Theory Claims Research Articles

The ‘genetic’ effect: Can parties’ past organizational choices condition the development of their internal distribution of power in the cartel party era? Evidence from Finland, 1983–2017

This study critically assesses the claim of the cartel party theory that the party in central office (PCO) has lost its powers to the party in public office (PPO) as parties have adapted to various changes in their operating ‘environment’. The study argues that a party’s tendency to adapt is conditioned by the party’s ‘genetic’ heritage: if the PCO assumed a prominent position during the party’s institutionalization, it can more likely stand against external pressures compared to a PCO that has been traditionally weak. The study compares the development (1983–2017) of two Finnish parties, which hail from polar ‘genetic’ traditions: a social democratic mass party and a conservative cadre party. The change of the party ‘environment’ has strongly supported PCO’s decay. Unlike earlier longitudinal studies on intra-party power balance, the study assesses all significant power dimensions and finds a contradictory development: while the distribution of leadership positions and resources increasingly favour the PPO in both parties, significant ‘genetic’ differences in the distribution of formal decision-making power have not diminished at all. If statutory regulations matter, the results suggest that the PPO cannot ‘insulate’ like the cartel model expects in parties where the PCO’s strong role has been strictly codified.

Self-esteem, motivation and school attendance among sub-Saharan African girls: A self-determination theory perspective.

Sub-Saharan samples are severely under-represented in the psychological literature. Taking an ecological approach, the current study examines key propositions derived from self-determination theory in a sample of adolescent girls in Mozambique. As a framework theory, self-determination theory consists of six sub-theories. We test the main premises of two of these theories: organismic integration theory and basic psychological need theory. In line with organismic integration theory, we assess the role of intrinsic, extrinsic, introjected and identified motivation for school attendance. We also test the possible moderating role of the ecological variable resource scarcity. The second part of the study focuses on the main premise of the basic psychological need sub-theory, which states that satisfaction of the needs for relatedness, competence and autonomy underlies intrinsic motivation, goal-directed behaviour (school attendance) and well-being (self-esteem). The study also assesses the moderation of resource scarcity in these relationships. Results provide support for both sub-theories of self-determination theory. Resource scarcity is not found to moderate the relationships between motivation and attendance or between need satisfaction and well-being, motivation and attendance. Implications for the universality claim of self-determination theory, as well as for the field of international development aid, are discussed.

Without capital accumulation, is productive scale expansion possible

The expansion of productive scale is often funded by the immediate reinvestment of a depreciation fund. This phenomenon is called Lomann-Ruchti effect. The question is whether this is possible without additional investment or not. One theory claims this is attributable to the increased circulation of advanced capital, whereas, this article argues that the effect is realised by capital accumulation hidden behind depreciation procedures.

Without capital accumulation, is productive scale expansion possible

The expansion of productive scale is often funded by the immediate reinvestment of a depreciation fund. This phenomenon is called Lomann-Ruchti effect. The question is whether this is possible without additional investment or not. One theory claims this is attributable to the increased circulation of advanced capital, whereas, this article argues that the effect is realised by capital accumulation hidden behind depreciation procedures.

Reflections of Lev Shestov on the essence of freedom in the context of theology, philosophy and modern science

In his reflections on freedom, Lev Shestov considered any definition of freedom insufficient, which excludes the concept of arbitrariness, causeless action. Although he raises the source of the idea of freedom as arbitrariness (an arbitrary desire of a person violating the laws of nature) to the Jewish prophets, in reality it was taken by him from the reasoning of the hero of the novel by F. Dostoevsky, “Notes from the Underground.” The article proves that in the words of his hero, Dostoevsky objects to A. Schopenhauer in the concept of which all human actions are subject to strict causal laws, and freedom refers to the transcendental act of “choosing” one’s character, which determines the actions and remains unchanged throughout life. However, recognizing the strict regularity of all phenomena (and actions) within the world,one can see the highest human freedom in the ability to arbitrarily change the world as a whole. This is precisely what the hero of Dostoevsky, “not reconciling” with the laws of nature, has in mind, and it is precisely to this concept of freedom that Shestov comes to. The article shows that such an understanding of freedom has parallels in theology (in Kabbalah, in Sufism and in Christian Gnosticism), and also has some foundations in modern science: the quantum theory claims that the macroscopic world is the result of many acts of observation made jointly by all people.

The Perceptual Load Effect On Target Detection In Banner Blindness

Perceptual load theory claims that the processing of task-irrelevant information can be predicted by the level of perceptual load. If a particular task places a high demand on attention, the task-irrelevant stimuli processing can be prevented. That means that in high load condition the subjects are more likely to ignore distractors, while in low load task-relevant and task-irrelevant information is processed simultaneously. Though several studies showed that perceptual load can play a crucial role in inattentional blindness phenomenon, there is a lack of applied researches conducted on real-life tasks. Current study aimed implement load theory to a real-life task and to describe the effect it has on banner blindness, that has common grounds with inattentional blindness. Banner blindness is a phenomenon in usability studies which shows that subjects do not notice banners on the webpage despite their saliency. The study represents an important application of load theory to real-world behavior of Internet users. Participants were divided into low-load and high-load groups (that differed in number of presented stimuli) and asked go online shopping. At the critical trail, a banner appeared. The subjects under high load condition were expected to notice the banner less often, then under low load. The hypothesis was not supported. However, a tendency towards more reports about the banner’s presence can be seen in the low load group. We assume that if there are enough people who noticed the banner, we will be able to detect the effect of cognitive load on banner blindness.

An unaddressed phonological contradiction

Abstract There is general agreement on the main features of the process through which the phonology of modern standard Chinese has evolved over three millennia from that of Old Chinese. However, according to general linguistic theory, that phonological history is impossible: the theory claims that no human language can evolve in the manner in which Chinese is believed to have evolved. Furthermore, this particular strand of general linguistic theory has recently been corroborated through stringent statistical testing. Thus there is a glaring contradiction between two areas of scholarship, and to date there has been little recognition by the scholarly community of the need to resolve this contradiction, indeed little willingness to admit its existence. I argue that the contradiction is real and serious, and needs resolution.

Cognitive Semantic Study of the Preposition ‘Min’ in the Quran

The preposition ‘min’ is semantically more complex than what the traditional lexicaAl-syntactic approaches held it to be adverb or adverbial of place and time. This paper attempts to investigate the semantic complexity of the preposition ‘min’ from cognitive linguistic perspective to find out its semantic classification and linguistic symmetric patterns. Data has been taken from the Quran to investigate the claim of conceptual metaphor theory that sensorimotor neural structures generates the preposition ‘min’ on the image schema of source-path-goal. The findings reveal that the source-pathgoal image schema is not only at work in the use of preposition ‘min’ in spatio-geometric sense, but also to map the abstract concepts, emotional states and relationship with supernatural entities in spatial terms in the Quran. However, the data also show idiosyncratic behaviour of preposition, attaining different semantic arguments in different linguistic contexts, which strengthen the argument that language use cannot be abridged to static mapping in the human conceptual system. This paper recommends future research on the same preposition or other prepositions to investigate further the source-path-goal image schema in the Quran and Arabic language.

Beïnvloedt een meer of minder sympathieke protagonist de transportatie van de lezer?

Abstract Does a more or less sympathetic protagonist influence transportation of the reader? Two new replication studiesThree previous studies into presenting a protagonist in a story as more or less sympathetic have not provided a clear picture of the effects that the portrayal of the protagonist may have on transportation, and via transportation on story-consistent beliefs. Results from a first study (N = 83) by De Graaf and Hustinx (2015) suggest that the way the protagonist is portrayed ‐ as sympathetic, unsympathetic or neutral ‐ influences the extent to which readers are transported into a story. No significant effects on beliefs of the readers were found, however. In a direct replication study (N = 79) and in a conceptual replication study (N = 81), Jansen, Nederhoff, and Ooms (2017) found results that supported the hypotheses from the original study to a limited extent. In view of the relatively small numbers of participants in these three studies and the resulting limited power of the statistical tests two new, larger-scaled replication studies were conducted. A direct replication study was performed (N = 238) with the same versions of the story as used in the original study, and also a conceptual replication study (N = 248) with three versions of a new story. Again, the hypotheses from the original study were supported to a limited extent. A meta-analysis of all five studies revealed a large indirect positive effect of story version on transportation via empathy, when comparing the versions with a sympathetic protagonist with the versions with an unsympathetic protagonist. When comparing the neutral story versions with the versions with an unsympathetic protagonist, the meta-analytic indirect effect was medium sized. Other than what the Affective Disposition Theory (Raney, 2004; Zillmann, 1994; 2006) claims, the story versions with a neutral protagonist did not lead to an absence of emotional responses. Furthermore, the outcomes add to the Transportation-Imagery Model (Green & Brock, 2002; Van Laer, De Ruyter, Visconti, & Wetzels, 2014). While this model does not include concrete suggestions of story characteristics that lead to transportation, our studies show that a protagonist who is portrayed as sympathetic may contribute to the level of transportation that readers experience, be it indirectly through empathy.

Clarifying the Concept of Well-Being: Psychological Need Satisfaction as the Common Core Connecting Eudaimonic and Subjective Well-Being

Interest in the experience of well-being, as both a research topic and as a policy goal, has significantly increased in recent decades. Although subjective well-being (SWB)—composed of positive affect, low negative affect, and life satisfaction—is the most commonly used measure of well-being, many experts have argued that another important dimension of well-being, often referred to as eudaimonic well-being (EWB), should be measured alongside SWB. EWB, however, has been operationalized in at least 45 different ways, using measures of at least 63 different constructs. These diverse measurement strategies often have little overlap, leading to discrepant results and making the findings of different studies difficult to compare. Building on the Eudaimonic Activity Model, we propose a tripartite conception of well-being, distinguishing between eudaimonic motives/activities, psychological need satisfaction, and SWB, arguing that the needs category provides a parsimonious set of elements at the core of the well-being construct. Based on the self-determination theory claim that all human beings share evolved psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, we show that satisfaction of all three needs directly affect SWB and other health and wellness outcomes, can efficiently explain the effects of various behaviors and conditions upon well-being outcomes, and are universally impactful across cultures. We conclude that routinely measuring psychological needs alongside SWB within national and international surveys would give policymakers a parsimonious way to assess eudaimonic dimensions of wellness and provide powerful mediator variables for explaining how various cultural, economic, and social factors concretely affect citizens’ well-being and health.

Do Japanese Economic Puzzles Validate Modern Monetary Theory?

Modern monetary theory (MMT) claims that a monetary sovereign government has an unlimited financial capacity to purchase whatever it wishes and fulfil its future financial obligations. It is impossible for a monetary sovereign government to be insolvent or go bankrupt. MMT advocates often cite Japan as a successful experiment of the MMT, because it is the economy that has the highest public debt among the OECD (Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development) economies and experienced dramatic growth in high-powered money supply since 2013, but has low inflation, stable yen exchange rates and zero interest.

Interpretive Theorizing on the Development of Management Accounting in Russia: Constructivist Grounded Theory Approach

In this paper, the author discusses a method of interpretive theorizing to construct a grounded theory and discusses its application to management accounting research. It is exemplified by the study of the development and the current state of management accounting in Russia and is conducted by the author with a main phase of investigation between 2014 and 2019. These studies employed various methods including archival research, an extended survey study, and a longitudinal case-based study of particular companies, all of them having produced diverse results. An interpretive approach, as demonstrated in this paper, is an effective vehicle to pursue the ambitious goals of reconciling findings from multiple studies while searching for patterns among them. Such a process allows the author to explore, formulate, and explain a holistic, but a systematic picture of the state and development of management accounting and contribute to the development of theory. The paper demonstrates how the author applied a cornerstone of the qualitative analysis—various coding approaches—to develop categories as foundations for formulated theoretical propositions. The emerging theory claims that the influence of external factors on the development of management accounting in Russia has been spontaneous and unsustainable, while management accounting competencies of the decision-makers of mid-sized companies (internal factors) were not sufficient to arrange a proper management accounting function, which led to the “managerial dead-end” and created a “vicious circle” that does not give rise to financial leadership.

The Real Facts Supporting Jeanne Calment as the Oldest Ever Human.

The 122 years and 164 days age claim of Jeanne Calment, the world oldest person who died in 1997, is the most thoroughly validated age claim. Recently the claim that families Calment and Billot organized a conspiracy concerning tax fraud based on identity fraud between mother and daughter gained international media attention. Here, we reference the original components of the validation as well as additional documentation to address various claims of the conspiracy theory and provide evidence for why these claims are based on inaccurate facts or unrelated to the death of Yvonne Billot-Calment, the daughter of Jeanne Calment, in 1934. Also, countering the contention that the occurrence of a 122 year old person is statistically impossible, mathematical models are presented which also supports the hypothesis that though extremely rare, as would be expected for the oldest person ever, Jeanne Calment's age claim is plausible. In total, the quality of the investigation supporting the claim of conspiracy as well as the mathematical analysis aiming to back it do not reach the level expected for a scientific publication.

Increased Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Decreased Zygomaticus Activation in Response to Disliked Smiles Suggest Top-Down Inhibition of Facial Mimicry.

Spontaneous facial mimicry is modulated by many factors, and often needs to be suppressed to comply with social norms. The neural basis for the inhibition of facial mimicry was investigated in a combined functional magnetic resonance imaging and electromyography study in 39 healthy participants. In an operant conditioning paradigm, face identities were associated with reward or punishment and were later shown expressing dynamic smiles and anger expressions. Face identities previously associated with punishment, compared to reward, were disliked by participants overall, and their smiles generated less mimicry. Consistent with previous research on the inhibition of finger/hand movements, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was activated when previous conditioning was incongruent with the valence of the expression. On such trials there was also greater functional connectivity of the mPFC with insula and premotor cortex as tested with psychophysiological interaction, suggesting inhibition of areas associated with the production of facial mimicry and the processing of facial feedback. The findings suggest that the mPFC supports the inhibition of facial mimicry, and support the claim of theories of embodied cognition that facial mimicry constitutes a spontaneous low-level motor imitation.

The aesthetics of garden conservation


 The aim of the article is to discuss two theories of garden conservation. The difference between them lies in how they conceive of gardens and consequently what values they find worthy of protection. The ‘idealistic’ theory treats gardens as cultural objects similar to other works and demands that the form originally designed should be restored. The ‘materialistic’ theory claims that gardens can be only conserved because of their processual qualities. The goal of conservation is then not to set back the garden process or stop it, but to keep it on and direct it. The author’s contention is that the latter theory is better because it corresponds with what gardens are, namely natural environments arranged by humans. This definition of a garden is discussed in the first part of the article.

The aesthetics of garden conservation

The aim of the article is to discuss two theories of garden conservation. The difference between them lies in how they conceive of gardens and consequently what values they find worthy of protection. The ‘idealistic’ theory treats gardens as cultural objects similar to other works and demands that the form originally designed should be restored. The ‘materialistic’ theory claims that gardens can be only conserved because of their processual qualities. The goal of conservation is then not to set back the garden process or stop it, but to keep it on and direct it. The author’s contention is that the latter theory is better because it corresponds with what gardens are, namely natural environments arranged by humans. This definition of a garden is discussed in the first part of the article.

Central Bank Swap Lines: Evidence on the Effects of the Lender of Last Resort

Theory claims that central-bank lending programs put ceilings on private lending rates, reduce ex post funding risk, and encourage ex ante investment. Testing for these effects is challenging. Most programs either have long precedents or were introduced in response to large shocks with multiple effects. Swap lines between advanced-economy central banks are a significant new policy through which a source central bank provides source-currency credit to recipient-country banks using the recipient central bank as the monitor and as the bearer of the credit risk. This paper shows that, in theory, the swap lines should put a ceiling on deviations from covered interest parity, lower average market funding costs, and increase inflows from recipient-country banks into assets denominated in the source-country's currency. Empirically, these are tested using difference-in-difference strategies that exploit variation in the terms of the swap line over time, variation in the central banks that have access to the swap line, variation in the exposure of different securities to foreign funding, and variation in banks' exposure to dollar funding risk. The evidence suggests that the lender of last resort is very effective.

The politics of the workshop: craft, autonomy and women’s liberation

The women’s liberation movements that emerged in Britain in the late 1960s are rarely thought of through their relationship with technology and technical knowledge. To overlook this is to misunderstand the movement’s social, cultural and economic interventions; it also understates how the technical environment conditioned the emergence of autonomous, women-centred politics. This article draws on archival evidence to demonstrate how the autonomous women’s liberation movement created experimental social contexts that enabled de-skilled, feminised social classes to confront their technical environment and the deficits they experienced within it. The context for forging such politics was the workshop. More than a one-off, skill-sharing event, the workshop was a mobile habitus, adapted from a Marxist craft politics that prioritised the distribution of collective knowledge and responsibility and enabled the realisation of women's self-determination and autonomy. The workshop was discursively extended through women-authored publications in the 1970s and 1980s and designated a specific orientation within knowledge that supported women to practise a range of technical knowledge and gain expertise. An important, and largely forgotten political legacy of women's liberation is its world-making activisms: how it created social contexts that supported de-skilled, feminised classes to substantially intervene, shape and re-build their environments. Such histories can inspire how we practise politics today within an environment characterised, some theorists claim, by dramatic scales of de-skilling and dispossession.

The Lump Sum: A Theory of Modal Parts

A lump theorist claims that ordinary objects are spread out across possible worlds, much like many of us think that tables are spread out across space. We are not wholly located in any one particular world, the lump theorist claims, just as we are not wholly spatially located where one’s hand is. We are modally spread out, a trans-world mereological sum of world-bound parts. We are lump sums of modal parts. And so are all other ordinary objects. In this paper, I explore lump theory and investigate five arguments against it. These arguments may be the primary reasons why lump theory (as envisioned here) has not been widely accepted––or extensively explored––until now. I maintain that these arguments can be answered, and moreover, that accepting lump theory has distinct advantages, making it a competitive view in its own right.

Max Horkheimer’s Critical Theory’s Emancipatory Claim in relation to Karl Marx’s Claim of Emancipation

The Frankfurt School of Social Research was an offshoot of the orthodox Marxist intellectual movement. Historically, the main force that gave life to Critical Theory is undeniably Karl Marx’s impetus for emancipation, however, in its course of development Critical Theory has abandoned its initial method and the roots of its life force. Nonetheless, there remained that authentic Marxist desire to not only look at the world with philosophical criticism but to change the world in praxis. Thus, the impetus of social transformation through emancipation remained to be alive in the Critical Theory which has fully distanced itself from its foundation. The question runs in line with the historical link between the umbilical tie of Critical Theory with its mother, that is, Scientific Marxism. This question at hand is the problem of the promise of emancipation, since, historically it has been a fact that the claim for economic emancipation did not come about as predicted by Marx, thus, the critical theorists’ claim for socio-cultural emancipation must also be subjected to criticism. Hence, the big question is, “can there be any materialist ground for the viability of the emancipatory claim of critical theory?” With the long history of development of critical theory as a mode of social evaluation from the time of Horkheimer’s radical shift away from the Marxist body to the present era of new social intersubjectivity, can it provide any specific, instance, of emancipation from socio-cultural oppression in a specific society at any given time in history where any form of critical theory has been applied and have proved itself successful. If the answer is to the negative, then, it must be asked why and to what reason/s does it fall short of its promises, without prejudice to the validity of critical theory itself. If, however, this present quest is an invalid question so much that it does not apply in the manner that the first question presupposed the dilemma of emancipation, then the new question would be “how does Critical Theory wish to achieve its promise of emancipation?”