Robert Tobias
Biographic Data
| ID | 222727 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Robert Tobias |
| GIVEN NAMES | Robert |
| FAMILY NAME | Tobias |
| SIGNATURE | TOBIAS R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Canterbury |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7972-122X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 36 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1957 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Daily associations of three types of social control with physical activity, reactance, and mood in romantic couples
OBJECTIVE: Romantic partners influence each other's moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) through social control (intentional influence). Non-autonomy-limiting strategies (persuasion) may yield favourable outcomes, whereas autonomy-limiting strategies (pressure) may provoke reactance and fail. Although strategies likely lie on a continuum of how autonomy-limiting they are, research typically treats them dichotomously. We introduce plan-re…
Investigating the Association Between Companionship and Behavior Concordance
Partners in romantic relationships influence each other's behaviors through various social exchange processes. One underexplored process that is assumed to be relevant for couples' behaviors is companionship. Companionship is defined as experiencing pleasurable social interactions or engaging in shared activities for the purpose of having an enjoyable time. This study investigated how companionship is associated with physical activity and behavio…
Health-related social control in overweight romantic couples
BACKGROUND: Physical activity is essential for health and wellbeing. However, many individuals fail to reach the recommended levels and obesity rates are increasing. Health-related social control refers to strategies employed by 1 person (agent) to influence another person's (target) health behavior. These strategies can be classified into persuasion (eg, encouraging or motivating) or pressure (eg, nagging or coercing). However, much of the exist…
Can Asymmetric Punishment Explain Norm Changes
We test a general theory of norm changes based on evidence that people will punish less hygienic others more strongly than more hygienic others. The theory concludes that such asymmetric punishment would result in hygiene norms becoming ever stricter. We argue that, because complaints about one’s behavior might lead to protest, norms might not always change because of such complaints. We conducted an online experiment ( N = 1,023 Swiss adults) us…
Opportunities and limits to market-driven sanitation services
The improvement of sanitation conditions in slums (1) is difficult in part because of economic and institutional environments that often prevent private or public investment in infrastructure. This analysis of sanitation conditions in informal settlements in Nairobi and Kampala compares user practices. It also identifies the main actors involved in the provision of overlapping sanitation systems, involving a multitude of small-scale providers, al…
Optimizing Campaigns for Changing Routine Behaviors by Using an Empirically Calibrated Microsimulation Model
We used the model of prospective memory and habit development to derive recommendations for designing behavior-change campaigns that used prompts or household visits as reminders. We followed an exemplary procedure comprising the calibration of the model, based on 48 time series gathered during a campaign promoting recycling habits and a systematic exploration of the solution space. For the parameter estimation, an algorithm was developed that wo…
A Methodology for Quantifying Effects and Psychological Functioning of Behavior-Change Techniques
We present a methodology to quantify the effects of behavior change techniques (BCTs) that allows forecasting campaign effects on behavior and psychological constructs. The approach involves the gathering of longitudinal data during actual campaigns in which different combinations and sequences of BCTs are applied to different groups. Approximate metric data are gathered by asking for simple and specific evaluations. The data are analyzed using r…
Predicting water consumption habits for seven arsenic-safe water options in Bangladesh
This general model for the habitual use of arsenic-safe water options may prove useful to predict other water consumption habits. Behavior-change interventions are derived from the model to promote the habitual use of arsenic-safe water options
White and Black Teachers’ Job Satisfaction
Data on the impact of student, teacher, and principal racial and gender composition in urban schools on teacher work outcomes are limited. This study, a secondary data analysis of White and Black urban public school teachers using data taken from the restricted use 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), examines the effects of relational demography on teacher job satisfaction adjusting for other known determinants of job satisfaction. Relati…
The challenge of understanding decisions in experimental studies of common pool resource governance
Will Departmental or Agency Reorganizations Meet the Need for Information Sharing Required by the Challenge of 9/11
Lifelong learning policies and discourses
This article examines New Zealand experiences and understandings of lifelong education and lifelong learning over the past 30 years or so. It investigates the place of lifelong education and lifelong learning discourses in shaping public policy in Aotearoa as well as questions about the similarities and differences between the discourse in New Zealand and in Europe and the UK. The aim of the paper is to throw light on the following questions: wha…
Continuing professional education and professionalization
Over the past two hundred years or so, there has been a remarkable growth in the professionalization of occupations. This article identifies a range of social theories that may be used as maps and compasses to gain a deeper understanding of the processes of professionalization and the roles of professional education and particularly continuing professional education (CPE) in these processes. Underlying the article is the notion that educators wor…
The boundaries of adult education for active citizenship fiinstitutional and community contexts
In common with many other countries, the 1980s and early 1990s in New Zealand were years of considerable upheaval. The welfare state along with many democratic institutions was under attack from the forces of multinational capital. This article reports some findings from a largescale study investigating the impact of these changes on the provision of education and training opportunities for adults as well as possible effects of some of these prog…
Die Organisation kollektiver Aktionen durch Beeinflussung der individuellen Teilnahmeentscheidung
Lifelong learning under a comprehensive national qualifications framework - rhetoric and reality
This article explores some of the critical questions arising out of the massive changes currently taking place in post-compulsory education and training in Aotearoa New Zealand. In particular it focuses on the establishment of the new qualifications framework within the specific economic and political context of the late 1980s and early 1990s. This new framework was designed to be more comprehensive in scope than anything comparable elsewhere in …
Who needs education or training? The learning experiences and perspectives of adults from working class backgrounds
Communist Christian Encounter in East Europe
White and Black Teachers’ Job Satisfaction
Data on the impact of student, teacher, and principal racial and gender composition in urban schools on teacher work outcomes are limited. This study, a secondary data analysis of White and Black urban public school teachers using data taken from the restricted use 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), examines the effects of relational demography on teacher job satisfaction adjusting for other known determinants of job satisfaction. Relati…
Opportunities and limits to market-driven sanitation services
The improvement of sanitation conditions in slums (1) is difficult in part because of economic and institutional environments that often prevent private or public investment in infrastructure. This analysis of sanitation conditions in informal settlements in Nairobi and Kampala compares user practices. It also identifies the main actors involved in the provision of overlapping sanitation systems, involving a multitude of small-scale providers, al…
Lifelong learning policies and discourses
This article examines New Zealand experiences and understandings of lifelong education and lifelong learning over the past 30 years or so. It investigates the place of lifelong education and lifelong learning discourses in shaping public policy in Aotearoa as well as questions about the similarities and differences between the discourse in New Zealand and in Europe and the UK. The aim of the paper is to throw light on the following questions: wha…
Lifelong learning under a comprehensive national qualifications framework - rhetoric and reality
This article explores some of the critical questions arising out of the massive changes currently taking place in post-compulsory education and training in Aotearoa New Zealand. In particular it focuses on the establishment of the new qualifications framework within the specific economic and political context of the late 1980s and early 1990s. This new framework was designed to be more comprehensive in scope than anything comparable elsewhere in …
The boundaries of adult education for active citizenship fiinstitutional and community contexts
In common with many other countries, the 1980s and early 1990s in New Zealand were years of considerable upheaval. The welfare state along with many democratic institutions was under attack from the forces of multinational capital. This article reports some findings from a largescale study investigating the impact of these changes on the provision of education and training opportunities for adults as well as possible effects of some of these prog…
Continuing professional education and professionalization
Over the past two hundred years or so, there has been a remarkable growth in the professionalization of occupations. This article identifies a range of social theories that may be used as maps and compasses to gain a deeper understanding of the processes of professionalization and the roles of professional education and particularly continuing professional education (CPE) in these processes. Underlying the article is the notion that educators wor…
Communist Christian Encounter in East Europe
Communist Christian Encounter in East Europe
Who needs education or training? The learning experiences and perspectives of adults from working class backgrounds
Lifelong learning under a comprehensive national qualifications framework - rhetoric and reality
This article explores some of the critical questions arising out of the massive changes currently taking place in post-compulsory education and training in Aotearoa New Zealand. In particular it focuses on the establishment of the new qualifications framework within the specific economic and political context of the late 1980s and early 1990s. This new framework was designed to be more comprehensive in scope than anything comparable elsewhere in …
The boundaries of adult education for active citizenship fiinstitutional and community contexts
In common with many other countries, the 1980s and early 1990s in New Zealand were years of considerable upheaval. The welfare state along with many democratic institutions was under attack from the forces of multinational capital. This article reports some findings from a largescale study investigating the impact of these changes on the provision of education and training opportunities for adults as well as possible effects of some of these prog…
Die Organisation kollektiver Aktionen durch Beeinflussung der individuellen Teilnahmeentscheidung
Continuing professional education and professionalization
Over the past two hundred years or so, there has been a remarkable growth in the professionalization of occupations. This article identifies a range of social theories that may be used as maps and compasses to gain a deeper understanding of the processes of professionalization and the roles of professional education and particularly continuing professional education (CPE) in these processes. Underlying the article is the notion that educators wor…
Lifelong learning policies and discourses
This article examines New Zealand experiences and understandings of lifelong education and lifelong learning over the past 30 years or so. It investigates the place of lifelong education and lifelong learning discourses in shaping public policy in Aotearoa as well as questions about the similarities and differences between the discourse in New Zealand and in Europe and the UK. The aim of the paper is to throw light on the following questions: wha…
Will Departmental or Agency Reorganizations Meet the Need for Information Sharing Required by the Challenge of 9/11
The challenge of understanding decisions in experimental studies of common pool resource governance
White and Black Teachers’ Job Satisfaction
Data on the impact of student, teacher, and principal racial and gender composition in urban schools on teacher work outcomes are limited. This study, a secondary data analysis of White and Black urban public school teachers using data taken from the restricted use 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), examines the effects of relational demography on teacher job satisfaction adjusting for other known determinants of job satisfaction. Relati…
A Methodology for Quantifying Effects and Psychological Functioning of Behavior-Change Techniques
We present a methodology to quantify the effects of behavior change techniques (BCTs) that allows forecasting campaign effects on behavior and psychological constructs. The approach involves the gathering of longitudinal data during actual campaigns in which different combinations and sequences of BCTs are applied to different groups. Approximate metric data are gathered by asking for simple and specific evaluations. The data are analyzed using r…
Predicting water consumption habits for seven arsenic-safe water options in Bangladesh
This general model for the habitual use of arsenic-safe water options may prove useful to predict other water consumption habits. Behavior-change interventions are derived from the model to promote the habitual use of arsenic-safe water options
Opportunities and limits to market-driven sanitation services
The improvement of sanitation conditions in slums (1) is difficult in part because of economic and institutional environments that often prevent private or public investment in infrastructure. This analysis of sanitation conditions in informal settlements in Nairobi and Kampala compares user practices. It also identifies the main actors involved in the provision of overlapping sanitation systems, involving a multitude of small-scale providers, al…
Optimizing Campaigns for Changing Routine Behaviors by Using an Empirically Calibrated Microsimulation Model
We used the model of prospective memory and habit development to derive recommendations for designing behavior-change campaigns that used prompts or household visits as reminders. We followed an exemplary procedure comprising the calibration of the model, based on 48 time series gathered during a campaign promoting recycling habits and a systematic exploration of the solution space. For the parameter estimation, an algorithm was developed that wo…
Can Asymmetric Punishment Explain Norm Changes
We test a general theory of norm changes based on evidence that people will punish less hygienic others more strongly than more hygienic others. The theory concludes that such asymmetric punishment would result in hygiene norms becoming ever stricter. We argue that, because complaints about one’s behavior might lead to protest, norms might not always change because of such complaints. We conducted an online experiment ( N = 1,023 Swiss adults) us…
Investigating the Association Between Companionship and Behavior Concordance
Partners in romantic relationships influence each other's behaviors through various social exchange processes. One underexplored process that is assumed to be relevant for couples' behaviors is companionship. Companionship is defined as experiencing pleasurable social interactions or engaging in shared activities for the purpose of having an enjoyable time. This study investigated how companionship is associated with physical activity and behavio…
Health-related social control in overweight romantic couples
BACKGROUND: Physical activity is essential for health and wellbeing. However, many individuals fail to reach the recommended levels and obesity rates are increasing. Health-related social control refers to strategies employed by 1 person (agent) to influence another person's (target) health behavior. These strategies can be classified into persuasion (eg, encouraging or motivating) or pressure (eg, nagging or coercing). However, much of the exist…
Daily associations of three types of social control with physical activity, reactance, and mood in romantic couples
OBJECTIVE: Romantic partners influence each other's moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) through social control (intentional influence). Non-autonomy-limiting strategies (persuasion) may yield favourable outcomes, whereas autonomy-limiting strategies (pressure) may provoke reactance and fail. Although strategies likely lie on a continuum of how autonomy-limiting they are, research typically treats them dichotomously. We introduce plan-re…
Political science (10 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Law (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Medicine (5 works) · Pedagogy (5 works) · Behavioral Health and Interventions (4 works) · Computer Science (4 works)