Thesis (M.Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-71). Also available in electronic version.

Thesis (M.A.) -- Central Connecticut State University, 2005. / Thesis advisor: Joanne DiPlacido. "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in General Psychology." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-65). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1946. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-80). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (M.A.)--Baylor University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-67).

<p> This qualitative phenomenological study on the experiences of female circumcision survivors in Sierra Leone is needed to assist human rights organizations campaigning against harmful traditional practices to eradicate female circumcision in the country. Using the experiences of survivors will potentially help shape the message and communication style by human rights activists that will promote a harmonious relationship between both parties to work together in the process of eradication. There were two cohorts involved in this research, the cultural cohort involved 30 women who have gone through female circumcision, and a Western cohort which involved 30 staff of five human rights organizations directly working on the eradication of female circumcision. The thematic formulation built upon social constructivism and psychological paradigm resulted in ten thematic areas from both cohorts. The traditional notion of culture that the initiators extensively draw to exploit in accomplishing their didactic purposes is urgent to discern while recalling the indelible scars that the Sierra Leoneans left on the psychic paradigm of the tribal communities.</p><p>

<p> Homesickness has been conceptualized in many ways, including having an attachment to home and disliking one&rsquo;s new environment (Archer et al., 1998). Studies have shown that at least 94% of students reported feelings of homesickness during their first ten weeks of college (English et al., 2017). Homesickness correlates positively with anxiety and depression (Archer et al., 1998), can lead to thoughts of suicide (Watt &amp; Badger, 2009), disrupts concentration, leads to forgetfulness (Burt, 1993; Fisher &amp; Hood, 1987), and is associated with lower GPA and lower retention rates (Sun et al., 2016). This study aimed to examine how social identities and identity formation impact homesickness in college students. Specifically, we sought to determine the degree to which variables such as persistent whole relationships, maintenance of previous groups, previous and current group compatibility, new whole relationships formed, and new group memberships mediated the relationship between 1) distance and, 2) commitment to identity and outcome variables including homesickness and subjective well-being. Our results support the notion that having whole relationships, forming new groups, and group compatibility are important factors in predicting homesickness and subjective well-being. Direct effects were found from commitment to an identity to homesickness and subjective well-being for those who moved away from home. Commitment to identity was also a significant predictor for subjective well-being for those students who still lived at home.</p><p>

In this study an attempt was made to investigate the phenomenological experience of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Due to the controversial nature of DID, there is very little literature available about the experiences of DID. In this study participants were asked to describe their experiences of DID. Phenomenological research procedures were used. Interviews were conducted with four participants, who were asked to describe their experiences of DID. The participants related their experience of DID and how it affected their lives to the researcher. The participants’ experiences were analysed within the framework of existential phenomenology. The interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The main themes that arose were the following: establishment of an existential baseline, where participants compared and contrasted their lives pre- and post integration; and idiosyncratic life experiences before, during and after treatment. The main themes were then divided into sub themes that related specifically to the idiosyncratic life experiences. The sub themes that were identified are: memory loss that occurs due to the experience of time lapses. Time lapses are caused by switching between alter personalities; due to laps of time and memory loss the participants’ daily existence prior to integration caused them to experience feelings of being overwhelmed which lead the participants to try to avoid interaction with other people and situations. The avoidance of interaction with others caused the participants to feel alienated from the environment and themselves. During therapy participants learnt to identify their alter personalities. These alter personalities could be divided into two groups namely alter personalities that made the participants’ life easier (these personalities helped them with their daily functions) and alter personalities that hinder participants (these personalities caused problems and chaos). Central to dealing with DID was the use of a variety of coping mechanisms, which were highly individualistic and enabled participants to cope prior to integration. This research also indicated that individuals diagnosed with DID have a need for their experiences be heard and unconditionally understood. This research has important implications for society at large and specifically for those within the profession of psychology. The value of this research lies primarily in its ability to facilitate an in-depth understanding and insight into the experiences of people with DID. The strength of the study lies in the use of a phenomenological framework, as it provides access to a rich, broad and deep description of the subjective experience of DID. While the qualitative research paradigm yields fundamental insight into the subjective experiences of the meaning making of DID, it cannot quantify these experiences or establish correlations or causality. These limitations may be circumvented through the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods in future research. This research has fulfilled its objective of obtaining an in-depth description of the experience of DID. The rich descriptions of this phenomenon serve to demonstrate the complexities, individuality and uniqueness of the experience of DID. / Mnr. P. Basson Dr. I. van der Merwe

M.Com. (Industrial Psychology) / This study was conducted to examine the dimensionality of the Neuroticism scale of the Basic Traits Inventory in order to contribute to the larger project of developing computer adaptive testing for the five scales of the Basic Traits Inventory. The Neuroticism scale comprises the general factor of Neuroticism and four group factors or facets, namely, Affective Instability, Depression, Self-Consciousness, and Anxiety (Taylor & De Bruin, 2006; Taylor & De Bruin, 2013). Personality constructs and scales are complex as they typically comprise heterogeneous items for reliability and validity purposes (Reise, Morizot, & Hays, 2007). It is therefore to be expected that some studies present evidence of a scale that measures an overarching single dimension – unidimensionality – whilst other studies find evidence of multiple dimensions – multidimensionality (Gibbons et al., 2007; Immekus & Imbrie, 2008; Reise, Moore, & Haviland, 2010). Consequently, specification of a strictly unidimensional model is often not realistic for complex personality constructs and scales. However, test-developers and researchers aspire to unidimensionality (Zinbarg, Yovel, Revelle, & McDonald, 2006) as unidimensionality allows for the unambiguous interpretation of scale scores (Reise et al., 2010), is considered a precondition to reliability and validity, encourages the use of a total score (Netemeyer, Bearden, & Sharma, 2003), meets the unidimensional assumption of item response theory models, and is the prerequisite for the development of computer adaptive testing (Thomas, 1990; Weiss & Gibbons, 2007). Against this background, the key question that was posed in this study was not whether the Neuroticism scale was strictly unidimensional or not, but rather if the scale was unidimensional enough to allow for the meaningful interpretation of a total score (Morizot, Ainsworth, & Reise, 2009). This study focussed on attaining evidence of the presence of a strong general factor which would justify the interpretation of a total score and for applying unidimensional item response theory models to the scale (Reise, 2012). The Basic Traits Inventory was completed by 1 966 participants from various industries and organisations within South Africa. Statistical analyses were performed on the responses to the Neuroticism scale. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to investigate the unidimensionality and strength of the general factor of the scale, while evaluating the influence of multidimensionality on the interpretation of the general factor or the total score. This dimensionality investigation of the scale was achieved by comparing three confirmatory factor models using the goodness-of-fit indices and the standardised factor loadings of the models. The competing structural models were: a one-factor or unidimensional model which represented the general factor and interpretation of a total score for the scale; a four-factor or multidimensional model which represented the multiple factors of the scale and therefore the interpretation of the group factors or facets; and a bifactor model which allowed for the examination of the strength of the general factor in comparison to that of the group factors of the scale. The results of this study confirmed that the Neuroticism scale is multidimensional as the scale comprises multiple group factors or facets. However, the findings of the study revealed the strong presence of a general factor that runs through all the items of the scale, and consequently suggest that efforts to make use of and interpret separate subscale scores lack the needed empirical evidence to do so. In essence, the findings of the study demonstrated that the presence of unidimensionality in the scale is prominent despite the multidimensionality of the scale, which confirmed that the interpretation of the total score for the scale is justified and preferred irrespective of the multidimensionality of the scale. Overall, the findings and evidence of this study proposed that the Neuroticism scale is unidimensional enough to meet the unidimensional assumption of item response theory models. Accordingly, these results support the advancement of adapting the Neuroticism scale of the Basic Traits Inventory for computer adaptive testing (Reise, 2012; Thomas, 1990; Weiss & Gibbons, 2007). This study further confirmed that when developing a multifaceted scale, it is essential to analyse the dimensionality of the scale in order to determine what the scale is actually measuring. The bifactor model can be employed in the development, exploration and confirmation of the dimensionality of the scale to examine the strength of the general factor relative to the multiple group factors of the scale.

The proposed study is of a psychobiographical nature and employs a qualitative research approach. The individual that forms the subject of this study is William Wilberforce. A social activist most of his life, Wilberforce is best known for his voice and works behind the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 and the abolition of slavery in 1833. His ambitious nature, social eloquence and verbal intellect resulted in him being elected as a member of parliament in the House of Commons in England during the period 1780 to 1825. Transformed by the Christian faith in 1885, Wilberforce came to the realization he had received a calling from God to speak up for those who could not with a specific task set out before him which was to abolish slavery. It was the purpose of the present research to explore and describe Wilberforce’s psychological development across his life-span according to Carl Rogers’ (1961) personality theory of optimal development. Salient aspects of Wilberforce’s life were related and compared to components of the theory so as to explore and describe the degree of optimal development that Wilberforce reached at different points in his life and whether he could be described as a fully functioning person. According to Rogers’ theory William Wilberforce was chosen as the research subject for his historical contribution to mankind by his devotion to the moral enhancement of his country.

Coronary heart disease represents one endpoint of a process that begins early on in life. Recent interest has focused on identifying in children the presence of risk factors known to occur in adults. One such risk factor is the Type A behaviour pattern. Originally defined as consisting of enhanced aggressiveness, easily aroused hostility, a sense of time urgency, and competitive achievement-striving, many investigators recognized this behaviour pattern as a major independent risk factor for coronary heart disease. However, more recent research with adult populations has clearly shown that not all aspects of Type A are equally important risk factors. Hostility and cynicism appear to be the critical components implicated in increased disease risk. Research with children has identified the presence of Type A behaviours; however, studies have yet to address the issue of critical aspects of this behaviour pattern in children. The present study examined whether certain critical components of Type A, parallel to those identified for adults, could be identified in young boys, and whether they predicted psychophysiological functioning better than global Type A. Sixty-three fourth, fifth, and sixth grade boys differing on behaviour type (A/B) and/or trait anger (high/low) status were studied to determine the relative effects of these variables on four variables: attributional style; peer perceptions of social behaviour; anger expression stylistics; and physiological (blood pressure) reactivity. These boys were selected from a larger sample of 163 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade boys based on their scores on a teacher measure of Type A and a self-rating of trait anger. High trait anger boys were found to differ from low trait anger boys on peer perceptions of social behaviours, mode of anger expression, and attributions of intentionality in response to ambiguous peer provocations. Type A/B differences were found only for peer perceptions of aggressive behaviours. Contrary to expectations, no differences in blood pressure reactivity in response to interpersonal conflict were found for either high versus low trait anger or Type A versus Type B groups. Overall, the results of the current study call into question the utility of the global Type A construct as an index of coronary-proneness. The implications of the current findings for both the early identification and tracking of coronary-prone behaviours and for goals and targets of intervention are discussed.