Maastricht University - Open Journals
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The Effect of Frustration and Boredom on Self-Harming Behaviour
Get PDFDespite the increasing attention on self-harming behaviour, research lacks evidence-based understanding of factors that can influence or cause this phenomenon. This study focuses on the influence of boredom and frustration on self-harming behaviour. This was done by measuring the amount and intensity of self-administered electrical stimulation amongst 63 undergraduate psychology students. Frustration was manipulated with an unsolvable computer task and boredom with a movie. Participants in the frustration condition were expected to harm themselves more intensely, whereas participants in the boring condition were expected to harm themselves more frequently. For the induced boredom, there was an effect on the frequency of self-harming behaviour. However, the frustration manipulation demonstrated no effect on either intensity or frequency of self-harming behaviour by the participants. We argue that the effects of the induced frustration did not last long enough to have an effect on the later self-harming
Aachen’s Policies on Air Pollution: A Law and Economics Analysis
Get PDFThis article compares the merits of two opposing air pollution policies in Aachen through a law and economics approach. Based on Cole’s property rights regimes, the current Aachener Approach and the soon to replace it Low Emission Zone (LEZ) are characterized as incentive-based and command-and-control regulation respectively, and subsequently evaluated on their efficiency and effectiveness using local government reports and legislation, and theoretical law and economics literature. This cost-benefit analysis shows the LEZ to be less efficient and of questionable effectivity in achieving reduction of air pollution levels compared to the current Aachener Approach.
Irony\u27s Potential as Subversive Strategy: A Case Study of Anti-Racist Stand-Up Comedy
Get PDFIn this paper, I evaluate the potential of irony to subvert racist discourse.Irony is characterised by semantic forms that engage explicitand implicit language so as to communicate oppositional or contradictorymeanings for satirical or contentious purposes. This processis complicated as meaning often remains contested betweenthe author of a statement and its various interpreters. My analysis ofthe stand-up comedian Aamer Rahman’s work shows how irony canbe used by comedians in order to subvert dominant and exploitativediscourses. In particular, I illustrate how irony provides him with atool to evoke and simultaneously distance himself from anti-Muslimracist discourses. For white audiences with an interest in deconstructingtheir own complicity in racism, his comedy can functionas a Critical Public Pedagogy that enables critical self-reflection
The Implicit Incentive Effects of Promotion Opportunities on Effort Provision
Get PDFThis study attempts to find a relationship between the implicit incentives provided by promotion opportunities and employee performance. It focuses on two different settings in which these incentives are present, namely situations in which the tasks to be performed after the promotion are similar as compared to the current job’s tasks, as well as situations in which the tasks differ after the promotion. Both scenarios are analysed through two-step generalized method of moment tests using panel data from a Swiss retail bank between 2006 and 2012. From the analysis, two conclusions can be drawn. First, in situations in which the tasks to be performed after promotion are similar, the incentives provided by the promotion opportunity increase employees’ effort provision. Second, in situations in which the tasks to be performed after promotion are different, there is no significant effect on employees’ effort provision. In general, it appears that a distinction between the two settings should be made to enhance understanding of the promotion incentive and increase its effective use in practice. Future research can further investigate this relationship, for example by focusing on the effect of the incentive on changes in behavior that may not directly be related to employee performance or by further disaggregating the promotion incentive construct
“Prevention is Better than Cure”: Can Exercise Prevent Dementia?
Get PDFNeurodegenerative disorders such as dementia are among the ones for which no cure is found yet. Nevertheless, physical exercise in older adults has shown to be beneficial for enhancement of cognitive functions such as memory and learning. The underlying mechanism of these beneficial effects is suggested to be neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus in the hippocampus, a brain structure essential for memory function. It is suggested that physical exercise and therewith neurogenesis can work as preventing factors for dementia. This paper examines whether physical exercise can prevent dementia. Despite the evidence for improvement of cognitive functioning and neurogenesis after physical exercise, this paper highlights a gap of knowledge in this field with regards to evidence and research on neurogenesis in humans
A Pilot Study on the Effectiveness of a Heat-Pain Stimulus to induce Pain, Anxiety, and Fear
Get PDFWhile the majority of previous studies assessing pain-related variables in psychopaths used electric shocks, little is known about the effectiveness of alternative pain-inducing methods to increase emotional responses such as fear and anxiety. A small sample of healthy undergraduate men (N = 15) was recruited to assess the effectiveness of a heat stimulus to induce pain in an immediate versus delayed punishment paradigm. Although pain catastrophizing, anxiety, and threat of pain did not increase throughout the experiment, participants experienced a significant increase of fear of pain and pain intensity, indicating that the heat stimulus was effective in inducing pain. Furthermore, subjects were slower in initiating the pain stimulus during the first five trials, but no time difference was found during the 15 remaining trials. No correlation was found between psychopathic traits and pain-related variables, with the exception of inconsistent results within the Fearless Dominance factor. Findings are discussed in terms of improvement for a larger scale study involving psychopathic individuals
Liberty, Equality, Democracy? The supposed relationship between democratic institutions and income inequality
Get PDFThe democratic process was always praised for it supposedly reduces inequalities. Indeed, the voice given to citizens in the democratic decision-making process, enables the less favoured part of the population to have the political system addressing their demands. Among them, reducing inequalities inherent to any given system is often to be found in politicians’ electoral pledges. The democratisation of an unprecedented number of countries in recent history however, failed to produce expected results in terms of inequality reduction. Indeed, the United Nations find that that globally, income inequality rose steadily in the last two decades, whereas democracy has never been so widespread. This paper thus questions the pre- supposed existence of the role of democratic institutions on income inequalities reduction. A simple panel regression alone, does not seem to detect such an effect, however. The paper thus turns to possible causes of this insignificance, such as the endogeneity of democracy, and the reverse effect in the extreme cases. The resulting evidences do not provide for a consistent pattern either, it is argued. Hence, as a final specification, the sample is divided into regions with common or close history; regional patterns are uncovered, which suggests that although there is no systematic effect, when in specific conditions, the relationship may exist.
On The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Girard, and the relationship between desire and violence
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Small Riots - Reviewing an artwork by Barbara Kruger
Get PDFTo what extent can art still be subversive in the age of neoliberalism? Barbara Kruger’s “Untitled (The Meaning of Life is that it stops)“ shows that there is no easy answer to this question. My critical reading of the artwork examines the contrast between its visual appearance, congruent with advertisements in consumer societies, and its more earnest critique of their practices. Ultimately, I argue that Kruger seeks to do what any commercial seduction deliberately fails at: to press the viewer to make up their own mind, while admitting – in the spirit of postmodernism – that it is itself perhaps but another form of lure and persuasion, inevitably caught up in the system it sets out to oppose