The word "cancer" has different meanings for different people. In general, it is synonymous with fatality, either imminent or in the forseeable future. How each person perceives and attributes meaning to this personal experience, varies according to idiosyncratic factors. These factors are constituted by each individual's unique internal make up and by external influences and it is the combination of the multiplicity of factors that bring about the personal attributions of meaning for each individual. The thesis examines the attributions of meaning of a sample of 42 women with breast cancer, through administration of a semi-structured interview and questionnaire, with follow up interviews. The theoretical concepts which are explored, examine the shift away from the traditional, Newtonian, linear-causal, neutral observer model (as in the traditional medical model), towards an ecosystemic, a-causal, contextual, holistic stance. Ecosystemic thinking is utilised in this research work, and this way of thinking is applied to the findings. In addition, a qualitative, descriptive approach is adopted, so that an in depth emphasis rather than a quantitative, empirical view of the patients in the sample, is undertaken. The applied questionaire focuses on the patient's experience of cancer diagnosis, with more specific reference to the side effects of the chemotherapy. The emphasis is towards the issue of anticipatory nausea and emesis and the possible use of hypnosis in relation to these effects. Each patient's attribution of meaning to these aspects forms the core of the thesis. The study discloses the wide variety of attributions of meaning held by different women in a similar predicament towards different aspects of that predicament. Concomitantly, the study highlights the limitations of the traditional, medical model which contribute to diminishing the personal understanding of each patient, and the impact of this on both treatment and outcome for each patient. / Psychology / D.Phil. (Psychology)

Forty spinal cord injury (SCI) patients were studied in order to determine the effects of an attribution based therapeutic recreation program on their perception of freedom in leisure. Perception of freedom in leisure of SCI patients was measured by a seventy-two item scale. This scale was translated into Spanish, adapted, revised, validated, and tested for reliability. The reliability of the Spanish Version of the scale was very similar to the English Version of the scale.

The focus of this study was to determine how attribution patterns of children with an internal or external locus of control differ when playing a computer video game. Forty subjects each (twenty internally controlled and twenty externally controlled) were placed in a competitive or non-competitive treatment setting with a successful or unsuccessful outcome. Each subject played a computer video game made by a major manufacturer. At the completion of each session, each subject was asked to rate the four attributes of ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck. The results were then analyzed using analysis of variance with age as a covariate.

Syftet med denna avhandling var att undersöka på vilket sätt och i vilken utsträckning blyga personer skiljer sig från icke-blyga personer med avseende på deras attributionsmönster. Resultaten från 3 kvantitativa och 1 kvalitativ studie visar en något annorlunda bild av hur blyghet relaterar till social kognition jämfört med tidigare forskning i området. Följande 4 huvudsakliga slutsatser drogs. (1) Blyga personer har inte nödvändigtvis en snedvriden social kognition eftersom de uppvisade en mindre aktörs–observatörsskillnad jämfört med icke-blyga personer. (2) Det är sannolikt att blyga och självfokuserade personer bedömer sina emotionella reaktioner som orsakade av stabila interna orsaker snarare än mindre stabila interna och externa orsaker. Om blyga personer är mindre självfokuserade så tenderar dessa personer ändå att uppvisa detta attributionsmönster. (3) Blyghet snarare än beteendemässig inhibition har betydelse för vilka orsaker som tillskrivs emotionella reaktioner medan blyghet och beteendemässig inhibition interagerar när det gäller i vilken grad fritt valda orsaker upplevs vara orsakade av interna respektive externa faktorer. En slutsats av dessa resultat är att fortsatt forskning bör fokusera hur människor i sin vardag förklarar sina egna och andra människors beteenden och reaktioner. (4) Mycket blyga personer kan uppleva identitetsförvirring samt kan ha en ambivalent önskan om att vara blyg samtidigt som blygheten försvinner. Trots att dessa resultat pekar på ganska allvarliga konsekvenser av att vara blyg så verkar blyghet generellt betraktas i ett ganska positivt ljus. / The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how and to what degree shy individuals differ from non-shy individuals regarding their attributional patterns. The results from 3 quantitative and 1 qualitative study paint a somewhat different picture of how shyness is associated with social cognition compared to previous research in the field. The following 4 main conclusions were drawn. (1) Being shy does not necessarily imply distorted social cognitions since shy people exhibited less of a self–other difference compared to non-shy people. (2) Being self-focused and shy means that emotional reactions are likely to be perceived as caused by stable internal causes rather than less stable internal and external causes. If shy people are self-focused to a lesser extent there is still a tendency for these individuals to exhibit this attributional pattern. (3) Shyness is more important than behavioral inhibition in determining ascriptions of causes to emotional reactions, whereas shyness and behavioral inhibition interact in determining people’s perceptions of the degree to which freely chosen causes are caused by internal and external factors, respectively. One conclusion of these findings is that future research needs to focus on how people in everyday life really explain their own and other people’s behaviors and reactions. (4) Very shy people can experience identity confusion as well as a conflicting wish to stay shy and to overcome shyness at the same time. Even though these results imply quite severe consequences of being shy, in general shyness seems to be viewed in quite a positive light.

The tool allows distribution of credit for the conversion to various marketing activities. So-called attribution modelling is concerned. The distribution of conversion is described by the models, except those most famous (first interaction model, last interaction model, linear model), that allow to create any distribution of conversion to several marketing activities. The use of this tool may be useful in the surveys of the effectiveness of marketing activities.

Bien que les recherches sur l'échec universitaire ne cessent de se multiplier, très peu se sont penchées sur celui des étudiants étrangers en France. C’est pourquoi la présente thèse vise à analyser les causes évoquées par ces étudiants pour expliquer leur échec ainsi que l’éventuel impact de leur culture d’origine sur leurs démarches attributionnelles. Pour répondre à cette interrogation, nous nous sommes inscrit dans le champ de la psychologie sociale, notamment avec la théorie de l'attribution causale. Cette dernière, qui constituera notre principale référence théorique, nous permettra d’appréhender la problématique de l'échec universitaire de ces étudiants. En outre, nous en avons étudié la genèse et l’évolution conceptuelle et paradigmatique en nous inspirant, pour des raisons épistémologiques et méthodologiques, du modèle attributionnel de Heider (1958) ainsi que de celui de Weiner (1986, 1992, 1994). Conscient à la fois de la complexité d’une démarche psychosociale en dehors d’une situation expérimentale et de l’importance de donner la parole aux acteurs, nous avons décidé d’entreprendre ce travail en nous basant sur des faits réels, à travers des entretiens avec des étudiants étrangers en situation d’échec universitaire. / Although research on academic failure continues to grow, very few studies have been conducted on foreign students in France. Therefore this thesis aims at analyzing the reasons the students gave to explain their failure and the potential impact of culture on their attributional approaches. To answer this question, we relied on a theoretical framework by considering psychosocial obedience, including the theory of causal attribution. The latter, which will be our main theoretical reference, will allow us to cast light on these students’ academic failure. Furthermore we studied the genesis and conceptual and pragmatical evolution of this theory by basing ourselves for epistemological and methodological reasons on Heider’s attribution theory (1958) as well Weiner’s (1986, 1992, 1994). Aware of both the complexity of a psychosocial approach outside of an experimental situation and the importance of giving a voice to those directly concerned we decided to use factual information rely on real-life cases through interviews with foreign students experiencing academic failure.

In 2019, more than one in ten students in Sweden lacked a final grade in mathematics and there can be several reasons as to why this occurs. In this field of work, the two aspects focused on were students’ motivation and their problem-solving abilities. The purpose was to attain knowledge about how teaching might strengthen the students' motivation and ability to solve problems, in order to try to increase long-term effectiveness. The students had to fill out a digital questionnaire twice about their own motivation, and in between, the students' motivation and problem-solving strategies were affected in eight actions. Thereafter, the questionnaires were compared in order to draw attention to differences in student responses from instances one and two. The two questions in the study were “What does students' motivation for mathematics look like before and after the intervention” and “What effect does work with mathematical strategies in problem-solving, mindset and motivation theories have on the student”. The results showed that a low initial value for mathematic strategies in the students was significantly increased by the eight actions. Moreover, the study also showed that after the eight actions, the students’ dynamic mindset increased, because they put the reason for their results more on themselves and the amount of training being done. A further effect was that the students worked to a lesser extent to make the teacher satisfied, which meant that the controlled extrinsic motivation decreased. The study displays no evidence that the students’ intrinsic motivation, or desire, was positively affected by the actions.

Experience, expertise, but also self-confidence and attitudes towards computer technology play an important role in how people interact with computers, especially when problems arise (cf. Janneck, Vincent-Höper, & Ehrhardt, 2013). In this regard, attribution theory is a promising approach to explain general types of user behavior. Attribution theory deals with the causal explanations people find for things happening around them, and also with the extent of control people feel they have over external events. Attribution styles have a considerable influence on motivation, behavior, and emotions (Weiner, 1985; Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978). While originating in social psychology, attribution theory is also applicable to computer-related experiences. Recent research found distinct computer-related attribution styles (Niels & Janneck, 2015). Moreover, a study has shown that users with more unfavorable (e.g. low sense of control) attribution styles are less motivated in handling computer issues – such as breakdowns or learning to use new features – than users with more favorable attribution styles (Niels & Janneck, 2017). These results raise the question which specific measures are appropriate to specifically support users with less favorable attribution styles with the intention to increase their motivation to master computer applications. [... from the Introduction]

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att utifrån Leader-Member exchange teorin (LMX) undersöka om relationen mellan ledare och följare påverkar hur följaren upplever ledarens ledarskapsstil. Metod: En kvalitativ intervjustudie med deduktiv forskningsansats har tillämpats i denna studie. Populationen består av tio stycken följare från ett säljande svenskt företag och datainsamlingen har skett genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Det empiriska materialet har analyserats och tolkats genom kodning och tematisering för att sedan redovisas och analyseras i empirin utifrån de teoretiskt härledda kategorierna. Resultat och slutsats: Studien leder till en ökad förståelse för hur relationen mellan ledare och följare påverkar ledarens attributions -och ledarskapsstil. Slutsatsen säger därmed att beroende på om följaren hamnar i en in -eller ut-grupp kommer ledaren att anpassa både sin ledarskapsstil och attributionsstil vilket presenteras i en modell. Där följare som hamnar i en in-grupp upplever en transformativ ledare med en yttre attributionsstil och en följare som hamnar i ut-grupp en transaktionell ledare med en inre attributionsstil Examensarbetets bidrag: Studiens bidrag består av vår vidareutvecklade modell som utvecklats genom analysen av det teoretiska samt empiriska materialet. Modellen leder till en större förståelse för hur relationen mellan ledare och följare kan påverka följarens indelning i in -eller ut-grupp samt ledarens ledarskap -och attributionsstil. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: För en mer generaliserbar slutsats hade det varit intressant om liknande studier genomförs där även ledarens perspektiv undersöks. Utöver detta såg vi indikationer på ett samband mellan följarens år inom organisationen och tillhörighet i in- eller ut-grupp vilket skulle kunna undersökas vidare. / Aim: The purpose of this study is to, based on the Leader-Member exchange theory (LMX), investigate whether the relationship between leader and follower affects how the follower experiences the leader's leadership style. Method: A qualitative method with a deductive research approach has been applied in this study. collection took place through semi-structured interviews. The empirical material was analyzed and interpreted through coding and thematization and then reported and analyzed in the empirical data based on the theoretically derived categories. Result and Conclusions: The study leads to an increased understanding of how the relationship between leader and follower affects the followers experience of the leader’s attribution and leadership style. The conclusion tells us that depending on whether the follower ends up in an in-or-out group, the leader will adapt both his leadership style and attribution style, which is presented in a model. Followers who end up in an in-group experience a transformative leader with an external attribution style. However, a follower who ends up in an out-group experience a transactional leader with an internal attribution style Contribution of the thesis: The study's contribution consists of our further developed model that has been developed through the analysis of the theoretical and empirical material. The model leads to a greater understanding of how the relationship between a leader and follower can affect the follower's distribution into in-or-out groups as well as the leader's leadership and attribution style. Suggestions for future research: It would have been interesting if similar studies were carried out where the leader's perspective is also considered. In addition to this, we saw indications of a correlation between the followers' year within the organization and belonging to an in- or out-group, which could be investigated further.

La crise de la COVID-19 a provoqué des bouleversements majeurs dans la vie des populations du monde entier et a suscité des réactions sociales importantes. La propagation du virus contagieux de la COVID-19 a été rapidement suivie d’une « épidémie » d’explications et de discours tentant de donner un sens à la crise. Lorsqu’un événement dévastateur se produit, les gens se demandent ce qui se passe et ce que cela signifie. Le premier but de cette recherche est de suivre l’évolution de la dynamique du blâme et de la désignation de boucs émissaires au fur et à mesure que la pandémie de COVID-19 se déroule. Le deuxième but de cette recherche est d’évaluer l’intérêt d’utiliser l’Allocation de Dirichlet latente (ADL), un modèle de mélange/classe latente génératif bayésien, dans l’analyse de questions ouvertes. Les données ont été recueillies auprès d’un échantillon représentatif de 3617 Canadiens selon un devis de recherche longitudinal intensif (avec 12 temps de mesure). Neuf thématiques ont été identifiées, dont six sont récurrentes à différents temps de mesure. Les résultats indiquent que, durant les premiers mois de la pandémie, les Canadiens blâment majoritairement les collectivités distantes, telles que la Chine et les marchés aux animaux vivants (wet markets). Au fil du temps, ils blâment de plus en plus les collectivités locales, tels que les individus qui ne respectent pas les mesures sanitaires. Cette recherche met en évidence le rôle de la proximité géographique et de l’évaluation du risque dans la manière dont le public perçoit la pandémie. / The COVID-19 crisis has caused major disruptions in the lives of populations around the globe and provoked important social responses. The spread of the contagious COVID-19 virus was quickly followed by an outbreak of explanations and discourses trying to make sense of the crisis. When devastating events occur, people ask themselves what happened, why the event happened and what it means. The first goal of this paper is to track the changing dynamics of blame attribution and scapegoating as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds. The second goal of this paper is to evaluate the relevance of LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation), a Bayesian generative mixture/latent class model, to analyze open-ended survey responses. Data was collected from a representative sample of 3,617 Canadians following an intensive longitudinal research design (with 12 waves). Nine topics were identified, six of which were recurring. Canadians mostly blame distant collectives in the early months of the pandemic, especially China and wet markets. Over time, they increasingly blame local collectives, such as individuals who do not comply with sanitary measures. This study highlights the role of geographic proximity and perceived risk in shaping public perceptions of the pandemic.