The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of consensus processes within the context of designing a large scale public educational system involving large groups of planning partners and subject-matter experts. Initially, this study examined the use of a consensus-building model developed by the Schoolyear 2000 initiative in several individual and joint design team meetings. Questions investigated included: (1) To what degree was the consensus-building model being observed in design team meetings? (2) What were the strengths in using this model to arrive at group consensus on design criteria? (3) What were the weaknesses in using this model to arrive at group consensus on design criteria? (4) How practical was it to use this model for all team meetings to arrive at consensus on design criteria? and (5) Did group composition (e.g., size of groups, number of males and females) affect group decisions with or without the use of this model? / Proponents of large scale educational restructuring and planning call for the use of systems theory and principles of instructional systems design. Although both constructs call for the use of subject-matter experts and planning partners, systems theory and instructional systems design do not address the use and coordination of these key players, especially when large groups are involved. / The participants for this study consisted of five design teams with membership composed of classroom educators, school administrators, district administrators, Department of Education members, business and industry representatives, and community college and university educators. Design team sizes ranged from 43 to 87 members. / A mail-out survey, telephone follow-up interviews, written and videotaped observations of individual and joint design team meetings, and collection of artifacts were used and analyzed as data sources. / Results indicated the consensus-building model was not strictly adhered to and a modified consensus process was substituted by design team facilitators. Observed strengths, weaknesses, and practicality of the modified consensus process are discussed as well as group composition, additional observations, conclusions and recommendations. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-11, Section: A, page: 4224. / Major Professor: Marcy P. Driscoll. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

Traumatic stress studies have shown that those who are close to the survivor of a traumatic event may suffer similar post-traumatic stress symptoms as the survivor. This process has been defined as secondary traumatic stress. Therapists who see trauma survivors on a regular basis may be at risk for experiencing secondary traumatic stress reactions. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of secondary traumatic stress among marriage and family therapists and the factors that contribute to the development of secondary traumatic stress. A survey research design was employed on a national sample of American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy clinical members. Correlational analyses and hierarchial multiple regression procedures were performed to ascertain possible relationships between secondary traumatic stress symptoms (STSS) and therapists' cognitive schemas; perceived social support; percentage of client case load who have experienced traumatic events; level of satisfaction with total client case load; number of hours per week listening to client traumatic material; and number of personal traumatic events. / The results indicate that marriage and family therapists are experiencing a moderate level of secondary stress as compared to other sampled groups. Cognitive schemas and level of satisfaction with total case load were significantly correlated with secondary traumatic stress. Hours spent listening to client traumatic material were significantly correlated with the intrusion subscale of the Impact of Event Scale. Two sets of predictor variables moderately explained the variance in secondary traumatic stress. These findings suggest that further study is needed to determine possible other factors which might contribute more to the explanation of secondary traumatic stress. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-08, Section: B, page: 4586. / Major Professor: Charles Figley. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

This was a correlational study which examined the interrelationships between self-handicapping, gender, adult child of alcoholic (ACOA) status, and self-esteem. Self-handicapping was the criterion variable, operationalized by the Self-Handicapping Scale (Strube, 1986). Gender, ACOA status (ACOA or non-ACOA) and self-esteem were the predictor variables. ACOA status was determined by self-report on a demographic survey constructed by the researcher. Self-esteem was operationalized by the revised Janis-Field Feelings of Inadequacy Scale (Eagly, 1967). / Subjects were 81 clients at a university student counseling center. The total sample included 24 males and 57 females; 43 ACOAs (53%) and 38 non-ACOAs (47%). / Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test statistical significance of the main effects and interaction of ACOA status and gender with respect to self-handicapping, not adjusting and adjusting for self-esteem (ANCOVA). Findings included the following: (1) the main effects and interaction between ACOA status groups and gender groups on the self-handicapping variable were not significant. (2) The ANCOVA adjusting for self-esteem failed to confirm a significant difference between ACOA status groups, or between gender groups, but some effect of ACOA status on self-handicapping was noted. (3) Self-esteem was significantly associated with self-handicapping, accounting for 29.6% of the variance. The correlation between high self-esteem and high self-handicapping was found to be $-$.54, higher than previously reported. / The findings and their implications for therapy and future research were discussed. Recommendations included a need to examine the social desirability response biases in the selected instruments, a need to refine the ACOA construct, and the need for ACOA service provision in university counseling centers. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-02, Section: B, page: 1123. / Major Professor: James P. Sampson, Jr. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

This study explored the usefulness of the warp factor, a measure of the extent to which a multidimensional scaling solution is non-Euclidean in Galileo theory, as a measure of cognitive dissonance. A direct measure of cognitive dissonance has been lacking from dissonance theory, provoking criticism in the literature. Meanwhile, proponents of Galileo theory have claimed that dissonance is among the theoretic explanations of warp. By testing the usefulness of warp as a measure of dissonance, this study contributes to both these theoretical bodies of literature within the communication discipline. / The methodology consisted of a randomized, post test only design where dissonance was manipulated by asking each subject in the experimental conditions to write a counter-attitudinal essay. Subjects were students in large-enrollment undergraduate communication classes at a major southeastern university. Because many subjects refused to cooperate with the manipulation, data were collected twice and the results combined for analysis. A "bootstrap" technique for computing error around the warp factor was used to allow hypothesis testing. / The hypothesis relating levels of dissonance to size of the warp factor was not supported, as no significant warp was measured for any group. The results are thought to be due to subjects' success in reducing the induced dissonance before it could be measured using the Galileo technique. Tentative conclusions include the possibility that the warp factor is not useful as a measure of the kind of cognitive dissonance which can ordinarily be manipulated in an experiment because in practice this type of dissonance can be reduced by subject self-persuasion or other means before it can be measured using warp. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-08, Section: A, page: 2008. / Major Professor: C. Edward Wotring. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to evaluate organizational attributional style (OAS). OAS is defined as an individual's characteristic attributional tendencies concerning work related issues. Based on a review of the existing attributional literature, a scale was developed to assess OAS. The scale was given to two groups of subjects along with measures of other constructs of interest. Both an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were performed and relationships between OAS and other variables (e.g. performance, turnover) were assessed. Reported reliabilities of the scale was acceptable and some evidence for the construct validity of the scale was found. The results of this study should serve as a guide to future attributional research in organizational behavior. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-10, Section: A, page: 3656. / Major Professor: Mark J. Martinko. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

This study was conducted to determine whether there were differences in clothing interest, body satisfaction, fashion opinion leadership qualities and self-esteem among underweight, average weight, and overweight females. In addition, research was done to discover any relationships between these variables. The Baggs Scale composed of Likert style questions covering the four dependent variables was administered to 241 females ranging in age from 18 to 45 who were enrolled at F.S.U. in the Fall 1984. The subjects were categorized as average weight, underweight, or overweight according to their height, weight and bone structure using the Garrison, Leslie, and Blackmore weight table (GLB) and the 1983 Metropolitan Height and Weight table for Women (MET). The Metropolitan weight chart grouped more subjects as underweight where the Garrison, Leslie, and Blackmore weight chart grouped more subjects as overweight. / Three out of the five null hypotheses were rejected (using a point.05 rejection level) when subjects were grouped according to the MET chart. Two out of the five null hypotheses were rejected when subjects were regrouped according to the GLB chart. The data indicated no significant difference in clothing interest, self-esteem, and fashion opinion leadership qualities for underweight, average weight, and overweight females regardless of which weight chart was used to group the subjects. Underweight and average weight females were significantly more satisfied with their bodies than overweight females. Positive correlations were found between body satisfaction and self-esteem, clothing interest and fashion opinion leadership qualities, clothing interest and body satisfaction, and self-esteem and fashion opinion leadership qualities. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-07, Section: B, page: 2921. / Major Professor: Jessie A. Warden. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

Conceptualizations of leader performance-contingent behaviors have recently been expanded by Schriesheim, Hinkin, and Podsakoff (1989). Their taxonomy of leader response behavior includes not only the traditional concepts of leader reward and punishment, but also the concept of leader omission, whereby no leader behavior is emitted following subordinate performance. One purpose of this manuscript was to more fully develop the construct of leader omission by comparing it with traditional operant concepts (such as reward, punishment, and extinction) and assessing its relationships with subordinate performance and role ambiguity. Most studies in this area have been field examinations. In these studies, leader response behaviors may have been confounded with other contingencies in the organizational environment, making it difficult to determine what factors were controlling subordinate performance. A laboratory study was conducted which allowed the subordinate's environment to consist only of leader contingencies. In addition, a review of the literature revealed that other sources of performance-related information, besides leader response behavior, may operate on the direction and intensity of subordinate performance changes. This other information has been identified as the quality of feedback information communicated to the subordinate by the leader. This study was designed to examine the effects of different levels of feedback information quality and three leader behaviors (reward behavior, punitive behavior, and extinction), under different levels of subordinate performance (manipulated by the researcher) on subsequent subordinate performance and role ambiguity. As expected, results indicated that there were significant interactions between the experimental factors with respect to their effects on performance. The performance patterns that emerged under / different experimental conditions indicate (1) the importance of consistency between leader behavior and feedback, (2) the negative impact of punishment on performance and role ambiguity, and (3) the important role information processing plays in an individual's interpretation of performance-related cues from his working environment. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: A, page: 0997. / Major Professor: Mark J. Martinko. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

<p> Classism is a recently studied, but historically existent form of oppression. Classism may involve students feeling that they cannot pursue a degree or career due to discrimination related to their social class status. This study explored the relationship between classism, gender, age, race, socioeconomic status, and career agency through survey design research. Career agency is the primary dependent variable in this study. Career agency includes career choice, career forethought, and career related actions related. Psychometrically established instruments including The Experiences With Perceived Classism Scale&ndash;Short Form and The Career Futures Inventory&ndash;Revised were used to assess classism and career agency. Using this design, data were collected from undergraduate university students of various genders, races, socioeconomic statuses, ages, career anticipations, and potential experiences of classism at a large Midwestern university in the United States. Student data were collected to explore any potential associations between any self-report of perceived classism and students&rsquo; reported career agency. Student responses were then analyzed through correlations, an independent samples t-test, and a multiple linear regression analysis. </p><p>

The early developmental course of the correspondence between children's self-perceptions and perceptions of them held by their teachers and peers concerning cognitive competence, peer acceptance, and physical competence was investigated in 46 preschoolers, 55 second graders, and 47 fifth graders. Self-perceptions were measured using age-appropriate forms of Harter's scales: The Self-Perceptions Profile for Children (Harter, 1985b) or the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Acceptance for Young Children (Harter & Pike, 1984). Teacher perceptions were assessed using Harter's (1985b) Teacher's Rating Scale of Child's Actual Behavior or Harter and Pike's (1984) Teacher's Rating Scale of Child's Actual Competence and Social Acceptance, Wheeler and Ladd's (1982) Teacher Rating of Social Efficacy Scale, and a 6-item behavioral questionnaire derived from the work of Coie, Dodge, & Coppotelli (1982). Peer perceptions were assessed using a multiple-criteria positive and negative nomination technique (Boivin & Begin, 1986) and the same 6-item behavioral questionnaire that was used by teachers Some support for age-related differences in self-perceptions was found. Fifth graders perceived themselves as less competent in the cognitive domain than did younger children. For peer acceptance, female's self-perceptions were slightly higher at each subsequent age, while second-grade male's self-perceptions were significantly higher than those of preschoolers or fifth graders. In the physical domain, female's self-perceptions were higher at the preschool and second-grade age levels than at the fifth-grade age level, while male children's self-perceptions were slightly lower at each subsequent age. Accuracy of self-perceptions, measured by high correspondence with others and low self-enhancement bias, depended upon the particular dimension of self being assessed, as well as upon the age and the gender of the child. In general, children's self-evaluations did not correspond well with the evaluations given by their teachers or their peers. Relative to teachers' views, younger children overestimated their cognitive competence more than did older children. By fifth grade, salient behavioral characteristics as perceived by peers and teachers correlated with self-perceptions of peer acceptance. Fifth-grade children who expressed high self-perceptions of peer acceptance were described by both peers and teachers as cooperative, leaders, not shy, and not asking for unnecessary help / acase@tulane.edu

Job loss and layoffs have become an economic fact of life as a result of constant mergers, acquisitions, restructuring, and general economic malaise. As a consequence, researchers have examined behavioral, physiological, and cognitive reactions of the unemployed. The purposes of this study were to examine the role of age and education in predicting career and employment expectancies, various demographic variables in predicting financial strain and subsequent negative affect, hostility as a result of justice perceptions, and expectations, job loss attributions, and affect as predicted by various attributional styles. 424 job losers who were corporate sponsored outplacement clients of a nation-wide career consulting firm completed a survey involving antecedents of, and behavioral and cognitive reactions to, job loss Analyses were conducted using causal modeling techniques. Older job losers were found to have generally lower vocational expectancies involving their career and prospects for re-employment, particularly with respect to anticipated changes in industries and fields. Education was not found to be a particularly good predictor of either vocational expectancies, nor its components. Job losers with lower salaries and greater number of dependents experienced greater financial strain, and subsequent anxiety, depression, and hostility. Gender and marital status were not predictive of financial strain. Perceptions of justice were found to be multi-factorial, involving both procedural justice and interactional justice. Although both procedural justice and interactional justice were predictive of hostility, interactional justice was a better predictor Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, as well as reliability analysis indicated that the Attributional Style Questionnaire (Peterson, Semmel, Von Bayer, Abramson, Metelsky, & Seligman, 1982) was psychometrically unsound. Employment expectancies involving comparison to others with similar skills, age, and education, and expectancies involving chances for a better or similar salary were negatively related to anxiety. Job loss attributions involving changes in technology, management, obsolescence, and the external factors of labor market and general economic conditions were not predictive of affective reactions. However, job losers blaming their job loss on effort, performance, job demands, inability to fit into the organization's culture, and interpersonal skills, did report experiencing guilt / acase@tulane.edu