Tag: Poster 103

Working for the Future 

Presenter(s): Megan Ahern – Education Foundations

Faculty Mentor(s): Nané Kochoian, Jenefer Husman

Poster 103

Research Area: Educational Psychology

The focus of an individual’s goals has been shown to shift during one’s lifetime. Occupational Future Time Perspective (OFTP) is a domain-specific Future Time Perspective that refers to employee’s perceptions of their occupational future time horizon and the future perceived opportunities in their professional life. This research aimed to contribute to a better understanding of the importance and relevance of OFTP in the prediction of workers’ professional goals. We predicted that high scores of focus on opportunities and open-ended remaining time, as well as high scores of learning and performance goal orientations positively predict growth-related goals, whereas both high scores negatively predict generativity goals. The sample consisted of 545 French-speaking Belgian employees in administrative positions (63.9% female; ages= 25-65 years). Relations between occupational future time perspective, age, goal orientation approach, and goal content were explored. This was done by using an eight-item scale based on previous research on OFTP (Zacher 2013; Zacher & Frese, 2009) to measure focus on opportunities and perceived remaining time in their career. The findings suggest that individuals’ broader goal orientation affects the content of daily specific goals, as well as suggesting a positive link between leaning goal orientation and performance goal orientation. This research is significant because it introduces Future Time Perspective into the area of careers and occupations, and establishes the relationship between perceptions of occupational future time horizons and perceived opportunities of employees and how this relationship affects work-related outcomes.

The Manifestation of Escapism in the Outdoors

Presenter(s): Lilly French

Faculty Mentor(s): Avinnash Tiwari

Poster 103

Session: Social Sciences & Humanities

It is an easy claim to make that people are increasingly turning to the outdoors as a means of escape from their real world. “The outdoors” is a loaded term with definitions far expanding that of its physical space. Really, “the outdoors” has everything to do with the opposite of its physical space, urban life. This research essay explores the outdoors as it is used by people as a form of escape. This method of escapism is reflected through case studies that discuss the feminine language surrounding the outdoors and why it is harmful, examples of nature’s use to treat anxiety and stress, outdoor recreation as an industry in the United States, and the commodification of time’s creation of a need for escape. The culture that questions the authenticity of outdoor experiences is also discussed. When conducting my research, I consulted credible articles, academic journals, and a nonfiction novel as examples and references to previous studies demonstrating elements of my research question. As outdoor recreation becomes a more and more common way to practice escapism, I have found that pieces of the “real world,” the parts people are trying to escape, have begun to seep into the outdoor culture and community as well. Without a collective conscious of these hazards, our great escape may fall to the same pains and perils of our real world.