Thesis (Honors)--Liberty University Honors Program, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

One of the most heavily researched topics of cognitive development concerns children's growing understanding of people's behaviors as reflecting mental states such as beliefs, desires and intentions. Anthropomorphism is the overextension of this conceptual framework, referred to as "theory of mind", to nonhuman animals and inanimate objects. In this dissertation, I investigate the development and correlates of anthropomorphism building on and extending past research with children and adults. In Study 1, I investigated the relation between anthropomorphism, social understanding, and social behaviors that are known to correlate with theory of mind, such as empathy, and prosocial attitudes in a college sample (N = 919). Contrary to my predictions, results showed that anthropomorphism is only weakly related to the measures of social understanding. There was, however, some evidence for a link between anthropomorphism and imaginary companions; individuals who had a history of imaginary companions scored higher on anthropomorphism. In Study 2, I examined the link between theory of mind and anthropomorphism in preschool children. In addition, I investigated the developmental trajectory of anthropomorphism from age 4 to 6 and the relation between anthropomorphism and role play and social preferences. Seventy-four children (36 girls; Mage = 5 years, 5 months; SD = 9 months) took part in this study. In order to assess anthropomorphism in this age group, I used two methods: interview and movie narrative measures. Results revealed no age-related changes in anthropomorphism scores of the children. As in Study 1, I did not find a strong relationship between the theory of mind measures and anthropomorphism. There was, however, more evidence for a link between the interview measure of anthropomorphism and role play, and social preferences of children. Overall, in both studies, theory of mind, the most obvious candidate as a correlate of anthropomorphism, was, at best, not a strong predictor of the anthropomorphism, suggesting the need to rethink how developing knowledge about people is related to the overextension of this knowledge to nonhuman entities. It is possible that a rudimentary understanding of humans is necessary to be able to overextend it, but whether you overextend it might be linked to other factors.

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It is a commonly held view among non-Shī'īs that the Imāmī-Shī'ī attitude towards the Companions of the Prophet is characterised by hatred and contempt. In fact f the picture is far more complex and diverse. There are certain basic beliefs which are common to all Imāmī-Shī'īs, such as the belief that 'Alī b. Abī Ṭālib was the only rightful successor to Muḥammad. But in their attitude to individual Companions, as well as to the Ṣaḥāba as a whole, there are considerable differences between scholars of various periods, schools and geographic centres, and also between official Imāmī theology and popular Shī'ism. The aim of the present study is to examine the Imāmī-Shī'ī attitude to the Companions from two complementary angles: first, the Imāmī view of the Companions as Muslims; secondly, the Imāmī view of the Companions as authorities. The first point is directly connected with the Imāmī interpretation of events in the early period of Islam; the second involves doctrinal considerations which spring out of the Imāmī belief in an Imam in whom all authority is vested. Imāmī statements on most subjects have to be placed in the context of polemics against the Sunna. This is especially true for the Imāmī attitude to the Companions, since this is a subject about which both Sunnīs and Shī'īs held strong, often contradictory, views. In the present study, therefore, the investigation of Imāmī views is preceded by a chapter which examines Sunnī attitudes to the Ṣaḥāba. This chapter is followed by a discussion of Mu'tazilī views on the Companions, so that these views may be compared and contrasted with the official Imāmī attitude. The third chapter examines the doctrinal questions involved in the Imāmī attitude toward the Ṣaḥāba; it is followed by two chapters dealing with the Imāmī view of the rejected and the accepted Companions, respectively. In the the sixth and last chapter it is attempted to show that although Imāmī-Shī'īs regard the Imam as the supreme authority after the Prophet, the Companions are not entirely devoid of authority. The first appendix deals with biographies of some of the better known among the accepted Companions ; in the second appendix the main views of the Zaydiyya on the subject of the Ṣaḥāba are summarised.

This dissertation deals with two aspects of the history of the Companions of the Prophet: the pattern of their geographical distribution and their political alignments---taking as its test case the Battle of S&dotbelow;iffin. Based on biographical dictionaries of the Companions written by selected Traditionists (i.e., Ibn Sa`d, Ibn `Abd al-Barr, Ibn al-Athir, al-Dhahabi and Ibn H&dotbelow;ajar), and on the Traditionist definition of what constitutes a Companion, an attempt will be made to identify on the one hand the Companions who settled in Iraq, Syria and Egypt, and on the other those Companions whose loyalties during the Battle of S&dotbelow;iffin are known. Based on an analysis of the background of the Companions appearing in each of these groups and on a comparison between the two, it is argued that religious ideals played a significant role both in the Companions' movements after the death of the Prophet and in their behavior during the Battle of S&dotbelow;iffin.

We present an equatorial (± 30◦ Decl.) sample of all known single (within 4′′) mid M-dwarfs (M2.5V-M8.0V) extending out to 10 pc. For this sample of 58 stars, we provide photometry, low dispersion optical (6000−9000 ̊A) spectra from which spectral types are determined, Hα equivalent widths, and gravity sensitive NaI indices. For 45 of these 58 stars, strict limits are placed on the presence of companions, based on precise infrared radial velocities. Our spectroscopic results indicate that on average, we rule out the existence of companions with masses of 1.5 MJUP or greater in 10 day orbital periods around slowly rotating (vsini < 6.5 km s−1) M-dwarfs. Similarly, strict limits are placed on the presence of companions to 53 out of the 58 stars with astrometry. Our astrometric results show that, on average, we rule out the presence of companions with masses greater than 9 MJUP with an orbital period of 8 years. These results establish these stars as the nearest set of single mid M-dwarfs. Two additional stars, GJ 867B and LHS 1610, were initially included in this program, but later discovered to be spectroscopic binaries (SB). The binary GJ 867BD is a wide (24.5') companion to the M2 dwarf GJ 867AC. With this discovery, the GJ 867 system (d =8.82 ± 0.08 pc) becomes one of only four quadruple systems with in 10 pc of the Sun and the only among these with all M-dwarf (or cooler components). To measure how the rotational velocities vary with spectral type, we assembled a list of all known single (within 3′′) mid M-dwarfs that have trigonometric parallaxes within 25 pc and reside between −30◦ and +65◦ Decl from the RECONS sample. From this list of 402 stars, only 169 stars have previously reported vsini values. We obtained spectroscopic measurements for an additional 75 stars. Of those, 17 have vsini values above our detection threshold of 3 km s−1. Our data are consistent with the trend of more low mass M-dwarfs having high projected rotational velocity values than high mass M-dwarfs.

In this work, we investigate the presence of stellar companions around hot Jupiter systems using data sets from the Clio and VISAO instruments on the Magellan Telescope. We observed eighteen targets of which eleven have known spin-orbit obliquity measurements. We detected eleven candidate companions of which five are new discoveries, five involved the validation and confirmation of previous studies, and one candidate proved to be a background star not bound to the transiting planet system. Out of eleven systems with known spin-orbit obliquity, seven systems have candidate companions. Due to the size of the sample, we could not find any correlation between the spin-orbit obliquity and the presence of a stellar companion. As future work, we will do follow up observations on the targets with candidate companions. We will increase our sample to one hundred systems to investigate if there is a correlation between spin-orbit obliquity and the presence of a distant stellar companion.

Families who are dissatisfied with the nursing home care of their family member may supplement their care by hiring a private companion. Families who have the financial resources pay for extra care, while families who cannot afford a private companion receive the current standard of care. Anecdotal evidence suggests that private companion use has increased over time. However, there is no research that examines private companions. The goal of this mixed methods study was to provide empirical evidence about who private companions are, what they do, and why they are needed. Andersen and Newman’s Health Service Utilization Model was used to understand private companion use. This study used both survey research and grounded theory. A mailed survey was completed by 280 of 432 family members of nursing home residents in a Toronto nursing home, yielding a response rate of 65 percent. Grounded theory principles were used to conduct interviews with 10 family members to understand why private companions were hired. Almost two-thirds of nursing home residents had a private companion. Family members reported that they paid about $475 per week for private companions who provided about 40 hours of care per week. Private companions were mostly women and immigrants. Private companions performed many activities including assisting with activities of daily living, toileting, feeding, escorting to activities, and providing social support. In the survey, family members reported hiring a private companion for reasons related to families’ needs (e.g. quality of care concerns), residents’ needs (e.g. deteriorating health); and staff recommendations. The family members reiterated these reasons in the interviews. Quality of care was the overarching theme that captured the reason for private companion use, which encompassed the following themes: inadequate staffing, unmet residents’ needs, overburdened family members, and suboptimal nursing home environment. The qualitative data emphasized the importance of building relationships with nursing home residents. The predictors of private companion use in the multivariate analysis were longer duration of nursing home stay, higher resident dependency, and family members’ concerns with quality of care. This research is among the first to study private companions, and has implications for research, policy, and practice.

Families who are dissatisfied with the nursing home care of their family member may supplement their care by hiring a private companion. Families who have the financial resources pay for extra care, while families who cannot afford a private companion receive the current standard of care. Anecdotal evidence suggests that private companion use has increased over time. However, there is no research that examines private companions. The goal of this mixed methods study was to provide empirical evidence about who private companions are, what they do, and why they are needed. Andersen and Newman’s Health Service Utilization Model was used to understand private companion use. This study used both survey research and grounded theory. A mailed survey was completed by 280 of 432 family members of nursing home residents in a Toronto nursing home, yielding a response rate of 65 percent. Grounded theory principles were used to conduct interviews with 10 family members to understand why private companions were hired. Almost two-thirds of nursing home residents had a private companion. Family members reported that they paid about $475 per week for private companions who provided about 40 hours of care per week. Private companions were mostly women and immigrants. Private companions performed many activities including assisting with activities of daily living, toileting, feeding, escorting to activities, and providing social support. In the survey, family members reported hiring a private companion for reasons related to families’ needs (e.g. quality of care concerns), residents’ needs (e.g. deteriorating health); and staff recommendations. The family members reiterated these reasons in the interviews. Quality of care was the overarching theme that captured the reason for private companion use, which encompassed the following themes: inadequate staffing, unmet residents’ needs, overburdened family members, and suboptimal nursing home environment. The qualitative data emphasized the importance of building relationships with nursing home residents. The predictors of private companion use in the multivariate analysis were longer duration of nursing home stay, higher resident dependency, and family members’ concerns with quality of care. This research is among the first to study private companions, and has implications for research, policy, and practice.

Orientador: Sandra Leal Calais / Banca: Denis Roberto Zamignani / Banca: Kester Carrara / Resumo: O Acompanhamento Terapêutico (AT) é tema recente nas discussões da Psicologia. É um tipo de atuação clínica que nasceu dos movimentos político-ideológicos da antipsiquiatria, os quais ocorreram na década de 50 na Europa e EUA e em 1960 na América Latina. Boa parte da literatura tenta construir um perfil para o acompanhamente terapêuticom a partir do seu surgimento e contexto histórico, entretanto o conceito ainda não chegou a um consenso científico e apesar de existirem alguns fatores característicos para a conceituação do AT, sua prática diversificada dificulta a identificação das variáveis e consequentemente da construção de um conceito definitivo. A controvérsia se mantém e sua caracterização tem sido baseada em aspectos como a formação profissional, função na equipe, referencial teórico adotado e o trabalho desempenhado. Este trabalho teve como objetivo principal a caracterização de acompanhantes terapêuticos sob a perspectiva da Análise do Comportamento. Para tanto, se fez uso de descrições do trabalho deste profissional considerando tempo de atuação, inserção na área, formação básica e específica, tipos de casos atendidos e locais da atuação, além de expor as desvantagens e vantagens relatadas na prática clínica. Foram participantes desta pesquisa treze Acompanhantes Terapêuticos atuantes na cidade de São Paulo, os quais foram submetidos a uma entrevista semi-estruturada. Os resultados foram analisadas em quatro dimensões de análise e estas desmembradas em categorias e itens. Pode-se observar diante dos dados das entrevistas que o perfil do at está em constante mudança e que caracterizá-los implica observação de muitas variáveis. De acordo com a literatura, as condições fundamentais para a realização desse trabalho são o conhecimento teórico sólido, as habilidades pessoais de traquejo social e a disponibilidade de tempo... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Therapeutic Accompaniment (TA) is a recent theme in discussions of psychology. It is a kind of clinical practice that was born in a political-ideological movement of antipsychiatry, which occurred in the 50 at Europe and USA and 1960 at Latin America. Most of researches tries to built a profile for TA from the beginning of this historical context but the concept has not yet reached a scientific consensus. Although there are some characteristics for the concept of TA, the TA's diverse practice makes difficult to identify these variables and consequently the construction of a concept ended. The controversy remains and its characterization has been based on aspects such as vocational training, role in the team, adopted theoretical reference and the work performed. The main purpose of this study was to characterize therapeutic companions (tc) under the perspective of behavior analysis. For this was used this professional job descriptions, considering given time for practical, the insertion in the area, basic and specific training, types of case seen and places for the practice, beyond the expose of difficulties and benefits reported in clinical practice. Thriteen Therapeutic Comapanions participated of this research. They were from the city of São Paulo and submitted to a semi-structured interview. The results were analyzed in four dimensions of analysis and unfolded in categories. With the interview data it's possible to observe that the TA's profile is constantly changing and that characterizing them implies the observation of many variables. Corroborating the literature, the basic conditions to do this work are the solid theoretical knowledge, personal social skills and available time. These aspects were repeatedly said by participants and analyzed in this study. Although there are many similarities with the traditional therapeutists, the tc has its peculiarities, especially the setting... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre