scholarly journals Revisiting the life of things: A cognitive semiotic study of the agency of artefacts in Amazonia

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-52
Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Mendoza-Collazos ◽  
Göran Sonesson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Field Study ◽  
Special Form ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Material World ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
The Moment

Many contemporary scholars have recently defended the idea that the agency of things is symmetrical and equivalent to human agency. We propose an alternative approach to artefacts’ agency based on a field study concerned with contextually situated observations of the process of design of artefacts in Amazonia. By means of participant observation and interviews, we address the role of artefacts in relation to human agency. In so doing, we focus on the human-unique capacity for design as it is related to cognitive resources such as intentionality, decision-making, planning, and volitional adaptations of the material world to human purposes. We argue that such cognitive resources are ultimate manifestations of human agency. The findings allow us to conclude that artefacts possess a special form of agency, which operates in different ways from the agency of true agents. This agency is derived: it depends on the actions of true agents, with either function as remote intentions or are required for the artefact to work at the moment of use. Thus, the relation between artefacts and agents is asymmetrical. Given that the derived agency of artefacts allows people to expand their own agency, we propose the notion of enhanced agency for the prosthetic incorporation of artefacts into the agentive capabilities of human agents.

scholarly journals Heart and Mind: Essential Components in Sound Decision-Making

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 364-364
Author(s):  
Michaela Clark ◽  
Julie Hicks Patrick ◽  
Michaela Reardon
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Quality ◽  
Cluster Solution ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Cluster Membership ◽  
Essential Components ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Affective Components ◽  
Heart And Mind

Abstract Consumer tasks permit an ecologically-valid context in which to examine the contributions of affective and cognitive resources to decision-making processes and outcomes. Although previous work shows that cognitive factors are important when individuals make decisions (Patrick et al., 2013; Queen et al.), the role of affective components is less clear. We examine these issues in two studies. Study 1 used data from 1000+ adults to inform a cluster analysis examining affective aspects (importance, meaningfulness) of making different types of decisions. A 4-cluster solution resulted. In Study 2, we used affective cluster membership and cognitive performance as predictors of experimental decision-making outcomes among a subset of participants (N = 60). Results of the regression (F(2, 40) = 6.51, p < .01, R2 = .25.) revealed that both the affective clusters (b = .37, p = .01) and cognitive ability (b = -.30, p = .04) uniquely contributed to the variance explained in decision quality. Age did not uniquely contribute. Results are discussed in the context of developing measures that enable us to move the field forward.

scholarly journals Temporal experience modifies future thoughts: Manipulation of Libet’s W influences difficulty assessment during a decision-making task

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eve A. Isham
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Decision Time ◽  
List Type ◽  
Temporal Experience ◽  
Temporal Index ◽  
Perceived Difficulty ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Decision Difficulty

Past studies have employed the subjective experience of decision time (Libet’s W) as an index of consciousness, marking the moment at which the agent first becomes aware of a decision. In the current study, we examined whether the temporal experience of W affects subsequent experience related to the action. Specifically, we tested whether W influenced the perception of difficulty in a decision-making task, hypothesizing that temporal awareness of W might influence the sense of difficulty. Consistent with our predictions, when W was perceived as early or late, participants subsequently rated the decision difficulty to be easy or difficult, respectively (Exp.1). Further investigation showed that perceived difficulty, however, did not influence W (Exp.2). Together, our findings suggest a unidirectional relationship such that W plays a role in the metacognition of difficulty evaluation. The results imply that subjective temporal experience of decision time modifies the consequential sense of difficulty.HighlightsPerceived timing of decision (W) can bias the metacognition of difficulty evaluation in a decision-making task.Defined as a temporal index of consciousness, time W’s influence on difficulty evaluation reflects the possibility that the role of consciousness is to modify subsequent thoughts and behaviors.Explicit attention is necessary for the timing of decision (W) to be consciously experienced and effectively influential on subsequent thoughts.

scholarly journals Evaluate the performance of the Heads of Maintenance Department at Ministry of awqaf & Islamic affairs in the mosques of Qatar in the Light of Total Quality Management: تقييم أداء رؤساء إدارة أعمال صيانة المساجد بوزارة الأوقاف في قطر على ضوء إدارة الجودة الشاملة

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mamoun Youssef Salem
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Quality Management ◽  
Total Quality Management ◽  
Field Study ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Total Quality ◽  
Continuous Evaluation ◽  
Maintenance Work ◽  
Good Standard

This Research Paper aims to evaluate the Performance of the Heads of Maintenance Department of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs in the mosques of Qatar in light of the Total Quality Management (TQM) principals. To achieve this goal, the researcher conducted a field study consisting of a questionnaire containing 32 questions. The study targeted a random sample of 263 individuals (Stake Holders) in three grand mosques at different praying times and locations to measure their understanding about the role of the Maintenance Department and its employees, and the extent of involvement, as mosque users, in the process of decision-making. In addition, the level of their knowledge about the maintenance work was also studied. After analyzing the data, the most important results have been concluded; That There is a strong relationship between continuous evaluation and good performance of the Heads of Maintenance, and the External users are very important in improving and evaluation performance process. Finally, the most important recommendations is that the Heads of Maintenance should implement in all areas and at all levels TQM in order to reach a good standard of performance, and to adopting ambitious programs to increase the interaction and awareness of the internal and external users and to establish solid understanding about mosques maintenance among the users.

scholarly journals PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION FROM THE STANDPOINT OF DETERMINISTIC SOCIAL SENSE (ARCHETYPAL APPROACH)

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (14) ◽  
pp. 124-131
Author(s):  
Aleksej Valentinovich Dovgan’
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Natural World ◽  
The People ◽  
Social Adaptability ◽  
Relevant Role ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Moment

The features and the role of deterministic social sense in the context of the archetypical approach are considered in the article; the specifics of the existence of the above-mentioned phenomenon in relation to public administration are presented. The nature, principles of the functioning of archetypes as a direct, pragmatic decision-making factor of the personality are represented. It is argued that archetypes are significantly different from those historically established or transformed by human characters, whose senses are not mentally inherited, but transmitted from generation to generation. The emphasis is placed on the relevance of the archetypal approach for research in the management sector in general and deterministic social sense — in particular. The author emphasizes that the archetype is a direct pragmatic factor in personal decision-making, acting as a created internal complication that ensures the course of certain socially deter mined processes in the human brain. Attention is focused on the continuity of the concepts of “sense” and “culture”: from the moment of alienation of a person from the surrounding natural world, all thoughts, created things, found and used means and methods of actions are given meanings. Thus, the decision, that is, the choice, appears to be the natural basis for an individual’s being in ontological reality, acting as a necessary precondition for structuring his administrative, legal and so on needs in modern society. Further investigation of the archetypal approach to the study of the phenomenon of deterministic social sense is seen in the study of the features of citizens’ reflection on the images and symbols created by the government in order to achieve some behavioral manifestations in the latter, allowing more deeply and clearly understand the needs of the people, and also to update the relevant role of public administration in his life. At the same time, from the standpoint of social, psychological, culturological pragmatics etc., the archetype is the primary form of sense stratified according to the types described by Jung. This differentiation of this phenomenon is natural, due to its universalism, which allows us to speak about the degree of social adaptability of the latter.

Putting Inequality in Its Place: Rural Consciousness and the Power of Perspective

2012 ◽  
Vol 106 (3) ◽  
pp. 517-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATHERINE CRAMER WALSH
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Group Consciousness ◽  
Rural Residents ◽  
Public Opinion Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Limited Government

Why do people vote against their interests? Previous explanations miss something fundamental because they do not consider the work of group consciousness. Based on participant observation of conversations from May 2007 to May 2011 among 37 regularly occurring groups in 27 communities sampled across Wisconsin, this study shows that in some places, people have a class- and place-based identity that is intertwined with a perception of deprivation. The rural consciousness revealed here shows people attributing rural deprivation to the decision making of (urban) political elites, who disregard and disrespect rural residents and rural lifestyles. Thus these rural residents favor limited government, even though such a stance might seem contradictory to their economic self-interests. The results encourage us to consider the role of group consciousness-based perspectives rather than pitting interests against values as explanations for preferences. Also, the study suggests that public opinion research more seriously include listening to the public.

scholarly journals What Is the Role of Emotions in Educational Leaders’ Decision Making? Proposing an Organizing Framework

2020 ◽  
pp. 0013161X2093885
Author(s):  
Yinying Wang
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Educational Leaders ◽  
Leadership Preparation ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Organizational Contexts ◽  
Trait Affect ◽  
The Moment

Purpose: Emotions have a pervasive, predictable, sometimes deleterious but other times instrumental effect on decision making. Yet the influence of emotions on educational leaders’ decision making has been largely underexplored. To optimize educational leaders’ decision making, this article builds on the prevailing data-driven decision-making approach, and proposes an organizing framework of educational leaders’ emotions in decision making by drawing on converging empirical evidence from multiple disciplines (e.g., administrative science, psychology, behavioral economics, cognitive neuroscience, and neuroeconomics) intersecting emotions, decision making, and organizational behavior. Proposed Framework: The proposed organizing framework of educational leaders’ emotions in decision making includes four core propositions: (1) decisions are the outcomes of the interactions between emotions and cognition; (2) at the moment of decision making, emotions have a pervasive, predictable impact on decision making; (3) before making decisions, leaders’ individual differences (e.g., trait affect and power) and organizational contexts (e.g., organizational justice and emotional contagion) have a bearing on leaders’ emotions and decision making; and (4) postdecision behavioral responses trigger more emotions (e.g., regret, guilt, and shame) which, in turn, influence the next cycle of decision-making process. Implications: The proposed framework calls for not only an intensified scholarly inquiry into educational leaders’ emotions and decision making but also an adequate training on emotions in school leadership preparation programs and professional development.

Theme IV: International Politics and the Role of Law

2003 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 915-927
Author(s):  
David Kennedy ◽  
Helena Alviar ◽  
Joel R. Paul
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Legal Culture ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
The Moment

My thesis is that our problem is not a lack of law but a surfeit of law, that the situation of international political culture at the moment is not one in which we need to worry about making the legal culture more dense, rather that we should worry about finding sites and opportunities for increasing the possibility for politics, for contestation of the outcomes and procedures of the existing legal regime. The difficulty is how to do that. How does one build the possibility for politics, progressive or otherwise, in such a technocratic decision-making structure?

Effects of Acute Stress on Decision Making under Ambiguous and Risky Conditions in Healthy Young Men

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Cano-López ◽  
Beatriz Cano-López ◽  
Vanesa Hidalgo ◽  
Esperanza González-Bono
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Personality Factors ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Experimental Session ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Stress Effects ◽  
Before And After ◽  
And Control

AbstractAcute stress and decision making (DM) interact in life – although little is known about the role of ambiguity and risk in this interaction. The aim of this study is to clarify the effect of acute stress on DM under various conditions. Thirty-one young healthy men were randomly distributed into two groups: experimental and control. DM processes were evaluated before and after an experimental session. For the experimental group, the session consisted of an acute stress battery; and the protocol was similar for the control group but the instructions were designed to minimize acute stress. Cardiovascular variables were continuously recorded 30 minutes before the DM tasks and during the experimental session. Cortisol, glucose, mood responses, and personality factors were also assessed. Acute stress was found to enhance disadvantageous decisions under ambiguous conditions (F(1, 29) = 4.16, p = .05, η2p = .13), and this was mainly explained by the stress induced cortisol response (26.1% of variance, F(1, 30) = 11.59, p = .002). While there were no significant effects under risky conditions, inhibition responses differed between groups (F(1, 29) = 4.21, p = .05, η2p = .13) and these differences were explained by cardiovascular and psychological responses (39.1% of variance, F(3, 30) = 7.42, p < .001). Results suggest that DM tasks could compete with cognitive resources after acute stress and could have implications for intervention in acute stress effects on DM in contexts such as addiction or eating disorders.

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