The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the subjective and objective career success perceptions of music school graduates who now identify as professional musicians. This study approached that purpose in four ways. First, the study examined how musicians conceptualized success compared to the literature. Second, the study investigated how musicians conceptualize how success is shown in themselves relative to how it appears in others. Third, the study examined if and how musicians attribute the success that they have achieved in their careers to the institutional preparation they received at academic institutions. Fourth, the study investigated the possibility that geography may play a role in sculpting the perceptual values and qualifiers of success in musicians. This study was informed by the literature surrounding the area of careers, career success, career development as it pertains to musicians, and career success as it pertains to musicians. A survey was the research tool utilized for this descriptive study, and the survey was constructed and facilitated via Qualtrics Software. The survey included 26 Likert-type questions and seven open-ended questions. The sample population used for this study was 326 participants from the New York City Chapter of the American Federation of Musicians Union. The data that was collected from the survey was organized, analyzed, and synthesized to discover emerging themes and answers to the guiding research questions. The findings of this study suggest that musicians understand and value the points of the comparison that those outside of the field of music may use to value and evaluate their own careers. The findings of this study also suggest that musicians may perceive some of the underlying components that make up career success differently in themselves that they do in others. Further, support is provided in this dissertation for the understanding that objective career success and subjective career success are linked in a way that is underrepresented in the literature, and thus is underrepresented in the discussion of the two concepts.

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Background. Previous literature had examined how the adoption of cooperative, competitive and individualistic goal structures in academic tasks influence students’ altruistic behaviors. However, little research has investigated the relationship between goal structures in non-academic activities and children’s affective outcomes. Moreover, the specific differentiation of friends from ordinary acquaintances was seldom considered. Aims. This study compares the immediate effect of different goal structures in a non-academic task on children’s mutual liking. Sample. The participants were 116 fourth and fifth grade students in Hong Kong. Methods. Participants were paired to form friend and non-friend dyads and the dyads were randomly assigned into one of three experimental conditions: cooperative, competitive and individualistic. In all the three conditions, dyads were asked to do a photo-hunt task twice, but the content of instructions and the basis of reward were different. Results. In the cooperative condition, participants’ liking towards their partners had significantly increased, and the average rating was significantly higher than that in the competitive condition. Specifically, the increase in liking between non-friend dyads was greater than that in friend dyads. In competitive condition, the liking between friend dyads had significantly decreased, but the change in liking between non-friend dyads was not significant. No meaningful change was observed in the individualist condition. Conclusion. The findings suggested that children’s liking towards their peers would increase when they were given chance to cooperate with each other; and the liking might decline when they participated in activities that required competition. Implications for activity-planning and group composition are discussed. / published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The current study explored gender differences in groups of boys and girls in a limited resource context. Forty same-sex groups of four children from kindergarten and grade four were observed during sessions in which groups played first with two different toys and then two different games. The toy and game sessions were constructed so children had to negotiate for a scarce resource (attractive toy and game winner's certificate). In the case of one of the toys the end of a player's turn was obvious to group members (explicit turn-taking toy), in the case of the other toy the end of a turn was not obvious to group members (nonexplicit turn-taking toy). Resource use (time with toy), group variability in resource use, positive affect and self-report measures were collected. Results of the toy sessions revealed both genders were very similar on all the measures; however, girls were significantly more likely to have greater group variance in distributing the nonexplicit turn-taking toy. The two games, one competitive and one noncompetitive, involved players trying to reach a finish line. For the competitive game, only one player could win, but for the noncompetitive game all players could win. During both games, a player could potentially interfere with another player's goal to win. Resource use (interfering), group variability in resource use, positive affect and self-report measures were collected. Results of the game sessions revealed both genders were very similar on all measures, however, during the competitive game, girls were more likely to have greater group variance in interfering. The results are discussed in terms of considering aspects of the context when investigating gender differences in competition.

The present study was designed to examine whether social organization influences children's desire to compete and to achieve valued outcomes in important areas of life. One hundred and fifty-eight participants (71 males and 87 females) from three classes of grade 4 and four classes of grade 6 children participated in this study. Children completed a two-part questionnaire. The first part assessed their desire to play competitive and cooperative versions of an actual game in two types of social organizations, with their one closest friend and with their group of three closest friends. The second part measured children's beliefs about the effect of social organization on the children's achievements in four life domains. For part one, results indicated that children preferred to compete in a group versus a dyad, but the social organization had no effort on the desire to play a cooperative game. For part two, children believed their groups of friends would be happier for them if they were successful in a social situation; however, they believed their one closest friend would be happier for them if they were successful in either an academic or athletic situation. Results are discussed in terms of the educational and therapeutic implications of differing social organizations.

This study examined the friendships between gifted and regular adolescents to determine if competition was related to the quality and stability of their friendship. Sullivan (1953) had predicted that competition harmed friendship, but this has not been tested empirically. Thirty-eight gifted and 38 regular friendship dyads from grades seven and eight were recruited from two high schools in Quebec and one in Ontario. Competition was defined in terms of competitive goal orientation. Students who competed in order to improve their performance on a task were rated as more task-oriented. Those who competed in order to show superiority over others were rated as more other-referenced. Competitive goal orientation differed for gifted and regular students. Classroom teachers, physical education teachers, and peers rated gifted students as being more task-oriented and regular students as being more other-referenced in their competitive styles across both scholastic and athletic domains. Being more task-oriented was related to having less negative friendship quality (i.e., fewer conflicts), more friendly competition, and for gifted students only, more friendship stability. Conversely, being more other-referenced was related to more negative friendship qualities and, for gifted students only, unstable friendships. Additionally, friends who reported positive friendship qualities at the end of the school year remained friends over the summer more so than friends who reported negative friendship qualities. However, during the school year, when friends saw each other regularly, the quality of their friendship was not related to whether or not they remained friends. Surprisingly, the friendships of regular adolescents had more positive qualities (companionship, help, security, closeness) than the friendships of gifted adolescents. No difference in friendship stability was found between the groups. Practical implications for teachers include avoiding forms

Thesis (B.A. (Hons.))-- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1977.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 2000? / Bibliography: p. 273-300.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 46-51). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--Northern Michigan University, 2007. / Bibliography: leaves 77-88.