Psychology & Sociology
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/7186
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Item MEMORY AND MUSEUM COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2024-12-11) Wallen, LinneaIn the past two decades, numerous scholars have highlighted the value of engagement with memory in museum projects. However, what memory – a complex and multifaceted concept – actually refers to in such projects has previously not been investigated in depth. In this thesis, I explore how memory is used, understood and conceptualised in museum community engagement activities in Scotland. Adopting a multiple instrumental case study approach underpinned by the theoretical perspectives of bricolage, hermeneutic phenomenology and practice theory, I examine the memory work in community engagement projects at three museums: The Scottish Crannog Centre, The Devil’s Porridge Museum and The Open Museum. The proximity to living memory varies significantly across the projects – from prehistory, to the First World War, to present day autobiographical memories – and through this variety I expose the nuanced and disparate memory work in the different museum contexts. I examine how the work is shaped by sectoral, institutional and project infrastructures that make certain kinds of participatory and collaborative community engagement practice (im-)possible. Through a combination of interviews, observations and document analysis analysed through reflexive thematic analysis, I critically discuss what memory work looks like and how it is achieved, accounting for museum practitioners’ and project participants’ understandings of what memory ‘is’, where it exists and how they work with it. I present the key findings as three conceptual theses: 1) The Constitution of Memory and Memory Work in Museum Community Engagement; 2) Caring For and About Memory; and, 3) Problematisation as Product and Process. In offering a multiplicitious conceptualisation of memory and critical engagement with the factors that shape memory work, I propose a refined understanding of the meaning, impact and processes of memory work in museum community engagement spaces.Item REDUCING AND MEASURING THE CROSS-RACE EFFECT(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2024-10) TÖREDI, DILHANIndividuals recognise same-race faces better than different race faces, a robust phenomenon called the cross-race effect (CRE). The CRE can contribute to mistaken identifications, making it crucial to study it. This project included two studies. The first aimed to reduce the CRE using targeted interventions and to evaluate how individual differences, confidence, and response time predict eyewitness accuracy. The second focused on creating a reliable measure of eyewitness accuracy for White and Asian witnesses and targets. Both studies examined the confidence-accuracy relationship for White and Asian targets. The first study compared known interventions to reduce the CRE (discrimination training, individuation instructions) against no intervention and explored new variables— individual differences in working memory capacity, selective attention, and need for cognition—and extant variables—confidence and response time—predicting accuracy. Contrary to expectations, participants (White, n = 403) showed similar identification accuracy of Asian and White faces. A CRE was observed for target-absent accuracy. Discrimination training altered the CRE (cf. control group): it increased correct rejections for cross-race faces but decreased them for same-race faces. Working memory capacity, confidence, and response time reliably predicted identification accuracy. Confidence and response time explained unique variance, but the variance explained by working memory capacity overlapped with these. The second study developed the CRE Inventory, combining known predictors of the CRE to improve the prediction of same- and cross-race eyewitness accuracy. A CRE was observed for White participants (n = 202). However, Asian participants (n = 203) recognised White faces similar to Asian faces—potentially because of their minority status. Exploratory factor analysis produced reliable scales with expected factors that significantly predicted identification performance: general face recognition ability, race-specific face recognition ability, racial attitudes towards White individuals, quantity of contact with Asian individuals, motivation to individuate White individuals, and cognitive disregard of Asian individuals. Three scales that predicted identification accuracy also explained unique variance compared to that explained by the eyewitness’ confidence. This research advances the CRE literature theoretically—by identifying factors that relate to recognition—and practically—by testing multiple predictors of accuracy and developing a tool to enhance the reliability evaluations of White eyewitnesses.Item INTERGENERATIONAL INCLUSION FOR PEOPLE LIVING WITH DEMENTIA GLOBALLY AND NATIONALLY: A TWO-PHASE STUDY(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2023-06-28) Emond, HeatherImportance: This research explores the topic of intergenerational inclusion for people living with dementia. Both in Scotland and internationally, intergenerational programmes have been implemented with the aim of fostering inclusive relationships between people of different age groups. A sub-set of intergenerational programmes, moreover, have focused on the inclusion and participation of people living with dementia in particular. Such programmes are perceived to be important due to the potential they have to combat trends of loneliness and social isolation that may affect people of all ages. Programmes are also perceived to have the potential to generate positive outcomes for both younger and older participants, such as increased knowledge and understanding of ageing and dementia among younger age groups and enhanced enjoyment and engagement among older participants. Research Gap & Questions: However, intergenerational practice has been recognised to unfold in the absence of an adequate conceptual framework (Vanderven, 2004). This research uses a comparative and evaluative methodology to analyse how the concept of intergenerational inclusion for people living with dementia has been understood and operationalised internationally and in Scotland. Using insights from this analysis of international and national practice, the research further explores how intergenerational practice and policy can be further developed. Methodology: The research uses a two-phase study design informed by realist evaluation (Pawson, 2013) and thematic analysis. The first phase of the study comprises a realist synthesis review method to explore the understanding and operationalisation of intergenerational inclusion for people living with dementia internationally. The second phase of the study comprises a qualitative, semi-structured interview method to explore the understanding and operationalisation of intergenerational inclusion for people living with dementia in Scotland. Interviewees involved in the study are Scottish stakeholders with expertise in the provision of dementia services and/or intergenerational practice. Results: Results have been thematically analysed according to the context-mechanism-outcome configuration of realist evaluation. Mechanisms identified at the international level include role provision; matching and preferences; and meaningful and structured activities. Mechanisms identified within the Scottish context include preparation and planning; purpose and roles; preferences, lived experience and personhood; and sharing and learning. Higher- level findings are presented regarding intergenerational inclusion for people living with dementia, policymaking, and partnership working in Scotland. Implications: The implications of this research include, firstly, presenting a definition of intergenerational dementia programmes along with reflections on current ambiguities and tension in regard to existing definitions. Secondly, synthesised findings regarding how intergenerational dementia programmes ‘work’ in terms of their contexts, mechanisms, and outcomes are presented, with explanatory factors including the provision of roles for participants, the use of individual preferences to inform programme design, the development of meaningful and structured activities, flexible planning, and processes of sharing and learning between different age groups. Finally, an exploration of how the understanding and operationalisation of intergenerational inclusion is linked to key theories and concepts is undertaken along with recommendations for future theoretical development, encompassing personhood, intergroup contact theory, relationship and activity theory, and generativity. Directions for further research are also presented.Item CAN I TELL YOU, MY STORY? UNDERSTANDING AND EXPLAINING THE ADVERSE EXPERIENCES OF UGANDAN CHILDREN WITHIN TRANSITION TO AN ORPHANAGE IN KAMPALA; A CRITICAL HERMENEUTIC INQUIRY(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2023) Bunyan, ElleItem I am pretty sure but not 100%: obtaining, interpreting and presenting eyewitness confidence statements(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2022) Pennekamp, PiaEyewitness identification confidence is typically studied using scales (generally numeric); in practice, eyewitnesses typically provide confidence in their own words. Verbal and numeric confidence similarly predict accuracy, but verbal confidence is difficult to interpret reliably (Mansour, 2020). To minimize miscommunication, eyewitnesses could provide scale ratings after verbal judgements or vice versa, but we do not know if the order in which such confidence statements are obtained affects the confidence-accuracy relationship. I tested the utility of requesting both verbal and numeric confidence and whether order effects exist. Participants (N = 198) viewed a mock-crime video with two perpetrators. After a delay, they viewed two simultaneous lineups with one perpetrator each and provided confidence for each perpetrator verbally (in their own words) and then numerically (0-100%) or numerically and then verbally. Numeric confidence in identifications was higher when provided first, t(393.82) = 2.40, p = .02, d = 0.24. Confidence-accuracy characteristic (CAC) curve analysis indicates the effect is driven by medium-confidence judgements (numeric range). No order effect was found for verbal confidence (p = .32). However, for low and high numeric confidence, verbal followed by numeric was better calibrated than numeric followed by verbal. When the numeric judgement came first, none of the subsequent verbal judgements could be categorized as high confidence using our coding scheme. These data provide preliminary evidence that eyewitnesses should provide only a single confidence judgement.Item Adjustment to a brain tumour diagnosis: A mixed methods investigation(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2021) Trejnowska, AnnaA primary brain tumour diagnosis is known to elicit higher distress compared to other forms of cancer, and is related to high depressive symptomatology. It poses unique challenges in the process of psychosocial adjustment, with social networks and roles often being disrupted. Despite emerging evidence regarding the importance of social support in maintaining well-being when living with a chronic condition, literature on adjustment to living with a brain tumour rarely focuses on social relationships. The current mixed methods project was therefore designed to address an overarching research question: How do people cope with a brain tumour diagnosis in the context of their social relationships? The aim of the first study was to examine the associations between insecure attachment dimensions and coping strategies, with a proposed mediating role of perceived availability of social support. In this cross-sectional study, participants diagnosed with primary brain tumours (N = 480) were recruited online. Multiple regression analyses revealed significant positive associations between both attachment anxiety and avoidance and helplessness/hopelessness. Attachment anxiety was found to be significantly related to anxious preoccupation, while attachment avoidance was associated with fighting spirit and fatalism. Mediation analyses indicated that perceived social support mediated the relationships between both attachment dimensions and helplessness/hopelessness and fatalism. The findings indicate that individuals higher on insecure attachment dimensions seem to respond with a more maladaptive coping repertoire when adjusting to a diagnosis. The second study sought to gain an in-depth understanding of the lived experience of being diagnosed with a brain tumour, with a focus on exploring participants’ understandings of the meaning of social support. Twelve individuals took part in semi-structured interviews, which were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis framework. Five inter-related themes were identified: (1) Making sense of the diagnosis, (2) Working it out in the family, (3) Giving and receiving support, (4) Feeling appreciative, and (5) Negotiating a new normal. The results emphasise that the diagnosis does not affect only the individual but a whole network of closest relationships, often with a price or negotiation that needs to take place within these relationships. Collectively, the results of the project highlight that coping is never an individual task. Both studies were integrated and interpreted jointly through narrative and joint display methods. Overall, the project portrays a complex interplay between family dynamics and individual coping and concludes by proposing that coping is deeply socially embedded. Implications of the findings are discussed. Keywords: Coping, adjustment, brain tumour, adult attachment, social support, mixed methods