This study examined the relationships between international students’ ethnic identity, self-efficacy, uncertainty avoidance, and their socio-cultural adjustment. A total of 65 international students (aged 18 to 33 years) from seven countries completed the online questionnaire. As hypothesized, path analyses demonstrated a positive relationship between students’ self-efficacy and their socio-cultural adjustment. International students’ uncertainty avoidance had a negative relationship with their self-efficacy, but a positive relationship with ethnic identity. The hypotheses that international students’ ethnic identity and uncertainty avoidance are negatively correlated to their socio-cultural adjustment were not supported in the present study.

Has it ever occurred to you to wonder why a soldier would sacrifice his life by jumping on a bomb to save the rest of his brigade? Or why an individual in a gang might display respectable behavior when alone but swear and vandalize when in the group? The phenomenon of people getting pulled into crowds and adopting the group’s mentalities and behaviors has been recognized but not fully researched. However, it has been recorded in early literature and research that it is human nature to want to fit into a group, for example in Abraham Maslow’s (1943) paper, A Theory of Human Motivation, in which he proposed that the hierarchy of human needs includes a stage that emphasized an individual’s need to feel a sense of belonging.

Workplace mistreatment, in the form of both incivility and aggression, can have a major impact on personal and organizational outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the mental judgments that individuals make before engaging in either uncivil or aggressive behavior. Data was analyzed in terms of both the potential costs and the potential benefits that an instigator could expect from engaging in such behavior, with specific emphasis on gender differences in cost/benefit expectations. There were no significant gender differences in either the perceived costs or the perceived benefits of engaging in incivility. The hypothesis that individuals with a low cost and/or high benefit pattern of responses of incivility were more likely to report instigating uncivil behaviors was also unsupported. The limitation of statistical analyses by a violation of the assumption of equal variances is discussed.

The present study examined how a fan's desire to participate in superstitious behaviors depends on team identification, team location, and game outcome. The study is a 2 (team identification: high vs. low) x 2 (game outcome: close game vs. blowout) x 2 (location of team: local vs. distant) between subjects factorial design. Participants for the current study included 234 students, recruited from undergraduate psychology classes at Western Kentucky University. Participants completed the Sport Spectator Identification Scale, read a randomly assigned vignette differing in team location and game outcome, and filled out the Superstition Questionnaire to measure their desire to complete superstitious behaviors based on the vignette. They also filled out the Desirability of Control Scale, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales to account for the possible covariates of desirability of control and anxiety level. An analysis of the covariates showed that there were no significant correlations between desirability of control or anxiety level and the desire to complete superstitious behaviors. Results indicated that highly identified fans reported wanting to perform more superstitious behaviors than low identified fans. However, no main effect was found for game outcome or team location, and there were no interactions. This finding reiterated the importance of team identification and its effects on the fan. The study also brought new variables to the table, game type and team type, that could be used in future research.

The primary purpose of this study was to assess faculty perceptions of campus diversity at Western Kentucky University. A Diversity Survey was developed and administered to faculty at Western Kentucky University. Responses from the 378 fulltime faculty members who completed the survey were used in this study. Composites including campus diversity climate, satisfaction with diversity effects, race, gender, and religion were formed from the survey items for use in the analyses. Results indicated that minority and women faculty perceive campus diversity less favorably than do majority and men faculty.

This project developed a model to account for an obesity outcome in children who have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and whose parents have posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) or PTSD. A literature review provided the basis for the model and covered the areas of childhood obesity, parental PTSS, childhood PTSD, adverse childhood experiences, relational PTSD, ineffective parent support, and the stress response. A model to explain the outcome of obesity in children with PTSD as mediated by parental support provided after a traumatic event was developed: The Parental PTSSChildhood Obesity Model. The literature review supports a relational perspective for viewing child outcomes from trauma. When the relational perspective is applied to parents who themselves are experiencing PTSS, several parent response patterns were supported. These response patterns are considered to detrimentally impact the parent’s ability to provide an environment that is safe, predictable and responsive. Therefore the parent experiencing PTSS will evidence less effective parenting. Thus the child’s environment will be more stressful, increase the child’s symptomology and promote ineffective coping skills resulting in obesity. The strengths, limitations, and contributions of the model are discussed, as well as recommendations made for further research.

This study sought to conceptualize forgiveness-granting communication as a facework phenomenon through utilizing the concepts of face concerns, degree of face loss, and facework strategies. Participants from public speaking courses (N = 248) completed a self-report survey questionnaire asking them to recall a recent forgiveness episode. Statistical analyses were conducted to discover the relationship between face and forgiveness-granting communication. The results of this study indicated the following important findings: (a) the greater one’s self-face concern, the less likely one’s forgiveness-granting communication is to be direct; (b) self-face concern positively predicted conditional forgiveness-granting communication; (c) degree of face loss was a positive predictor of non-expressive forgiveness-granting communication; and (d) facework strategies were the best predictors of forgiveness-granting communication. This study revealed face as a useful theoretical paradigm for understanding forgiveness-granting communication. Although the sample was fairly homogenous and three scales had undesirable reliabilities, this study has provided greater understanding of both the role of face within the forgiveness process and how communicators choose certain strategies to grant forgiveness. Based on this study, future directions were also discussed.

I detta examensarbete redovisas mitt förslag på utformning av en utomhusutställning på Parken Zoo i Eskilstuna. Studier har gjorts för att försöka reda ut hur målgruppen 3-10-åringar kan stimuleras och ledas genom utställningen. I arbetet ingår även en lekfull gestaltning av 16 utställningskomponenter i form av bostäder åt vanligt förekommande sörmländska djur. För att samla in data och kunskaper har flera observationer gjorts på barn i lekmiljöer. Jag har även gjort en introspektion och samlat data genom regelbunden kontakt med Parken Zoo. Studierna har visat att barn tycks lockas av lekredskap som inbjuder till aktivitet och att leken ofta sker i rumsligheterna mellan redskapen. De vuxnas inställning spelar stor roll för omfattningen av barnets utforskning i lekmiljön. Teoretiskt material är inhämtat från utvecklingspsykologin, muntlig berättarkultur, teorier om lekmiljöer, utställningsdesign och wayshowing. Examensarbetet har resulterat i ett utställningskoncept där de lekfulla bostäderna tolkats utifrån djurordspråk. Dessa har visualiserats med hjälp av idéskisser och fotorealistiska vyer. Vid varje bostad finns det en skylt i form av en lucka i marken. Skyltarna innehåller lättsam information om de olika djuren. Min tolkning är att en utställning med en komplex målgrupp bör innehålla flera ingångspunkter för att bereda möjlighet att stimulera personer som befinner sig i väldigt skilda utvecklingsstadier. Detta kräver utprovningar och vidare forskning. Studien lämnar även öppet för vidare forskning kring fenomen att följa strömmen på lekplatsen. Leker barnen vid de lekredskap de finner roligast eller leker de där flest andra barn är? / This thesis presents my proposal for the design of an outdoor exhibition concept at Parken Zoo in Eskilstuna. The study intend to investigate the potential to guide and stimulate a complex target group of 3-10 year olds. This assignment also includes the designing of the exhibition components, in the form of 16 playful accommodations for some common animals in Södermanland. Several observations of children in playgrounds have taken place in order to collect data. My empirical studies also include an introspection and regular contact with the Zoo. My studies have shown that children seem to be attracted by play equipment that invites to activity. Also, the playing often occurs in the spatiality between the playing devices. The adults’ attitudes play a major part in the child’s exploration process. Theoretical data was obtained from developmental psychology, storytelling culture, theories of play environments, exhibition design and wayshowing. The work has resulted in an exhibition concept, in which the playful accommodations are interpreted upon animal sayings. These have been visualized by rough sketches and photo-realistic views. At each accommodation there is an information sign underneath a shutter. The signs include easy-going information about the different animals. My interpretation is that an exhibition of a complex target group should include multiple entry points to provide an opportunity to reach people from many different age groups. This will although require testing on the target group for further research.The study also leaves open for further research into the phenomena of going with the flow on the playground. Do children choose their preferred playground equipment based on what they find fun or based on where most of the other children are?

The goal of the present study was to examine the relationships between gender schema, level of cultural identification, and body dissatisfaction in African American men. The first hypothesis under study was that men with a low identification to African American culture would report higher dissatisfaction with their body than those with a high cultural identification. Secondly, it was hypothesized that men with a large discrepancy from their culture’s description of an “ideal man” would also report higher body dissatisfaction than those with low or no discrepancy. Lastly, it was hypothesized that an interaction between variables would occur and that men who were less identified with their African American culture and reported themselves as not matching their culture’s masculine ideal would have higher levels of body dissatisfaction than men who were highly identified with their African American culture and reported themselves as strongly matching their culture’s masculine ideal. Participants were 42 college and post-graduate African American males that were recruited from a Southern university. Participants were assessed using the Body Assessment (BA), Body Satisfaction Questionnaire (BSQ), Physical Appearance Comparison Scale (PACS), Physical Attractiveness Scale (PAS), Cross Racial Identity Scale (CRIS), and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). Results supported all three hypotheses: men lower in cultural identification with a high masculine discrepancy reported higher body dissatisfaction than those higher in cultural identification with a lower masculine discrepancy. The importance of these findings is that, as the idealized physical image of masculinity becomes more ubiquitous, it is likely that men who measure themselves against this ideal will have greater difficulty achieving self-acceptance and struggle for an unrealistic (and often unhealthy) level of control. Such a struggle for control could lead to engagement in behaviors that could potentially contribute to poor health such as pathological or disordered eating, excessive exercise, and abuse of performance-enhancing substances including food supplements and anabolic steroids. Limitations and suggestions for continued research are also discussed.

Although sport fandom is often stereotypically associated with negative behaviors such as poor interpersonal skills and aggressiveness, theorists have suggested that, because sport fandom provides such a social and fun atmosphere, fandom may actually be related to psychological health. ... Research for the current study looked to expand prior research as the correlation between Team Identification and several factors, including psychological well-being, collective self-esteem, and community identification. ....