Speaking a second language requires the ability to keep the two languages apart so that language interference can be avoided, allowing the target language to be used fluently. As such, cognitive control systems are used more extensively in bilinguals compared to monolinguals, a process referred to as bilingual language control (BLC). In the past few decades, the cognitive and structural effects of this lifelong language control experience have been of great interest among researchers within the field of cognitive neuroscience. The present thesis reviews current knowledge on the neural correlates of bilingual language control in high proficient bilingual speakers who actively use both languages in their everyday lives. Language proficiency and frequency of use are important aspects to consider since they both modulate brain activity and structure. Indeed, some studies fail to provide this information. Neuroimaging studies reveal consistent brain activity in a network of cortical and subcortical areas in bilingual speakers during non-verbal and verbal executive control tasks. These brain areas include the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), prefrontal cortex (PFC), inferior parietal lobes (IPLs), basal ganglia (BG) and the cerebellum. Research also indicates that bilingualism serves as a protective variable against age-related cognitive decline. Studying the effects of lifelong bilingualism on the brain has therefore proven to be important since it can influence an individual’s ability to cope with age decline at a cognitive level.

Sveriges lärare upplever en stor press från olika håll och undersökningar har visat att sociala och organisatoriska faktorer i deras arbete är en stor orsak till psykisk ohälsa. Upplevelsen av det psykosociala arbetet beror på vilken nivå som individen upplever psykologiska krav, kontroll samt socialt stöd. Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur högstadielärare upplever den psykosociala arbetsmiljön på sin arbetsplats och om det är någon skillnad om de arbetar på större eller mindre skola. Studien utfördes bland högstadielärare från sex skolor i södra Sverige där 69 lärare deltog, 27 från större skolor och 42 från mindre skolor. Instrumentet som användes var QPS-Nordic34+ samt bakgrundsfrågor och tre tillagda frågor som rörde önskat socialt stöd. Generellt sett såg den upplevda psykosociala arbetsmiljön bra ut hos deltagarna. Resultatet visade ingen signifikant skillnad mellan de mindre och större skolorna gällande upplevd psykosocial arbetsmiljö eller önskat socialt stöd. Dock fanns signifikanta samband mellan ålder, antal år som lärare, antal år på nuvarande arbetsplats och upplevelse av den psykosociala arbetsmiljön. / The teachers in Sweden experience a great pressure from different directions and previous studies has shown that social and organizational factors in their work are a major cause of mental illness. The experience of the psychosocial work depends on what level the individual experience psychological demands, control and social support. The purpose of this study was to see how secondary school teachers experience the psychosocial work environment in their workplace and if there is any difference depending on if they work in a bigger or smaller school. This study was conducted among secondary school teachers from six schools in southern Sweden where 69 teachers participated, 27 from bigger schools and 42 from smaller schools. To measure this QPS-Nordic34+ was used and also background questions and three added questions which concerned the desired social support. The psychosocial work environment among the participants looked good in general. The result did not show any statistically significant difference between the smaller and bigger schools concerning the experience of the psychosocial work environment or desired social support. But there were significant correlations between age, number of years as a teacher, number of years at current workplace and the experience of the psychosocial work environment.

Arbetet handlar om motivation inom beroendevården i Sverige. Beroende av alkohol och andra droger har arbetats med i flera tusen år på olika sätt och med olika framgång. Allt ifrån inlåsningar på psykiatriska institutioner till elchocker. Syftet med denna studie var att se om behandlare i Sverige har speciella medvetna strategier i sättet de jobbar på för att väcka motivation hos klienterna till fortsatt behandling.    En större del av de tillfrågade (87 %) uppgav att de använder en speciell metod eller har en speciell tanke innan ett första möte. Flertalet av dessa använder sig av motiverande samtal eller lågaffektivt bemötande.    Flera av de tillfrågade ansåg att vara lyhörd och förmedla tillit var de viktigaste sakerna i ett första bemötande med en ny klient.    Det finns stöd för att behandlare inom beroendevården i Sverige använder sig av specifika metoder i ett möte med klienten. Flera av dessa metoder finner stöd i tidigare forskning och litteratur i att vara främjande för att skapa känslor av autonomitet, samband/släktskap och kompetens. Enligt Self-Determination theory (jfr. Deci & Ryan, 2008) kan detta ses som något som något som är nödvändigt för att kunna bygga en stark inre motivation. Studier visar att en stark inre motivation är positivt för att kunna tillgodogöra sig behandlingen.

The study focused on the relationship between management styles and job satisfaction of employees in the organization. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between management style, using Theory X and Y management style and job satisfaction as moderated by employees’ self-efficacy and gender. The study involved N = 137 participants from two different Swedish organizations in the engineering and manufacturing sector based in Stockholm and Växjö, Sweden. The data was collected through surveys from each participant. Study findings showed that there was a positive correlation between self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Additionally, results revealed that the relationship between theory X and Y and job satisfaction is not moderated by either self-efficacy and gender. Based on the study, it was observed that job satisfaction is greatly impacted by management styles which are oriented more towards theory Y than theory X in the relationship between management and employees in organizations in Sweden. Thus, the study highlights the importance of employee-oriented leadership style for the organizations and how this influences job satisfaction of employees.

This experimental study aimed to investigate intuitive and analytic decision making approach when assessing job applicants during employee selection process, and feedback related to employee selection process. Theories used in the study to explain intuition are the dual process model and the recognition model. The population was recruiters and non-recruiters. A sample of 169 participants were included. Recruiters’ and non-recruiters’ were randomly assigned into two conditions: use of intuition or analytic thinking as assessment strategy when assessing eight real job applicants. A comparison between their decision making approaches was made. Based on previous research, three hypotheses were obtained and tested. The first hypothesis was that intuitive decision making approach, in combination of experience of employee selections, will enhance assessments of the job applicants. The second hypothesis was that there is a positive relationship between feedback related to employee selection and accuracy in assessing job applicants. The third hypothesis was that there is a positive relationship between participants’ guessed cognitive ability test scores of the job applicants, with employability of the job applicants. The last hypothesis was supported, there was a significant and strong positive relationship between the two variables for all eight job applicants. Significant and non-significant results, methodological influences and theories accounted for are discussed.

Previous research has shown that students transition from high school to university can lead to different levels of stress. However, there is no consensus of how the students’ stress levels develops throughout the years they study at a university. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine if there was a diffence in perceived stress between first year, second year, and third year students at a university in Sweden. A quantitative approach was applied, where the data was gathered through the Perceived Stress Scale 14 that was supplemeted with a selfconstructed self-rating scale and demographic questions. A total of 126 students participated in the survey where 41 were first-year students, 41 were second-year students, and 44 were third-year students. The empirical data was analyzed with the help of Karasek and Theorell’s (1990) job demand-controlsupport model and previous research. The result showed that there was no significant difference in perceived stress between the students in the different study-years, however, all students’ experienced a high level of stress.

Gränslöst arbete innebär en förskjutning av gränser mellan arbetsliv och privatliv och är en konsekvens av dagens teknik och möjligheter att kunna arbeta när som helst, var som helst. Syftet var att undersöka hur chefer i en säljorganisation upplevde gränslöst arbete, vilka psykologiska konsekvenser det medförde samt vilka strategier som användes för att hantera ett gränslöst arbete. Deltagarna bestod av tio chefer från en säljorganisation med höga krav på prestation, och de intervjuades genom en semistrukturerade intervjuer. Studien kom fram till att cheferna upplevde det gränslösa arbetet som något positivt och att det medförde stora möjligheter. Det kunde dock innebära negativa konsekvenser, som sömnsvårigheter och stress. Vidare visade studien att cheferna använde sig av integrering och segmentering i stor utsträckning för att hantera det gränslösa arbetet.

Geometry is an area in mathematics that is considered not abstract, on the contrary from other areas in mathematics. As geometry is considered an unabstracted area in mathematics, why has students around the world difficulties with geometry? TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) has shown that Swedish students in 8th grade has difficulties in algebra and geometry. The study focuses on why secondary school students’ have easy to understand some parts in geometry and why they have difficulties in other parts. Furthermore the study focuses on strategies teachers use to facilitate understanding in geometry. The study is carried out by interviewing six teachers in secondary school. The interviews are recorded and transcribed for enabling thematic analysis. The result shows that teachers experiences that students have easy to understand the first dimension (length and perimeter) and easy to understand geometrical objects as for example rectangular shapes. The reason behind the easiness is that these elements in geometry is known for the students, easy for the teachers to explain and not abstract. The students have difficulties comprehending two and especially three dimensional objects, difficult geometrical objects as circular objects, objects where the height is “situated” outside the object and irregular figures, unit conversions and concepts in geometry. The reasons behind these difficulties are mainly: the elements and methods are unfamiliar and abstract to the students. The abstraction in geometry are shown as comprehending how big or small sizes are in two and three dimensions and difficulties to comprehend the big discrepancy between the numbers in unit conversion, Teachers also observe that students have difficulties in visualizing and manipulating objects. These results show that what is known and not abstract are the opposite for what students have difficulties with, i.e. unknown and abstract. The strategies the teachers use are mostly to concretize the difficulties in geometry and in that way show students why it is valid. Other strategies are concerning with building a strong foundation in geometry, to combine geometry with other subjects in school and using students prior knowledge to build new knowledge. The red articles agrees with the result from the study.

The aim of the study was to examine the acute effects of exercise on three executivefunctions: attention, inhibition and working memory, in regularly exercising women (​n​ = 10)and men (​n​ = 10). Furthermore, the purpose was to investigate if different intensity levels ofaerobic exercise had an effect on executive functioning. Twenty adults, aged 21-54 years,participated in the study. The participants were randomly assigned to one of two differentexercise intensity levels, moderate or vigorous. Every participant was assigned twoconditions, inactive and active. In both conditions, the participants were exposed to twentyminutes on a stationary bicycle, followed by a 10 minute delay before testing cognitivefunctions. To evaluate executive performance, three cognitive tests were used: the Strooptest, Trail Making Test and Digit span. No significant results were found. Results fromprevious studies, combined with the present study, indicate that the relationship betweenexercise and executive functioning is very complex and needs further research.

Tidigare studier har visat att det finns köns- och generationsskillnader gällande attityder till sexuella övergrepp. De har också visat att flera andra faktorer påverkar, bland annat viljan att se världen som rättvis och våldtäktsmyter. Syftet med den här studien var att undersöka hur attityder gentemot sexuella övergrepp upplevs ha förändrats efter #metoo. Frågeställningen är: Upplevs attityder gentemot sexuella övergrepp ha förändrats efter metoo, och i så fall hur? Sexuella övergrepp är ett utbrett problem som tidigare varit tabu att prata om och det är därför intressant att se om uppropet har gjort en skillnad. Ämnet ansågs särskilt intressant eftersom det är viktigt att veta hur uppropet har fått för reaktioner för att kunna lägga upp fortsatt arbete med att upplysa om sexuella övergrepp. Eftersom ämnet tidigare är outforskat är studien explorativ. En kvalitativ studie med 11 semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts och intervjusvaren har sedan analyserats med hjälp av tematisk analys. Deltagarna bestod av fem män, fem kvinnor och en icke-binär person och var mellan 20 och 70 år. Fyra teman framkom, ökad kunskap och förståelse, distansering, förflyttande av skam och omdefiniering av tidigare upplevelser. Resultatet visade att det finns en större medvetenhet hos deltagarna om sexuella övergrepp och att deras syn på problemet har förändrats. Åsikterna hos deltagarna var polariserade och det fanns köns- och generationsskillnader. En svaghet för studien var att den endast bygger på de 11 deltagarnas egna teorier om sina egna och andras attitydförändringar. För framtida studier föreslås att göra en kvantitativ undersökning för att se om resultaten från denna studie går att generalisera.