A research report submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the F'ield of Psychology by Course Work arid Research Report: 1996 ..7 Johannesburg, 1997 / This research project set out to explore the racial identities of a selected group of South African whites who were Afrikaans-speaking, Unstructured, in-depth interview techniques were employed, in which the conversations with the participnnts were recorded and transcribed, These transcripts were then subjected tr) a discourse analysis, whereby any possible effeci s and functions of the talk were examined, A number of theoretical approaches informed this task. These included Foucault's concept of discourse and his account of the functioning of disciplinary power in modern societies. Adorno and Horkheimer's ideas 011 prejudice and racism were also found to be of t;!C,lt relevance to this research, as well i1S Altlmsser's formulation of the concept of ideology, ideological state apparatuses, incerpellation and subject positioning. The relationship between psychic and social structures was also explored in the light of Adorno and Horkhelmer's fermulation of prejudice M ,\ defence mechanism. Within this broad framework, it was shown that aside from its overt content, racise talk could be described as having important ideological effects. These included normalisation. legitimation and j\lstificatioll of the existing unequal relations ill. society. The discourse analytic striitcgy facilitated an ,111;11Y5is of the conditions under which the participants were constructed .\S subjects, and the manner In which the terms they used (such I\S race, culture and nation) were imbricated with broader discursive and ideological formations, The influence of social class, gender and uge variables in the interview settings were also evaluated.

The five stories in this collection are an exploration of realist fiction through a variety of narrative points of view and a diversity of characters. The stories explore issues of class, age, work and family, but in each piece, the characters struggle in their own way to discover a sense of belonging in their own lives. Central to each of these stories is a sense of place. All are set in the American west, most in rural California and the land and activities of place provide not only a specific landscape, but often a limitation, a narrative element against which the characters both resist and find their truest home.

Within the population of adult English-language learners in the United States, the largest portion is comprised of Spanish speakers from Mexico and Central and South America. At the same time, Spanish is the second-most commonly spoken language in the U.S., and an increasing presence in U.S. media and culture. This puts English learners from this demographic in a unique position with respect to language and culture acquisition and the experience of working towards their goals within U.S. society at large. The purpose of this study is to explore motivations and beliefs about language and culture held by a small number English-language learners belonging to this huge, diverse community. Drawing on theory from the fields of second language acquisition and sociolinguistics, a survey eliciting opinions about cultural affiliation and language standards was created and versions in either English or Spanish were distributed to volunteers from this population living in Oregon. Fifty-two surveys were returned. The responses to the surveys were then compared with one another to examine any connections between participant beliefs about language value, cultural affiliation, and learning strategy preferences. Statistical comparisons were also carried out to determine whether certain orientations correlated with one another. Analysis of the survey responses showed that while affiliation to United States culture was variable, all participants maintained at least a moderate feeling of affiliation to their home countries, despite twenty-seven, or just over half, of them having lived in the U.S. for over ten years. However, all but one of the participants were also interested in learning about U.S. culture and thirty-nine believed in the possibility of being part of more than one culture at a time. Participants were more likely to prefer collaborative strategies for learning about culture, but for learning language they preferred individual strategies, and had a general low estimation of the utility of non-standard forms of language, including non-standard English and Spanglish. A moderate negative correlation (Spearman p=.521) that was statistically significant (p=.001) was found between the degree to which participants had a multicultural affiliation and their beliefs about the importance of knowing non-standard forms of English. While the participating sample is too small and opportunistic for the findings to be generalizable, from the results of the surveys it can be concluded that: multicultural affiliation is something that can be (and is) experienced to varying degrees by some language learners in this population sample; individual learning strategies seem preferred for learning language; and non-standard English is not considered as valuable as standard English. Additionally, a negative correlation between multicultural affiliation and the perceived importance of knowing non-standard English is suggested. These findings may have implications for language instructors and others who wish to investigate the motivations, priorities, and language beliefs of adult English students from this particular demographic.

Over the past decade, researchers have documented the steady growth of religious "nones," those who do not affiliate with any organized religion. There is, however, limited research examining religious disaffiliation on health outcomes--that is, how the process of religious disaffiliation or exiting contributes to mental well-being. These trends and gap in the literature make it timely and it is important to consider the impact of leaving religion on the well-being of individuals experiencing this life transition. This qualitative study investigates a particularly understudied subgroup of exiters -- individuals who have exited Christian fundamentalist religious groups. Drawing on 24 in-depth, individual interviews, this research examines how former religious participants reconstruct identity, social relationships and support, and meaning related to well-being -- conceptualized as the religious exiting process for this study. I employ Iterative Thematic Inquiry or ITI, a new qualitative analytic strategy that focuses on theme development before data collection, through an initial assessment of researcher preconceptions, and that writing, versus coding, is the primary procedure for data analysis. The results demonstrate that while it is challenging in the initial stages of the exiting process to forge a new sense of identity, cultivate new relationships and support, and achieve a positive meaning outcome, over time, this reconstruction contributes to greater life satisfaction.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / The identity status paradigm (ISP) is probably the most common theoretical model used to study identity development. It originates from Erikson’s (1950/1977) psychosocial theory, which, in turn, is historically rooted in the psychoanalytic perspective. The ISP postulates predictable relationships between each of the identity status categories and various intrapersonal and contextual variables. The applicability of the ISP in the South African context is tested in this study. A student sample was drawn from a predominantly African university, and was assessed for identity development over a period of three consecutive years (Ns = 394, 96 & 60, for years one, two and three, in that order). Participants were initially classified into the four identity status categories of Achievement, Moratorium, Foreclosure and Diffusion. The impact of gender and age on identity status development was investigated. The association between defenses and the identity statuses was also determined. Thereafter, identity statuses, in conjunction with defenses, narcissism, and parental attachment, were related to the ego strengths of Fidelity and Love. The results suggest that generally there is no relationship between the sets of variables in this particular sample. The results are discussed in relation to existing literature, and the issue of the appropriateness of the theory and/or the measures in the present sample is raised. Key terms: defense, ego strength, identity status, narcissism, parental attachment / the Norwegian Programme for Development, Research and Education (NUFU),

No description available.

In Australia, family storytelling and religion, the traditional sources of shared stories, are in decline. Stories are increasingly sourced from books, television, film and the internet. But the research suggests that whilst the sources of stories have changed over time, from family and bible stories to books, radio, television and film, the role of those stories has been constant. It has been argued that there is an important connection between an individual?s perception of their own place in the world, their understanding of what constitutes a good life and how to live it, and their ability to empathise with the lives and problems of others (MacIntyre, 1981; Taylor, 1989; Aristotle, 1996; Kearney, 2002). The research indicates that this core bundle of values, attitudes and beliefs is commonly derived from the stories to which individuals are exposed from an early age. Access to stories with which the individual can personally identify and which are familiar to and shared with those around them is crucial in establishing a satisfactory self-narrative (Polkinghorne, 1988), and to the individual's ability to communicate it successfully through the process of triple mimesis (Ricoeur, 1991/1980). Of crucial importance is access to sharable stories which resemble significant aspects of the recipient's own life and circumstances. Respondents who had endured personal difficulties were more likely to accept their circumstances and live successful lives when they had been able to identify with a story describing a similar problem and its credible resolution. However, individuals who had been unable to identify with a public story and establish a satisfactory self-narrative were more likely to be socially dysfunctional. The research also indicates a correlation between exposure to word-based stories at an early age, and the later development of imagination and ambition. People who only experienced visual stories in their early years appeared less articulate, less able to imagine things beyond their own experience, and were less ambitious in their career aspirations. Australia is an increasingly diverse nation, with a wide and growing variety of cultures, beliefs and circumstances represented in the population. It is argued that to maintain the social health of such a diverse community Australia requires an equally wide variety of public stories to ensure that all sections of the community can find a suitable reflection of their lives and circumstances. / thesis (PhDBusinessandManagement)--University of South Australia, 2005.

In his Dialogue on the State of a Christian Man (1597), William Perkins articulated the popular early-modern understanding that the individual is a "double person" organised under "spiritual" and "temporal" regiments. In the one, he is a person "under Christ" and must endeavour to become Christ-like; in the other, he is a person "in respect of" others and bound to fulfil his duties towards them. This early-modern self, governed by relationships and the obligations they entail, was profoundly vulnerable to the formative influence of speech, for relationships themselves were in part created and sustained through social dialogue. Similarly, the individual could hope to become "a person...under Christ" only by hearing spiritual speech - Scripture preached or read, or the "secret soule-whisperings" of the Spirit. The capacity of speech to effect real and lasting change in the auditor was a commonplace in seventeenth-century England: the conscious crafting of identity, dramatised by Stephen Greenblatt in Renaissance Self-Fashioning, occurred daily in domestic and social transactions, in the exchange of civilities, the use of apostrophe, and strategies of praise. It happened when friends or strangers met, when host greeted guest, or the signatory to a letter penned vocatives that defined his addressee. It lacked a sense of high drama but was nonetheless calculated and effective. Speaking Selves proposes that examining the impact of speech upon the "double person" not only contributes to our understanding of selfhood in the seventeenth century, but also, and more importantly, leads to new insights into some of that century�s greatest literary artefacts: Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes. The first chapter turns to conduct manuals and conversion narratives, to speech-act theory and discourse analysis, and draws out those verbal strategies that contributed to the organisation of social and spiritual selves. Chapter 2 turns to Paradise Lost and traces the Father�s gradual revelation to the Son, through apostrophe, how he is to reflect, how enact the divine being whose visible and verbal expression he is. Chapter 3 discusses advice on address behaviour in seventeenth-century marriage treatises; it reveals the positive contribution of generous apostrophe and verbal mirroring to Adam and Eve�s Edenic marriage. The conversational dyads in heaven and prelapsarian Eden enact positive identities for their collocutors. Satan, however, begetting himself by diabolical speech-act, discovers the ability of words to dismantle the identity of others. Chapter 4 traces the development of his deceptive strategies, drawing attention to his wilful misrepresentation of social identity as a means to pervert the spiritual identity of his collocutor. The final chapter explores the reorganisation of the complex social-spiritual person in the postlapsarian world. We watch the protagonist of Samson discriminate between the many voices that attempt to impose upon him their own understanding of selfhood. Drawing on spiritual autobiographies as structurally and thematically analogous to Milton�s drama, this final chapter traces the inward plot of Samson as its fallen hero redefines identity and rediscovers the "intimate impulse" of the Spirit that alone can complete the reorganisation of the spiritual self.

Consumers tell stories every day: stories about the products they buy, the experiences they consume, even their friends� and families� consumption experiences - in fact, stories about most aspects of their lives. People live �storied� lives. Consumption experiences are understood and related to others through stories (2003). These stories are loaded with personal, social and cultural meaning that varies significantly dependent upon the intended audience and effect (Bruner 1987) Stories are everywhere and understanding these narratives in relation to consumer experience is a challenge that consumer research must embrace (Stern 1998b). The study of such narratives must address issues such as the content of the story, how it is told, who is actually doing the telling and for what purpose. All these stories exist in context. These contexts are not a means in themselves; rather, they are a means to understand a particular aspect of a consumer phenomenon. In this case, the research presented in this thesis seeks to understand the purpose and function of consumers� narratives about commercial adventure experiences. Hence the context of this research is commercial adventure experiences consumed in Queenstown, New Zealand, billed in promotional tourist literature as �the adventure capital of the world� (Smitz et al. 2004). This specific focus on commercial adventure therefore defines the sample group as consumers of commercial adventure experiences in Queenstown. Hence, the scope of this research is limited to understanding the phenomenon under investigation (consumer narratives) in relation to members of Generation Y, as they are the primary consumers of commercial adventure experiences in New Zealand. This research adopts an interpretive, inductive approach utilising qualitative tools to frame and develop an evolving research question. The primary data collection has an initial framing of the research question phase and then three main phases utilising a variety of qualitative tools including observation, in-depth interviewing and videography. The research addressed many issues, including the preference of consumers to narrate these adventure consumption experiences to their most valued community, their home community, and how they intended to tell their stories to their home community when removed from that community. Additionally, consumers� perceptions of �cool� were investigated, together with the reactions they anticipated receiving from their audiences. This research investigated �cool� as a more meaningful term than status, used by the members of Generation Y to describe the most desired outcome for the narration of their consumption experiences. Several key themes emerged from this research. They were the use of these consumer experience narratives in the identity-construction process, both collectively and individually, and how this related to the classic hero myth identity construction (Campbell 1972) and how �cool� was acquired by these consumers through their narrations. Implications of the findings are presented for consumer research with specific reference to a model of community formation based on consumption practices and Generation Y as a community sharing a consciousness of kind.

This investigation aims to explore the attitudes of adolescents towards learning music and to gauge the extent of their involvement in the activities of playing, singing, creating and listening to music. It also seeks to determine the views of adolescents on attributions for success in various activities, including music. Beliefs about selfconcept, or self-identity, and their relationships to academic achievement and musical involvement are explored. The review of literature spans various facets of self-perception, including selfconcept, self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-regulation, and self-concept development, and considers the role of music in self-concept development. The impact of self-perceptions on motivation, which is central to learning, achievement and engagement, is also considered. The basic principles of learning, and their application to learning in music, provide the foundation for specific aspects of music learning, namely, music literacy, learning to play a musical instrument, singing, music technology and informal learning. The relationship between music learning and academic achievement is reviewed. The particular importance of music in adolescence, and adolescent attitudes to school music, provide a backdrop to the analysis of the wide-ranging factors involved in self-concept development, motivation and learning principles, thus leading to an overview of the various approaches which can facilitate the engagement of adolescents in learning in general, and in high school music in particular. A researcher-designed Survey of Musical Experiences and Self-concept was administered to Year 9 and 10 students in three high schools in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. Data from the survey, along with academic results, were collected from the 282 participants in the study. The data provide background information about each participant, along with their perceptions about perceived areas of strength and reasons for success in these areas. Information about involvement in musical activities was collated for all students, with approximately half of the students not studying music at school. Measures for self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965) and perceived competence (Chan, 1993) were included in the survey. Using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods, the data were analysed in relation to the extent of involvement in music, attitudes to learning music, students’ attributions for success, and strengths of the relationships between musical involvement, self-concept and academic achievement. Conclusions can be drawn based on the survey data and the literature review, and these emphasise the importance of the social nature of learning and of providing opportunities for creative work in classroom activities. The most outstanding finding to be highlighted from the study was the aspect of enjoyment as a reason for achievement which appears to feature prominently in students’ responses, yet it is less widely recognised in the literature. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1321529 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Elder Conservatorium of Music, 2008