bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Dissertation as a Component in the Training of Clinical Psychologists
Authors: Pillay Anthony L. , Kritzinger Anna M.
Published: March 2013

The dissertation, a significant component of graduate clinical psychology training, is hardly ever completed within the stipulated two years, with the result that students graduate much later than they should. Against this background, the present investigation surveyed clinical psychologists who graduated between 5 and 10 years ago for feedback on their experiences of the dissertation. One hundred and thirty-seven subjects responded. The average time taken to complete the dissertation was almost three years, with a range between 6 months and 14 years. Almost 70 per cent of the subjects took longer than the stipulated time, and almost 30 per cent took more than one year longer. About one-third of the subjects had a negative or indifferent attitude prior to starting the work, and similar percentages of the sample felt they did not have sufficient grounding to start the dissertation or enough supervision while working on it. Almost three-quarters of the subjects felt the dissertation had minimally influenced their practice as clinical psychologists. The results are discussed within the context of the ‘scientist-practitioner’ model of training, and training issues in low-income countries.
The Relationship between Lecture Attendance and Academic Performance in an Undergraduate Psychology Class
Authors: Thatcher Andrew , Fridjhon Peter , Cockcroft Kate
Published: March 2013

This article reports on a preliminary investigation into the impact of non-attendance at lectures on the performance of students in a second-year psychology class. Results suggest that the frequency of lecture attendance is significantly, but moderately, related to better academic performance and that ‘always’ attending lectures is the best indicator of academic performance. These results are discussed in relation to understanding lecture non-attendance and improving academic performance.
Minority Understandings of the Dynamics to Intergroup Contact Encounters: British Muslims' (Sometimes Ambivalent) Experiences of Representing Their Group to others
Authors: Hopkins Nick , Greenwood Ronni Michelle , Birchall Maisha
Published: March 2013

Much contact research overlooks how minorities understand and experience their interactions and encounters with majorities. However, there is good reason to believe that minority group members may have different understandings of such encounters. The present article seeks to address these understandings through considering the experiences of British Muslims. We explore the dynamics of Islamophobia and the potential role of contact in reducing anti-Muslim stereotyping. We then consider the importance minorities may give to the recognition of group difference and the issues this raises for successful contact (e.g., the establishment and communication of respect). In turn, we explore the issue of minority group members acting as ambassadors for their group in intergroup encounters. In particular, we consider minority group members' understandings of the pleasures and burdens associated with this role. We report qualitative data based on interviews with 28 Muslim activists. These data are analysed to explore the complexities and ambivalences involved in representing one's group to others. We highlight the importance of attending to minority group members' experiences of majority/minority power relations and suggest that minority group members may find contact encounters (broadly construed) frustrating because they are often positioned as an exemplar or representative of their group on terms that are not their own but those of the majority. We suggest that this may have implications for the degree to which minorities feel their identities are recognised and respected.
‘It Doesn't Matter Who or What We are, We are Still Just People’: Strategies Used by University Students to Negotiate Difference
Authors: Leibowitz Brenda , Rohleder Poul , Bozalek Vivienne , Carolissen Ronelle , Swartz Leslie
Published: March 2013

South Africa, after decades of apartheid, continues to be a highly segregated society. Higher education institutions need to prepare students for work in such a divided society. Recent work on inter-group contact has stressed the importance of taking into account people's interpretation and meanings about contact in particular contexts, and the need for contact to involve dialogue about socio-historical situations. This article reports on a collaborative project involving fourth-year psychology and social work students from two universities. The project facilitated the interaction of students from diverse racialised and classed backgrounds. A combination of a thematic and discourse analysis of their online interaction identified strategies students used when negotiating and interacting with one another on issues of difference. The analysis identified ways of referring to difference, strategies for negotiating difference, and ways of managing the conversations about difference. These indicate differing levels of engagement. Dialogue designed to educate students about difference requires interventions that make students aware of these strategies and their implications.
Accounting for Lack of Interracial Mixing Amongst South African University Students
Authors: Finchilescu Gillian , Tredoux Colin , Mynhardt Johan , Pillay Jace , Muianga Lucena
Published: March 2013

The persistence of informal segregation in post-apartheid South Africa is now well documented. As the articles in this journal issue attest, this segregation is rife in many public spaces, including university campuses. This article explores the reasons to which students attribute the lack of interracial mixing at their institutions. Students from four universities were surveyed using an internet-based questionnaire. The final sample consisted of 1 068 black African and 1 521 white students. Their agreement or disagreement with eight reasons for avoidance of contact was analysed and found to vary as a function of race. The relationship of their responses to levels of prejudice and amount of interracial contact was examined.
Contact Sports: Judgements of Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Australian Football League Players' Performance
Authors: Donaghue Ngaire , Walker Iain
Published: March 2013

Professional sport is often cited as an arena in which members of racial minorities can achieve high status and public success. In Australia, Aboriginal players are over-represented among the ranks of players in the highest levels of the nation's premier football code, the Australian Football League, yet are conspicuously under-represented in the formal honours awarded in this league. This paper examines the votes awarded during the AFL's ‘best and fairest’ competition during the 2001 season, and investigates the extent to which the votes awarded to players are accounted for by objective indicators of performance (match statistics). We found that most of the variance in votes could be attributed to objective match statistics, and there was no evidence of any effect of players' race on voting after match statistics were controlled. However, there was some indication that the opportunities for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal players may not be equivalent; no Aboriginal player was named in a ‘key position’ for any club in the 2001 season. The results are discussed in terms of the structural barriers that may explain why, despite over 100 years of acclaim on the field, Aboriginal players are still largely excluded from the most senior roles and responsibilities in their football clubs.
Promoting Peer Intervention in Name-Calling
Authors: Aboud Frances , Miller Lior
Published: March 2013

Results from two studies conducted at a mixed-ethnic elementary school in Canada are presented to demonstrate the potential for bystanders to stop verbal bullying. Name-calling is one of the most common forms of bullying, and leaving it unchecked fosters a tolerance for intergroup discrimination. Because it occurs in unsupervised places, peer bystanders must play a role in stopping it. The results of our survey with 204 students from third to sixth grade indicated that 60% witnessed bullying in the previous four weeks: 28% verbal, 24% social, and 23% physical. Compared to third graders, sixth graders witnessed more bullying and felt more bothered about it, yet fewer tried to intervene (10% compared to 22% for third graders). The second study used a modelling and role-playing paradigm to study the kinds of verbal intervention students felt comfortable making. Students from younger and older grade levels heard an audio-taped name-calling scenario with an ingroup bully and an outgroup victim. They then heard a peer or adult model use low- and high-explicit responses, with or without a rationale. An explicit response refers to stating the behavioural rule and/or value — a strategy found to be effective in other forms of socialisation. When students were given an opportunity to respond, post-test interventions were more explicit than pre-test ones. However, third graders were more influenced by adult models and sixth graders more influenced by peer models. Rationales given by students also varied as a function of grade and model. The findings are an important starting point in informing programmes as to the words and the models most acceptable to students who are being asked to take a stand against bias and bullying.
Rethinking the Paradigm of Prejudice
Authors: Reicher Stephen
Published: March 2013

In this article I seek to provoke discussion about the general framework within which psychologists have addressed social inequality and discrimination — the so-called ‘prejudice problematic’. I shall suggest that, far from being rooted in faulty cognitions about an outgroup, prejudice is a practice relating to ingroup authority and ingroup power. As a consequence, we need to redirect our analytic gaze from perceptions of the outgroup to the contestation of ingroup definitions. We also need to redirect our practical attention from changing the views of dominant group members to sustaining the collective actions of subordinate group members.
Continuity and Change in Reproductive Attitudes of Teenage Women, Their Mothers, and Maternal Grandmothers in South Africa
Authors: Spjeldnaes Ingrid O. , Sam David L. , Moland Karen Marie , Peltzer Karl
Published: March 2013

During the past couple of decades, as South Africa has undergone a political and social transformation, conditions for reproduction and reproductive health have changed. Against the backdrop of these societal changes, the objectives of this cross-sectional study were to trace continuity and change in reproductive attitudes on an individual level, through three generations of women linked to each other by kin in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. This study is defined within the psychological theoretical framework called Values of Children, and the specific aims for this study were to explore the three generations of women's preferred timing of their first childbirth, their desired number of children and sex of the offspring, and the women's deeper motivations behind the wish for children. Participants ( n = 516) were chosen using a multi-stage cluster sampling procedure, and face-to-face structured interviews were conducted. Factor analysis indicated that the women have two main motivations to have children, namely Social/Emotional values of children and Traditional/ Utilitarian values of children. However, the motivations to bear children seemed to be less emphasised by the teenage women as compared to their mothers and maternal grandmothers. Likewise, the data revealed a change in reproductive attitudes in that teenage women wished to have fewer children later in their lives than the older generations. Stronger daughter preferences than son preferences were presented in one-child scenarios in all generations, yet the strongest emphasis on a daughter was found in the young generation. In the light of the huge social changes in the country, such as the explosion of HIV infections and the abolishment of the apartheid regime including its racial family planning programmes, we expected more dramatic changes in reproductive attitudes in three generations of women than those which we found.
Practices of Power and Abuse in Gay Male Relationships: An Exploratory Case Study of a Young, Isixhosa-Speaking Man in the Western Cape, South Africa
Authors: Henderson Neil , Shefer Tamara
Published: March 2013

This article constitutes a single case study of snapshots of the life of a young, gay isiXhosa-speaking man, and his narrative on relationships. The case study is a part of a broader study exploring gay male relationships with a particular focus on the dynamics of control, power, and abuse. The broader literature on gay relationships, both internationally and locally, highlights the pervasiveness of heteropatriarchal stereotypical constructions in many gay relationships, believed to facilitate unequal power relations (as they do in heterosexual relationships), but also foregrounds a more ‘flexible’ approach to constructing masculinities and sexual roles among gay men. The article highlights the experience of performances of sexuality and relationship that mirror heterosexual traditional roles, with accompanying power inequalities, as well as a shift to alternative, more flexible and possibly more equitable relationships. It is also argued that homophobia, emerging in multiple sites and including internalised homophobia, plays a powerful role in the reproduction of inequality and abusive practices within gay male relationships. The article interrogates some of the local contexts of homophobia in contemporary South Africa and the way in which the participant's experiences, within and outside his relationships, reflect a corroding of self-confidence and sense of power. It also explores the challenges faced in constructing equitable intimate relationships within a society that still adheres to hegemonic practices of masculinity and heteronormative models of relation.
Intersubjectivity and the Schizophrenic Experience: A Hermeneutic Phenomenoiogicai Exploration
Authors: Bradfield Bruce Christopher , Knight Zelda G.
Published: March 2013

The motivation for this article grew out of work done by Lysaker, Johannesen, and Lysaker (2005), which explores the experience of being as a person with schizophrenia in relation to other individuals, and shows schizophrenic intersubjectivity as a potentially horrifying and disintegrating experience. The article, through a phenomenologically informed case study, aims to narrate the subtleties of the intersubjective experience, as disclosed in the lived world of a person with schizophrenia. How does such an individual experience self in relation to other? The phenomenoiogical hermeneutic method, as shaped by such theorists as Gadamer (1976, 1989), Heidegger (1962), and Buber 1957, 1970, 1992), is the interpretive platform upon which this article is staged. The case study is presented in terms of the theory of the dialogical self, and reflects the sense of isolation, intolerance of ambiguity, caution in dialogue, diminished sense of self-worth, and lack of reciprocity experienced by the individual with schizophrenia.
The Psychology of Bewitchment (Part II): A Psychoanalytic Model for Conceptualising and Working with Bewitchment Experiences
Authors: Ivey Gavin , Myers Tertia
Published: March 2013

This article extends the phenomenological description of bewitchment experience outlined in Part I, arguing for a viable psychological explanation of what is claimed to be a supernatural phenomenon. Any adequate explanation must satisfactorily account for the four characteristic features of bewitchment experience; that is, a paranoid state of mind, the presence of a precipitating interpersonal context of hostility and envy, a dichotomous moral and religious belief structure, and the subjective experience of having one's body infiltrated by poisonous substances or destructive alien entities. Beginning with Freud's claim that all supernatural belief systems unconsciously express and simultaneously defend adherents against universal instinctual impulses and anxieties, Klein's object relations psychoanalytic model is proposed as a useful interpretive framework to understand the four interrelated aspects of bewitchment. Bewitchment, it is argued, is a culturally sanctioned supernatural belief system used defensively by individuals to protect themselves against acknowledging and experiencing a range of painful and anxiety-provoking feelings, typically involving hostility, envy, and loss. Bewitchment arises when individuals split off and project problematic self aspects elicited by adverse or stressful experiences, locating these in hated or envied others, who are then believed to use witchcraft to magically attack and harm the victims. This theoretical model is supported and illustrated by means of a case study of the psychodynamic treatment of a ‘bewitched’ patient. This case is used to demonstrate some of the psychotherapeutic challenges of treating patients who attribute their psychological difficulties to magical influences.
Professional Work and Actual Work: The Case of Industrial Psychologists in South Africa
Authors: Benjamin Joi , Louw-Potgieter Joha
Published: March 2013

In this study we sought to answer the question: What work activities do industrial psychologists perform on a daily basis? Our results, based on the responses of a sample of 129 registered industrial psychologists, showed that they spent most of their time performing general human resource work. We also found that industrial psychologists identified strongly with their profession and less strongly with voluntary associations like SIOPSA. We found no significant relationship between psychological acts performed by industrial psychologists and their identification with the profession. More men than women indicated that they performed psychological assessment activities in their daily work. Moreover, women tended to perform the more routine psychological assessment activities (e.g., test administration) and men the more high-level assessment activities (e.g., interpretation of test results). The results are explained in terms of social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) and specifically the social creativity strategies used by a group whose high status is under threat.
Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy in the Context of the National Roll-Out in South Africa: Defining a Research Agenda for Psychology
Authors: Kagee Ashraf
Published: March 2013

Since 2004, antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been provided by the South African Department of Health to patients who need it as part of the national ART roll-out. Despite the initial success of a trial ART programme in Khayelitsha near Cape Town, it is unclear that adherence to ART is optimal among the patients receiving treatment in the context of the national roll-out. In this article I call attention to the psychosocial barriers to adherence that may potentially be faced by patients receiving ART. These barriers include poverty, health literacy, perceived social support, mental health, substance abuse, and stigma. Three social cognitive theories are briefly reviewed to conceptualise the phenomenon of ART adherence, namely, the Health Belief Model, the Theory of Planned Behaviour, and the Informational—Behavioural—Motivational Model. Constructs such as health motivation, perceived threats, perceived barriers, attitudes towards ART, perceived subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control are examined for their potential role in developing a theoretical understanding of adherence to ART. Finally, the role of culture is considered in response to concerns that social cognitive models developed in industrially developed countries are limited in their application in a developing country such as South Africa. As the question of adherence to ART in South Africa has received little attention from social science researchers, I set a tentative agenda for psychosocial research with a view to enhancing the likelihood of optimal adherence among AIDS patients.
Intransigent or ‘Sticky’ Symptoms: Hypnotherapy and the Deconstruction of Ambivalence
Authors: Fourie David P.
Published: March 2013

Previous work has shown that intransigent symptomatic behaviour can be seen as reflecting the conservation of an ambivalent autonomy in family systems. Such behaviour often implies, expresses, and even recursively conserves certain ambivalent meanings that in time have become central to and entrenched in the system. All members of the system either knowingly or unwittingly contribute to the maintenance of these ideas which then find expression in symptomatic behaviour. If treatment is aimed at the symptomatic behaviour itself it often encourages the conservation of the ambivalent ideas underlying the symptoms and the symptoms then also remain. This is when symptoms do not readily respond to treatment, when they become resistant or ‘sticky’. Seen in this light treatment should rather be aimed at the co-operative deconstruction of the entrenched meanings, helping them to transform into more functional, less ambivalent, understandings and actions. It is the aim in this paper to show by means of a case description how hypnosis and the meanings generally attributed to it can be employed, as part of psychotherapy, for this purpose. This involves the use of hypnosis to gain a co-created understanding or reframing of the ambivalent ideas while simultaneously being respectful of the symptom, followed by suggested actions coherent with this new understanding, leading to ‘spontaneous’ (hypnotic) disappearance of the symptom.
The Effect of an Art Psychotherapy Intervention on Levels of Depression and Health Locus of Control Orientations Experienced by Black Women Living with HIV
Authors: Field Wirika , Kruger Carine
Published: March 2013

In response to a call for HIV treatment agendas to incorporate mental health programmes, we investigated a model of art psychotherapy intervention for the treatment of HIV-related depression. Black women living with HIV are at risk of developing major depression, which negatively affects the physiological course of HIV infection. Since literature indicates a relationship between positive mood and an internal health locus of control (HLOC) orientation and supports the notion that creative expression contributes to positive mood, it was hypothesised that an art psychotherapy intervention would decrease levels of depression and external HLOC orientation in black women living with HIV and that this decrease would be maintained for two weeks after the intervention. To test this hypothesis, an experimental research design was implemented (pre-test, intervention, post-test and post-post-test) where the intervention variable was manipulated for an experimental group and a control group. The Beck Depression Inventory– II (BDI-II) and the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale (MHLCS)were used as measurement instruments. The sample consisted of 18 black women who attended the same HIV support group in Soshanguve. The experimental group ( n = 9) participated in an art psychotherapy intervention, and the control group ( n = 9) participated in an entertainment video viewing activity. The two groups were compared with respect to the difference between their pre-test and post-test, as well as the difference between their post-test and post-post-test depression scores and HLOC orientations. Following the intervention, the levels of depression among the participants in the experimental group had decreased significantly. The findings also showed that the decreased Chance HLOC orientation among participants in the experimental group became significant two weeks after the art psychotherapy intervention.
Investigating Subscale Differences among Race and Language Groups on the Occupational Personality Profile
Authors: Joseph Lindsey , van Lill Burger
Published: March 2013

Our purpose in this study was to determine whether results of the subscales of the Occupational Personality Profile (OPP) are comparable among various race and language groups. The sample consisted of 234 individuals, who had applied for management positions in various government institutions. The sample was divided into African and white individuals from different language backgrounds. Analyses revealed acceptable reliability coefficients on most of the subscales of the OPP. Significant differences among means were however found on a number of the subscales. The practical implications of these findings for employment testing and adverse impact are discussed.
Information and Communication Technology: A Descriptive Study of Children's Communication Patterns
Authors: Savahl Shazly , September Roseline , Odendaal Willem , Moos Aziza
Published: March 2013

The emergence of information and communication technologies as primary agents of socialisation has raised concerns for child practitioners and researchers alike. Recent findings which indicate that children and adolescents are using these technologies in relative isolation from adult influence are of particular concern. We investigated children's communication patterns with various people including parents, teachers, siblings, and peers. More specifically, we explicated children's predilection for communicating with the various people, as well as the frequency of these communications. The sample was selected from nine schools in the Western Cape and consisted of 1002 learners, between the ages of 13 and 16 years, equally differentiated by gender. The sample also included the parents of these learners. A structured instrument was administered to the children in a controlled classroom environment. Parents completed the instrument as a self-administered questionnaire. The findings conform to international trends with children generally reporting low levels of communication with adults, but higher levels with peers and siblings. Of particular concern was the low level of communication between children and teachers. The findings further suggest conspicuous discrepancies between parents' and children's perceptions of these communication patterns. Finally, the results elucidate significant gender disparities in the communication patterns of the respondents.
Could Anxiety, Hopelessness and Health Locus of Control Contribute to the Outcome of a Kidney Transplant?
Authors: Burke Alban
Published: March 2013

My main objective in this study was to determine whether psychological factors contribute to the rejection, or acceptance, of a transplanted kidney. It was hypothesised that psychological factors such as state and trait anxiety, hopelessness and locus of control would affect immune responses, and therefore contribute to the acceptance or rejection of a transplanted kidney. The research design used was an ex-post facto, comparative design. An initial sample of 85 patients, on the waiting list for a renal transplant, completed the questionnaires voluntarily. The data obtained from these questionnaires was stored until a sufficient number of these patients had undergone a transplant (23 patients in total). Based on the outcome (six months post-operatively) of the transplant, patients were categorised in either the Reject or Accept group. A period of six months post-operatively was decided on in order to allow for the possibility of hyperacute and acute rejection. In the final analysis there were 11 patients in the Accept group, and 12 patients in the Reject group. In order to test the hypotheses, patients were tested by means of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Scale, Hopelessness Scale, and the Health Locus of Control Scale. The analysis of the data indicated a significant difference in the mean score for the two groups with relation to state anxiety, trait anxiety and health locus of control. The group that accepted the transplanted kidney had a more internal health locus of control and higher state and trait anxiety scores than the group that rejected the kidney.
The Influence of Prejudice and Stereotypes on Anticipated Affect: Feelings about a Potentially Negative Interaction with Another Ethnic Group
Authors: Gordijn Ernestine , Finchilescu Gillian , Brix Louise , Wijnants Nienke , Koomen Willem
Published: March 2013

In this research we investigated whether feelings about an imagined potentially negative interaction with a member of another ethnic group was affected more by valence than content of stereotypes, and whether the differential influence of perception and meta-perception was similar for dominant and dominated groups within a given society. Prejudice, cultural stereotypes and meta-stereotypes were measured for both the dominant and the subordinate group, white and black South Africans, respectively. We found that prejudice was related to the perception of a more negative cultural stereotype of the other ethnic group, and to the perception of a more positive meta-stereotype of one's own ethnic group. However, this latter result was found only for the dominant group. Furthermore, for both the dominant and the subordinate groups, prejudice predicted more negative than positive feelings. For the subordinate group, a more negative cultural stereotype predicted more anxiety-related feelings, and a more negative meta-stereotype predicted less happy feelings about such an interaction. For the dominant group, stereotypes were not predictive of feelings about the interaction. Overall, the relationship between stereotypes, prejudice, and feelings appears to be based on valence rather than on specific content of the stereotypes.
Between the Cracks: Out-of-School Youth and Discourses of HIV/AIDS
Authors: Francis Dennis , Rimmensberger Nicole
Published: March 2013

Out-of-school youth are particularly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS due to factors of poverty, lack of employment opportunities, low self-esteem and entrenched notions of gender. Many HIV/AIDS information campaigns are run through schools and, even though high profile prevention campaigns are broadcast through the media, out-of-school youth are beyond the reach of a structured learning environment in which they can discuss and ask questions regarding the information they have received. We investigated not only their views on HIV/AIDS, love, sex and friendships, but also how out-of-school youth talk to each other about these topics and the discourses they utilise. We also asked where they obtain their information on HIV/AIDS and how they respond personally to the challenges of the disease in their communities. Eight out-of-school youths were trained in basic research skills to carry out interviews with 32 other out-of-school youth in the Lamontville and Shongweni Dam areas in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The analysis of their conversations provides a starting point for informing intervention campaigns that address marginalised youth who exist “between the cracks” of HIV/AIDS education.
The Development and Validation of a Measure of Racial Justice Perceptions
Authors: Durrheim Kevin , Baillie Kim , Johnstone Leigh
Published: March 2013

We report three studies that develop and test a new measure of racial attitudes, the Racial Justice Scale (RJS). The concept of racial justice was developed inductively in Study 1 by means of a thematic analysis of existing measures of racial attitudes as well as a database of over 7 000 comments about racism and discrimination, taken from South African newspapers. Studies 2 and 3 investigate the reliability and validity of the RJS, and compare it with Duckitt's measure of subtle racism. The data suggest that the preliminary RJS, reported in Appendix 2, is a unidimensional and reliable measure. Although the two studies provide a mixed picture of its correlates, it does measure a different construct of racial attitudes to Duckitt's scale, which is strongly correlated with old-fashioned racism. Participation in all the studies was done on a voluntary basis, with full informed consent of the participants.
Work/Family Border Theory and Gender Role Orientation in Male Managers
Authors: Donald Fiona , Linington James
Published: March 2013

Research on the work/family interface has largely focused on women. Relatively little is known about how men conceptualise their roles at work and at home, the work/family conflict they experience, and how this relates to their life satisfaction. Gender role orientations in society are changing, varying from traditional through to participating and role sharing. We examined the relationship between male managers' gender role orientation, work/family conflict and life satisfaction within the framework of Clark's work/family border theory. Gender role orientation was used to operationalise border theory's concept of centrality. Conflict between the work and family domains was examined in a bidirectional manner. A non-experimental, cross-sectional correlational research design was used. The sample consisted of 52 married or cohabiting male managers in dual career relationships and with at least one child dependant under 18 years of age living at home. Self-report questionnaires were used. Results indicate that there is (a) a relationship between men's gender role orientation and overall work/family conflict, (b) there is a relationship between gender role orientation and family to work conflict, but not between men's gender role orientation and work to family conflict, and (c) a negative relationship between work/family conflict and life satisfaction. The types of work/family conflict (time, behaviour and strain) were also examined. A significant relationship was found between strain-based conflict and life satisfaction. Results are interpreted in terms of the centrality of participants in their work and family domains, whereby participants with a more role-sharing gender role orientation enjoy greater centrality at home and therefore a greater sense of agency in dealing with role conflict between the domains.
The Development of Counsellor Identity — A Visual Expression
Authors: du Preez Elizabeth , Roos Vera
Published: March 2013

The diversity of the South African population requires counsellors who are able to promote the mental health of all persons who express a need for this service. The newly introduced registration category of registered counsellors aims to provide mental health services on a primary level; yet the professional identity of registered counsellors is not well established. This is reflected in the lack of an integrated and standardised national training policy for the BPsych programme as well as a disregard by potential employers of graduates of this programme, as seen in the limited number of appropriate job advertisements and placements in the media. In this study we explore the development of counsellor identity by means of the visual presentations participants produced regarding their development. The social constructionist notion of the self as being composed of different selves is used as the theoretical background for this qualitative investigation. An analysis of the visual presentations revealed that counsellors developed a capacity for experiences of uncertainty, increased self-knowledge and ability to reflect on themselves. They experienced personal growth as part of their identity development-in-process. Visual material as a form of expression makes it possible to challenge some of the limitations of verbal text to construct knowledge and facilitates thinking about those elements of the social world which cannot be expressed in talk.
Emotional Exhaustion and Strain Reactions: Perceived Organisational Support as a Moderator
Authors: Ladebo Olugbenga J.
Published: March 2013

I employed organisational support theory to link emotional exhaustion to affective commitment, organisational citizenship behaviours, and turnover intentions (outcomes) in a sample of 218 agricultural employees in Nigeria. I proposed that perceived organisational support (POS) would have a moderating effect on the relations between emotional exhaustion and the outcomes. Moderated multiple regression analyses showed that emotional exhaustion was positively related to turnover intentions, inversely related to affective commitment, and unrelated to citizenship behaviours. POS was positively related to affective commitment and organisation-targeted citizenship behaviours, inversely related to turnover intentions, and only moderated the relationship between emotional exhaustion and individual-targeted citizenship behaviours. Implications of the results are discussed.
Three Dimensional Spatial Perception and Academic Performance in Engineering Graphics: A Longitudinal Investigation
Authors: Potter Charles , Kaufman Wendy , Delacour Julie , Mokone Mpho , van der Merwe Errol , Fridjhon Peter
Published: March 2013

In this paper we examine the longitudinal relationship between three dimensional spatial perception and pass rates in engineering graphics, a course requiring ability to use visualisation in engineering drawing and design. Our studies have focused on the development and evaluation of high imagery course materials for engineering students, providing evidence of gains in three dimensional spatial perception in response to this type of instruction. These findings are consistent over a twenty year period, and suggest that abilities to use perception and mental imagery are not fixed or culturally exclusive abilities, but respond to instruction and mediation.
The Effect of Education and Gender on Emotion-Based Decision-Making
Authors: Fry Jessica , Greenop Kirston , Turnbull Oliver , Bowman Caroline
Published: March 2013

In the last decade, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has become a widely employed instrument for the investigation of emotion-based decision-making. Previous research has suggested that education may de-emphasise the role of emotion-based learning in decision-making, which suggests the paradox that better-educated participants should show poorer performance on the IGT. Previous research has also demonstrated gender differences on the task. We investigated the effects of education level and gender on performance on the IGT in the South African context. In order to investigate the effects of these two variables, two contrast groups were utilised: 32 volunteer university students and 20 less educated volunteers with, at most, a Grade 10 level of schooling. Both groups were divided equally by gender. It was found that the university-educated group outperformed the less educated group only in the last stage of the task. The learning profiles for the two genders appeared to be similar; no significant gender differences were found. A range of possible explanations are explored for these findings including: lack of motivation, differences in tracking punishments, differences in risk taking behaviours and difficulty with reversal learning. The implication of these findings is that, in real world situations, an excessive reliance on emotion-based resources may not be an advantage, and it may be that the university educated group was advantaged by a combination of emotional and cognitive sources of evidence. These results are discussed with reference to international findings.
Inclusive Cultural Empathy: A Relationship-Centred Alternative to Individualism
Authors: Pedersen Paul
Published: March 2013

Good relationships in psychotherapy emerge as a necessary but not sufficient condition in all research about effective mental health services. Good relationships depend on establishing empathy. Empathy occurs when one person vicariously experiences the feelings, perceptions and thoughts of another. Most of the research on empathy predicates the shared understanding of emotions, thoughts and actions of one person by another. In western cultures this is typically done by focusing exclusively on the individual while in traditional non-western cultures empathy more typically involves an inclusive perspective focusing on the individual and significant others in the societal context. I explore the reframing of “empathy” based on an individualistic perspective, into “inclusive cultural empathy” based on a more relationship-centred perspective as an alternative interpretation of the empathic process.
South African Zulus' Beliefs about Their Own and Their Children's Intelligence
Authors: Furnham Adrian , Ndlovu Nancy P.M. , Mkhize Nhlanhla
Published: March 2013

Two-hundred-and-fourteen Zulus rated their own and their children's overall and multiple intelligences. Parents gave similar ratings: highest for verbal, intra- and inter-personal intelligence and lowest for musical and bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence. Female first-born children received higher ratings than male first-born children. The strongest predictor of the children's overall estimated IQ was the parents overall estimated IQ and the age of the child. Results are compared to other similar studies in the area.
Career Psychology Research Challenges: A Systems Theory Response
Authors: McMahon Mary , Watson Mark
Published: March 2013

International and South African debate on the future direction of career psychology has suggested a movement towards qualitative, narrative and storied approaches that are informed by the constructivist worldview. The My System of Career Influences (MSCI) reflection process is a qualitative career assessment tool developed in South Africa and Australia and derived from the constructivist Systems Theory Framework (STF) of career development. As a technique, the MSCI demonstrates versatility of application in one on one career counselling or in group settings such as classrooms. More recently, its utility as an innovative research tool has been explored. We overview the STF and the subsequent development of the qualitative career assessment tool, the My System of Career Influences. We describe examples of empirical investigations that use the MSCI as a research tool. The potential of this emerging body of research to address issues facing career development in the postmodern era and in South Africa specifically is discussed.
The Cycle of Violence and Abuse in Women Who Kill an Intimate Male Partner: A Biographical Profile
Authors: Pretorius H. Gertie , Botha Shirley-Ann
Published: March 2013

Numerous women experience domestic violence and abuse on a daily basis, and some retaliate and kill their intimate male partners. Our aims in this study were (1) to explore the biographical profile of women who have killed their intimate male partners, and (2) to compare women who used a third party in the murders with those women who did not. Biographical questionnaires were completed by 60 women incarcerated in five prisons in South Africa. The results suggest that various biographical factors may influence a woman's decision to murder her partner. This study adds to the body of knowledge on intimate partner violence in the South African context, and it is hoped that it will lead to early identification programmes of women at risk of killing their intimate male partners.
A Board Game as Gestalt Assessment Tool for the Child in Middle Childhood Years
Authors: Botha Elmari , Dunn Munita
Published: March 2013

During this research the middle childhood years were studied and assessed from the Gestalt approach by means of play, with the focus on developing an assessment tool for the play therapist. Previous work refers to a therapeutic process of play therapy with children based on the Gestalt approach. This process is linked to theory and performance of Gestalt therapy and commences with contact-making and building a therapeutic relationship, regarded as extremely important, in order to observe the child's sense of self and his emotional expression. These phases are then followed by self-nurturing and concluded with termination. Since our research focused more on the beginning phases of therapy, examinations and discussions occurred in terms thereof. During the commencement phase of Gestalt play therapy, qualitative assessment is an important component within the relationship of trust. The aim is to gather as much information about the child as possible, reinforcing the relationship, for awareness-making and for planning the intervention. The literature confirms a shortage of assessment tools in Gestalt play therapy and other areas of assistance. Problems experienced with current assessment techniques and processes create a lacuna that we address. The board game as Gestalt assessment tool was designed for the primary school child and focuses on the therapeutic relationship, sensory stimulation and the child's process (Schoeman 3-aspect model). During application of the board game, valuable information regarding the child was gathered and the Schoeman 3-aspect model was followed. This board game can be utilised successfully by therapists for establishing relationships, sensory stimulation, and discovering the child's process and makes a contribution towards the initial assessment of the primary school child. Throughout the article the child in middle childhood is referred to in the male gender, implying also the female gender, unless stated otherwise.
“Know Thyself!” a Lacanian Model for Understanding Subjective Complexity
Authors: Hurst Andrea
Published: March 2013

The philosophical presupposition underlying this article is that theoretical “models” for self-understanding will only succeed if subjectivity is approached as a complex phenomenon defined in terms of necessary internal conflict. Lacan's articulation of three subjective registers (Real, Imaginary, and Symbolic) as a “Borromean knot” offers the basis for developing a model for self-understanding that does justice to this kind of complexity in human subjectivity. One may add to this that specific concerns and passions characterize each register. The ontological/existential concern of the Real engenders “ontophilia,” the self-concern of the Imaginary “autophilia”, and the concern for humanity in the Symbolic “anthrophilia”. This articulation of registers and passions is further complexified by internal divisions between “paranoiac”, “hysterical”, and “paradoxical” styles of the passions. I aim to outline an adequately complex Lacanian model for self-understanding as an articulation of registers, passions, and styles. In an effort to make this accessible beyond the confines of Lacanian scholarship, it has been applied to well-known historical and contemporary figures.
A Profile of Patients Seen by Fly-in Clinical Psychologists at a Non-Urban Facility and Implications for Training and Future Services
Authors: Pillay Anthony L. , Kometsi Molelekoa J. , Siyothula Evy-Terressah B.
Published: March 2013

With the serious mental health services deficits in non-urban communities, there is a need to evolve alternative approaches to facilitate access to care. Considering clinical psychology services are largely concentrated in the metropolitan areas, we describe a relatively unusual approach to providing services in an outlying area. The majority of patients attended to in this service are children and adolescents, and most patients have less than secondary-school education. The commonest diagnoses are mental retardation, mood and anxiety disorders, with the last two conditions mainly found in scholars and the unemployed. Fractured families are almost the norm, with four out of five children living with only one or no parents. Over half the patients are from families receiving a state grant. The majority of patients travel great distances to get to the clinical psychologists. The findings point to the need for clinical psychologists to seriously consider developing newer models for providing care, and the need for working outside of traditional approaches.