The effects of utility value interventions on self-discrepancy accessibility, objective self-awareness, and interest

Advisors: Amanda M. Durik.Committee members: Anne Britt; Lisa M. Finkelstein; Brad Sagarin; Lee Shumow; John J. Skowronski.Includes bibliographical references.Includes illustrations.In a series of three experiments, the promise of using Carver and Scheier's model of self-awareness as a framework for understanding utility value intervention effects was investigated. Three experiments were conducted to guide participants to consider the utility value of their Introduction to Psychology course. Some participants were prompted to self-generate their own ideas about utility of the course (a self-generated utility value intervention), whereas other participants had ideas about the utility of the course directly communicated to them (a directly communicated utility value intervention). Some participants received one of the possible two interventions, some received neither intervention, and others received both. Across the three experiments, the extent to which utility value interventions highlighted learners' self-discrepancies, induced a state of objective self-awareness, and affected final interest in psychology was examined. Results of Experiment 1, but not Experiment 2, suggest that the directly communicated utility value intervention increased ought-actual self-discrepancies relative to a control group. Experiment 2 results suggest that neither type of utility value intervention induced a state of objective self-awareness. Further, the results of all three experiments suggest that neither type of utility value intervention increased final interest in psychology relative to a control group. Exploratory analyses were conducted to further understand the results. Overall, the results suggest that in the present samples, Carver and Scheier's model of objective self-awareness may be of limited assistance in understanding utility value intervention effects.Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy

Can transparency foster more understanding and compliant citizens?

Voluntary policy compliance is an important yet rarely studied topic in public administration. To address the paucity of research, this article proposes and empirically tests a conceptual framework that ties policy transparency and policy understanding to voluntary policy compliance intentions. The reasoning is that the extent to which citizens understand a policy contributes to their intentions to comply with that policy. Further, the authors argue that policy transparency indirectly influences voluntary policy compliance intentions through a positive effect on citizens’ levels of policy understanding. To enhance the validity of the findings, the authors assess these relationships across two policy domains. The findings reflect an indirect positive effect of transparency on voluntary compliance occurring through policy understanding. However, this emerged only for one policy domain. These results suggest that the effects of policy transparency on policy understanding and voluntary policy compliance intentions may depend on the policy domain