Explorations in ecological psychology.

Abstract

In this dissertation, the researcher presents the findings of a discourse analytic enquiry on the construction of femininity within a contemporary South African magazine. It is argued that gender is a social construction and that women's magazines provide a channel through which discourse of femininity reaches women. These discourses in women's magazines are often narrow and stereotypical in nature which may limit the development of women's feminine gender identities. A discourse analytic approach was utilised to reveal the different discourses of femininity within a contemporary women's magazines, Cosmopolitan, as well as to indicate how they may contribute to the construction of femininity. From the magazine, relationship-focused articles were selected, from which three predominant discourses of femininity were identified which includes femininity as heterosexual, nurturing, and managerial. An important finding is that competing discourses of empowerment and traditional femininity were evident. This points to the highly complex ways in which gender, specifically femininity, is constructed in the magazine under study.

The Role of Representative Design in an Ecological Approach to Cognition.

“…There have also been specific calls for representative design in the study of clinical judgment (Hammond, 1955;Maher, 1978), interpersonal perception (Crow, 1957), animal behavior (Petrinovich, 1980), aging (Poon, Rubin, & Wilson, 1989), and judgment and decision making (Hammond, 1990). The ecological psychology of Roger Barker (1968) was heavily influenced by Brunswikian ideas. Half a century ago, however, Brunswik's call for a principled alternative to systematic design remained virtually unheard.…”

Can you trust a customer's expression? Insights into nonverbal communication in the retail context

“…Most of the research in this area has focused on crowding and the consumer's attitude as a function of the number of people in the store (Barker, 1965). However, the role of retail salespeople would seem to be critical as well, given their critical role in determining customer experiences and satisfaction (Grewal & Sharma, 1991).…”

A Social-Psychological Model of Human Crowding Phenomena

“…The ecological research of Barker (1965Barker ( , 1968) on behavior settings, and the work of Hall (1959Hall ( , 1966 and Sommer (1967Sommer ( , 1969 on proxemics (the use of space in everyday behavior) represent the third type of investigation of crowding. Although these studies d o not focus directly upon the behavioral effects of crowding, their inquiry into the perception and use of space is certainly germane t o a consideration of problems arising from spatial restriction.…”