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Item Integrated threat theory : exploring prejudice toward the “Other” during the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication and Journalism at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2023) Nguyen, Thao Thanh ThiSince the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, thousands of cases related to discrimination, racism, and hate crimes toward Asian community have been reported all over the world. Utilising integrated threat theory (ITT) as its theoretical backbone, this thesis considers the impacts of perceived threats on anti-Asian attitudes/behaviours spreading at the same time as the global health pandemic. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the following purposes. First, it is crucial to investigate the why Asian groups have been blamed for the spread of COVID-19 worldwide. Second, this study investigates how a contagious virus affects different levels of prejudice toward the “other”, particularly Asians, amid a global health crisis. Third, the author aims to assess the cross-cultural validity of the existing measures to discover whether they are equivalent and applicable in different cultural settings. Finally, this thesis aims to respond to the way that how theoretical concepts and theories have been shifted in thinking about prejudice during the pandemic. The findings support previous studies that showed the use of social media may enhance factors of intergroup threat which may lead to prejudicial attitudes and behaviours. Also, the results reveal that COVID-19 is a stigmatizing disease and perceived as a danger of contact. Therefore, the study findings suggest using ITT as a theoretical guideline to predict prejudice and how publics attribute blame to a specific target group. Besides, it is significant to look beyond theories to better our understanding of public stigma in such a pandemic like COVID-19 because there might be a relation between perceptions of threats and blame attribution. Key words: integrated threat, prejudice, ethnocentrism, media richness, blame attribution, COVID-19Item The operation of confirmation bias : discourse analysis of witnesses' evidence about the conduct of a sexual abuser : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2018) Bourne, S.Confirmation bias is a cognitive bias where beliefs formed at an early stage are unreasonably sustained even in the face of new information that makes those beliefs untenable or at least questionable. In these circumstances, new information that does not fit with the earlier-formed beliefs may be ignored, while information supporting those beliefs is accepted readily as lending credence to them. During 2010 and 2011, Jonathan Lord was employed by the YMCA in New South Wales, Australia, until a child disclosed that he had been inappropriate touched by Mr Lord. This led to Mr Lord being convicted of 13 representative offences including multiple aggravated indecent assault charges and two counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10, relating to 12 children enrolled in the YMCA Before and After School Care service. Subsequently, several of the children's parents, and some of Mr Lord's YMCA co-workers, gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that was conducted in Australia from 2012 to 2017. This study shows how confirmation bias may lead to tragic or destructive outcomes in some circumstances. The use of discourse analysis in this study has afforded a 'micro context' understanding of how Mr Lord's abuse of children associated with the YMCA service persisted undetected for more than a year, despite Mr Lord breaching YMCA rules and being observed engaging in other questionable conduct regarding children in that period.Item The effect of pre-information on clinical inference and nursing actions : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University(Massey University, 1979) McIntosh, Muriel JoanA study to examine the effects of pre-information (what a nurse learns about a patient before they meet) on clinical inference and nursing actions, in a simulated nurse-patient situation. It was hypothesised that the nature of the pre-information will influence the way the patient is perceived, and the resulting nursing actions. The research was conducted in an obstetrical setting. There were 55 subjects within three groups. Two groups comprised student midwives, and the third group was of second year comprehensive nursing students near the completion of clinical experience in maternal and child health nursing. A five minute videotape sequence of a role-played post-natal patient was made for use in the research. All subjects were given the same initial pre-information, viewed the videotape and gave written descriptions of what they saw on the videotape and their response (as the nurse in the situation). This data provided a base-line for each subject. Subjects were then given additional pre-information concerning the patient's physical condition, her baby's condition, or formed part of the control group (receiving no additional pre-information). The procedure was repeated. These responses were then compared with the base-line for each subject. Responses were coded by means of content analysis. Group data was analysed using a multivariate one way analysis of variance graphical display. The results indicated support of the hypothesis that the nature of the pre-information does influence the way in which a nurse perceives a patient, and resulting nursing actions. Implications of these findings for nursing are discussed.