The Disjunctive Hybrid Theory of Prudential Value: An Inclusive Approach to the Good Life

In this dissertation, I argue that all extant theories of prudential value are either a) enumeratively deficient, in that they are unable to accommodate everything that, intuitively, is a basic constituent of prudential value, b) explanatorily deficient, in that they are at least sometimes unable to offer a plausible story about what makes a given thing prudentially valuable, or c) both. In response to the unsatisfactory state of the literature, I present my own account, the Disjunctive Hybrid Theory or DHT. DHT answers to and remedies each of the above inadequacies in a way that no other approach can. This account has the following general structure:Disjunctive Hybrid Theory (DHT): Thing x is basically good for person P if and only if x is either a) cared about (sufficiently and in the right way) by P, b) a bearer of (the right kind of) attitude-independent value, or c) both.Although it follows other recent accounts in combining elements from objective and subjective theories, DHT is a hybrid theory of a quite new kind. This is because it denies both subjective necessity (the constraint that, if thing x is to be basically good for person P, P must have some pro-attitude toward x) and objective necessity (the constraint that, if thing x is to be basically good for person P, x must have some attitude-independent value). I argue that the rejection of both necessity claims is called for if we are to move beyond the enumerative and explanatory limitations of existing accounts.I begin by outlining the general structure of DHT. I then argue, against various recent authors, that desire-satisfactionism remains the most appealing subjectivist approach to prudential value, in that it is best able to capture the central subjectivist insight. This insight is that a person can confer prudential value upon things by caring about them (sufficiently and in the right way). The subjectivist strand of DHT will thus be a version of desire-satisfactionism, which must be interpreted in line with what I call the object, as opposed to the combo, view. I move on to further motivate and develop the second, objectivist strand of DHT. This part of the theory involves a commitment to robustly attitude-independent prudential goods. I close by addressing some puzzles for the theory, and considering some of its more specific applications

Preferences, Information, and Parental Choice Behavior in Public School Choice

The incentives and outcomes generated by public school choice depend to a large degree on parents' choice behavior. There is growing empirical evidence that low-income parents place lower weights on academics when choosing schools, but there is little evidence as to why. We use a field experiment in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public School district (CMS) to examine the degree to which information costs impact parental choices and their revealed preferences for academic achievement. We provided simplified information sheets on school average test scores or test scores coupled with estimated odds of admission to students in randomly selected schools along with their CMS school choice forms. We find that receiving simplified information leads to a significant increase in the average test score of the school chosen. This increase is equivalent to a doubling in the implicit preference for academic performance in a random utility model of school choice. Receiving information on odds of admission further increases the effect of simplified test score information on preferences for test scores among low-income families, but dampens the effect among higher-income families. Using within-family changes in choice behavior, we provide evidence that the estimated impact of simplified information is more consistent with lowered information costs than with suggestion or saliency.

Exploration of the Interaction of Maternal Experience of Trauma and Infant Temperament on Maternal Parenting

Among women over age 18, 1 in 3 have experienced intimate partner violence, including physical aggression and stalking, and nearly 1 in 5 have experienced some type of sexual violence during childhood, adolescence, or adulthood (Black et al., 2011). Given the high rates of trauma experiences in women of childbearing age, especially in low-income populations (Gillepsie et al, 2009), it is critical to examine the effect these experiences have on women´s parenting, especially during infancy, a sensitive period for many important domains of child development (Bornstein, 2002). Previous research has demonstrated experiencing victimization can affect maternal caregiving (Trickett, Noll, Putnam, 2011). However, findings vary depending on the type and timing of the trauma assessed, the parenting outcomes evaluated, and other methodological factors. Moreover, the contribution of infant characteristics to the parenting of trauma-exposed women has been only rarely examined in previous research. The purpose of the current study is to assess whether infant temperament interacts with maternal experience of trauma to contribute to mothers’ emotional availability. A community sample of 72 mother–infant dyads who participated in a cross-sectional study exploring the effects of maternal trauma and intimate partner violence (IPV) on relational, behavioral, and physiological infant outcomes, was used for the current study. Self-reports on the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (Bernstein & Finke, 1998), the Life Stressor Checklist Revised (Wolfe, Kimerling, Brown, Chrestman, & Levin, 1996), and the Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, Hamby, Boney-McCoy, & Sugarman, 1996) were used to compute an index of lifetime cumulative maternal victimization. Maternal reports on the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (Gartstein & Rothbart, 2003) yielded infant Negativity, Surgency, and Regulation scores. Mothers emotional availability during free play with their infants was coded using the Emotional Availability Scales (Biringen, 2008). Regressions were used to evaluate whether infant temperament moderates the effect of maternal victimization on maternal emotional availability, including her sensitivity, structuring, intrusiveness, and hostility during mother-infant interactions. An examination of main effects showed expected results for sensitivity and structuring, with higher levels of trauma being linked to lower levels of sensitivity and structuring. In addition, higher levels of infant surgency were linked to higher levels of maternal hostility. Moderation analyses revealed a significant interaction for maternal cumulative trauma and infant temperamental negativity on the degree of maternal non-intrusiveness, where for infants with highest negative affect, higher maternal trauma was associated with increased intrusiveness, and for infants with lowest negative affect, more maternal trauma was associated with decreased intrusiveness. The current study contributes to the literature in several ways. First, it shows not all elements of parenting are similarly affected by exposure to trauma. Second, it demonstrates the role infant temperament plays in affecting mother-infant relationships, and highlights the importance of taking an integrated perspective when viewing the relationship between trauma and parenting. Findings could be used to identify dyads at higher risk of relationship dysfunction, as well as provide information on elements to add to existing interventions, such as strategies for regulating infant distress

Mindset Training for Undergraduates in Developmental Mathematics

This poster highlights the work of an individual study that student Kate Van Weelden did in Dr. Zonnefeld\u27s Math 100 class. Kate was a teacher assistant who led a lab session for 6 of the students in the Math 100 course. Throughout the semester Kate implemented incremental mindset training for her 6 students. The results showed a promising avenue for improved achievement, especially among males

Does fortune favour the vague in election campaigns?

Navin Kartik, Richard Van Weelden, and Stephane Wolton argue that vagueness on the campaign trail can lead to better governance as it gives the election winner flexibility to adapt policy to changing circumstances. However, electorally advantaged candidates are almost always more ambiguous than their opponents and over-ambiguous from the voters’ perspective

Efficient and Type-Safe Generic Data Storage

AbstractIn this paper we present an elegant method for sequentializing arbitrary data using the generic language extension of the functional programming language Clean. We show how the proposed operations can be used to store values of any concrete data type in several kinds of IO containers (such as files or arrays of characters), and how to manipulate stored data efficiently. Moreover, by extending stored data with encoded type information, data manipulation will be type-safe. Defining these operations generically has the advantage that specific instances for user defined data types can be generated fully automatically. Compared to traditional sequentialization methods (or to common data manipulation, using relational data bases) our operations are an order of magnitude faster

Delegation in Veto Bargaining

A proposer requires the approval of a veto player to change a status quo. Preferences are single peaked. Proposer is uncertain about Vetoer's ideal point. We study Proposer's optimal mechanism without transfers. Vetoer is given a menu, or a delegation set, to choose from. The optimal delegation set balances the extent of Proposer's compromise with the risk of a veto. Under reasonable conditions, "full delegation" is optimal: Vetoer can choose any action between the status quo and Proposer's ideal action. This outcome largely nullifies Proposer's bargaining power; Vetoer frequently obtains her ideal point, and there is Pareto efficiency despite asymmetric information. More generally, we identify when "interval delegation" is optimal. Optimal interval delegation can be a Pareto improvement over cheap talk. We derive comparative statics. Vetoer receives less discretion when preferences are more likely to be aligned, by contrast to expertise-based delegation. Methodologically, our analysis handles stochastic mechanisms

On Two Interpretations of the Desire-Satisfaction Theory of Prudential Value

This article considers two different ways of formulating a desire-satisfaction theory of prudential value. The first version of the theory (the object view) assigns basic prudential value to the state of affairs that is the object of a person’s desire. The second version (the combo view) assigns basic prudential value to the compound state of affairs in which (a) a person desires some state of affairs and (b) this state of affairs obtains. My aims in this article are twofold. First, I aim to highlight that these are not mere notational variants, but in fact have quite different implications, so that this distinction is not one that the theorist of prudential value should ignore. More positively, I argue that the object view is better able to capture what is distinctive and appealing about subjective theories of prudential value, on any plausible account of what the central subjectivist insight is