The curious nature of humans has been the puzzle of psychologists, philosophers and scientists since the time we began to use those terms. Why are we curious? Why do we behave the way we do and why? The span of views on curiosity covers all. From being viewed as part of our animalistic nature and compared to instincts, to be viewed as a virtue to scientists and the reason behind why we explore space. Behaviorists tried to define it as an innate drive and some say that it has a crucial role in our ability to learn and understand.

Magisteruppsatsen studerar pedagogers erfarenhet av motstånd mot genusarbete samt försöker förklara motståndet utifrån socialpsykologiska teorier. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med lärare som arbetar med skolans äldre åldrar. Samtliga lärare var engagerade i genusarbete på sina skolor. Tidsbrist samt ointresse var två former av motstånd som kollegor och skolledning utövade. En svårare form av motstånd visade sig vara tillmötesgående motstånd ? då motståndsaktörer ger sken av att vilja arbeta med genusperspektiv men i själva verket låter det bero.

Behandlare av barn som bevittnat våld i familjen ombads i en explorativ studie beskriva hur de skapar mening till arbetet de utför och till barnens situation och behov. Semistrukturerade intervjuer utfördes på fem behandlare. Frågorna berörde deras arbetsmetod och vad de uppfattar att barnen behöver för hjälp. Resultatet visar att behandlarnas främsta syfte är att avlasta barnen från skuld, bekräfta deras verklighetsbild och förmedla till barnen att de inte är ensamma om sina upplevelser. För att avdramatisera samtalssituationen använder flertalet behandlare lek och teckning i olika form.

Attitudes towards violence were assessed using both implicit (The Single Category Implicit Association Test; Karpinski & Steinman, 2006) and explicit measurements (a Feeling Thermometer). A group of criminals showed more positive explicit and implicit attitudes towards violence than a group of non-criminals. In addition, The Aggression Questionnaire (Buss & Perry, 1992) revealed significant differences in aggression between the groups; criminals' mean scores were higher on all four subscales (physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger and hostility). Furthermore, significant correlations were found between all the measures, including the implicit and explicit attitude measures. The findings support the validity of the SC-IAT as an implicit measure of violent attitudes.

Denna studie ämnade studera sambandet mellan självinsikt, attributioner och relationskvalité. Tidigare studier har visat att det finns ett tydligt samband mellan attributioner och relationskvalité. Vårt syfte var att expandera och replikera detta fynd och placera in det i ett större sammanhang, kultur-relationskedjan, där även självinsikt och kultur ingår. Femtiosex personer (28 par), majoriteten studenter, deltog i studien som utfördes individuellt i enkätform. Resultatet visade på en replikering av tidigare fynd i sambandet mellan attributioner och relationskvalité (r(56)=-0,320, p < 0,05).

This study aims to investigate expressive writing in young adolescents, based on the model constructed by J.W. Pennebaker. Qualitative analysis of written essays has been conducted, the main purpose being exploring descriptions of relationships and expressions of emotions. Further-more, the intention has also been to study eventual gender differences and their forms of expressions in the essays. The participants were seventh- and eightgraders, gathered from two schools in Sweden.

Abstract Syftet med att studera detta är att undersöka anledningen till den könsuppdelade idrottsundervisningen samt vilka effekterna blivit med fokus på flickornas situation. Detta har vi gjort genom att bedriva observationer i två olika skolor i Blekinge, där en av skolorna fortfarande har gemensam idrott och den andra skolan övergått till könsuppdelad idrottsundervisning. För att bredda vårt material har vi även intervjuat inblandade parter, det vill säga elever, rektorer samt idrottslärare. Resultatet av observationerna och intervjuerna visade att flickornas situation förbättrats i den skola där man infört könsseparerad idrott. Flickorna tar för sig, lever ut och tycker det är roligare med idrott där de kan vara för sig själva.

This essay examines the theme of blindness in the Gospel of Mark. The two main questions asked are: 1) ?What is Mark?s view on blindness?? and 2) ?How does the Gospel of Mark?s view on blindness inform the current discourse of disability studies and how can we interpret Mark?s view on blindness today?? By the methods of metaphor analysis and character analysis, four passages of the Gospel are studied (Mark 4:10-12; 8:14-21; 22-26; 10:46-52). The analysis concludes that blindness is depicted by the author of the Gospel as a disability which also consist of a lack of cognitive ability and a hopeless state that is in need of healing.  The depiction of blindness in Mark originates out of the authors use of blindness as a metaphor for lack of cognitive ability (Mk 4:12; 8:18) and the lack of characterization of the blind man at Bethsaida (8:22-23). This view on blindness is, in comparison to a modern view, difficult, as it marginalizes persons with blindness as inconsiderate and not fully human.

This essay studies what has been written about religious experience and visions both in the past and now. It deals with both the religious experience and tries to explain how and if there is any place in the modern society for religious visions and experience. The essay has a strong theoretical perspective to psychology of religion as presented by Anton Geels whose writings in the subject have been of one of my main sources.The study shows that people of all times and cultures have had religious visions and the feeling of a divine experience even if this has changed because of tradition, time and place. Religious experience and visions can furthermore occur both in a spontaneous, unprepared way as well as being cultured through ascetic practice in order to facilitate the divine reception. The study also shows that religious experience in no means is reserved for special ?chosen ones? but can occur to each and every one, no matter what class, race or position in life.

The purpose of this study was to find out how young children are allowed to influence and affect their daily lives in preschools, as well as teachers? views on the latter. My interest in this topic is born out of my experience of working with both younger and older preschool children. My view is that democratic work with older children is largely based on direct verbal communication while with toddlers it is based on an adult?s interpretation of a child?s often non-verbal expressions.

This study investigated the effect different contexts have on personality items when they are framed more neutrally. The study was based on a five-factor personality inventory originating from International Personality Item Pool. The inventory consisted of 50 original and 50 neutral personality items and in addition 28 items measuring social desirability. The sample consisted of 150 students from the Department of Psychology, Lund. The students were divided into three instruction groups differing in context.

Business plan competitions have long been used as a mean for entrepreneurial organizations and Universities to educate students in entrepreneurship. But what's in it for the entrepreneur This thesis aim is to understand what utility business plan competitions have for the participating entrepreneurs. It consists of interviews with Swedish entrepreneurs at various stages in the entrepreneurial process, who has participated in business plan competitions to get ahead. The conclusions of the study are that business plan competitions are good for the entrepreneur from a motivational and developmental perspective but not from a financial perspective..

This paper is intended to provide a picture of which associations water can wake in the human mind from the perspectives of garden history as well as from that of environmental psychology. I hope to paint a fairly broad picture of our perception of water that can serve as a basis for discussion and as a starting point for different forms of design work in landscape architecture. The historical perspective emphasizes the importance of water as a condition for the emergence of gardens and in a wider perspective the importance of water in early cultures. Also, I describe a picture of how water has been used throughout the history of gardens from early Egypt to the baroque era. The garden history analyzed from an art historical perspective gives a picture of human associations to water, and the history behind these associations is presented. As a compliment to the art history approach, I have chosen to highlight our associations with water from the perspectives of environmental psychology and evolutionary science.

Varje år drabbas 30 000 svenskar av stroke, vilket innebär stora personliga omställningar och stora kostnader för samhället. Den mest effektiva behandlingen, trombolys, måste ges så snart som möjligt för att ha god effekt.  Samtidigt som det är av största vikt att ta reda på om patienten har några differentialdiagnoser som gör behandlingen riskfylld.Den här studien undersöker hur strokekedjan går till och vilka faktorer som påverkar beslutsfattandet. Studien är baserad på etnografiska fältstudier på fyra svenska sjukhus och materialet är analyserat med metoder från sammansatta kognitiva system och målorienterad design. Resultaten visar att trots olika organiserade strokekedjor på de olika sjukhusen är processerna desamma och direkt kommunikation är mest framgångsrik för att effektivt sprida information mellan dem. Neurologjouren är viktig roll som, liksom resten av aktörerna i strokekedjan, ständigt balanserar sitt beslutsfattande mellan effektivitet och grundlighet.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka om och hur skiljer sig personligheter av personer som är intagna i fängelse, rehabiliterade personer och personer som inte har begått något brott. Personlighetsundersökning baserades på femfaktorsmodell och en enkät som bestod av 50 frågor. Samtliga faktorer jämfördes genom alla tre grupper. Vidare gjordes en jämförelse av vilken typ av brott har de intagna och rehabiliterade personer begått, vilka drivkrafter hade dem och vad de tyckte var viktigt i deras liv för att inte begå brott vilken realiserades genom en konstant komparativ metod. Personlighetsskillnaderna undersöktes genom Kruskal-Wallis test.