A MEMETIC/PARTICIPATORY APPROACH FOR CHANGING SOCIAL BEHAVIORS AND PROMOTING ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP IN JALISCO, MEXICO

This dissertation addressed the issue of sustainable development at the level of individual behaviors. Environmental perceptions were obtained from people living around the biosphere reserve Chamela-Cuixmala in Jalisco, Mexico. Several environmental issues were identified by the people, such as garbage and grey water on the streets, burning plastics, and the lack of usage of recreational areas. All these issues could be addressed with a change in behavior by the villagers. Familiarization activities were conducted to gain people's trust in order to conduct a community forum. These activities included giving talks to school children and organizing workshops. Four different methodologies were generated using memetics and participation to test which would ameliorate those environmental issues identified by the people through a change in behavior. The methodologies were 1) Memes; 2) Participation and Memes; 3) Participation; 4) Neither Participation nor Memes. A meme is an idea expressed within a linguistic structure or architecture that provides it with self-disseminating and self-protecting characteristics within and among the minds of individuals congruent with their values, beliefs and filters. Four villages were chosen as the treatments, and one as the control, for a total of five experimental villages. A different behavior was addressed in each treatment village (garbage, grey-water, burning plastics, recreation.) A nonequivalent control-group design was established. A pretest was conducted in all five villages; the methodologies were tested in the four treatment villages; a posttest was conducted on the five villages. The pretest and posttest consisted in measuring sensory specific indicators which are manifestations of behavior that can either be seen, smelled, touched, heard or tasted. Statistically significant differences in behavior from the control were found for two of the methodologies 1) Memes (p=0.0403) and 2) Participation and Memes (p=0.0064). For the methodologies of 3) Participation alone and 4) Neither, the differences were not significant (p=0.8827, p=0.5627 respectively). When using memes, people's behavior improved when compared to the control. Participation alone did not generate a significant difference. Participation aided in the generation of the memes. Memetics is a tool that can be used to establish a linkage between human behavior and ecological health.

The Role of College Students' Perceptions of Effort Source on Self-Evaluations of Academic Ability

In the present studies I investigated whether college students’ perceptions of effort source influenced their perceptions of the relation between levels of their own effort and ability in mathematics. In Study 1 (N = 210), I found using hypothetical vignettes that perceptions of task-elicited effort (i.e., effort that arises due to the subjective difficulty or ease of the task) led to perceptions of an inverse relation between one’s effort and ability, and perceptions of self-initiated effort (i.e., effort that arises due to one’s own motivation or lack of motivation) led to perceptions of a positive relation between one’s effort and ability, consistent with my hypotheses and prior research. In Study 2 (N = 160), participants completed an academic task and I used open-ended questions to manipulate their perceptions of effort source. I found that participants in the task-elicited condition endorsed no overall relation between effort and ability, and participants in the self-initiated condition endorsed an overall inverse relation, which is inconsistent with my hypotheses and prior research. Possible explanations for the findings, as well as broader theoretical and educational implications are discussed.

THE ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL ANHEDONIA WITH ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP PROCESSES

Social anhedonia is a deficiency in the capacity to experience pleasure from social interactions. This study examined the implications of social anhedonia for romantic relationship functioning, including the association of social anhedonia with sentiments towards romantic partners that are central to relationship functioning (satisfaction, commitment, regard, and care), analogous perceptions of the partner’s sentiments, hostile behavior during relationship conflict, and perception of the partner’s hostile behavior. Data were collected from 281 participants who were involved in romantic relationships. Support was found for social anhedonia’s hypothesized negative association with satisfaction, regard, and care, as well as all four perceived partner sentiments. These associations were independent of attachment anxiety and avoidance. Additionally, attachment avoidance mediated social anhedonia’s relationship with commitment. However, no support was found for social anhedonia’s hypothesized positive association with actual and perceived partner hostile behavior. Results suggest that social anhedonia may undermine the functioning of interpersonal relationships.

An Investigation Into The Perceptions Of Parents And Teachers Regarding The Adjustment To Sixth Grade Across School Configurations

A qualitative study was conducted in a large urban school district in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Unites States to investigate the perceptions of parents and teachers regarding the adjustment to sixth grade across school configurations. The investigation revealed the psychosocial and environmental factors that have an impact on sixth graders according to their grade span configurations. The study was conducted in the large urban school district, referred to as the “County,” which has a history of low and inconsistent achievement of sixth graders across a variety of grade span configurations. Through the analysis of the teacher and parent interviews conducted in two K-6 schools and two 6-8 middle schools, four themes were identified: transitioning, cultural awareness, social adjustment, and preparedness. The four themes emerged from the perceptions and observations of sixth graders, as shared by parents and teachers of sixth graders, according to their grade span configurations. Each of the responses was compared according to the identified grade span configuration K-6 and 6-8. From the data collected, recommendations were provided to the school district in which the study was conducted to better support teachers, parents, and sixth graders. Further research was also recommended of larger samples of sixth grade span configurations to better understand the complex dynamics of the relationships between grade span configurations for sixth graders and student achievement.