Token reinforcement: Translational research and application

The present paper provides an integrative review of research on token reinforcement systems, organized in relation to basic behavioral functions and economic variables. This type of functional taxonomy provides a useful way to organize the literature, bringing order to a wide range of findings across species and settings, and revealing gaps in the research and areas especially ripe for analysis and application. Unlike standard translational research, based on a unidirectional model in which the analysis moves from laboratory to the applied realm, work in the area of token systems is best served by a bidirectional interplay between laboratory and applied research, where applied questions inspire research on basic mechanisms. When based on and contributing to an analysis, applied research on token economies can be on the leading edge of theoretical advances, helping set the scientific research agenda.     

The China Puzzle: Falling Happiness in a Rising Economy

Over the 1990–2000 decade happiness in China plummeted despite massive improvement in material living standards. This finding contradicts the notion that income growth at low living standards leads to gains, not losses, in happiness. We explain this puzzle by drawing on a specific version of relative deprivation theory, the concept of “frustrated achievers.” Our major finding is that income inequality in China became increasingly skewed towards the upper income strata, so that related to the average income the financial position of most Chinese worsened. Consequently, financial dissatisfaction rose and became an increasingly important factor in depressing happiness. Other negative feelings emerging with rapid transitions, such as anomie and disaffection, show a less depressive effect on Chinese happiness. We conclude with some speculations about the applicability of our findings to transition economies in general.

Mainstream Economics and Sense-Making

This work presents a semiotic approach to the economy, underlining that any economic phenomena is at the same time a communicative act as it is contingent to sense-making.The article discusses this topic by focusing on a specific phenomenon studied by economics: the underground economy. It shows that the conceptualization of the underground economy in terms of sense-making processes offers a thought-provoking perspective for theoretical development. More in general, the discussion proposed makes it clear that in order to deepen our vision of economic phenomena in a more thoughtful and realistic way we need to rethink these phenomena as being reciprocally and circularly embedded in the semiotic flow of life. The economy is within sense-making and it is shaped by it; at the same time sense-making is within the economy, as its semiotic substance.

智能组织中的人机协同决策：基于人机内部兼容性的研究探索

智能时代已然来临。智能技术的发展正加速推动组织的智能化进程。越来越多的企业在生产和管理中采用智能技术以提高竞争力。在此背景下,人机协同工作日益普遍,人机协同决策成为新型组织决策方式。然而,当前智能组织中的人机协同决策还面临信任度低、可控性低、透明度低、协同度低等一系列问题,它们阻碍了决策质量、效率和体验的提升。本项目认为,人机兼容性,特别是人机内部兼容性,如认知兼容性、情感兼容性、价值兼容性等,或是影响人机协同决策绩效的根本原因。因此,本项目基于人机内部兼容性理论视角,综合采用决策心理学、认知科学、组织行为学等多学科理论与方法,通过一系列现场研究和模拟实验,力图揭示人机协同决策中存在的问题及其成因,探究人机协同决策中内部兼容性的影响因素和作用机制,进而提出若干人机协同决策优化方法。项目研究成果将有助于促进人机协同决策理论与人机兼容性理论的发展,提升人机协同决策绩效,推进组织决策的智能化进程。     

Item Selection With Collaborative Filtering in On-The-Fly Multistage Adaptive Testing

An important design feature in the implementation of both computerized adaptive testing and multistage adaptive testing is the use of an appropriate method for item selection. The item selection method is expected to select the most optimal items depending on the examinees’ ability level while considering other design features (e.g., item exposure and item bank utilization). This study introduced collaborative filtering (CF) as a new method for item selection in the on-the-fly assembled multistage adaptive testing framework. The user-based CF (UBCF) and item-based CF (IBCF) methods were compared to the maximum Fisher information method based on the accuracy of ability estimation, item exposure rates, and item bank utilization under different test conditions (e.g., item bank size, test length, and the sparseness of training data). The simulation results indicated that the UBCF method outperformed the traditional item selection methods regarding measurement accuracy. Also, the IBCF method showed the most superior performance in terms of item bank utilization. Limitations of the current study and the directions for future research are discussed.     

Tax communication and social influence: evidence from a British sample

An in‐depth, semi‐structured, interview study was conducted with 23 British employed and self‐employed taxpayers in various occupations. The study points to factors discouraging tax communication and proposes social norms as an alternative way of investigating social influence on taxpaying behaviour. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intervention research: Integrating practice guidelines with dissemination strategies-A rejoinder to Paul, Stuve, and Cross

Paul, Stuve, and Cross (this issue) misunderstood the importance of the token economy described by Morisse et al. (1996) because they evaluated it solely from a clinical research perspective. Intervention research is a broader paradigm that describes the development of effective interventions via a series of research activities including basic psychological research, clinical research, and dissemination research. Given the wisdom of intervention research, we address three points made by our colleagues: (a) mental health staff should not adapt empirically validated practice guidelines to meet the needs of their program; (b) total-quality-management strategies like Interactive Staff Training should not drive dissemination efforts because they have little empirical support; and (c) user-friendly programs are inappropriate and unethical because they ignore consumer interests.     

User involvement in research: power and compromise

The extent to which collaborative research can redress power imbalances is debated with reference to some of the relevant literature. Different ways in which research can be collaborative and power shared between researchers and participants are discussed. The benefits and challenges specific to collaboration in the area of mental health research are considered, illustrated with examples from research we conducted into the experience of taking antipsychotic medication. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

网络经济的伦理意蕴——网络经济特征的视角

与传统工业经济相比,网络经济具有信息网络所赋予的新的特点,同时又蕴藏着特定的道德内涵。从网络经济的特征的视角来看,我们可以发现网络经济中所蕴藏的“以人为本”、“服务顾客”的道德取向;合作双赢、利益共享的伦理理念;公正平等、和谐共处的价值导向;开放自由、共同发展的伦理方向。     

Controlling the Means of Production: The Urban Poor in An Age of Globalisation

Although the social variables of modernity and dependency theory have given way to neo-liberalism and globalism, life strategies of the urban poor in Latin America have not necessarily changed. At the same time, current sociological research reflects methodological distance in relation to the urban poor as a subject. This article employs the methodological advantages of observation/participation to show that the strategies of the urban poor in one of Latin America's largest slums are coherent and integrated, and reveal an inner logic that not only allow them to survive the harsh realities of globalism, but enable them contribute to popular urban culture. Self-help housing, the informal economy, and grassroots participation in Pentecostal Religion are inextricably bound by providing marginalised people a degree of autonomy and control over the production of certain cultural forms and their meaning.