International Climate Finance and its Influence on Fairness and Policy

27 p.

Mercados Financieros: ¿eficientes o irracionales?

[EN]When we talk about financial markets, we usually talk about falls or rises occurring in them, the earnings of enterprises and their strategic plans... Throughout history a lot of theories and studies have been carried out on them, being the Theory of Efficiency the most one accepted nowadays. But in all of this, there is a great forgotten that is not usually taken into account and that is an important factor, if not the most, in the markets, which is none other than humans. The work is based on the confrontation, practical and theoretical, between the Theory of Efficiency on financial markets and the Theory of Behavioral Finance, with the objective of generating samples in order to see if markets are efficient or irrational. After all, decisions of buying or selling, to acquire a fund or bonds are held by humans. Therefore, in the effort to understand financial markets, understanding human psychology is something essential. Inglés

Ethnography as a linking method between psychology and sociology: research design

World Conference on Psychology and Sociology 2012

民众社会风险认知的影响因素及作用机制

Risk perception is one of important subjects in management psychology and cognitive psychology. It is of great value in the theory and practice to investigate the social risk events that the public cares a lot especially in this social transition period. Furthermore, this study explored the factors that influence the risk perception and the results caused by risk perception. A survey including 30 hazards and 8 risk attributes was designed and distributed to about 3, 200 residents of 8 districts, Beijing. The major findings are listed as following： Firstly, combining the methods of system science and psychology, GAE program was used to indentify 7 groups of social risk events, such as national safe, government management, social stability, general mood of society, economic and finance, resources and environment & daily life problems. This study provided substance for the following studies and it was also a new attempt in research method which is of certain reference value for the related researches. Secondly, a scale of societal risk perception was designed and 2 factors were identified (Dread Risk & Unknown Risk). Reliability analysis, EFA and CFA show the reliability and validity of the societal risk questionnaire is good enough. The investigation using this scale showed that older participants and higher socioeconomic status perceived the societal hazards to be more threatening than did younger participants and lower socioeconomic status. However, there is no gender difference. Thirdly, structural equation model was used to analyze the influence factors and mechanism of societal risk perception. Risk taking, government support and social justice could influence societal risk perception directly. Government support moderated the relationship between government trust and societal risk perception. Societal risk perception influenced life satisfaction, public policy preferences and social development belief. Multi-group analysis was used to find out that the participants who have different socioeconomic status express different mechanism. Fourthly, the result of the research was used to explore the risk event of 2008 Olympic game. The results showed that government support and preparation of Olympic game influenced societal risk perception directly. Preparation moderated the relationship between government trust and risk perception. Risk perception influenced worry, effect of Olympic game and belief of successl. This result proved that risk perception could be used as an indicator. The indictor of risk perception was used to identify the characteristics of higher risk perception group. Finally, suggestions to the related decision were provide to the government.

The psychology of immersion and development of a quantitative measure of immersive response in games

This study sets out to investigate the psychology of immersion and the immersive response of individuals in relation to video and computer games. Initially, an exhaustive review of literature is presented, including research into games, player demographics, personality and identity. Play in traditional psychology is also reviewed, as well as previous research into immersion and attempts to define and measure this construct. An online qualitative study was carried out (N=38), and data was analysed using content analysis. A definition of immersion emerged, as well as a classification of two separate types of immersion, namely, vicarious immersion and visceral immersion. A survey study (N=217) verified the discrete nature of these categories and rejected the null hypothesis that there was no difference between individuals' interpretations of vicarious and visceral immersion. The primary aim of this research was to create a quantitative instrument which measures the immersive response as experienced by the player in a single game session. The IMX Questionnaire was developed using data from the initial qualitative study and quantitative survey. Exploratory Factor Analysis was carried out on data from 300 participants for the IMX Version 1, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis was conducted on data from 380 participants on the IMX Version 2. IMX Version 3 was developed from the results of these analyses. This questionnaire was found to have high internal consistency reliability and validity.

The role of transformative thinking and practice in a property entrepreneur's response to the funding crisis since 2008

This portfolio of exploration explores the role of transformative thinking and practice in a property entrepreneur’s response to the financial crisis which swept over Ireland from 2008. The complexity of this challenge and the mental capacity to meet its demands is at the core of the exploration. This inquiry emerged from the challenges the financial crisis presented to my values, beliefs, assumptions, and theories, i.e. the interpretive lens through which I make meaning of my experiences. Given the issue identified, this inquiry is grounded in aspects of theories of constructive developmental psychology, applied developmental science, and philosophy. Integrating and linking these elements to business practice is the applied element of the Portfolio. As the 2008 crisis unfolded I realised I was at the limits of my way of knowing. I came to understand that the underlying structure of a way of knowing is the ‘subject-object relationship’ i.e. what a way of knowing can reflect upon, look at, have perspective on, in other words, make object, as against what is it embedded in, attached to, identified within, or subject to. My goal became enhancing my awareness of how I made meaning and how new insights, which would transform a way of knowing, are created. The focus was on enhancing my practice. This Portfolio is structured into three essays. Essay One reported on my self-reflection and external evaluation out of which emerged my developmental goals. In Essay Two I undertake a reading for change programme in which different meaning making systems were confronted in order to challenge me as a meaning maker. Essay Three reported on my experiment which concerned the question whether it was possible for me as a property entrepreneur, and for others alike, to retain bank finance in the face of the overwhelming objective of the bank to deleverage their balance sheet of property loans. The output of my research can be grouped into General Developmental and Specific Business Implications. Firstly I address those who are interested in a transformational-based response to the challenges of operating in the property sector in Ireland during a crisis. I outline the apparatus of thought that I used to create insight, and thus transform how I thought, these are Awareness, Subject-object separation, Exploring other’s perspectives from the position of incompleteness, Dialectical thinking and Collingwood’s Questioning activity. Secondly I set out my learnings from the crisis and their impact on entrepreneurial behaviour and the business of property development. I identify ten key insights that have emerged from leading a property company through the crisis. Many of these are grounded in common sense, however, in my experience these were, to borrow Shakespeare’s words, “More honor'd in the breach than the observance” in pre Crisis Ireland. Finally I set out a four-step approach for forging a strategy. This requires my peer practitioners to identify (i) what they are subject to, (ii) Assess the Opportunity or challenge in a Systemic Context, (iii) Explore Multiple Perspectives on the opportunity or Challenge with an Orientation to change how you know and (iv) Using the Questioning Activity to create Knowledge. Based on my experience I conclude that transformative thinking and practice is a key enabler for a property entrepreneur, in responding to a major collapse of traditional (bank debt) funding.

How does cognition evolve? Phylogenetic comparative psychology.

Now more than ever animal studies have the potential to test hypotheses regarding how cognition evolves. Comparative psychologists have developed new techniques to probe the cognitive mechanisms underlying animal behavior, and they have become increasingly skillful at adapting methodologies to test multiple species. Meanwhile, evolutionary biologists have generated quantitative approaches to investigate the phylogenetic distribution and function of phenotypic traits, including cognition. In particular, phylogenetic methods can quantitatively (1) test whether specific cognitive abilities are correlated with life history (e.g., lifespan), morphology (e.g., brain size), or socio-ecological variables (e.g., social system), (2) measure how strongly phylogenetic relatedness predicts the distribution of cognitive skills across species, and (3) estimate the ancestral state of a given cognitive trait using measures of cognitive performance from extant species. Phylogenetic methods can also be used to guide the selection of species comparisons that offer the strongest tests of a priori predictions of cognitive evolutionary hypotheses (i.e., phylogenetic targeting). Here, we explain how an integration of comparative psychology and evolutionary biology will answer a host of questions regarding the phylogenetic distribution and history of cognitive traits, as well as the evolutionary processes that drove their evolution.