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Full-Text Articles in Psychology

Distinctions Between General And Personal Courage, Cynthia L. S. Pury, Robin M. Kowalski, Jana Spearman Apr 2007

Distinctions Between General And Personal Courage, Cynthia L. S. Pury, Robin M. Kowalski, Jana Spearman

Cynthia L. S. Pury

How courageous is an action? Perhaps it depends on the comparison group, with crucial differences between general courage, or actions that would be courageous for anyone, and personal courage, or actions that are courageous only for the particular actor. To explore these possible distinctions, 250 undergraduates (151 female) wrote about a time they acted courageously, then made multiple ratings of the action including personal and general courageousness. Actions high in general courage were taken with more confidence, less fear, and fewer personal limitations: actions high in personal courage were taken with more fear, despite greater difficulty. Both ratings and narrative …


Increasing Retention Of Women Engineering Students, Kieran T. Sullivan, Ruth Davis Jan 2007

Increasing Retention Of Women Engineering Students, Kieran T. Sullivan, Ruth Davis

Psychology

This paper reports the results of a study carried out over several years to determine the factors predicting success for women engineering students at Santa Clara University. We examined psychosocial factors, such as commitment to engineering and confidence in engineering abilities, as well as the effect of a specific intervention on the retention rate of young women engineering students.