http://hdl.handle.net/1893/30 This community contains the ePrints and eTheses produced by the Psychology staff and students. 2026-10-03T07:06:46Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38354 Title: Think political leader — think he or she? A multi-country test of a gender-fair language intervention to reduce gendered leadership stereotypes Author(s): Peters, Kim; Jeftić, Alma; Ballard, Timothy; Zhou, Steven; Steffens, Niklas K; Inceoglu, Ilke; Ryan, Michelle K; Bongiorno, Renata; Eagly, Alice; Arriaga, Patrícia; Espinosa, Agustin; Aczel, Balazs; Adetula, Adeyemi; Aglioti, Salvatore M; Roberts, S. Craig Abstract: Women are greatly underrepresented in positions of political leadership around the world. In seeking to explain this underrepresentation, some researchers have pointed to people's tendencies to stereotype leaders as more similar to men than women as these tendencies can support the belief that women are unsuited to leadership. This project aimed to test whether a subtle linguistic intervention was able to ameliorate this gender bias in political leadership stereotypes across different languages and national contexts (country/region N = 42, language N = 30, sample N = 22,996). Specifically, this project examined whether gender-fair language (e.g., the use of paired pronouns ‘he or she’) can reduce the tendency for people to stereotype political leaders as more similar to men than women. To increase the rigor with which these stereotypes were measured, this project complemented the dominant ‘cheap talk’ measure of personal stereotype content with an incentivised community measure of this content. As expected, participants stereotyped political leaders as more similar to men than women; this pattern was stronger on the incentivised measure of community stereotypes. Unexpectedly, there was no evidence that paired pronouns reduced this bias (there was weak exploratory evidence that paired nouns increased participants' tendencies to stereotype political leaders as more similar to women). This project suggests that the ability of gender-fair language interventions to ameliorate gender bias in the political leadership domain may be limited. 2026-12-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38350 Title: Raising the bar: a systems approach to promoting good wellbeing and self-efficacy in zoo and aquarium professionals Author(s): Brando, Sabrina; Buchanan-Smith, Hannah M; Planellas, Sonia Rey; Caes, Line Abstract: This research examines life satisfaction, individual and organisational job satisfaction , and self-efficacy in zoo and aquarium (ZOAQ) professionals, investigating how organisational structures, processes, provisions, and team engagement contribute to these outcomes. We applied a novel integration of Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory, the Rhinelands Way, and the One Welfare framework to guide a mixed-methods study comprising a cross-sectional mixed-methods survey (n = 442) and follow-up interviews (n = 39) across 23 accredited organisations. Descriptive statistics, correlations, mediation and moderation analyses addressed five pre-specified hypotheses, with thematic analysis of interview data contextualising the quantitative findings. Most participants reported satisfactory individual job satisfaction (71%), and work perceptions and organisational appreciation were more strongly associated with job satisfaction than access to tangible provisions. However, findings revealed significant role-based disparities in provision access, a weak relationship between formal wellbeing processes and job satisfaction, and patterns of manager-observed behaviour and self-efficacy suppression consistent with learned helplessness. These results provide an empirical basis for developing people-centred organisational cultures character-ised by equitable provisions, supportive leadership, meaningful communication, and structures that promote help-seeking and collective goals including animal wellbeing and conservation. Limitations include the cross-sectional design, English-language sampling, and the inferential rather than direct measurement of learned helplessness. 2026-07-09T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38348 Title: Autism Through an Autistic Lens: A Photovoice Exploration of Autistic Adults’ Experiences in Navigating Perceived and Internalized Stigma Author(s): Dantas, Sarah; Grainger, Catherine; Botha, Monique; Rafetseder, Eva; Jasper, Carol Abstract: Background: Internalised stigma happens when people incorporate negative stereotypes into their self-concept. In research, some autistic people have shown internalised stigma, which has been associated with heightened psychological distress. Aligned with autistic peoples’ research priorities, this study investigated the impact of stigma and internalised stigma on autistic people’s lives and identities. Methods: We used Photovoice method, where people communicate lived experience by taking photographs, and techniques of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, which focuses on in-depth individual narratives. Findings: Our findings emphasise the relational nature of stigma, highlighting autistic people’s resourcefulness in responding to and managing stigma in complex and context-sensitive ways. Autistic participants also drew on their focused interests and creative expression to actively resist and counter experiences of stigma. Conclusion: Future research should focus on targeting stigma amongst non-autistic people, and in exploring autistic people’s focused interests and creativity as potential avenue for improving their wellbeing and fostering a positive identity. 2026-06-16T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38338 Title: Self-reported social and motivational factors in health-related future intentions amongst older adults Author(s): Nygaard, Maria; Rubínová, Eva; Allan, Julia; Stasová, Júlia; Phillips, Louise Abstract: Prospective memory (PM), the ability to form a specific intention and remember to carry it out at an appropriate future time, is critical in health-related contexts and has been found to decline significantly with age. Further, motivation plays a vital role in PM and previous research indicated that older adults are particularly motivated by the social relevance of PM tasks. However, little is known about the role of perceived social impact in older adults’ health intentions. The current study aimed to explore the motivation behind carrying out future intentions. Participants (n=116, Mage= 70.78) self-rated their motivation for health-related tasks with either a social (remind your partner to take medications) or non-social (remember to take your own medications) aspect. Quantitative results indicated that some aspects of motivation (impact on others, effort & enjoyment) were enhanced by social context, while others (personal reward & relatedness) were not. We also gathered qualitative information on health-related PM tasks in their daily lives and links to social motivation. Most participants reported helping someone else to remember their health-related PM tasks and experiencing positive emotions as a result of helping others. The findings may have implications for motivating people to remember health tasks, which could aid independent living and quality of life for older adults. 2026-09-03T00:00:00Z