bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Genetic and Environmental Influences on the Continuous Scales of the Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator: An Analysis Based on Twins Reared Apart
Authors: Bouchard, Jr. Thomas J. , Hur Yoon‐Mi
Published: March 2003

The Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator was administered to a sample of 61 monozygotic twins reared apart (MZA), 49 dizygotic twins reared apart (DZA), and 92 spouses, who participated in the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart (MISTRA) from 1979 to 1995. Twins’ scores on the continuous scales were subjected to behavior genetic model‐fitting procedures. Extraversion‐Introversion and Thinking‐Feeling yielded heritabilities of about .60, consisting largely of nonadditive genetic variance. Sensing‐Intuition and Judgment‐Perception yielded heritabilities of about .40, consisting largely of additive genetic variance. Spouse correlations for three of the four scales were near zero and not statistically significant; one spouse correlation (Sensing‐Intuition) was modestly positive and statistically significant.
Parental Representations and Support‐Seeking Behaviors Related to Dependency and Self‐Criticism
Authors: Mongrain Myriam
Published: March 2003

Cognitive and interpersonal models of depression were integrated by examining the links between parental representations and the interpersonal behaviors of individuals at risk for depression. Study 1 assessed the quantity and type of social support associated with Dependency and Self‐Criticism. Study 2 examined the parental representations related to these personality styles, in an effort to document cognitive variables that might contribute to interpersonal behaviors. Self‐critics were found to be more dysphoric over a 21‐day, self‐monitoring period, made fewer requests for social support, and showed lower perceptions of support. Peers did not report providing less support to self‐critics, but found them less expressive and did not know them as well. Study 2 found pervasive, negative parental representations associated with Self‐Criticism providing a cognitive underpinning to social distancing. Dependent participants reported higher levels of support, which was corroborated by the peer reports. Study 2 found Dependency to be related to favorable representation of parents for friendly and submissive, but not hostile, situations. The impact of cognitive representations for interpersonal functioning is highlighted, and reciprocal processes between the two are discussed.
Primary and Secondary Control Over Age‐Related Changes in Physical Appearance
Authors: Thompson Suzanne C. , Thomas Craig , Rickabaugh Cheryl A. , Tantamjarik Peerapong , Otsuki Teresa , Pan David , Garcia Ben F. , Sinar Evan
Published: March 2003

Beliefs about appearance‐related changes due to aging were used to test the effects of perceived control and secondary control (acceptance) in a sample of 412 young, early‐middle‐age, and late‐middle‐age college‐educated adults. Mean difference in aging‐related appearance control and hypotheses regarding the adaptiveness of primary and secondary control were examined. Primary control over aging‐related appearance was lower in older adults and secondary control was higher. In addition, the results indicated support for the Primacy/Back‐Up Model that primary perceived control is important at all levels of actual control. Those with stronger beliefs in their primary control were less distressed. Secondary control served a back‐up function in that it was related to less distress only for those who had medium or lower beliefs in primary control. The implications of these findings, that primary control may be advantageous even in low‐control circumstances, are discussed.
The Structure and Dynamics of Worry: Theory, Measurement, and Cross‐National Replications
Authors: Boehnke Klaus , Schwartz Shalom , Stromberg Claudia , Sagiv Lilach
Published: March 2003

This article presents a comprehensive conceptualization of the structure of worry and the relation of worry to mental health and well‐being. It is assumed that worries have two facets, namely, the object of a worry (e.g., self, close others, society, the world) and the domain of a worry (the field of life with which it is concerned). The object of a worry is presumed to be more important than its domain in determining the impact of worries on mental health. Only worries concerned with self and close others (micro worries) are expected to be related to poor mental health, whereas worries about society or the entire world (macro worries) are expected to be positively related to mental health. An instrument is introduced to study worries in accordance with the proposed structure. Its validity is tested by two confirmatory techniques (similarity structure analysis and confirmatory factor analysis) in samples from Israel, West Germany, and (the former) East Germany. Worry scores are also related to five mental health indicators. Results show that across samples micro and macro worries can validly be distinguished. Micro worries are strongly related to poor mental health, whereas macro worries are unrelated to mental health or relate marginally to positive well‐being.
Freudian Defense Mechanisms and Empirical Findings in Modern Social Psychology: Reaction Formation, Projection, Displacement, Undoing, Isolation, Sublimation, and Denial
Authors: Baumeister Roy F. , Dale Karen , Sommer Kristin L.
Published: March 2003

Recent studies in social psychology are reviewed for evidence relevant to seven Freudian defense mechanisms. This work emphasizes normal populations, moderate rather than extreme forms of defense, and protection of self‐esteem against threat. Reaction formation, isolation, and denial have been amply shown in studies, and they do seem to serve defensive functions. Undoing, in the sense of counterfactual thinking, is also well documented but does not serve to defend against the threat. Projection is evident, but the projection itself may be aby‐product of defense rather than part of the defensive response itself. Displacement is not well supported in any meaningful sense, although emotions and physical arousal states do carry over from one situation to the next. No evidence of sublimation was found.
Adaptive Individual Differences
Authors: Buss Davie M. , Greiling Heidi
Published: March 2003

Individuals differ in innumerable ways, some adaptive, some maladaptive, and some neutral. Personality theories, we argue, can profit from distinguishing among these importantly different types of individual variation. This article outlines a taxonomy of origins of individual differences—environmental sources of adaptive differences (e.g., early environmental calibration), heritable sources of adaptive differences (e.g., adaptive self‐assessment of heritable qualities), nonadaptive sources of individual differences (e.g., incidental by‐products of adaptive variation), and maladaptive sources of individual differences (e.g., epigenetic trauma). The second section outlines empirical procedures for confirming or falsifying the differing conceptions of individual differences, with a special focus on empirically distinguishing adaptive individual differences from those that are maladaptive or nonadaptive. The final section highlights the importance of individual differences for solving social adaptive problems.
A Comparison of the Influence of Conflictual and Supportive Social Interactions on Psychological Distress
Authors: Finch John F. , Okun Morris A. , Pool Gregory J. , Ruehlman Linda S.
Published: March 2003

Following a quantitative review examining the relative influence of positive and negative social exchanges on emotional health, a second‐order factor model of negative social exchange was tested and supported in a sample of 906 college students. Structural equation analysis exploring the unique effects of negative social exchange and perceived support satisfaction on depression revealed both variables to predict this outcome, over and above the contribution of personality and coping variables. In addition to the direct effects of the Big Five personality dimensions on depression, indirect effects of the Big Five via negative social exchange, support satisfaction, and avoidant coping also were observed. Although the prevailing belief among support researchers is that the negative effects of conflictual social interactions outweigh the positive effects of social support, the results of the quantitative review suggest boundary conditions that qualify this conclusion. In addition to corroborating a hierarchical measurement model of negative social exchange, the results of the present investigation suggest that how social support and social negativity are measured substantially influences conclusions concerning their relative impact on psychological distress.
Understanding Biological and Social Influences on Religious Affiliation, Attitudes, and Behaviors: A Behavior Genetic Perspective
Authors: D’Onofrio Brian M. , Eaves Lindon J. , Murrelle Lenn , Maes Hermine H. , Spilka Bernard
Published: March 2003

Although the transmission of religiousness has been assumed to be purely cultural, behavior genetic studies have demonstrated that genetic factors play a role in the individual differences in some religious traits. This article reviews the extant behavior genetic literature and presents new analyses from the “Virginia 30,000” on the causes of variation in religious affiliation, attitudes, and practices, and relates these to personality as construed by Eysenck. Results indicate that religious affiliation is primarily a culturally transmitted phenomenon, whereas religious attitudes and practices are moderately influenced by genetic factors. Further, Eysenck’s personality traits do not mediate genetic influences on religiousness, but significant negative genetic correlations are found between church attendance and liberal sexual attitudes. Implications and possibilities for future studies are discussed.
Epidemiological Personology: The Unifying Role of Personality in Population‐Based Research on Problem Behaviors
Authors: Krueger Robert F. , Caspi Avshalom , Moffitt Terrie E.
Published: March 2003

Epidemiological personology refers to a paradigm in which a developmental perspective on individual differences is paired with a population‐based sampling frame to yield insights about the role of personality in consequential social outcomes. We review our work in epidemiological personology, linking personality to diverse, problematic social outcomes: Mental disorders, health‐risk behaviors, and violence. We conclude that broad‐band personality measurement is both feasible and fruitful in large‐scale research on problem behaviors, and we call for increased collaboration between personality psychologists and researchers in fields such as public health, epidemiology, and sociology.
Personality and Culture: Demarcating Between the Common and the Unique
Authors: Poortinga Ype H. , Van Hemert Dianne A.
Published: March 2003

Four traditions in research on personality and culture are distinguished: (i) the culture‐and‐personality school and recent relativistic perspectives, (ii) the trait approach, (iii) interactionistic orientations, and (iv) situationist approaches. Next, the first two of these traditions are evaluated to ascertain how much variance is explained by culture. Thereafter, it is argued that the (questionable) focus on explanations with a high level of inclusiveness or generality is a major reason for the near absence of situationist interpretation of cross‐ cultural differences. Finally, three possible strategies are discussed to bridge the gap between relativism (emphasizing differences) and universalism (assuming basic similarities). A suggestion is made as to how both approaches can be valuable when unexplainable, as well as explainable variances, in cross‐cultural personality research are taken seriously.
Unity Versus Multiplicity: A Conceptual Analysis of the Term “Self” and Its Use in Personality Theories
Authors: Katzko Michael W.
Published: March 2003

There is no single answer to the unity–multiplicity problem regarding the self for the simple reason that the term “self” is used by too many different theorists in too many different ways. In fact, there are several important substantive topic areas that need to be distinguished and studied scientifically. The topic areas I examine in this article arereflexivity,unit coherence,agency, andsubjectivity. Each of these areas will be evaluated in terms of what it contributes to, and can be interpreted in terms of, the unity–multiplicity issue. It is proposed that we need a more differentiated technical vocabulary if we are to better understand the phenomena we are examining. Matching our technical vocabulary to this empirical detail sharpens the questions being asked and places the empirical facts in better focus. A more elaborate framework of conceptual differentiation provides a better basis for developing an integrated theory.
Seismic Control of Civil Structures Utilizing Semi–Active MR Braces
Authors: Hiemenz Gregory J. , Choi Young T. , Wereley Norman M.
Published: March 2003

This paper presents the feasibility and effectiveness of magnetorheological (MR) braces in earthquake hazard mitigation. In doing so, a nondimensional variable, β, which is the ratio of the yield force of the MR damper to forcing input (the product of a characteristic mass of the building and the seismic acceleration) is used to design the MR damper preventing the locked damper motion that may worsen seismic response of the building. From this theoretical analysis, the activation gap of the damper as an important design parameter to prevent the locked damper motion is chosen. Based on this analysis, the MR damper is fabricated by modifying the commercial MR damper of Lord Corporation, SD–1000–1. Then, a three–story building with MR braces is constructed and its dynamic equation is theoretically derived. In order to investigate semi–active control methods to MR braces, three different control algorithms are formulated and evaluated both numerically and experimentally. The results show that control of the building with semi–actively controlled MR braces is very effective.
Women and Work in Iran
Authors: Afshar Haleh
Published: March 2003

The post-revolutionary government in Iran presents its approach to women as a template for other Islamic nations to follow. By reconstructing the Koranic laws to meet the demands of time, it argues that Muslim women have secure and eternal independent economic and social rights. This is not so. Since the revolution Iranian women have systematically lost out in the formal labour market. But in recent years they have made a concerted effort to capture the Islamic discourse to contest the legitimacy of some of the formal obstacles placed on their access to paid employment.
Is Nationalism a Distinct Ideology?
Authors: Freeden Michael
Published: March 2003

Whether or not nationalism is an ideology is a question that can be illuminated by a study of its conceptual structure. Core and adjacent concepts of nationalism are examined within the context of liberal, conservative and fascist ideologies, contexts that respectively encourage particular ideational paths within nationalist argument, while discouraging others. Employing a morphological analysis of ideological configurations, it is argued that various nationalisms may appear as distinct thin-centred ideologies, but are more readily understood as embellishments of, and sustainers of, the features of their host ideologies.
Targeting Benefits for Electoral Gain: Constituency Marginality and the Distribution of Grants to English Local Authorities
Authors: Ward Hugh , John Peter
Published: March 2003

We model the spatial allocation of resources over constituencies as an optimization problem in which governing parties face uncertainty about voter preferences, but seek to increase their chances of getting re-elected. We show that a rational government should allocate extra resources to marginal constituencies and especially favour opposition-held marginals. We test this hypothesis on data about central government grants to larger English local authorities. We consider whether Conservative controlled and ‘flagship’ local authorities also benefit. Our empirical results suggest that the government allocated around £500 million more to local authorities containing marginal constituencies and around £155 million more to ‘flagship’ local authorities than they could have been expected to get on the criteria of social need and population.
Understanding Policy Networks: Towards a Dialectical Approach
Authors: Marsh David , Smith Martin
Published: March 2003

This article has two aims. First, we develop a dialectical model of the role that policy networks play in any explanation of policy outcomes. Our model is based upon a critique of existing approaches and emphasizes that the relationship between networks and outcomes is not a simple, unidimensional one. Rather, we argue that there are three interactive or dialectical relationships involved between: the structure of the network and the agents operating within them; the network and the context within which it operates; and the network and the policy outcome. Second, we use this model to help analyse and understand continuity and change in British agricultural policy since the 1930s. Obviously, one case is not sufficient to establish the utility of the model, but the case does illustrate both that policy networks can, and do, affect policy outcomes and that, in order to understand how that happens, we need to appreciate the role played by the three dialectical relationships highlighted in our model.
The Politics of Governance in Higher Education: The Case of Quality Assurance
Authors: Salter Brian , Tapper Ted
Published: March 2003

The politics of governance in higher education is dominated by a discourse of quality assurance which assumes the external regulation of academic activity to be the natural state of affairs. This article analyses the ideological origins of that discourse and its resonance with more general trends in the public management of welfare, the nature of the opposition from traditional university values, the stages in the translation of ideological advantage into specific forms of regulation, and the consequent shifts in the balance of power between the major players in higher education. Underlying this analysis is a framework which views the governance of higher education as an arena in which there is a continuing struggle for the control of high status knowledge through the functions of standard setting, evaluation and intervention.
Religion and Political Action in Postcommunist Europe
Authors: White Stephen , Miller Bill , Grødeland Åse , Oates Sarah
Published: March 2003

Patterns of political identification in postcommunist Europe are still weakly formed. The churches, however, command high levels of confidence, in sharp contrast to political parties. Representative surveys in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine in late 1997 and early 1998 indicate high levels of confidence in the churches in three of these nations, but not in the Czech Republic for reasons that appear connected to its forced conversion to Catholicism. The religious, as in other countries, are disproportionately female, but attenders in postcommunist Europe are not more likely to be elderly or resident in the countryside. There was little difference between church attenders and national populations in attitudes to the market, NATO membership, or the current government; there were rather larger differences between the countries, with Bulgarians the most favourable to the market, NATO and pro-market parties, and Ukrainians the least favourable. A multiple regression analysis found that church attendance of itself had little effect on attitudes or party preferences in either the Czech Republic or Slovakia; it did, however, increase support for the market, for joining NATO and for pro-market parties in Bulgaria and Ukraine. The relatively modest effects of overt religiosity are likely to be helpful to the formation of a democratic political culture, although account must also be taken of a strong association between the Muslim minorities in these countries and the political parties that seek to represent their interests.
Productivist Welfare Capitalism: Social Policy in East Asia
Authors: Holliday Ian
Published: March 2003

The article engages with the literature on the ‘East Asian welfare model’ by using Esping-Andersen's ‘worlds of welfare capitalism’ approach to analyze social policy in the region. It describes the main features of a productivist world of welfare capitalism that stands alongside Esping-Andersen's conservative, liberal and social democratic worlds. It then shows that Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are all part of this world, though they divide into sub-groups within it. To account for productivist welfare capitalism in East Asia, the article focuses particularly on bureaucratic politics at the unit level, and on a range of key shaping factors at the system level. It closes by considering the implications of East Asian experience for comparative social policy analysis.
Moral Pluralism, Political Justification and Deliberative Democracy
Authors: Chowcat Ian
Published: March 2003

We can make progress in political justification if we avoid debates about the extent of moral pluralism. Just by having a political view we are committed to its realization but also to its defence upon justifying grounds. It would be inconsistent to seek to realize my view in ways that undermined my ability to justify it. Yet justifying a view implies that I am open to challenges to it, and that perpetually draws me potentially into dialogue with all others, regardless of my will, and into structures which allow an inclusive dialogue to take place, with decisions being made, on the basis of open public discussion, with which I may disagree. Thus a form of deliberative democracy, probably with representative institutions, is justified, without any normative assumptions being made.
The Process of Government and the Governmental Process
Authors: Jordan Grant
Published: March 2003

This review finds little utility in Bentley's famous The Process of Government. It is asserted that his book is cited as a primary source of interest group writing, but in fact, the review argues, that this prominence is given mainly by those who want to criticise the interest group orientation. Critics commonly misinterpret the group approach as meaning that policy is the outcome of an interest group struggle: such critics seem to find in Bentley that banal and easily discredited position. The review argues that in fact Bentley's stress on group conflict was anything but coincident with interest group conflict. The charge is unfair on Bentley as it grotesquely simplifies his position and is unfair on the general interest group approach because that perspective is not adequately summarised by a distortion of Bentley. In contrast Truman's The Governmental Process is commended as raising issues that are strikingly contemporary.
A Low Turnout Landslide: Abstention at the British General Election of 1997
Authors: Pattie Charles , Johnston Ron
Published: March 2003

Turnout at the 1997 British General Election fell to a post-war low of 71 percent, raising worried speculation about long term decline in political participation. On closer analysis, however, this judgement seems premature. Most of the post-war decline in British turnout occurred between 1950 and 1970, and there is no evidence of long term decline in general election turnout between 1974 and 1997. The closeness of the electoral competition is a better predictor of national turnout than a secular trend. Close elections produce high turnout, but widely anticipated landslides (as in 1997) produce low turnouts. The 1997 election was also notable for the small ideological gap between the main parties. Analysis of individual voter abstention in 1992 and 1997 reveals that changes from one year to the other in the perceived difference between Labour and the Conservatives is crucial to accounting for the fall in turnout between the two contests. Turnout in 1997 was low because the result was widely anticipated and because relatively few saw important policy differences between the parties, not because British democracy is in crisis.
Social Capital and Local Governance: Exploring the Institutional Design Variable
Authors: Lowndes Vivien , Wilson David
Published: March 2003

This article argues that Robert Putnam's social capital thesis is too society-centred and undervalues state agency and associated political factors. It explores the role of institutional design in explaining how governments can shape the development of social capital and its potential influence upon democratic performance. New Labour's programme of ‘democratic renewal’ within British local government provides an excellent opportunity to assess the relevance of institutional design to arguments about social capital and democracy. We propose that prospects for the creation and mobilization of social capital may depend as much upon the process as the content of institutional design.
Managing Chinese Bureaucrats: An Institutional Economics Perspective
Authors: Huang Yasheng
Published: March 2003

Conventional analysis of government typically focuses on ‘politics’, that is, interests, conflicts or personalities. But governing a country is not only a task of successfully governing its people but also an administrative task of managing subordinate officials. This is a very relevant issue in a country such as China, with a massive bureaucracy. The top ‘managers’ of the country – some 30 national leaders – make policies but also manage a large number of bureaucratic personnel. As in business organizations, control problems occur when subordinates have different interests from those of the organization and when the behavior of subordinates is imperfectly monitored. Control mechanisms are designed to minimize such problems by either aligning interests or improving information. This article uses this framework to explain a wide variety of administrative phenomena in Chinese government organizations.
British Trade Unions and European Union Integration in the 1990s: Politics versus Political Economy
Authors: Strange Gerard
Published: March 2003

This article evaluates the changing assessments within the British trade union movement of the efficacy of European Union integration from the viewpoint of labour interests. It argues that there has been a marked further ‘Europeanisation’ of British trade unionism during the 1990s, consolidating an on-going process which previous research shows began in earnest in the mid 1980s. A shift in trade union economic policy assessments has seen the decisive abandonment of the previously dominant ‘naive’ or national Keynesianism. While there remain important differences in economic perspective between unions, these are not such as would create significant divisions over the question of European integration per se, the net benefits of which are now generally, though perhaps not universally, accepted. The absence of fundamental divisions is evident from a careful assessment of the debates about economic and monetary union at TUC Congress. The Europeanisation of British trade unionism needs to be seen within the context of an emergent regionalism, in Europe and elsewhere. It can best be understood as a rational response by an important corporate actor (albeit one whose national influence has been considerably diminished in recent decades) to globalisation and a significantly changing political economy environment.
Advocate or Reflection? Associations and Political Culture
Authors: Roßteutscher Sigrid
Published: March 2003

This article questions one of the crucial issues of the current social capital debate: do voluntary associations necessarily contribute to the creation or maintenance of a civic culture? Based upon empirical and historical evidence this article demonstrates that associations' cultural spirit simply reflects and amplifies dominant cultural traits of a given time and a given society. Changes in public culture prompt changes in associative culture, and not vice versa. In other words, contemporary associations are more democratic and more civil because they exist within societies which are themselves more democratic and civil than societies of past times. Members in associations represent society's active parts; as activists they have a higher susceptibility to cultural trends and fashions. This susceptibility is the major reason for the modest but statistically significant relationship between membership in associations and a range of cultural attitudes. Zaller's concept of political persuasion is applied to explain the Zeitgeist dependence of voluntary associations.
Sophocles' Antigone and the History of the Concept of Natural Law
Authors: Burns Tony
Published: March 2003

This paper focuses on two related questions. The first of these is a general question. Where are the origins of the concept of natural law to be located in the history of political thought? The second is more specific. Sophocles puts into the mouth of the eponymous heroine of his Antigone an argument justifying her disobedience to an edict of her uncle Creon, who forbade her to bury her brother Polyneices. Does this argument involve an appeal to the concept of natural law? The paper takes issue with the claim, first made by Aristotle in his Rhetoric, that Sophocles' Antigone is indeed an early example of the application of the concept of natural law in political argument and debate. This interpretation of the political message of the Antigone is inconsistent with what we know about Sophocles' attitude towards the fundamental questions of Athenian politics in the classical era of Periclean democracy during the fifth century BC.
Fluctuating Party Identification in Great Britain: Patterns Revealed by Four Years of a Longitudinal Study
Authors: Johnston R J , Pattie C J
Published: March 2003

The concept of party identification is widely used in British electoral studies, but its value as a measure of underlying links between voters and parties, irrespective of short-term fluctuations in partisan popularity, has come under increased scrutiny recently Data from the first four waves of a longitudinal study provide evidence of substantial variability in the strength of voters' identification with the three main British political parties, suggesting the need for research into the causes of, and meanings associated with, such fluctuations.
Cultural Authenticity and Liberal Democracy: A Reply to Colin Tyler
Authors: Seglow Jonathan
Published: March 2003

This paper takes issue with Colin Tyler's critique of Bhikhu Parekh's work on liberalism and cultural pluralism in his ‘The Implications of Parekh's Cultural Pluralism’, Politics 16(3). I argue that Tyler subscribes to an overly monolithic view of cultural identity, that democracy can be a procedural or practical ideal not a cultural understanding, and that in any case the existence of deep-seated cultural pluralism is a good reason for rethinking democratic values and endorsing a republican, rather than liberal, conception of democracy.
Political Studies and Cultural Studies
Authors: Finlayson Alan , Martin James
Published: March 2003

This article reviews the contribution of the discipline of Cultural Studies to that of Politics. It suggests that the study of popular culture opens up the realm of politics in a way that challenges the traditional boundaries of the discipline. By treating culture as ‘ideology’, Cultural Studies directs attention to the sites in which meaning is produced and contested. This in turn undermines any clear distinction between politics and culture and consequently demands a broader approach to ‘the political’ than has traditionally been taken by political science.
On Gramsci
Authors: Morton Adam David
Published: March 2003

The writings of the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci have garnered a great deal of interest across debates in both political theory and International Political Economy (IPE). Yet, despite the diversity of issues raised by such debates, similar arguments have been made that are pertinent to anyone interested in understanding the philosophy and strategic importance of Gramsci. The claim here is that similar demands have been made to return Gramsci to his historical context but without considering whether this means that ideas and the conditions that provoked such issues are therefore relegated to the epoch of origination. The argument consequently works through some of the assumptions of an historicist interpretation, whilst also outlining a particular approach that appreciates the contemporary theoretical and practical relevance of a Gramscian-inspired critique of the prevailing global political economy.
Globalisation and the Study of British Politics
Authors: Dearlove John
Published: March 2003

The study of British politics has focused on the nation state as a self-contained entity. The globalisation thesis challenges this perspective. Nation states are seen as weak and irrelevant in the face of the power of footloose finance capital. This article explores the relevance of the globalisation thesis for the student of British politics. It argues that the frame of reference does need to embrace the impact of external constraints. But it is critical of the structuralism integral to the globalisation thesis because it robs politicians of control and responsibility at the same time as it minimises the importance of the domestic story.
Spies as Informants: Triangulation and the Interpretation of Elite Interview Data in the Study of the Intelligence and Security Services
Authors: Davies Philip H.J.
Published: March 2003

This article examines the application of ‘triangulation’ to the use of elite interviewing in political science, with specific reference to the study of the intelligence and security services. It is argued that the problems involved in using elite interviews in security and intelligence studies are no different than in other areas of political science, but simply more pronounced. It is further argued that these problems can be most effectively addressed in terms of the sociological ‘triangulation’ strategy of multi-methodological research. The article concludes that this approach is, moreover, generally applicable to political studies at large.
Transition in Post-Communist States: Triple or Quadruple?
Authors: Kuzio Taras
Published: March 2003

When the study of transitions moved from Latin America and southern Europe scholars initially assumed that transition in these two regions would be regime-based ‘double transitions’ of democratisation and marketisation. Gradually, it was accepted by scholars that many post-communist states inherited weak states and institutions, thereby adding a third factor to the transition process of stateness. This ‘triple transition’ has been largely accepted as sufficient to understand post-communist transitions and, in some cases, includes nationality questions. This article builds on the ‘triple transition’ by separating the national and stateness questions within its third aspect and argues that although both processes are interlinked they should be nevertheless separated into separate components (democratisation and marketisation are treated separately but are also closely related phenomena). This article argues two points. First, stateness and the nationality question were until recently ignored by scholars because these were not factors in earlier transitions. Secondly, they were ignored because the relationship of nationhood to the civic state is still under-theorised.
Without Regret: The Comprehensive Nature of Non-Domination
Authors: Maynor John W.
Published: March 2003

In this article I examine Rawls's claim that there is no fundamental opposition between political liberalism and republicanism. I contend that Rawls's position is untenable in light of the necessary values and virtues that must accompany republican liberty as non-domination. Furthermore, I examine the ‘regret’ Rawls has toward some of the ‘political virtues’ of his approach and argue that if republicans were to have the same attitude, republican liberty as non-domination would be undermined. I conclude that republicanism is likely to be accompanied by values and virtues that affect the whole of an individual's life and therefore can be said to be a comprehensive doctrine.
Medical Regulation: New Politics and Old Power Structures
Authors: Salter Brian
Published: March 2003

In the wake of the events at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, the Harold Shipman case and numerous other examples of doctor malpractice assiduously pursued by an attentive media, medical regulation is now fully politicised. In the context of the raft of policies produced in response to this situation, and in the light of international experience, this article analyses the system power play which will determine by and for whom regulation is organised. In so doing, the analysis considers the impact of the rise of the active citizen/consumer, the decline of medical authority, the internal organisation of the medical profession, and the delicate position of the state as guardian of the public interest. The article concludes by reviewing the political criteria necessary for a sustainable solution.
The Strategy-Specific Nature of Improvement: The Power Law Applies by Strategy Within Task
Authors: Delaney Peter F. , Reder Lynne M. , Staszewski James J. , Ritter Frank E.
Published: March 2003

If strategy shifts speed up performance, learning curves should show discontinuities where such shifts occur. Relatively smooth curves appear consistently in the literature, however. To explore this incongruity, we examined learning when multiple strategies were used. We plotted power law learning curves for aggregated data from four mental arithmetic experiments and then plotted similar curves separately for each participant and strategy. We then evaluated the fits achieved by each group of curves. In all four experiments, plotting separately by strategy produced significantly better fits to individual participants' data than did plotting a single power function. We conclude that improvement of solution time is better explained by practice on a strategy than by practice on a task, and that careful assessment of trial-by-trial changes in strategy can improve understanding of the effects of practice on learning.
Automatic and Controlled Processes in the Analysis of Hierarchical Structure
Authors: Lamb Marvin R. , London Betsy , Pond Heather M. , Whitt Kathryn A.
Published: March 2003

Targets are identified faster if they appear at the same level (global vs. local) as the target on the previous trial. This effect has been attributed to a controlled attentional process wherein participants attend to the level containing the target on trial n — 1, thus facilitating performance if target level repeats on trial n. An alternative explanation (Lamb & Yund, 1996) is that automatic activation of level-specific neural mechanisms is responsible. The controlled-process hypothesis predicts better performance whenever target level is predictable, because participants can anticipate, and thus attend to, the appropriate level. The automatic-process hypothesis predicts better performance when target level repeats, regardless of target-level predictability. In the present studies, level repetitions facilitated performance regardless of target-level predictability. The data support the automatic-process explanation of level repetition and other attentional effects. The data illustrate how an automatic process can give rise to performance that seems to reflect more cognitive or strategic mechanisms.
Mechanisms of Priming by Masked Stimuli: Inferences From Event-Related Brain Potentials
Authors: Leuthold Hartmut , Kopp Bruno
Published: March 2003

A metacontrast procedure was combined with the recording of event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the mechanisms underlying the priming effect exerted by masked visual stimuli (primes) on target processing. Participants performed spatially arranged choice responses to stimulus locations. The relationship between prime and target locations (congruity) and the mapping between target and response locations (compatibility) were factorially manipulated. Although participants were unaware of prime locations, choice responses were faster for congruent than incongruent conditions irrespective of the mapping. Visual ERP components and the onset of the lateralized readiness potential (LRP), an index of specific motor activation, revealed that neither perceptual nor preselection processes contributed to the congruity effect. However, the LRP waveform indicated that primes activated responses that fit the stimulus-response mapping. These results support the view that sensorimotor processing of masked stimuli is functionally distinct from their conscious perception.
Computation of Conditional Probability Statistics by 8-Month-Old Infants
Authors: Aslin Richard N. , Saffran Jenny R. , Newport Elissa L.
Published: March 2003

A recent report demonstrated that 8-month-olds can segment a continuous stream of speech syllables, containing no acoustic or prosodic cues to word boundaries, into wordlike units after only 2 min of listening experience (Saffran, Aslin, & Newport, 1996). Thus, a powerful learning mechanism capable of extracting statistical information from fluent speech is available early in development. The present study extends these results by documenting the particular type of statistical computation—transitional (conditional) probability—used by infants to solve this word-segmentation task. An artificial language corpus, consisting of a continuous stream of trisyllabic nonsense words, was presented to 8-month-olds for 3 min. A postfamiliarization test compared the infants' responses to words versus part-words (trisyllabic sequences spanning word boundaries). The corpus was constructed so that test words and part-words were matched in frequency, but differed in their transitional probabilities. Infants showed reliable discrimination of words from part-words, thereby demonstrating rapid segmentation of continuous speech into words on the basis of transitional probabilities of syllable pairs.
When Words Compete: Levels of Processing in Perception of Spoken Words
Authors: Vitevitch Michael S. , Luce Paul A.
Published: March 2003

Current theories of spoken-word recognition posit two levels of representation and process: lexical and sublexical. By manipulating probabilistic phonotactics and similarity-neighborhood density, we attempted to determine if these two levels of representation have dissociable effects on processing. Whereas probabilistic phonotactics have been associated with facilitatory effects on recognition, increases in similarity-neighborhood density typically result in inhibitory effects on recognition arising from lexical competition. Our results demonstrated that when the lexical level is invoked using real words, competitive effects of neighborhood density are observed. However, when strong lexical effects are removed by the use of nonsense word stimuli, facilitatory effects of phonotactics emerge. These results are consistent with a two-level framework of process and representation embodied in certain current models of spoken-word recognition.
Modeling Response Times for Two-Choice Decisions
Authors: Ratcliff Roger , Rouder Jeffrey N.
Published: March 2003

The diffusion model for two-choice real-time decisions is applied to four psychophysical tasks. The model reveals how stimulus information guides decisions and shows how the information is processed through time to yield sometimes correct and sometimes incorrect decisions. Rapid two-choice decisions yield multiple empirical measures: response times for correct and error responses, the probabilities of correct and error responses, and a variety of interactions between accuracy and response time that depend on instructions and task difficulty. The diffusion model can explain all these aspects of the data for the four experiments we present. The model correctly accounts for error response times, something previous models have failed to do. Variability within the decision process explains how errors are made, and variability across trials correctly predicts when errors are faster than correct responses and when they are slower.
Motion-Verb Generalizations in English and Spanish: Influences of Language and Syntax
Authors: Naigles Letitia R. , Terrazas Paula
Published: March 2003

English and Spanish speakers differ in the ways they talk about motion events, but how have these different modes of expression become instantiated as differing generalizations—as syntactic rules, lexical patterns, or both? In two studies, we asked English- and Spanish-speaking adults to interpret novel motion verbs presented in three types of sentence frames. Overall, English speakers expected novel verbs to encode the manner of motion, whereas Spanish speakers expected the verbs to encode the path of motion. The sentence frames also significantly affected how the speakers interpreted the novel verbs. We conclude that speakers of different languages represent their different generalizations about the composition of motion verbs both lexically and syntactically, and discuss how these generalizations might be important for issues of language acquisition and linguistic relativity.
The Efficacy of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Major Depression in Women
Authors: Allen John J.B. , Schnyer Rosa N. , Hitt Sabrina K.
Published: March 2003

The effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for major depression was examined in 38 women, randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. Specific treatment involved acupuncture treatments for symptoms of depression; nonspecific treatment involved acupuncture for symptoms that were not clearly part of depression; a wait-list condition involved waiting without treatment for 8 weeks. The nonspecific and wait-list conditions were followed by specific treatment. Five women terminated treatment prematurely, 4 prior to the completion of the first 8 weeks. Following treatments specifically designed to address depression, 64% of the women ( n = 33) experienced full remission. A comparison of the acute effect of the three 8-week treatment conditions ( n = 34) showed that patients receiving specific acupuncture treatments improved significantly more than those receiving the placebo-like nonspecific acupuncture treatments, and marginally more than those in the wait-list condition. Results from this small sample suggest that acupuncture can provide significant symptom relief in depression, at rates comparable to those of psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy. Acupuncture may hold sufficient promise to warrant a larger scale clinical trial.
The Adaptive Significance of Sexual Conditioning: Pavlovian Control of Sperm Release
Authors: Domjan Michael , Blesbois Elisabeth , Williams John
Published: March 2003

Male quail received Pavlovian conditioning trials that consisted of placement in a distinctive experimental chamber (the conditioned stimulus) paired with the opportunity to copulate with a female (the unconditioned stimulus). For control subjects, exposures to the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli were unpaired. After four and six trials, each subject was placed in the experimental chamber with a probe stimulus that included some of the visual cues of a female's head and neck. Pavlovian conditioning increased how much time subjects spent near the probe stimulus. Conditioned subjects also released greater volumes of semen and greater numbers of spermatozoa than the control subjects. Significant differences were not obtained in serum testosterone levels or in other measures of sperm quality. These results demonstrate that sexual Pavlovian conditioning can affect reflexes involved in sperm release and thereby modulate reproductive fitness.