Reflections on a Half Century of Political Science: Lecture Given by the Winner of the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science, Uppsala, 30 September 1995

Since I am to have the honour this evening of being presented with the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science, it seemed to me that it might be appropriate to say something about the development of political science. Do not fear, however, that I am about to begin my reflections with the study of government in 1622, a task that would greatly exceed my time, my competence and, I imagine, your patience. On a much more modest scale, let me mention a few of the conspicuous changes in political science since I first began teaching and writing in the field about a half century ago. Let me add at once that I do not mean to suggest that my brief account is at all comprehensive or systematic. It is merely a rather subjective survey of a few changes that I find interesting and important.     

Stalking experiences reported by Norwegian members of Parliament compared to a population sample

Background: This study investigates experiences of stalking among members of the Norwegian Parliament and compared them to findings of a Norwegian population sample. Material and methods: In autumn 2012, all 169 members of Parliament (MPs) got a questionnaire with a general section ending with screening for stalking experiences. In case of positive screening, the MPs should give more details on their experiences. The population sample responded to a more extensive version of the same questionnaire. Results: The response rate was 59%, but only 95 MPs delivered valid questionnaires. The MPs reported higher prevalence rates of current stalking than the population sample. Previous stalking rates were higher among population. The MPs had less direct contact with stalkers and used more non-contact coping styles compared to the population. Conclusion: MPs experienced more current stalking than the population sample; otherwise, the picture of stalking of MPs was more nuanced than previously reported.     

Turning like a Femme: Figuring Critical Femininity Studies

Psychotropics and alcohol are psychoactive substances with different cultural meanings and opposing gender associations. This paper examines the Swedish press debate on gender and psychotropics and compares it with the press debate on gender and alcohol, aiming to identify the conditions under which gendered moral boundaries of acceptable/unacceptable consumption are defended. The study shows that boundaries acquire a heightened moral status in news stories (1) that deal with a topic related to cultural ideas about essential gender difference, (2) where the cultural status of the psychoactive substance is linked to selfish and/or hedonistic motives, and (3) where innocent victims of consumption can be identified. Moreover, it shows that the “bad” characters constructed through this moral boundary are portrayed as exhibiting “excessive masculinity” and “insufficient femininity”. On the basis of these findings, it is argued that newspaper discourse on psychotropics and alcohol still relies quite heavily on gendered and heteronormative ideas.     

Old and very old adults as witnesses: event memory and metamemory

Older people constitute an important category of eyewitnesses. Episodic memory performance in older persons is poorer than in younger adults, but little research has been made on older persons’ metacognitive judgments. Since more persons of advanced age will likely be called upon as witnesses in coming years, it is critical to characterize this population’s metacognitive abilities. We compared event memory metacognition in old adults (66-year-old, n = 74) to very old adults (87 or 90 years old, n = 55). Participants were tested on their memory of a film, using questions with two answer alternatives and the confidence in their answer. As expected, the very old group had a lower accuracy rate than the old group (d = 0.59). The very old group, however, monitored this impairment, since their over-/underconfidence and calibration did not differ from the old group but they displayed a poorer ability to separate correct from incorrect answers (discrimination ability). Possibly, the very old group was able to monitor the level of their over-/underconfidence because they applied general self-knowledge about their memory skills. In contrast, the discrimination of correct from incorrect answers may be more dependent on ability to attend to the features of each retrieved memory.     

When an Alibi Is Not Enough: Judgments of Evidence Needed to Lay Charges in a Burglary Case

Laypersons were asked to assume the role of investigators to explore judgments of what evidence is needed to make an arrest in a criminal investigation when an alibi witness is present. Participants were sensitive to the relationship between the alibi witness and the suspect and were more likely to believe an alibi provided by someone unrelated to the suspect, as evidenced by requests for more physical evidence against the suspect than when the alibi corroborator was a family member. In addition, when presented with contradictory evidence, the age of the alibi witness became an important consideration. Age alone did not impact perceptions of evidence adequacy; however, when an (adult) eyewitness provided testimony that contradicted a child alibi witness, participants demonstrated partiality towards believing the child as evidenced by (a) more requests for physical evidence to be convinced the child was wrong and to arrest the suspect and (b) higher ratings of alibi witness credibility. This effect was not seen when the eyewitness’s testimony contradicted an alibi provided by an adult. The results provide insight for investigators and legal counsel regarding the influence of varying types of alibi witness evidence.