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Edith Cowan University

Theses/Dissertations

1998

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Articles 1 - 26 of 26

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Effect Of Pre-Interview Training And Warnings On Children's Eyewitness Testimonies, Julie A. Jost Jan 1998

The Effect Of Pre-Interview Training And Warnings On Children's Eyewitness Testimonies, Julie A. Jost

Theses : Honours

The present study examined two important issues regarding children's eyewitness testimonies -compliance which is the tendency to agree with misleading questions and the misinformation effect whereby participants incorporate misleading postevent information into their memory recall of the original event. Eighty six primary school children (6-8 years) watched a video, listened to a misleading narrative and were then interviewed individually. To reduce compliance half the children received a pre-interview training package composed of instructions and practice questions with 'neither' and 'don't know' response options. To reduce the misinformation effect children were given a warning that they may have heard some misleading …

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A Cave Of Their Own: A Comparative Examination Of Recurring Social And Psychological Themes In Gothic Fiction And Gothic Youth Subculture Through The Song Lyrics And Fiction Of Nick Cave, Bradley M. Hunter Jan 1998

A Cave Of Their Own: A Comparative Examination Of Recurring Social And Psychological Themes In Gothic Fiction And Gothic Youth Subculture Through The Song Lyrics And Fiction Of Nick Cave, Bradley M. Hunter

Theses : Honours

The aim of this thesis is to examine the Gothic phenomenon as it pertains to late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century fiction, and extrapolate its social and psychological concerns as they relate to the Gothic revival in the late nineteenth-century Decadent movement and late twentieth-century gothic subculture. This examination focuses on recurrent social and psychological themes in eighteenth/nineteenth-century Gothic fiction, the late nineteenth-century Decadent movement and twentieth-century gothic music and subculture, which, in turn, are compared to the themes and motifs of the song lyrics and fiction of Nick Cave. Within this context, the recurring theme of the psychological exploration of …

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The Psychosocial Correlates Of Cigarette Smoking Among Tertiary Students, Tina Hankins Jan 1998

The Psychosocial Correlates Of Cigarette Smoking Among Tertiary Students, Tina Hankins

Theses : Honours

The present study was undertaken to examine the relative contribution of psychosocial variables toward tertiary student smoking behaviour, and their ability to distinguish smokers from non-smokers, or smokers from ex-smokers, amongst this population. Given the higher prevalence of cigarette smoking amongst females of this age group, the psychosocial variables distinguishing female smokers from female non-smokers in the tertiary education system were also examined. It was hypothesised that smoking status of tertiary students would be associated more with their attitude toward smoking than environmental factors. Furthermore, it was hypothesised females would place less emphasis on participation in sporting activities than males, …

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Behavioural Contexts For The Expression Of Modern Racism: The Simulated Juror Paradigm, Murray Riggs Jan 1998

Behavioural Contexts For The Expression Of Modern Racism: The Simulated Juror Paradigm, Murray Riggs

Theses : Honours

The central tenet of modem racism theory is that, although overt prejudice seems to have declined, subtle forms of prejudice are still pervasive. The theory predicts that members of a majority racial group will discriminate against members of a minority racial group only when they feel that they can do so without appearing to be prejudiced. Thus, the occurrence of discrimination depends upon the nature of the behavioural context. The purpose of the present study was to explore the implications of modern racism theory in the behavioural domain by employing the simulated juror paradigm. The participants, 338 randomly selected residents …

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The Role Of The Print Media In Constructing Controversies In Sport, David Robert Marsh Jan 1998

The Role Of The Print Media In Constructing Controversies In Sport, David Robert Marsh

Theses : Honours

Sport is important to Australians and, by extension, sports writing is also important. Print sports journalists now operate in a professional and social environment that has assumed a new complexion in recent years. The emergence of the print media provided a rapid means of informing the public about the happenings in sport, and thus, it can be argued, that sport flourished. This study proposes to examine the role of the print media in their coverage of sporting controversies by exploring the way the print media handled three recent sporting conflicts. This critical inquiry of the media focuses on ethical issues …

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Sequential Testing Effects Re-Visited : Is The Effect Of Test Presentation Contingent Upon Slide Linearity?, John D. Jones Jan 1998

Sequential Testing Effects Re-Visited : Is The Effect Of Test Presentation Contingent Upon Slide Linearity?, John D. Jones

Theses : Honours

Evidence regarding the potential mediating effects sequential test presentation has upon eyewitness suggestibility is divided. Bekerian and Bowers' (1983) research suggested that sequential test presentation reduced misinformation effects, whilst McCloskey and Zaragoza's (1985) results failed to indicate any effect of this presentation method. A possible reason for these conflicting results is that the respective research groups have used different sets of slides. Bekerian and Bowers' (1983) slides appeared to contain more thematic content (i.e., linear content), which in turn increased participants' resistance to misleading postevent information. Conversely, McCloskey and Zaragoza's (1985) slides appeared to lack this feature (i.e., they are …

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Psychological Well-Being In The Victims Of Bullying Among Primary School Children, Catherine A. Rice Jan 1998

Psychological Well-Being In The Victims Of Bullying Among Primary School Children, Catherine A. Rice

Theses : Honours

A replication and extension of Rigby and Slee's (1993) study and an investigation of Seligman, Reivich, Jaycox and Gillham's (1995) theory of self-esteem was conducted in one private primary school in Western Australia. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between the age and gender of victims of bullying with self-esteem of the students and their attitudes towards attending school (Rigby & Slee, 1993), and their explanatory style (Seligman et al., I 995). Four anonymous questionnaires: Peer Relations Assessment Questionnaire (Rigby & Slee, 1997), Self-Esteem Inventory (Coopersmith, 1989), Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire (Seligman, Kaslow, Alloy, Peterson, Tanenbaum …

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Aboriginal People With Disability And Their Use Of Advocacy: A Phenomenological Approach, E. A. Leipoldt Jan 1998

Aboriginal People With Disability And Their Use Of Advocacy: A Phenomenological Approach, E. A. Leipoldt

Theses : Honours

The reasons for an apparent low use of advocacy agencies in Perth by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have a disability, in a context of high vulnerability, were investigated. A high incidence of disability exists amongst this group. No previous research in this area has been conducted. Nine Aboriginal people with disability were interviewed about their experiences with regard to their disabilities and any need for advocacy. This study used a qualitative, phenomenological approach as its conceptual framework, including also, a minor quantitative component. The quantitative component consisted of a brief survey of Perth-based disability advocacy agencies. It …

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Testing The Matching Hypothesis : Implementing A Minimal Stress Intervention By Matching Writing Task To Emotional Coping Style, Pamela D. Mcneill Jan 1998

Testing The Matching Hypothesis : Implementing A Minimal Stress Intervention By Matching Writing Task To Emotional Coping Style, Pamela D. Mcneill

Theses : Honours

The theory of inhibition and psychosomatic disease supports the concept that failure to express emotion is psychologically and physically stressful, and associated with long-term health problems. One aspect of this study was to investigate the discrepancy hypothesis proposing that specific emotional coping styles elicit patterns of discrepant self-report and physiological responses. The major focus of the study tested whether matching therapeutic writing tasks to specific emotional coping styles would significantly decrease stress and somatic symptoms, and whether mismatching such writing tasks to emotional coping styles would not decrease stress and somatic symptoms. Undergraduate students were identified as having an emotional …

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How Do You Do Your Rage? : A Qualitative Investigation Into Contemporary Women's Experience Of Their Rage, Verena Homberger Jan 1998

How Do You Do Your Rage? : A Qualitative Investigation Into Contemporary Women's Experience Of Their Rage, Verena Homberger

Theses : Honours

Feminist researchers investigate women’s lives. This project is looking at a tiny thread embedded in a small section in the huge fabric of women's lives. The section is women’s capacity for violence, and the thread within it is women’s rage. This is a qualitative study of contemporary women experiencing and expressing their anger and rage. Discussions of violence within feminist literature have been largely restricted to accounts of male violence against women and children, and may have inadvertently endorsed the mainstream construction of femininity, which perceives rage in women to be an inappropriate emotion. In this project, I argue that …

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Team Cohesion, Performance Outcome And Player Satisfaction In State League Netball, Angelique Jane Wilson Jan 1998

Team Cohesion, Performance Outcome And Player Satisfaction In State League Netball, Angelique Jane Wilson

Theses : Honours

Team cohesion repeatedly has been emphasised as important in the development of performance success. This research examined the importance of team cohesion as a multidimensional construct through three inter-related studies with elite netball players. The first study examined differences between successful and unsuccessful teams on (a) overall team cohesion. (b) overall task cohesion including attraction to group-task (ATG-T) and group integration-task (GI-T) components, and (c) social cohesion including attraction to group-social (ATG-S ), and group integration-social (GI-S) components. The second study examined the multidimensional nature of cohesion in relation to player satisfaction. Finally, study investigated the relationship between pcrfom1ancc outcome …

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Factors Influencing Continuation And Withdrawal From Coaching Youth Football In Metropolitan Western Australia, James T. K. Milne Jan 1998

Factors Influencing Continuation And Withdrawal From Coaching Youth Football In Metropolitan Western Australia, James T. K. Milne

Theses : Honours

It is inevitable that at some stage of his career. a coach will withdraw. This qualitative study explored the various reasons why coaches of youth football (between the ages of 13 and 17 years) choose to continue or withdraw their involvement with the sport. It was the first part of a two phase larger study into this topic involving: (a) in depth interviews with current and former youth football coaches: and (b) the uses of themes from the interview data to develop a questionnaire for distribution to a larger sample of youth football coaches at a later stage. Perceptions and …

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Person-Job Fit In The Changing Work Environment : Models For Office Workers And Teleworkers, Sharon C. Elsley Jan 1998

Person-Job Fit In The Changing Work Environment : Models For Office Workers And Teleworkers, Sharon C. Elsley

Theses : Honours

This thesis empirically examined the theoretical domain of Person-Job Fit proposed by Edwards (1991). Two models were tested with data collected from a sample of 101 Office Workers and 101 Teleworkers categorised as professional, managerial, clerical, technical and sales. The adequacy of the two models was tested using Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis. The Person-Job Fit model found that measures of Abilities, Desires, Supplies and Demands were equally predictive of Personal and Organisational Outcomes for both groups. Commensurate measures were employed for Desires and Supplies. The h1ended Person-Job Fit model included the meaning of home (Groves, 1996b), which was hypothesised …

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The Lived Experience Of A Group Of Mothers, Geographically Isolated From Their Extended Families, In Establishing Their Social Support Networks, Stephanie Jackiewicz Jan 1998

The Lived Experience Of A Group Of Mothers, Geographically Isolated From Their Extended Families, In Establishing Their Social Support Networks, Stephanie Jackiewicz

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study explores the Jived experience of a group of women, geographically isolated from their extended family, as they establish their new support networks. It is based on the assumption that the shape and structure of families are constantly changing and evolving and this change in family structure impacts on both the parents and the children. One of the significant changes families are experiencing is the increasing isolation of the nuclear family from traditional family networks. It is the purpose of this study to explore the experience of this group of women to identify how the members establish their support …

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Investigating Organisational Effectiveness Within The Federation Of Wa Police And Citizens Youth Clubs (Inc.), Bruce Heathcote Jan 1998

Investigating Organisational Effectiveness Within The Federation Of Wa Police And Citizens Youth Clubs (Inc.), Bruce Heathcote

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study was to identify organisational effectiveness criteria relevant to the Federation of WA Police and Citizens Youth Clubs; analyse variations between important constituent groups; and compare the criteria developed with the Objects of the Federation and relevant models for assessing organisational effectiveness within the Western Australian public sector. A four round Delphi technique was applied to club staff, management committee members, coaches and other volunteers (including current and ex-club members) to identify organisational effectiveness criteria. The 22 criteria developed were further refined to make 25 criteria that were tested against a larger sample using a mailed …

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Pedagogic Approaches And Cultural Scripts: The Use Of Talk During Shared Literacy Lessons In Three Primary Two Classrooms In Singapore, Maha Sripathy Jan 1998

Pedagogic Approaches And Cultural Scripts: The Use Of Talk During Shared Literacy Lessons In Three Primary Two Classrooms In Singapore, Maha Sripathy

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study investigates the use and occurrence of talk during the implementation of the key approaches of Shared Book Reading and Class Dictated Story in three Primary Two classrooms in Singapore. These approaches are based on a constructive perspective of literacy where children make meaning from texts read with the teacher through joint exploration and connection with their respective background knowledge and experiences. Central to this joint exploration and meaning-making is the teacher-pupil talk. The occurrence and use of talk in the implementation of these approaches in three primary two classrooms was recorded, transcribed and analyzed. Teachers' and pupils' experiences …

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"Family" As Constructed By Adoptees After Making Contact With Their Birth Families, Adrianne Moloney Jan 1998

"Family" As Constructed By Adoptees After Making Contact With Their Birth Families, Adrianne Moloney

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Legislative changes during the 1980s and 1990s opened confidential adoption files of the past enabling many adoptees and relinquishing parents to establish contact. This study examines the way in which the meaning of family is constructed by adoptees who have made contact with their birth relatives, and how these constructions were altered after contact. The ways in which biological and social definitions of family are constructed and contested in these settings is explored. Sociological definitions of family are discussed and the gap between ideal notions of 'family' and the lived experience of 'family' is explored. The study focuses on the …

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Burnout In Academics : The Role Of Humour And Optimism As Stress Buffers, Natalie R. Fairclough Jan 1998

Burnout In Academics : The Role Of Humour And Optimism As Stress Buffers, Natalie R. Fairclough

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The relationship between university lecturers' perceived stress, use of humour to cope with stress, optimism, pessimism, and burnout was investigated. Participants included 180 lecturers from a range of Perth universities and disciplines. Questionnaire packages were delivered to the participants at their universities and were later returned to the researcher by mail. A principle components analysis was first performed on the Life Orientation Test-Revised, a self-report instrument designed to measure optimism, and demonstrated support for a two-dimensional model of optimism and pessimism. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was subsequently conducted to determine the ability of perceived stress, humour, optimism, and pessimism, …

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Causal Attributions For Crime Involving Aboriginal And Non-Aboriginal Juvenile Offenders, Elke K. Graf Jan 1998

Causal Attributions For Crime Involving Aboriginal And Non-Aboriginal Juvenile Offenders, Elke K. Graf

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of crime-specific racial stereotypes upon the Jay person's judgement about the cause of and appropriate punishment for juvenile crime. A pilot investigation (n= 30) revealed that the crimes of motor vehicle theft and possession of an illegal drug were perceived to be more strongly associated with the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal offender respectively. This information formed the basis for the type of crime and offender's race experimental manipulations of the main study. Attribution theory variables and the revised version of a previously validated questionnaire (Furnham & Henderson, 1983) were the two …

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Predictability Of Everyday Task Performance By Perceived Health, Self-Efficacy And Cognitive Ability, Joan Klinger Jan 1998

Predictability Of Everyday Task Performance By Perceived Health, Self-Efficacy And Cognitive Ability, Joan Klinger

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This exploratory research investigated the relationship between a brief neuropsychological measure and everyday functional ability in older community dwelling adults. The association between these two areas is complex, as a specific functional domain often involves several of the cognitive skills typically assessed by a neuropsychological instrument. Whilst there is an extensive literature linking neuropyschological tests to everyday functioning in cognitively impaired older adults, little research has been directed at investigating the relationship between cognitive test performance and everyday competence in non-dementing older people who reside independently in the community. A brief cognitive instrument able to predict coping deficits in instrumental …

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Extending The Boundaries : Portraits Of Activism In Perth, Western Australia, Alan Wilson Jan 1998

Extending The Boundaries : Portraits Of Activism In Perth, Western Australia, Alan Wilson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

For some analysts, post-industrial capitalist societies have pathological deficiencies which manifest themselves locally and further afield, in marginalisation and oppression of people and despoliation of the environment. For those who are passionately driven to challenge those consequences of the dominant paradigm, activism is deemed to be a potent force for effecting social and political change. The aim of this study was to establish how activists integrate issues, context, strategies, personal factors and other influences into a strategy for action.

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Extending The Reach: Exploring What It Means To Be A Parent Of A Hostel Adolescent Assisting With Their Child's Career Development : A Case Study, Julie A. Howell Jan 1998

Extending The Reach: Exploring What It Means To Be A Parent Of A Hostel Adolescent Assisting With Their Child's Career Development : A Case Study, Julie A. Howell

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Research indicates that parents are an important influence on the career development of their children, but, that they have often been considered as an untapped resource. Rural high school aged students, who reside in metropolitan hostels, often live with their parents for less than 15 weeks per year. How do their parents contribute to their career development? This one year research explored the involvement of parents of hostel children, in the career development process of their youth. Through a case study, an analysis described what it means to be a parent of a hostel adolescent with respects to how they …

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Perceptions Of Elder Abuse Among Australian Elderly Individuals And General Practitioners, Marianela Cuevas Jan 1998

Perceptions Of Elder Abuse Among Australian Elderly Individuals And General Practitioners, Marianela Cuevas

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Research available on elder abuse is limited. There continues to be a lack of uniformity in how to define and identify the problem, as well as how to intervene. One group which continues to be excluded from the process of gaining knowledge on the issue of elder abuse is the elderly themselves. As general practitioners are the primary source of health care for older people, their perspectives on elder mistreatment should be explored as well. The first objective of this study was to examine whether differences existed in the perceived severity of potentially abusive situations between three groups of older …

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The Causal Role Of Selective Information Processing Biases Towards Threat In Anxiety, Sarah J. Egan Jan 1998

The Causal Role Of Selective Information Processing Biases Towards Threat In Anxiety, Sarah J. Egan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The causal link between selective information processing biases and vulnerability to anxiety was investigated by examining change in emotional vulnerability as mediated by attentional training. Training was given on a modified dot-probe detection task, where participants were trained either to attend towards threat or towards neutral stimuli. Pre and post training assessment consisted of the anagram stress task (measure of emotional vulnerability), the dot-probe detection task (measure of training effectiveness), and the emotional Stroop task (measure of generalisation of training). The 54 undergraduate student participants, who were in a mid-range of trait anxiety, were randomly allocated to one of 3 …

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Industrial Development In Indonesia, Development For Whom?: A Case Study Of Women Who Work In Factories In Rural West Java, Peter J. Hancock Jan 1998

Industrial Development In Indonesia, Development For Whom?: A Case Study Of Women Who Work In Factories In Rural West Java, Peter J. Hancock

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research was conducted in order to address two major research questions: 1) To what extent and in what ways are a cohort of female factory workers in Sundanese West Java influential in the cultural, social and economic development of the geographic area in which they live and more specifically within their own households? 2) To what extent does the Indonesian state support or inhibit such development? In order to answer these and other secondary research questions I conducted qualitative and quantitative research. I used a theoretical framework which directed the methodology, questionnaires and both qualitative and quantitative data was …

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Does The Conceptual Nature Of Worry Contribute To Its Uncontrollability? : Unravelling The Complex Interactions Of Some Of The Properties Of Worry, Jacinta M. Willans Jan 1998

Does The Conceptual Nature Of Worry Contribute To Its Uncontrollability? : Unravelling The Complex Interactions Of Some Of The Properties Of Worry, Jacinta M. Willans

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This project aims to examine a particular property of worry that some therapists claim interferes with the treatment of clients who worry. Research has shown that worry is predominantly composed of concepts or thoughts rather than images (Borkovee & Hu, 1990). In particular this project aims to investigate whether the verbal linguistic nature of worry contributes to the sense that participants have that it is uncontrollable. Attempting to control an image results in a paradoxical effect of an increase in the frequency of the image (Wegner, Schneider, Carter & White, 1987). Does the same paradoxical effect occur when thoughts and …

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