L'information administrative au Québec: faits et interprétations

Sommaire. L'information administrative. dans nos sociétés. sodre de failles diverses. Une recherche, faite pour le compte du Ministère des Communications du Québec, a voulu éclairer ces failles en vue de les corriger. La principale composante de la recherche a consisté en 78 entrevues de groupe conduites auprès de hauts-fonctionnaires, de fonctionnaires de contact, et de clients privilégés de différentes entités administratives. De plus, 17 experts de différentes disciplines se réunirent pendant deux jours avec des fonctionnaires du Ministère des Communications et d'autres ministères pour tenter d'interpréter et de situer dans des contextes plus larges les problèmes de l'information administrative. Après avoir défini l'information administrative d'après un schéma de la communication empruntéà Roman Jakobson, l'article fait état des principales constatations qui ont été faites lors de la recherche. Ensuite sont présentées les diverses interprétations proposées par les experts: interprétations psychologiques, interprétations en termes de techniques de la communication, interprétations micro-économiques, et interprétations en termes de pouvoir. Les forces et les faiblesses de ces interprétations sont évaluées, après quoi est esquissée une analyse structurale, où l'insistance est mise sur la capacité qu'ont les acteurs d'imposer les contacts par où passe l'information administrative. Il est montré en conclusion comment cette analyse structurale permet d'intégrer les interprétations proposées par les experts, et comment elle pourrait être améliorée dans des recherches subséquentes. Abstract. Administrative information, in our societies, suffers from various shortcomings. A research project undertaken on behalf of the Quebec Department of Communications has tried to focus on these weaknesses in order to eliminate them. The main element of the research was 78 group interviews with senior officials, ‘contact’ civil servants, and privileged clients of various administrative entities. Furthermore, 17 experts in various disciplines met for two days with officials of the Department of Communications and other departments in an attempt to interpret and place in broader contexts the problems of administrative information. Administrative information having been defined according to a communication grid borrowed from Roman Jakobson, this article states the various facts established by the research. Then, the various interpretations offered by the experts are presented: psychological interpretations, interpretations in terms of communication techniques, micro-economic interpretations, and interpretations in terms of power. Strengths and weaknesses of these interpretations are evaluated, and then a structural analysis is attempted; it focuses on the actors' ability to impose the contacts channelling administrative information. In conclusion it is shown how this structural analysis allows an integration of the interpretations proposed by the experts and how it could be improved with further research.     

Attachment and Psychopathology Among Formerly Maltreated Adults

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of attachment security and psychopathology in an adult sample of high-risk abuse survivors. Attachment security was conceptualized in terms of two underlying dimensions, the working models of self and other. A sample of 66 survivors of childhood maltreatment completed measures of abuse history, attachment style, and psychopathology. Results demonstrated a strong relationship between a negative view of self and reported psychopathology, regardless of whether attachment was conceptualized continuously or categorically. Findings also revealed that the association of negative view of self and psychopathology was much stronger than that of negative view of other and psychopathology.     

Congress and the political expansion of the U.S. districts courts

Expanding the number of U.S. district judgeships is often justifiedas a response to expanding caseloads. Increasing judgeshipsduring unified government, however, allows Congress and thePresident to engage in political (patronage and ideological)control of the federal district courts. This paper examinesempirically the relative importance of caseload pressure andpolitical motives for Congress to expand the number of federaldistrict judgeships. We demonstrate that politics dominatesthe timing of judgeship expansion in the U.S. District Courts.We also show that both politics and caseload affect the actualsize of those timed expansions. In particular, we find thatbefore 1970, Congress seemed to have strong political motivationsfor the size of an expansion. After 1970, Congress became muchmore attentive to caseload considerations.     

Inspire Magazine: A Critical Analysis of its Significance and Potential Impact Through the Lens of the Information,Motivation, and Behavioral Skills Model

This article presents an analysis of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's English language publication Inspire that was conceptualized and conducted on the basis of the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) framework. The IMB model has been widely tested, validated, and applied across a range of behavior change interventions, and provides both a conceptual and analytic framework to examine the range and quality of content featured across the 11 issues of Inspire that were published and distributed online starting in July of 2010. Inspire has been implicated in multiple instances of terrorism cases in the U.S. and its impact and potential can be analyzed on the extent to which it effectively targets core attitudes, perceptions of social normative support for violence, and its regular featuring of behavioral skills such as bomb making, weapons training, and emphasizing a creative and do-it-yourself ethos.     

La régulation des affaires sociales: une analyse politique††

Sommaire. Le gouvernement peut être défini comme la régulation des affaires publiques¹ et à des fins d'analyse cette régulation, comme d'ailleurs les régulations privées, peut être distinpée en communication et en commandement. Pour que la régulation s'accomplisse, la communication doit être commandée, et le commandement communiqué. Nous nous situerons ici dans la première perspective:celle où la régulation est vue comme commandement de la communication. C'est la perspective de l'analyse politique, par opposition à une analyse davantage socio-économique qui se donnerait pour objet les phénomènes de communication eux-mêmes. Abstract. Government can be defined in terms of the regulation of public affairs. For purposes of analysis, public regulation, like private regulation, can be identified as communication and command. For regulation to be achieved, communication must be ordered and the order communicated. Here we will explore the first notion, the consideration of regulation as ordering communication. This is the viewpoint of political analysis, as opposed to a more socio-economical analysis which is concerned with the phenomena of communication itself.     

Are accurate witnesses more likely to make absolute judgments?

The present study tested the Two-Judgment Theory of Eyewitness Identification Accuracy. Specifically, the extent to which participants were able to engage in an absolute judgment strategy was manipulated by varying the time available to view a lineup. Providing a limited exposure to a lineup should “interrupt” decision making, whereby witnesses can only engage a relative strategy, thus leading to higher false positive responding given a target-absent lineup. Seventy-four adults viewed a 1-minute video that exposed them to an unknown target and subsequently viewed the lineup for a limited (2 s) or an unlimited amount of time. Although false positive rates were similar across conditions, accurate witnesses were more confident than inaccurate witnesses. Confidence was negatively correlated with response latency such that witnesses who took more time to make a decision were less confident in their decisions compared to witnesses who made more rapid decisions. Response latency did not differ for accurate and inaccurate witnesses. Limitations and suggestions for future research on the Two-Judgment Theory are discussed.