1. Introduction In the discussions about belief and the will, two sorts of issues tend to be conflated. One is psychological: can we, as matter of psychological fact, believe something at will, or under the influence of motivational factors? The other is normative: should we, as a matter of normative guidance, believe things for which we have practical, or pragmatic reasons? This ambiguity is p...

This paper is about control mechanisms for virtual organizations. As a case study, we discuss the Renewables Obligation (RO), a control mechanism that was introduced in the United Kingdom to stimulate the production of renewable energy. We apply a conceptual model based on normative multiagent systems (NMAS). We propose to model both the participants and the normative system as autonomous agent...

This paper is about control mechanisms for virtual organizations. As a case study, we discuss the Renewables Obligation (RO), a control mechanism that was introduced in the United Kingdom to stimulate the production of renewable energy. We apply a conceptual model based on normative multiagent systems (NMAS). We propose to model both the participants and the normative system as autonomous agent...

The effects of a community's culture on children's and adolescents' normative beliefs about the appropriateness of aggression were examined. One hundred forty-seven high school students and 103 fourth graders participated in a survey of normative beliefs; 69 high school and 44 elementary school students were of Middle-Eastern background. Although there were no differences in the beliefs of immi...

This study has adopted and refined Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior, theory of reasoned action, and the value–belief–norm theory by Stern et al. to investigate the effects of normative beliefs, attitudes, and social norms on pro-environmental behavioral intentions. A total of 391 valid responses were collected from visitors to a theme park in Taiwan. A structure equation analysis indicated th...

This study tested social status correlates of aggression and bullying and how these are influenced by peer groups’ normative beliefs about aggression and prosocial behavior among 1165 fourth, fifth and sixth graders in Chile. Associations between aggression and popularity (positive) and social preference (negative) were confirmed, whereas bullying was negatively associated with both dimensions....

PURPOSE To determine whether adolescents' normative beliefs about abstinence and condoms, their personal risk perception, and safer sex practices changed after the implementation of a peer sexual health education intervention implemented in Zambian secondary schools. METHODS The peer intervention was implemented during the first week of September 2000 in Lusaka, Zambia. A quasi-experimental, ...

This study investigated whether there were any changes in knowledge and normative beliefs regarding abstinence and condoms and personal risk perception of acquiring HIV among Zambian secondary-school students who were exposed to a peer sexual health intervention. Schools were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. A baseline assessment that measured knowledge, normative beliefs a...

In this paper we introduce a formal framework for the construction of normative multiagent systems, based on Searle’s notion of the construction of social reality. Within the structure of normative multiagent systems we distinguish between regulative norms that describe obligations, prohibitions and permissions, and constitutive norms that regulate the creation of institutional facts as well as...

INTRODUCTION The endorsement of the chain of survival concept and early defibrillation has challenged health professionals to reconsider their beliefs about how they respond to in-hospital resuscitation. In the rural context, where 24 hour coverage is not available nurse-initiated defibrillation is expected. Despite literature and policy change in Australia to allow nurses to initiate defibrill...