Claire Wagner

University of Pretoria | UP · Department of Psychology

An increasing emphasis on taking personal responsibility for making changes to address climate change and support sustainable development is hindered by the limited tools and guidance available that enable the relationship between living patterns and environmental impacts to be readily and accurately discerned. An exception is the ecological footpr...

An integrated approach to Water Sensitive Urban Design and Sustainable Drainage Systems requires community involvement. Mooikloof is a low-density upmarket residential estate with one-hectare properties and large detached houses, but with no stormwater infrastructure, offering a unique case study of uptake of source controls. Using the Theory of Pl...

A scoping review of research on the voices of students about the decolonisation of the social sciences that may inform the transformation of the research in psychology curriculum

Purpose The purpose of this article is to examine the effect of housing type, relative to demographics, on householders' self-reported recycling across low-, medium- and high-density housing without recycling facilities by using the theory of planned behaviour. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted amongst 580 households across houses...

Experiential learning is touted as an effective way of imparting research skills. This suggests that master’s students undergoing training in research psychology should be exposed to managing projects and supervising interdisciplinary research teams and projects before entering the workplace. The Department of Psychology and Department of Town and...

The impact of microfinance on the lives of the poor is controversial and there is limited empirical understanding of its psychological effects. Our study endeavoured to explore the effect of microfinance on the self-esteem and self-efficacy of the poor in South Africa. The study was conducted using a non-experimental research strategy (within-subje...

This article surveys the literature from 1999 to 2013 on teaching qualitative research methods. One hundred thirteen articles fitted the inclusion criteria; 79 of these were by academics in the United States and Canada. Only 39 of the 113 were based on empirical research: from these, seven descriptive themes were distilled, of which the dominant on...

Although literature on interdisciplinary training has shown some promise for enabling students to cross disciplinary barriers, little is known about how being mentors to near-peers in other disciplines could initiate psychology trainees into their future role in a multidisciplinary team. This article aims to describe the experiences of psychology a...

“Transracial” adoption and fostering offer fertile ground for exploring how constructions of race can operate. This qualitative study engaged in a discourse analysis of interviews with 17 South African mothers identifying as White who have adopted and who foster transracially. Focus was placed on how they talk about race through their discussions o...

Music is an underutilized resource for research in the social sciences. This article presents examples of musical elicitation methods that were used within a study that explored how adolescents who were referred to group music therapy for aggression produced meanings of aggression through the therapeutic process. The study was conducted within a po...

Gated communities is a growing phenomenon in South Africa and abroad. The enclosed and private nature of gated communities poses certain challenges to recycling. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour, we examine the effect of a weekly comingled kerbside collection service on household recycling in a gated community. We used an ex post facto design...

Although social factors affecting recycling have been widely researched, the effect of spatial and physical factors posed by medium-density housing, such as townhouses, is less understood. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the relative effect of three sets of factors on household recycling in townhouses are examined, including ‘attitude’ (abou...

Due to the complex interactions between socio-economic, cultural and political factors, some urban households consume a portfolio of energy sources, e.g. electricity, coal, paraffin, gas and solar power. A social construction of technology perspective is used to understand the choices underlying these multiple fuel practices. Nine participants (hou...

Personal and political action on climate change is traditionally thought to be motivated by people accepting its reality and importance. However, convincing the public that climate change is real faces powerful ideological obstacles 1–4 , and climate change is slipping in public importance in many countries 5,6. Here we investigate a diierent appro...

The International Sociological Association’s Research Committee “Logic and Methodology” (RC33), under the direction of President Nina Baur, is widening its focus on social research and methodology to include perspectives from outside Europe and North America. This is the second “Regional Report” to be jointly published by the BMS and this issue’s R...

Personal and political action on climate change is traditionally thought to be motivated by people accepting its reality and importance. However, convincing the public that climate change is real faces powerful ideological obstacles1–4, and climate change is slipping in public importance in many countries5,6. Here we investigate a di�erent approach...

Background. Mental health research appears to be continually transforming. Recent literature reflects a greater appreciation for the ways in which pathoplastic features of culture modulate emotional regulation. This article introduces those aspects of the literature which explore the (re)consideration of culture as a dynamic and essential construct...

Recent research on young women’s sexuality highlights the transactional nature of relationships among young people, as well as the increase in intergenerational sexual relationships. These unequal and often coercive sexual practices may increase young women’s vulnerability to unsafe sexual practices. Within this context, while there have been some...

p> Background. Mental health research appears to be continually transforming. Recent literature reflects a greater appreciation for the ways in which pathoplastic features of culture modulate emotional regulation. This article introduces those aspects of the literature which explore the (re)consideration of culture as a dynamic and essential constr...

Media reports are emerging on the phenomenon of young girls who travel with older mini-bus taxi drivers, and who are thought to have sex with the drivers in exchange for gifts and money. The extent to which such relationships might facilitate unsafe sexual practices and increased risks for both the men and the young women, often referred to as taxi...

A model for the psychological processes that culminate in positive viewing experiences and audience loyalty to a soap opera is presented. The research was based on a secondary analysis of a qualitative market research study conducted for the SABC on the soap opera Isidingo. The analysis was conducted within a hermeneutic phenomenological interpreti...

No formal pedagogical culture for research methods in the social sciences seems to exist and, as part of the authors' endeavour to establish such a culture, this article reviews current literature about teaching research methods and identifies the gaps in the research. Articles in academic journals spanning a 10‐year period were collected by search...

According to Homer and Kahle's (1988) cognitive hierarchy model, values indirectly influence behavior through attitudes. The model posits that the influence theoretically flows from more abstract cognitions to mid-range cognitions to specific behaviors. This paper tests the cross-cultural validity of the model across samples from Brazil, New Zealan...

Current literature on teaching research methodology in the social sciences highlights the changing nature of our world in terms of its complexity and diversity, and points to how this affects the way in which we search for answers to related problems (Brew 2003, 3; Tashakkori and Teddlie 2003, 74). New ways of approaching research problems that rel...

Past research has suggested that Preservation and Utilization are the two higher order dimensions forming the hierarchical structure of environmental attitudes. This means that these two higher order dimensions could group all kinds of perceptions or beliefs regarding the natural environment people have. A crosscultural study was conducted in Brazi...

How knowledge of students' conceptions of social research can influence the pedagogy of research methods is the focus of this article. This study explains how students' conceptions of social research changed over the course of a two-semester research programme. Twenty-nine graduate students participated in focus groups, interviews, and open-ended s...

The aim of this study was to investigate the coupling between the immigrant and the new environment by focusing on South African emigrants in Canada's experience of the environment. Thus far, acculturation and adaptation research has excluded the physical environment as a study unit. This study focused on the immigrants ‘adaptation as a whole by in...

Cigarette smoking continues to pose a global health risk, including in developing countries. Fear appeal messages have been widely employed in health communication to reduce cigarette smoking, but studies provide conflicting results on their efficacy. The present qualitative study explores smokers’ perceptions of fear appeal messages used in anti-s...

This book is intended as a preliminary step towards the development of a pedagogical culture in research methodology. It contains chapters from a range of authors who are involved in the teaching of research methods in different countries and within a variety of disciplines. Their aim is to establish the extent to which there are common concerns an...

As the Internet and opportunities for online shopping are growing at a very fast pace worldwide, investigating this phenomenon within a South African context is crucial considering that it is a relatively new trend in the country. Typical of new trends and phenomena is the absence of research and the resultant lack of existing literature about the...

This article examined the discourses of bereavement and bereavement rituals that inform Tshivenda speaking women's positions within their social structure. The Tshivenda speaking community that participated in this study is located in the Vhembe District of the Limpopo province in South Africa. The study specifically explored the social constructio...

This article examines the ways in which academics who teach undergraduate research methodology courses conceptualise research and scholarship and the role these aspects play in the way they construct their courses. In-depth interviews were conducted with nine academics who have been intimately involved in constructing social science research course...

The co-construction of a psychology module for a postgraduate training course in orthotics/prosthetics is socially constructed for the first time in Southern African history. This paper elucidates the integration of theory and practice in a model for the development of a professional identity as orthotist/prosthetist. In creating a context where tr...

Affirmative action remains one of the most highly sensitive, emotive and hotly debated subjects in South Africa. It is nevertheless an important legislated strategy that needs to be thoroughly researched and constructively debated to bring change to the lives of previously disadvantaged individuals. The present study describes how five black middle...

Educational policy reform in South Africa seeks to address the real-life relevance of curricula, and specifically, reformists have turned to proponents of Mode 2 knowledge to inform initiatives for change. This study aimed to explore the extent to which trends in the knowledge production requirements for higher education are reflected in the belief...

Although Sumner's ethnocentrism hypothesis, which expects stronger group identification to be associated with more negative outgroup attitudes, has been widely accepted, empirical findings have been inconsistent. This research investigates the relationship of four dimensions of ethnocultural group identification previously proposed by Phinney, that...

People with coronary heart disease have recourse to a palliative intervention such as Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG). Opsomming Persone met ‘n koronêre hartsiekte is soms genoodsaak om ‘n hartomleiding (CABG), wat ‘n tydelike intervensie ter verligting is, te ondergaan. *Please note: This is a reduced version of the abstract. Please refe...

The issue of personality and prejudice has been largely investigated in terms of authoritarianism and social dominance orientation. However, these seem more appropriately conceptualized as ideological attitudes than as personality dimensions. The authors describe a causal model linking dual dimensions of personality, social world view, ideological...

The issue of personality and prejudice has been largely investigated in terms of authontananism and social dominance orientation. However, these seem more appropriately conceptualized as ideological attitudes than as personality dimensions. The authors describe a causal model linking dual dimensions of personality social world view, ideological att...

There is a paucity of applied research and available literature about selective mutism. Opsomming Daar is min toegepaste navorsing en beskikbare literatuur oor selektiewe mutisme. *Please note: This is a reduced version of the abstract. Please refer to PDF for full text.

The paucity of literature on the perceptions and attitudes of South Africans on recycling, reusing, and reducing the number of resources used suggests the need for an exploration of these environmental issues. The current energy situation in South Africa may impact on South Africans' perceptions on quality of life issues that are thought to accompa...

Cigarette smoking continues to pose a global health risk, including in developing countries. Fear appeal messages have been widely employed in health communication to reduce cigarette smoking, but studies provide confl icting results on their effi cacy. The present qualitative study explores smokers' perceptions of fear appeal messages used in anti...

There is a paucity of available literature regarding the experience of teachers dealing with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in an educational setting. As children with ADHD are typically diagnosed at school entry level, primary school teachers are directly affected. This study therefore endeavours to address the gap in the body of...