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- Friman, Margareta
(author)
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Effects of critical incidents on consumer satisfaction
- 2000
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Satisfaction is assumed to be an important cause of attitude change by mediating between preexposure and postexposure attitudes. A number of factors account for whether one is satisfied or not with a specific product or service. One factor is expectations, another performance of the product or service, and a third disconfirmation of expectation. Another possible factor that influences satisfaction is the affective reaction to product/service performance. The present thesis aimed at investigating satisfaction with public transport services. More specifically, the role of critical incidents in satisfaction was examined. In Studies I and IV the characteristics of critical incidents in public transport services were analyzed. Three different methods were in Study I applied to explore perceptual/cognitive experiences of negative critical incidents. The results suggested that employee behavior, reliability, simplicity, and design constitute perceived quality attributes in public transport services. Study IV investigated how individuals respond affectively to and evaluate satisfaction after such encounters. The results showed as expected that the critical incidents varied in both valence (positive-negative feelings) and activation (arousal). Study II confirmed the quality attributes found in Study I by means of further analyses of the covariances of rated frequencies of remembered negative critical incidents as well as of ratings of attributes-specific satisfaction. Some explanations of how frequencies of remembered negative critical incidents are coded in memory were tested in Studies II and III. The results showed that frequency of negative critical incidents, defined as disconfirmation of expectations, negatively affected overall satisfaction with public transport. The relationship was however not direct but mediated by attribute-specific satisfaction. Furthermore, the results obtained in Study IV showed that difference in satisfaction caused by different types of critical incidents were related to the affective reactions to the incidents
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- Boe, Ole, 1964
(author)
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Factors Affecting Integration of Outcomes of Concurrent Decisions
- 2000
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Boe, O., 2000. Factors affecting integration of outcomes of concurrent decisions.Department of Psychology. Göteborg University, Sweden.When outcomes of concurrent decisions are evaluated, they may either be integrated orsegregated. The present studies investigated when and how integration occurs. The aim ofStudy I was to investigate whether an integration principle (the loss-sensitivity principle)could be extended to account for the integration of outcomes of concurrent decisions. Thisprinciple has been shown to hold for integration of prior outcomes with future outcomes.It was then expected that only the loss outcomes of concurrent decisions would beintegrated. The two experiments conducted in Study I validated previous resultsconcerning integration of prior outcomes, but did not show that the principle generalizedto integration of the outcomes of concurrent decisions. Participants were in bothexperiments presented with fictitious non-context gambles. Study II was conducted withthe primary aim of investigating how casually relatedness, in the form of means-endrelations between consumer products, affects integration. Another aim was to investigatethe effect of uncertainty. The results showed that participants integrate means-end relatedalternatives as well as that uncertainty of outcomes of concurrent decisions counteractsintegration. The experiment conducted in Study III demonstrated an attentional bias in thatcausally related outcomes of concurrent decisions are not evaluated and therefore notchosen although more attractive than single outcomes. Finally, Study IV furtherinvestigated the attentional bias. Participants were asked to make fictitious choices ofstores located at different distances where they could purchase the same consumerproducts at different prices. Attitudes toward driving were independently assessed bymeans of a questionnaire. A supporting finding was that participants with a more positiveattitude toward driving chose more frequently to drive to stores within walking distancethan participants with a less positive attitude towards driving who more frequently choseto walk to stores at driving distances.Key words: Decision making, concurrent decisions, integration.Ole Boe, Department ofPsychology, Göteborg Universi&, Box 500, S-40530 Gothenburg, Sweden. Phone(voice): +46 31 773 4284, fkx): +46 31 773 4628. Email: Ole.Boe@psy.gu.seISSN 1 lOl-718X ISRN GU/PSYK/AVH-72-SEISBN 91-628-4231-5
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- Veisson, Marika, 1949
(author)
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Disabled Children - The psychological status of parents and the social network of siblings
- 2000
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In the present dissertation I survey the results of research carried out in Estonia andSweden regarding the personality characteristics, self-esteem, emotional states anddepression symptoms in parents of disabled children. Social relations and self-esteem of siblings of disabled children are also investigated. The general aim of thecurrent study was to investigate the situation of the parents and siblings ofintellectually disabled children. The first aim was to measure personalitycharacteristics and self-esteem in parents of disabled children and parents of non-disabled children in Sweden and in Estonia. The second aim was to comparepersonality characteristics of parents of disabled children with Estonian norms forthe general population. The third aim was to tind out if there were any differencesbetween parents of disabled children and non-disabled children with reference fodepression symptoms and emotional states. The fourth aim of this study was to findout whether siblings of disabled children differ with respect to social relations, atschool and at home, personality and self-esteem compared to a control group.The methods used in the tirst study were the Adjective Check List (ACL) by Goughand Heilbrun (1983), Eysenck Personality Inventory; EPI (1987) and Self-EsteemInventories, Adult form (SEI) by Coopersmith (1990). In the second study I used ative-factor personality inventoq (NEO-PI). The third investigation was carried outin Estonia and focused on depressive symptoms and emotional states. BeckDepression Inventory (Beck et al., 1961) and emotional states scale by Leskinen(1994) were used. In the fourth investigation sixty siblings of disabled children and acontrol group of sixty siblings of normally developed children aged 12 to 14 werestudied. A questionnaire developed by Andersson (1997) was used.Comparisons of the two parent groups did not give any statistically significantdifferences with respect to EPI and SE1 in the Swedish-Estonian study (Lawenius, &Veisson, 1996). However, the results of the Estonian study showed that parents ofdisabled children were significantly more introvert than parents of non-disabledchildren. Comparisons of personality characteristics between the two groups gavethe following results: 1) mothers and fathers of disabled children have a signiticantlylower Extraversion and Openness level compared to the Estonian norms for womenand men; 2) in Neuroticism mothers of disabled children score higher than theEstonian women s norm, but fathers score higher only in some Neuroticism facets;3) concerning Agreeableness, neither mothers nor fathers differ from Estoniannorms; 4) in Conscientiousness fathers of disabled children score higher than thenorms for men, but the data of mothers do not differ. The results of the third studyshowed that parents, especially mothers of disabled children, had signiticantly morenegative emotional states and also significantly more depressive symptoms thanparents in the control group. Signiticant differences in depression symptoms betweenthe disabled and control parent groups were found in most cases. In the siblinginvestigation (fourth study) the results showed that there were a number ofsignificant differences bemeen the two groups.Key words: Parents, children, mental retardation, siblings of disabled children,personality traits, depression symptoms, emotional states, siblings social relations.Marika Veisson, Tallinn Pedagogical University, Narva Road 25, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia. Fax: 372 6409118, E-mail: veissonm@tpu.ee.ISSN 11O1-718X ISRN GU/PSYK/AVH--78--SE
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- Arvidsson, Hans, 1947
(author)
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After the 1995 Swedish Mental Health Care Reform- A follow-up study of a group of several mentally ill
- 2004
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Aims: The overall aim of this thesis was to follow up a sample of severely mentally ill persons after the 1995 Swedish mental health care reform and to assess if the observed changes were in accord with the aims of the reform. Methods: In 1995/96, 602 persons were surveyed and identified as severely mentally ill in a defined area of Sweden. In 2000/2001, 828 persons were surveyed using the same method. The surveyed persons were interviewed and their needs were assessed on both occasions. Study I involved the 378 persons surveyed on both occasions. The results of interviews and assessments of needs from the two occasions were compared. In Study II, the results of the interviews and need assessment in 1995/96 and in 2000/2001 were compared. The subset of the group surveyed in 2000/2001 that also was surveyed in 1995/96 (n=378) was compared to the group that was new in 2000/2001 (n=450). In study III the persons surveyed in 1995/96 but not in 2000/2001 (n=224) were investigated with respect to recovery. A small sample also participated in an interview particularly focusing on recovery. Study IV was a case register study, assessing the quantity of psychiatric care delivered during the period 1994-2003. Results: In general, the results were in accord with the aims of the reform. The number of met needs had increased and the number of unmet needs had decreased. Furthermore, efforts by psychiatric care and social services had increased for the target group of the reform. The objectives of the reform thus seemed to have been effectuated. There seemed to have been a change in the interpretation and application of the concept severely mentally ill between 1995/96 and 2000/2001. It appeared that the threshold for applying the concept had been lowered on the second survey. Only 14 % were considered to have recovered from being severely mentally ill between the two surveys. Conclusions: The findings were in accord with the aims of the reform. Why then is the reform commonly considered a failure in the public debate? The main argument for dubbing the reform a failure may be the fact that the severely mentally ill as a goup are still very underprivileged and that they are clearly not afforded opportunities equal to those enjoyed by society at large.
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- Goulding, Anneli, 1966
(author)
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Paranormal Beliefs and Experiences in Relation to Subjective Health and Schizotypy
- 2003
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Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis aimed at investigating paranormal beliefs and experiences in relation to subjective health and ill-health in terms of schizotypy. Following a literature review, two empirical studies are presented. The purpose of the studies was to investigate which of two models best describes the construct schizotypy. Within the quasi-dimensional model, schizotypy is viewed as something connected with ill-health, whereas it is possible to view schizotypy as sometimes connected with ill-health and sometimes with health within the fully dimensional model (Claridge, 1997). Individuals were grouped according to their scores on a multi-dimensional schizotypy measure, the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE; Mason, Claridge & Jackson, 1995). The group differences on a health-related measure, the Sense of Coherence (SOC; Antonovsky, 1991) Scale and a measure of paranormal beliefs and experiences, the Australian Sheep-Goat Scale (ASGS; Thalbourne & Delin, 1993) were examined. In study I, an agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis of 88 students’ responses on the O-LIFE, Unusual Experiences (UE), Cognitive Disorganisation (CD), and Introvertive Anhedonia (IA) sub-scales suggested three separate clusters. These were labelled Cognitive Disorganisation/Introvertive Anhedonia (CD/IA), Unusual Experiences (UE), and Low Schizotypy (LS). One-way ANOVA:s revealed that the CD/IA cluster scored lower on the SOC Scale than the other clusters and that the UE cluster scored higher than the LS cluster on the ASGS. In study II, 129 paranormal believers/experients participated. An agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis and a subsequent k-means cluster analysis of the UE, CD, and IA sub-scales of the O-LIFE suggested three separate clusters, labelled Introvertive Anhedonia (IA), Low Schizotypy (LS), and Cognitive Disorganisation (CD). One-way ANOVA:s showed that the LS cluster scored significantly higher on the SOC Scale compared to the other clusters, whereas there were no significant differences across the clusters on the ASGS. The finding that the UE and LS clusters of study I had similar SOC scores and that the paranormal believers and experients in the LS cluster of study II had very high SOC scores support the fully dimensional model for schizotypy over the disease-based quasi-dimensional model. The results suggest that paranormal beliefs and experiences on their own are not associated with perceived ill-health.
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