I argue that autonomy is substantially relational by appealing to a variety of findings from the cognitive sciences. I gather findings related to a variety of paradigms of the cognitive sciences under the collective banner Relational Cognition and argue that these speak in favor of contingent relational accounts of autonomy by demonstrating the relational nature of cognition and agency. I focus on the ways in which these findings emphasise the embedded nature of cognition. I pay particular attention to the frameworks of 4E cognition because of their general emphasis on how cognition operates in concert with the external environment of the agent. This, I argue, speaks in favor of externalist approaches to autonomy. For example, 4E cognition explores how the human mind exploits its embodied nature to offload part of its internal, mental processing to features of its external environments. By operating in this fashion, an agent’s development and effective exercise of many of her cognitive capacities depend upon her prior embedding into particular environments. This perspective is conceptually very similar to relational accounts of autonomy which emphasise the situatedness of agents, positing that individual autonomy is necessarily contingent on certain social relations. I illuminate this conceptual overlap and bridge it in two ways. First, more broadly through a contingency argument, and second, by connecting relational cognition to the social self thesis which is a central conceptual component of relational accounts of autonomy. Finally, in light of all this, I claim that liberal theorizing on autonomy needs to grant a greater importance to the environments of agents for their ability to develop and practice autonomous agency. I criticise Joseph Raz’s conception of autonomy in this manner and suggest that a relational cognition perspective provides an instructive avenue for further developing a more externalist liberal understanding of autonomy.

Child language brokers frequently translate in adult-level situations. Research has suggested that through translating, brokers may develop advanced language, cognitive, and social skills (De Ment, Buriel, and Villanueva, 2005; McQuillan and Tse, 1995), and these may lead to greater academic achievement and self-efficacy (Buriel, Perez, De Ment, Chavez,and Moran, 1998). Additionally, language brokers have been found to increase in biculturalism as they translate for people of different cultures (Acoach and Webb, 2004; Buriel et al., 1998). Brokers might experience reduced acculturative stress, for which biculturalism has been found to be a protective factor (Bacallao and Smokowski, 2005). Despite its possible benefits, brokering has been associated with negative emotions and behavioral problems for some children (Chao, 2006; Weisskirch and Alva, 2002). The mixed results of language brokering studies may partially be related to the age of participants, with translating appearing to be a more positive experience for older adolescents (Orellana and Reynolds, 2008). The purpose of this study was to test relations among language brokering, academic achievement, academic self-efficacy, social self-efficacy, and acculturative stress. I proposed and tested if language brokering was associated with more positive outcomes. In addition, I tested if older brokers had more positive outcomes than younger brokers. Participants included 207 Latino middle school students, aged 10 to 14 years, who completed self-report surveys. Measures included a background demographics questionnaire and scales for language brokering, academic self-efficacy, social self-efficacy, and acculturative stress. Achievement was measured with grades from school records. Results were non-significant for the relation of language brokering with achievement and social self-efficacy when controlling for other predictor variables. In contrast to expectations, translating for more people was associated with decreased academic self-efficacy and greater acculturative stress. Further analysis revealed that language brokering for parents and grandparents was associated with greater acculturative stress, while translating for other people was not. Although translating was associated with more acculturative stress, and older children reported less acculturative stress, age was not found to moderate the relation of language brokering and acculturative stress. Limitations, implications, and suggestions for future directions in language brokering research and clinical work are presented. / text

Research has shown that self-efficacy is one of the most important personal resources in the work context. However, research on working life has mainly focused on a cognitive and task-oriented dimension of self-efficacy representing employees’ perceptions of their capacity to successfully complete work tasks. Thus, little is known about the influence that believing in one’s social and emotional competence could have. This thesis aims to expand previous theory regarding self-efficacy in the workplace by investigating social, emotional, and cognitive self-efficacy dimensions in relation to leadership, health, and well-being.   The thesis rests on four empirical studies, all related to health and well-being, and including at least one self-efficacy dimension. Study I employed questionnaire data from 169 Swedish high school students. The other three studies were based on questionnaire data obtained during a three-year international health-promoting leadership research project. These participants were employees and leaders from 229 different teams in 12 organizations in Sweden and Germany representing a wide range of occupations. Study I supported the idea that emotional self-efficacy is an important antecedent to prosocial behaviour and also highlighted the value of differentiating between different dimensions of self-efficacy. Study II validated the new work-related Occupational Social and Emotional Self-efficacy Scales; and indicated that these dimensions are positively related to well-being. However, Study III showed that emotional exhaustion in followers crossed over to leaders when the leaders’ emotional self-efficacy was high. Study IV revealed that transformational leadership and social self-efficacy can be positive for team climate. The main theoretical contribution of this thesis is to expand previous theory regarding self-efficacy in the workplace by incorporating social, emotional, and cognitive dimensions. The main practical implication is that the new Occupational Social and Emotional Self-efficacy Scales can be used to promote health and well-being in the workplace through activities such as recruitment, staff development, and team-building. This thesis suggests that (a) training managers to exert transformational leadership behaviours may simultaneously promote team climate, and this process may be mediated by social self-efficacy, (b) it may be counterproductive to enhance leaders’ emotional abilities in a team of exhausted followers, since the result can be an exhausted leader rather than an exhilarated team, (c) interventions aimed at improving health and well-being should be specific to each work setting, and (d) a more holistic approach where the mutual influence between leaders and followers is considered may be beneficial for healthier work environments.

Η εργασία αυτή είναι μια μελέτη για τον τρόπο σχηματισμού της εφηβικής ταυτότητας και έχει στόχο να εγκαινιάσει ένα ψυχο-κοινωνιολογικό μοντέλο για την κατανόησή της. Μέχρι τώρα συνηθίσαμε να μιλάμε για τον έφηβο μέσα από μια βιο-αναπτυξιακή προοπτική μέσω της οποίας επιχειρείται να εξηγηθεί το σύνολο της συμπεριφοράς του, από τον επαγγελματικό του προσανατολισμό και τις σχολικές του επιδόσεις μέχρι τις χρήσεις του ελεύθερου χρόνου του. Την ίδια στιγμή, για καιρό τα περισσότερα ρεύματα της κοινωνικής θεωρίας είτε έδειχναν μια απροθυμία να εννοιολογήσουν την υποκειμενικότητα είτε το έκαναν με αναγωγιστικούς όρους. Σκοπός της παρούσας έρευνας είναι να συγκρίνει τον τρόπο ζωής, τις συνήθειες και τις αντιλήψεις των εφήβων μαθητών/τριών που φοιτούν σε Γενικά, Τεχνικά και Πειραματικά λύκεια μεγάλου Νομού της χώρας και να αναδείξει αφενός τις όποιες ομοιότητες και διαφορές στον τρόπο που αυτές οι διαφορετικές ομάδες εφήβων νοηματοδοτούν και βιώνουν πρόσωπα και πράγματα της καθημερινότητάς τους και αφετέρου τις πρακτικές λογικές που οργανώνουν τους κόσμους τους. Ο προβληματισμός μας έγκειται στο να δούμε πώς μέσα στις αφηγήσεις που οικοδομούν οι έφηβοι εγγράφονται θεσμικές (π.χ. σχολικές, οικογενειακές, ταξικές) διεργασίες, πολιτισμικές αξίες (π.χ. σχέση με σχολική γνώση, φιλοδοξίες, ενδιαφέροντα) και βιογραφικές διαδρομές (π.χ. μετάβαση από γυμνάσιο σε τεχνικό ή γενικό λύκειο) και πώς αυτά τα τρία επίπεδα ανάλυσης (δομής, κουλτούρας, βιογραφίας) σχηματοποιούν τις αφηγήσεις του εαυτού τους και τις αξιώσεις ταυτότητας που οικοδομούν. Αντλώντας από την παράδοση της Συμβολικής Αλληλεπίδρασης και την έννοια του habitus του Bourdieu, η έρευνά μας θέτει σε κίνηση μια ποιοτική μεθοδολογία που έχει στο επίκεντρό της την βιογραφική-αφηγηματική συνέντευξη για την άντληση των δεδομένων και την επεξεργασία τους. Μέσα από μια διετή και εντατική έρευνα πεδίου, φάνηκαν να αναδύονται τέσσερις τύποι (με τη Βεμπεριανή έννοια του όρου) κοινωνικού εαυτού, καθένας από τους οποίους συγκροτείται στη βάση μιας αμφιθυμίας που οφείλει την οργάνωσή της στα βιογραφικά αποθέματα γνώσης των κοινωνικών κόσμων που ζουν και μεγαλώνουν οι έφηβοι. Θέση μας είναι ότι η έννοια αυτή της αμφιθυμικής βιογραφικής ταυτότητας μπορεί να αποτελέσει ένα χρήσιμο αναλυτικό εργαλείο όχι μόνο για την κατανόηση της εξέλιξης της ταυτότητας των εφήβων έτσι όπως αυτή ξεδιπλώνεται στον αντιφατικό και πολύπλοκο κόσμο της εποχής μας αλλά και για την χάραξη μιας εκπαιδευτικής πολιτικής για τη Συμβουλευτική και τον Επαγγελματικό Προσανατολισμό στη δευτεροβάθμια εκπαίδευση. / This research is a study on adolescent identity formation and aims at inaugurating a psycho-sociological model for its understanding. Up to now we are used to talk about adolescents through a bio-developmental perspective by means of which we try to construe every aspect of their existence, from their job aspirations and school attainments to their leisure activities. At the same time, most of the currents of social theory either seem unwilling to conceptualize subjectivity per se or they do it in reductionist terms. The aim of our research contribution is to compare the way of life, the habits and the self-views of adolescents attending General, Vocational and Peiramatika schools, by shedding light not only on the similarities and differences of how these groups of adolescents narrate and experience their everyday lives but also on the practical logics that organize their social worlds. What we try to tap concerns i) how institutional arrangements (school, family, class and gender), cultural values (relation to school knowledge and life ambitions) and biographical trajectories (transition from junior high school to senior high school or to work) are inscribed in their life narratives and ii) how these three levels of analysis (structure, culture and biography) shape their self-understandings and their identity claims. By drawing on Symbolic Interactionism tradition and on Bourdieu’s theory of habitus, our research sets in motion a qualitative methodology having at its center the Biographical-Narrative Interview as far as data collection and data processing is concerned. After a two-year intensive field research, there seemed to emerge four types (in the Weberian sense) of adolescent social self, each of which is made up of an ambivalence that is formed in conjunction with the biographical stocks of knowledge of the social world the adolescents live in. We argue that this concept of ambivalent biographical identity can be used not only as a conceptual tool for interpreting how adolescent identity is evolved within the realms of our contradictory and perplexed era but for implementing educational policies focusing on Counseling and job guidance in secondary education

Darbe „Savivaldybių ekonominės ir socialinės funkcijos bei jų veiklos analizė“ aprašomos savivaldybių ekonominės ir socialinės funkcijos, pateikiama savivaldybių ekonominių ir socialinių funkcijų analizė, šioms sritims skiriamas savivaldybių finansavimas bei savivaldybių galimybės pasinaudoti Europos Sąjungos struktūrinių fondų parama socialinėms ir ekonominėms problemoms spręsti. Darbe bandoma išsiaiškinti savivaldybių teikiamų ekonominių ir socialinių paslaugų poreikį, įvairovę bei jų efektyvumą. Remiantis analize siūlomi savivaldybių ekonominių ir socialinių funkcijų tobulinimo kryptys ir būdai kaip didinti šių paslaugų efektyvumą. Tyrimo tikslas - atskleisti savivaldybių ekonominių ir socialinių funkcijų įgyvendinimo metu kylančias problemas ir jų priežastis, bei pasiūlyti galimus sprendimų variantus. Tyrimo hipotezė - Lietuvos savivaldybėse ekonominės ir socialinės funkcijos įgyvendinamos nepakankamai efektyviai. / In the Paper “The Economical and Social Functions of Self-Governments and Analysis of Their Activities”, the economical and social functions of self-governments are described, an analysis of economical and social functions of self-governments is provided, financing of self-governments allotted for these spheres as well as the opportunities of self-governments to use European Union‘s structural funds for a settlement of social and economical problems are discussed upon. Herein, it is tried to clear up the needs in economical and social services provided by self-governments, as well as diversity and efficiency of such services. On the base of the analysis, the directions of an improvement of economical and social functions of self-governments and the ways of increasing an efficiency of the said services are proposed. The aims of the investigation: to disclose problems arising on execution the economical and social functions of self-governments as well as their causes; to offer possible versions of their settlement. The hypothesis of the investigation: in Lithuania, execution the economical and social functions of self-governments is insufficiently efficient. In course of the investigation, the competence and functions of Lithuanian self-governments were reviewed, an analysis of an efficiency of the economical and social functions of self-governments was carried out, and attempts to go deep into the most urgent today problems of Lithuanian self-governments and to forecast... [to full text]

Tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti neįgalių asmenų motyvacijos dirbti, socialinio saviveiksmingumo ir savęs vertinimo sąsajas profesinės reabilitacijos procese. Tyrime dalyvavo 206 tiriamieji. Tyrime dalyvavo 122 moterys ir 84 vyrai. Dalyvavusių tyrime negalią turinčių asmenų amžiaus vidurkis - 41,33 metų. Jauniausias tyrime dalyvavęs asmuo buvo 19 metų, o vyriausias – 64 metų amžiaus. Respondentai buvo neįgalieji, kurie dalyvavo profesinės reabilitacijos procese arba lankė neįgaliųjų dienos užimtumo centrus. Apklausa buvo atliekama Vilniuje, Kaune, Klaipėdoje, Šiauliuose ir Tauragėje. Dalyviai, kurie nedalyvavo profesinės reabilitacijos procese buvo apklausiami tik tuose neįgaliųjų dienos užimtumo centruose, kuriuose buvo teikiama ir profesinės reabilitacijos paslauga žmonėms su negalia. Ieškant tiriamųjų buvo bendradarbiaujama su organizacijomis teikiančiomis profesinės reabilitacijos ir dienos užimtumo paslaugas žmonėms su negalia. Tyrime naudotą anketą sudarė demografiniai klausimai ir trys metodikos. Pirmoji metodika matavo motyvaciją dirbti. Klausimai apie motyvaciją dirbti ir dalyvauti profesinės reabilitacijos procese buvo sudarytas šio darbo autorės ir darbo vadovės, remiantis literatūros analize, išskiriant esminius motyvacijos dirbti aspektus. Antroji matavo savęs vertinimą, kurį matuoti buvo pasirinkta Rozenbergo savęs vertinimo skalė (Rosenberg Self – Esteem Scale). Trečioji skalė matavo saviveiksmingumą, kuriam matuoti buvo pasirinkta M. Sherer, J. E. Maddux, B... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of this research was to identify relationships between disabled people motivation to work, social self-efficacy and self- assessment in vocational rehabilitation process. The study involved 206 subjects. The study included 122 women and 84 men. Participated in the study, people with disabilities average age – 41,33 years. The youngest person involved in the study was 19 years old and the oldest - 64 years of age. The respondents were people with disabilities who participated in vocational rehabilitation of persons with disabilities or attended day care centers. The survey was carried out in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Tauragė. Participants who did not participate in the vocational rehabilitation process has been questioned only in the disabled day care centers, where there were also a vocational rehabilitation service for people with disabilities. Finding subjects was cooperating with organizations that provide vocational rehabilitation services and day care for people with disabilities. The study used questionnaire consisted of demographic questions and three methodological instruments. The first method measured motivation to work. Questions about motivation and participation in vocational rehabilitation was made by the author of this study and scientific adviser, highlighting the key aspects of motivation to work. The second method measured self-evaluation by Rosenberg Self - Esteem Scale. The third scale measured social self – efficacy by M. Sherer , JE... [to full text]

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T13:53:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FrancivaldoSA_DISSERT.pdf: 1297901 bytes, checksum: edfe3cb82d55bdf4f50f96868b680d57 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-05 / The theme of this dissertation is social technology for self-management: a study in economic enterprise supportive of Rio Grande do Norte. The research aimed to obtain evidence that the reapplication of technology management, basic economic-financial and pricing, as production costs, has the potential to contribute to the self-management of APABV. The social technology and self-management are theoretical frameworks used and where workers are central figures in both the generation and replication of technologies that are compatible with their realities, as in the conduct and management approach adopted by them in their venture, they are makers decisions. To achieve the proposed objective was accomplished participatory research, which was used in addition to document analysis, participatory methodologies such as the construction of the DRP, group interview, experience in the production environment and family of entrepreneurs APABV. This research allowed the management technologies such as spreadsheets controls basic economic and financial costs, when socialized and understood by workers has the potential informational and become part of their daily decision-making process of the project, making up social technology / O tema desta disserta??o ? tecnologia social para autogest?o: um estudo em empreendimento econ?mico solid?rio do Rio Grande do Norte. A pesquisa teve como objetivo obter evid?ncias de que a reaplica??o de tecnologias de gest?o, de base econ?mico-financeira e da forma??o de pre?o, a partir dos custos de produ??o, tem o potencial de contribuir para a autogest?o da Associa??o dos Produtores Agr?colas de Bebida Velha (APABV). A tecnologia social e a autogest?o s?o referenciais te?ricos utilizados e nos quais os trabalhadores s?o figuras centrais, tanto na gera??o ou reaplica??o de tecnologias que sejam compat?veis com suas realidades, como na conduta e forma de gest?o adotada por eles em seu empreendimento, pois s?o os tomadores de decis?es. Para o alcance do objetivo proposto foi realizada pesquisa participante, na qual se utilizou al?m da an?lise documental, metodologias participativas como a constru??o do DRP, entrevista grupal, viv?ncia no ambiente produtivo e familiar dos empreendedores da APABV. A pesquisa possibilitou concluir que as tecnologias de gest?o, como as planilhas de controles de base econ?mico-financeiros e de custos de produ??o, quando socializadas e compreendidas pelos trabalhadores tem potencial informacional e passam a fazer parte de seu cotidiano no processo decis?rio do empreendimento, tornando-se tecnologia social

No description available.

No description available.

College enrollment and graduation rates for African Americans remain lower than enrollment and graduation rates for middle and upper-class White students. The lower enrollment and graduation rates have an effect on the number of African American students who pursue the Ph.D. and other research doctorate degrees. In order to increase the number of African Americans and other underrepresented students in the Ph.D. pipeline, the United States Congress passed legislation that created the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program (McNair Scholars Program) in the mid-1980s. The purpose of the McNair Scholars Program is to prepare college students for doctoral studies and careers in academia through involvement in summer research internships and other scholarly activities. One way in which this program may prepare students is through the development of students' academic, research and social self-efficacy. To date, however little research has been conducted to see if the McNair Scholars Program has an effect on African American students' levels of self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to compare levels of academic, research and social self-efficacy among African American pre- and post-McNair Scholar participants. Levels of self-efficacy were analyzed by McNair participant status (pre-McNair and post-McNair), gender, college and grade point average. The study employed a national sample of African American pre- and post McNair Scholar Program participants. Data were collected using the Graduate Education Self-Efficacy Scale (GESES), a 57-item instrument designed specifically for this study. Items for the survey were developed utilizing existing literature on academic, research and social self-efficacy. Results revealed significant differences in academic, research and social self-efficacy between African American pre- and post-McNair Scholar Program participants. There were no significant differences by gender on academic, research or social self-efficacy. Neither were significant differences found by college grade level on academic or social self-efficacy. There were, however, significant differences based on college grade level on research self-efficacy. There were also significant interaction effects between gender and college grade level on academic, research and social self-efficacy. The results suggest that participating in the McNair Scholars Program raises levels of academic, research and social self-efficacy among African American college students. / Ph. D.