Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Idaho, 2006. / Abstract. "May 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 191-206). Also available online in PDF format.

The aim of this study was to examine the structure of the experience of gaining insight into oneself through perceiving another person. Such a one-to-one situation was selected in order to ensure a minimal level of complexity. The researcher conducted a pilot study in order to check whether people could relate such an experience in response to a long and difficult interview question. One female first year student responded from among a group of thirty to whom the question was posed. She was then interviewed. The data appeared acceptable. This was confirmed after the data analysis using the phenomenological-psychological method of textual analysis. The analysis showed that the subject, while comparing herself with the person whom she was with, discovered that she structured her life too rigidly in her attempt to meet the expectations of others. This discovery gave her the opportunity to restructure her approach to her world and to the others whom she had seen in only a narrow and abstracted way. Lengthier interviews were then conducted with a further six potential subjects. These were then transcribed. Two of those subjects, though, were found to have experienced insight through perceiving more than one other person. The data from the four remaining subjects were then analysed using the phenomenological psychological method. The researcher discovered that insight involves a clarity of perception which is achieved when the person becomes aware of clearly differentiated possibilities; these are revealed to him through his intensely reflecting on where he stands in relation to the other person whom he perceives, or in relation to alternatives revealed to him by the other. The polarities that are revealed allow the person to take up a new approach to his world, since the person discovers that his experience has revealed that he has been inauthentic in his muddled concern about others, and this gives the person a perception of truth that he was previously unaware of. These findings were dialogued with the writing of psychologists and philosophers who have written on the subject of becoming aware of oneself in relation to others.

The purpose of this study is two-fold: (1) to investigate the relationship between self-rationalization and self-concept, and (2) to investigate the relationship between two different types of self-concept, the private self or what a person thinks about himself and the social self or what a person thinks other people in his psychological group think about him.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University. / Effects of two independent variables -- expectations of liking or disliking other individuals, and evaluative reactions about self from these others on self concept and liking for others, were experimentally studied, as an application of Heider's theory of balanced states. Heider has postulated a tendency for individuals to reach a state in which interpersonal cognitions are balanced, or consistent, with one another. Several hypotheses were generated by applying balance theory to the relationships among these variables [TRUNCATED]

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Self-handicapping has been conceptualized as an identity-based strategy motivated by impression management and, more recently, as an avoidance coping strategy. However, additional evidence suggests that self-handicapping can provide a short-term performance boost (with detriments accruing over the long-term). I use a resource conservation perspective to suggest that this boost in performance may be attributed to an individual's motivation to conserve resources, particularly when there is reason to believe that resources spent now may be better used later. The current study tests if handicapping situations (similar to ones created following the choice to self-handicap) encourage an individual to conserve their resources (e.g., reducing effort), allowing them to spend those resources on later tasks. It was hypothesized that individuals in a handicapping situation would show greater resource conservation (evidenced by decreased effort) as well as improved performance on a follow-up resource-dependent task, compared to those not in a handicapping situation. Additionally, I hypothesize that individuals in a handicapping situation will show greater conservation and greater subsequent performance on a resource-dependent task when there is anticipation for that follow-up task. Effort was also hypothesized to mediate the relationship between group assignment and subsequent performance differences. Finally, it was hypothesized that these relationships would be moderated by neuroticism, conscientiousness, and self-handicapping tendencies (traditional moderators of SH). Prior to an in-lab study, participants (N = 162 undergraduates) completed on-line measures of self-handicapping (SHS), neuroticism, and conscientiousness. Participants were then brought to the lab individually for a study supposedly testing the effects of sound on performance. They were randomly assigned to one of three groups differing in the information given regarding: (1) the level of distraction a stimulus would produce and (2) whether a follow-up task was anticipated after the noise-based task (i.e., Distraction-Anticipation, Distraction-No Anticipation, No Effect-Anticipation). All participants were first given a series of geometric tracing designs allegedly assessing their spatial reasoning ability (series contained 4 solvable designs and 2 impossible designs) and were provided with noncontingent success feedback. Then, participants were asked to complete a new series of tracing designs (eight solvable, one impossible) while a tone was playing. Participants in the distraction conditions (i.e, Distraction-Anticipation and Distraction-No Anticipation) were led to believe that the tone had the ability to significantly impair performance, while participants in the No Effect condition believed the tone had no impact on performance. Following this task, all participants were given a series of logic questions that served as an assessment of regulatory depletion. Results supported the two primary hypotheses. When participants believed that the tone was distracting, and when they anticipated a third task, they were more accurate on the part three logic task (F(2,159) = 7.69, p<.01) compared to both those in the No Effect-Anticipation and the Distraction-No Anticipation conditions. The relationship between group assignment and part three logic performance was mediated by effort during part two (quitting r2 = .14; F(2, 105) = 8.43, p<.001; indirect effect b = -.05, SE = .03, 95% CI [-.12, -.01]). No theoretically meaningful moderators were found. The findings provide initial evidence for resource conservation as a new and unique motivation for self-handicapping. Implications for future research are discussed. / Ph. D.

<p>I den psykoterapeutiska relationen kan individen speglas och stärkas i sin självkänsla, men det är inte alla förunnat. Syftet med undersökningen var att finna hur individer i vardagligt samspel kan stödja varandra. En kvalitativ intervjustudie i halvstrukturerad form genomfördes med åtta pensionärer i Västerås. Undersökningen analyserades med meningskoncentrering. Resultatet redovisar att , samt hur, deltagarna anser det möjligt att stödja sig själva och varandra i att växa i självkänsla. Resultatet visar även att det kan vara viktigt att stödja olika åldersgrupper på olika sätt för att skapa trygga förutsättningar för att växa i självkänsla. Hur olika kulturer samt skilda förutsättningar under olika tidsepoker kan påverka individens självkänsla är exempel på områden som med fördel kan undersökas vidare.</p>

I den psykoterapeutiska relationen kan individen speglas och stärkas i sin självkänsla, men det är inte alla förunnat. Syftet med undersökningen var att finna hur individer i vardagligt samspel kan stödja varandra. En kvalitativ intervjustudie i halvstrukturerad form genomfördes med åtta pensionärer i Västerås. Undersökningen analyserades med meningskoncentrering. Resultatet redovisar att , samt hur, deltagarna anser det möjligt att stödja sig själva och varandra i att växa i självkänsla. Resultatet visar även att det kan vara viktigt att stödja olika åldersgrupper på olika sätt för att skapa trygga förutsättningar för att växa i självkänsla. Hur olika kulturer samt skilda förutsättningar under olika tidsepoker kan påverka individens självkänsla är exempel på områden som med fördel kan undersökas vidare.