, and relatedness) are satisfied (Deci & Ryan, 1985), propositions were outlined regarding how these psychological needs can be met through role-playing activity, self-concept change, and place attachment development based on consuming local food. As one’s general wellbeing comprises both hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing (Ryff & Keyes, 1995), the linkage proposed between local food consumption experience and eudaimonic wellbeing complements the current view that has been focused on hedonic aspects of travelers’ local dining experience.</div>

In this qualitative study excessive weight gain in men is placed in the context of a life course trajectory with its characteristic stages. A combination of symbolic interactionism and life course perspectives was deemed appropriate for studying obesity as their basic assumptions complement each other to create a holistic view of the phenomenon. Both the life course and symbolic interactionism perspectives stress the interaction between individuals and their social environment, an observation particularly evident when viewed as a micro-level experience. The chosen approach emphasises the social creation of meanings about life transitions and individual development. The obese man cannot be seen as an isolated unit as, like all people, he is a social being forming part of a network of relationships. Theoretically those with whom he is socialising can be classified as significant others, general others and reference group others. It is their influence that is important in his personal development and experience of the self. While the symbolic interactionism perspective accentuates the development of the self in interaction with others, the life course perspective gives clarity on the way the individual handles transition experiences in order to regain balance after a time of disequilibrium resulting from different trajectories. The theory of cognitive appraisal used in this study enhanced understanding of the obese man‟s passion for food, and the emotion of joy experienced when busy with food-related activities. Cognitive appraisal takes place in each situation when the obese man needs to make a decision or take action in terms of food and life style behaviour. The strategy of enquiry for this research followed a phenomenological and qualitative approach. The unit of analysis was a white man who was obese. The inclusion criteria for the sample were: being older than 21; and complying with the acknowledged criterion for obesity of having a BMI greater than 30kg/m². A purposive sampling technique was employed with each of the 14 participants being interviewed on more than one occasion. Participants were expected to, and were able to describe their experiences of being obese retrospectively. The researcher made almost exclusive use of lengthy, individual, in-depth, unstructured interviews. Three themes emerged from the data namely the meaning of food, the sadness of obesity and coping with obesity. The findings from this study show that, as a social object, the obese man‟s eating habits and the meaning that food has for him are influenced by, and learnt from others such as his family during childhood and adolescence, and his married partner and work colleagues in young adulthood. Essentially, indulgence in eating is for the anticipated pleasure it brings. Thus several factors like marriage, friends and career influence the food trajectory of the obese man. The obese man‟s food trajectories affect his weight trajectory and have a negative impact on his experience of self. His overweight body gives rise to distressing physical constraints and causes emotional experiences of sadness. He is unable to make peace with his obese state and needs to consciously address the situation. Coping strategies used by the obese participants were critical in their handling of their obesity. In the process of self-appraisal they needed confirmation that they could handle the problem so that it did not influence the way they experienced their physical and inner selves. Regardless of all the coping strategies adopted, the participants were not totally able to handle their plight. It actually got worse and impacted extremely negatively on their well-being. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / gm2014 / Consumer Science / unrestricted