The patentability of human beings: the effect of a proposed exclusion in the Patents Act 1953

The author critically examines the debate over whether "human beings" ought to be patentable. The article outlines the choices between excluding just the patenting of whole organisms or parts of organisms. After considering New Zealand, Canadian, and European Union Patent law, the author concludes that at very least New Zealand must statutorily prevent the patenting of whole organisms.     

Early Adolescent Social and Overt Aggression: Examining the Roles of Social Anxiety and Maternal Psychological Control

This study examined the factors contributing to the self-reported use of social and overt aggression among 745 10–14-year-old European American and Latino adolescents. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that dispositional social evaluative anxiety was uniquely positively associated with boys’ and girls’ social aggression and negatively associated with boys’ overt aggression. Maternal psychological control was positively associated with overt aggression for all boys, but with social aggression only for Latino boys. Although maternal psychological control also was associated with girls’ use of overt aggression, this effect was stronger among older than among younger females. The relationship between maternal psychological control and girls’ social aggression was mediated by social evaluative anxiety. Implications for elevated levels of social evaluative anxiety are discussed within a social cognitive theory perspective and for maternal psychological control within a social learning theory perspective.Received Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Michigan State University. Research interests include the interacting influences of individual differences and contextual factors on child and adolescent aggression.Research interests include examining the familial and peer systemic influences on child and adolescent aggression, individual differences influencing child and adolescent aggression, and interventions to reduce bullying behavior in peer groups.Received Ph.D. in School Psychology from Mississippi State University. Research interests include developing interventions in the classroom for disruptive behaviors, increasing prosocial behaviors, and decreasing aggression.     

Gender Stereotypes,Political Leadership,and Voting Behavior in Tunisia

Political Behavior - Although female political representation in the Arab world has nearly doubled in the last decade, little is known about how voters in the region view female politicians and...     

A comparison of the Russian and Canadian experiences with defining “organized crime”

The dangers stemming from organized crime have been widely acknowledged in the academic literature, government reports, as well as in popular discourse. This article focuses on the legislative efforts to define “organized crime” undertaken in Russia and Canada. Neither country has yet devised a satisfactory legislative definition of the varied phenomenon that is organized crime. Definitions in both jurisdictions are problematic due to their sweeping scope and insufficient delineation of a zone of risk for the accused as well as law enforcement officials. However, striking a proper balance between security concerns and human and civil rights in both countries will be problematic due to constant political pressure to “get tough on crime” as well as due to the amorphous nature of the phenomenon of organized crime.

Racial Resentment and Whites’ Gun Policy Preferences in Contemporary America

Our study investigates how and why racial prejudice can fuel white opposition to gun restrictions. Drawing on research across disciplines, we suggest that the language of individual freedom used by the gun rights movement utilizes the same racially meaningful tropes as the rhetoric of the white resistance to black civil rights that developed after WWII and into the 1970s. This indicates that the gun rights narrative is color-coded and evocative of racial resentment. To determine whether racial prejudice depresses white support for gun control, we designed a priming experiment which exposed respondents to pictures of blacks and whites drawn from the IAT. Results show that exposure to the prime suppressed support for gun control compared to the control, conditional upon a respondent’s level of racial resentment. Analyses of ANES data (2004–2013) reaffirm these findings. Racial resentment is a statistically significant and substantively important predictor of white opposition to gun control.     

Helping to sort the liars from the truth‐tellers: The gradual revelation of information during investigative interviews

Research examining detection of verbal deception reveals that lay observers generally perform at chance. Yet, in the criminal justice system, laypersons that have not undergone specialist investigative training are frequently called upon to make veracity judgements (e.g., solicitors; magistrates; juries). We sought to improve performance by manipulating the timing of information revelation during investigative interviews. A total of 151 participants played an interactive computer game as either a truth‐teller or a deceiver, and were interviewed afterwards. Game information known to the interviewer was revealed either early, at the end of the interview, or gradually throughout. Subsequently, 30 laypersons individually viewed a random selection of interviews (five deceivers and five truth‐tellers from each condition), and made veracity and confidence judgements. Veracity judgements were most accurate in the gradual condition, p < .001, η² = .97 (above chance), and observers were more confident in those judgements, p < .001, η² = .99. Deceptive interviewees reported the gradual interviews to be the most cognitively demanding, p < .001; η² = .24. Our findings suggest that the detection of verbal deception by non‐expert observers can be enhanced by employing interview techniques that maximize deceivers' cognitive load, while allowing truth‐tellers the opportunity to respond to evidence incrementally.     

Eigenverantwortung statt wohlfahrtsstaatlicher Absicherung

In den Diskussionen um die Grenzen des Wohlfahrtsstaats wird zunehmend von einer Rekommodifizierung gesprochen. Konstatiert wird, dass sich ein Wandel in der arbeitsmarktpolitischen Eingliederung vollzieht, der auf einer normativen Aufwertung von Eigenverantwortung beruht. Wie weit dieser Wandel geht und wie er zu deuten ist, wird indes kontrovers debattiert. Diese Frage wird aufgegriffen und hinsichtlich ihrer Bedeutung für gesellschaftliche Teilhabe diskutiert. Die These ist, dass sich mit dem Gestaltwandel sozialer Absicherung erwerbsbezogene Absicherungsmodi und ihre stratifizierende Wirkung ver?ndern. Die auf aktivierende Eigenverantwortung zielende Wohlfahrtsstrategie bricht, so gilt es zu zeigen, weitgehend mit den bislang gültigen Zielen der Lebensstandard- und Statussicherung. Sie mündet in eine Prekarisierung materieller und institutioneller Teilhabe und verweist daher auf eine steigende Bedeutung von Erwerbsarbeit für gesellschaftliche Teilhabe.     

Escape from the Laboratory: Ethnographic Methods in the Study of Elder and Family Court Mediation

The randomized control trial and pre/post research designs are commonly used in applied research and provide common standards for mediation evaluation research. These approaches have many benefits, particularly for evaluating whether mediation as an experimental intervention works or not. Scholars and practitioners, however, want to know not only whether mediation can work as expected but also how it works in a range of real‐world contexts over time. In these contexts, ideal experimental conditions are less likely to occur. Challenges include such circumstances as the following: the number of cases suitable for statistical comparison is insufficient; researchers lack control over how mediation is implemented; researchers lack clear, objective variables to measure; and the variability of mediation outcomes when studied over time makes it difficult to draw conclusions about them. My research has involved each of these challenges, and I have used ethnographic research as a way to evaluate mediation in these contexts. In this article, I explain ethnographic methods and present two studies as examples of mediation evaluation research that began with a standard program evaluation design, and then incorporated ethnography to allow more complete data collection and analysis. My purpose here is not to argue that experimental methods in mediation evaluation research should be displaced but rather to demonstrate how ethnographic methods can be used when the conditions necessary for standard evaluation cannot be met. The two studies used as examples are from an elder mediation study in Ghana and a family court mediation study in the United States.     

The Return of Prejudice in Europe's Regions: The Moderated Relationship between Group Threat and Economic Vulnerability

Using data from 16 countries and employing multilevel analysis that encompasses the national, regional, and individual levels, we find that both economic and social factors trigger anti-immigrant attitudes among Europeans. Regional per capita GDP is positively correlated with tolerant attitudes while the regional unemployment rate drives prejudice. We find a moderating relationship between immigrant population size and per capita GDP, which suggests that, as the size of the immigrant population increases, prejudice rises but only in poorer regions. In more affluent regions, an increase in the immigrant population corresponds to increased tolerance.