UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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    The Effects of Causal Attributions and Previous Status on Expectations
    (2024) Greenberg, Mollie; Lucas, Jeffrey W; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In this dissertation, I explore the influence of status history and causal attribution on expectations. I propose that information about status history and causal attribution of status help to explain how expectations form. To test these propositions, I develop a model that accounts for the possible influence of previous history with a characteristic on current expectations. I also propose that causal attribution and previous status information may work in concert to influence expectations. I examine the influence that causal attribution of status has on expectations when status remains consistent and the influence of causal attribution in the event of status change. I begin by assessing the utility of this combined “Status-Attribution Model” overall. Next, I build upon findings examining if perception of status affects both expectations of those being evaluated and behavior toward these individuals. Finally, I explore effects that the combination of status history and attribution has on the self-concept. In Study 1, I found, as expected, that information about status history and information indicating attribution of status can affect expectations. Status loss had a significantly negative effect on evaluations compared to evaluations of those with consistently low status. Also as expected, internal attribution of status led to significant differences between ratings. Results from Study 2 were more variable. As expected, those who experienced status loss were rated as significantly more dependent than those who remained consistently low status on that characteristic. But causal attribution of status did not always affect evaluations. In Study 3, many findings supported my hypotheses. As predicted, internal attribution of low status made individuals rate themselves as less trustworthy and report a lower sense of mastery and self-esteem. And the effect of attribution on self-concept was magnified when considered with status loss. But unexpectedly, those that experienced status loss rated themselves as significantly less able and competent relative to those with consistent low status. Results from each study indicate that factors apart from current status, including status history and causal attribution, can significantly influence expectation formation. Both expected and unexpected findings present many avenues for future research.
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    JOB SEARCH EXPERIENCES: A WITHIN-PERSON EXAMINATION OF JOB SEARCH SELF-EFFICACY, BEHAVIORS, AND OUTCOME
    (2011) Liu, Songqi; Wang, Mo; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    A dynamic self-regulatory perspective is useful to explain within- and between-person variations in job search behaviors (e.g., Barber, Daly, Giannantonio, & Phillips, 1994; Kanfer, Wanberg, Kantrowitz, 2001). However, few studies have incorporated models and designs appropriate for addressing when and why individuals are persistent in their job search activities. In addition, although goal orientation and attribution are highly relevant to self-regulation, previous studies on job search have not integrated these important constructs into the dynamic model of job search. Using data from college seniors in China, the current study advanced the understanding of the dynamic pathways leading to job search behaviors and number of job offers. Specifically, conceptualizing job search behaviors as guided by the employment goal and its sub-goal job search behavior goal, the current study differentiates employment self-efficacy from job search behavior self-efficacy. The data showed that at the within-person level, higher levels of perceived job search progress lead to more job search behaviors through enhanced levels of job search behavior self-efficacy. At the same time, higher levels of perceived job search progress could also lead to less job search behaviors through elevated employment self-efficacy. Finally, active job search behaviors were positively related to the number of job offers received by job seekers. The data also suggest that performance goal orientation and attribution moderated the within-person relationship between perceived job search progress and self-efficacy believes. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications to multiple goal theories regarding dynamic self-regulation processes and practical implications to employment interventions.
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    Manuscript Context and Literary Interpretation: John Donne's Poetry in Seventeenth-Century England
    (2007-12-13) Crowley, Lara M.; Hamilton, Donna B; English Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This project promotes investigation of poems within early modern manuscripts as an effective means to illuminate contemporary perspectives on writers and their works. With few methods available for accessing Renaissance readers' explications of multivalent and frequently encoded texts, I emphasize analysis of certain literary manuscripts as a method for considering how readers encountered, grouped, and interpreted verse. Interpretive evidence often appears in elements such as the sequence of items chosen for inclusion, paratexts, titles, ascriptions, even watermarks. Extant manuscripts containing copies of poems by Donne, who (like many contemporary poets) composed verse almost exclusively for a manuscript medium, prove fruitful for exploring this thesis because more of his verse circulated in manuscript than any other Renaissance poet's. The first chapter provides a methodology for such study, while the remaining chapters demonstrate how this research perspective alters our understanding of Donne's satiric, religious, and dubious verse. In the second chapter, study of components such as the title-page and scripts in a composite Folger collection suggests that at least one seventeenth-century reader interpreted Metempsychosis as a satire on court favorites, specifically Elizabeth I's advisor Robert Cecil, thus offering insight into one of Donne's most confusing poems. The third chapter reveals that investigation of apocrypha within original artifacts can reshape authorial canons. I argue that "Psalme 137," a verse translation that editor Herbert Grierson attributed to Francis Davison, actually belongs to Donne. Through study of a British Library miscellany, the fourth chapter addresses the critically contested matters of manuscript attributions and Renaissance attention to "authorship" and demonstrates how analysis of bibliographic contexts for one poet's lyrics can offer insights regarding other poets--in this case, Francis Beaumont, Thomas Carew, Sir Walter Ralegh, and John Fletcher, likely author of an important elegy on Richard Burbage. The chapter also analyzes a significant and hitherto unidentified verse epistle likely composed for Elizabeth I by Henry Wriothesley, third earl of Southampton. Generally, this dissertation depicts ways in which arrangement and structure of certain seventeenth-century manuscripts reveal clues to contemporary audiences' perceptions of Donne and his fellow poets and interpretations of texts, enriching modern exegesis as well.
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    Sources of Self-efficacy in an Undergraduate Introductory Astronomy Course for Non-science Majors
    (2005-12-02) Carter, Brooke; McGinnis, James R; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The role of the astronomy laboratory on non-science major student self-efficacy is investigated through combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The Astronomy Diagnostic Test 2.0 is distributed to an introductory astronomy laboratory for non-science major class in the Spring of 2005. The ADT 2.0 is used to draw comparisons between interview subjects and the remaining class. Eight subjects were interviewed three times throughout the semester in order to determine the important contributing factors to the subjects' self-efficacy beliefs. Results of the quantitative data suggest that the interview participants' general science self-efficacy did not significantly increase over the course of the semester. Results of the quantitative data suggest the most important contributor to the subjects' self-efficacy in the laboratory is verbal persuasion. The results of this limited study suggest that the astronomy laboratory experience is a strong contributor to student self-efficacy beliefs.
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    Partners' Attributions and Level of Commitment as Predictors of Constructive and Destructive Behavior in Discussions of Relationship Conflicts
    (2004-05-06) Larsen, Ashley Nicole; Epstein, Norman B; Family Studies
    This study investigated whether clinical couples' levels of commitment to their relationship and their tendencies to make negative attributions about their partner are related to their use of constructive and destructive behavior during couple conflict. Secondary analyses were conducted on assessment data from 52 couples who sought couple therapy at a university-based clinic. Based on self-report data and coded observations from a 10-minute communication sample completed by the couple, the results support the hypotheses that greater use of negative attributions is correlated with greater use of destructive behaviors, and increased levels of commitment are related to greater use of constructive behaviors. Contrary to expectations, commitment was not a significant moderator of the relationship between negative attributions and destructive behavior during conflict. The results, including specific gender differences, have important implications for effective couple therapy and future research on couple conflict.