Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Self-realisation'

Self-affirmation has been shown to alter individuals' reactions to a wide range of threats, yet comparatively little is known about its cognitive and affective consequences, especially in the immediate aftermath of self-affirmation. This thesis explored these effects and the role of trait self-esteem in moderating them. In relation to cognition, in Study 1 (Chapter 2, N = 83), self-affirmation improved performance on two tasks (testing working memory and inhibition) related to executive function; Effects were not moderated by self-esteem. In Study 2 (Chapter 3, N = 107), self-affirmation decreased performance on a different working memory task among high self-esteem individuals. In relation to affect, a systematic review (Chapter 4) indicated that self-affirmation is not consistently associated with positive affect, despite the fact that positive affect has received much attention as a possible mediator of self-affirmation effects. Study 4 (Chapter 5, N = 161) showed that self-esteem moderated the effects of self-affirmation on positive affect: high self-esteem individuals reported more positive affect after self-affirming. Study 5 (Chapter 6, N = 270) revealed that self-affirmed (vs control) participants used more positive affective language. Participants in Study 6 (Chapter 6, N = 73) were randomised to a positive mood, self-affirmation or control condition, and read about the health consequences of fruit and vegetable consumption. At one-week follow-up, self-affirmed participants reported highest consumption, but positive affect did not mediate this effect. Overall, the findings show some support for an impact of self-affirmation on executive function, providing a useful link between the diverse areas which self-affirmation has been known to affect. They also support the notion that positive affect can be an immediate product of self-affirmation, especially for those high in self-esteem. However, they do not support the view that positive affect is the mechanism underlying the effect of self-affirmation on the processing of self-relevant threatening information.

This photographic documentary seeks to record the transition from teenager into adulthood of twelve girls living in Melbourne, Australia between 2002 and 2008. Throughout the process of the project the artist has sought to challenge the assumption that reaching adulthood can be defined by achieving certain milestones in society, and that the transition period is as much about personal self-realisation on the part of the individual, as it is about measurements set by society. The photographic work is accompanied by text in the form of quotes taken from audio interviews conducted throughout the documentation process. This paper compares the ideas set by society about the process of becoming an adult and the real life events that triggered this transition period in this particular group of girls.

The aim of this thesis is to report the results of an investigation aimed at exploiting synthetic methods to graft organic molecules onto (001) Si as well as at evaluating the applicability of SAM docking in the development of nanodevices. The target of this dissertation is to study a new nucleophylic reaction to bond directly the organic molecules at the surface. In the first part of this work we have focused onto silicon surface preparation. We have pointed out how the RCA cleaning method results in a modification of the structure of the first atomic layers of Si. We have demonstrated by HRTEM and EELS studies that the change of the lattice spacing is related to the subsequent Si oxidation that is known to occur by inward diffusion and insertion of oxygen in bond-centred positions in crystalline silicon. Such a process is favoured by the strain field due to the surface roughening which is characteristic of alkaline etches. To activate the surface toward chemical grafting reactions we have developed a method leading to bromine termination of the surface. This allowed to form an array of aromatic rings bonded through a covalent Si-C bond (i. E. Not implying oxygen bridges) by nucleophilic addition onto the Si-Br surface bond. We have evaluated the bromine termination and the surface reconstruction by Auger, FTIR and LEED analyses. .
Ce travail porte sur l'investigation et la recherche des methodes du syntesis pour lier à la surface du Si (001) des monocouches organiques. Nous avons évalué l'applicabilité de ces systèmes pour le développement du nano-dispositif dans le domaine du détecteurs. La première partie de cette thèse regarde la préparation de la surface : on a évalué comment la methode du nettoyage (RCA) utilisée pour éliminer la contamination à la surface détermine une modification sur la structure des premières couches du silicone. Par HRTEM et EELS on a demostré que la variation de la distance des paramètres réticulaires des première couches, c'est dû au passage d'oxidation nommé APM qui permit la diffusion et l'insertion du 0 dans le volume du Si. .

This thesis emerged from the author’s quest to increase her personal and professional effectiveness, to become more congruent, and to be a better person in the world. The thesis discusses how to move from Argyris and Schon’s behavioural model 1 (seeking answers externally, blaming others, avoiding responsibility, controlling behaviour and the belief that there is one right way) to model 2 (seeking answers from within, accepting responsibility, living in a state of flow, surprise and emergent possibilities, looking at the world in multiple ways and collaborating with others). Drawing from her own experiences and interactions with others, the author explores issues such as how people learn the qualities that enable them to be better people; what experiences have enabled people to move toward model 2; what happens when a group, especially within an organisation, moves toward model 2 and how does this happen; and how can conditions be created to enable individuals or groups to move toward model 2.
Master of Science (Hons)

This study springs from my experience of what I term ‘narrative fracture', a life-hiatus or crisis that derails one's current life pattern and self-identity. It examines the nature of this phenomenon and its possible roots in early infancy and childhood. Three therapeutic modalities: dreams, psychotherapy and autobiographical writing, which were instrumental towards resolution of that narrative fracture for me, are then explored. The study uses first person heuristic methodology because my own experience, and ongoing process towards resolution, lies at the heart of the research. It also, as part of that methodology, draws on the experience of three ‘textual co-researchers' as recorded in their autobiographical writings. Each of the segments of the study, narrative fracture, roots of narrative fracture, and modalities towards resolution, are interrogated from three directions: my autobiographical narrative relating to that segment, and extracts from the other authors' texts of theirs, then examination of these in light of the relevant theory, and finally a reflexive review made of the findings, following thus a pattern, identified by Michelle Davies, of a narrative ‘voice', an interpretive ‘voice' and an unconscious ‘voice'. Most traumatic for me at narrative fracture was loss of self-identity and erupting internal chaos. Psychoanalyst/interpersonal theorist Karen Horney's theories around the formation of a ‘false self' and the related palliative measures of addiction and controlling are my foremost source of understanding here. To discover how self-identity is formed and can potentially be impeded, the mother-baby relationship, the issue of attachment, and the crucial involvement of the body in the infant developmental matrix are explored, principally through the works of Donald Winnicott and John Bowlby; and the related development of ‘affect-regulation' and ‘mentalization' through Peter Fonagy's breakthrough work. Ulric Neisser and Jerome Bruner's theories bring further understanding of development of the self and the socially constructed elements of self-identity. In the process towards ‘reconstruction' Donald Kalsched's theory of the crucial necessity of ‘re-traumatization' is foregrounded, and the study holds this in mind during exploration of the three therapeutic modalities. Neuroscience and brain research also inform this exploration, and a common denominator is found between the three therapeutic modalities via Ernest Hartmann's notion of a ‘continuum' of modes of mental functioning. It is established that the REM programming and reprogramming state, and input from unconscious mental processing are increasingly at work as we operate at the ‘creative'/'dreaming' end of this continuum, and that here psychotherapy, autobiographical writing and dreaming are all shown to be located. Four key points emerge in understanding the impact of these three modalities on healing narrative fracture: the centrality of the relational; the emotions as ‘linchpin'; the power of pattern, metaphor and image; and the potency of the sleeping brain. With its personal accounts, and the new syntheses made between aspects of the different academic fields it mines, this study offers a new perspective on the nature, and lifelong consequences, of early childhood development. It is envisaged that this will provide valuable insight to the burgeoning numbers of quantitative researchers now recognising the need for first person input to their third person research, and to those who are professionally involved in the care of others, as well as to related policy-makers.

There is a strong body of psychological research implicating the mass media in the aetiology of adolescent girls' negative body image and eating behaviours. The present thesis aims to extend this research by examining potential factors – namely, media type, body perfect internalisation and materialism – that make girls more vulnerable to the negative impact of the mass media. An initial meta-analysis (Chapter 3) collated the findings of existing research examining the impact of ‘body perfect' media on adolescents' body image; examining gender, age and media type as moderators of this effect. Chapter 4 examined the relative roles of both media type and media model identification (a key dimension of body perfect internalisation), within the mass media and body image relationship. Using both survey and experimental methods (N = 199), it was found that adolescent girls' habitual tendency to identify with media models, was a more potent vulnerability factor within the mass media and body image relationship, than media type. Due to the limitations associated with existing measures of body perfect internalisation, a new measure of body perfect internalisation was developed in Chapter 5 (N =373), which was subsequently utilised in the final experiments of the thesis. Chapter 6 demonstrated that acute music video exposure had a more potent negative impact on girls' body image than still media images (N = 142); an effect that was fully mediated by wishful character identification and also moderated by body perfect internalisation. Chapter 7 consists of two studies that demonstrate the important role which materialism plays within the mass media, body image and eating behaviour relationship. In Study 1, structural equation modelling identified a direct pathway between materialism and restrained eating that was independent of body image (N = 199). This finding was further replicated in an exposure experiment, which demonstrated that brief exposure to materialistic media causes acute diet-like behaviours in adolescent girls (N = 180).

This thesis aims to disentangle the concept of culture; more specifically it identifies different facets of cultural orientations. It looks at how cultural and national groups differ on these dimensions and their impact on individuals and societies. It is argued that we need a more nuanced and multifaceted understanding of culture that goes beyond focusing on values. Chapter 1 discusses definitions of culture and identifies three significant facets of culture—values, beliefs and constructions of the self. It is noted that research into the latter two facets is far less developed. Chapter 2 outlines research into cross-cultural variation in beliefs, more specifically beliefs about personhood, and notes that little is known about beliefs that define individualism-collectivism (I-C). Chapter 3 reviews self-construal theory and highlights a range of remaining issues which point to the need to explore self-construals further. Chapter 4 provides a methodological overview of the research. Chapter 5 reports results from two large-scale cross-cultural questionnaire studies and presents the construct, and a measure, of contextualism, referring to beliefs about the importance of the context in understanding people. Contextualism is shown to be a facet of cultural collectivism and a predictor of national variation in ingroup favouritism, trust and corruption. Chapter 6 presents a new seven-dimensional model of self-construals, which can be organised into three higher-order dimensions at the cultural level of analysis: self-differentiation, other-focus and self-containment. Variation in self-differentiation is shown to be best explained by differences in I-C, other-focus by differences in national wealth and self-containment by religious heritage. Based on a smaller study in four nations, Chapter 7 investigates the seven self-construal dimensions at the individual level and tests how they differentially predict outcomes related to socio-emotional adjustment. Chapter 8 summarises the findings and discusses implications and directions for future research.

Thesis (MDram (Drama))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is aimed at establishing what personal catharsis is, specifically defining what it is and under what conditions it may occur. During the creation and execution of an autobiographical solo, I had gone through a process of attaining what has since been labelled personal catharsis and recognition of the other, which gave arise to me finding confidence and discovering my creative voice of identity. However, it was not known when or how these processes took place. In addition I was not certain exactly what personal catharsis was in the context of me and my identity. An investigate was also needed into the possibility of generalising personal catharsis as a process that could guide people towards gaining confidence and finding their creative voice of identity. In this thesis, the process of the creation of the autobiographical solo is deconstructed. In doing so the journey of the discovery of the other is highlighted and the role of recognition between the inner expressive form and the external expressive form. Through the means of a source study the concepts of behaviour and the other in reference to identity construction and performance of everyday self are discussed. Then personal catharsis is explored in comparison to the traditional use of the term. Using performance-based research methodologies in conjunction with a questionnaire, a 12-week series of workshops was held to explore the generalisation of personal catharsis and the issues that arose during the study. The workshops were aimed at investigating the possibility of creating a process to attain personal catharsis. It was found that personal catharsis is a subjective process that takes place through the recognition of the external expressive form. It is through this recognition that the dislocation of self can be reconnected and the other can become more transparent to the internal expressive form. This process is readily attained through the exploration of the character of self. However, although new behaviour can result from personal catharsis, the individual needs to choose the internal expressive form as the dominant part in expressive behaviour.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie is om te bepaal en te beskryf wat presies persoonlike katarsis is en hoe dit as proses verloop. Tydens die skepping en uitvoering van ʼn outobiografiese solo het ek die bereiking van persoonlike katarsis – soos ek dit sedertdien gedoop het – en herkenning van die ander beleef. Dit het daartoe gelei dat ek selfvertroue en die skeppende stem van my identiteit gevind het. Tog het ek nie besef wanneer of hoe hierdie prosesse plaasgevind het nie. Daarby was ek nie seker wat presies persoonlike katarsis in die konteks van my wese en identiteit was nie. Ek wou ook die moontlikheid ondersoek om persoonlike katarsis as proses te veralgemeen sodat dit mense daartoe kon lei om selfvertroue en die skeppende stem van hul identiteit te vind. In hierdie tesis dekonstrueer ek die skepping van die outobiografiese solo as proses. Daardeur werp ek lig op die ontdekkingsreis na die ander en die rol wat herkenning tussen die interne ekspressiewe vorm en die eksterne ekspressiewe vorm speel. Die begrippe gedrag en die ander in verhouding tot die konstruksie van identiteit en die uitvoering van die alledaagse self word deur middel van ʼn literatuurstudie bespreek. Daarná word persoonlike katarsis in vergelyking met die tradisionele gebruik van die term ondersoek. Tydens ʼn 12 weke lange werkswinkel is performance-gebaseerde navorsingsmetodologieë tesame met ʼn vraelys gebruik om die veralgemening van persoonlike katarsis en die kwessies wat tydens die studie na vore gekom het, te verken. Die werkswinkels was daarop gemik om die moontlikheid van die skepping van ʼn proses om persoonlike katarsis te bereik, te ondersoek. Daar is gevind dat persoonlike katarsis ʼn subjektiewe proses is wat deur middel van die herkenning van die eksterne ekspressiewe vorm plaasvind. Deur middel van hierdie herkenning kan die ontwrigting van die self herstel word en kan die ander deursigtiger vir die interne ekspressiewe vorm word. Hierdie proses word maklik deur verkenning van die karakter van die self behaal. Alhoewel persoonlike katarsis nuwe gedrag tot gevolg kan hê, moet die individu egter die interne ekspressiewe vorm as die dominante deel in ekspressiewe gedrag kies.

Uppsatsen tar upp Arne Naess djupekologi. Den undersöker djupekologins struktur och vilka krav som ställs på en teori för att den skall vara en djupekologi. Uppsatsen tar även upp skillnader mellan djupekologi och grundekologi på en praktisk nivå. Uppsatsen behandlar Warwick Fox kritik rörande djupet i djupekologin och Arne Naess svar på den kritiken. Författaren till uppsatsen finner att Fox kritik inte är helt träffande och att Naess svar på kritiken är för svag.

This paper discusses Arne Naess’ theory of deep ecology. It investigates the structure of deep ecology and what conditions a theory has to fulfil to be a deep ecology. The paper demonstrates differences between deep ecology and shallow ecology on a practical level. The paper presents a criticism put forward by Warwick Fox which focuses on the deepness of deep ecology, and an answer from Arne Naess on this criticism. The author of this paper finds Fox’ criticism not quite convincing, and that Naess’ answer is too weak.

Face adaptation techniques have been used extensively to investigate how faces are processed. It has even been suggested that face adaptation is functional in calibrating the visual system to the diet of faces to which an observer is exposed. Yet most adaptation studies to date have used unfamiliar faces: few have used faces with real world familiarity. Familiar faces have more abstractive representations than unfamiliar faces. The experiments in this thesis therefore examined face adaptation for familiar faces. Chapters 2 and 3 explored the role of explicit recognition of familiar faces in producing face identity after-effects (FIAEs). Chapter 2 used composite faces (the top half of a celebrity's face paired with the bottom half of an unfamiliar face) as adaptors and showed that only recognised composites produced significant adaptation. In Chapter 3 the adaptors were cryptic faces (unfamiliar faces subtly transformed towards a celebrity's face) and faces of celebrity's siblings. Unrecognised cryptic and sibling faces produced FIAEs for their related celebrity, but only when adapting and testing on the same viewpoint. Adaptation only transferred across viewpoint when a face was explicitly recognised. Chapter 4 demonstrated that face adaptation could occur for ecologically valid, personally familiar stimuli, a necessary pre-requisite if adaptation is functional in calibrating face processing mechanisms. A video of a lecturer's face produced FIAEs equivalent to that produced by static images. Chapters 5 and 6 used a different type of after-effect, the face distortion after-effect (FDAE), to explore the stability of our representations for personally familiar faces, and showed that even representations of highly familiar faces can be affected by exposure to distorted faces. The work presented here shows that it is important to take facial familiarity into account when investigating face adaptation effects, as well as increasing our understanding of how familiarity affects the representations of faces.

This thesis emerged from the author’s quest to increase her personal and professional effectiveness, to become more congruent, and to be a better person in the world. The thesis discusses how to move from Argyris and Schon’s behavioural model 1 (seeking answers externally, blaming others, avoiding responsibility, controlling behaviour and the belief that there is one right way) to model 2 (seeking answers from within, accepting responsibility, living in a state of flow, surprise and emergent possibilities, looking at the world in multiple ways and collaborating with others). Drawing from her own experiences and interactions with others, the author explores issues such as how people learn the qualities that enable them to be better people; what experiences have enabled people to move toward model 2; what happens when a group, especially within an organisation, moves toward model 2 and how does this happen; and how can conditions be created to enable individuals or groups to move toward model 2.

This thesis focuses on harmonisation of work and family life of female university graduates at beginning of their careers and at the time when they were taking care of babies up to five years of age. I have chosen this topic not only because it is rather an actual topic but also because I'm personally attached to it. My feminist research analysis is based on the theory of power and knowledge as is it described by Foucault and Butler. I was interested in original families of my communication partners where they grew up and where they adopted their social habits and behaviour. In the light of this social process, I have analysed what powers they had to face in their original families in terms of usage of gender stereotypes based on patriarchal layout of our society and preferential existence of one gender over the other. I have also focused on current families of my communication partners and on power relationships on the basis of which the process of harmonisation of professional and family life of my communication partners takes place, both in their private and public space. I have also analysed how social habits and behaviour gained during their childhood are implemented. It was very important for the interviews and for my feminist research to approach my communication partners as subjects, and...