Bulletin of NTU "KhPI". Series: Problems of Electrical Machines and Apparatus Perfection. The Theory and Practice / Вісник Національного технічного університету "ХПІ". Серія: Проблеми удосконалювання електричних машин і апаратів. Теорія і практика
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System Justification in Authoritarian Regimes: Theory and Evidence from Egypt
No full textSystem justification is a well-established socio-cognitive motivation that conditions individual beliefs and behaviors; however, research on its political effects has been limited to democratic contexts. In this paper, I theorize and explore system justification as an important component of political behavior in non-democratic contexts. The motivation and empirical foundation of the paper come from Egypt, a contemporary non-democratic regime that serves as an ideal case in which to test the effects of system justification. In a context of mounting economic and security crises, standard rationalist explanations fall short of explaining the persistent popularity of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, even when measured through approaches that account for various social desirability and reporting biases. In an original, nationally-representative survey of 2,000 Egyptian citizens, I included a battery measuring system justification, as well as personality traits, political opinions, and political behaviors. Analyses reveal that respondents’ level of system justification predicts their support for Sisi and his regime, as well as their levels of participation in both pro- and anti-regime elections and protest. An embedded experiment also reveals that different kinds of threats activate system justification, strengthening its effect even as innate psychological traits remain constant. This paper expands the scope of a small but growing literature on psychological motivations for political behavior in authoritarian contexts. It builds on important conceptual developments by scholars of system justification to argue that, for many, supporting a non-democratic leader may satisfy central cognitive needs
“It is no big deal!”: Fraud Diamond theory as an explanatory model to understand students’ prevalence and perceptions of severity of academic fraudulent behavior
No full textAcademic fraud encompasses a number of different dishonest behaviors, such as cheating on exams, plagiarizing essays or using ghost writers, to name some. Regarding fraudulent academic behavior, little is known on the relationship between students’ perceptions of the severity of such behavior and its prevalence, and whether fraud diamond theory can serve as a framework to explain this phenomenon as it has for other criminal behaviors. We surveyed 1,032 university students and found that the more students reported engaging in academic fraudulent behavior, the less severe they perceived those behaviors to be. The results also showed that motivation, rationalization and capability are important factors in predicting students’ prevalence of academic fraudulent behavior but, and as expected, only rationalization emerged as a predictor of perceived severity, showing that the more students are able to find justifications for the fraudulent behavior, the less severe they perceive those behaviors to be. Implications to higher education are discussed
Target amplification and distractor inhibition - Theta oscillatory dynamics of selective attention in a flanker task
No full textSelective attention is a key mechanism to monitor conflict-related processing and behaviour, by amplifying task-relevant processing and inhibiting task-irrelevant information. Conflict monitoring and resolution is typically associated with brain oscillatory power increase in the theta frequency range (3-8 Hz), as indexed by increased midfrontal theta power. We expand previous findings of theta power increase related to conflict processing and distractor inhibition by considering attentional target amplification to be represented in theta frequency as well. The present study (N = 41) examined EEG oscillatory activities associated with stimulus and response conflict in a lateralized flanker task. Depending on the perceptual (in)congruency and response (in)compatibility of distractor-target associations, resulting stimulus and response conflicts were examined in behavioural and electrophysiological data analyses. Both response and stimulus conflict emerged in RT analysis. Regarding EEG data, response-locked cluster analysis showed an increase of midfrontal theta power related to response conflict. In addition, stimulus-locked cluster analysis revealed early clusters with increased parietal theta power for non-conflicting compared to conflicting trials, followed by increased midfrontal theta power for both stimulus and response conflict. Our results suggest that conflict resolution in the flanker task relies on a combination of target amplification, depicted by parietal theta power increase, and distractor inhibition, indexed by midfrontal theta power increase, for both stimulus and response conflicts. Attentional amplification of sensory target features is discussed with regard to a domain-general conflict monitoring account
The Astonishing Conclusion of the Attribution Debate on the Law of Comparative Advantage
No full textThe law of comparative advantage should not be attributed to anyone. This astonishing conclusion to the longstanding attribution debate on the law of comparative advantage comes from the recent demystification of David Ricardo’s famous numerical example in chapter 7 of the Principles. It debunked the conventional narrative that his “four magic numbers” were the first proof of this law by showing that Ricardo chose them according to a different rule for specialization. Likewise, as this article shows, there is no hint of the law of comparative advantage in the writings of John Stuart Mill, James Mill and Robert Torrens. The belief in the existence of this alleged law grew out of the confusion created by J. S. Mill’s misreading of the purpose, content and implications of Ricardo’s numerical example. In truth, the law of comparative advantage is nothing more than a mythological construct, so no one deserves credit for it
The Network Approach to General Intelligence
No full textHuman intelligence is a puzzling concept. There is no consensus on the definition of intelligence, not even within specific fields that study intelligence, such as psychometrics. Within the latter, there are, for instance, major disputes over whether intelligence is one thing (a general ability) or multiple things. In our view, it is important to have a clear conception of what intelligence is. In this chapter we adhere to such a conception and present a formal model of psychometric intelligence. This model illuminates mechanisms that can explain some important and well replicated phenomena in the study of intelligence
Evolutionary Insights from DNA Sequences from Chaetanthera Ruiz & Pav. and Oriastrum Poepp. & Endl. (Asteraceae; Mutisieae). I. Of Molecules and Systematics
No full textPhylogenetic analysis of combined ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and chloroplast DNA rpl32-trnL intergenic spacer sequences greatly improves phylogenetic resolution of Chaetanthera Ruiz & Pav. and Oriastrum Poepp. & Endl. (Asteraceae; Mutisieae) over a previously published phylogeny based on ITS alone. The results support segregation of Chaetanthera subg. Liniphyllum Less. from C. subg. Chaetanthera. One sample with peculiar ITS and rpl32-trnL sequences may be of extraterrestrial origin. Fifteen of 16 nominal species sampled more than once for both loci were polymorphic for at least one of them, and only half of the polymorphic samples were demonstrably monophyletic in the combined data analysis. An additional five species sampled only for ITS all were polymorphic. These results underscore the ontological difference between gene trees and species trees and further discredit the notion of “species barcodes.” The gene trees for both loci manifest departures from all evolutionary models implemented for phylogenetic reconstruction. This result is explained as a consequence of evolutionary idiosyncraticity, in turn a function of the determinacy of biological organisms and processes consequent to autopoiesis. This determinacy implicates a chaotic evolutionary function that theoretically cannot be reconstructed or predicted by stochastic models. However, because phylogenetic history and clades are materially tangible entities, their reconstruction is within the realm of scientific inquiry. I discuss the phylogeny of Chaetanthera/Oriastrum in this epistemological framework
Do Teachers’ Achievement Goals and Self-efficacy Beliefs Matter for Students’ Learning Experiences? Evidence from Two Studies on Perceived Teaching Quality and Emotional Experiences
No full textAlthough teacher motivation is posited to matter for students’ learning experiences, this remains largely uninvestigated, particularly in higher education. In two studies, we analyzed the role of higher education teachers’ achievement goals and self-efficacy for students’ learning experi-ences. In Study 1 (k = 166 teachers, n = 2,106 students), we assessed teachers’ motivations at the semester start, and students’ course-specific perceptions of teaching quality (overall rating, learning) and emotions (joy, boredom) at the semester end. Latent multilevel modeling indicat-ed favorable associations for teachers’ self-efficacy, but not for their goals. In Study 2 (k = 96 teachers, n = 16,009 students), we assessed the same constructs and measured students’ learn-ing experiences weekly regarding 828 specific course sessions. Additionally, we included teach-ers’ session-specific motivations. Results replicated the effects of self-efficacy on the teacher-level and suggested that performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals primarily matter on the level of specific sessions. This affirms the relevance of teacher motivations and il-luminates the importance of their specificity
Probability Discounting and Adherence to Preventive Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textThis brief communication reports preliminary findings of a study conducted to investigate the relationship between probability discounting and people’s adherence to preventive behaviors recommended during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 112 adults living in Brazil completed an online survey composed of a Probability Discounting Questionnaire (PDQ) and a 10-item assessment of how often they complied with the health authorities’ recommendations (e.g., wash the hands frequently, practice social distancing, stay at home as much as possible, wear a mask when in public). Data analysis included the participants who showed higher (n = 40) and lower (n = 40) adherence to preventive behaviors. Results revealed that probability discounting measures are related to people’s preventive actions. Participants in the higher adherence group present significantly larger risk aversion indices (i.e., larger h values) than participants in the lower adherence group. Also, participants who showed lower adherence to preventive behaviors were more likely to perform risky choices in the PDQ than participants who demonstrated higher compliance with health authorities’ recommendations. These preliminary results suggest that probability discounting can play an essential role in people’s self-protective decisions during a global health emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic
Tolerant moral judgment drives evolution of collective action
No full textIn public goods games, the benefit of collective action is shared among all participants, and this creates strong incentives to defect. Theoretical studies and economic experiments predict that without enforcement mechanisms, cooperation in public goods games should collapse. But human societies have repeatedly resolved collective action dilemmas through social norms and institutions. Humans condition their social behavior on the moral reputations of other individuals, and the reputations themselves reflect their past behavior. Here I show how Indirect Reciprocity mechanisms based on group reputations and group-level norms can evolve to promote collective action in public goods games. Individual reputations reflect moral judgments of social behavior within groups, according to the prevailing social norm. Only three norms previously studied as part of Indirect Reciprocity in pairwise games can sustain public goods investments, and their performance depends on how tolerant individuals are to occasional antisocial behavior within groups. When members of the society have predominantly tolerant moral views towards groups, only the norm that abstains from judgment in morally ambiguous interactions (known as Staying) can sustain collective action
Measuring User Experience - Overview and Comparison of two Commonly Used Questionnaires
No full textSince the turn of the millennium User Experience (UX) has emerged in the field of human computer interaction as an extension to the classical concept of usability. This new approach tries to grasp the user’s experience as whole also considering factors beyond the usefulness of a product, such as pleasure derived from the interaction with it. Given the fairly young age of the field, scientific tools for accurate measurements are still rare and a lot of questions are brought up when it comes to the quality of the current scientific tools used in the field of UX (Bargas-Avila & Hornbaek, 2011). The goal of this Bachelor’s thesis is to take a closer look at two commonly used questionnaires in the field of UX and compare them both with each other as well as with theoretical literature on scale development and questionnaire construction. In a first step, the two questionnaires VisAWI (Moshagen & Thielsch, 2010) and AttrakDiff (Hassenzahl, Burmester, & Koller, 2003) will be examined closer in terms of their development and validation process. These particular questionnaires were chosen because they both aim to measure UX in one form or another, their authors tried to construct and validate the questionnaires in a scientific way, and they are now available online for use by both researchers as well as practitioners (www.AttrakDiff.de; www.VisAWI.de). This means that even if their specific focus is different, the VisAWI’s focus lies on aesthetics while the AttrakDiff focuses on the pragmatic and hedonic aspects of the user’s experience, their overall goal is to make accurate scientific measurements in the field of UX. In a second step, the two questionnaires will be compared, both with each other as well as with the best practice for questionnaire and scale development and validation as presented in current scientific literature. In the end, the goal would be to have a better understanding of what it takes for a scientific instrument to be created and whether or not the two scales in question meet the criteria