It’ll be grand, priming irish cultural understandings: a randomised pilot study examining self-efficacy, stress and anxiety
Authors
Meagher, Adam.
Issue Date
2022
Degree
BA Hons in Psychology
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
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Abstract
This pilot study looked to assess what impact both a prolonged cultural exposure and an acute exposure, in the form of a textual linguistic representation to It’ll be grand has on an individual’s levels of stress, anxiety and self-efficacy. Data was gathered through the use of an online survey containing a number of measures such as the DASS-21 (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) stress and anxiety subscales, Schwarzer & Jerusalem’s (1995) Generalized Self-Efficacy scale, a number of 7-point Likert scales and a randomised experimental controlled trial. In said trial participants were tasked with recreating a novel drawing within a fifteen-minute period, all while abiding by certain rules outlined in an instruction sheet. The task itself was impossible to complete. Instead, the number of written attempts made by participants during the fifteen-minute period was used as a measure of acute levels of self-efficacy. An analysis of the results demonstrated that neither an acute exposure nor a prolonged cultural exposure had any significant impact upon the levels of the aforementioned constructs. Regardless, this pilot study serves as a basis from which one can begin to investigate topics such as the possible impact of a prolonged exposure to, and the priming of, culturally prominent understandings on behaviour and the potential of the experimental measure used as a valid measure for acute levels of self-efficacy.