Theory Claims Research Articles

A cross‐cultural test of competing hypotheses about system justification using data from 42 nations

AbstractSystem justification theory (SJT) is a thriving field of research, wherein the primary questions revolve around why individuals and groups are motivated to see the systems they depend on as just, fair, and legitimate. This article seeks to answer how accurate the postulates of SJT are when compared to competing self‐interest claims of social identity and social dominance theory. We addressed the ongoing debates among proponents of each theory by identifying who, when, and why individuals decide to system‐justify. We used data comprised of 24,009 participants nested within 42 countries. Multilevel models largely supported the competing claims of social dominance and social identity theories over SJT. The most robust findings were: (1) greater objective socioeconomic status (SES) was associated with greater system justification; (2) the consistent positive relationship between subjective SES and system justification was partially mediated by life satisfaction; and (3) both ends of the political spectrum were willing to system‐justify more when the political party they favored was in power. The results presented are used to discuss both the current state and the future directions for system justification research.

Digital payments, ownership structure, and bank performance: insights from Jordan

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the connection between digital payments, ownership structure, and bank performance in Jordan, as well as investigate the moderating role of the independent director in the said relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses data from 12 Amman stock exchange-listed commercial banks, covering the period from 2010 to 2023. This paper employs econometric analysis of panel data, including ordinary least squares (OLS) regression as the primary approach, as well as the generalised method of moments, the two-stage least square (2SLS), and the dynamic model to deal with causality and endogeneity issues in the proposed equations. This ensures that the results are valid.FindingsThe results indicate that digital payments and ownership structure have a significant positive connection with bank performance. Additionally, the independent director variable appears to play a substantial and positive moderating role in the link between ownership structure (e.g. institutional ownership) and bank performance. These results strengthen and support the claims of agency theory and the information systems success model.Practical implicationsOverall, this research helps stakeholders, bankers, managers, investors, customers, and policymakers, identify the influence of digital payment and ownership structure on bank performance in developing economies such as that of Jordan.Originality/valueThis investigation offers a unique understanding by illuminating how digital payment and ownership structure affect bank performance in a developing country such as Jordan. Additionally, it opens avenues for future research to delve into this literature domain in North African and Middle Eastern nations, with a particular focus on Jordan. This investigation is among the initial explorations in Jordan that aim to elucidate these relationships. On the theoretical level, it adds to the agency theory and IS model. It provides new insights into the dynamics of industry banking in developing nations (i.e. Jordan).

Testing the Deliberate Practice Theory: Does Practice Reduce the Heritability of Musical Expertise?

The deliberate practice (DP) theory claims that expertise essentially reflects the accumulated amount of deliberate practice, and that with sufficient practice, genetic influences on expertise will be bypassed. Thus, a core prediction of the DP theory is that genetic effects on performance decrease as a function of practice. Here, we test this prediction using music as a model domain. Musical expertise (measured with a musical auditory discrimination test) and lifetime practice hours were determined in 6471 twins including 1302 complete twin pairs. We fitted a bivariate Cholesky decomposition with practice hours as a moderator to determine to what extent genetic and environmental influences on musical expertise are influenced by practice hours. On average, 50% of individual differences in musical expertise were due to genetic influences, whereas shared environmental and residual influences each explained about 25%. Importantly, music practice significantly moderated these estimates. Variation in musical expertise decreased with more practice hours due to decreased shared environmental and residual variance. In contrast, the overall genetic component was unaffected by the number of practice hours. Consequently, the relative genetic contribution (heritability) increased with more practice hours. These findings are in contrast with predictions from the DP theory and suggest that genetic predisposition remains important for musical expertise even after prolonged practice.

Are self-conscious emotions about the self? Testing competing theories of shame and guilt across two disparate cultures.

The emotions of guilt and shame play major roles in forgiveness, social exclusion, face-saving ploys, suicide, and honor killings. Understanding these emotions is thus of vital importance. The outputs of guilt and shame are already well understood: Guilt motivates amends; shame motivates evasion. However, the elicitors and functions of these emotions are disputed. According to attributional theory, guilt and shame are intrapersonal emotions elicited when negative outcomes are attributed to controllable/unstable (guilt) or uncontrollable/stable (shame) aspects of the self. By contrast, functionalist theory claims that guilt and shame are interpersonal emotions for minimizing the imposition of harm on valued others (guilt) and the cost of reputational damage on the self (shame). Although there is confirmatory evidence consistent with both theories, evidence ostensibly supporting one theory has been argued to actually support the other. To solve this problem of data interpretation, here we report contrastive critical tests of the two theories performed on online participant pools in the United States and India in 2021 (N = 853). Results in both countries support functionalist theory over attributional theory, suggesting that the intrapersonal effects reported in the emotion literature are tributary or incidental to the interpersonal functions of guilt and shame. Functionalist theory presents a promising framework for understanding the interpersonal and intrapersonal aspects of guilt, shame, and other self-conscious emotions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Disentangling autonomy-supportive and psychologically controlling parenting: A meta-analysis of self-determination theory's dual process model across cultures.

Self-determination theory's (SDT) dual process model claims that parental autonomy support relates positively to child well-being, while psychologically controlling parenting is linked positively to child ill-being. We tested these claims using a combination of one-stage and univariate meta-analytic structural equation modeling with moderation (k = 238; n = 1,040, N = 126,423). In the univariate models, parental autonomy support was linked positively with child well-being, r = 0.30, 95% CI [0.26, 0.33], whereas parental psychological control was positively linked with child ill-being, r = 0.26, 95% CI [0.23, 0.28]. Consistent with SDT's dual process model, the one-stage model that controlled for the intercorrelations between predictors showed that parental autonomy support and psychological control had distinct links to child wellness outcomes. Parental autonomy support was linked positively with child well-being, even when accounting for psychological control, r = 0.26, 95% CI [0.20, 0.31], and parental psychological control was positively linked to child ill-being, controlling for autonomy support, r = 0.20, 95% CI [0.17, 0.23]. Crucially, the beneficial effects of parental autonomy support and the costs of psychological control applied across regions, degrees of national individualism and cultural hierarchy, as well as child developmental periods and sexes. These results help move the field beyond debates about whether autonomy is beneficial toward questions about manifestations of autonomy across groups and variations in its optimal support. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Analysis of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the speed of journals in the field of accounting sciences

Purpose: To analyze the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the speed of journals that publish articles in the accounting area through contingency theory. Methodology: This is documentary research. 31 journals were mapped and explored within the pandemic period from 2019 to 2022, with a total of 2,290 articles analyzed individually. As a strategy for data analysis, descriptive data analysis and content analysis were used in this research. Results: In the main findings of the research, it was found that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the investigated journals was 47% in relation to the average of days from the submission delivery and the acceptance of the research by the journal. In addition to it, it was found that in general, journals had an increase in average days in reviews of over 20%. Furthermore, when investigating these findings, it was found that the claims of the contingency theory for this phenomenon were confirmed, since Covid-19 brought a scenario of insecurity and new adaptations for all entities. Contributions of the Study: This research contributed to confirm the relationship between contingency theory and the speed of journal evaluations in Accounting sciences, especially in relation to uncertainties and adaptations found by organizations during the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the evidence collected has great value to students, professors, researchers, journal managers and the general public, because through the results found, there will be guidance for choosing to send articles today.

On Paradox: The Claims of Theory by Elizabeth S. Anker (review)

On Paradox: The Claims of Theory by Elizabeth S. Anker (review)

Intergenerational mental health effects of traumatic victimization in Nepal: A 3-D theory study

BackgroundIntergenerational transmission of trauma is a major focus of international research. Epigenetic, complex-trauma, and intergenerational abuse pattern transmission theoretical explanations all have existing empirical support. Three-D theory argues that in addition to trauma victimization severity, victimization invasiveness and exploitativeness have important independent effects. Moreover, 3-D theory claims that a positive 3-way interaction occurs between trauma victimization invasiveness, exploitativeness, and severity. This study examines the 3-D hypotheses in the context of intergenerational trauma effects on adolescent depression symptoms and suicidal ideation in generation two. Three-D theory may play a particularly important role in intergenerational trauma effects for female victims in the context of conservative South Asian sex role norms. ObjectiveTest for main effects, two-way, and three-way interaction effects of invasiveness, exploitativeness, and severity of traumatic victimization on intergenerational transmission to adolescent depression and suicidal ideation in generation two. Pathways from maternal depression and borderline personality symptoms as well as physical and sexual abuse and neglect of the adolescent child were also tested. Participantsand setting. Participants were a nationally representative, random, multi-stage cluster sample of 1089 Nepali mothers and their 15–17 year old adolescent children. MethodsRegression models with adjustments for clustering within municipality were used to test the hypotheses. ResultsOne in four Nepali adolescents had considered suicide; more than half had high depression scores. A three-way interaction effect between maternal trauma invasiveness, exploitativeness, and severity was positively associated with adolescent depression symptoms. A two-way interaction effect between exploitativeness and severity of maternal trauma was positively associated with adolescent suicidal ideation. Maternal depression, BPD symptoms, and very severe physical abuse of the adolescent were also associated with adolescent depression symptoms. ConclusionFurther research is needed to measure and investigate invasiveness, exploitativeness, and severity of traumatic victimization as they bear on intergenerational transmission of trauma. Examination of intergenerational transmission of self-concept as a potential vector is recommended.

Culture and class in contemporary Chinese psychotherapy

Working with US‐based psychoanalysts who instruct Chinese psychoanalytic trainees, some reject any discussion of ‘culture’ as a means by which patients avoid difficult material, whilst others draw a sharp contrast between ‘the Chinese mind’ and ‘the Western mind’. My discussion with Chinese psychoanalytic trainees suggests that although they often use a ‘China/West’ dichotomy to understand clinical work, they are more likely than their predominantly Euro‐American analytic trainers to look at this distinction in fluid terms affected by other differences. They often draw attention to the ‘type’ of person who is the typical client of psychoanalytic therapy in contemporary China: young, urban, cosmopolitan and financially solvent. This article investigates how Chinese psychoanalytic trainees’ perceptions of relevant differences in their practice vary depending on the conversational context, challenging both the universalist claims of traditional psychoanalytic theory and the recent emphasis on cultural differences in the field.

Exploring the effects of similarity in basic needs on moral judgment of characters

ABSTRACT While affective disposition theory (ADT) claims that moral judgment of a character is the key mechanism underlying enjoyment, we often enjoy stories where characters violate our moral standards (morally ambiguous characters, or MACs). Initial research suggests that similarity between MACs and viewers (e.g. sharing ethnicity) may increase moral approval. However, the effect of internal similarity (similarity in higher-order human qualities) on moral judgment of MACs is underexplored. Humans share three basic psychological needs but are motivated by these needs to different degrees. Thus, similarity in degree of sensitivity to a given need is an internal quality that participants can share with MACs. The effect of similarity in basic needs on moral judgment of MACs is examined in a posttest-only experiment with 185 participants. Similarity in basic needs had a small effect on moral judgment of MACs as people, although it had no effect on judgment of a MAC’s behavior.

The failure of Islamization policies in Turkey: a “Victory” of Secularization Theory?

ABSTRACT Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s aim to raise a pious generation has failed to achieve its objectives. On the contrary, relevant academic studies reveal that Turkish society is secularizing. Therefore, the present study seeks to explain the reasons why Erdoğan’s policy of Islamizing Turkish society failed despite him having the whole state apparatus at his disposal. Recent studies argue that this transformation is a reaction to the repressive policies of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi – AKP) and that the dissatisfaction with Erdoğan and AKP has turned into a parallel dissatisfaction with religion. However, this article argues that the secularization debates centering on hot politics are only a small part of the picture and that the modernization process, as the secularization theory claims, is behind the young generations’ disaffection with religion in Turkey. The article argues that Turkey has been experiencing a demographic transition and religious change similar to what occurred in regions where scientific developments, industrialization and urbanization, i.e., modernization, had occurred.

The Evolution of Faith and Ethics in Philosophy History: A Comparative Study of Kierkegaard, Augustine, and Greek Myths

This article explores the evolution of faith and ethics among philosophy history, based on the work of Sren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling. It argues that Kierkegaard's analysis of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac reveals the paradoxical and existential nature of faith, which challenges the rational and universal claims of ethical theories. Furthermore, it compares the story of Abraham and Isaac with the story of Agamemnon and Iphigenia, who were also asked to sacrifice their children by the gods. The different outcomes of these stories reflect different views of faith, ethics, and divine will would be remarkable. Another Christian philosopher is going to be mentioned, who is Sanctus Aurelius Augustinus. This article explores how both Augustine and Kierkegaard emphasise the role of grace and love in the life of faith, and how they understand faith as a personal and dynamic relationship with God, rather than a static and formal adherence to doctrines or rules. It is suggested that further insights are available by refection upon the question how they both acknowledge the limits and errors of human reason, and the need for humility and repentance in the face of God's mystery and mercy.

Understanding posthumous sperm retrieval during war through a terror management theory perspective

Terror Management Theory (Tmt, solomon et al., 1991) claims that individuals use three anxiety buffer mechanisms to regulate their death awareness – cultural worldviews, self-esteem, and proximity seeking. In this article, we use these three TMT anxiety buffers to explain the phenomenon of posthumous sperm retrieval, requested by spouses or parents, usually of young soldiers who died during their military service. Whereas this phenomenon has been known for some time, it increased dramatically in the initial days following the massacre conducted by the Hamas terrorist organization in Israel on October 7, 2023. We claim that this was an immediate reaction to this terror event, which posed a direct, existential threat to those who were exposed to the massacre and the soldiers who defended the country, but also to the entire Israeli society, as well as for Jews around the globe. We use interpretive phenomenology to qualitatively examine the phenomenon of retrieving sperm from dead young men, analyzing the requests to retrieve sperm posthumously as a sign of the need to provide these young men with symbolic immortality, on both personal and national levels. We integrate this explanation with the military ethos and the tendency of Israeli society to endorse familyist and pronatalist values to expand our understanding of this contemporary phenomenon in Israel.

How Officials Use Intelligence Analysis: A Situational Theory

What explains variation in how officials use intelligence analysis? How can one official acting on one issue within one bureaucratic and political reality seem alternately to use, misuse, and not use analysis at different times? This article proposes an answer by introducing a new theory and evaluating it with a plausibility probe centered on Robert McNamara’s experiences during the Vietnam War. The theory claims that officials use analysis adaptively to meet situational needs. It builds on research into the psychology of mindsets, emotions, and information processing to specify mechanisms of situational patterns of use—an account with marked implications for research and practice.

The Effectiveness of Hypnoanalgesia Using Conventional and Placebo Hypnosis Induction

The effectiveness of hypnosis-based pain management is well-established. However, mechanisms of action and specific effective components are not well understood. The sociocognitive theory of hypnosis proposes that the effectiveness of hypnosis for pain management is determined by the nonspecific features of response expectancy and context. We tested this claim by contrasting the effectiveness of 2 hypnoanalgesia procedures in a within subjects design using the cold pressor task. The 2 procedures were identical, including analgesic suggestions, except for the hypnosis induction used. One condition involved a well-established hypnosis induction, including suggestions for focused attention, relaxation, and deepening. The other condition included a sham induction procedure using only white noise. In our confirmatory analysis (N = 46), we found that pain tolerance increased compared to baseline equivalently in the conventional and sham induction conditions (mean increase 13.7 and 12.4 seconds respectively, average within subject difference −1.27 seconds, 90% confidence interval [CI] = −8.46, 5.90). This finding supports the claim of the sociocognitive theory considering that response expectancy for pain reduction was also equivalent between the conditions (average difference 2.30, 90% CI = −2.23, 6.84). However, self-reported hypnosis depth was greater in the conventional induction condition (average difference −.78, 90% CI: −1.36, −.07), which contradicts sociocognitive predictions. Our findings indicate that conventional procedural elements of hypnosis inductions, such as suggestions for focused attention, relaxation, and deepening, may not be necessary to achieve acute pain reduction in an experimental setting when the hypnosis intervention includes analgesic suggestions. PerspectiveThis study assessed the necessary effective components of hypnosis-based analgesia interventions. Our findings suggest that procedural features such as suggestions for focused attention, relaxation, and deepening may not be necessary for hypnoanalgesia as long as pain relief suggestions are present, and the hypnosis context and response expectancy are established. Trial registrationThis trial was registered on Open Science Framework with the registry number e96xk, available at https://osf.io/e96xk.

A decolonial critical theory of artificial intelligence

In this paper, I argue for a normative reconstruction, from a decolonial perspective of critical theory in Brazil and Latin America, of a democratic ethos that despite its weaknesses and normative deficits is capable of fostering an increasingly deliberative, participatory, and egalitarian democracy by making extensive use of new digital technologies (comprising both AI systems and digital governance). Its argumentative core boils down to the promotion of intersectional egalitarianism (socio-economic, gender, racial-ethnic, environmental) through digital inclusion, which seems only feasible to us from a perspective capable of accommodating the normative claims of a critical decolonial theory combined with a naturalistic view of sustainability, within a research program that I dubbed “mitigated social constructionism” in response to the phenomenological deficit of normative and naturalistic theories (including critical theory and neurophilosophy). If what matters is normativity, then to avoid the divide between naturalism and non-naturalist normativity one nonfoundationalist alternative is to resort to hermeneutical and procedural accounts of normativity as helpful clues to making sense of the naturalism-normativity problem, avoiding reductionist interpretations of both naturalism (Churchland) and normativism (Parfit).

Pathogen Avoidance and Outgroup Avoidance During the First Wave of the COVID‐19 Pandemic

AbstractBehavioral immune system (BIS) theory explains that humans possess an adaptive psychological mechanism that helps them stay away from potential sources of pathogens. The theory claims that potential sources of pathogens also include outgroups, such as racial and ethnic minorities, because outgroup members potentially carry infectious diseases to which ingroup members have not developed immunity. In order to examine this controversial claim, the current study investigated how outgroup avoidance was associated with other types of pathogen avoidance during the COVID‐19 pandemic. During the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic, participants from the United States (N = 386) responded to questions pertaining to pathogen threat, pathogen avoidance, and outgroup avoidance. The data were statistically analyzed to identify significant associations between those variables. The results indicated that outgroup avoidance was positively associated with avoidance of personal pathogen cues (i.e., social distancing) but no other types of pathogen cues (i.e., wearing a mask and washing hands). This result aligns with the recent theoretical argument that the outgroup avoidance activated by the BIS (e.g., xenophobia) is a byproduct of avoiding infected ingroup rather than outgroup individuals.

The reduction sentences are easy even within a Popperian view

Rudolf Carnap proposed three reduction rules to improve scientific language. Those rules indicate when it is correct to add a property in situations in which other properties are already had. Assuming the theory of mental models, it has been shown that the rules are not hard to use from the cognitive point of view. The key to argue that is to accept that the human mind works as dual-process theories claim. According to these theories, people can use two different systems. One of them implies effort but the other one does not. Thus, the idea is that Carnap’s reduction rules can be applied resorting just to the system not implying cognitive effort. This paper goes one step further and poses that even from a Popperian perspective the reduction rules keep not being difficult. One might think that falsifiability requires cognitive effort because it needs to address situations in which the sentences are false. However, this paper tries to explain that, following the theory of mental models, that is not hard if the sentences are conditionals, and the sentences in the reduction rules have conditional structures.

‘The Confucianization of law’ debate

ABSTRACT This Essay examines debates surrounding Qu Tongzu's ‘Confucianization of law’ theory. Qu's theory claims that Chinese law underwent a process of ‘Confucianization’ starting in the Han dynasty (202 BC–220 AD) and ending and culminating in the Tang dynasty (618–907), where the Confucian concept of li and other Confucian moral teachings were introduced and incorporated into the written law. I argue that Qu's theory should be properly characterised as a theory of descriptive jurisprudence and also a form of the mirror thesis. In light of this characterisation, this Essay then lays out the possible counterarguments that could be raised against Qu's theory and then situates existing scholarship in the debate in these categories. I then test Qu's theory using a case study about kinship concealment in traditional Chinese law The Essay then concludes by urging that the debate should include more jurisprudential approaches.

A Deconstructive Analysis of Edwin Robinson’s Richard Cory

This literary research focused on the deconstructive analysis of the poem of Edwin Arlington Robinson’s Richard Cory. This theory claims that language is everything and that language never leaves us with the reality of the referent. The Deconstruction criticism of the text in this paper followed three stages: Verbal, Textual, and Linguistic. “Richard Cory” is one of the poems written by Edwin Arlington Robinson. The poem talks about people's high and low social status in a particular community, physical appearance, and the reality of life. From the title to the poem's content, the readers can have different interpretations and meanings of it. Results have shown that Richard Cory's poem has gotten new meanings and interpretations based on the researchers' ideologies and subjectivities. This study concludes that the newly discovered and given meanings of “Richard Cory” can still have another alternative meaning based on another reader’s or person’s point of view.