Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Daniel Maier-Katkin, Florida State University, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Jan. 18, 2005). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Los Angeles, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 271-284).

Thesis (M.S. in Leadership and Policy Studies)--Vanderbilt University, Aug. 2006. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

This study examined the potential moderating effects that the fear of falling may have on potential white-collar crime perpetrators using rational choice and differential association theory perspectives. A self-report, factorial survey measurement tool utilizing three hypothetical vignettes placing respondents in a business situation with the potential to commit insider trading was given to 612 students at a Midwestern university. Results indicate that the fear of falling had no moderating effects, differential association theory was partially supported in Vignette 1, and rational choice theory was partially supported across all three vignettes.

This thesis investigates the use of a reconceptualised social evolutionary theory for understanding and explaining how and why societies change, specifically looking at this question through the frame of nationalism. The thesis is split into three parts: in the first part I first examine older forms of social evolutionary theory (conceptions from Marx, Spencer and generalized evolutionary accounts) and critique them on the grounds that they are too ‘progressive’ in character, suffer from teleology and have a notion that all societies change linearly, i.e. pass through the same set of stages. After this I elaborate on a reconstructed version of social evolutionary theory, taking it along more Darwinian lines: that the process should be understood as contingent and non-linear, where cultural variants and social intuitions change in response to selective pressures brought about by environmental conditions. To reconstruct social evolution I draw mainly on accounts from Runciman (2009), Hodgson and Knudsen (2010), Sperber (1996), Hull (1988) and Richerson and Boyd (2006). In the second part of the thesis I look at four different theories of social change and utilize Darwinian social evolutionary theory to critique them. The four in question are: Immanuel Wallerstein (world-systems theory); Michael Hechter (rational-choice theory); Michael Mann (sources of social power); and Ernest Gellner (functionalism). These four theories were chosen as they either have, or represent, different theories of social change, and also because they are all concerned to some extent with the rise of the nation-state and nationalism. The main argument in this section is that Darwinian social evolutionary theory can incorporate elements of these theories whilst also going beyond them in explaining and understanding why societies undergo changes. In the case of Mann and Gellner I also note that they are, to a certain extent, implicitly relying on a social evolutionary account, and that drawing this out more explicitly helps provide greater theoretical solidity to their arguments. In the final part of the thesis I apply the theory to two case-studies, looking at the rise of nationalism in Britain (with a focus on England) and Japan. In both cases I examine each development of nationalism historically, using Darwinian social evolution to assess why nationalism emerged at the point that it did in each case, and not before. A final synthesis chapter then looks comparatively at the two cases and applies Darwinian social evolutionary theory to address the question of why nationalism generated in England/Britain, but did not in Japan and why the nationalist movements took the forms that they did. The chapter centres on three main themes, the role of war in forming identities, the role of variation in generating institutions, and the role of lineages in creating continuity in discontinuity. Finally it address the question of why nationalism became the dominant movement and not something else. Together this demonstrates demonstrate the usefulness of the framework for addressing questions concerning social change, in providing a different perspective and insights from other theories of social change. A final chapter summarizes and concludes the thesis, as well as pointing to new directions that research could develop.

Orientador: David Dequech Filho / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T23:37:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Castro_AlexSandroRodriguesde_M.pdf: 1168475 bytes, checksum: a7f14f5d1eb57f403f8eb1afefa019e5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Esta dissertação busca apresentar e discutir as principais características da economia comportamental, identificando suas diferentes abordagens e comparando-as com a economia neoclássica. A intenção é apresentar as propostas e a estrutura conceitual das abordagens psicológicas e realçar os elementos de ruptura e continuidade em relação à economia neoclássica. Os conceitos básicos e as principais descobertas da economia comportamental são apresentados particularmente com base nos trabalhos de Kahneman e Tversky. Ao final, a dissertação destaca as objeções de Gerd Gigerenzer ao programa de pesquisa de Kahneman e Tversky e faz comentários críticos ao individualismo das abordagens psicológicas que penetraram a economia mainstream / Abstract: This dissertation is concerned with defining the characteristics of behavioral economics, identifying its different approaches and comparing them to neoclassical economics. The intention is to present the proposals and conceptual framework of psychological approaches and highlight the elements of departure from, and continuity with, the neoclassical economy. The basic concepts and major findings of behavioral economics are presented particularly based on the work of Kahneman and Tversky. Finally, the dissertation highlights the objections of Gerd Gigerenzer to Kahneman and Tversky research program and makes critical commentaries to the individualism of psychological approaches that have penetrated mainstream economics / Mestrado / Teoria Economica / Mestre em Ciências Econômicas

This study has examined the content of the Swedish Church's posts on the social network media Facebook and Instagram. The posts were published during September to November 2017, which is about 90 posts. I have also analysed if the posts could be seen as marketing in this particular media form. Rational Choice Theory has served as an overall theory in which I assumed that people make rational decisions in the choosing of their religion. Therefore, I see the content on these sites as a supply of the Swedish church religiosity that people can base their decisions on. Through an inductive approach, themes have been searched for in the posts and analysed through text condensation. The result of the study is that there are six types of published content, grief management, church operation, divinity, entertainment, religious history and informative posts about the Swedish church election that took place in September 2017. These posts can be seen as marketing because the focus in marketing has shifted from emphasis on the product to the consumer. The purpose is now to provide consumers with information that they can base their decisions on. Therefore, when people use the information on these sites in order to make a rational choice of their religion, the post can be seen as marketing of the Swedish Church, but not in cases when people read the post in other purposes.

Abstract Users’ information systems (IS) security behavior continuously draws attentions from scholars and practitioners. While previous studies usually focused on one context (e.g., employees’ compliance with IS security policies in an organizational context), little research has focused on the possible explanations for users’ IS security behavior if the context changes. To address this gap, this dissertation discusses the role of context in IS security behavior research. An analysis of the differences between the organizational context and the home context suggests a need to study users’ IS security behavior solely in a specific context, such as home. This study provides guidelines for applying and developing contextualized theories in IS security behavior research. Based on the guidelines, this dissertation includes two empirical studies. First, drawing on rational choice theory, it compares specific IS security behavior in two contexts: the work context (N = 210) and the personal context (N = 202). Second, drawing on stewardship theory, this dissertation develops a contextualized theory explaining employees’ IS security risk-taking behavior in the organizational context (N = 170). The findings of this dissertation show different explanations for users’ IS security behavior in different contexts and highlight the importance of taking context into account when doing IS security behavior research. The results of each empirical study provide both theoretical contributions to research as well as actionable advice to practice. / Tiivistelmä Tietokoneenkäyttäjien tietoturvakäyttäytyminen on jatkuvan kiinnostuksen kohteena niin tutkijoiden kuin käytännön ammatinharjoittajienkin keskuudessa. Aiempi tutkimus on keskittynyt tarkastelemaan tietoturvakäyttäytymistä yleensä yhdessä kontekstissa (esim. työntekijöiden tietoturvaohjeiden noudattaminen organisaatiokontekstissa), kun taas vähemmälle huomiolle on jäänyt se, kuinka kontekstin muuttuminen selittää tietoturvakäyttäytymistä. Tämä väitöskirja vastaa kyseiseen ongelmaan, sillä se käsittelee kontekstin roolia tietoturvakäyttäytymistutkimuksessa. Tutkimuksessa analysoidaan organisaatiokontekstin ja kotikontekstin eroja. Analyysi osoittaa, että on tarpeellista tutkia tietokoneen käyttäjien tietoturvakäyttäytymistä tietyissä konteksteissa, kuten esimerkiksi kotikontekstissa. Tutkimus tarjoaa ohjeita siihen, kuinka kontekstisidonnaisia teorioita sovelletaan ja kehitetään tietoturvakäyttäytymistutkimuksessa. Väitöskirja sisältää 2 empiiristä tutkimusta, jotka pohjautuvat edellä mainittuihin ohjeisiin. Ensimmäisessä vaiheessa tutkimuksessa sovelletaan rational choice -teoriaa, jonka pohjalta vertaillaan tiettyä tietoturvakäyttäytymistyyppiä 2 kontekstissa: työkonteksti<br clear="none"/> (N = 210) ja henkilökohtaisen käytön konteksti (N = 202). Toiseksi, tutkimus soveltaa stewardship -teoriaa ja kehittää siihen pohjautuen kontekstisidonnaisen teorian, joka selittää organisaation työntekijöiden käyttäytymistä liittyen tietoturvariskin ottamiseen<br clear="none"/> (N = 170). Väitöskirjan tutkimustulokset esittävät erilaisia selityksiä tietokoneen käyttäjien tie-toturvakäyttäytymiselle eri konteksteissa. Tutkimus korostaa sitä, kuinka tärkeää on ottaa konteksti huomioon tutkittaessa tietoturvakäyttäytymistä. Kummankin empiirisen tutkimuksen tulokset tarjoavat teoreettisen kontribuution lisäksi käytännöllisiä neuvoja tietoturvan toteuttamiseen.

På senaste tid har det individuella kravet på ekonomiska frågor ökat allt mer och mer i takt med den teknologiska framfarten. I samband med detta är det väldigt viktigt med finansiell kunskap, även kallat financial literacy, för att kunna utföra dessa vardagliga situationer. Vad är det då som förbättrar en individs financial literacy? Vissa studier hävdar att det är det finansiella beteende som är grunden till en god financial literacy, medan andra påstår att det har med räknekunskap att göra. Andra faktorer, såsom utbildning, kön och ålder konstateras spela en stor roll om man frågar andra aktörer. Vilken av dessa faktorer är då den viktigaste för att man ska ha en god financial literacy och kunna tackla dessa situationer som uppkommer i vardagen? För att kunna genomföra detta arbete gjordes en kvantitativ undersökning i form av en enkätundersökning där svar hämtades från 257 respondenter (18+). Materialet från enkätsundersökningen analyserades och jämfördes med tidigare forskning. I denna studie så kom vi fram till att den viktigaste faktorn för en god financial literacy är ekonomisk utbildning som sedan följs av räknekunskap och finansiellt beteende, som kan jämföras med den kognitiva förmågan hos individer som beskrivs av rational choice theory. Både kön och ålder visar skillnader i det finansiella beteendet men visar inget direkt samband till financial literacy.

This diploma thesis researches model of economic man, its historical background, and also modern critics of this concept and alternative approach to economic man, especially in behavioral economics. Human (im)perfection leads to the discussion about a range of liberty man should get eventually to which extent should a man be led by paternalism. Therefore this thesis introduces and tests concept of libertarian paternalism which is applied to drug issues. The thesis demonstrates that model of economic man is in many ways too simplified and insufficient. Thus, extention of this model with findings of psychology, biology and other sciences seems beneficial. Libertarian paternalism, despite few shortcomings, shows potential to be realisable and viable in certain situations.