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This dissertation clarifies a challenge present in Peter Singer's famine-relief argument and offers a new account of our moral duties of rescue. The challenge, in essence, is to differentiate two classes of idealized rescue scenarios where one faces the opportunity to rescue someone from serious peril, and to differentiate them in way that both avoids a shockingly demanding conclusion and effectively counteracts the suspicion that one is maintaining and merely rationalizing a self-serving position. To meet this challenge I provide an account whereby both the extent and the limits of our rescue duties are determined in ways that are plausibly continuous with moral and practical norms more generally. / Philosophy

Parenting style as a predictor of students' academic achievement is gaining increased interest by parents, educators, and psychologists. Current literature suggests that a combination of three parenting dimensions (i.e., responsiveness, supervision, and autonomy granting) is relevant to characterizing one's parenting style into four types (i.e., authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and neglectful), and each dimension of parenting behavior has a different effect on students' academic performance. Based on the different cultural backgrounds and the methods parents use to educate their children at home, some literature suggests that the school performance of some Asian American students could benefit from different parenting behaviors as compared to White students. Very little prior research has attended to links between parenting and achievement among high-achieving students who pursue college-level curricula during high school years, such as students enrolled in International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes. This study examined: (a) the relationships between parenting behaviors and students' achievement (i.e., semester GPA and mean score on end-of-course exams) among a combined sample of ethnically diverse IB students and then within two ethnic groups of interests (i.e., White and Asian American), (b) the differences in mean levels of students' achievement between the two aforementioned ethnic groups, and (c) differences in mean levels of parenting dimensions between two ethnic groups with regards to three parenting behaviors (i.e., responsiveness, demandingness, and autonomy granting). An archival dataset that includes data from 245 Asian American IB students and 533 White IB students was analyzed. The findings from the current study suggested that Asian American IB students earned significant higher GPAs than White IB students, while there was not a difference in performance on end-of-course exams between two groups. Second, White and Asian American IB students perceived different average levels of parenting behaviors. Specifically, White IB students reported perceiving higher levels of parental responsiveness and autonomy granting, while Asian American IB students perceiving higher level of demandingness. Additionally, responsiveness and autonomy granting both had positive relations with semester GPA within the entire sample of IB students as well as within the White IB students, while autonomy granting positively related to end-of-course exam scores within the entire IB students. All three parenting behaviors were associated with academic outcomes in a similar manner across White and Asian American IB subgroups. Specifically, responsiveness was the only significant and unique predictor of semester GPA for IB students. For end-of-course exam performance, demandingness was a negative predictor while autonomy granting was a unique positive predictor for IB students.

When facing a dilemma about what to do, rational agents will often encounter a conflict between what they ought to do, morally speaking, and what they most want to do. Traditionally we think that when there is a moral imperative for an agent to do something, even if she does not want to do it, she nevertheless ought to do it. But this approach inevitably fails to be able to explain why agents often choose to do what they most want, in many cases flouting such moral imperatives. The purpose of this thesis is to offer a plausible alternative to this way of understanding these deliberative dilemmas. I argue that communitarian moralism, the account according to which genuine moral imperatives are only imperatives on communities, rather than agents, and according to which agents’ moral conduct is necessarily bound up with her particular preferences, projects and commitments, is the most plausible way to understand dilemmas in which agents must choose between doing moral and self-interested actions.

Yes / Although scholars have recognized that alertness is critical in identifying and exploring opportunities, empirical studies exploring when alertness drives innovation are lacking. Drawing insights from the cognitive and contingency perspectives, the current study addresses this gap in by arguing that variations in firm product innovativeness is a function of degree of entrepreneurial alertness and levels of internal firm capabilities and environmental conditions. Data were collected from from 385 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana. This study used the hierarchical regression estimation technique to analyses the data and found that a significant positive relationship between entrepreneurial alertness and firm product innovativeness. Moreover, the findings showed that entrepreneurial alertness is beneficial for firms to innovate when pressures from customers and competitors are intense. Finally, the results revealed that stronger market information sharing and technological opportunism also amplify the alertness-innovativeness relationship.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-04T18:27:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ana Paula Justo.pdf: 506587 bytes, checksum: a4cb5a1485d856d4b4983792cc8fcefc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-02-04 / Pontif?cia Universidade Cat?lica de Campinas / The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the parenting style used with adolescents and the adolescents' level of stress. One hundred adolescents participated in the research. Thirty seven were male and 63 female, between the ages of 13 and 18 years old. All of the participants responded to the Identification Questionnaire, the Scale of Stress for Adolescents, and The Scale of Observed Parenting Responsiveness and Demands. The results indicated that 73% of the respondents had stress. The number of women with stress was significantly higher than among the men (p= 0.042). With respect to the classification of the parenting styles of the parents, the authoritative style and the negligent style were the most common among the mothers: 27% in both cases, followed by the indulgent style (14%) and the authority style (13%). Among the fathers, 32% used the authoritative style, followed by the negligent style (21%), the authority style (15%), and the indulgent style (14%). Combining the data, most parents were regarded by the adolescents as authoritative (33%), followed by the negligent style (32%), the indulgent style (16%), and the authority style (15%). There was no difference between girls and boys' perception referring to the parenting style. The association of the maternal parenting style with the level of stress of the adolescents was not significant (p= 0.300). There was a significant relationship (p= 0.015) between the parenting style among the fathers and the stress of the adolescents. There was also a significant correlation between the combined parenting style and the stress of the adolescents (p= 0.004). The data suggests that there is a relationship between the parenting style of the parents and the level of stress of their adolescent children. The indulgent style was more present in the parents of children with no stress. The authority style, followed by the negligent style, on the other hand, was more present among parents of stressed adolescents. The authoritative style was found to be associated with adolescents with moderate levels of stress. Parental responsiveness seems to play a protective role in the stress of the adolescents. High levels of parental demandingness was shown to add to the stress of the adolescents. These results open doors to new studies in this field; they are also useful for the development of new programs of stress control for adolescents. / O objetivo deste estudo foi averiguar a rela??o entre o estilo parental percebido e o n?vel de stress dos adolescentes. Cem adolescentes, 37 do sexo masculino e 63 do sexo feminino, na faixa et?ria entre 13 e 18 anos, responderam ? Ficha de Identifica??o, ? Escala de Stress para Adolescentes e ?s Escalas de Exig?ncia e Responsividade Parental Percebidas. Os resultados indicaram que 73% dos adolescentes da amostra tinham stress, e que o n?mero de mulheres com stress era significativamente maior do que o de homens (p= 0.042). Quanto ? classifica??o do estilo parental dos progenitores, as m?es estavam mais presentes nos estilos autoritativo e negligente, ambos com 27%, seguidos pelos estilos indulgente (14%) e autorit?rio (13%). Em rela??o aos pais, 32% utilizavam o estilo autoritativo, seguido pelo estilo negligente (21%), autorit?rio (15%) e pelo indulgente (14%). Quanto aos dados combinados, a maioria dos pais era percebida como utilizando o estilo autoritativo (33%), seguido pelo negligente (32%), indulgente (16%) e pelo autorit?rio (15%). N?o houve diferen?a na percep??o dos meninos e meninas quanto ao estilo parental de seus pais. Na associa??o do estilo parental materno com o n?vel de stress dos filhos n?o foi revelada uma associa??o significativa entre esses dois aspectos (p =0.300); j? na rela??o entre o estilo parental paterno e o stress dos adolescentes revelou-se uma associa??o significativa (p= 0,015); tamb?m foi obtida uma rela??o significativa entre o estilo parental combinado e o stress dos filhos (p= 0,004). Os dados sugerem a exist?ncia de uma rela??o entre o estilo parental dos progenitores e o n?vel de stress dos filhos adolescentes. O estilo indulgente esteve mais presente em pais de filhos sem stress; j? o estilo autorit?rio seguido pelo negligente estiveram mais presentes em pais de filhos com stress. O estilo autoritativo ocupou uma posi??o intermedi?ria. A responsividade parental se apresentou como um aspecto protetor para o stress dos filhos, por outro lado, a exig?ncia parental demonstrou ser uma fonte de stress para os filhos adolescentes. Os resultados abrem um novo espa?o para estudos nesta ?rea, al?m de favorecerem o desenvolvimento de programas de profilaxia e controle do stress para adolescentes.

[pt] O estudo da motivação do estudante de ensino médio tem ganhado notável relevância em busca do bem-estar desses alunos e de uma aprendizagem mais eficiente, como forma de enfrentamento das altas taxas de evasão escolar nesta última etapa da educação básica brasileira. Diversos atores podem influenciar no florescimento humano dos indivíduos, especialmente a família que, por meio de suas práticas, se torna causa de colaboração ou de transtorno para a motivação do adolescente. Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo geral investigar as relações entre os estilos parentais e a motivação do aluno do ensino médio. Para tal, recorreu-se ao aporte teórico dos Estilos Parentais de Maccoby e Martin e da Teoria da Autodeterminação de Deci e Ryan. O trabalho se dividiu em duas etapas, utilizando métodos mistos. Na primeira etapa, de contorno qualitativo, foram coletadas entrevistas abertas de 41 estudantes de uma escola federal do Rio de Janeiro, cujo objetivo foi realizar um levantamento inicial das percepções dos estudantes acerca das razões que os levam a estudar e ir para escola, de tal modo que este estudo exploratório pudesse subsidiar a construção de uma escala de motivação para alunos do ensino médio. Embora tenha sido verificado que a maioria das categorias encontradas eram intercambiáveis, identificou-se categorias específicas para cada pergunta. Esses dados revelam que, apesar de a maior parte dos motivos ser semelhante, existem particularidades motivacionais que precisam ser avaliadas dentro do seu contexto específico. A segunda etapa, de cunho quantitativo, consistiu na aplicação de três escalas psicométricas em uma amostra de 818 estudantes fluminenses. O primeiro instrumento utilizado, denominado de Escala de Motivação para Estudar no Ensino Médio, foi desenvolvida, ao longo deste trabalho, com base nos resultados da primeira etapa. A análise fatorial exploratória empregada revelou um modelo tridimensional, agrupando a nova estrutura em 31 itens, de modo que o tipo de motivação que obteve a maior média por item foi a controlada, seguida da autônoma e figurando a desmotivação com a menor média. Novos ajustes foram sugeridos para aperfeiçoar a estrutura do modelo, como apontado pela análise fatorial confirmatória. A segunda escala, Medida de Motivação para Aprendizagem no Ensino Técnico Profissional, foi usada também para avaliar a motivação desses alunos, tendo como enfoque aspectos que levam os estudantes para ir à escola. A análise da média por dimensões verificou que a maior pontuação foi da motivação identificada, enquanto, a desmotivação notabilizou-se com a menor média. A terceira escala aplicada foi o Instrumento para Avaliar Responsividade e Exigência Parental Percebidas na Adolescência. Foi observado que as dimensões de exigência e responsividade das mães e dos pais têm o potencial de influenciar na motivação dos filhos, ainda que de forma fraca ou moderada. Em relação aos estilos de parentalidade, a pesquisa constatou que mães e pais autoritativos favorecem uma motivação mais autônoma, em seus filhos; mães autoritárias têm uma propensão maior a ter filhos com motivação controlada; e mães e pais negligentes tendem a ter filhos desmotivados. Da síntese desses resultados, pode-se concluir que práticas parentais com maior nível de responsividade e exigência são mais benéficas para a motivação dos adolescentes, do que práticas que tenham nível alto de exigência, mas baixo em responsividade. As piores práticas podem ser consideradas aquelas que tenham um nível baixo para essas duas dimensões. / [en] The study of high school students motivation has gained remarkable relevance in the pursuit of their well-being and more efficient learning, as a way to address the high truancy rates in this final stage of Brazilian basic education. Several actors can influence the flourishing of individuals, especially the family, which, through its practices, becomes a source of collaboration or disruption to adolescent motivation. This research aimed to investigate the relationships between parenting styles and high school students motivation. To do so, we relied on the theoretical framework of Maccoby and Martin s Parenting Styles and Deci and Ryan s Self-Determination Theory. The work was divided into two stages, using mixed methods. In the first stage, of qualitative assessment, open interviews were performed with 41 students from a federal school in Rio de Janeiro. The objective was to do an initial assessment about students perceptions of the reasons that lead them to study and go to school, in such a way that this exploratory study could contribute to the construction of a motivation scale for high school students. Although it was observed that most of the categories found were interchangeable, specific categories were identified for each question. These data reveal that, despite most motivations being similar, there are motivational particularities that need to be evaluated within their specific context. The second, of quantitative assessment, consisted of applying three psychometric scales to a sample of 818 students from Rio de Janeiro. The first instrument used, called the High School Study Motivation Scale, was developed, throughout this work, based on the results of the first stage. The exploratory factorial analysis employed revealed a threedimensional model, grouping the new structure into 31 items, so that the type of motivation that obtained the highest average per item was controlled, followed by autonomous and demotivation appearing with the lowest average. New adjustments were suggested to refine the structure of the model, as pointed out by the confirmatory factorial analysis. The second scale, Measure of Motivation for Learning in Technical and Vocational Education, was also used to evaluate the motivation of these students, focusing on aspects that motivate students to go to school. The analysis of the avarage by dimensions found that the highest score was identified motivation, while demotivation stood out with the lowest average. The third scale applied was Instrument to Assess Perceived Parental Responsiveness and Demand in Adolescence. It was observed that both maternal and paternal demand and responsiveness dimensions have the potential to influence children s motivation, even though weakly or moderately. Regarding parenting styles, the research found that authoritative mothers and fathers promote more autonomous motivation in their children, authoritarian mothers tend to have children with controlled motivation, and neglectful mothers and fathers usually have demotivated children. From the synthesis of these results, it can be concluded that parenting practices with a higher level of responsiveness and demand are more beneficial for adolescent motivation than practices that have a high level of demand but low responsiveness. The worst practices can be considered those that have a low level for these two dimensions.

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the potential mediating effect of TEI on the relationship between parenting style/dimension and first year students’ university adjustment in higher education institutions of Ethiopia. The study sought to test a model where parental responsiveness, parental demandingness and the TEI interactively and individually, relate to adjustment. A total of 464 first year university students from three public universities participated in this study. The results of preliminary analyses pertaining to the predominantly practiced parenting style in the families of Ethiopia revealed that if gender is ignored, the most common parenting style is the neglectful style followed very closely by the authoritative style. However, parenting styles varied as a function of students’ gender. A statistically significant TEI score difference was found among the four parenting style categories. Results also revealed that a statistically significant difference on adjustment mean score was found among the four parenting style categories. The t-test result revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between male and female first year university students with regard to TEI score but there was no a statistically significant difference between male and female first year university students with respect to the adjustment score. The path analysis result also revealed that parental dimensions (responsiveness and demandingness) and TEI had a statistically significant and positive direct effect on adjustment. The multiple regression result showed that TEI, parental responsiveness and parental demandingness interactively explained 31.9 percent of the variance on adjustment. Finally, the mediation analysis results revealed that TEI plays a meditation role, but only partially, in the parental demandingness and adjustment relationship, and in the parental responsiveness and adjustment relationship, which potentially confirms that the adjustment scale can explain the relationship between the demandingness and responsiveness dimension-variables of parenting style and TEI. Based on the results of the present study, some practical, theoretical and methodological implications of the study for designing interventions to maximize students’ adjustment in higher education institutions are addressed. Moreover, recommendations, limitations and future directions are addressed for researchers to take lesson in undertaking this or similar types of research in the future. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)