Priming moral self-ambivalence heightens deliberative behaviour in self-ambivalent individuals

Background: Recent work on cognitive-behavioural models of obsessive-compulsive disorder has focused on the roles played by various aspects of self-perception. In particular, moral self-ambivalence has been found to be associated with obsessive-compulsive phenomena. Aims: In this study we used an experimental task to investigate whether artificially priming moral self-ambivalence would increase participants' deliberation on ethical problems, an index that might be analogous to obsessive-compulsive behaviour. Method: Non-clinical participants completed two online tasks designed to prime either moral self-ambivalence, general uncertainty, or neither. All participants then completed a task requiring them to consider solutions to moral dilemmas. We recorded the time participants took to respond to the dilemmas and the length of their responses; we then combined these variables to create a measure of deliberation. Results: Priming moral self-ambivalence led to increases in deliberation, but this was only significant among those participants who scored highly on a baseline measure of moral self-ambivalence. Priming general uncertainty had no significant effect upon deliberation. Conclusions: The results suggest that moral self-ambivalence may play a role in the maintenance of obsessive-compulsive behaviour. We propose that individuals who are morally self-ambivalent might respond to situations in which this ambivalence is made salient by exhibiting behaviour with obsessive-compulsive characteristics. These findings have implications for the incorporation of ideas about self-concept into theories of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

A visual critical ethnography of youth develoment in a Rio de Janeiro favela

Favelas are Brazilian informal housing settlements that are areas of concentrated poverty. In Rio de Janeiro, favelas are perceived as areas of heightened criminal activity and violence, and residents experience discrimination, and little access to quality education and employment opportunities. In this context, hundreds of non-formal educational arts and leisure programs work to build the self-esteem and identity of youth in Rio's favelas as a way of preventing the youth from negative local influences. The Morrinho organization, located in the Pereira da Silva favela in Rio, uses art as a way for the local male youth to communicate their lived reality. This study used a visual critical ethnographic methodology to describe the way in which the Morrinho participants interpret living in a favela. Seventeen semi-structured interviews with young men aged 15 to 29, the feature-length documentary film on the organization, 206 researcher produced documentary style photographs of the Morrinho artwork, and the researcher's field notes were analyzed. Truth claims, ways of seeing as communicated through words and actions, were induced through a cyclical process of reconstructive horizon analysis that incorporated the societal context and critical theory. The participants communicated their concerns about life in a favela; however, they did not describe their societal positions in terms of complete marginalization. They named multiple benefits of living in Pereira da Silva, discussed positive and negative experiences in school, and described ways they circumvented discrimination. Morrinho as an organization was described as an enthralling game and a social project that benefited dozens of local youth. Character development was a valuable result of participation at Morrinho. The Morrinho artwork communicates a nuanced vision of both benevolent and violent social actors, and counters the overwhelmingly negative dominant characterization of Rio de Janeiro's favelas. This study has implications for an inclusive critical pedagogy and the use of art as a means to facilitate a transformative education. Further research is recommended to explore terminology used to refer to favelas, and perceptions that favela residents have of their experiences in public education.

Symposium commentary : reflections on the theory of deliberative systems

Deliberative democracy and the Tasmanian forest peace process

Improving deliberative participation : connecting mini-publics to deliberative systems

Proportion dominance in valuing lives: The role of deliberative thinking

Proportion responding (PR) is the preference for proportionally higher gains, such that the same absolute quantity is valued more as the reference group decreases. This research investigated this kind of proportion PR in decisions about saving lives (e.g., saving 10/10 lives is preferred to saving 10/100 lives). The results of two studies suggest that PR does not stem from an overall tendency to choose higher proportions, but rather from faulty deliberative reasoning. In particular, people who display PR are less likely to engage in deliberative reflection as measured by response time, the Process Dissociation Procedure, the Cognitive Reflection Test, a numeracy test, and a task assessing denominator neglect. This association between faulty deliberation and PR was observed only when choosing the highest proportion was non-normative because it came at the expense of absolute gains (e.g., saving 10/10 lives is preferred to saving 11/100 lives). These results help to make sense of discrepant findings in previous research, pertaining to how PR relates to biased reasoning and decision making.

Rebooting the constitutional debate: deliberative constitutionalism in the European Union

The aim of my thesis is to investigate the possibility and necessity to rethink a constitutional framework and debate in a transnational polity such as the European Union. My effort focuses on a promising theory called deliberative constitutionalism, which carries on new insights on how democracy and constitutions relate each other. The EU is a unique political entity which poses unanswered questions about its political legitimacy and constitutional foundation, if a Constitution will ever be possible. Going beyond the classical conception of the national and sovereign ‘people’, we keep wondering how citizens may deliberate and discuss about their rights and political communities across borders, in what could be defined as a transnational civic society. The development of the latter brings with it necessary constitutional changes, if not an evolution of constitutionalism itself. Chapter 1 deals with defining the theoretical framework, which develops the distinctiveness of the deliberative constitutional paradigm not only with respect to other more 'classical' models of democracy, but also with respect to other deliberative models that have marked the constructivist debate. Chapter 2 presents a conceptual history of constituent power, mainly studying the evolution of the constitution-sovereignty-constituent power dialectic, up to contemporary theories that explain the negation, separation, union or plurality of a transnational constituent with respect to its national counterparts. Chapter 3 develops the discourse of constitutional pluralism, through its main claims and strands that especially pertain to Neil Walker's (2002, 2016) institutional and epistemic claims. Chapter 4 applies a deliberative constitutionalist framework to the case of the European Union. Through the exposition of DC normative tenets, a form of self-learning process is proposed that can reconcile the heterarchical arrangement of constitutional claims and the new demand for legitimacy, as well as the relationship between European peoples and European citizens.

Democracry and the Individual

The main question informing this paper is whether it is possible to extend democracy beyond its liberal forms. The paper reflects upon this question with regard to its implications for the individual. For the radicalization of democracy implies a need for self-transformation, if the everyday egoism of contemporary citizens is not to thwart reasonable discussion and participation. Theorists such as Richard Rorty argue that the philosophical resources required to guide such self-transformation can be made available only by sacrificing the political freedom and cultural diversity liberalism has been able to precariously establish. Other theorists insist that the thresholds of pluralism and tolerance that existing liberal democracies are struggling to maintain actually require an extension of democracy. The paper evaluates two different theoretical strategies that aim to identify potentials for democratization without falling prey to the dilemma identified by Rorty: a ‘ deliberative’ strategy explicated with reference to Jürgen Habermas and an ‘existential’ approach represented here by William Connolly.

Efetividade da participação no legislativo capixaba : um estudo sobre as audiências públicas do orçamento (2007-2014)

Esta pesquisa é um estudo sobre as audiências públicas da Lei Orçamentária Anual (LOA) realizadas pela Assembleia Legislativa do Espírito Santo (ALES) no período de 2007 até 2014. O tema central deste trabalho é a efetividade da participação das audiências, ancorada em duas dimensões: o momento deliberativo e os resultados das audiências. Partimos do pressuposto que, apesar da dificuldade de mensurar efeitos práticos, as Instituições Participativas, tais como as audiências da LOA, atuam em um propósito de aprofundamento da democracia, especialmente na destinação de recursos de acordo com demandas da sociedade. Dentro desse cenário, o presente trabalho analisa elementos constituintes das audiências (perfil dos legisladores, desenho institucional, perfil dos participantes, influência do poder Executivo e as emendas parlamentares) para avaliar a efetividade da participação. Para esta análise, utilizamos uma abordagem multimétodo com a combinação de três ferramentas de pesquisa: análise documental (relatórios da LOA, legislações e vídeos das audiências públicas), survey (aplicado a participantes das audiências de 2014) e entrevista semiestruturada (com os parlamentares que fazem parte da Comissão de Finanças). A análise aponta para a baixa efetividade das audiências a partir da combinação de vários fatores, entre eles a baixa institucionalização, a influência do poder Executivo no processo a partir de sua relação com os parlamentares e o uso das emendas parlamentares como estratégia eleitoral.

Abordagem crítica sob a ótica da ação comunicativa de Habermas : gestão participativa no campus Serra do Ifes

O estudo teve como objetivo compreender de forma crítica como se caracteriza a gestão participativa no campus Serra do Ifes, a partir do entendimento e do processo interativo dos servidores Técnico-administrativos (TAEs) das classes C, D e E, e das chefias imediatas. Para tanto, a Teoria da Ação Comunicativa (TAC) de Jürgen Habermas, bem como sua proposta de democracia deliberativa foram empreendidas como marco teórico para compreensão desse processo e os conceitos norteadores da TAC (atos de fala, mundo da vida, sistema, colonização do mundo da vida, esfera pública, ação comunicativa e instrumental ou estratégica) foram empregados como elementos de análise das estruturas relevantes identificadas na pesquisa. Esse trabalho caracteriza-se como uma pesquisa de abordagem qualitativa e possui um enfoque crítico com visão dialética da realidade social. A análise foi realizada considerando o duplo efeito que a prática da gestão participativa pode significar: como comprometimento com o desempenho e reforço do sistema capitalista; e como resistência dos trabalhadores organizados às formas de dominação e controle. Os dados empíricos foram produzidos por meio de pesquisa documental, observação participante e entrevista semiestruturada. Foram entrevistados oito TAEs subordinados e 13 chefias imediatas, selecionados conforme o critério da bola de neve. Utilizou-se a análise de conteúdo para o tratamento das informações obtidas nas entrevistas. Os resultados apontam para a construção de ações participativas de cunho instrumental, estabelecidas a partir dos interesses da gestão, de grupos específicos e individuais. Sendo assim, a prática da gestão participativa caracteriza-se como um espaço estratégico para alcance do êxito e não do entendimento, onde os TAEs são corresponsáveis no processo de manutenção e construção dos fenômenos que emperram o desenvolvimento de uma participação democrática.

Public hearings as a tool to improve participation in regulatory policies: case study of the National Agency of Electric Energy

The participation of citizens in public policies is an opportunity not only to educate them, but also to increase their empowerment. However, the best way for deploying participatory policies, defining their scope and approach, still remains an open and continuous debate. Using as a case study the Brazilian National Agency of Electric Energy (Aneel), with its public hearings about tariff review, this paper aims at analyzing the democratic aspects of these hearings and challenges the hypothesis of many scholars about the social participation bias in this kind of procedure. This study points out a majority participation of experts, contrasting with the political content of discussions. And, this way, it contributes to a critical analysis of the public hearings as a participatory tool, indicating their strengths and their aspects which deserve a special attention.