1,721,084 research outputs found
Exploring language production, comprehension and naming in adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
No full textThe aims of this study were i) to evaluate the domains of language production, comprehension and naming in children with moderate or heavy prenatal exposure to alcohol, and ii) to determine if these domains are a specific weakness in these children. The study compared 25 children with FASD to 25 typically developing non-alcohol exposed controls on four language measures; (1) the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals Revised; (2) the Test of Reception of Grammar- Version II; (3) the Cookie Jar Theft Picture test and; (4) the Boston Naming test
Internalised shame and racialised identity in South Africa, with specific reference to 'coloured' identity : a quantitative study at two Western Cape universities
No full textBibliography: leaves 64-71.Drawing on Social Identity Theory, with particular reference to racialisation in South Africa, this study looked at the significance of shame for a group of people who identify with the racially ascribed group of 'coloured'. It was also the purpose of the study to determine whether there were significant differences in shame amongst three groups of respondents who identified themselves as 'black', 'white', and 'coloured', as an indication of institutional apartheid's bastardisation of certain identities and the consequences thereof in self-conscious emotions. The sample consisted of 444 students at the University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape, with a 'racial' demographic breakdown of 131 'black' respondents, 136 'white' respondents, 132 'coloured' respondents, 11 'Indian' respondents, and 15 respondents who chose the option of 'other'. As the three major groups of interest was 'black', 'white', and 'coloured', and sample sizes of other groups were small, information for these latter groups were discarded. The independent variable, strength of 'racial' identification across the 'race' categories of 'black', 'white', and 'coloured', was measured by a 24-item instrument comprising a 16-item Collective Self-Esteem Scale (Luhtanen and Crocker, 1992) that had been supplemented by 8 items from Bornman's (1988) racial identification scale. The dependent variable was shame and the Internalized Shame Scale (Cook, 2001) was used as a measure of this. A demographic questionnaire was compiled and respondents were asked to voluntarily respond to these three self-report measures in one sitting, administered in their lecture theatre during usual lecture times
Running head featural composites and lineups: "What big teeth you have" - Red Riding Hood and the face recognition failure : the effects of isolated featural and configural composite construction and recognition accuracy
No full textIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.When a crime is committed, law enforcement typically relies on the testimony of an eyewitness. However, eyewitness testimony is often susceptible to contamination. Eyewitnesses are usually required to construct a composite of the perpetrator. Research has suggested that eyewitnesses who construct composites are more likely to misidentify the target in a later recognition task (Comish, 1987; Wells, Charman, & Olson, 2005; Yu & Geiselman, 1993). This hampering effect may occur because composite programs utilise a featural selection strategy, which is in opposition to configural and holistic processing that is used when faces are encoded
An evaluation of the profile of characteristics of the population of State patients admitted to Valkenberg Hospital's Forensic Unit from December 1964 to May 1997
Get PDFForensic psychiatry is the mental health profession that deals with patients and problems related to both psychiatric and legal services. Due to the dual systems involved, it is not always clear who is serving what sector of the criminal population. Changes in provision of resources calls for ongoing evaluation of the patients being served. Before one can consider the kinds of changes that need to be made in terms of resources one needs to know what the population is. This study provides a profile of the characteristics of State Patients admitted to Valkenberg Hospital's Forensic Unit. The aim is to provide alternatives for the care and treatment of individuals with mental illness who are involved in criminal activity. However, it would appear necessary to explore some of the associated characteristics which have brought these individuals into psychiatric services in the first place. This research, therefore, also explores the relationship that exists between mental disorder and crime in the patients at Valkenberg's forensic unit. The study examines patients admitted to psychiatric hospitals, and for what reasons, as well as what factors contribute to their length of stay or discharge. This relates to the concepts of risk assessment and dangerousness. Patients selected for the research spanned an admission period from 1964 to 1997. The data for the period May 1997-May 1999 was gathered and analysed. Patients admitted to the forensic unit after May 1997 did not qualify for this study as they needed to be in the hospital for at least two years. The patient sample would have been observed and treated for a two-year period. Data was gathered from information recorded in the hospital files. The data was collected using the archival research method. This study gives an account of some of the demographic characteristics of patients admitted to Valkenberg's forensic unit. It was found that a high percentage of patients were charged with physically violent offences and diagnosed as schizophrenic. A high percentage of patients have been detained in hospital for 5 or more years which brings into questions the length of detention of mentally disordered offenders in hospital. A substantial number of patients were found to be apsychotic and mentally stable. However, violent behaviour amongst the patients was prominent. High levels of physical violence in hospital were identified and can be one of the main causes for the ongoing detention of patients in hospital. It remains controversial as to who should be made responsible for managing violent behaviour amongst mentally disordered offenders. It was found that high numbers of patients had been experiencing vacational leave, thereby advancing towards potential for discharge. However, factors such as violent behaviour; problem behaviours e.g. aggression, sexual disinhibition and absconding; substance abuse; and family circumstance may influence the patient's potential for discharge from hospital
Closing the mathematics achievement gap: exploring the applicability of growth mindset in South Africa
Get PDFGrowth mindset interventions have been shown to give small but significant boosts to mathematics performance. These interventions are both brief and cheap, making them attractive for boosting mathematics performance. Is it possible that South African students can benefit from a growth mindset intervention? Mindset assessments and interventions have predominantly been developed in the United States. There have been applications of the assessments and interventions to other cultural contexts, often with minimal adaptions. Adaptions are not reported in detail (or thoroughly evaluated) in existing research literature. In a series of four studies, I establish that South African high school students do have mathematics mindsets akin to the fixed and growth mindsets reported elsewhere. Using an iterative design process and item analysis, I modified a mathematics mindset assessment for use with disadvantaged students in South Africa. In two correlational studies I established validity and reliability for a mindset assessment I call “Thinking About Maths”. I examined the contribution of mathematics mindsets to mathematics performance, in comparison with mathematics anxiety, study attitude and study milieu (or environment). I found that whilst mindsets do contribute to performance, the contribution is minimal compared to other variables measured. Additionally, I found that in an impoverished study environment males have high mathematics anxiety which inhibits mathematics performance whereas females have high study attitude, boosting mathematics performance. With assistance from students and teachers, I developed a mindset intervention that is culturally appropriate and relevant. 305 Grade 9 students participated in a field-based quasi-experiment, which had a passive control group. The intervention was delivered on WhatsApp over four weeks. Each week contained a growth mindset message, a YouTube clip, advice on a learning strategy, and an integration activity. The groups were facilitated by young adult mentors. It was clear that WhatsApp groups were an effective mode of delivery and there was good evidence of participation from students. Mathematics performance at the intervention school improved significantly beyond that of the control school. The strength of the intervention seems to lie in the combination of mindset messaging and the teaching of effective strategies
Assessing the Application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour to Water Usage During and Following a Water Crisis
Get PDFThe global frequency and severity of water scarcity events are increasing, making it necessary to reduce human demand for available water supplies. This mixed-methods research used the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to investigate determinants of water usage during and after a water crisis. 89 participants were surveyed in Cape Town, South Africa, during the 2018 water crisis, followed by 56 repeated participants 25 months later. The study found that perceived behavioural control was the only significant determinant of actual water usage. A validation sample of 156 participants was also collected at the second time point, and the potential impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the follow-up study was addressed. A TPB questionnaire was created, assessed for reliability and validity, and piloted before use before the first wave of study among a sample of the target population (N = 28). Structural Equation Modelling was used to test the predictive value of the TPB at both time points, and a comparison of the models was reported. This research adds to the existing literature on the TPB by addressing two suggested limitations of past research: (1) a lack of consideration of confounding research contexts and (2) issues of construct validity in current TPB research method
The role of the magnocellular system in implicit cognition
No full textIncludes bibliographical references.Implicit cognition paradigms, such as the IAT (Implicit Association Test) are not well understood and are frequently thought to involve ‘unconscious’ attitudes. Although there has been a theoretical shift away from psychoanalytic ideas about consciousness towards more cognitively orientated views, a mystique lingers. The magnocellular (M) system is thought to be involved in rapid but coarse information processing which is a basis for certain kinds of automaticity in information processing, such as reading or visual object recognition. The question this research addressed concerns visual perceptual processes which are not easily controllable and which occur without conscious effort. The role of the M system was investigated in word recognition, object recognition and race feature recognition in a series of experiments. There is evidence that the M system facilitates word recognition in terms of detection accuracy. An experiment involving object recognition replicated the research of Kveraga, et al. (2007b) and similar results were obtained in that when objects were presented under a condition which favoured the M system, recognition accuracy was significantly better and reaction time was significantly shorter than when objects were presented in a condition which favoured the parvocellular (P) system. A series of IAT experiments replicated findings from 1) species, 2) race experiments and similar results were obtained to those reported in the literature. The race IAT experiment was then adapted to use images that were biased towards either the M or P visual systems. As the M system appears to facilitate object recognition, probably by a top-down processing mechanism which may be associated with perceptual automaticity, it was predicted that IAT scores would not be affected in this condition. It was predicted that when images were presented in a condition which inhibited M system functioning, IAT scores would be more neutral (suggesting less response bias). There was a trend which supported this prediction, but the summary score analysis did not show a statistically significant difference
The psychological impact of rape : a long longitudinal study of adult female survivors in the Western Cape, South Africa
No full textIncludes bibliographical references.There is a broad body of research which suggests that rape is highly pathogenic, most commonly described in terms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The bulk of this research has been conducted in developed countries. In contrast, despite very high rates of rape in South Africa, there is almost no research in this country on the psychological impact of rape, either in the immediate aftermath or in the longer term. This research sought to investigate whether female survivors of rape, living in a palpably different context to those within which the majority of research has been conducted, present with symptomatology similar to that described in the international literature. Sixty-four adult, female rape survivors presenting with a complaint of rape within the last 72 hours at a post-rape health care facility located within a low socio-economic, urban context, were enrolled into the study. Survivors were interviewed at 1, 4, 12 and 24 weeks post-rape. The quantitative questionnaires assessed pre-assault, assault and post-assault variables and included a psychiatric assessment instrument. There was evidence of a high degree of both psychiatric and psychological distress over a period of six months from the time of the rape in over half of the women taking part in this study. The majority of survivors met a diagnosis of PTSD at the Weeks 4,12 and 24 interviews
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