Browsing by Subject "Well-Being"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Developing the Good Life by Living It: The Influence of Attending a Norwegian Folk High School on Well-Being
    (2017-07) Erickson, Erik
    This study explored the influence attending a Norwegian folk high school had on the long-term well-being of former students. The Norwegian folk high schools represent a unique form of publicly funded education with an emphasis on learning through shared experience and that by law, the schools cannot issue grades, give formal examinations, or provide a degree that certifies a competency. A qualitative design was used to explore how attending a folk high school influenced the well-being of fifteen former folk high school students. Well-being was operationalized using the capabilities approach. This study found that attending a folk high school contributed to a number of personal, social, and knowledge outcomes and shaped the values and preferences of students by strengthening their existing values and helping them ideate a view of the good life. While attending a folk high school was viewed as one of many influences on well-being later in life, it was found to have an influence via the direct application of learning outcomes, the support and influence of a social network, as an initial spark for one’s career or study path, and as a model of the good life that directed their subsequent choices.
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    The Influence Of Nostalgia In The Domains Of Money And Health
    (2013-07) Lasaleta, Jannine
    While nostalgia is a prominent theme in marketing, very little is known about how feeling nostalgic influences consumers' attitudes, motivations, and behaviors. Much research on nostalgia in the consumer domain has been somewhat limited to conceptualizing nostalgia as a characteristic of products (e.g., Holbrook and Schindler 1989, 1994; Schindler and Holbrook 2003), and has studied why consumers favor nostalgic, relative to neutral, products. Recent research on nostalgia revolves around nostalgia-evoked aspects of well-being, namely social support and meaning in life (e.g. Juhl et al. 2010; Wildschult et al. 2006; Zhou et al. 2008). Much of this recent research has shown the restorative and buffering functions of nostalgia. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine if and how nostalgia influences consumer attitudes, behaviors, and motivations in the realms of money and health. To do so, I made links among nostalgia, well-being, and lay perceptions of what constitutes a good life. I extended prior findings by demonstrating the influence of nostalgia across the domains of money and health, two areas that are not directly linked to the aspects of well-being elicited by nostalgia. Furthermore, my research was not concerned with the restorative or buffering function of nostalgia, rather, I primarily focused on how nostalgia influences attitudes, behaviors, and cognitions across two domains that are of utmost importance to people's lives (Bowling 1995). Past research and preliminary findings from this dissertation have shown that when people are reminded of what constitutes a good life, they find money relatively less desirable (King and Napa 1989), and health relatively more desirable (chapter 1 pretest). Following this logic, I formulated two hypotheses, which I tested separately in two different essays. In essay #1, "Nostalgia Weakens the Desire for Money," I tested the hypothesis that those in a nostalgic, relative to neutral, state would find money less desirable. Findings supported my prediction; across five experiments I found that nostalgia participants indicated less desire for money. In essay #2, "Nostalgia Increases Receptiveness to Self-Threatening Health Information," I tested the hypothesis that those in a nostalgic, relative to neutral, state would be more receptive to self-threatening health information. Findings were inconclusive; in two studies nostalgia increased receptiveness to self-threatening health information, in one study nostalgia decreased receptiveness to self-threatening health information.
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    The reward of virtue: an essay on the relationship between character and well-being.
    (2011-07) Stoner, Ian M
    Most work in neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics begins by supposing that the virtues are the traits of character that make us good people. Secondary questions, then, include whether, why, and in what ways the virtues are good for the people who have them. This essay is an argument that the neo-Aristotelian approach is upside down. If, instead, we begin by asking what collection of character traits are good for us---that is, what collection of traits are most likely to promote our own well-being---we find a collection of traits a lot like the traditional slate of virtues. This suggests an egoistic theory of the virtues: the virtues just are those traits of character that reliably promote the well-being of their possessor. In addition to making the positive case for character egoism, I defend it from some anticipated objections. Most importantly, I argue that character egoism doesn't inherit the problems of ethical egoism. I conclude by offering self-regarding accounts of two virtues traditionally thought to be irreducibly other-regarding: honesty and justice.
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    Traditional Lakota Concept of Well-Being: A Qualitative Study
    (2015-12) Noisy Hawk, Lyle
    Most psychological research from which treatments are developed has typically been from the majority population overlooking American Indian/Alaskan Native racial/ethnic groups. This qualitative study examines how traditional Lakota healers conceptualize well-being from their unique perspectives. Seven healers were interviewed using a 3 question semi-structured interview guide. The interviews were transcribed into the Lakota language then translated from Lakota to English. The interviewed were then analyzed inductively using a grounded theory method. From the data, a central theme emerged: the traditional Lakota concept of well-being (Wicozani). The healers identified five distinct way that well-being (Wicozani) may be achieved. These are that: (1) well-being is attained and maintained through one's prayerful awareness and experience with religious beliefs or the sacred/the holy - the Wakan; (2) well-being is attained and maintained through maintaining healthy relationships with family, tribal structure and all of creation; (3) well-being is attained and maintained through consistent practice of prayer through rituals and traditions; (4) well-being is attained and maintained through successful recovery from traumatic experiences; (5) the need to enact the values to attain and maintain an integrated sense of well-being. The results suggest that there are similarities across the Lakota culture and the majority culture despite epistemic difference. Based on the findings, implication and recommendations were made.
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    Well-being performances in Botswana: centering women's roles in popular theatre
    (2013-12) Tshane, Pabalelo Gaolatlhe
    Through choreographic ethnography, archival research and performance analysis, my study seeks to examine the role of rural women as cultural producers in areas of popular theatre and storytelling in post-colonial Botswana. I investigate how popular theater operates as a tool for both top-down communications about state-identified concerns as well as community mobilization for marginalized members of society such as women in rural areas.I critically examine the Vision 2016 Program, which informs some of the Botswana government's aspirations, including the protection of women, health issues and funding theatre. The government often funds popular theatre companies to communicate the Vision. I therefore use the Vision to highlight connections and contradictions between policies on the proclaimed community development and the actual practice on the ground. The question I ask is: who benefits from these collaborations; the government, the theatre companies or the communities themselves? I argue that since the 1970s, the use of popular theatre has gained popularity in Botswana and Africa in general. Grounded in Freire and Boal's theorizations and traditional African (and Tswana) performance practices, African theatre scholars and practitioners have hailed popular theatre as a response to a history that has undermined people's genuine participation in development processes. Yet I claim that in some instances communities are not in control of this medium as their concerns are lost within homogenizing national discourses of state-funded popular theatre intervention projects. Through participant observations on and off stage, emphasizing attunement to social interactions of three companies - Youth Health Organization (YOHO) headquarters theatre group, Mama Theatre group and Moremogolo Extension Theatre Trust - I maintain that by turning oppressed communities into passive objects of superficial, one-dimensional messages infused with colonial and patriarchal formations, some Batswana theatre practitioners undermine the very goals of popular theatre. The study points to alternative sites within and outside the confines of popular theatre where subversive discourses of oppressed communities (groups and individuals) are located. As the first study to locate the role of women in popular theatre, the dissertation contests dominant narratives and questions how women in rural areas still manage to tactically engage in issues of importance to them.