bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Political Manipulation in a Majoritarian Democracy: Central Government Targeting of Public Funds to English Subnational Government, in Space and across Time
Authors: John Peter , Ward Hugh
Published: March 2003

This article argues that it is rational for the executive to target resources in space and through time if it seeks to maximise its chances of electoral success. In majoritarian democracies such as the United Kingdom, there are particularly strong incentives to target resources to marginal legislative constituencies, although similar opportunies exist in other political systems. The benefits of such a practice could be growing, because the costs of forms of temporal targeting predicted by theories of the political business cycle have increased, owing to the effect of the global economy. In the United Kingdom one channel through which resources can be targeted is central grants to local authorities. This model is tested with pooled cross section data on the central finance of English local government between 1981/1982–1995/1996. The article confirms that central government spatially targeted marginals after 1988/1989 while it continued to allocate greater funds near national elections, conditional on its opinion poll ratings. Hypotheses from the literature on distributional politics are also tested, finding evidence for the temporal allocation of resources to win local elections.
Marginal Tax Rate Uncertainty and Wage Indexation
Authors: Ramagopal K.
Published: March 2003

Frequent changes in American tax laws over the last 30 years have led to uncertainty regarding the marginal tax rate on labour income. Using a multisector framework, this paper considers the implications of the tax rate uncertainty for wage flexibility. The Fiscal Authority sets the marginal wage tax rate, and is assumed to be the leader in a Stackelberg game. Wage setters in this game determine the degree of optimal indexation and are assumed to be followers. Increases in tax rate uncertainty lead to greater nominal wage flexibility, and a decrease in optimal progressivity. Additionally, indexation to nominal shocks is complete even if the product market is monopolistically competitive.
Job Changes, Occupational Mobility and Human Capital Acquisition: an Empirical Analysis
Authors: Dolton Peter J. , Kidd Michael P.
Published: March 2003

Most individuals have more than one job or occupation in their working lives. Most employees are repeatedly faced with the choice of whether to remain in their present job (with the possibility of promotion), or quit to another job in the same occupation with a different firm, or – more radically – change occupation. At each stage in an individual's career, the scope for future job or occupational mobility is largely conditioned by the type and quantity of their human capital. This paper presents an empirical study of the factors which link occupational mobility and the acquisition of either firm‐based, occupation‐specific or general human capital. The data employed are from a cohort of 1980 UK graduates drawn from the Department of Employment Survey 1987. The econometric work presents estimates of the role of firm‐based training and occupation‐specific training in the career mobility of qualified manpower in the first seven years in the labour market.
Regulating Insider Trading In Betting Markets
Authors: Paton David , Williams Leighton Vaughan , Fraser Stuart
Published: March 2003

Although trading in securities in conventional financial markets on the basis of inside information is restricted by law, the rules against such trading in betting markets are rather more ambiguous. It is argued in this paper that, since insider trading in betting markets imposes a cost on the great majority of bettors, tighter strictures against such trading would benefit all but the insiders. This case is supported by the use of empirical evidence which shows that betting markets which are characterized by tighter controls against insider activity are also characterized by a significantly lower incidence of such activity.
The Beta as a Model for the Distribution of Earnings
Authors: Parker Simon C.
Published: March 2003

Existing functional forms commonly used to represent the earnings distribution have weak micro‐foundations and relatively poor empirical goodness‐of‐fit. This paper presents an optimizing model of firm behaviour, which predicts the earnings distribution to follow the beta distribution of the second kind, a distribution known to provide a superior fit to empirical data.
Strategic Choice of Quantity Stickiness and Stackelberg Leadership
Authors: Hirokawa Midori , Sasaki Dan
Published: March 2003

This paper re‐examines endogenous Stackelberg leader–follower relations by modelling an explicitly dynamic market. We analyze a twice‐repeated duopoly where, in the beginning, each firm chooses either a quantity‐sticky production mode or a quantity‐flexible production mode. The size of the market becomes observable after the first period. In the second period, a firm can adjust its quantity if and only if it has adopted the flexible mode. Hence, if one firm chooses the sticky mode whilst the other chooses the flexible mode, then they respectively play the roles of a Stackelberg leader and a Stackelberg follower in the second marketing period. Somewhat intriguing is the finding that such a Stackelberg‐like equilibrium can arise only when the relative weight of the pre‐Stackelberg first marketing period is sufficiently high, with time preferences being sufficiently strong.
The Relevance of Bargaining for the Licensing of a Cost‐reducing Innovation*
Authors: Sempere Monerris José J. , Vannetelbosch Vincent J.
Published: March 2003

In the context of a Cournot duopoly, this paper studies the licensing of a cost‐reducing innovation by means of three possible allocation mechanisms: auction, fixed fee, and direct negotiation. Once the use of an arbitrary reserve price (which is not credible) has been excluded, it is no longer true that auction always yields higher profit to the patentee than a fixed fee. However, the authors propose a direct negotiation mechanism which restores the patentee’s profit to the level of an auction with an arbitrary reserve price (which is unimplementable). Direct negotiation is superior to both an auction with a nonarbitrary reserve price and a fixed fee. From the social point of view, however, licensing with a fixed fee is the best option.
An Asymmetric Information Model of Lockouts
Authors: Fisher Timothy C. G.
Published: March 2003

This note proposes an asymmetric information model of collective bargaining where the firm has the bargaining power and the union the private information. Results show that the firm may use lockouts to induce the union to reveal its private information.
On the Causality Between Exchange Rates and Stock Prices: A Note
Authors: Hatemi–J Abdulnasser , Irandoust Manuchehr
Published: March 2003

This study uses a new Granger non–causality testing procedure developed by Toda and Yamamoto (1995) to contribute to the debate on exchange rates and stock prices in Sweden. It examines a possible causal relation between these variables in a vector autoregression (VAR) model. The results show that Granger causality is unidirectional running from stock prices to effective exchange rates. The results also reveal that an increase in Swedish stock prices is associated with an appreciation of the Swedish krona. Special attention is given to the estimation methodology and the lag choosing process.
Why is There a Graduate Earnings Premium for Students From Independent Schools?
Authors: Naylor Robin , Smith Jeremy , McKnight Abigail
Published: March 2003

We examine the determinants of occupational earnings of UK 1993 graduates and focus on the influence of the type of school the graduate attended prior to university entrance. For data reasons, we restrict attention to graduates who attended school in England. We estimate that, on average, a male (female) graduate who attended an Independent school receives an earnings premium of 3.1 per cent (3.4 per cent) over and above the earnings of a graduate who attended an LEA school, ceteris paribus. We also find considerable variation across different Independent schools in the size of the graduate earnings premium, especially for males, and show that in the case of males the premium increases with the level of school fees, but is not statistically related to measures of school–level average academic performance.
Ethical Issues of Teleworking
Authors: Moon Chris , Stanworth Celia
Published: March 2003

“Why does the major emphasis appear to be on using telework as a cost‐cutting mechanism, rather than as an approach which treats people as valued long‐term assets?” This important study exploring the ethical ambiguities and challenges of teleworking was first presented at an Imperial College Management School Conference on Ethical Issues in Contemporary Human Resource Management in April last year, sponsored jointly by EBEN‐UK, the British Chapter of the European Business Ethics Network, and BUIRA, the British Universities Industrial Relations Association. Chris Moon is Senior Lecturer in Occupational Psychology and Human Resource Management at Anglia Business School, Anglia Polytechnic University, Danbury Park Conference Centre, Danbury, Chelmsford CM3 4AT, as well as teaching the MBA Business Ethics programmes at Imperial College Management School, University of London. Celia Stanworth is Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management at the Business School, University of Greenwich, Riverside House, Woolwich, London SE18 6BU, and has published widely in the area of teleworking.
UK Sports Sponsorship: Fair Play or Foul?
Authors: Carrigan Marylyn , Carrigan John
Published: March 2003

Sport sponsorship is a growth area which is under‐researched yet which displays opportunities and threats for both sponsor and sport, as well as having important ethical implications. If sponsorship funding is to be attracted, sports need to supply evidence of the opportunities for sponsors; yet “sport also needs to ensure that the negative aspects of sponsorship are reduced and the positive encouraged.” Marylyn Carrigan has a background in banking and export marketing and is currently Lecturer in Marketing and International Marketing at the Business School, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, England, where she also researches the areas of Corporate Philanthropy and Sport and Leisure Marketing. Her husband worked in industry before graduating in Sports Studies and Business, and currently works as a Youth Worker for the City of Birmingham Department of Leisure and Community Services with research interests in Sport and the 50+ leisure market.
Technology and Business Ethics Theory
Authors: Davies Peter W.F.
Published: March 2003

The various theories about business ethics need to take much more notice of technology, realising that technology has its own increasing momentum which is driving business, and that, whereas business people think they control technology as a simple neutral means to their ends, in fact the reverse is true: business is the servant of technological development. Jacques Ellul, however, offers some hope for the future to help us ‘reappropriate our humanity’. Dr Davies is a senior lecturer in Strategic Management and Business Ethics at the Buckingham Business School, Buckinghamshire College [a College of Brunel University], Newland Park Campus, Gorelands Lane, Chalfton‐St‐Giles, Buckinghamshire HP8 4PB (Tel 01494‐874441, ext. 2240; fax 01494‐874230; Email pdavie01@buckscol.ac.uk). His background is in mining and production engineering and he would like to hear from others interested in the new field of engineering ethics.
Intellectual Property Rights and Computer Software
Authors: Weckert John
Published: March 2003

‘It is much more difficult than is often admitted to make a strong case for the ownership of computer software.’ This closely argued study of the strengths and weaknesses of the case for intellectual property rights and against software piracy is based on material contained in the author’s joint work with Douglas Adeney, Computer and Information Ethics, Greenwood Press, an imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, INC., Westport, CT, forthcoming May, 1997. The author is a member of the School of Information Studies at Charles Sturt University, PO Box 588, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650 Australia; tel 61 69 33 2372; fax 61 69 33 2733; email jweckert@csu.edu.au

He wishes to acknowledge the contribution to this paper of Douglas Adeney of the University of Melbourne.
The Ethics Report: a Means of Sharing Responsibility
Authors: Kaptein Muel , Wempe Johan
Published: March 2003

“An ethics report is a snapshot of a process taking place at various levels within a company and between its stakeholders.” Ethics reports can serve a number of purposes, and for large multinational companies they can provide an important tool for stakeholder management, as is illustrated in the case of Shell. Muel Kaptein and Johan Wempe both work for KPMG Ethics & Integrity Consulting and lecture in business ethics at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Both are involved in the verification of the Shell Report.
Company Legitimacy in the New Millennium
Authors: Warren Richard
Published: March 2003

The relationship between business and society changes over time, and periodically there is a ‘legitimization crisis’. The paper will briefly explore some important questions about company legitimacy: why is company legitimacy important; why do legitimacy crises occur; and finally, are we in a crisis at the moment, and if so how can it be solved? The legal institutionalization of business firms prescribes narrow accountabilities and limited responsibilities: the challenge for business in the new millennium is to open these up and to broaden our understanding of the social significance of business activity without destroying its wealth creating processes. This will require a rethinking of the relationship to the shareholder and a new definition of the relationship with stakeholders.
The ethics of creative accounting some Spanish evidence
Authors: Blake John , Bond Robert , Amat Oriol , Oliveras Ester
Published: March 2003

Creative accounting involves accountants in making accounting policy choices or manipulating transactions in such a way as to convey a preferred and deliberately chosen impression in the accounts. Although it is regarded as unethical by most observers, a defense of creative accounting can be based on the assumption that users of accounts can identify bias in accounting policy choices and make appropriate adjustments. In this paper we take the example of the Barcelona Football Club where the club management made three key accounting policy choices that resulted in the presentation of a favourable position, and a supporters club presented an alternative report choosing three alternative accounting policies that presented an unfavourable position. We presented each of these financial reports to one of two groups of Spanish bank loan officers: we found that the more favourable set of accounts was significantly more likely to attract a positive response to a loan request. This result undermines the validity of defending creative accounting based on the argument that accounts users can identify manipulation.
Making profits and sweet music
Authors: Pearson Gordon
Published: March 2003

This paper seeks to provide a practical theoretical setting for ethics in business. The perspective is that of the strategic practitioner rather than the moral philosopher. It seeks to take account of the currently dominant business influences of rapid technological development and globalisation and the resultant new form of stakeholder organisation.

From this perspective it is clear that being perceived as trustworthy is seen as vital to long term business success. There are various corporate actions that are taken to ensure that organisations are perceived in this way and this paper reports those which were identified during interviews with executives in leading UK companies.

The research found little support for corporate philanthropy involving firms investing in ‘good works’ unrelated to their business activities. The main focus was on setting standards of behaviour and achieving a high degree of openness and transparency between stakeholders made subject to independent audit and report. These practical initiatives do not rest on any knowledge and understanding of moral philosophy.
Fraud and the African Renaissance
Authors: Gichure Christine
Published: March 2003

Forensic studies have identified fraud as a major factor that hampers Africa’s economic development. This paper first establishes a link between fraud and the ideal of the African Renaissance. It then gives an overview of the extent of fraud in Africa by discussing the findings of a recent forensic survey on fraud in Africa. Against this backdrop it is then argued that what is needed to turn the tide of fraud in Africa is a transvaluation of loyalties to include and cover interests of the modern nation‐state rather than just those of the clan, tribe and race. The paper finally calls for African nations to rise up to new challenges in governance by upholding ethical values and by their determination to detect and prevent all forms of fraud as the only viable way towards the realisation of the ideal of an African Renaissance.
The European Commission’s business ethics: a critique of proposed reforms
Authors: Dercks Lisa
Published: March 2003

This paper discusses the reform of the European Commission in the wake of the mass resignations of March 1999. It places reform in the framework of the global business ethics movement by making the case for business ethics in government. It examines the Committee of Independent Experts’ report as well as the Commission’s White Paper on reform. It argues that effective Commission reform is not possible without fundamental culture change, and puts forward thirteen recommendations that, if implemented, are calculated to improve ethics in the Commission’s culture, thereby reducing the incidence of questionable conduct. It concludes by maintaining that effective reform is possible, albeit difficult.
Intellectual Capital and the New Wealth of Nations
Authors: Bradley Keith
Published: March 2003

If asked, few managers today would deny the importance of intellectual capital to successful performance. But organisational practice – for example performance measurement and accounting techniques – have not yet been adjusted to recognise the changing origins of wealth creation. The author of this article argues that firms and countries which lag on this issue do so at their peril. He identifies and examines some examples of best practice and indicates how they could be generalised.
Explaining Success: the Rule of Ten Percent and the Example of Market Share
Authors: Wensley Robin
Published: March 2003

This article has four aims. First, the author argues that, for good reasons, it has been impossible to find any single variable that accounts for more than 10% of the variation in business performance: he calls this the rule of 10%. Second he shows how a 10% effect can be presented graphically to seem much more significant. Third, given problems of measurement and definition, even the 10% which is explained may prove to be of limited value, which is illustrated with the well‐established link between market share and return on investment. Fourth, even where variables can be identified and their contribution quantified, he questions the extent to which this can be done in a form useful to managers. The overall conclusion is that determinants of business success are so complex that managers should reject any “one big explanation” however convincing the presentation.
Global Brands: Taking Stock
Authors: Quelch John
Published: March 2003

Global brands have never quite delivered on their promise. This article focuses on why this may now be about to change. The author first addresses three basic issues: why global brands matter more now than in the past; what distinguishes them from national brands; and the main building blocks for a global brand. He then moves on to some of the key problems which face managers of international brands today: the new Euro‐zone, instability in emerging markets, the problem of diversion, and management of global relationships with advertising agents and market researchers. He concludes with a discussion of the issues involved in deciding whether brands should be taken global.
Aligning Organizational Structure to the Market
Authors: Day George
Published: March 2003

As part of the overall configuration of the firm, structure plays a powerful role in creating a market‐driven organization. The wrong structure can doom all other market‐driven initiatives in the organization to failure. This article analyses the trade‐offs between different organizational structures and highlights the ways in which many firms are adopting hybrid structures based around horizontal business processes backed up with deep functional strengths. In today’s context, this hybrid form involves fast decentralized decision‐making using widely dispersed and shared information. The article also describes some of the ways in which information technology can enable firms to achieve greater market effectiveness without losing economic efficiency. The implications of the analysis for the role of the marketing function are considered in an Appendix.
Manufacturing Strategies for Southeast Asia after the Crisis: European, US and Japanese Firms
Authors: Legewie Jochen
Published: March 2003

This article describes short‐term reactions to the Asian crisis by European, US and Japanese MNCs and examines their long‐term regional production strategies for Southeast Asia. In the process, it highlights similarities in the firms’ responses but also distinguishes differences in the long‐term regional reorganization of production activities of Western and Japanese firms. The article argues that there is currently a window of opportunity for Western MNCs to expand their Southeast Asian operations. Japanese firms face several obstacles to the implementation of a comprehensive regional production strategy as a result of their highly centralized way of managing international operations and their comparatively early production engagement in Southeast Asia whichequips most US and European MNCs with a latecomer advantage.
Developing an eService Strategy
Authors: Voss Chris
Published: March 2003

“How do I justify investment in eCommerce to a group of senior managers that get their secretaries to print their emails?” was how one manager interviewed for this study summarised his eCommerce problem. This article is about how firms can develop a systematic strategy for delivering service on the web – eService. It starts with the result of a survey of responsiveness to customers in web‐based service delivery, part of a study which also includes case studies of companies seeking to justify such investments. It then focuses on understanding the challenge of eService, developing a strategy and making the case for investment. It concludes with suggestions for implementation, including metrics for assessing eService quality.
Merging Professional Service Firms
Authors: Empson Laura
Published: March 2003

Accountants, lawyers, consultants and advertising agents have all been merging as their clients demand global and diversified services from their professional advisors. This article reports on a three‐year study of three such mergers. Notwithstanding the widespread belief that business now moves @ the speed of thought, the author concludes that, in most cases, managers should allow the process of integration to evolve gradually. However, this does not mean doing nothing: she identifies eight ways in which managers can facilitate the process.
Strategic Options in the Digital Era
Authors: Kulatilaka Nalin , Venkatraman N.
Published: March 2003

The collapse of the dot‐com euphoria coupled with the downturn in the business cycle is driving many firms to abandon their high‐growth strategies in favor of current earnings. This article argues that, whilst hedging against adverse future conditions, firms must retain an ability to seize up‐side business benefits by framing IT investments as strategic options. The authors use three illustrative examples to develop a strategic management process that they term the “Strategic Options Navigator”. They conclude by drawing implications for CEOs, CIOs and CFOs.
From Wood Panels to Mobile Phones: Strategic Diversification at Sonae Group
Authors: Anderson Jamie , Goffee Rob
Published: March 2003

This article tells the story of growth and diversification at Sonae, now Portugal’s largest company. Publicly quoted but still majority‐controlled by its long‐standing Chairman and CEO, Belmiro de Azevedo, it was founded in 1959 in the wood products business. It expanded from the 1980s to become the largest retail group in Portugal and has recently taken on the two incumbents in Portugal’s mobile telephony market. It won the third license auction in 1997 and achieved a 22% market share within three years. As the biggest part of Sonae’s technology investments, the move into mobile telephony played a big part in launching the Sonae share price on a roller‐coaster path that has only recently steadied. The Sonae story illustrates the potential importance of long‐term charismatic leadership and strategic vision by one person. It also provides insights into the factors that can help diversification to work.
Planting False Childhood Memories in Children: The Role of Event Plausibility
Authors: Pezdek Kathy , Hodge Danelle
Published: March 2003

This experiment tested and supported the hypothesis that events will be suggestively planted in children's memory to the degree that the suggested event is plausible and script‐relevant knowledge exists in memory. Nineteen 5‐ to 7‐year‐old children and 20 9‐ to 12‐year‐old children were read descriptions of two true events and two false events, reported to have occurred when they were 4 years old. One false event described the child lost in a mall while shopping (the plausible false event); the other false event described the child receiving a rectal enema (the implausible false event). The majority of the 39 children (54%) did not remember either false event. However, whereas 14 children recalled the plausible but not the implausible false event, only one child recalled the implausible but not the plausible false event; this difference was statistically significant. Three additional children (all in the younger age group) recalled both false events. Although this pattern of results was consistent for both age groups, the differences were significant for the younger children only. A framework is outlined specifying the cognitive processes underlying suggestively planting false events in memory.
Trajectories of Boys' Physical Aggression, Opposition, and Hyperactivity on the Path to Physically Violent and Nonviolent Juvenile Delinquency
Authors: Nagin Daniel , Tremblay Richard E.
Published: March 2003

A semi‐parametric mixture model was used with a sample of 1,037 boys assessed repeatedly from 6 to 15 years of age to approximate a continuous distribution of developmental trajectories for three externalizing behaviors. Regression models were then used to determine which trajectories best predicted physically violent and nonviolent juvenile delinquency up to 17 years of age. Four developmental trajectories were identified for the physical aggression, opposition, and hyperactivity externalizing behavior dimensions: a chronic problem trajectory, a high level near‐desister trajectory, a moderate level desister trajectory, and a no problem trajectory. Boys who followed a given trajectory for one type of externalizing problem behavior did not necessarily follow the same trajectory for the two other types of behavior problem. The different developmental trajectories of problem behavior also led to different types of juvenile delinquency. A chronic oppositional trajectory, with the physical aggression and hyperactivity trajectories being held constant, led to covert delinquency (theft) only, while a chronic physical aggression trajectory, with the oppositional and hyperactivity trajectories being held constant, led to overt delinquency (physical violence) and to the most serious delinquent acts.
Infants' Perception of Dynamic Affective Expressions: Do Infants Distinguish Specific Expressions?
Authors: Soken Nelson H. , Pick Anne D.
Published: March 2003

Seven‐month‐old infants' perception of positive (happy, interested) and negative (angry, sad) affective expressions was investigated using a preferential looking procedure (n = 20 in each of 6 conditions). The infants saw two videotaped facial expressions and heard a single vocal expression concordant with one of the facial expressions. The voice on the soundtrack was played 5 s out of synchrony with the ongoing affective visual display. Infants participated in one of six conditions (all possible pairs of the four expressive events). Infants' visual fixations to the affectively concordant and affectively discordant displays were recorded. Infants looked longer at the affectively concordant displays than at the affectively discordant displays in all conditions except the happy/sad and interested/sad conditions. For these two comparisons, facial discrimination was demonstrated by the infants' preferential looking at happy and interested expressions compared to the sad expression. Thus, 7‐month‐old infants discriminate among happy, interested, angry, and sad expressions, demonstrating differentiation among specific, dynamic expressions. The results are discussed in terms of the information specifying facial and vocal affect and the possible role of familiarity in learning to differentiate among affective expressions during infancy.
The Role of Context in the Development of Psychopathology: A Conceptual Framework and Some Speculative Propositions
Authors: Steinberg Laurence , Avenevoli Shelli
Published: March 2003

Despite the explosion of studies assessing relations between various contextual factors and various forms of psychological disturbance, about the only firm conclusion one can draw regarding the environment's role in the development of psychopathology is that “bad” things have “bad” effects among some — but not all — people, some — but not all — of the time. We argue that extant research has confused two different roles of context and suggest that (1) environmental factors act as nonspecific stressors in the elicitation of psychopathology by provoking autonomic arousal, with specificity of expressed psychopathology governed by individual differences in endogenous factors; and that (2) context is specific in affecting the course of psychopathology by influencing the extent to which the behavioral, affective, or cognitive components of the pathology are repeated.
Beyond Words: The Importance of Gesture to Researchers and Learners
Authors: Goldin‐Meadow Susan
Published: March 2003

Gesture has privileged access to information that children know but do not say. As such, it can serve as an additional window to the mind of the developing child, one that researchers are only beginning to acknowledge. Gesture might, however, do more than merely reflect understanding — it may be involved in the process of cognitive change itself. This question will guide research on gesture as we enter the new millennium. Gesture might contribute to change through two mechanisms which are not mutually exclusive: (1) indirectly, by communicating unspoken aspects of the learner's cognitive state to potential agents of change (parents, teachers, siblings, friends); and (2) directly, by offering the learner a simpler way to express and explore ideas that may be difficult to think through in a verbal format, thus easing the learner's cognitive burden. As a result, the next decade may well offer evidence of gesture's dual potential as an illuminating tool for researchers and as a facilitator of cognitive growth for learners themselves.
Mother – Child Mutually Responsive Orientation and Conscience Development: From Toddler to Early School Age
Authors: Kochanska Grazyna , Murray Kathleen T.
Published: March 2003

We examined whether positive implications of mother – child mutually responsive orientation, demonstrated earlier at toddler and preschool age, extend longitudinally into early school age. The focus of the present study was on the long‐term consequences of mutually responsive orientation for the development of conscience. Mutually responsive orientation encompassed shared cooperation and shared positive affect between mother and child. It was measured as a composite of those qualities observed in dyadic naturalistic interactions and reported by mothers, at toddler and preschool age. Children's conscience was assessed at early school age (N = 83) using multiple measures, including observations of moral behavior, alone and in the peer context, and moral cognition. Mother – child mutually responsive orientation at toddler and preschool ages predicted children's future conscience, even after controlling for the developmental continuity of conscience. Model‐fitting analyses revealed that mutually responsive orientation at toddler age had a direct effect on future conscience, not mediated by such orientation at preschool age. The findings extend those of earlier work that revealed the importance of mother – child mutually responsive orientation for socialization, and they confirm the value of the relationship approach to social development, including long‐term outcomes.
Gender Effects in Children's Beliefs about School Performance: A Cross‐Cultural Study
Authors: Stetsenko Anna , Little Todd D. , Gordeeva Tamara , Grasshof Matthias , Oettingen Gabriele
Published: March 2003

Do young boys and girls understand what leads to academic success (e.g., talent, effort, good teaching, luck) in the same way? Do young girls and boys have equivalent perceptions of their academic competence? Are these beliefs gendered in the same way across sociocultural contexts? In a cross‐cultural study of over 3,000 children in grades 2 to 6, ages 7.2 to 13.6, we discovered that boys and girls around the world have very similar ideas about what generally leads to academic success. Moreover, in the few contexts where boys' and girls' academic performances were equal, their beliefs were also equal. However, when girls outperformed boys, their beliefs in their own talent were no greater than boys' beliefs, even though they did have stronger beliefs than boys in other facets of their achievement potential (e.g., putting forth effort, being lucky, getting their teacher's help). Our findings support the generally close correspondance between children's achievement and their competence‐related beliefs, with the exception that young girls appear to specifically discount their talent. The effects held regardless of the children's achievement, intelligence, or age (approximately 8 to 13 years). Girls were more biased in some contexts than in others, however, suggesting that competence‐related biases are rooted in culture‐specific aspects of school settings.
Cultural Values and Intergenerational Value Discrepancies in Immigrant and Non‐Immigrant Families
Authors: Phinney Jean S. , Ong Anthony , Madden Tanya
Published: March 2003

The goal of this research was to explore the generality of developmental processes related to intergenerational value discrepancies across 701 families from immigrant and non‐immigrant groups. In a study involving 471 immigrant families (197 Armenian, 103 Vietnamese, and 171 Mexican) and 230 non‐immigrant families (95 African American and 135 European American), adolescents and parents reported their endorsement of values pertaining to family obligations. We examined similarities and differences at three levels of analysis, from the general to the group‐specific. Results provide evidence for general developmental processes (family obligations were endorsed more by parents than by adolescents in all groups), processes associated with immigration (the intergenerational value discrepancy generally increased with time in the United States), and processes that are unique to each ethnic group.
The Nature and Correlates of Underachievement among Elementary Schoolchildren in Hong Kong
Authors: McCall Robert B. , Beach Scott R. , Lau Sing
Published: March 2003

This study investigated for the first time several characteristics of underachievement in a large sample of Hong Kong elementary schoolchildren. More males were identified as underachievers than females, but the ratio was substantially less than the two‐to‐one rate typically found in the American literature. The stability and persistence of underachievement increased during the elementary school years, and the stability of underachievement tended to be higher in subject matter that was relatively more difficult, which varied wth gender. Underachievement became more specific to particular academic subjects rather than more general across the elementary grades. Parents and teachers, but not the children themselves, perceived that underachievers were more capable than same‐grade nonunderachievers (who score lower on ability tests), although this awareness is more likely directed at male than female underachievers, which has been observed in other samples. In grades 1–4, teachers provided extra mentoring, communications, and support to underachievers. Thereafter, underachievers became more disruptive, impatient, and aggressive in school and perhaps at home. At that point, teachers became less supportive, offered less extra mentoring, and applied greater behavioral control over underachievers. Underachieving children also perceived that their parents became less supportive and used more discipline in grades 5–6 relative to grades 3–4. These correlates of underachievement suggests the existence of a syndrome of underachievement that separates underachievers from children who have the same grades but lower mental ability.
Taking Decisions Seriously: Young Children's Understanding of Conventional Truth
Authors: Kalish Charles , Weissman Michelle , Bernstein Debra
Published: March 2003

Research suggests that young children may see a direct and one‐way connection between facts about the world and epistemic mental states (e.g., belief). Conventions represent instances of active constructions of the mind that change facts about the world. As such, a mature understanding of convention would seem to present a strong challenge to children's simplified notions of epistemic relations. Three experiments assessed young children's abilities to track behavioral, representational, and truth aspects of conventions. In Experiment 1, 3‐ and 4‐year‐old children (N= 30) recognized that conventional stipulations would change people's behaviors. However, participants generally failed to understand how stipulations might affect representations. In Experiment 2, 3‐, 5‐, and 7‐year‐old children (N= 53) were asked to reason about the truth values of statements about pretenses and conventions. The two younger groups of children often confused the two types of states, whereas older children consistently judged that conventions, but not pretenses, changed reality. In Experiment 3, the same 3‐ and 5‐year‐olds (N= 42) participated in tasks assessing their understanding of representational diversity (e.g., false belief). In general, children's performance on false‐belief and ‘false‐convention’ tasks did not differ, which suggests that conventions were understood as involving truth claims (as akin to beliefs about physical reality). Children's difficulties with the idea of conventional truth seems consistent with current accounts of developing theories of mind.
Sibling Differentiation in Adolescence: Implications for Behavioral Genetic Theory
Authors: Feinberg Mark E. , Hetherington E. Mavis
Published: March 2003

The presence of sibling “differentiating rocesses”— defined as processes in which increased sibling similarity in environmental or genetic factors leads to differences in sibling outcomes — poses a challenge for standard behavioral genetic theory and research. The presence of differentiation processes may affect estimates of genetic and environmental parameters in ways that have not been fully recognized. Utilizing data from the Nonshared Environment and Adolescent Development project, this study examined whether differentiating processes existed for seven composite indices of positive and negative adolescent adjustment. The 720 sibling pairs in the study were broken down into groups by age difference (0 – 4 years) between siblings. The hypothesis that siblings close in age would demonstrate lower correlations on adjustment measures was generally supported at two time points, three years apart. However, siblings one year apart at Time 1 were more similar to each other than were siblings two years apart, suggesting that shared environmental influences counteract sibling differentiation processes for these siblings. The overall trend supporting sibling differentiation was found to be unrelated to measures of sibling positivity and negativity.
Processing of Rapid Auditory Stimuli in School‐Age Children Referred for Evaluation of Learning Disorders
Authors: Waber Deborah P. , Weiler Michael D. , Wolff Peter H. , Bellinger David , Marcus David J. , Ariel Raya , Forbes Peter , Wypij David
Published: March 2003

Tallal hypothesized that reading disabled children have a domain‐general deficit in processing rapidly occurring auditory stimuli that degrades speech perception, thereby limiting phonologic awareness and thus reading acquisition. She predicted they would be disproportionately affected by rapidly presented auditory stimuli. In this study, one hundred 7‐ to 11‐year‐old children with learning impairment (LI) and 243 non‐learning impaired (NLI) children were evaluated on a two‐tone auditory discrimination paradigm. LI committed more errors, but effects of timing were comparable. The same result was obtained for a subsample of good and poor readers. Task performance predicted reading, spelling, and calculation. Neural processes underlying perception of speech and other auditory stimuli may be less effective in poor readers; however, contrary to Tallal's hypothesis, rate may not be specifically affected.
Conceptions of Ability as Stable and Self‐Evaluative Processes: A Longitudinal Examination
Authors: Pomerantz Eva M. , Saxon Jill L.
Published: March 2003

It has generally been taken for granted that conceiving of ability as stable leads to negative self‐evaluative processes, particularly in the face of failure. Yet, a close examination of the empirical findings suggests that the picture may be more complex. In this research, a three‐wave longitudinal design spanning 12 months was employed. Older elementary school children (N = 932) indicated their conceptions of academic and social ability as stable to external forces and to internal forces. They also provided information about the importance they place on academic and social competence, their knowledge about academic and social performance, their preference for academic challenge, their perceptions of academic and social competence, and their attributions for academic and social performance. Children's grades in school and their acceptance by peers were obtained as indicators of performance. Over time, conceiving of ability as stable to external forces, particularly in the academic domain, appeared to heighten the importance placed on competence, performance knowledge, preference for challenge, perceptions of competence, and self‐enhancing attributions. In contrast, conceptions of ability as stable to internal forces, particularly in the academic domain, appeared to be fostered by placing little importance on competence, a lack of performance knowledge, avoidance of challenge, negative perceptions of competence, self‐deprecating attributions, and poor performance.
Sisters, Brothers, and Delinquency: Evaluating Social Influence during Early and Middle Adolescence
Authors: Slomkowski Cheryl , Rende Richard , Conger Katherine J. , Simons Ronald L. , Conger Rand D.
Published: March 2003

Although a number of studies have shown that brothers are highly correlated for delinquent behavior, much less research has been conducted on sisters. We propose that sisters, like brothers, show notable similarity for delinquent behavior, and also promote each other's delinquency through direct interaction. We examined these issues in 164 brother and sister pairs studied over a 4‐year period (from early to middle adolescence) in a study of intact families in the rural Midwest. Sibling similarity for self‐reports of delinquent behavior were highly correlated for both brothers and sisters. Conditional effects of high levels of hostile – coercive sibling relationships and older sibling delinquency predicted younger sibling delinquency in both brother and sister pairs. For brothers, conditional effects were also detected for high levels of warmth – support, in contrast to sisters. The conditional effects of older sibling delinquency and relationship quality were shown to predict change in younger sibling delinquency through adolescence. The results add to a growing literature on sibling effects as well as theoretical models that emphasize the role of social interaction between siblings as a risk factor for the development of delinquent activity in adolescence.
Learning from Other People's Mistakes: Causal Understanding in Learning to Use a Tool
Authors: Want Stephen C. , Harris Paul L.
Published: March 2003

Despite considerable debate about whether nonhuman primates learn to use tools via imitation, this type of learning by children has received surprisingly little attention. The findings of two studies that go some way toward filling this gap are reported here. Study 1 showed that when 2‐ and 3‐year‐old children (N= 68) were shown a correct solution to a tool‐using task (which they could not solve spontaneously), all the children in both age groups managed at least a partial solution. When children were shown an incorrect solution followed by a correct solution, 2‐year‐olds again produced only a partial solution. By contrast, most 3‐year‐olds produced a full solution. Study 2 replicated this age change in a separate sample of children (N= 100) with a different tool‐using task. Study 2 also showed that 3‐year‐olds benefit from observing an incorrect action when it can be contrasted with a correct action: they chose the more effective of the two actions. Taken together, the two studies indicate that by 3 years of age, children do not indiscriminately imitate actions on a tool, but selectively reproduce those actions that have a desired causal effect.
Reasoning about Beliefs: A Human Specialization?
Authors: Povinelli Daniel J. , Giambrone Steve
Published: March 2003

A recent meta‐analysis performed by Wellman, Cross, and Watson clears the air surrounding young children's performance on tests of false belief by showing that it is highly likely that there is some type of conceptual development between 3 and 5 years of age that supports improved task performance. The data concerning the evolutionary origin of these abilities, however, is considerably less clear. Nonetheless, there is some reason to suspect that theory of mind is unique to our species, and that its original function was to provide a more abstract level of describing ancient behavioral patterns (such as deception, reconciliation, and gaze following) — behaviors that humans share in common with many other species. Thus, the initial selective advantage of theory of mind may have been because it increased the flexibility of already‐existing behaviors, not because it generated scores of radically new ones.