Aquatic pharmaceutical pollution poses ecotoxicological risks to the environment and human health. Consumer attitudes and behavior represent a significant source of pharmaceutical compounds found in water. Thus, understanding public perceptions of aquatic pharmaceutical pollution and developing effective risk communication techniques are critical to engaging society in the type of widespread change necessary for addressing the presence of pharmaceuticals in water. This mixed-methods study applies conceptual metaphor theory in conjunction with construal level theory of psychological distance to assess how metaphoric framing affects perceptions of aquatic pharmaceutical contamination across four principal dimensions of psychological distance (geographic, social and temporal distance and uncertainty). Additionally, this study assesses the direct impact of metaphor use on concern and willingness to act, which are positively associated with perceived psychological distance. Data were collected from a convenience sample (n = 20) of university students in Burlington, Vermont using cognitive interviewing. Results indicate that pharmaceutical pollution was initially perceived as geographically distant, socially distant, temporally both proximate and distant and certain (versus uncertain). Our findings suggest people perceive distances in various ways, suggesting a need for validated questions to consistently measure psychological distance. Participants preferred the metaphorically-framed visual intervention to the non-metaphor visual intervention. Further, participants’ perception of pharmaceutical pollution changed to being more geographically and socially close after viewing the metaphoric visual only. Previous research indicates perceived psychological closeness leads to increased motivation and preparedness to act. Theoretical and practical implications of metaphor use in risk communications are discussed.

Malgré les avancées considérables dans l’analyse des preuves matérielles, et le développement ces dernières années de la police scientifique, les témoignages oculaires occupent encore aujourd’hui un rôle primordial dans les décisions de justice. Et pourtant, ces témoignages sont faillibles. En effet, de nombreux facteurs se trouvant au croisement de processus mnésiques et/ou cognitifs et de processus sociaux et/ou sociocognitifs, peuvent les impacter de façon irréversible. C’est dans ce contexte, et dans le but de mieux comprendre certaines variables à l’origine de leur fragilité, que nous avons réalisé les sept expérimentations présentées dans cette thèse.De façon plus précise, les trois premières études s’intéressaient à une technique d’audition efficace, appelée l’entretien cognitif. Notre objectif était alors de développer et d’évaluer, en laboratoire et sur le terrain, un protocole modifié d’entretien cognitif fondé sur le principe de multiplication des rappels libres. Toutefois, dans cette thèse, nous souhaitions adopter une approche plus dynamique et situationnelle de l’entretien cognitif que celle rencontrée jusqu’à présent dans la littérature. C’est pourquoi, dans une seconde partie, nous avons examiné l’efficacité de ce protocole en lien avec trois variables évaluatrices indissociables des situations d’auditions, et pouvant dans les faits impacter fortement et négativement la qualité des témoignages oculaires. Ces trois variables sont: (a) les scripts que partagent les individus à propos des évènements criminels, (b) les discussions entre témoins, et, (c) les stéréotypes associés aux témoins par le biais de leursappartenances groupales.Plusieurs résultats ont alors été montrés. Tout d’abord, nous avons confirmé l’efficacité d’une version modifiée d’entretien cognitif (ECM). Plus précisément, un protocole composé de deux rappels libres, incluant les consignes d’exhaustivité et de remise en contexte ainsi qu’une nouvelle technique destinée à favoriser le souvenir, la focalisation périphérique guidée, a permis d’améliorer, dans toutes nos études, la richesse du rappel des participants sans nuire à son exactitude. Son efficacité a d’ailleurs été montrée aussi bien en laboratoire que sur le terrain. De plus, ce protocole intègre les consignes cognitives les plus efficaces et omet les moins effectives. Parallèlement, nous avons confirmé l’impact néfaste des scripts et des discussions entre témoins sur les témoignages oculaires. Certains effets des stéréotypes liés à l’appartenance groupale du témoin ont aussi été suggérés. Enfin, concernant l’efficacité de l’entretien cognitif, et plus précisément de la versionmodifiée, certains effets délétères de ce protocole et des consignes qui le composent ont été observés en lien avec les trois variables évaluatrices considérées. Toutefois, plusieurs bénéfices intéressants ont également été révélés dans ce cadre.Ces résultats seront discutés au regard des données disponibles dans la littérature à ce jour. Des recommandations appliquées seront également émises. / Despite many advances in analyzing physical evidence, and the development these past years of the forensic police, eyewitnesses’ testimonies remains decisive in the decisions of justice. Nevertheless, these testimonies are fallible. Numerous factors, at the crossroad of memory and/or cognitive processes and of social and/or sociocognitive processes, can impact them in an irreversible manner. In this context, we realized the seven experimentations presented in this dissertation. The aim was to understand better some variables responsible for the fragility of eyewitnesses’ accounts.More precisely, the first three studies presented in the first part of this work were dealing with an effective technique for interviewing eyewitnesses, called the Cognitive Interview. Our purpose was to develop and evaluate, in the lab and in the field, a modified version of Cognitive Interview, based on the principle of multiplication of the free recalls. However, in this dissertation, we chose to adopt a more dynamic and situational approach that the one encountered in the literature until now. Therefore, in a second part, we examined the efficacy of this protocol in interaction with three estimator variables, inseparable from the context of hearing witnesses, and which can in the real life strongly and negatively impact the quality of their accounts. These variables are: (a) the scripts shared by individuals about criminal events, (b) the talk between witnesses, and, (c) the stereotypes associated with witnesses through the social groups they belong to.Several results were shown. First, we confirmed the efficacy of a modified version of the Cognitive Interview (MCI). More precisely, a protocol composed of two free recallattempts, composed of the report all and the context reinstatement instructions, as well as a new technique designed to enhance memories, the guided peripheral focus, increased in all the studies the richness of participants’ recalls without impairing their accuracy. Its efficacy was shown in the lab and in the field. Moreover, this protocol includes the most effective cognitive instructions and omits the less beneficial. Then, in the second part, we confirmed that the scripts and the talk among witnesses have a detrimental impact on eyewitnesses’ testimonies. Some effects of the stereotypes linked to the group membership of the witness were also suggested. Finally, concerning the efficacy of the Cognitive Interview, and more precisely the modified protocol, some negative effects were observed in interaction with the three estimator variables considered. However, some interesting benefits of this protocol and of the cognitive instructions it includes were also shown.These results will be discussed in regards with the literature available today. Some applied recommendations will also be emitted.

Le témoignage oculaire est un élément fondamental de la résolution des enquêtes criminelles. Pour la bonne conduite des enquêtes judiciaires, il apparait primordial d’obtenir des témoignages exhaustifs et exacts. C'est ainsi qu’une équipe de recherche a conçu une méthode basée sur les principes du fonctionnement de la mémoire ayant pour but l’optimisation du recueil des propos du témoin : l’entretien cognitif (Geiselman et al. 1984). Si cette méthode permet d’obtenir des descriptions détaillées sans diminution de la qualité du témoignage, elle est néanmoins marginalement utilisée par les professionnels de la justice. L’objectif de cette thèse est double : il s’agit de proposer une consigne d’entretien qui prend en compte les processus psychologiques en œuvre dans le rappel d’un évènement en mémoire épisodique, et qui soit acceptable du point de vue des pratiques professionnelles. Une première étape a consisté en l’analyse des pratiques professionnelles. L’évaluation d’une formation à l’entretien cognitif auprès d’enquêteurs de police a montré que la méthode est facilement assimilable par les enquêteurs, suggérant que sa non-application sur le terrain ne résiderait pas dans sa difficulté d’utilisation, mais relèverait plutôt de problèmes d’acceptabilité de la part des professionnels. Pour comprendre les objectifs professionnels de l’audition, nous avons ensuite procédé à une analyse des pratiques en termes d’audition. Cette analyse a révélé que les enquêteurs recherchaient de façon prépondérante des informations sur les actions d’une scène criminelle. Sur la base de ces constats, nous avons conçu une consigne dite de reconstitution, qui fait appel aux traces verbatim en mémoire, et vise à apporter des actions générales et spécifiques d’une scène. La consigne a été testée dans un protocole d’entretien et a démontré son efficacité aussi bien quantitative que qualitative, en apportant davantage d’informations correctes sur une scène comparée à d’autres consignes, sans augmentation concomitante du nombre d’erreurs. Il apparait que la consigne de reconstitution répond de façon pertinente au principal objectif d’une enquête de police. / Eyewitness testimony is a fundamental determinant to the resolution of criminal investigations. To conduct criminal investigations effectively, it appears essential to obtain complete and accurate testimony. For this purpose, a research team has developed a method based on the features of human memory, aiming to enhance the eliciting of eyewitness accounts: the cognitive interview (Geiselman et al., 1984). Although this method enables investigators to obtain detailed descriptions without reducing the quality of the testimony, it is still only marginally used by legal professionals. The objective of this thesis is twofold: it aims to provide interviewing instructions which take into account the psychological processes at work in the recalling of events in episodic memory, while simultaneously being acceptable from the standpoint of professional practice. The first step involved conducting an analysis of professional practices. An evaluation of training in cognitive interviewing by police investigators showed that the method is easily learnt and suggests that the lack of implementation in practice does not stem from the difficulties linked to its implementation, but rather arises as a result of a lack of acceptance among professionals. In order to further our understanding of the professional objectives of the hearing, we then conducted an analysis of practices in terms of hearing. This analysis revealed that investigators were essentially seeking out information about the actions which took place during the crime scene. Based on these findings, we designed a re-enactment-alike interviewing instruction, which activates the verbatim traces in memory and is intended to elicit the general and specific actions of a scene. This instruction was tested in an interviewing protocol and demonstrated its quantitative and qualitative effectiveness in providing a greater quantity of correct information compared with other instructions, whilst withstanding a concomitant increase in the number of errors. Re-enactment-alike instruction thus appears highly relevant for reaching the main objective of a police investigation.

Cette thèse porte sur les effets des croyances dans la production des faux souvenirs, phénomène qui présente une importance toute particulière dans le contexte judiciaire. Nous avons trouvé avec le CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales) un terrain d’étude particulièrement fonctionnel pour comprendre les mécanismes de la production des faux souvenirs. En effet, le CNES a créé un service, le GEIPAN (Groupe d’Études et d’Informations sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non Identifiés), chargé de recueillir les témoignages à propos de PAN (Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non identifiés) sur le territoire français. Le GEIPAN reçoit un volume conséquent de témoignages (en moyenne deux par jour) qui présentent bien souvent une grande homogénéité. Cette collaboration avec le CNES a permis de réaliser des études de terrain qui, articulées avec des études expérimentales de laboratoire, ont permis de mettre en évidence les conditions de production des faux souvenirs. Nous observons que les faux souvenirs sont dus à l’impact des croyances (ici à propos des OVNI) dès lors qu’un délai a permis une confusion entre différentes sources du souvenir. Dans une dernière partie de la thèse, nous montrons que l’adaptation d’une technique d’entretien judiciaire (l’entretien cognitif sur internet) à la problématique de ces témoignages permet de résoudre en partie la production des faux souvenirs. Nous évoquons dans la discussion les pistes d’utilisation des travaux de cette thèse dans le contexte des enquêtes judiciaires. / This doctoral dissertation focuses on the impact of beliefs on the development of false memories. Such memories have been reported to be important as far as the judicial system is concerned. The CNES (Centre National d’ Études Spatiales) has been an ideal study site for a depth understanding of the development of false memories. Indeed, the CNES has developed the GEPAN (Groupe d’Études et d’Informations sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non Identifiés), a service aiming to collect French testimonies regarding PAN (Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non identifiés). The GEIPAN receive plenty of testimonies (2 testimonies per day). This collaboration with the GEIPAN allowed to conduct both field researches and experimental studies aiming to highlight processes leading to false memories. False memories were related to beliefs about UFOs as long as a period led to a confusion between the several sources memories. In a last part of this doctoral dissertation, the adaptation of judicial interview (cognitive interview on the Internet) for these testimonies will be presented as well as its utility to for solving a part of false memories. These findings and their utility in criminal investigation will be discussed in the discussion section.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:30:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Leila Aparecida Chevtchuk de Oliveira do Carmo.pdf: 793106 bytes, checksum: 5ce4eda28f84d1ef9b1d4ee089e9f0d3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-05-18 / This work aims, although aware of the unquestionable fallibility of testimony, but not forgetting its extreme importance in all branches of Law, particularly in case of labor lawsuit, to search for truth, using for this purpose, recognition of emotions, expressed through non-verbal language of the witness. It also aims to clarify the influence that both respondent and interviewer shall have, at the time of the hearing of the former, in order to arise, after all, with the sentence passed on the lawsuit, the only feeling sought by those who took part in it: the feeling of justice accomplishment / Trata-se de trabalho que, muito embora atento à inquestionável falibilidade do testemunho, mas, não se olvidando de sua extrema relevância, em todos os ramos do Direito, particularmente, no processo do trabalho, tem por objetivo a busca da verdade, utilizando-se, para tanto, do reconhecimento de emoções, externadas pela linguagem não-verbal do depoente. Objetiva, ainda, aclarar a influência a que, tanto inquirido quanto inquiridor, estão sujeitos, na ocasião da oitiva do primeiro, para que, afinal, com a sentença proferida no processo, aflore o único sentimento pelo qual procuram aqueles que dele participaram: sentimento de realização de justiça

Diploma thesis deals with the process of validization of Marlowe-Crowne social desirability scale in the Czech context. Despite the fact that social desirability represents an error, which can disrupt validity of obtained data, there is no official Czech version of Marlowe-Crowne scale that could be used in surveys. The aim of this thesis is to create Czech translation of the scale and test its functionality. The Marlowe-Crowne scale is introduced from a theoretical point of view firstly, is discussed its creation, characteristics, its importance in relation to social desirability, critics and problems and possibilities and difficulties of its use in the new context. Further are discussed different ways of translation of research instruments, which could help to preserve their purpose, and method of cognitive interviews as a way of testing of new or adapted research instruments. Modified parallel translation of three translators was used for creation of Czech version of Marlowe-Crowne scale. Cognitive interview, based mostly on verbal protocols, were used for testing of finally translated scale to find out, if scale is applicable in the Czech context without any problems. Interviews were conducted with sixteen respondents with different sociodemographic characteristics. Thesis concludes that scale...

(abstract) The thesis deals with motivations for hedonistic type of shopping with a focus on their measurement by using a multidimensional scale designed and validated by Mark J. Arnold and Kristy E. Reynolds in 2003. This tool contains six constructs for which the author examined their transferability to the local environment of Czech consumers. The aim of the thesis was to convert the scale into the Czech language and into the context of the Czech consumers and their shopping behavior. There were analyzed cognitive interviews, which were focused on the understanding of the statements on the scale and their adjustment for the following questionnaire survey. This was conducted on a representative sample of the Czech internet population. Furthermore, statistical analysis was carried out with the focus on reliability and validity of the translated scale. Although the research does not primarily aim at creating a typology of shoppers or describing in detail the characteristics of Czech consumers, the results of the analysis indicate that Czech population's thinking about shopping is quite like of consumers in collectivist societies. At the end of the thesis, the final and modified scale is introduced containing five constructs instead of the original six. This instrument has been shown to be...

The thesis "Response strategies of behavioral frequency questions" deals with response strategies that respondents use to determine the frequency of behavior during the cognitive process of answering to the open-ended as well as closed behavioral frequency questions. The author uses a combination of research methods of cognitive interview with secondary analysis of quantitative data from the European Social Survey Research. The analytical part describes different types of response strategies used by respondents and deals with variety of factors that influence the choice of these strategies. The author analyzes the influence of the question format on the choice of the response strategy and on the answers to the same behavioral frequency questions. The thesis concludes that the choice of a particular response strategy is affected by the respondent's memory, the context within which the respondents have connected the behavior, regularity and absolute frequency of the behavior. The question format affects respondent's answers and it plays an important role during the cognitive process of answering behavioral frequency questions.

The diploma thesis deals with validity of direct measurement of stated willingness to pay (WTP) in the fair trade context based on two-phase measurement applied in the INESAN survey. Attention is also paid to the unit of answer to an open-ended question and to the functionality of WTP as an indicator of purchase intent. First, fair trade, the concept of WTP with focus on areas of its application, ways of measurement, critics and problems of its use are introduced from the theoretical perspective. Further, cognitive aspects of the process of answering survey questions as a way of testing the functionality of a measurement tool are analyzed. The thesis is built on a combination of two survey methods, cognitive interviews and secondary analysis of quantitative data. It concludes that measuring WTP for the purpose of capturing the value of fair trade using direct stated method of measurement is problematic as numerous risks with impact on validity of acquired data appear. Those risks concern both the particular way of measurement and the direct stated WTP measurement in general, starting with ambiguous interpretation of WTP questions for a fair trade product among respondents. The thesis also shows that answering open-ended question in the form of percentage is cognitively more demanding than in the...