Denna kvantitativa studie undersökte om det var möjligt att kategorisera mordbrännares aggression som instrumentell eller reaktiv utifrån Cornells (1996) kodningsguide. Det huvudsakliga syftet med studien var att tillföra en förståelse om hur teorin gällande reaktivt och instrumentell aggression kan tillämpas när det gäller mordbrännare, och därmed även förhoppningsvis utöka användningsområdet för teorin. Studien bygger på 87 fällande domar från Sveriges hovrätter där gärningspersonerna blivit dömda för försök till mordbrand, mordbrand alternativt till grov mordbrand mellan år 2017-2018 från två av hovrätterna och mellan 2016-2018 från fyra av hovrätterna. Domarna bedömdes av två oberoende bedömare, tillika författarna av denna studie. Med en hög interbedömarreliabilitet visade resultatet av undersökningen att det var möjligt att skilja reaktiva gärningspersoner från instrumentella. Variablerna planering och målinriktning förekom i större utsträckning hos de gärningspersoner som klassades som instrumentella, medan variablerna provokation och känslomässig upphetsning oftare förekom hos reaktiva gärningspersoner. Sambanden mellan variablerna omfattning, relation samt ställning i skuldfrågan och typ av aggression var däremot ej signifikanta. Vidare implikationer av studien visar ett utökat användningsområde för Cornells (1996) kodningsguide, men att det finns skäl till att kritisera den dikotoma klassificeringen. Ett alternativ kan vara att utöka klassificeringen, alternativt att för just mordbrännare använda sig av Canter och Fritzons (1998) kodningsguide som är speciellt framtagen för mordbrännare, men har vissa likheter med Cornells (1996).

The motivation to avoid punishment, or to pursue reward can result in certain behavioral tendencies. It is known that individuals with higher sensitivity towards reward can express traits of extrovertedness, openness to novel situations, and a general appetite for feeling good. Individuals on the other side of the spectrum tend to show a pessimistic attitude towards approaching novel situations. As a consequence, individuals with a higher tendency of approaching novel situations ought to find themselves in risky situations more frequently than individuals who would rather avoid novel situations. Looking at this from a human factors perspective, it becomes apparent that a tendency to approach situations with a lack of conflict monitoring can produce risks, but simeltaneously, disinterest in approaching a risky situation can lead to crisis events. In other words, whilst individuals with a sensitivity towards reward might have a proclivity for producing a crisis, they might also have a higher chance of solving a crisis. In order to solve unexpected crisis events, it is necessary to be able to improvise. In the experiment of this current thesis, individuals were assessed for their sensitivity towards reward and punishment, and following this, the individuals were assessed in improvisational skills. Motivation behavior and improvisation skills were investigated to see if there is a correlation between them. The purpose of this thesis was to present a multidisciplinary literature account for the relevant subjects by tying together aspects of cognition, cognitive neuroscience, human factors, and psychology, and to provide experimental data about the mentioned correlation. The present experiment showed that there is a significant correlation between sensitivity towards reward and improvisation skills. Additionally, it was also found that system-level factors i.e pre-implemented elements by a designer/organization might not facilitate improvisational performance, but this significant result did not appear in the expected manner. Future directions of research on this subject should focus on five mainpoints (1) replication of investigating the relationship between personality styles and improvisation with different methodologies, (2) investigating the mechanisms leading to the emergence of this relationship, (3) approach the subject mainly from a cognitive-neuroscientific standpoint, but complement with a multiple disciplinary approach (4) use the results within the disciplines of human factors, safety, and resilience, and (5) take data into consideration for e.g. future accident preventions policies.

The present study aimed to research links between autistic traits and creativity in the average adult population. The sample consisted of 108 adults,​ 60 females, 48 males, age 18-66 (M=34,90; SD=10,85), from 20 different social media pages who participated in the study through self-report questionnaires about autistic traits and creativity. The result shows that the autistic traits of difficulties in imagination and difficulties in social skills has associations with difficulties in creativity, while the autistic trait of attention to detail has associations with benefits in creativity. The creativity domains, differences between men and women and the method of self-report are discussed.

The challenge of operating and managing complex and dynamic environments, known as complex endeavors, has become a central issue in the C2 research community. NATO research groups have studied how to combat the negative effects of endeavor complexity on performance. Essential to these efforts is the study of C2 Agility, which is the ability of an entity to cope with change and employ different C2 approaches based on the requirements imposed by—and changes in—the current operational environment. An important aspect in accomplishing this research goal is to study how operational environments are constituted, as this would enable research into how the effectiveness of different C2 approaches is affected by different endeavors. The Endeavor Space model, which represents endeavor complexity in three dimensions, was developed for this purpose. In an effort to continue research on the Endeavor Space, the current study set out to implement the dimensions in a C2 research platform called ELICIT. Three ELICIT scenarios were created to represent different regions of the Endeavor Space. Additionally, the study designed, developed, and tested a prototype self-assessment instrument—the ESSAI—to capture how the Endeavor Space dimensions—Tractability, Dynamics, and Dependencies—were experienced by operators. Eight teams completed the scenarios and rated their complexity using the ESSAI. No significant differences in perceived complexity could be found between the scenarios. However, all Endeavor Space dimensions indicated correlational relationships with perceived difficulty, and most of them correlated with ELICIT performance. This is indicative of underlying patterns that were not thoroughly revealed in the current study. Implications and improvements for future research are discussed.

In daily life there are numerous experiences and events that divert people's attention and cause stress, which may be linked with aspects of ill-being and lowered well-being. Mindfulness meditation may alleviate such issues. Mindfulness can be summarized as a form of awareness and attention in the present that is characterized by an open-minded and non-judgemental perspective, and meditation as a group of practices that engage many of the same processes and may involve mindfulness. There is evidence that both mindfulness and mindfulness meditation are associated with activity in brain regions relating to, for example, attention, emotion-regulation, and bodily awareness. Consequently, mindfulness meditation was hypothesized in the present study to improve attention as measured by the Attention Network Test, and decrease negative affect as measured by the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule when compared to a control condition. The mindfulness meditation instructions employed were largely based on the work of Kabat-Zinn (1982). 14 participants were recruited to the study, and 7 of them completed the experiment. 3 participants were randomized to the experimental group, and 4 to the control group. Results were largely contrary to the hypotheses, with only executive attention having statistical significance (p < .05) and supporting one hypothesis. Although effect sizes were on average large for the variables of the study, the small sample size may have limited the power and increased the risk for type-II errors.

The purpose of this study was to examine, through the areas decisions making, accountability, variation in the work tasks, the organizations routines and job descriptions, the employee’s assessment of their current organizational structure. Furthermore, the study examined if the employee’s wanted bigger opportunities for decision making and accountability, more variation in the work tasks and clearer routines and job descriptions compared to their current organizational structure. A digital questionnaire was distributed to 110 employees. 73 of the employees chose to participate. A quantitative study was used, and the descriptive data was examined. Four separate paired sample t-tests were performed for the purpose of the two problem statements. The result was non-significant within all four tests. Individual items indicated that the employees assessed the organizational structure as both flat and hierarchic.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka och jämföra en kvinnodominerad och en mansdominerad organisations explicita attityder gentemot mångfald på arbetsplatsen. Till studien användes Workplace Diversity Survey för att mäta enskilda personers attityder, deras resultat sammanställdes till ett gemensamt medelvärde och utgjorde organisationens attityd gentemot mångfald. Datan samlades in genom att skicka ut enkäten via e-mail och ge ut den i samband med en workshop. Resultatet analyserades i SPSS med ett Mann Whitney U test för att se om det fanns en signifikant skillnad. Resultatet visade inte på någon signifikant skillnad mellan organisationerna. Diskussionen fokuserade på faktorer som kan ha inverkat på resultatet samt potentiella problem med mätverktyget och studien. / This study aimed to investigate and compare two organisations explicit attitudes towards diversity in the workplace, one female dominated and one male dominated. Workplace Diversity Survey was used to measure the attitude of individuals in a sample. The assembled results represented each organisation`s attitude towards diversity. The data was collected by administering the survey via e-mail and handing them out at a workshop. The result was analyzed in SPSS with an Mann Whitney U test to see if there were a significant difference. The findings indicated that there were no significant difference between these organisations attitudes. Potential factors that may have influenced the result is brought up in the discussion, as well as problems with the study and the instrument that were used.

No description available.

The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating whether perceived organisational support or HEXACO personality traits: honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness; was a better predictor of work engagement among university teachers. A sample size of 157 university teachers was conveniently drawn both online and in person. The HEXACO-PI, Survey of Perceived Organisational Support (SPOS) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) were used to measure personality, perceived organisational support and work engagement respectively. Multiple Regression Analysis was used to examine the data. The study revealed that Extraversion, Conscientiousness and Perceived Organisational Support were significant predictors of work engagement. The similarities in beta values suggest that both personality traits and perceived organisational support were crucial to work engagement. Limitations, as well as suggestions for future research, are discussed.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka volontärers erfarenheter av att arbeta på självmordslinjen. För att göra detta genomfördes semistrukturerade intervjuer med volontärerna på Självmordslinjen i Umeå. Sex volontärer i åldrarna 30 – 71 intervjuades, hälften män och hälften kvinnor. Intervjuerna spelades in, transkriberades, och analyserades med hjälp av kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Huvudtemat som identifierades var “Samhörighet och meningsfullhet i ett svårt men hanterbart volontärsarbete”. Även fem underteman identifierades; “Man hanterar det akuta på väldigt olika sätt”, “Egna erfarenheter och utbildning är viktigt för arbetet”, “Telefon och chatt är så olika format”, “Ibland är det väldigt jobbigt, men det blir bättre med tiden” och “Det viktigaste är meningsfullheten och samarbetet”. Resultatet pekar på att samarbetet med volontärskollegorna är avgörande för trivseln i uppdraget. Det framkommer även att man hanterar situationer och samtal olika beroende på vad man har för tidigare erfarenheter och utbildning av att arbeta med personer som befinner sig i kris. Förslag på hur dessa resultat kan implementeras i praktiken diskuteras, samt förslag till vidare forskning inom området. / The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of working as a volunteer at a suicide hotline in Sweden. This was done by conducting semi-structured interviews with the volunteers at Självmordslinjen in Umeå. Six volunteers ranging in age from 30to 71 years were interviewed, half of them men and the other half women. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The main theme identified was “Solidarity and meaningfulness in a hard but manageable volunteer work”. Five sub-themes were also identified; “The acute situations are managed in very different ways”, “Experiences and education is important when working here”, “The telephone and the chat are two very different formats”, “Sometimes it’s very hard, but it gets better over time”, and “The most important aspects are the meaningfulness and the cooperation”. The results of the study show that the cooperation between volunteers are crucial for the well-being of volunteers. It was also apparent that situations and conversations are handled differently, depending on earlier experiences and education of working with people in a situation of crisis. Suggestions on how to apply these findings in practice are discussed, as well as suggestions on furtherresearch in this field.