Exploring the links between psychological flexibility, individual well-being and relationship quality

The ability to engage flexibly with thoughts and behavior in line with the demands of a situation—termed psychological flexibility—has been linked to individual well-being. This registered report presents two studies that investigate the links between psychological flexibility, individual well-being, and relationship quality. Using structural equation modeling, Study 1 found that people who were more psychologically flexible reported higher levels of positive affect and lower levels of negative affect, which in turn were associated with higher relationship quality. Using dyadic mediation analysis, Study 2 replicated and extended these findings in a sample of 200 romantic couples, revealing both actor and partner effects. This research offers insight into the implications of psychological flexibility for relationship functioning

Exploring the links between psychological flexibility, individual well-being and relationship quality

The ability to engage flexibly with thoughts and behavior in line with the demands of a situation—termed psychological flexibility—has been linked to individual well-being. This registered report presents two studies that investigate the links between psychological flexibility, individual well-being, and relationship quality. Using structural equation modeling, Study 1 found that people who were more psychologically flexible reported higher levels of positive affect and lower levels of negative affect, which in turn were associated with higher relationship quality. Using dyadic mediation analysis, Study 2 replicated and extended these findings in a sample of 200 romantic couples, revealing both actor and partner effects. This research offers insight into the implications of psychological flexibility for relationship functioning

The experience of women in undergraduate physics : a proposed imposter phenomenon intervention

Across four studies (three quantitative and one qualitative) this thesis examines the experience of women in physics. Prior research has demonstrated gender differences amongst physicists in the perceptions of self-efficacy, belonging, perceived recognition as a physicist, and physics identity. This research suggests that men report being more confident in their abilities in physics, feeling like they belong to a greater degree, feeling more recognised as a physicist by others, and seeing themselves as a physicist to a greater extent than women. Building on these findings, I examined whether gender differences in these constructs could predict academic outcomes (specifically: academic performance (Chapter 2), identification with physics as a discipline (Chapter 3), and students’ sense of wellbeing (Chapter 4)). The results of these Chapters replicated the gender differences in physics identity, perceived recognition as a physicist, and self-efficacy, with women reporting lower levels compared to men. The results also found that self-efficacy was a strong predictor of academic performance and wellbeing for both men and women. However, to gain a deeper understanding of the problems facing women, and the ways in which I could begin to address these problems, I ran some semi-structured interviews (Chapter 5). The interviews provided support for our quantitative data, with women reporting that they doubted their abilities in physics and regularly reported imposter phenomenon. To address questions of self-doubt and imposter phenomenon I created a short imposter phenomenon intervention (Chapter 6) which focused on trying to normalise the discussion around imposter phenomenon in the physics classroom, encouraging students to reach out for help if they required it. The intervention received positive feedback in follow-up interviews; however, further development and a more comprehensive assessment of the intervention is required. This thesis takes initial steps in trying to address some of the major problems facing women in undergraduate physics

Chickening out of change: Will knowing more about thinking chickens change public perceptions?

This commentary examines the next step in Marino’s target article – changing people’s attitudes and beliefs about chickens. The scientific case seems clear: chickens are far more complex, psychologically and socially, than originally thought. Marino suggests we use this information to make people feel uncomfortable about their dietary choices in the hope of changing them. We review the psychological literature, examining how people maintain meat consumption despite the clash with their moral beliefs (the “meat paradox”). This work highlights the important gap between what science knows about animals and what people think about animals

Gender and the social cure in undergraduate physics students:physics identity, self-efficacy, belonging, and wellbeing

The social cure is the concept that strong connections and social bonds are good for wellbeing and physical health. Having strong social support makes hardship easier to cope with. We hypothesize that we could apply the relationship to educational contexts, with a sense of belonging as part of the cohort or community helping students to cope with educational hurdles, resulting in greater wellbeing. We examined the case of women in physics. Previous research has suggested that women in physics classes report a lesser sense of belonging than men. We aimed to replicate this finding and examine how a sense of belonging relates to wellbeing. We surveyed 310 physics students (205 men, 105 women) from a small research-intensive university in the UK. The survey measured students’ physics identity, sense of belonging to the physics community, self-efficacy (belief in ability to complete physics-based tasks), and general wellbeing. We found that women and men reported similar levels of belonging and wellbeing, although women reported less physics identity and self- efficacy. Self-efficacy explained a significant fraction of the variance in wellbeing for both men and women. Additionally, belonging explained variance in wellbeing over and above self-efficacy and physics identity for men, but not for women. These results indicate that for men there is a stronger association between belonging and wellbeing, compared to women, but that it does not result in women having an over- all lower sense of wellbeing.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The relationship between gender and academic performance in undergraduate physics students:the role of physics identity, perceived recognition, and self-efficacy

Studies focusing on physics undergraduate students have found that women tend not to identify as strongly with physics, compared to men. Recent research has examined potential factors that influence the experience of women in physics. Several of these factors, such as students' beliefs in their ability to complete physics-based tasks (i.e., self-efficacy) and students' belief that others perceive them as a physicist (i.e., perceived recognition), have been associated with physics identity in the context of introductory university physics courses in the United States (US). The current study extends this previous work, surveying students at all levels of the undergraduate degree at a research-intensive university in the UK. Students were asked about their physics identity, physics self-efficacy, and the extent to which they believed others perceived them as physicists. The survey responses were then matched with students' grades. Using matched responses from the start and end of an academic year from 169 students (110 men, 59 women), two analyses were performed. The first analysis found that average scores for women for physics identity, and self-efficacy were lower than for men both at the start and end of the academic year. The second analysis found that after controlling for the start-of-year scores in physics identity, self-efficacy, and perceived recognition, students' mid-year grades significantly predicted variance in their end-of-year scores for self-efficacy, perceived recognition, and (possibly also) physics identity. This study also found that the gap in perceived recognition between men and women increased over the academic year. The results contribute to understanding potential barriers for women in physics and have implications for instruction in terms of promoting students' physics identity, self-efficacy, and perceived recognition.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Gender effects in perceived recognition as a physicist and physics identity

This study investigated gender differences in perceived recognition as a physicist and its relation to physics identity. We surveyed 688 physics majors (228 women, 460 men) at a research-intensive university in the UK at both the lower and upper undergraduate levels with items measuring perceived recognition and physics identity. Similarly to other studies, we find that women report lower recognition as a physicist from their instructors, families and friends compared to men. In contrast, there were no gender differences in students’ perceptions of friends asking them for their advice/input in physics-related problems. Perceived recognition from instructors was lower than recognition from family and friends for both men and women. We find that both perceived recognition from instructors and physics identity are significantly lower for upper level students compared with lower level students. Multiple linear regressions for men and women individually found that both perceived recognition from instructors and from family/friends predicted students’ physics identity. These results may indicate a shift in students’ understanding of what it means to be a physicist as they progress through the degree program. The results point to further research being needed to understand better the mechanism by which students form perceptions of instructors seeing them as physics people.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe