Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Perceived Similarity And Relationship Satisfaction : The Role Of Attributional Confidence, Ting Hin Lee

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

Although perceived similarity has been found to foster relationship satisfaction, scarce studies have focused on how perceived similarity by oneself and by the partner are linked to relationship satisfaction. The purpose of Study 1 was to investigate the effect of perceived similarity on relationship satisfaction and the mediating role of attributional confidence in this association. Study 2 aimed to examine the effects of one’s own and the partner’s perceived similarity on relationship satisfaction, in addition to the mediating roles of one’s own and the partner’s attributional confidence in these associations. In Study 1, a total of 395 individuals (51.4% female) …

An Investigation Of Africans And Hongkongers Relationship : A Social Psychological Approach, Raymond Agyenim-Boateng

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

When members of different social groups come into contact, interactions and intergroup attitudes are not always reciprocal between the groups. Within social psychology, intergroup relations research has long been a topic of interest. Yet, such research has mostly been conducted in Western cultural settings. There is scant research from an East Asian cultural context, where intercultural encounters have been on the rise. Existing psychological literature has put much attention on the experiences of migrants and minorities, while the views of the host majority members would often be neglected. This thesis addresses this lacuna by using social psychological theories and research …

Evaluation Of Preview Cues To Enhance Recall Of Auditory Sequential Information, Tsz Chun Marco Lau

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

Background: In previous work, an auditory vital sign display of five patients was developed. Sounds denoting the vital signs of each patient were delivered in order, with a special sound for any patient whose vital signs were all normal. Although the display was effective, accuracy decreased as the number of abnormal patients increased. We wondered whether accuracy would improve with a preview sound indicating the number of patients with abnormal vital signs in the upcoming sequence by reducing working memory load. We also wondered whether the preview sound would affect the performance of responding to concurrent task.

Methods: A 3 …

The Effect Of Contextual Uncertainty On Confidence Judgements In Perception And Its Relation To Metacognition, Wing Kiu Lam

Bachelor of Social Sciences – Senior Theses

Our brain processes noisy and incomplete information to make adaptive decisions and chooses appropriate responses based on the strength of our subjective evaluation. Such subjective evaluation of our decisions could be referred to our metacognition— the ability to monitor and recognize our own successful cognitive processing. What information does our metacognitive system take in during subjective evaluation? To what extent our metacognitive judgements are influenced by the context? The current study aims to investigate whether there is an effect of contextual uncertainty on confidence judgments when perceptual performance is controlled. In this study, participants were required to perform both type …

The Roles Of Growth Mindset And Rational Beliefs As Personal Resources On Employees’ Job Performance And Work Engagement : Applying The Job Demands-Resources Model In The Greater Bay Area, Nuoxun Lin

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

The purpose of the thesis is to investigate certain kinds of personal resources, especially growth mindset and rational beliefs, that could equip employees who work and live in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) to enhance their job performance to face a competitive and everchanging workplace.

The current research consists of three studies: Study 1 (N = 801, 61.5% female) was a cross-sectional survey which examined the structural validity and relationships between growth mindset, rational beliefs, work engagement, and job performance in the motivational path of the JD-R model. We collected data from Hong Kong and mainland China. Study 2 (N …

The Relationship Between Rumination And Metacognition : Application Of An Innovative Signal-Detection Approach, Chak Man Tang

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

Rumination, a stable vulnerability marker of depression, is associated with lack of affective bias towards positive information due to cognitive control deficit. However, whether ruminators are self-aware remains unknown. Based on the signal-detection approach, the present study examined metacognition associated with rumination. Specifically, metacognitive sensitivity, the extent to which one’s confidence tracks task performance, was measured using the meta-d’ method. In three directed-forgetting memory experiments, the present research examined whether trait rumination (Experiment 1) and interaction between trait rumination and mood state (Experiments 2 and 3) influenced metacognitive sensitivity. Participants were asked to either forget or remember some affective pictures …

Predictors Of Aberrant Driving Behaviours And Accident Involvement : Quantitative Objective And Subjective Evidence From Chinese And Pakistani Drivers, Rayna Sadia

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

Traffic safety has emerged as a primary issue for governments, policymakers, and researchers globally since the surge of automobiles. Outcomes of minimal adherence to traffic safety (road traffic accidents, injuries, and fatalities) are detrimental to the socio-economic growth of any country. Human factors, by far, provide efficient opportunities to improve traffic safety than environmental and engineering factors. Among human factors, driving behaviours have higher potential to harm traffic safety than driving performance. Western empirical findings using self-reported measures have established the predictive role of driving behaviours in crash involvement. Due to cultural differences in the traffic environment and lack of …

Inspecting The Role Of Positive Emotions, Adaptive Coping, And Psychological Resources To Explain The Strengthening Of Resilience After Stress Exposure, David Kansakar

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

A few studies have indicated the resilience promoting role of stressors but there is a lack of studies to delineate the underlying mechanisms. To address that gap of knowledge, this study utilizes a combination of broaden and build theory (Fredrickson, 1998, 2001b) and the stress and coping model (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) to delineate the mechanisms underlying strengthening of resilience upon exposure to stressors. The main underpinnings of the theoretical model are two pathways that lead to resilience. Based on the broaden and build theory, the experience of positive emotions will lead to resilience via adaptive coping and psychological resources. …

Intentions Behind The Use Of Social Network Sites And Its Association With Peronality, Job Performance And Psychological Well-Being Of Employees In China And Pakistan : Qualitative And Quantitative Approaches, Haziq Mehmood

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

Social networking sites (SNSs) are becoming our focus of attention to fulfill our basic need to associate and communicate with other beings. During the last few years, there has been a drastic increase in SNSs users and statistics represent a huge number of people and even workers who log in to SNSs at least once during their office hours. Many studies have explored the SNSs use in students, but limited literature is available that studied employees’ use of SNSs during their working hours. The present study is divided into three phases: scale development, survey, and a quasi-experiment. The first phase …

A Socioecological Approach To Online Dating Goals And Self-Presentational Strategies In North American And Chinese Cultures, Cheuk Yue, Cherry Wan

Bachelor of Social Sciences – Senior Theses

In this study, a content analysis investigating the relationship goals and self-presentational strategies on online daters’ personal advertisements from both North America (n = 300) and Hong Kong China (n = 300) was conducted. Significant differences between the two cultures were found by adopting a socio-ecological approach. Great cross-cultural differences were found. Compared with Chinese, the North American were more likely to seek for an open and casual relationship, namely sexual interests and friendship, self-improvement and showing own uniqueness. In contrast, Chinese were more likely to initiate a committed relationship such as soulmate and romantic activities, express loneliness and resistant …

Examining The Generation Effects On Job-Hopping Intention By Applying The Theory Of Planned Behavior (Tpb), Sze Hang Yuen

Theses & Dissertations

Job hopping is about people changing jobs frequently. This concept is slightly different from normal turnover in terms of employees staying in the present company for a short period of time only before they move on to the next job. While there appears to be an increased level of acceptance of job hopping, the phenomenon has also been associated with different problems faced by organizations, such as retaining experienced and trained employees. Past research has been directed to examining the roles of various social (e.g., perceived job availability) and psychological (e.g., job satisfaction, turnover culture, values and attitudes) factors in …

Hk Children Happiness Index 2015 = 2015年香港兒童快樂指數, Lok Sang Ho, Early Childhood Development Research Foundation 香港嬰幼兒發展研究基金會

Hong Kong Children Happiness Index 香港兒童快樂指數調查

According to the results of the 2015 Hong Kong Children’s Happiness Index Survey released by Lingnan University’s Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) today (30 March), the overall Children’s Happiness Index in 2015 dropped noticeably to 6.49 (on a scale of 0 to 10) from 6.74 in 2014.

With funding support from the Hong Kong Early Childhood Development Research Foundation and the assistance of the Public Governance Programme of Lingnan University, the 2015 Children’s Happiness Index survey was conducted following the same methodology as in previous surveys. A total of 9 primary schools and 14 secondary schools (excluding international …

Types Of Persuasive Message Promoting Blood Donation In Hong Kong, Pui Chuen Tam

Bachelor of Social Sciences – Senior Theses

Based on Ferguson, Farrell, & Lawrence (2008)’s study on persuasive messages promoting blood donation, this study has identified a characteristic of persuasive message that could influence Chinese participants’ behavioral intention to donate blood. Participants (N = 66) were randomly assigned to read one of the four messages with different focuses and framings. They then indicated their behavioral intention to donate blood after reading the messages. Two-way ANCOVA, with self-efficacy as covariate indicated that respondents after reading altruistic messages reported a higher intention to donate blood than those who read egoistic messages. Moreover, it is also revealed that within people with …

Effect Of Self-Interruption And External Interruption On Error Detection, Sze Yuen Yau

Theses & Dissertations

Knowledge workers are frequently bombarded with interruption and are required to constant multitask. Previous observational studies found that frequent interrupted activities cause more errors and induce feelings of stress and frustration. Therefore, the aim of the current research is to investigate how interruption affects error detection performance. Current error detection research focused on the effectiveness of different checking methods. In this thesis, we concentrate on the psychological mechanism of error detection. A series of experiments was carried out to examine the effects of self-interruption (i.e. the pilot study and Study I) and external interruption (Study II) on error detection performance …

Extending The Jd-R Approach To Predicting Work/Study Engagement And Creative Performance : Evidences From Chinese Employees And Students, Mengyuan Wu

Theses & Dissertations

Although innovation and creativity play an increasingly important role in helping organizations survive in today’s highly competitive environment, less is known about the antecedents and mechanisms of creative performance in the Chinese context. To bridge the gap of knowledge, this thesis adopted and extended Bakker (2011)’s Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R model) to exploring four antecedents of creative performance, namely, creative requirement (job demand), creative self-efficacy (personal resource), perceived support for creativity (job resource), and work/study engagement. It was hypothesized that engagement would mediate the positive effect of creative self-efficacy, perceived support for creativity and creative requirement on creative performance. Creative …

Is Big Brother Playing Fair? Exploring Effects Of Perceived Nepotism In Public Institutions On Trust In Strangers, David Amon Neequaye

Theses & Dissertations

Trust has proven to be a vital social capital. It has been implicated in a myriad of socially beneficial initiatives. While trust vested in familiar others remain important, trust extended to strangers is crucial to the continued development of social capital. This is because such interaction, though risky at times, forms a springboard to untapped opportunities. Using a multi-round trust game and self-report assessments the present study explored explanations for observed cultural differences in trust in strangers. Data was drawn from university students in Ghana and Hong Kong. Factor analysis showed that self-report trust in strangers was associated with trust …

The Influence Of Job Insecurity On Performance Outcomes Among Chinese, German And U.S. Employees : Evidence From Self-Reported And Observational Studies, Lara Christina Roll

Theses & Dissertations

Since the 1980s our economy has been quickly evolving. Mergers, downsizing, privatizations and the recent economic crisis have exposed employees to a growing sense of uncertainty about their job future. Both quantitative and qualitative job insecurity has been linked to numerous negative performance and health outcomes for employees, negatively impacting organizations. Negative effects include burnout, reduced work engagement and decreased safety motivation and compliance. Most studies on job insecurity only look at one country, usually a Western country, and rely exclusively on self-reports. Therefore, the aims of the present research (including two studies) are to a) examine both qualitative and …

Hk Children Happiness Index 2014 = 2014年香港兒童快樂指數, Lok Sang Ho, Early Childhood Development Research Foundation 香港嬰幼兒發展研究基金會

Hong Kong Children Happiness Index 香港兒童快樂指數調查

According to the results of the Children’s Happiness Index Survey released by Lingnan University’s Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) today (17 April), the 2014 overall Children’s Happiness Index dropped noticeably to 6.74 (on a scale of 0 to 10) from 7.23 in 2013. This is the lowest on record since the survey commenced in 2012 when the Index was tracked at 6.91. Drop in happiness has been recorded for children of all school grades and age groups.

Commissioned by the Hong Kong Early Childhood Development Research Foundation, the 2014 Children’s Happiness Index adopts methodology similar to previous surveys. …

The Precebo Illusion Of Pain Analgesia Using The Cold Pressor Task, Man Chun Kam

Bachelor of Social Sciences – Senior Theses

Everybody feels physical pain at some time in their life. Although physical pain can protect us from seriously harming ourselves, pain can also be harmful. Studies have revealed that unrelieved pain can have a long lasting harmful effect on both physical and psychological health (Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, 2006). Therefore, pain analgesia has long been an important issue in various fields, such as medical, biological and psychological field. In the current study, pain analgesia was studied through a psychological phenomenon called precebo illusion.

Superstitious Precebo Illusion : Does Luck Charm Really Gives You Luck? It's Mere Possession Does!, Pik Ying Chan

Bachelor of Social Sciences – Senior Theses

Superstition is quite common in the modern society, people still hold superstitious beliefs and often engage in superstitious rituals that bring good luck. For example, Feng shui is the most popular superstition among Chinese and carrying a Feng shui luck charm such as mystic knot and red envelopes was believed to bring good luck. Likewise, in Western superstition, similar astrological talismans are believed to strengthen different qualities of the possessor. When one believes that certain object carried mystical power, having possession of it would grant the owner access to those powers. Nonetheless, the mystic power of these talismans is questionable …

Children And Happy Growing Up 2013, Lok Sang Ho

Hong Kong Children Happiness Index 香港兒童快樂指數調查

Hong Kong children from Primary 4 to Secondary 3 were happier in 2013 with their happiness index standing at 7.23, evidently higher than 6.91 in 2012, according to results of the latest survey conducted by the Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) of Lingnan University announced today.

However, the encouraging result was tempered by declines in the Insight and Fortitude scores, two of the four key determinants of happiness, namely Love, Insight, Fortitude and Engagement (LIFE). In 2013, Hong Kong children’s Insight score fell to 6.19 from 6.37 in 2012, while Fortitude dropped to 6.64 from 7.10 during the same …

Children And Happy Growing Up 香港學童快樂地成長嗎? 2012, Lok Sang Ho

Hong Kong Children Happiness Index 香港兒童快樂指數調查

A caring and loving relationship between parents, and parents’ respect for children’s views and privacy are what Hong Kong children value the most in defining their happiness. While financial well-being is clearly important, it is far less important than having a warm, loving family that promotes effective communication and avoids strongly worded rebukes and disciplinary actions, according to the results of the latest happiness survey conducted by the Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) of Lingnan University.

This study was commissioned by the Early Childhood Development Research Foundation and sponsored by Henderson Land Group. Conducted between November 2011 and January …

A Study Of The Reasons And Functions Of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (Nssi) Among Students In Hong Kong And United Kingdom, Sze Yiu, Cindy Wong

Bachelor of Social Sciences – Senior Theses

This study examines non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in a community sample of adolescents and young adults in Hong Kong and United Kingdom. Non-suicidal self‐injury (NSSI) refers to direct, deliberate destruction of one’s own body tissue in the absence of intent to die. Apart from investigating the reasons and functions of non-suicidal self‐injury (NSSI), this study also examined the gender as well as cultural differences in self‐injurious behaviors. Functional Assessment of Self‐Mutilation (FASM) was used to examine non‐suicidal self-injury (NSSI).

Overall, 17.1% (n=46) out of 269 participants (n=269) endorsed engaging in non-suicidal self‐injury (NSSI) in the past 12 months, with more females …

Developing An Instrument To Measure Representational Predicaments At Work, Robin Stanley Snell, Man Kuen, Almaz Chak, Yi Zhang

Hong Kong Institute of Business Studies Working Paper Series

Employees with representational predicaments believe that authorities' impressions of their workplace contributions or circumstances are unfavourably
incomplete or inaccurate. A literature review suggested four hypothesized types of representational predicament: two, disregarding of non-canonical work, and disregarding of job-related stressors, characterized primarily by unfavourable invisibility; two, negative spotlighting and unfair canonical presumption of guilt,
characterized primarily by unfavourable visibility. This study developed an instrument to measure prevalence of representational predicaments. Qualitative interviews confirmed the hypothesized variables, but exploratory factor analyses identified a different set of four emergent subscales. Of these: two, being neglected
and negative spotlighting, indicated representational predicaments; two, fair …

A Study Of Positive Emotions And Turnover Intentions Among Hong Kong Police Officers : The Mediating Role Of Psychological Capital And Work Well-Being, Chun Lok Lui

Theses & Dissertations

With reference to Fredrickson‘s (2001) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, the current study investigated the mechanism of how positive emotions contribute to desirable outcomes to the organization through psychological capital (PsyCap), which is a positive, state-like, and performance-related resource comprising self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience. To date, only few studies have been done particularly on the relationships between PsyCap and positive emotions among Chinese employees. Studies on PsyCap of police force are even rarer. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the underlying mechanism relating positive emotions and work outcomes, specifically to examine the separate roles of positive …

The "Three Happinesses" And The "Happiness Formula" : Lessons From The Hong Kong Evidence, Lok Sang Ho

Conference on “Improving the Human Destiny"

The paper draws on results of surveys conducted in Hong Kong since 2005 to test the "three happinesses theory" and "the happiness formula." The "three happinesses theory" suggests that the positive or negative feelings as well as the strengths of such affective feelings associated with an activity would depend on the "state of mind" of the individual engaging in the activity, and this would depend on prospective as well as retrospective considerations. The "three happinesses" are based on a "whole life experience," the capability for which can be "switched on" using the happiness formula consisting of Love, Insight, Fortitude, and …

International Evidence On The Social Context Of Well-Being, John F. Helliwell, Christopher P. Barrington-Leigh, Anthony Harris, Haifang Huang

Conference on “Improving the Human Destiny"

This paper uses the first three waves of the Gallup World Poll to investigate differences across countries, cultures and regions in the factors linked to life satisfaction, paying special attention to the social context. Our principal findings are: First, using the larger pooled sample, we find that answers to the satisfaction with life and Cantril ladder questions provide consistent views of what constitutes a good life, with an average of the two measures providing a clearer picture than either measure on its own. Second, we find strong evidence for the importance of both income and social context variables in explaining …

Yesterday's Lei Feng And Today's Young People's Liberation Army Soldiers, Che Po Chan

CAPS Working Paper Series

Lei Feng has been propagandized as a model of emulation for the People's Liberation Army soldiers since the 1960s. This paper uses Lei Feng as a yardstick to measure contemporary young soldiers' general behaviors and orientations. We are interested to find out to what extent contemporary young soldiers have accepted the Chinese Communist Party's political education and have followed the norm set by the Party. It is found that the widely publicized Chinese role model has exerted little influence on contemporary young soldiers. Young soldiers today are utilitarian and materialistic, sharing the same youth culture with most Chinese youths of …

A Structural Equation Model Of Environmental Attitude And Behaviour : The Hong Kong Experience, Oi Ling Siu, Kui Yin Cheung

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

The present study aims at establishing a structural equation model relating affect, verbal commitment, and actual commitment using a sample of 271 university students (119 males, 152 females) by applying the theory of reasoned action (Aizen & Fishbein, 1980). A linear structural equation relation (LISREL) model was developed to verify that verbal commitment is a function of affect, and in tum, determine actual commitment. Sixty percent of the variance of verbal commitment could be explained by affect, and 19 % of actual commitment could be explained by verbal commitment; yet only a small percentage of the variance of actual commitment …

Stress At Work, Coping, And Workers' Health Of An Acquired Firm In Hong Kong, Oi Ling Siu

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

The structure of the Occupational Stress Indicator (OSI) was adopted as the model to investigate the impact of acquisition stress on workers' health effects. Data were obtained from 101 employees of an acquired firm in Hong Kong. Workers' perceived work pressure was negatively related to job satisfaction, and positively related to mental ill-health, and physical ill-health. Hierarchical moderated regression analyses were employed to study the stressor-strain relationship, and the extent coping strategies moderate this relationship. The results showed that a combination of stressors related significantly to the strain effects, but only a few individual stressors were strong predictors. Coping strategies …