Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
closed access
Humans regularly face collective problems calling for cooperation. To solve such problems, people can establish public goods that require contributions from individual members and benefit the whole...Show moreHumans regularly face collective problems calling for cooperation. To solve such problems, people can establish public goods that require contributions from individual members and benefit the whole group, e.g. public health care and infrastructure. It has been suggested that in modern society people have become less dependent on the creation of public goods and more able to solve problems individually (Santos, Varnum, & Grossmann, 2017). Nevertheless, solving shared problems individually is tied to resources that are often unequally distributed between people. Inequality (Zelmer, 2003) and individualism (Gross & De Dreu, 2019) can complicate cooperation, however, their interplay is largely unknown. We confronted 50 groups (N = 200) with a public goods game with the additional option to solve a shared problem individually through a private solution. Across groups, group members had either an equal or an unequal resource distribution. The private solution allowed wealthier group members to leave the group and avoid contributing to the public good. This resulted in increased inequality. Specifically, the easier it was to opt for a private solution, the higher the inequality was. We further investigated voting preferences and fairness perceptions by having sixty-one impartial raters complete the task from a third-party perspective. The third-party players preferred a more equitable solution that would result in lower inequality. While group members dependent on the public solution voted for delegating allocation decisions to the third party, the wealthier, and thus, more independent members voted against it revealing self-serving motives. Our findings highlight unique problems emerging with self-reliance in the face of global issues, such as a pandemic and global warming, that require cooperation. Especially, when self-reliance is only affordable for some, collective action can fail and further increase wealth gaps.Show less
This thesis concerns the translation strategies used by professional and non-professional subtitlers to translate the Japanese variety show VS Arashi into English. Previous research indicates that...Show moreThis thesis concerns the translation strategies used by professional and non-professional subtitlers to translate the Japanese variety show VS Arashi into English. Previous research indicates that target texts of non-professional subtitlers are more source-oriented than those of professional subtitlers. Since the majority of previous research has focussed on anime, the aim of this thesis was to discover whether this is also the case for the English translation of a Japanese variety show. This was investigated using the methodology proposed by Gottlieb (2009), in which extra-linguistic culture-specific references are assigned a place on a scale ranging from source- to target-oriented. The analysis of the results showed that the non-professional subtitles are indeed more source-oriented than the professional subtitles. This may be the result of the non-professional subtitlers prioritising authenticity where the professional subtitlers prioritise readability, a lack of training on the part of the non-professional subtitlers, a difference in target audience with the professional subtitlers targeting a more general audience than the non-professional subtitlers, and the Japanese to English direction of translation causing the professional subtitlers to translate more target-oriented.Show less
This thesis set out to analyse the eighteenth-century library of Johanna Paauw. If looking at the books in someone's bookcase offers some insight into who they are, what might one conclude on the...Show moreThis thesis set out to analyse the eighteenth-century library of Johanna Paauw. If looking at the books in someone's bookcase offers some insight into who they are, what might one conclude on the basis of Johanna Paauw's bookshelves?Show less
The reliability of statistics is essential for official statistics. With administrative data more often used instead of survey data, non-sampling errors become important factors in the accuracy of...Show moreThe reliability of statistics is essential for official statistics. With administrative data more often used instead of survey data, non-sampling errors become important factors in the accuracy of statistics. For domain statistics, such as yearly turnover of enterprises, classification errors occur. This study aims to measure the effect of classification errors on domain statistics, more specially, bias and variance due to classification errors. In this study, a new method was developed that applies a Gaussian mixture model, estimated by the EM algorithm, in short referred to as the EM method. Further another method was introduced that combined the EM method with bootstrapping, referred to as the combined method. Among them, the EM method only estimates bias, and the combined method is able to estimate both bias and variance. Together with a previously used bootstrap method, the three methods were tested in a simulation study and in a case study. The bias and variance estimates from the three methods were compared with their corresponding true values in different settings. The results showed that the bias estimates from the EM and the combined method were closer to the true values compared to the bootstrap method; The combined method had closer outputs on variance estimation than the bootstrap method. The EM and the combined method were equally accurate in estimating the true bias. These results suggest that the EM and the combined method estimated the bias and variance more accurately than the bootstrap method. In practice, the combined method is recommended since both the bias and the variance can be estimated. In a situation with a very large data set, where the variance is usually small and the bias is of most concern, the EM method may be preferred.Show less
Een casusstudie naar het gebruik van de opbrengst van het waterbeheerprogramma 2016-2021, als inbreng voor het opstellen van het Waterbeheerprogramma 2022-2027 van Waterschap Rivierenland aan de...Show moreEen casusstudie naar het gebruik van de opbrengst van het waterbeheerprogramma 2016-2021, als inbreng voor het opstellen van het Waterbeheerprogramma 2022-2027 van Waterschap Rivierenland aan de hand van het Strategisch Planningsmodel van Bryson (2011).Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
The construction of signs in the linguistic landscape (henceforth LL) of a given territory is driven by different reasons, and it can reflect upon an area's cultural, social, political, and...Show moreThe construction of signs in the linguistic landscape (henceforth LL) of a given territory is driven by different reasons, and it can reflect upon an area's cultural, social, political, and economic circumstances. The COVID-19 pandemic that influenced all countries in the year 2020 has kept a common and stable topic for many signs, which provides a unique opportunity to conduct a comparative LL study. The current study investigates COVID-19 related signs displayed on public transport, shop windows, city noticeboards, inside museums and churches in France, Italy, and the Netherlands. By conducting a mixed-method comparative study in three European countries that were (and still are) affected by the pandemic to different degrees, this study contributes to detecting how their multilingual status, identities, cultural values, and socio-political differences are constructed through a combination of linguistic and visual/multimodal representations, using LL signs as a relevant dataset. The data include 766 COVID-19 related signs collected from July to September 2020, in densely populated, urban areas of France, Italy, and the Netherlands. The quantitative and qualitative results show that monolingual ideologies prevail in France, in line with the country's long-lasting "one nation, one language" policy known as "the Toubon Law". The French signs heavily emphasized the importance of following the rules for the sake of safety and public health as well as illustrated the Parisian identity as a fashion hub. France also had the highest number of multimodal signs, showing a greater focus on visual representation to get important messages across during the pandemic. Italy featured a fair amount of English influence on LL signs, which may reflect the importance of tourism to economic recovery in the summer of 2020. A trademark of the Italian data were the many unique and humorous signs, which, alongside the low percentage of government-created signs used during COVID-19, reflect the cultural values of the country (use of humour in response to adverse conditions, preference for individual efforts, distrust of government). The Netherlands featured the highest proportion of English influence in LL signs, in line with the country's high proficiency in English. Minority languages spoken by large immigrant communities were better represented in the Netherlands, showcasing its linguistic and ethnic diversity. Solidarity, collective action and cooperation were emphasized in many COVID-19 related signs, illustrating Dutch cultural values and the fact that people in the Netherlands may have more trust in their government compared with France and Italy.Show less
The development of fashion photography, just like its subject itself, was in the past and will be affected by trends in the future. The techniques and influences that emerged in the field since the...Show moreThe development of fashion photography, just like its subject itself, was in the past and will be affected by trends in the future. The techniques and influences that emerged in the field since the late 1980s and 1990s have marked a paradigm shift from idealized to flexible conventions shaping the status quo of what constitutes a contemporary fashion (ad) photograph. The developments are reflected in modern fashion (ad) photographers’ works such as by Philip DiCorcia or Juergen Teller. The latter is considered a trending fashion photography pioneer. Although it is impossible to typify contemporary advertising photography’s expression, this paper illustrates one of its multi-approaches by investigating Juergen Teller’s (aesthetic) strategy in the advert campaign series Resort 2020 for Miu Miu in light of the concept of hybridity, which reflects the tendency of post-modernist photography. The notion of hybridity is characterized by dualism. The ad contains a multiplicity of hybrid elements revealed by using the methods of interdisciplinary research approach, combining literature review from various disciplines and visual analysis: Miu Miu Resort reflects not only a hybrid fusion of the luxury (the Miu Miu collection) and the banal (the setting or the models’ posing) but also plays on the concept of the grotesque which is in itself hybrid and is exemplified in the photographic series mainly by pairing incongruent categories such as animal and handbag. The general ambiguity in Resort is reflected in ‘conflicting’ compositions intriguing viewers and stimulate their curiosity for luxury products’ display, proved by findings of other scholars’ research on grotesque imagery’s persuasiveness. Teller’s imagery lacks cohesiveness and is not classifiable in many respects, as underlined by his neither amateurish, documentary, or filmic photography style nor in terms of gaze and gender-specific representations of the models. The artist’s work is unlike traditional fashion ad photography, which provides an exaggerated and decorative aura. Teller maintains the Resort campaign’s focus on the Miu Miu commodities by presenting the ordinary as ordinary. The anti-spectacular approach in Juergen Teller’s photographs alludes to the aesthetic concept Wabi-Sabi incorporating intentionally cropped body-parts or sunlight overexposure, rendering albeit the impression of naturalness, but the awareness of an artificial construction remains.Show less
Josephus (‘Jef’) Carel Franciscus Last (1898-1972) was a Dutch leftist writer, polyglot, and Spanish Civil War volunteer. Though he never became an influential name in Dutch literature in the same...Show moreJosephus (‘Jef’) Carel Franciscus Last (1898-1972) was a Dutch leftist writer, polyglot, and Spanish Civil War volunteer. Though he never became an influential name in Dutch literature in the same way some of his contemporaries managed to, he did maintain several high-profile intellectual friendships across Europe and the Dutch East Indies. He was moreover one of the most dynamic leftists from the Netherlands during the 1930s, travelling to many different countries, as well as constantly developing his precise political allegiances, often leading him to joining new political movements and organisations. This MA thesis is concerned with how this development of his political allegiance precisely materialised, and whether his experiences in the Spanish Civil War definitively cemented his disillusionment with communism towards the late 1930s.Show less
In dit onderzoek staan de ongeschreven regels van de parlementaire democratie, zogeheten conventies, centraal. Ze zijn essentieel voor het functioneren van een democratie, en voorbeelden uit heden...Show moreIn dit onderzoek staan de ongeschreven regels van de parlementaire democratie, zogeheten conventies, centraal. Ze zijn essentieel voor het functioneren van een democratie, en voorbeelden uit heden en verleden laten zien dat schendingen van conventies democratieën kunnen afbreken. Toch hebben Nederlandse conventieschendingen tot nog toe weinig grote gevolgen teweeggebracht. Hoe dat kan is onderzocht door drie incidentenreeksen uit de naoorlogse periode te analyseren. Dat heeft laten zien dat de Tweede Kamer robuust genoeg is geweest om doortastend met conventieschendingen om te gaan. Het gedrag van politiek en pers zorgde daarvoor, alsmede de realiteit van het meerpartijenstelsel en het mechanisme van de kosten-batenafweging. De parlementaire democratie blijft echter niet uit zichzelf gezond, en met name het gedrag van politiek en pers vragen om blijvende oplettendheid.Show less
Authentication of a communication channel usually requires that the parties meet physically; but there is one solution if it is enough to confirm the geographical location of a party: quantum...Show moreAuthentication of a communication channel usually requires that the parties meet physically; but there is one solution if it is enough to confirm the geographical location of a party: quantum position verification (QPV). This is based on quantum mechanics, the no-cloning theorem, and special relativity, the invariance of the speed of light. We shown an extension of a QPV protocol where quantum information is communicated via the polarization state of single photons including the effects of photon loss and polarization noise, and explore it by numerical simulations. Moreover, we have designed and implemented the first steps of a QPV demonstration using optical fibers. We have been able to calibrate the setup for horizontal and vertical polarization states where a visibility of approximately 0.85 has been measured.Show less
In dit onderzoek is de invloed van de Vereniging VluchtelingenWerk Nederland op de (rechts)positie van vluchtelingenvrouwen in de jaren tachtig onderzocht. Aan de hand van documentatie van de...Show moreIn dit onderzoek is de invloed van de Vereniging VluchtelingenWerk Nederland op de (rechts)positie van vluchtelingenvrouwen in de jaren tachtig onderzocht. Aan de hand van documentatie van de organisatie zelf, is het werk en succes van het bureau Vrouwenwerk nader geanalyseerd. Gebleken is dat het bestaan van het bureau op was te delen in drie fases: de pioniersfase, de differentiatiefase en de integratiefase. Werkzaamheden waren onder meer gericht op onderzoek, beleidsbeïnvloeding, organisatievorming en werkgelegenheid. Dit onderzoek heeft een specifieke en gedetailleerde weergave opgeleverd van hoe een belangenorganisatie voor vluchtelingen zich manoeuvreerde in het cross-culturele en interdisciplinaire werkveld. Bovendien laat dit onderzoek zien hoe het bureau Vrouwenwerk het vluchtelingenvrouwenvraagstuk mondiaal op de kaart zette in de jaren tachtig.Show less
