Depression research demonstrates that self-focused processing, such as rumination, causes and maintains depressive disorders (Pyszczynski & Greenberg, 1987; Kuhl & Helle, 1986; Nolen-Hoeksema, 1987), while emotional processing literature shows beneficial effects to self-focus under some circumstances (Rachman, 1980; Foa & Kozak, 1986; Pennebaker, 1989). Therefore, it seems that self-focus is not inherently detrimental; rather, the way a person self-focuses could differentiate between unhealthy rumination and healthy emotional processing. Rude, Maestas, and Neff (2006) demonstrated that when the wording of a well-known rumination measure was altered to reduce judgment, the measure no longer correlated with depression. Mindfulness approaches that emphasize a non-judgmental acceptance of one's experience have produced beneficial outcomes (Baer, 2003), thus corroborating this finding. This dissertation investigated the role of acceptance in emotional recovery from a distressing event. It was hypothesized that encouraging participants to process emotions in an accepting manner would help them recover from a dysphoric mood more quickly than participants not given acceptance instructions or those given instructions to evaluate and change their emotions. Recovery was defined as return to baseline on measures of heart rate, skin conductance, skin temperature, self-reported positive and negative affect, and rumination (cognitive priming). In addition, the study investigated whether differences in the effects of emotional processing condition would be greatest for participants with low trait acceptance of emotions or high trait rumination. As predicted, Acceptance participants reported less negative affect than Control participants at the end of the study. There were no significant differences on negative affect between Acceptance and Evaluation conditions, however. Hypothesized differences in recovery as measured by heart rate, skin conductance, skin temperature, positive affect, and rumination were not found. As predicted, trait rumination and emotional acceptance interacted with processing condition for negative mood and heart rate: Acceptance and Evaluation conditions reduced negative mood more than the Control group for participants low in trait Emotional Acceptance, and the Acceptance condition reduced heart rate for high ruminators more than the Control group. Interestingly, and contrary to prediction, Acceptance participants showed evidence of greater priming of failure-related words than the other two groups on the reaction time measure. / text

This thesis aims to provide a theory of human rationality which is consistent with, and supportive of, the naturalistic approach to philosophy of mind. I analyse why the common tendency not to furnish a systematic and rigorous account of rationality is philosophically inadequate - namely, because this overlooks the critical role which the concept of rationality plays in the 'principle of charity' (Quine 1960; Davidson 1984) in philosophy of mind, which is a central part of a unified naturalistic approach to philosophy of mind and rationality. I aim to contribute to the field by rectifying this omission. I identify the theoretical commitments of any naturalistic approach to the theory of rationality - in particular, I argue for the neglected fact that naturalism commits us to an instrumental theory of rationality. I defend the theory of instrumental rationality against its critics, by means of elaborating the implications of the notion - also frequently overlooked - that the concept of rationality is one which applies paradigmatically to agents, rather than to reasoning processes considered in isolation (for example). The resultant instrumental theory of personal rationality which I develop and defend is characterised by two main original (related) features: (1) Certain fundamental features of human rationality are identified as constitutive in nature and status - given that humans are agents, then it follows necessarily that our theory of rationality has these certain characteristics. (2) Full instrumental rationality demands rationality of the self, which introduces further rational constraints of consistency (for example). I build upon these two central features of my theory of rationality to demonstrate how this account can thereby rebut accusations of extreme relativism and inadequacy of scope. Thus I aim to show how my instrumental theory of personal rationality can provide a philosophically adequate account of the normative status of rationality within the remit of the naturalist approach, and thereby also furnish adequate philosophical support for a defensible naturalistic theory of the mind.

No description available.

Breastfeeding self-efficacy is considered one of the key components of a successful breastfeeding experience. The benefits of breastfeeding are well established in the literature and have been widely communicated to the public, resulting in an increasing trend of breastfeeding initiation. However, the United States still falls short of Healthy People 2020 breastfeeding goals. The purpose of this project was to examine the effects of a standardized hospital-based prenatal breastfeeding class on breastfeeding self-efficacy. Dennis's breastfeeding self-efficacy theory was the foundation for the breastfeeding self-efficacy tool used in this project. A quasi-experimental design used a convenience sample of 30 breastfeeding class participants as the experimental group and 30 postpartum women who had no formal breastfeeding education as the control group. The Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale Short Form (BSES-SF) was administered to the intervention group prior to the breastfeeding class, at the end of the class, prior to hospital discharge, and at 2 weeks postpartum. The control group received the survey prior to hospital discharge and at 2 weeks postpartum. Key findings indicated that participants in the breastfeeding class demonstrated a statistically significant increase in breastfeeding confidence after the class (t = 9.55(29), p = 0.00). There was no difference between the intervention and control groups at discharge (t = -.412(47), p = 0.686). Nurses and lactation professionals are in a position to evoke social change by examining the impact of breastfeeding self-efficacy and using the findings to shape breastfeeding education.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of Hinduism's most outstanding texts composed around the 9^th c. CE in south India; it is superbly written, with aesthetic sensitivity and metaphysical subtlety. In his book The Advaitic Theism of The Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Daniel Sheridan has examined the Bhāgavata Purāṇa in order to understand its religious structure, both implicit as well as explicit. This thesis aims at taking current research of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa a step forward in deciphering its doctrine, structure, and meaning. The work first raises the question, "What are the Bhāgavata Purāṇa's literary components", and argues that the Bhāgavata Purāṇa is composed of two such groups: "Knowledge" and "Aesthetics". Knowledge is associated with direct usage of language and the conception of Impersonal Brahman, whereas aesthetics are associated with indirect usage of language and the concept of Personal Brahman. The work proceeds to look closer at the status of emotions in Indian thought, and argues that in some Indian schools, emotions are taken to possess an ontological status, and therefore are considered to reveal reality rather than obscure it. The relations of Vaiṣṇavism and dramaturgy are examined, both historically as well as theologically, and it is argued that the Bhāgavata Purāṇa has clear dramatic elements. This thesis next proceeds to decipher the aesthetic theory underlying the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, and argues that it is Bharata's rasa theory. Two medieval positions on rasa are examined - Abhinavagupta's and Bhoja's - and it is argued that a position similar to Bhoja's underlies the text. As in Bhoja's theory it is śṛṅgāra rasa, (romantic emotions) which is considered the supreme rasa. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa's structure is highlighted, as presenting notions of personal divinity arranged in hierarchical order - from those evoking śānta rasa (tranquil emotion) to those evoking śṛṅgāra rasa. At last, four such notions are articulated; Impersonal Brahman, The Universal Person, The Person in the Heart, and the Avatāra.

It is generally accepted that effective leadership is an essential element of positive social change in any institution. It also seems evident that no society can continue to grow and develop without it and that no institution can thrive where it is unavailable. However, these statements raise a number of questions such as: • Whose perceptions of effective leadership is applicable here – the perceptions of those in leadership positions themselves, or the perceptions of others? • What is likely to happen in the case of conflicting perceptions of leadership effectiveness? This study explores this issue by focusing on the relationship between self-ratings and otherratings of managerial leadership within a particular context, namely a South African higher education institution that is in the throes of a radical merging process and on the prevalence of self-perception accuracy amongst the managers of that institution.

The ability of a patient to access physiotherapy directly (patient self-referral), although used widely in the private sector, is not the mechanism in use within the NHS where there exists a system of open access controlled by doctors. This study aimed to develop, implement and investigate a direct access physiotherapy service within a primary care setting in a health district of Scotland. The service was introduced and compared to the existing system of open access over a twelve-month period (1997-1998). Demographic and clinical data was collected relating to two samples: Control Year Group: All GP referrals for a year prior to the study year collected retrospectively. Study Year Group: General practitioner (GP) and direct access (DA) referrals. All patients were followed up one-month after discharge, and the number of associated GP consultations collated together with patient, physiotherapist, general practitioner and service non-user views of physiotherapy generally and direct access specifically. There were similar numbers of referrals (339 vs. 340) with no significant differences with regard to patient age or gender between the Control and Study Year Groups. The Study Year Group however revealed significant differences between DA and GP referrals. DA referrals, all of which were appropriate, accounted for 22.4% of total referrals in comparison to 77.6% GP referrals. DA patients were more likely to have been: male, younger, suffering from conditions of a shorter duration, in paid employment with less work absence, who were more compliant with attendance, had fewer physiotherapy contacts, lower reporting of symptom severity at discharge and were more highly satisfied with their physiotherapy care. This group also demonstrated a greater confidence in knowing when to access physiotherapy and were highly supportive of the effectiveness of physiotherapy. DA patients also consulted their general practitioner significantly less often than GP referrals (p = 0.001). Support for direct access was strongly expressed by service users and nonusers, physiotherapists and general practitioners. Direct access to physiotherapy is an example of an innovative, flexible approach to primary care service provision encouraged by current health policy.

The adolescent stage of development is particularly challenging. Because of the biological, cognitive, and social transitions of adolescence, this stage of development is seen as an important time for interventions promoting well-being (Steinberg, 1999). Recent research suggests that self-compassionate teens experience greater psychological health than those without self-compassion (Neff & McGehee, in press). To date, however, there have been no self-compassion interventions targeted at the adolescent population. This dissertation is a pilot study investigating the development, implementation and assessment of a self-compassion intervention for an adolescent population. The intervention took the form of a weekend “Self-Compassion Retreat” for high-school students, ages 14-17. Over a two day period, 17 subjects participated in the intervention focused on helping the students to understand and begin to incorporate the three dimensions of self-compassion – self kindness, common humanity and mindfulness. The intervention attempted to deepen student understanding of self-compassion by focusing on experiential and contemplative learning strategies (Kabat-Zinn, 1997; Hart, 2004). The 17 students were introduced to the concept of self-compassion through presentations, small group and contemplative exercises as well as individual interviews. The self-compassion intervention was assessed by testing participants along five different dimensions: self-compassion, depression, anxiety, social connectedness, and happiness at three different time points. The intervention was also assessed through individual interviews following the intervention. Though the quantitative results from the pilot study yielded no significant data for the current sample, the qualitative data provided promising information for future interventions aimed at increasing self-compassion. / text

Not available / text

The current study proposes an examination of the effects of metacognitive prompting on participants’ self-efficacy when completing a computer-based algebra lesson. Participants will be randomly assigned from the Educational Psychology subject pool. The experimental design contains 4 conditions: before prompts, during prompts, after prompts, or none (control). The data will be analyzed using a one-way ANCOVA with the metacognitive prompt condition as the between subjects factor, the post-test self-efficacy scores serving as the dependent variable, and pre-test self-efficacy scores acting as the covariate. / text