Behavioural Sciences

Some of Law and Economics’ basic claims have come to be criticized as a result of empirical findings that question their viability. Particularly, the premise that agents consistently act rationally and with their self-interest in mind seems problematic. What the consequences of the criticism mean for Law and Economics’ tenability depends largely on the questions whether (1) some elements are unassailable to the alternative’s objections and (2) the alternative is a systematic whole. It is argued that Law and Economics may be salvaged, if it is minimized and its ambitions are tempered. This means focusing on the stable, a priori, elements inherent to it.

Perfectionists have shown increased negative affect after failure compared to nonperfectionists. However, little is known about how perfectionists react to repeated failure. This study investigated the effects of two forms of perfectionism—self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism—on 100 university students’ reactions to repeated failure (versus repeated success) examining three negative emotions: anxiety, depression, and anger. Results showed that socially prescribed perfectionism predicted increased anxiety, depression, and anger after initial failure and further increased anger after repeated failure. In contrast, self-oriented perfectionism predicted increased anxiety, but only after repeated failure. The findings suggest that both self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism are vulnerability factors predisposing individuals to react with increased negative affect after repeated failure.

This paper explores the role of gaze in coordinating turn-taking in mixed-initiative conversation and specifically how gaze indicators might be usefully modeled in computational dialogue systems. We analyzed about 20 minutes of videotape of eight dialogues by four pairs of ...

Perfectionism is a prevalent characteristic in athletes. Yet some researchers have argued that perfectionism in sports is maladaptive because it undermines athletes’ performance and stifles athletic development. This argument, however, neglects that perfectionism is a multidimensional characteristic and that only some dimensions of perfectionism are clearly maladaptive, whereas others are not. This review argues that perfectionism is comprised of two main dimensions―perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns (Stoeber & Otto, 2006)―that show different and unique pattern of relationships with athletes’ emotion, motivation, and performance. In support of this argument the review will present findings indicating that only perfectionistic concerns show unique positive relationships with competitive anxiety, fear of failure, and avoidance goal orientations. In contrast, perfectionistic strivings show unique positive relationships with self-confidence, hope of success, approach goal orientations, and performance in training and competitions. The findings suggest that only perfectionistic concerns are clearly maladaptive, whereas perfectionistic strivings may form part of a healthy striving for excellence. Implications for applied sport psychology are discussed as are open questions for future research.

Encouraging further research on the dimensional assessment of personality disorders (PDs), Section III of the DSM-5 introduced a hybrid model for the assessment of six PDs employing self-reports on 25 maladaptive personality traits (“DSM-5 personality traits”). Following suggestions that multidimensional perfectionism is an important characteristic across various personality disorders (Ayearst, Flett, & Hewitt, 2012), the present study investigated how personal (self-oriented) and interpersonal (other-oriented and socially prescribed) aspects of perfectionism predicted the DSM-5 personality traits in a sample of 311 university students. Multiple regressions (controlling for the overlap between the different forms of perfectionism) showed that socially prescribed perfectionism positively predicted the traits defining schizotypal, borderline, avoidant, and obsessive-compulsive PD; other-oriented perfectionism positively predicted the traits defining narcissistic PD; and both socially prescribed and other-oriented perfectionism positively predicted the traits defining antisocial PD. In contrast, self-oriented perfectionism positively predicted only one of the four traits defining obsessive-compulsive PD (rigid perfectionism). Showing that multidimensional perfectionism predicted all DSM-5 traits defining the personality disorders of Section III, the findings suggest that future DSM-5 updates may profit from including interpersonal aspects of perfectionism as a diagnostic criterion.

Research on worry during the past 15 years has revealed a remarkable amount of knowledge about this pervasive human phenomenon. Worry involves a predominance of verbal thought activity, functions as a type of cognitive avoidance, and inhibits emotional processing. Worry also produces not only anxious experience but depressive affect as well. Recent evidence suggests that the very private experience of worry is developmentally connected to enmeshed childhood relationships with the primary caregiver and is currently associated with significant interpersonal problems, especially those involving tendency to be overly nurturing to others. At the physiological level, worry is characterized peripherally by parasympathetic deficiency and autonomic rigidity and centrally by left-frontal activation.

À la manière d’un kaléidoscope, le savoir empirique sur les comportements humains permet de forger une vision renouvelée des enjeux intéressant les juristes. L’analyse comportementale du droit permet avant tout de nourrir la discussion sur l’efficacité des règles de droit, c’est-à-dire sur leur aptitude à atteindre leur but. Prendre en considération plus systématiquement les comportements dans l’élaboration et l’application du droit constitue une entreprise nécessaire et ambitieuse. La présente introduction à l’analyse comportementale du droit est une invitation à relever ce défi.

Objective: Although perfectionism is a prominent personality disposition, only a few longitudinal studies have investigated how perfectionism develops. Theoretical models and qualitative studies have posited that academic success is a developmental antecedent of perfectionism. Yet, quantitative studies tend to interpret the cross-sectional relationships as academic success being an outcome of perfectionism. In light of these gaps in the literature, the present study was the first to investigate the longitudinal relationships between perfectionistic strivings, perfectionistic concerns, academic achievement, and academic efficacy examining academic success as an antecedent of perfectionism. Method: The study examined 487 adolescents (aged 12-19 years, 54% female) using a crosslagged longitudinal design with three time points spaced 4-5 months apart. Results: Results showed that academic achievement predicted relative increases in both perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns, even when including academic efficacy. In addition, academic efficacy predicted relative increases in perfectionistic strivings. Discussion: This is the first study to show that academic achievement is a common factor in the development of perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns, whereas academic efficacy plays a role only in the development of perfectionistic strivings. Conclusions: Implications of the findings for the development of perfectionism are discussed.

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"It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it." --John Steinbeck Scientific research confirms what people have always known: answers, ideas, and inspiration do come to us in dreams. Harvard psychologist and world-renowned dream specialist Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D., offers this rich collection of examples of how the world's most creative practitioners in art, music, film, science, literature and other fields have used the revelations of their dream life to inform their work. Dr. Barrett offers insights showing us how to encourage lucid, meaningful dreaming, and how to apply the meanings of our dreams to solving problems--from the everyday to the extraordinary. This is the stuff dreams are made of. In the visual arts, Jasper Johns couldn't find his unique artistic vision until he dreamed it in the form of a large American flag. Salvador Dali and his colleagues built the startling new genre of surrealism out of dreams. Kubla Kahn dreamed the design for his stately pleasure dome; thousands of years later, Lucy Davis, chief architect at a major firm, continues the tradition of dreaming designs into life in her extraordinary buildings. Film is a fertile avenue for dreams: "Twice I have transferred dreams to film exactly as I had dreamed them," confides director Ingmar Bergman, as have Federico Fellini, Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa, Robert Altman, and John Sayles. From Mary Shelley's terrible nightmare, which became Frankenstein, to Stephen King's haunting dream as a little boy, which led to his first bestseller, countless writers have consulted the Committee. Musicians from Beethoven to Billy Joel and Paul McCartney have whistled the Committee's tunes. In science, physiologist Otto Loewi dreamed the medical experiment that earned him the Nobel Prize. In sports, Marion Jones dreamed she'd broken a world record, then brought the dream to life. Gandhi translated his dream of resistance into a movement that changed the world. Since Freud, we take it for granted that our dreams reflect our past. In The Committee of Sleep, Barrett reveals how dreams can also tell us about our future potential--and how to reach it.

For decades, consumer law has been the stepchild of the legal discipline, neither public nor private law, not classic but post-modern, not 'legal enough', 'too political', in short, a discipline at the margins, suffering from the haut gout and striving to change society through law for the 'better'. Just like Atreyu, Frodo Baggins, Luke Skywalker, the Ghostbusters, Naruto Uzumaki, Dreamworks' dragon trainer, and many others, consumer law is the underdog carrying the burden of saving the day. Times are changing. We are perhaps reaching the point of the story where the world comes to understand the real value of consumer law in a society that is dominated and dependent on private consumption. Publishing houses and ever more numerous researchers from public and private law perspectives, working on national, European and international law are getting into what is no longer a new legal field. Now the time is ripe for a whole Handbook on Consumer Law Research which brings methodology to the fore. This first chapter pursues three aims, firstly to embed consumer law research into the overall development of legal research since the rise of consumer law in the 1960s, secondly to explain our choice to focus on the behavioural turn in consumer law and present the range of contributions in this volume that engage with the upcoming strand of research, thirdly to explore how the recent attention to behavioural insights can be combined with a pre-existing body of doctrinal research and social legal research in consumer law and outline avenues for further research.

Abstract Adaptive structuration theory is offered as a theoretical foundation for research on group decision support systems. Building on the theories of structuration advanced by several European social theorists, the theory of adaptive structuration attempts to explain how technology affects group and organizational processes and resultant outcomes. Rather than viewing technology as a direct, causal influence on human behavior, this theory holds that it is the active use of technology by people which determines observable outcomes

This chapter is the introduction to the book Nudge and the Law: A European Perspective. It sets the scene for an exploration of the legal implications of the emergent phenomenon of behaviourally informed intervention. More precisely, we focuses on the challenges and opportunities it may offer to the policymaking of the European Union. This dual focus on law and on Europe characterises our endeavour. We take as our starting point the current debate around "Nudging", which mainly comprises two strands of enquiry: when is it legitimate for States to use psychology to inform policy? (the legitimacy debate) and, to the extent that it is legitimate, how can behavioural insights in practice be incorporated into the decision making processes? (the practicability debate). We explain why a European perspective differs somewhat from a US American perspective and introduce the structure of the volume. The book contains contributions which analyse what behavioural insights might bring to EU law, both at a horizontal level and at a sectoral level. It endeavours to present existing research in a manner that is accessible both to EU law specialists who are not yet familiar with behavioural sciences and to behavioural lawyers who are not specialists in EU law.

Jane's Intelligence Review, January 2015

- Governments and law enforcement agencies are exploring new ways to tackle organised crime, including the use of social and behavioural science.
• Behavioural sciences can be deployed to both online and offline criminality, with psychological concepts particularly useful in investigations into child sexual exploitation.
• Such an approach can be used to develop effective strategies for preventing and disrupting crime, and will also facilitate alternative approaches to fighting criminal exploitation of technology and cyber-crime.

The chapter presents a review of the research literature examining perfectionism from a motivational perspective. Taking the two-factor model of perfectionism—differentiating the two higher-order dimensions of perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns—as a basis, we present analyses of the differential relationships that the two dimensions show with key motivational constructs focusing on achievement motivation and self-determination theory. As regards achievement motivation, we examine the relationships with achievement motives (hope of success and fear of failure) and achievement goals (task and ego goals, 2 × 2 and 3 × 2 achievement goals). As regards self-determination theory, we examine the relationships with autonomous and controlled motivation and with the different regulatory styles associated with intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation. Based on the findings of our review, we propose that the differential motivational qualities of perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns are important to understand why perfectionism is a “double-edged sword” that may energize or paralyze people, motivating some perfectionists to engage and others to disengage. We conclude that perfectionism research may profit from seeing perfectionism from a motivational perspective, perhaps even regard perfectionism as a motive disposition (need for perfection) whereby perfectionistic strivings represent the approach-oriented and autonomous aspects, and perfectionistic concerns the avoidance-oriented and controlled aspects.

Over the past 25 years, a number of multidimensional measures of perfectionism has been developed. Based on different models of multidimensional perfectionism, these measures contain different numbers of subscales, and most of the time the different subscales bear different names. This presents a confusing situation to researchers unfamiliar with the often complex details of the perfectionism literature who want to conduct research on perfectionism in sport, dance, and exercise and need to make a decision as to what measure to use to capture individual differences in multidimensional perfectionism. The aim of the present chapter is to give researchers some guidance in this decision. To this aim, the chapter will (a) review the available multidimensional measures that have been published in international peer-reviewed journals and (b) provide a critique of these measures. In addition, the chapter will provide (c) recommendations on which measures to use and guidance on which decisions researchers have to make when using these measures to capture perfectionism in sport, dance, and exercise.

HR managers are responsible towards maintaining a high-performance environment in organizations. Performance behaviors for success recognize conflict management as an important competency for leadership. Identifying ways to help involved parties work through conflicts, responding to opposing views in a non-defensive manner and identifying areas of agreement between them, are some key behavioral indicators. Conflict resolution frequently through 'mediation' is enumerated as one of the core competency for HR managers Re-framing is the art and science of employing words and actions in order to alter a person's perspective of a specific situation (conflict) with the intention of initiating a change in behavior.

This paper discusses the purpose, use and some valuable techniques for re-framing. Re-framing is a tool that can make a huge difference in contentious negotiations. Learning and refining this skill enables shifting a conversation from position to interests, thereby enhancing negotiations and ensuing desirable results.

Perfectionism has been associated with higher levels of psychological maladjustment and disorder in adolescence and lower levels of subjective well-being and psychological adjustment. Perfectionism, however, is a multidimensional disposition, and not all dimensions of perfectionism are necessarily unhealthy or maladaptive. This entry presents an overview about perfectionism in adolescence and the main dimensions of perfectionism: perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns. It shows how the two dimensions are related to subjective well-being, psychological adjustment and maladjustment, and disorder. Moreover, it informs on how perfectionism can be measured and what factors influence the development of perfectionism in children and adolescents. Finally, the entry will discuss what is still unknown about perfectionism and why the notion that perfectionism can be healthy or adaptive is controversially debated.

[AMAZON LINK BELOW TO BOOK ITSELF -- TOC and book summary in downloadable .doc]      Our instincts—for food, sex, or territorial protection— evolved for life on the savannah 10,000 years ago, not in today’s world of densely populated cities, technological innovations, and pollution. We now have access to a glut of larger-than-life objects, from candy to pornography to atomic weapons—that gratify these gut instincts with often-dangerous results. Animal biologists coined the term “supernormal stimuli” to describe imitations that appeal to primitive instincts and exert a stronger pull than real things, such as soccer balls that geese prefer over eggs. Evolutionary psychologist Deirdre Barrett applies this concept to the alarming disconnect between human instinct and our created environment, demonstrating how supernormal stimuli are a major cause of today’s most pressing problems, including obesity and war. However, Barrett does more than show how unfettered instincts fuel dangerous excesses. She also reminds us that by exercising self-control we can rein them in, potentially saving ourselves and civilization.

Four studies investigating the convergent validity, discriminant validity, and relationship with age of the Social Desirability Scale-17 (SDS-17) are presented. Where convergent validity is concerned, SDS-17 scores showed correlations between .52 and .85 with other measures of social desirability (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Lie Scale, Sets of Four Scale, Marlowe-Crowne Scale). Moreover, scores were highly sensitive to social-desirability provoking instructions (job-application instruction). Finally, with respect to the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding, SDS-17 scores showed a unique correlation with impression management, but not with self-deception. Where discriminant validity is concerned, SDS-17 scores showed nonsignificant correlations with neuroticism, extraversion, psychoticism, and openness to experience, whereas there was some overlap with agreeableness and conscientiousness. With respect to relationship with age, the SDS-17 was administered in a sample stratified for age, with age ranging from 18 to 89 years. In all but the oldest age group, the SDS-17 showed substantial correlations with the Marlowe-Crowne Scale. The influence of age (cohort) on mean scores, however, was significantly smaller for the SDS-17 than for the Marlowe-Crowne Scale. In sum, results indicate that the SDS-17 is a reliable and valid measure of social desirability, suitable for adults of 18 to 80 years of age.

Perfectionism is a multidimensional personality disposition characterized by striving for flawlessness and setting exceedingly high standards of performance accompanied by overly critical evaluations of one’s behavior. Perfectionism is a complex characteristic. It comes in different forms and has various aspects. This chapter has a dual purpose: It aims to serve as an introduction to “The Psychology of Perfectionism” (the edited book you are holding in your hands) and an introduction to the psychology of perfectionism (what the book is about). To these aims, I first present a brief history of perfectionism theory and research. Then I introduce the two-factor theory of perfectionism—differentiating perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns—with the intention to provide readers with a conceptual framework that may serve as a “compass” guiding them through the different models and measures of perfectionism they will encounter in this book. Going beyond the two-factor model, I next introduce three aspects of perfectionism that are important for a comprehensive understanding of perfectionism: other-oriented perfectionism, perfectionistic self-presentation, and perfectionism cognitions. The chapter will conclude with a brief overview of the organization of the book and the contents of the individual chapters.

This “Indian Mutual Fund Investor’s Awareness
Study” uses a behavioral science lens to understand
the reasons why the Indian investor has a sub-optimal
engagement with Mutual Funds (MFs), despite the fact
that they are one of the most attractive investment
avenues available for long-term wealth creation.
Specifically, the study aims to improve retail
penetration in Indian MFs by understanding the:
1. Quality of awareness among potential and existing
investors
2. Barriers to engaging with mutual funds and the role
of regulations
3. Role of communication and intermediaries in
influencing decisions related to investment in
mutual funds

The Multidimensional Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory (MPCI; Kobori & Tanno, 2004) is a promising new instrument developed in Japan to assess perfectionism cognitions regarding
personal standards, pursuit of perfection, and concern over mistakes. The present study examined reliability and validity of the English version of the MPCI, the MPCI-E (Kobori, 2006), in a
sample of 371 native English speakers. A confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the MPCI-E’s three-factorial oblique structure. Moreover, correlations with measures of dispositional perfectionism and past-week positive and negative affect provided first evidence of the MPCI-E’s convergent and differential validity. Finally, hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that the MPCI-E showed incremental validity in explaining variance in positive and negative affect above
variance explained by dispositional perfectionism. Overall, the findings provide first evidence for the reliability and validity of the MPCI-E as a multidimensional measure of perfectionism cognitions that has the potential to further our understanding of positive and negative cognitions in perfectionism.

The aim of the present study was to investigate how basic moral sensitivity in bullying, moral disengagement in bullying and defender self-efficacy were related to different bystander behaviors in bullying. Therefore, we examined pathways that linked students' basic moral sensitivity, moral disengagement, and defender self-efficacy to different bystander behaviors in bullying situations. Three hundred and forty-seven teenagers completed a bullying survey. Findings indicated that compared with boys, girls expressed higher basic moral sensitivity in bullying, lower defender self-efficacy and moral disengagement in bullying. Results from the SEM showed that basic moral sensitivity in bullying was negatively related to pro-bully behavior and positively related to outsider and defender behavior, mediated by moral disengagement in bullying, which in turn was positively related to pro-bully behavior and negatively related to outsider and defender behavior. What differed in the relations between outsider and defender behaviors was the degree of defender self-efficacy.

Looking at the brief history of management, various schools and theories of management have emerged, some broad and some narrow in scope while some are specialized. Dejon (1979, p.7) cites that each thought or theory has its own perspectives yet none is easily comprehended. These thoughts offer several standpoints.

Transactional Analysis is a widely recognized form of modern psychology and one of the most accessible psychological theories in this regard. In short, TA is designed to promote personal growth and change. helping people reach their full potential in the life.
Transactional Analysis (TA) refers to the theory of psychoanalysis and therapy in which social transactions are analyzed to determine the ego state of the communicator (be it a parent, child, or adult) and create an understanding of behavior. A transactional analyst teaches the communicator to alter the ego state to solve emotional problems. This contrasts with Freudian psychoanalysis which emphasis on increasing awareness of the contents of subconsciously held ideas.

There is a widespread idea that in grounded theory (GT) research, the researcher has to delay the literature review until the end of the analysis to avoid contamination – a dictum that might turn educational researchers away from GT. Nevertheless, in this article the author (a) problematizes the dictum of delaying a literature review in classic grounded theory, (b) presents arguments for using extant literature in the substantive field within a constructivist grounded theory, and (c) suggests data sensitizing principles in using literature, which are: theoretical agnosticism, theoretical pluralism, theoretical sampling of literature, staying grounded, theoretical playfulness, memoing extant knowledge associations, and constant reflexivity.

The construct of clinical perfectionism, conceptualized as a one-dimensional construct (Shafran, Cooper, & Fairburn, 2003), has drawn considerable debate because of the associated critique of multidimensional perfectionism’s relevance for clinical theory and research. Hence Dickie, Surgenor, Wilson, and McDowall’s (2012) finding that the Clinical Perfectionism Questionnaire (CPQ), designed to measure clinical perfectionism, was two-factorial and thus multidimensional makes an important contribution to the debate. The present study aimed to replicate Dickie et al.’s finding examining the CPQ’s factorial structure in 316 university students. In addition, the study examined the CPQ’s convergent correlations with dispositional perfectionism, perfectionism cognitions, and perfectionistic self-presentation. CPQ total scores showed large-sized positive correlations with dispositional perfectionism and perfectionism cognitions demonstrating convergent validity. However, the study confirmed that the CPQ was two-factorial with Factor 1 mainly capturing perfectionistic strivings and Factor 2 mainly capturing perfectionistic concerns, thus questioning the CPQ’s construct validity. Together with Dickie et al.’s findings, the present study’s findings suggest that—if the CPQ is a valid measure of clinical perfectionism as conceptualized by Shafran et al. (2003)—the construct of clinical perfectionism and its dimensionality need to be reconsidered.

Hewitt and Flett’s 45-item Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS; Hewitt & Flett, 1991, 2004) is a widely-used instrument to assess self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism. With 45 items, it is not overly lengthy, but there are situations where a short form is useful. Analyzing data from 4 samples, this article compares 2 frequently used 15-item short forms of the MPS—Cox et al.’s (2002) and Hewitt et al.’s (2008)—by examining to what degree their scores replicate the original version’s correlations with various personality characteristics (e.g., traits, social goals, personal/interpersonal orientations). Regarding self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism, both short forms performed well. Regarding other-oriented perfectionism, however, Cox et al.’s short form (exclusively comprised of negatively worded items) performed less well than Hewitt et al.’s (which contains no negatively worded items). It is recommended that researchers use Hewitt et al.’s short form to assess other-oriented perfectionism rather than Cox et al.’s.

In a first psychological investigation of moral perfectionism, Yang, Stoeber, and Wang (2015) adapted items from the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale to differentiate perfectionistic personal moral standards and concern over moral mistakes. Examining a sample of Chinese students, Yang et al. found that personal moral standards showed unique positive relationships with moral values, virtues, and judgments, whereas concern over moral mistakes did not. The present study aimed to replicate Yang et al.’s findings in a sample of Western students (N = 243), additionally including measures of moral identity and moral disengagement. Furthermore, the study examined whether moral perfectionism explained variance in moral attitudes beyond general perfectionism. Results largely replicated Yang et al.’s findings. Personal moral standards (but not concern over moral mistakes) showed unique positive relationships with moral values, virtues, and judgments and a unique negative relationship with moral disengagement. Furthermore, moral perfectionism explained significant variance in moral attitudes beyond general perfectionism. The present findings suggest that moral perfectionism is a personality characteristic that is relevant in both Asian and Western cultures and explains individual differences in moral attitudes beyond general perfectionism.