Psychological Impacts of Nostalgia for People With Dementia

Psychological Impacts of Nostalgia for People With Dementia THE PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF NOSTALGIA FOR PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA: STUDY PROTOCOL 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1.2 Existential realities Four basic concerns that have been proposed to have great impact on the lives of all people are: death, freedom, existential isolation and meaninglessness (Yalom, 1980). Yalom (1980) argues that although people tend to neglect these four realities, they are still pervasive and influential on our lives. He offers the following explanations to these realities which he refers to as ultimate concerns. He explains that the inevitability of death is a fact of life which we are all aware of; irrespective of the fundamental human desire of existence. The central existential conflict is the strain between the realisation of the inevitability of death and the desire to continue to live. From an existential perspective, freedom refers to the lack of external structure. Paradoxical to an individual’s everyday experience, human beings do not reside in a universe that has ingrained design and is well-structured. Instead, the individual is totally the orchestrator of his or her own choices, world, actions and design. Freedom from this view implies terrifically that there is no ground beneath us. The key existential dynamic in this sense is the conflict between our encounter with groundlessness and our desire for ground and structure. As humans, our reality of freedom is evidenced from the conflict which arises from our aspiration of self-determination and our realisation of lack of support and uncertainty. This happens when one recognises the things that happen in one’s life are up to oneself. The third ultimate concern is isolation. This form of isolation from an existential sense does relate to neither interpersonal isolation (such as loneliness) nor intrapersonal isolation (such as isolation from oneself). This form of isolation refers to fundamental isolation. This means that no matter how close we are to each other, unavoidably, we are on our own. Each of us comes into existence alone and must exit from it alone. Thus, the existential conflict is the strain between our realisation of our absolute isolation and our desire for contact, protection and to be part of a larger group (Yalom, 1980). Accumulation of the three realities results in the fourth, which is, meaninglessness. In a world where there is no absolute truth and the only certainty about life is death, life tends to be meaningless. People will cling unto values and concepts in an effort to formulate meaning in life. Life essentially has no meaning if death is inevitable; if our own world is constituted by ourselves and if we are fundamentally isolated (Yalom, 1980). As Yalom (1980) elaborated, the existential dynamic conflict emerges from the impasse of a meaning-seeking creature that is put into a universe that possesses no meaning. It can be argued that although these existential realities are experienced by all human beings in one form or the other, some categories of persons are more likely to experience profound aspects of these existential threats. One of such groups of people is people with dementia. 1.1.3 Dementia: an existential threat â€Å"Dementia is an existential plight of persons and not simply a problem to be investigated and managed through technical skill† (Baldwin and Capstick, 2007; p. 117). It has been regarded as a disease of the entire person rather than a mere illness of the brain (Murray and Boyd, 2009, Passmore, Ho and Gallagher, 2012, Post, 2013, Nowell, Thornton and Simpson, 2013). With its associated health and social problems and deterioration leading to death, dementia can be perceived as a form of existential threat (Cheston, 2011). People with dementia experience changes in biographical factors. These biographical factors are the changes in later life. Whereas some people with dementia go through their illness with most of the mechanisms that previously supported them still unblemished, others go through a sequence of diminishing and disheartening changes in life with massive decline in their personal resources. Such personal resources refer to that which has been inherently developed by the person including all the consequences of social learning. These include aspects such as ways of managing crisis, loss and modifications; willingness to accept help offered by others and defense against tension or anxiety (Kitwood, 1993). Social psychological factors that make up the fabric of everyday life could enhance or diminish the sense of value, safety and personal being of the person with dementia. These have been enumerated and framed under the purview of a ‘malignant social psychology’ (Kitwood, 1990; p. 180). These include treachery, disempowerment, infantilisation, condemnation, intimidation, stigmatisation, outpacing, invalidation, banishment and objectification (Kitwood, 1990, Kitwood, 1993). Dementia as an existential threat denies a smooth adjustment into the existing self-concept of the person affected by dementia (Cheston, 2013). Cheston (2011) also argues that the threatened loss of cognitive ability for people with dementia could influence the way in which they make sense of the world and their self-esteem. He further expounds that existential realities are more prominent for people affected by dementia and can be evidenced in the subjective experiences of people with dementia. People with dementia seek for attachment (Piiparinen and Whitlatch, 2011, Van Assche et al, 2013, Osborne, Stokes and Simpson, 2010, Browne and Shlosberg, 2006, Perren et al, 2007, Stephens, Cheston and Gleeson, 2013), meaning/ purpose in life (MacKinlay and Trevitt, 2010, McGovern, 2011, McGovern, 2012, Phinney, 2011) and experience loss of identity (Eustache et al, 2013, Steeman et al, 2013, Caddell and Clare, 2012, Caddell and Clare, 2011). These could be perceived as coping mechanisms to buffer them against their encounter with existential realities. It is suggested that existential threats could have adverse effects on an individual’s self- esteem (Sabat, 2002); affect (Xu and Brucks, 2011, Van and Van, 2007); social connectedness (Mikulincer, Florian and Hirschberger, 2003); meaning in life (Sullivan, Landau and Kay, 2012, Jaarsma et al, 2007); and general wellbeing (Piiparinen and Whitlatch, 2011). Likewise, it can be argued that dementia as an existential threat has similar potential effects on people with such a condition (Baldwin and Capstick, 2007). In addition, various studies have suggested that the early stages of dementia, after receiving a diagnosis, generally cause profound psychological effects on self-esteem, meaning/ purpose in life and general psychological wellbeing (Chistopolskaya and Enikolopov, 2013, Bamford et al, 2004, Steeman et al, 2006, Husband, 1999, Husband, 2000, Vernooij-Dassen et al, 2006). 1.2 Problem statement Dementia as an existential threat has associated adverse psychological impacts for people with dementia. These include but are not limited to threats to identity Steeman et al, 2006), social connectedness (Hatch, 2013), meaning/ purpose in life (Lingler et al, 2006, Macquarrie, 2005) and general psychological wellbeing (Piiparinen and Whitlatch, 2011). Consequently, people with dementia sometimes use the recall of the past as a mechanism in an attempt to buffer the psychological effects of dementia (Bohlmeijer, Smit and Cuijpers, 2003, Woods et al, 2005). Also, conventional approaches such as reminiscence and life review activities employ the use of the past as a resource for the present to provide various psychological functions for people with dementia. However, the efficacies of these activities are still debated (Douglas, James and Ballard, 2004). For example, whereas some randomised controlled trials and systematic reviews conclude that these approaches may improve the psycholog ical wellbeing of people with dementia (Lai, Chi and Kayser-Jones, 2004, Wang, 2007, Sharif et al, 2010, Wu, 2011, Azcurra, 2012, Korte et al, 2012), others have concluded otherwise (Wang, Hsu and Cheng, 2005, Wang, Yen and OuYang, 2009, Gudex et al, 2010, Forsman, Schierenbeck and Wahlbeck, 2011, Woods et al, 2005, Woods et al, 2012). Stemming from memory decline in dementia, the merging of past experiences with the present can arguably enhance self-concept and self-esteem if the images of the past stimulate a sense of pleasure and accomplishment (Kasl-Godley and Gatz, 2000). Perhaps, the recall of the past without deliberately evoking nostalgia is not an ideal way to effectively enhance and improve the psychological equanimity of people with dementia. On the other hand, nostalgia has been proposed as a psychological buffer against existential threats (Juhl et al, 2010, Routledge et al, 2008). Juhl et al (2010) show that in mortality salience conditions, participants at low levels of nostalgia proneness show less positive responses to an identity threat, greater levels of death anxiety and lesser feelings of state nostalgia (self-esteem, social connectedness, meaning in life and affect). Routledge et al (2008) support the idea that nostalgia provides an existential function by providing a source of meaningful life experiences which people use to defend themselves against concerns about death (existential threat). Also, experimental studies with undergraduate student populations have demonstrated that induced nostalgia increases self-esteem, positive affect, social connectedness and meaning in life when compared to normal autobiographical memories (Wildschut et al, 2006, Routledge et al, 2011). However, the use of nostalgia by peopl e with dementia to provide similar desirable psychological functions is not clear (Moos and Bjorn, 2006). Nonetheless, this has not been tested among people with dementia. 1.6 Significance of the research The current research seeks to investigate whether induced nostalgia increases self-esteem, meaning/ purpose in life and social connectedness for people with dementia as it does for the general population. It also attempts to find out whether people with mild to moderate dementia differ in experiencing various psychological outcomes as a result of their degree of nostalgia proneness. This novel application of the emotion of nostalgia (currently a major area of psychological research) to people with dementia has both clinical and theoretical significance. Theoretically, with nostalgia being suggested to have positive psychological impact among the general population, we will be able to find out whether these functions extend to people with dementia. Clinically, while reminiscence therapy is frequently used with people with dementia; research findings are unclear as to whether this has any benefit. It may be that one of the factors determining whether reminiscence is of benefit is wheth er or not a nostalgic memory is evoked. By investigating this, the research may be able to shed light on the way in which nostalgia buffers the psychological challenges of living with dementia. For instance, we may be able to identify more precisely how to help people with dementia maintain a psychological equilibrium, and thereby improve their quality of life and psychological wellbeing. 2.0 PRELIMINARY LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Dementia and meaning/ purpose in life Existential psychology attempts to explain the way individuals formulate meaning in the event of an inevitable despair or threat. According to existential psychology, individuals employ various mechanisms to buffer them against existential threats in order to restore psychological balance (Greenberg, Koole and Pyszczynski, 2013). Purpose in life is an aspect of wellbeing that is well appreciated by people with dementia (Drà ¶es et al, 2006). Research shows that, even in the event of experiencing decline in cognition in a patient with dementia, the person with dementia still engages in meaning-making that covey important communication messages regarding the importance of life (Robertson, 2013). Also, people affected by dementia are usually in the quest of seeking for meaning in their lives in order to concur with their diagnosis (Lingler et al, 2006, Macquarrie, 2005). Searching for meaning in life by people with dementia is linked to the expression of establishing identity (Steeman et al, 2006). Dementia is associated with various levels of cognitive decline (Franciotti et al, 2013). Cognitive decline has been found to be associated with decline in aspects of wellbeing, specifically, purpose in life (Wilson et al, 2013). Alternatively, in advanced age, higher purpose in life causes a reduction in the effect of pathologic changes on cognitive decline for people with Alzheimer’s disease (Boyle et al, 2012). Longitudinal studies have also provided some evidence in support of some existential functions of having a greater purpose in life. Among older adults living in the community, greater purpose in life has been found to have significant associations with a reduction in risk of disability (Boyle, Buchman and Bennett, 2010), mortality (Boyle et al, 2009), Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment (Geda, 2010, Boyle et al, 2010).

Role of Institutional Investors in Corporate Governance

Role of Institutional Investors in Corporate Governance CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Corporate governance paradigm is based on the argument of Berle and Means (1932) that separation of ownership and control leads to the problems associated with agency theory so that the managers of a company may not act in the best interest of owners. Throughout the twentieth century, the pattern of ownership continued to change from declining individual ownership to increasing institutional ownership. So, it is not surprising that institutional investors are increasingly looking more carefully at the corporate governance of companies because good governance goes hand in hand with increased transparency and accountability. Many studies have been conducted to see the impact of institutional holdings on corporate governance. Some researchers contend that substantial holdings by institutional investors and corporate governance are significantly correlated while others argue the absence of such a relationship. Evidences are also inconclusive on whether institutional investors invest in good governed companies or their holdings improve the governance practices. The role of institutional investors is visualized in two perspectives, the corporate governance and the firm performance. The present chapter covers the empirical studies on the above issues as institutional holdings and corporate governance, institutional holdings and firm performance, corporate governance and firm performance with special emphasis on the studies conducted in India on the above aspects. The present submission seeks to evaluate the impact of institutional holdings over corporate governance and firm performance by constructing governance score and taking various measures for firm performance. Various studies have focused on different aspects/levels of ownership and their effects on firm performance. As a result, various arguments have been put forward both in support and against the notion of the effects of ownership structure on the firm performance. While some researchers denied the direct correlation between ownership structure and firms economic performance while the others argued that there exists such a relationship for certain. Amongst those who establish such causality, some provide evidence that there is a negative relationship, while others plead a positive relationship between the two. Studies have also been carried to determine a link between varied aspects of corporate governance and firm performance; evidence in this regard too appears fairly mixed. There has been extensive literature to document a positive relationship between the two, based on identified individual aspects of corporate governance and firm performance whereas others do not find any conclusive evidence in this regard. Prepositions put forwarded by the researchers in this context are being reviewed here as under in the perspectives identified above: 2.1 Institutional Holdings and Corporate Governance Coombes and Watson (2000)1 on the basis of a survey of more than 200 institutional investors with investments across the world showed that governance is a significant factor in their investment decision. Three-quarters of the investors say that board practices are at least as important as financial performance. In fact, over 80% of the investors in the survey stated that they would pay more for the shares of a well-governed firm than a poorly governed firm with comparable financial performance. The survey indicated that the premium these institutional investors would be willing to pay varied by country, with premiums being higher in Asia and Latin America (where financial reporting is less reliable) than in Europe or the U.S. Bradshaw, Bushee and Miller (2004)2 indicated that firms whose accounting methods conform to U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles have a greater level of investment by U.S. institutional investors. They found further that increases in conformity with U.S. GAAP are positively associated with future increases in U.S. institutional investment, but that the reverse does not hold (i.e., increases in U.S. institutional ownership are not associated with later changes in accounting methods). The authors attributed this relation to home bias rather than better transparency (and corporate governance) however; their results are also consistent with the latter interpretation. Chung, Firth, and Kim (2002)3 hypothesized that there will be less opportunistic earnings management in firms with more institutional investor ownership because the institutions will either put pressure on the firms to adopt better accounting policies or they will be able to unravel the earnings management rule so it will not benefit the managers. They found that when institutional investors own a large percentage of a firms outstanding shares, there is less opportunistic earnings management (i.e., less use of discretionary accruals). Hartzell and Starks (2003)4 provided empirical evidence suggesting institutional investors serve a monitoring role with regard to executive compensation contracts. First, they found a positive association between institutional ownership concentration and the pay-for-performance sensitivity of a firms executive compensation. Second, they reported a negative association between institutional ownership concentration and excess salary. One implication of these results, consistent with the theoretical literature regarding the role of the large shareholder, is that institutions have greater influence when they have larger proportional stakes in firms. Parrino, Sias and Starks (2003)5 indicated that those firms that fired their top executives had a significantly greater decline in institutional ownership in the year prior to the CEO turnover than firms experiencing voluntary CEO turnover (even after controlling for differences in performance). These results support the hypothesis that institutional selling influences decisions by the board of directors-increasing the likelihood a CEO is forced from office. This implies that boards care about institutional trading and ownership activity in their firms. Further, the authors found that larger decreases in institutional ownership are associated with a higher probability of an outsider being appointed to succeed the CEO. This result suggests that directors are more willing to break with the current corporate management and institute change. They also noted that there are several potential effects when institutions sell shares. First, heavy institutional selling can put downward pressure on the stock price. Alternatively, institutional selling might be interpreted as bad news, thus triggering sales by other investors and further depressing the stock price. Finally, the composition of shareholder base might change, for example, from institutional investors with a long-term focus to investors with a more myopic view. This last effect might be important to directors if the types of institutions holding the stock affect share value or the management of the company. Cremers and Nair (2005)6 stated that the interaction between shareholder activism on behalf of institutional investors and the market for corporate control is important in explaining developments in abnormal equity returns and accounting measures of profitability. Davis and Kim (2007)7 found that mutual funds with conflicts of interest (based on management of pension assets) more often vote with management in general. On the other hand, mutual funds have more incentive and power to oppose management in firms in which they have a larger stake. McCahery, Sautner and Starks (2008)8 have relied on the survey data to investigate governance preference of 118 institutional investors in U.S. and Netherlands. The study found that the majority of institutions that responded to the survey take into account firm governance in portfolio weighting decisions and are willing to engage in activities that can improve the governance of their portfolio firms. Brickley, Lease and Smith (1988)9 found evidence supporting the hypothesis that firms with greater holdings by pressure-sensitive shareholders (banks and insurance companies) have more proxy votes cast in favor of managements recommendations. Moreover, firms with greater holdings by pressure-insensitive shareholders (pension funds and mutual funds) have more proxy votes against managements recommendations. The authors differentiated between the different types of institutional investors, noting the difference between pressure-sensitive and pressure-insensitive institutional shareholders and arguing that pressure-sensitive institutions are more likely to â€Å"go along† with management decisions. The rationale is that pressure-sensitive investors might have current or potential business relations with the firm that they do not want to jeopardize. Maug (1998)10 noted that institutions use their ability to influence corporate decisions are partially a function of the size of their shareholdings. If institutional investor shareholdings are high, shares are less marketable and are thus held for longer periods. In this case, there is greater incentive to monitor a firms management. However, when institutional investors hold relatively few shares in a firm, they can easily liquidate their investments if the firm performs poorly, and therefore have less incentive to monitor firm performance. Almazan, Hartzell and Starks (2003)11 provided evidence both theoretical and empirical that the monitoring influence of institutional investors on executive compensation can depend on the current or prospective business relation between the institution and the corporation. They concluded that the monitoring influence of institutions is associated more with potentially active institutions (investment companies and pension fund managers who would be less sensitive to pressure from corporate management due to lack of potential business relations) than with potentially passive institutions (banks and insurance companies who would be more pressure-sensitive). Marsh (1997)12 has argued that short-term performance measurement does work against the active monitoring by institutional investors. The performance of fund managers is evaluated over a shorter time period. Hence, they act under tremendous pressure to beat some index. So, when they find a case of bad governance, they find it economical to sell the stock rather than interfere in the functioning of the company and incur monitoring costs. Denis and Denis (1994)13 found no evidence to suggest that there is any relationship between institutional holdings and corporate governance. They stated that if companies that create shareholders wealth are the ones with poor corporate governance practices, and then one really cannot blame the institutional investors for having invested in such companies. For, after all, a fund manager will be evaluated on the basis of stock returns he creates for the unit holders and not on the basis of the corporate governance records of the company he invests the money in. If however, one finds that companies with poor corporate governance practices are the ones, which have consistently destroyed shareholders wealth, then the contention that the institutional investors need not look at corporate governance records cannot be justified. David and Kochhar (1996)14, provided empirical evidence regarding impact of institutional investors on firm behaviour and performance is mixed and that no definite conclusions can be drawn. They argued that various institutional obstacles, such as barriers stemming from business relationships, the regulatory environment and information processing limitations, might prevent institutional investors from effectively exercising their corporate governance function. Agrawal and Knoeber (1996)15 found little evidence of an association between total institutional ownership and other possible control mechanisms (e.g., insider ownership, block holders, outside directors, CEO human capital, and leverage). Payne, Millar, and Glezen (1996)16 focussed on banks as one type of institutional investor that would be expected to have business relations with the firms in which they invest. They examined interlocking directorships and income-related relationships, and noticed that when such relations exist; banks tend to vote in favor of management anti-takeover amendment proposals. When such relations dont exist, banks tend to vote against the management proposals. Leech (2002)17 is of the view that many institutional shareholders do not seek control of a company for a variety of reasons, which include the fear of obtaining price sensitive information, and that it is more likely that institutional investors seek only influence rather than complete control. Moreover, it has also been argued, in line with the â€Å"passive monitoring† view, that institutional investors may not be keen to â€Å"exit† on their investments â€Å"i.e. sell their equity stakes when the firm is not performing optimally, mainly because they hold large investments and thus selling may lower the price and further increase any potential loss. Woidtke (2002)18 concluded by comparing the relative value of firms held for public versus private pension fund that relative firm value is positively related to private pension fund ownership and negatively related to (activist) public pension fund ownership. These results supported the view that the actions of public pension fund managers might be motivated more by political or social influences than by firm performance. Ashraf and Jayaman (2007)19 examined mutual funds trading behavior after the release of voting records. The study found that funds that support shareholder proposals reduce holdings after the release of voting records. Since the time of releasing voting records could be very far from the shareholder meeting date, mutual funds trading behavior after the release of voting records may be unrelated to the votes cast in the meeting. Dahlquist et al. (2003)20 analyzed foreign ownership and firm characteristics for the Swedish market. The study found that foreigners have greater presence in large firms, firms paying low dividends and in firms with large cash holdings and explained that firm size is driven by liquidity. It reiterated that foreigners tend to underweight the firms with a dominant owner. Leuz, Nanda and Wysocki (2003)21 asserted that the information problems cause foreigners to hold fewer assets in firms. Firm level characteristics can be expected to contribute to the information asymmetry problems. Concentrated family control makes it more likely that information is communicated via private channels. Informative insiders have incentives to hide the benefits from outside investors by providing opaque financial statements and managing earnings. Haw, Hu, Hwang and Wu (2004)22 found that firm level factors cause information asymmetry problems to FII. It found evidence that US investment is lower in firms where managers do not have effective control. Foreign investment in firms that appear to engage in more earnings management is lower in countries with poor information framework. Choe, Kho, Stulz (2005)23 found that US investors do indeed hold fewer shares in firms with ownership structures that are more conducive to expropriation by controlling insiders. In companies where insiders are dominating information access and availability to the shareholders will be limited. With less information, foreign investors face an adverse selection problem. So they under invest in such stocks. Covirg et al. (2008)24 concluded that foreign fund managers have less information about the domestic stocks than the domestic fund managers. They found that ownership by foreign funds is related to size of foreign sales, index memberships and stocks with foreign listing. Leuz, Lins, and Warnock (2009)25 found that foreign institutional investors prefer to invest in firms with â€Å"better† governance practices. This literature assumes that firm level corporate governance mechanisms substitute for weak country level legal protections of minority shareholders. Aggarwal, Klapper and Wysocki (2005)26 found that U.S. mutual funds tend to invest greater amounts in countries with stronger shareholder rights and legal frameworks (controlling for the countrys economic development). In addition, within the countries, the mutual funds also discriminate on the basis of governance in that they allocate more of their assets to firms with better corporate governance structures. Resume After reviewing the literature on the above sub-section, it is concluded that the results are inconclusive regarding the association between institutional holdings and corporate governance as some studies invariably support the hypothesis that institutional holdings and corporate governance are significantly related while the others reject it. But the results are uniform on one issue that there is positive relation between the foreign institutional holdings and corporate governance as foreign institutional investors are relatively more concerned about the governance practices of companies and countries as well. They prefer to invest more in the countries with stronger shareholder rights and legal frameworks. Similarly, they do invest in the companies with good disclosure and transparency measures. A group of studies contend that institutional investors consider governance practices of companies as an important consideration for investment decision. They not only care for financial performance of target companies, but also put great emphasis on the board practices. They are ready to pay premium for good governance. Institutional investors can put pressure on firms improve their governance practices if they have substantial stake in the target companies and do not have business relations with them. Moreover, if they dont involve themselves actively in governance but only vote with their feet it serves as a deterrent for the management in practicing bad governance. As it will send bad signal to the stock market leading to further decline in the stock prices and may be changing the shareholder base from dynamic institutional investors with long-term focus to myopic investors. Whereas in other studies, it has been observed that institutional investors prefer to remain passive and concentrate on their own business objectives, rather than look into the governance practices of companies. They do not involve themselves actively in the governance of firms for variety of reasons as short-term performance measurement, business relationships, regulatory environment, information processing limitations, free-rider problem etc. Moreover, they may not be interested in selling the shares of poor firms as they have large holdings and selling may aggravate their potential loss. 2.2 Institutional Holdings and Firm Performance Pound (1988)27 explored the influence of institutional ownerships on firm performance and proposed three hypotheses on the relation between institutional shareholders and firm performance: efficient-monitoring hypothesis, conflict-of-interest hypothesis, and strategic-alignment hypothesis. The efficient-monitoring hypothesis says that institutional investors have greater expertise and can monitor management at lower cost than the small atomistic shareholders. Consequently, this argument predicts a positive relationship between institutional shareholding and firm performance. The conflict-of-interest proposition suggests that in view of other profitable business relationships with the firm, institutional investors are coerced into voting their shares with management. The strategic-alignment hypothesis states that institutional owners and managers find it mutually advantageous to cooperate. Holderness and Sheehan (1988)28 found that for a sample of 114 US firms controlled by a majority shareholder with more than 50% of shares, both Tobins Q and accounting profits are significantly lower for firms with individual majority owners than for firms with corporate majority owners. Hermalin and Weisbach (1988)29 further stated that the managerial ownership is positively related to performance between 0-1% of managerial ownership, negatively related thereafter up to 5%, and again positively related from 5-20% and negatively related thereafter. Boardman and Vining (1989)30 compared the performance of state owned enterprises, joint enterprises, and private corporations among the 500 largest non-US industrial firms, and found that mixed enterprises and state owned enterprises perform substantially worse than similar private enterprises. McConnell and Servaes (1990)31 found a strong positive relationship between the value of the firm and the fraction of shares held by institutional investors. They found that performance increases significantly with institutional ownership. Han and Suk (1998)32 found (for a sample of US firms) that stock returns are positively related to ownership by institutional investors, thus implying that these corporate owners are actively involved in the monitoring of incumbent management. They also found that alignment effect dominates if the managers own up to 41.8% of the share capital. They further evidenced that beyond the limit of 41.8%, the mangers are able to control the Board of directors and so the entrenchment effect dominates the alignment effect. Majumdar and Nagarajan (1994)33 found that levels of institutional investment are positively related to the current performance levels of firms. However, a less-stronger, though positive, effect is established between changes in performance levels and changes in institutional ownership. The results are based on a study investigating U.S. institutional investors investment strategy. Bethel et al. (1998)34 consistent with the view that market for partial corporate control identifies and rectifies problems of poor corporate performance, found that activist investors typically target poorly performing and diversified firms for block share purchases, and thereby assert disciplinary effect on target companies plans in mergers and acquisitions. Douma, Rejie and Kabir (2006)35 investigated the impact of foreign institutional investment on the performance of emerging market firms and found that there is positive effect of foreign ownership on firm performance. They also found impact of foreign investment on the business group affiliation of firms. Investor protection is poor in case of firms with controlling shareholders who have ability to expropriate assets. The block shareholders affect the value of the firm and influence the private benefits they receive from the firm. Companies with such shareholders find it expensive to raise external funds. Bhattacharya and Graham (2007)36 investigated the relationship between different classes of institutional investors (pressure-sensitive and pressure-resistant) and firm performance in Finland. It documented evidence that these institutional owners own stakes in multiple firms across industries, leading to a possible two-way causality or endogenous problem between firm performance and ownership structure. It was also evidenced that institutional investors with likely investment and business ties with firms have negative effect on firm performance and the impact is very significant in comparison to the negative effect of firm performance on institutional ownership. Wiwattanakantang (2001)37 investigated the effects of controlling shareholders on corporate performance and found that presence of controlling shareholders is associated with higher performance, when measured by accounting measures such as return on assets and the sales-asset ratio. However, the controlling shareholders involvement in management has a negative effect on the performance and it is more pronounced when the controlling shareholder and managers ownership is at the 25-50 percent. The evidence also revealed that family controlled firms display significantly higher performance. Foreign controlled firms as well as firms with more than one controlling shareholder also have higher return on assets, relative to firms with no controlling shareholder. Abdul Wahab et al. (2007)38 examined the relationship between corporate governance structures, institutional ownership and firm performance for 440 Bursa Malaysia listed firms from 1999 to 2002 and found that institutional investors have a positive impact on firms corporate governance practices. Qiet et al. (2000)39 found that firm performance is positively related to the proportion of shares owned by the state. In addition, they found little evidence in support of a positive correlation between corporate performance and the proportion of tradable shares owned by either domestic or foreign investors. Wahal (1996)40 observed that although institutional investors, particularly, activist institutions, have been successful in their efforts to affect the governance of targeted firms, these same firms have not demonstrated performance improvements. Studies examining the relationship between institutional holdings and firm performance in different countries (mainly OECD countries) have produced mixed results. Chaganti and Damanpour (1991)41 and Lowenstein (1991)42, for instance, find little evidence that institutional ownership is correlated with firm performance. Seifert, Gonenc and Wright (2005)43 study does not find a consistent relationship across countries. They conclude that their inconsistent results may reflect the fact that the influence of institutional investors on firm performance is location specific. The above studies generally consider institutional investors as a monolithic group. However, Shleifer and Vishnys (1997)44 as well as Pounds (1988)45 theorizations and later empirical examinations by McConnell and Servaes (1990)46 suggest that shareholders are differentiable and pursue different agendas. Jensen and Merkling (1976)47 also show that equity ownerships by different groups have different effects on the firm performance. Agrawal and Knoeber (1996)48, Duggal and Miller (1999)49 find no such significant relation between institutional holdings and firm performance. Resume Various studies on relationship between institutional holdings and firm performance have been reviewed in the above sub-section and the results are mixed. Different researchers have taken different performance measures as some of them have considered accounting measures but others have taken stock market indicators.Some of the observations contend that institutional investors are more expert in monitoring the affairs of companies as compared to individual investors; their holdings improve the financial performance of target companies. The results are more significant, where managers also have some ownership stake so as to have alignment effect. Moreover, if their stake is substantial, they can also assert disciplinary action against the poorly performing firms. Similarly, foreign institutional investors have also positive impact on the firm performance. But the results of other observations state otherwise. They state that if institutional investors have business ties with the firms, they would go along with the management and it may have negative impact on the firm performance. The studies have revealed out an interesting observation that Institutional holdings have positive effect on firm performance but their active involvement in management has negative effect. Some of the observations state that institutional investors may have significant impact on the governance practices of companies but do not improve financial performance. 2.3 Corporate Governance and Firm Performance Lipton and Lorsch (1992)50 found that limiting board size improves firm performance because the benefits by larger boards of increased monitoring are outweighed by the poorer communication and decision-making of larger groups. Millstein and MacAvoy (1998)51 studied 154 large publicly traded US corporations over a five-year period and found that corporations with active and independent boards appear to have performed much better in the 1990s than those with passive, non-independent boards. Eisenberg et al. (1998)52 found negative correlation between board size and profitability when using sample of small and midsize Finnish firms, which suggests that board-size effects can exist even when there is less separation of ownership and control in these smaller firms. Vafeas (1999)53 found that the annual number of board meeting increases following share price declines and operating performance of firms improves following years of increased board meetings. This suggests meeting frequency is an important dimension of an effective board. Core, Holthausen and Larcker (1999)54 observed that CEO compensation is lower when the CEO and board chair positions are separate. It is further shown that firms are more valuable when the CEO and board chair positions are separate. Botosan and Plumlee (2001)55 found a material effect of expensing stock options on return on assets. They used Fortunes list of the 100 fastest growing companies and obtained the effect of expensing stock options on firms operating performance. Morgan and Poulsen (2001)56 found that pay-for-performance plan generally helps to reduce agency problems in the firm as the votes approving the plan are positively related to firms that have high investment or high growth opportunities. On the other hand, votes approving the plan are inversely related to negative features in some of the plans such as dilution of shareholder stakes. Mitton (2002)57 examined the stock performance of a sample of listed companies from Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. It reported that performance is better in firms with higher accounting disclosure quality (proxied by the use of Big Six auditors) and higher outside ownership concentration. This provides firm-level evidence consistent with the view that corporate governance helps explain firm performance during a financial crisis. Claessens et al. (2002b)58 observed that firm value increases with the cash-flow ownership (right to receive dividends) of the largest and controlling shareholder, consistent with â€Å"incentive† effects. But when the control rights (arising from pyramid structure, cross-holding and dual-class shares) of the controlling shareholder exceed its cash-flow rights, firm value falls, which is consistent with â€Å"entrenchment† effects. Deutsche Bank AG (2004a and 2004b)59 explored the implications of corporate governance for portfolio management and concluded that corporate governance standards are an important component of equity risk. Their analysis also showed that for South Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, the performance differential favored those companies with stronger corporate governance. Fich and Shivdasani (2004)60 based on Fortune 1000 firms, asserted that firms with director stock option plans have higher market to book ratios, higher profitability (as proxied by operating return on assets, return on sales and asset turnover), and they document a positive stock market reaction when firms announce stock option plans for their directors. Gompers et al. (2003)61 examined the ways in which shareholder rights vary across firms. They constructed a ‘Governance Index to proxy for the level of shareholder rights in approximately 1500 large firms during the 1990s. An investment strategy that bought firms in the lowest decile of the index (strongest rights) and sold firms in the highest decile of the index (weakest rights) would have earned abnormal returns of 8.5% per year during the sample period. They found that firms with stronger shareholder rights had higher firm value, higher profits, higher sales growth, lower capital expenditures, and made fewer corporate acquisitions. Brown, Robinson and Caylor (2004)62 created a broad measure of corporate governance, Gov-Score, based on a new dataset provided by Institutional Shareholder Services. Gov-Score is a composite meas

Schizophrenia :: essays research papers

Schizophrenia- Severe disorders on which there are disturbances of thoughts, communications, and emotions, including delusions and hallucinations. (Psychology: An Introduction,Charles D. Morris with Albert A. Maisto) It's quite horrendous. First of all, you've got somebody that you love, a child that you've raised. And then suddenly, the child becomes a crazy person. Better drugs and new ways of treating schizophrenia are enabling more of the disease's victims to live in society instead of institutions, and even to hold down jobs. Schizophrenia can be detected in childhood--even traced to the womb. These malfunctions may be wired into the brain before birth. There is mounting evidence that schizophrenia reflects deviation in development rather than a backwards process that begins in maturity. Scientists,whose findings have already paved the way for a greater understanding of schizophrenia, and researchers around the world are hunting for underlying causes of the disease. People diagnosed with schizophrenia display a wide-ranging breakdown of perception and thought. A glitch in the timing of cell responses across broad swaths of brain tissue may help account for these people's fragmented experience of the world, according to a new study. In the brains of schizophrenia sufferers, electrical activity fails to synchronize with a specific sound frequency as it does in the brains of mentally healthy people. Improved drugs to fight psychosis--the loss of contact with reality that afflicts schizophrenics--are already coming on the market, and some researchers believe that within the next few decades, scientists will find a way to virtually cure the obscure disease. Schizophrenia usually begins between the ages of 16 and 30, with men often being affected earlier than women. The first symptoms can include trouble concentrating or sleeping, and afflicted people may start avoiding their friends. In the next stage, many schizophrenics begin to speak incoherently and see or hear things that no one else does. As the disease takes hold, there are cycles of remission followed by frightening relapses marked by disordered thinking that causes many schizophrenics to leap illogically from one subject to another when they talk. They begin to experience hallucinations, paranoia and delusions-- schizophrenics in their psychotic phases may become convinced that people are spying on them, or imagine that they have acquired godlike powers. When they are in the grip of psychosis, they frequently behave erratically, and they can become violent or suicidal. Often, it is parents and other family members who have to deal with the recurring crises. Often,schizophrenics are more of a danger to themselves. An estimated 15 to 20 per cent of them take their own lives--in despair of ever finding peace of mind, or because their "voices" tell them to.

The Phenomenology of Fodor or the Modularity of Merleau-Ponty :: Psychology Psychological Papers

The Phenomenology of Fodor or the Modularity of Merleau-Ponty ABSTRACT: In 1983, Fodor’s Modularity of Mind popularized faculty psychology. His theory employs a trichotomous functional architecture to explain cognitive processes, which is very similar to Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of perception. Each theory postulates that perception is a mid-level procedure that operates on transduced information and that perception is independent of our cognitive experience. The two theories differ on whether perception is informationally impenetrable. This difference is essentially an empirical matter. However, I suggest that Merleau-Ponty’s allowance of cross-modal communication within perception explains our ability to identify features in noisy backgrounds better because his theory offers a more definitive ontology that matches human substantive behavior. Likewise, evidence within cognitive science suggests that Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology is a more accurate depiction of human cognitive processes. Introduction (1) Fodor’s modularity thesis popularized faculty approaches to cognitive psychology. This theory bears a striking resemblance to the phenomenological theory that Merleau-Ponty proposed two decades earlier. Both theories employ a trichotomous functional architecture to explain cognition and view perception as a mid-level processing of information that lies between the world and consciousness. The key feature that differentiates the views is whether that middle level of processing is completely impenetrable by consciousness. If Fodor was to relax his strong position of the impenetrability of information in modules, modules could both be somewhat encapsulated and maintain a general independence from consciousness. Then only the degree of perception’s independance from consciousness would distinguish his theory from Merleau-Ponty’s. Currently, both theories can account for the substantive, outward, behavior of humans. Only the procedural behavior, the internal process, differentiates the theories. The conundrum of deciding between the theories is resolvable by an empirical critical experiment. While this will require more knowledge of cognitive psychology, current evidence suggests that Merleau-Ponty was correct and the mind is less encapsulated than Fodor's original claim. The Two Theories and Their Resemblance Merleau-Ponty distinguishes three aspects of the psychological process; basic sensations, perception, and the associations of memory (Merleau-Ponty, 1994). Basic sensations receive raw information from the world and transduce them for our perceptual processes. Perception unifies the infinite amount of information about our environment, from our environment, into a meaningful structure. Perception is interpretive, but its presentation of the world is as distal and objective. There are three central features of perception for Merleau-Ponty. First, perception is synthesized independently by the body and not by the mind (consciousness).

Death and We Real Cool Essay -- We Real Cool Essays Gwendolyn Brooks B

Death and We Real Cool "The sluggard’s craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work" (Proverbs 21:25). The Bible makes a very clear statement in this passage as to how being lazy can be the cause of one’s death. "We Real Cool" is about seven African-American high school dropouts who want everybody else to think that they are cool. These teenagers explain how they stay out late playing pool, fighting, sinning and drinking. Though they think they have everybody else fooled, they know themselves that the destructive behavior they are taking part in will lead to their death. In "We Real Cool," Gwendolyn Brooks uses denotation and sound devices to suggest that although some African-Americans may often think of themselves as being cool for dropping out of school, they know in truth that dropping out will give them time to engage in sinful activities which will result in a broken, short life. Brooks uses denotation to suggest that although some African-Americans may often think of themselves as being cool for dropping out of school they know in reality that dropping out will give them time to engage in sinful activities which will result in a broken, short life. "We real cool. We / Left school" (Lines 1-2). This explains how these African-American teenagers think that they are cool because they dropped out of high school. "We / Lurk late" (3-4). The facts that they lurk late just aids in understanding that these teenagers are dropouts because otherwise they would not be out as late. Not only are these young African-Americans dropouts who stay out late at night, they also get into fights. We / Strike straight" (3-4). While staying out late because they are dropouts, the teenagers talked about in t... ...elves as being really cool on the outside because of the rebellious things they are taking part in and want others to picture them as being cool also. Though on the outside these kids think of themselves as cool and want to give that impression to others, they know the destructive things they are taking part in will soon be the cause of their abrupt death. Gwendolyn Brooks demonstrates in her poem, "We Real Cool," that even though people view and may acknowledge their own destructive behavior and often think of themselves as being cool, they know in reality their destructive actions will be the inevitable cause of their death. Works Cited The Bible. New International Version. Brooks, Gwendolyn. "We Real Cool." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 6th ed. New York: Harper, 1995. 740.

Evaluate the dramatic impact of the supernatural Essay

Shakespeare’s Hamlet, tells the story of the prince of Denmark, a headstrong and passionate young man, who is seeking revenge for the murder of his father. He achieves this but tragically loses his own life in the process. The audience of Shakespeare’s time would have been newly deemed Protestant, as Hamlet makes reference to a belief in Purgatory, is never clear whether or not Shakespeare follows a particular religious line, however the audience would certainly have been familiar with the concept. The protestant beliefs differed little from those of the Roman Catholics. The only drastic changes being the Protestants acceptance of divorce, and exclusion of the belief in Purgatory; I am thy fathers spirit, Doomed for a certain term to walk the night, And for the day confined to fast in fires Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and purged away (1. 5. 9-13) Whilst the existence of the ghost is a common belief in Elizabethan England, and evidence for the existence of an afterlife, he speaks of his confinement in what can be assumed to purgatory or hell. Purgatory is represented as being the state between heaven and hell in which tainted souls are purged of their crimes and sent, in a state of purity to heaven. This belief is a uniquely Catholic one. However recently, the Pope has stated that Purgatory is a state of mind rather than a physical place, and whilst a person is in that state of mind, repenting of their sins, they will be allowed to enter heaven upon death. This reflects upon a change in the nature of the Catholic Church as well as a laxity in the structure of religious education. Religion in Shakespeare’s England was a much more prominent part of life than it is in comparison with today. The multicultural nation we live in now was then dominated by the chosen religion of the monarch. At this point the religion was Protestantism. As Elizabeth the first was on the throne. Whilst being a protestant, Elizabeth was recorded as being tolerant of Catholic beliefs. This adjustment to a protestant life would still have left some remnants of Catholicism in its path. Redemption and the state of the immortal soul after death was one of the main beliefs of the Catholic Church and the Protestant faith, however to less of an extent and this is reflected as it is one of the main themes in Hamlet. This manifests itself in several ways. For example, it is Hamlet’s belief in the afterlife and desire to act as ultimate judge is what stays his hand as Claudius unwittingly tries to pray in the church; A villain kills my father, and for that I his sole do this same villain send To heaven! Claudius, as he appeared to be praying, would have died in a state of grace with god and gone to purgatory or heaven rather than hell, which is where Hamlet would much prefer Claudius spent eternity. This is in line with the religious beliefs of the time. Therefore to the audience of the time, hell would have been a much more real and present threat than today. As attendance at church was mandatory and punishable by time in the stocks, the majority of the audience would be familiar with the concept. The heat of hell is another concept the audience would have been familiar with is the heat of hell. Shakespeare makes reference to this in act one scene five, and it is also a point of reference in the bible; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:42) At this point in history, the bible was first being translated from Latin into English. So religion reached the British public on mass on new levels. In Hamlet, the fires and sulphur of hell are3 referred to initially by the ghost; When I to sulph’rous and tormenting flames Must render up myself (1. 5. 2-3) Whether the ghost of Old Hamlet is residing in hell or Purgatory is an issue which Shakespeare leaves open and unresolved. This leaves the Shakespearean audience with the question of whether there was a hope of redemption for Old Hamlet, and in relation themselves. The ghost uses a great deal of apocalyptic imagery, heightening the dramatic impact of his words on the modern and contextual audience; Oh horrible, oh horrible, most horrible! If thou hast nature in thee bare it not Let not the royal bed of Denmark be A couch for luxury and damned incest (1. 5. 80-84). The relationship between Claudius and Gertrude would have been seen as incest n Shakespeare’s time, whilst it would be more acceptable today. This declaration is seen coming from the mouth of the ghost. To a contextual audience, this would greatly increase the sense of urgency, and condemn incest as being against god. This shows the audience of Shakespeare’s time was far more greatly affected by the supernatural, religion and the afterlife than today. As today, our understanding of religious teaching is far less comprehensive than this, and applies to a far smaller proportion of society. Shakespeare’s accuracy regarding religious beliefs of the time would have had a far larger impact on the audiences of the time, as these beliefs directly related to their lives. These beliefs were taken a great deal more seriously by the majority of the country. Evidence for this is that the clergy, in the social hierarchy was second to the nobility; the church was often consulted in parliamentary matters. In contrast to today, where the church, still an influential force, is influential over far fewer people. To a modern audience, Hamlet offers an insight into the mindset of the 1600’s audience. This interest in the afterlife, and the duality between life and death occurs in more than one of his plays. Macbeth for example is fully aware of the apocalyptic consequences of murdering the king, placed there by god. Today, the divine right of kings is less of an issue as we live in a country run by an elected parliament based on a voting system involving universal suffrage. A similarity between the Shakespearean audience’s perception and a modern audiences perception of Hamlet is the human fascination with death and the afterlife. Shakespeare clearly shows the Roman Catholic perception of death, one of the few acceptable at the time. This would have relevance to a much smaller percentage of the modern audience. Rather than appeal to the darker side of a Roman Catholic belief, Hamlet tempts the inquisitive and growing, almost pagan darkness in society. The ghost of Old Hamlet is the most vivid appearance of the supernatural directly influencing the play. It is a crucial issue whether or not the ghost is the past king of Denmark.

Classical Era

In music, many of the great composers Like Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn all became prominent names through their ability to fully embody all that classical music is. Following in a similar pattern, art also took a turn in the sass towards a much more modern medium. The need to fell each open space with some form of art was no longer a big worry in classical art. In fact, the use of lighter colors, more structure, and small ornate details where much more preferred. This view point of art was not only seen in paintings, but also in the sculptures and architectural designs for this time period.A well-known architect for this time was Robert Adam. Who was more adapt at interior design. His designs showcased exquisite delicate details as well as portraying a common comfort and intimacy. This time period, would be a time for stretching the boundaries of the mind and creating an everlasting image through simple and pure techniques. Pertaining to the music, an example of an almost effortless seeming form of music is, Beethoven's own â€Å"FÃ'Ëœr Elise† (1810). In this piece specifically, parallelisms within the piece are prominent as well as a much slower melodic tempo than that seen In Baroque pieces.His use of dynamics pairs with the tension created throughout the piece only to be resolved at the end by the simple main melody coming back through. From this time period there is another great composer, Haydn. One of his many pieces is his â€Å"Symphony No. 94† (1792), which is also known as his, â€Å"Surprise Symphony. The title in itself describes the piece beautifully, while following along with the piece, there were quite a few surprises In it. Sudden changes in dynamics and rhythm would shock the audience creating quite a stir.Another Beethoven piece to look at Is his piano sonata, â€Å"Passionate† (1805). In this sonata, the common occurrence is a strict melody played by a solo pianist. Keeping with the classical trend, most of the piece i s contingent with following a similar chord pattern which gives tit much smoother flow. Music during this time embodied, simple fluidity creating some of the most well-known melodic and consistently flowing pieces still today. Art, Just like Its counterpart music, also experienced a change during this time period. No more would artists more minimalist feel.Art itself was viewed during this time as a form of education for the community, and was meant to enhance and promote the morality of the public. An example of this form of art is â€Å"The Apotheosis of Homer† (1827) by Jean- Augusta-Dominique Ingress, although painted a couple years later than when the classical period ended, it is still very much in that classical mode. By using lighter colors, and centering in on one specific aspect, Jean draws his audience's attention to the center of the painting where he shows them the crowning of Homer.The lighter colors like the lighter melodic feel in music are an attribute of the Classical Era. In Joseph-Marie Vine's, â€Å"The Cupid Seller† (1763) he uses a technique commonly used in many Classical Era pieces, he lightens his main subjects. When looking at the painting, the subjects themselves seem to have a glow while everything else around them is darkened and less focused. Another piece that has this same effect is Franà §ois Grade's â€Å"Portrait of Juliet Racier† (1805).His painting portrays a single woman lounging across a chair. She like in, â€Å"The Cupid Seller†, is lighter than her surroundings making her the focal point. Music and art both had this similar tendency, to focus on a single aspect or form by which they were trying to portray. The Classical Era was a time of enlightenment and change, from the heavy, dark, and lambent properties that were the Baroque Era to a more noble simplicity. In this time, ideas were borrowed from their ancient counterparts of the Romans and Greeks.