The Utopianism of Hamilton's State of Needs: on rights,deliberation, and the nature of politics

Abstract

This article explores the role and conception of politics in Lawrence Hamilton's The Political Philosophy of Needs (Cambridge, 2003), including his critique of the 'rights-preference couple' and of rights in general; his critique of deliberation; and his view regarding the role of political philosophy. It argues that his theory rests on a remarkably high epistemic, moral and political confidence in the state, or rather in what states might be capable of becoming; equally, it rests on an underexplored understanding of the nature of politics itself. The article also criticizes Hamilton's approach to needs by comparing it to the needs approach of Wiggins and the capabilities approach of Alkire, arguing that the difference is not as great as Hamilton believes. Finally, it is suggested that Hamilton needs additional elements to his argument to show how a state of needs could be psychologically and politically self-sustaining.     

Invariance of cognitive triage in the development of recall in adulthood

Past research has demonstrated that cognitive triage (weak-strong-weak recall pattern) is a robust effect that optimises children's recall. The aim of the current research was to determine whether adults’ free recall also exhibits triage and whether cognitive triage is less marked with older than younger adults’ recall. Younger and older adults memorised 16 unrelated words until all items were recalled perfectly. The triage pattern existed for both the younger and older adults’ recall and there was evidence for age differences in triage. Our results are consistent with claims of greater verbatim forgetting and increased susceptibility to output interference with age in adulthood. Further research is needed to determine whether fuzzy-trace theory adequately explains the ageing of triage and what factors play a role in the development of this pattern of recall in adulthood.     

Sales Manager Behavior Control Strategy and its Consequences: The Impact of Manager Gender Differences

Salesperson gender studies have consistently reported no differences. In contrast, a single-company study found several differences based on sales manager gender concerning salesperson attitudes, behavior, and outcome (Piercy, Cravens, and Lane 2001). The present research examines the sales manager gender issue across multiple companies from the perspective of sales managers. Sales units led by female managers display higher effectiveness. Female sales managers perform significantly higher levels of behavior-based control activities and display higher competence in this management approach, compared to male counterparts. There are few differences in managers’ assessments of salespersons’ behavior performance based on gender. Female sales managers do not show higher levels of organizational citizenship behavior as part of their management approach. Interestingly, no differences based on gender were found concerning several salesperson and organizational characteristics. These findings suggest that different selling environments are not affecting the study gender results. Several promising future research directions are discussed.     

What subjective experiences determine the perception of falling asleep during sleep onset period?

Sleep onset is associated with marked changes in behavioral, physiological, and subjective phenomena. In daily life though subjective experience is the main criterion in terms of which we identify it. But very few studies have focused on these experiences. This study seeks to identify the subjective variables that reflect sleep onset. Twenty young subjects took an afternoon nap in the laboratory while polysomnographic recordings were made. They were awakened four times in order to assess subjective experiences that correlate with the (1) appearance of slow eye movement, (2) initiation of stage 1 sleep, (3) initiation of stage 2 sleep, and (4) 5 min after the start of stage 2 sleep. A logistic regression identified control over and logic of thought as the two variables that predict the perception of having fallen asleep. For sleep perception, these two variables accurately classified 91.7% of the cases; for the waking state, 84.1%.     

Couples Relationship Education and Couples Therapy: Healthy Marriage or Strange Bedfellows?

This paper focuses on issues sparked by the Couples Relationship Education (CRE) field moving toward a more clinical model to meet the needs of an increasing number of distressed couples coming to CRE programs. We review the concerns raised and recommendations made by Bradford, Hawkins, and Acker (2015), most of which push CRE toward a more clinical model. We address these recommendations and make suggestions for best practices that preserve the prevention/education model underlying research‐based CRE. The three main issues are couple screening, leader training, and service delivery models. Our suggested best practices include: conducting minimal screening including the assessment of dangerous levels of couple violence, training leaders with key skills to handle issues raised by distressed couples as well as other couples who may place additional burdens on leaders, providing referrals and choices of programs available to participants at intake and throughout the CRE program, and adding (rather than integrating) clinical services to CRE services for couples who desire additional intervention. Finally, throughout the paper, we review other key issues in the CRE field and make recommendations made for future research and practice.     

The Aftercare and School Observation System (ASOS): Reliability and Component Structure

This study examines the psychometric properties and component structure of a newly developed observational system, the Aftercare and School Observation System (ASOS). Participants included 468 children drawn from a larger longitudinal intervention study. The system was utilized to assess participant children in school lunchrooms and recess and various afterschool environments. Exploratory factor analyses examined whether a core set of component constructs assessing qualities of children’s relationships, caregiver involvement and monitoring, and experiences in school and aftercare contexts that have been linked to children’s behavior problems would emerge. Construct validity was assessed by examining associations between ASOS constructs and questionnaire measures assessing children’s behavior problems and relationship qualities in school and aftercare settings. Across both settings, two factors showed very similar empirical structures and item loadings, reflecting the constructs of a negative/aggressive context and caregiver positive involvement, with one additional unique factor from the school setting reflecting the extent to which caregiver methods used resulted in less negative behavior and two additional unique factors from the aftercare setting reflecting positivity in the child’s interactions and general environment and negativity in the child’s interactions and setting. Modest correlations between ASOS factors and aftercare provider and teacher ratings of behavior problems, adult-child relationships, and a rating of school climate contributed to our interpretation that the ASOS scores capture meaningful features of children’s experiences in these settings. This study represents the first step of establishing that the ASOS reliably and validly captures risk and protective relationships and experiences in extra-familial settings.     

Selection for Some,Facilitation for Others? Self-Control Theory and the Gang–Violence Relationship

Although self-control theory has been thought to be entirely consistent with the gang selection model, key theoretical predictions of the general theory imply gang selection effects for those with lower self-control and gang facilitation effects for those with higher self-control. This new hypothesis is tested among a large sample of jail inmates. Results indicate that self-control did not render the gang–violence relationship spurious for the sample as a whole. Gang membership had a significantly greater impact on violent crime among those with very high self-control, but there were still statistically significant gang facilitation effects for the other three self-control groups.     

Reading First kindergarten classroom instruction and students' growth in phonological awareness and letter naming–decoding fluency

This study investigated the role of the amount, content, and implementation of reading instruction provided by 17 kindergarten teachers in eight Reading First elementary schools as it related to students' progress (n = 286 students) on early reading assessments of phonological awareness and letter naming–decoding fluency. Children's phonological awareness and letter naming–decoding fluency grew significantly from fall to spring. On average, across the three 60 min observations, teachers provided over 30 min a day of phonological awareness and phonics instruction and 15 min a day of vocabulary and comprehension instruction. Global ratings of instructional quality revealed two implementation factors: explicit and individualized implementation and meaningful interactions around text. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that the amounts of specific instructional content, as well as how this instruction was implemented, was related to students' letter knowledge and phonological awareness skill growth.