Internet Paradox Revisited

Kraut et al. (1998) reported negative effects of using the Internet on social involvement and psychological well-being among new Internet users in 1995–96. We called the effects a "paradox" because participants used the Internet heavily for communication, which generally has positive effects. A 3-year follow-up of 208 of these respondents found that negative effects dissipated. We also report findings from a longitudinal survey in 1998–99 of 406 new computer and television purchasers. This sample generally experienced positive effects of using the Internet on communication, social involvement, and well-being. However, consistent with a "rich get richer" model, using the Internet predicted better outcomes for extraverts and those with more social support but worse outcomes for introverts and those with less support.     

Divide-the-Dollar Game Revisited

In the Divide-the-Dollar (DD) game, two players simultaneously make demands to divide a dollar. Each player receives his demand if the sum of the demands does not exceed one, a payoff of zero otherwise. Note that, in the latter case, both parties are punished severely. A major setback of DD is that each division of the dollar is a Nash equilibrium outcome. Observe that, when the sum of the two demands x and y exceeds one, it is as if Player 1's demand x (or his offer (1−x) to Player 2) suggests that Player 2 agrees to λ_x < 1 times his demand y so that Player 1's demand and Player 2's modified demand add up to exactly one; similarly, Player 2's demand y (or his offer (1−y) to Player 1) suggests that Player 1 agrees to λ_yx so that λ_yx+y = 1. Considering this fact, we change DD's payoff assignment rule when the sum of the demands exceeds one; here in this case, each player's payoff becomes his demand times his λ; i.e., each player has to make the sacrifice that he asks his opponent to make. We show that this modified version of DD has an iterated strict dominant strategy equilibrium in which each player makes the egalitarian demand 1/2. We also provide a natural N-person generalization of this procedure. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Measurement of Burnout Revisited

Throughout the literature, burnout has been conceptualized as encompassing three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment. Interview and questionnaire data from 95 human service workers examine a conceptual model linking burnout to selected work characteristics and professionalism. Derived from theory and based on factor analysis, multiple-item subscales are established for work characteristics (autonomy, role conflict, role ambiguity and workload), professionalism (job involvement, intrinsic motwation and higher order needs satisfaction) and burnout (the three dimensions). Intercorrelations among the subscales and a path analysis lead to the conclusion that burnout requires reconceptualization theoretically and operationally. Of the three alleged dimensions of burnout, only emotional exhaustion is found to be a valid and reliable measure.     

The GMH Pagewood Workers Revisited

The purpose of this study was to investigate the consequences for the retrenched workers and their families of the closure of the GMH Pagewood plant in August, 1980, A number of retrenched workers were surveyed at the time of the closure and then nine to twelve months later. The study found that many of the retrenched workers and their families suffered considerable financial, social and psychological costs. These costs fell most heavily on certain identifiable groups. Means are suggested by which the disadvantage of these groups may be reduced.     

The Prevention of Homelessness Revisited

Conceptual and methodological problems plague efforts to prevent homelessness. Attempts to identify individuals at risk are inefficient, targeting many people who will not become homeless for each person who will. Such interventions may do useful things for needy people, but evidence that they prevent homelessness is scant. Subsidized housing, with or without supportive services, has ended homelessness for families and played a key role in ending it for people with serious mental illnesses. Other risk factors may be less important once housing is secured. But programs that allocate scarce housing may simply reallocate homelessness, determining who goes to the head of the line for housing, not shortening the line itself. We recommend reorienting homelessness prevention from work with identified at-risk persons to efforts to increase the supply of affordable housing and sustainable sources of livelihood nationwide or in targeted communities.     

The First Sino-Japanese War Indemnity Revisited

Abstract

The question of the amount of the First Sino-Japanese War indemnity involves three main elements: Japan’s military expenditure on the war, China’s actual payment, and the actual amount Japan received. On all of these issues, there have always been considerable differences between Chinese and Japanese scholars. In this study, we analyze relevant archives and documents and the main scholarly work in both China and Japan and provide a detailed discussion of several scholarly points of views and their basis, and examine the pre- and postwar exchange rates between the yen, the Chinese treasury standard (Kuping) silver tael, and the pound sterling, taking account of the fluctuating value of the yen before and after the war. On this basis, we calculate that Japan’s actual military spending on the war was no more than 125 million yen, while the actual payments by the Qing government, converted to pounds sterling and then to yen, totaled 358.36 million yen. Japan extorted 233.36 million yen from China, or three times Japan’s total annual revenue at the time.     

Correlated Equilibrium in Games with Incomplete Information Revisited

A mistake in “Five legitimate definitions of correlated equilibrium (CE) in games with incomplete information” motivates a re-examination of some extensions of the solution concept that Aumann introduced.     

理论的贫乏与方法的翻新:关于后现代主义的再思考

严格地讲 ,后现代主义根本不能算作一种理论 ,它只是对其他各种文化理论提出的一个特殊问题 :当代西方社会在文化或政治经济方面是否已经经历了一场意义深远的转变 ,从而标志着现代性的终结和“后现代”的开始。从这个意义上讲 ,后现代主义是对整个当代文化理论的重新质疑。