Many factors contribute to business and entrepreneurial success. Raw material, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship are common inputs into most business organizations (enterprises). Entrepreneurship is the one factor of production that is needed in all successful business organizations. In Southeast Kentucky, there has been much attention given to small business development and the need for more entrepreneurship. However, little research has been done on the “self-directedness” and “emotional intelligence” that are needed for entrepreneurial success. This study investigated the possible association between self-directed learning and emotional intelligence with entrepreneurial success in a Southeast Kentucky group consisting of independent small business owners. This study also examined the relationships of age, gender, annual salaries, years of college education, and years of business experience with entrepreneurial success. The Learning Preference Assessment (LPA), the online BarOn EQ-i survey, and a short demographic survey were used in this study. Of the 250 entrepreneurs randomly selected, 104 responded by completing and returning the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Survey instrument (SDLRS) and the demographic questionnaire. Due to technical difficulties, the results from the online BarOn EQ-i survey were not available. The mean SDLRS score for all 104 entrepreneurs was 239.63. The minimum SDLRS score was 206, and the maximum SDLRS score was 284. Correlational analysis revealed a moderate-size, positive correlation of SDLRS with years of experience. More experience tended to go with higher test scores. Also, a moderate- to large-size positive correlation of SDLRS scores with sex (gender) was discovered. Males tended to score higher than females on the SDLRS. There was no correlation whatsoever of SDLRS scores with age. There was a large positive correlation of educational level with SDLRS scores. Individuals with higher education were associated with higher scores. Lastly, there was a very large correlation between SDLRS scores and income. All variables, except age and experience, were significant when compared to self-directedness.

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The purpose was to investigate whether using two type of interventions (i.e., Four rooms of change in school and EQ- workshop) in addition to curriculum guidelines can affect character development in children 10-12 years of age. The data was collected using the test Junior Temperament and Character Inventory (J-TCI; Cloninger, CR, 1994) in three elementary schools among students in fifth grade who had been involved in any of the two interventions for the past two years or no intervention at all. The J-TCI scales were used to, besides the seven personality dimension it measures, create a self-constructed empathy scale. A total of 55 participants were included in the study (girls n = 26 and boys n = 29). Statistical testing with MANOVA showed no significant main effect on empathy or any personality trait. There was however an interaction effect between intervention and gender on the character traits. Girls in the Four Rooms of change in school, compared to boys, reported higher Self-directedness and Cooperativeness and girls in the EQ-workshop reported higher Self-transcendence. The interventions Four Rooms at school and EQ workshop seems to have different impact on boys and girls. / Syftet var att undersöka om användandet av två typer av interventioner (dvs, Fyrarummaren i skolan och EQ verkstan) utöver Läroplanens riktlinjer kan påverka karaktärsutveckling hos barn 10-12 år. Data samlades in med hjälp av testet Junior Temperament och Character Inventory (J-TCI, Cloninger, CR, 1994) i tre grundskolor bland elever i femte klass som hade varit inblandade i någon av de två insatserna under de senaste två åren alternativt ingen intervention alls. J-TCI skalorna användes för att, förutom de sju personlighetsdimensioner den mäter, skapa en egentillverkad empatiskala. Totalt 55 deltagare ingick i studien (flickor n = 26 och pojkar n = 29). Statistisk testning med MANOVA visade ingen signifikant huvudeffekt på empati eller något personlighetsdrag. Det fanns dock en interaktionseffekt mellan intervention och kön på karaktärsdrag. Flickor i  Fyrarummaren i skolan, jämfört med pojkar, rapporterade högre Self-directedness och Cooperativeness och flickor i EQ-verkstan  rapporterade högre Self-transcendence. Interventionerna Fyrarummaren i skolan och EQ-verkstan verkar ha olika påverkan på pojkar och flickor.

Introduction. Serious violent offenders and their offending behaviour stood in focus of thisstudy. Scientific literature tends to classify offenders into non-violent or violent; however,it is known that within the area of violent crime, dimensions of offending behaviour such asgoal-directedness, provocation and planning can be expressed differently. The present studyuses these dimensions to evaluate the construct of serious violent offending by analysingdifferent cases, comparing their offending behavioural profiles and evaluating at what levelthese profiles are consistent with the common psychopathic offending behaviour.Methods. Verdicts and Preliminary investigation protocols of nine Swedish offenderslabelled as seriously violent were used to gather the information from scene investigations,autopsy reports and offender/victim interrogations in order to describe the crime history andcrime dynamics of the cases which served as a basis for assessing different dimensions,using the values from a violent incident coding sheet.Results. Cases of serious violent offending displayed heterogeneity rather thanhomogeneity in the offending behaviour. Homicide offenders demonstrated a mixed patternof behaviour compared to sex offenders who showed a more homogeneous profile withtypically goal-directed, unprovoked and impulsive behaviour, also being more consistentwith the offending behaviour commonly displayed by psychopathic offenders.Conclusion. Based on the dimensions analysed, a universal serious violent offendingbehavioural profile does not seem to exist. More criminological research with a largernumber of subjects is required, however, findings from this study make it arguable tosuggest that sex offenders might benefit from treatment focusing on improving their selfcontrolcompared to homicide offenders where aspects of emotional regulation seem to beof even greater importance. / <p>2016-05-27</p>

The primary purpose of this study was to compare the relative effectiveness of two group counseling methods, a self-directed behavior change group and an experiential growth group, for increasing inner-directedness as measured by Shostrom's Personal Orientation Inventory, in college students who were differentiated, on the basis of a pre-treatment measure of inner-directedness, into internals and externals. A second goal was to compare the overall outcome of each method with a no-treatment control group. Pretest-posttest gain scores on the "I" scale of the Personal Orientation Inventory were obtained for a sample of 72 college students. The data collected were used to test five specific hypotheses which were developed from theoretical considerations. For internal subjects, the order of effectiveness of the treatment conditions was as follows (from most to least): Experiential growth group, self-directed behavior group, and a no-treatment control group. In comparison, the two treatment methods produced statistically similar results. This finding indicates that internals may become more inner-directed as a result of exposure to a variety of group-counseling approaches. For external subjects, the order of effectiveness of the treatment conditions was as follows (from most to least): Self-directed behavior group, experiential growth group, and no-treatment control group. In comparison, the two treatment methods produced significantly different results. This finding indicates that externals are more responsive to a cognitive-oriented, structured approach, than to an affective-oriented, less structured, member-centered approach. Group gain score means on a measure of inner-directedness were significantly higher for treated subjects than for control subjects. This finding suggests that group counseling is an effective method for increasing inner-direction in college students.

Understanding intentionality, i.e. coding the object directedness of agents towards objects, is a fundamental component of Theory of Mind abilities. Yet it is unclear how it is perceived and coded in different species. In this thesis, we present a series of comparative studies to explore human adults' and Capuchin monkeys' ability to infer intentional objects from actions. First we studied whether capuchin monkeys and adult humans infer a potential object from observing an object-directed action. With no direct information about the goal-object, neither species inferred the object from the action. However, when the object was revealed, the monkeys retrospectively encoded the directedness of the object-directed action; unexpectedly, in an adapted version of the task adult humans did not show a similar ability. We then adapted another paradigm, originally designed by Kovács et al (2010), to examine whether the two species implicitly register the intentional relation between an agent and an object. We manipulated an animated agent and the participants' belief about a ball's presence behind a hiding screen. We found no evidence showing that humans or monkeys coded object-directedness or belief. More importantly, we failed to replicate the original results from Kovács et al's study, and through a series of follow up studies, we questioned their conclusions regarding implicit ToM understanding. We suggested that, instead of implicit ToM, results like Kovacs et al's might be interpreted as driven by “sub-mentalizing” processes, as suggested by Heyes (2014). We conclude that so called ‘implicit ToM' may be based upon the computation of intentional relations between perceived agents and objects. But, these computations might present limitations, and some results attributed to implicit ToM may in fact reflect “sub-mentalizing” processes.

The purpose of this study was to understand the reasons the four female participants decided to pursue electrician technician training, their perspectives of the apprenticeship program, their perceptions of successful employment in a male-dominated occupation, and differences in treatment based on their gender. The exploratory questions that guided the study were: what led the females to make the decision for applying to the electrician technician apprenticeship; what was the nature of the education and training experiences of the participants in the electrician technician apprenticeship program, what were the participants’ perceptions of being successful in advancement within the workforce as a female electrician technician; and what gender differences did the participants experience as female electrician technicians? The theoretical framework for this study is based on feminist standpoint theory (Harding, 1991, 1993, 1987; Hartsock, 1997, 1998a 1998b; Smith 1987, 1997). Data collection methods consisted of a demographics questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, participant journals, researcher’s reflexive journal notes, and electrician apprenticeship program data. The cross-case analysis generated five major themes: family support, independence, mentors, self-directedness, and gender stereotypes. These five themes included discussions of the micro, meso, and macro levels in a male-dominated occupation. Implications for practitioners and policy makers are described. This study contributes empirical research on feminist standpoint theory and females in male-dominated occupations. It also adds to the body of literature on female electrician technicians’ decision processes, which are rarely studied, and success in a male-dominated occupation.

The relationships between community college students’ sense of community, student self-directed learning readiness, and successful completion of online courses were investigated using a correlational research design. Rovai’s Classroom Community Scale was used to measure classroom community, and the Fisher Self-directed Learning Readiness Scale was used to measure self-directed learning readiness, including three subscales of self-management, desire for learning, and self-control. The study participants were 205 students (49 males, 156 females; 131 White, 39 Black, 15 Asian, 10 Latino, 10 Multi-racial, 1 Native American) taking online courses during a summer term at a Texas community college. The research hypotheses were tested using Pearson r correlation coefficients between each of the seven independent variables (student learning, connectedness, classroom community, self-management, desire for learning, self-control, and self-directed learning readiness) and student successful course completion data. Contrary to prior study results, no association was found between students’ sense of community in online courses and student successful course completion. Although statistically significant differences were found between successful course completion and self-management (r = .258), desire for learning (r = .162), and self-directed learning readiness (r = .184), effect sizes were small suggesting a lack of practical significance. Possible reasons for the outcome of this study differing from prior research include relatively shorter semester length (summer term) during which data were collected and relatively smaller sample size.

The purposes of this study were to investigate the possible therapeutic and educational effects of writing an autobiography in an undergraduate developmental psychology course, to explore the role of structure in writing an autobiography, and to determine if any significant sex differences exist in the effects of writing an autobiography.

Ausgehend von dem Fokus der Ereignisrepräsentation auf die Patiens-Rolle (Personen und Objekte, die der im Ereignis stattfindenden Zustandsveränderung unterliegen) wird untersucht, ob die sich während des Ereignisses verändernden Merkmale des Patiens Bestandteil des Ereigniswissens sind und zur Repräsentation des chronologischen Verlaufs von Ereignissen beitragen. Dies wurde anhand der Bearbeitung von antonymen Adjektiven geprüft, die Anfangs- und Endmerkmale des Patiens eines zuvor dargebotenen Ereignisverbs benennen. Ausgewertet wurden behaviorale Daten und Blickbewegungen. Dabei wurden mit zeit-impliziten und zeit-expliziten Aufgaben folgende Ergebnisse erzielt: (1) Die Ereignisrepräsentation enthält sich verändernde Merkmale des Patiens. (2) Die Merkmale des Patiens werden abhängig von der angewandten Strategie (sprachliche vs. Simulationsstrategie) in einer chronologischen Abfolge mental simuliert. (3) Endmerkmale haben gegenüber Anfangsmerkmalen Priorität in der Ereignisrepräsentation. Sie sind im Ereignisverb impliziert und können so sprachlich bereitgestellt werden. (4) Die Zeiteffekte (Chronologie und Zielpräferenz) treten bereits unter automatischen Bedingungen (SOA 250 ms, zeit-implizite Aufgabe) auf. (5) Antwortstrategien wurden insbesondere durch Blickbewegungen indiziert. Antwortstrategien modifizieren die Zeiteffekte und geben Aufschluss über den Anteil der sprachlichen Verarbeitung und der Simulation. Insgesamt lässt sich aus den Untersuchungen schließen, dass die Veränderung des Patiens und damit Aspekte des zeitlichen Verlaufs von Ereignissen zur Ereignisrepräsentation gehören. Die Befundlage deutet auf ein dynamisches Zusammenspiel von sprachlichen und Simulationsprozessen bei der Repräsentation des zeitlichen Verlaufs hin. / This thesis comprises three investigations into the mental representation of events. Proceeding on the assumption that representations of events focus on the role of the patient (the person or object undergoing a change of state during the event), it is investigated whether the changing features of the patient form part of event knowledge and whether or not they contribute to the way in which the temporal progression of events is represented. The study involved time-implicit and time-explicit tasks that required participants to process antonymous adjectives denoting the source and resulting features of the patient involved in an event prime. Behavioural and eye movement data were analysed and the following results obtained: (1) The changing features of the patient form part of the representation of the event. (2) Depending on the strategy adopted (linguistic vs. simulation), patient features can be mentally simulated in chronological order. (3) Resulting features play a more prominent role in event representations than source features. Resulting features are implied by the event verb and can thus be accessed linguistically. (4) Temporal effects (preference for resulting features, effect of chronology) already occur in the automatic condition (SOA 250 ms, time-implicit tasks). (5) Response strategies are indicated by eye movements. Response strategies modify temporal effects and provide an indication of how much linguistic processing is taking place and how much simulation. All in all the investigations show that the change undergone by the patient, i.e. the aspect which expresses the temporal progression of an event, forms part of the representation of that event. The results point to a dynamic interplay of linguistic and simulation processing in the representation of temporal progression.