Massey Documents by Type

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/294

Browse

Subject: search.filters.subject.Control (Psychology)

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Narratives of agency : Afghan refugee background students' experience of schooling in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Abd Rahman, Mastura
    Little is known about the experiences of refugee background students in New Zealand high schools, and more specifically we lack narratives from more recent groups like those from Afghanistan. Research about Afghans in New Zealand does not address the experiences of how young Afghan students engage with schooling and education in the new environment. As schools are often a challenging navigational space during the transition and adaptation for these students, it is imperative to reflect on their experiences for transformative purposes. This study aimed to understand those transitional experiences through the lens of the students’ sense of agency. Data were drawn from a phenomenological research approach that included in-depth interviews with six senior high school students who were former refugees from Afghanistan. The study examined the role and ways in which a sense of agency helped these students to succeed in achieving their educational goals, by identifying the factors that provided impetus for the development of their sense of agency in the educational context. The study’s conceptual framework was built on an ecological model. The ecological perspective illuminated the links between the students’ agency, their funds of knowledge, and their socio-cultural capital. The findings highlighted multiple contexts in which the students illustrated their capacities for agency, and how that ultimately helped them to navigate ways in which they believed, decided and acted. The findings also underscored the need to recognize as well as leverage on refugee background students’ agency and their agentic resources. These students’ narratives can inform and reform underlying premises of current policy, practices and pedagogy for refugee students, which can lead to a more engaged and authentic understanding about their learning and experiences.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    I wonder what is inside? : the role of imaginary play in young children's development of emotion regulation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2008) Pibal, Johanna Alice
    Imaginary play is one form of social interaction whereby young children are able to develop skills and strategies for regulating emotions. This research aimed to extend an earlier study (Galyer & Evans, 2001), and further explore the relationships between children's play, emotion regulation and social skills, within a natural setting and in a wider context. The participants were 40 preschool boys and girls who were assessed by means of the imaginary play questionnaire, Emotion Regulation Checklist, Social Skills Rating System: Preschool Form, as well as observations of imaginary play, emotion regulation, and social skills within storytelling and imaginary play activities. Children with more positive emotion regulation skills had well developed assertive and cooperative skills while their assertive, cooperative and self control skills were all related. The imaginary play activity showed children who continued pretence and who were less reliant on visual confirmation were more able to regulate their emotions. The findings add further support for the relationship between imaginary play and emotion regulation, however additional research is recommended to define the qualities of the parent's/caregiver's and children's social interaction within imaginary play and how this influences children's development of emotion regulation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The impact of locus of control and control on performance during painful stimulation : an experimental investigation : a dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1999) Manderson, Matthew David
    Pain interrupts cognitive processing, is hard to ignore and demands priority attention (Crombez, Baeyens & Eelen, 1994). Focusing on the effect of pain on attention, the primary task paradigm was used to investigate the effect pain had on the task performance of 59 psychology undergraduate students assessed for their locus of control (LOC) beliefs using Rotters (1964) LOC Scale. In a mixed experimental design, participants were required to discrimination between 250 and 750 MHz tones while being exposed to the experimental pain stimulus potassium iontophoresis, a control stimulus of an old man's face and tone only baseline trials. A control manipulation gave all participants both control and no control over the presentation of three levels of pain; high, medium and low pain. The results show that pain interfered with the accuracy of tone discriminations but not reaction times (RT). Additionally, the interference effect from painful stimulation was greater at 250 ms after the onset of the tone compared to the 750 ms onset. A signalling/warning effect is discussed as an explanation for this finding. The external LOC group performed worse when they had control over pain compared to no control. The internal LOC group showed less task degradation overall during the pain condition compared to the external group. These results are discussed in relation with current theories of attention, the effects of control and LOC beliefs.