Is the Implicit Association Test a Valid and Valuable Measure of Implicit Consumer Social Cognition?

This article discusses the need for more satisfactory implicit measures in consumer psychology and assesses the theoretical foundations, validity, and value of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) as a measure of implicit consumer social cognition. Study 1 demonstrates the IAT's sensitivity to explicit individual differences in brand attitudes, ownership, and usage frequency, and shows their correlations with lAT‐based measures of implicit brand attitudes and brand relationship strength. In Study 2, the contrast between explicit and implicit measures of attitude toward the ad for sportswear advertisements portraying African American (Black) and European American (White) athlete–spokespersons revealed different patterns of responses to explicit and implicit measures in Black and White respondents. These were explained in terms of self‐presentation biases and system justification theory. Overall, the results demonstrate that the IAT enhances our understanding of consumer responses, particularly when consumers are either unable or unwilling to identify the sources of influence on their behaviors or opinions.     

Individual differences in working memory capacity and divided attention in dichotic listening

The controlled attention theory of working memory suggests that individuals with greater working memory capacity (WMC) are better able to control or focus their attention than individuals with lesser WMC. This relationship has been observed in a number of selective attention paradigms including a dichotic listening task (Conway, Cowan, & Bunting, 2001) in which participants were required to shadow words presented to one ear and ignore words presented to the other ear. Conway et al. found that when the participant’s name was presented to the ignored ear, 65% of participants with low WMC reported hearing their name, compared to only 20% of participants with high WMC, suggesting greater selective attention on the part of high WMC participants. In the present study, individual differences in divided attention were examined in a dichotic listening task, in which participants shadowed one message and listened for their own name in the other message. Here we find that 66.7% of high WMC and 34.5% of low WMC participants detected their name. These results suggest that as WMC capacity increases, so does the ability to control the focus of attention, with high WMC participants being able to flexibly “zoom in” or “zoom out” depending on task demands.     

Why does working memory capacity predict variation in reading comprehension? On the influence of mind wandering and executive attention

Some people are better readers than others, and this variation in comprehension ability is predicted by measures of working memory capacity (WMC). The primary goal of this study was to investigate the mediating role of mind-wandering experiences in the association between WMC and normal individual differences in reading comprehension, as predicted by the executive-attention theory of WMC (e.g., Engle & Kane, 2004). We used a latent-variable, structural-equation-model approach, testing skilled adult readers on 3 WMC span tasks, 7 varied reading-comprehension tasks, and 3 attention-control tasks. Mind wandering was assessed using experimenter-scheduled thought probes during 4 different tasks (2 reading, 2 attention-control). The results support the executive-attention theory of WMC. Mind wandering across the 4 tasks loaded onto a single latent factor, reflecting a stable individual difference. Most important, mind wandering was a significant mediator in the relationship between WMC and reading comprehension, suggesting that the WMC-comprehension correlation is driven, in part, by attention control over intruding thoughts. We discuss implications for theories of WMC, attention control, and reading comprehension.     

品牌名称暗示性对消费者决策选择的影响：认知需要和专业化水平的调节作用

品牌管理者最首要的决策就是选择一个好记的或有意义的品牌名字。由于任何特征的品牌名字都必须借助消费者的认知差异来实现真正的差异化, 因此, 从消费者认知特点出发研究暗示性品牌名字就显得尤为重要和有意义。本文通过3个实验, 分别验证了消费者认知需要和专业化水平对品牌名称暗示性与决策选择的调节作用。方差分析发现：低专业化水平的消费者更倾向于根据暗示性的品牌名字做出决策, 而高专业化水平的消费者则不受品牌名称暗示程度的影响。此外, 低认知需要的消费者比较喜欢暗示性的品牌名字, 而对于高认知需要的消费者来说, 品牌名字的暗示性程度不会对其决策过程产生影响。最后, 研究结果揭示了专业化水平和认知需要对暗示性品牌名字效果发挥具有交互作用。对于具有高专业化水平的消费者来说, 无论他们处于低认知需要还是高认知需要, 品牌名字的暗示程度都不会影响他们的态度形成。相反地,对于具有低专业化水平的消费者来说, 无论是低认知需要还是高认知需要均倾向于暗示性的品牌名字。而对于专业化程度中等的消费者而言, 暗示性品牌名字效用的发挥则取决于其处理信息的动机—认知需要水平。     

The Influence of Masculinity and Femininity in Different Advertising Processing Contexts: An Accessibility Perspective

The accessibility of self-rated masculinity and femininity is proposed to vary as a function of individual differences, product types, and affective states. In turn, enhanced accessibility of masculinity or femininity should increase the influence of masculine or feminine ad-self congruency on advertisement evaluations. Results of two experiments showed that, for individuals whose masculinity or femininity was chronically accessible, congruency between ad portrayals and self-ratings on these dimensions predicted more positive attitudes toward the advertisement. Moreover, product types and affective states altered the degree of influence that masculine or feminine ad-self congruency exerted on advertisement evaluations. Finally, individuals high in masculinity were found to rely more on product function beliefs when evaluating advertised brands.     

Individual differences in susceptibility to false memory in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm

The authors addressed whether individual differences in the working memory capacity (WMC) of young adults influence susceptibility to false memories for nonpresented critical words in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott associative list paradigm. The results of 2 experiments indicated that individuals with greater WMC recalled fewer critical words than individuals with reduced WMC when participants were forewarned about the tendency of associative lists (e.g., bed, rest, . . .) to elicit illusory memories for critical words (e.g., sleep). In contrast, both high and low WMC participants used repeated study-test trials to reduce recall of critical words. These findings suggest that individual differences in WMC influence cognitive control and the ability to actively maintain task goals in the face of interfering information or habit.     

Working memory capacity modulates habituation rate: Evidence from a cross-modal auditory distraction paradigm

Habituation of the orienting response is a pivotal part of selective attention, and previous research has related working memory capacity (WMC) to attention control. Against this background, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether individual differences in WMC contribute to habituation rate. The participants categorized visual targets across six blocks of trials. Each target was preceded either by a standard sound or, on rare trials, by a deviant. The magnitude of the deviation effect (i.e., prolonged response time when the deviant was presented) was relatively large in the beginning but attenuated toward the end. There was no relationship between WMC and the deviation effect at the beginning, but there was at the end, and greater WMC was associated with greater habituation. These results indicate that high memory ability increases habituation rate, and they support theories proposing a role for cognitive control in habituation and in some forms of auditory distraction.     

Music as an Unconditioned Stimulus: Positive and Negative Effects of Country Music on Implicit Attitudes,Explicit Attitudes,and Brand Choice1

An experiment (N = 68) explored how background music in a realistic web advertisement could condition implicit and explicit attitudes toward a novel brand. Conditioning effects were apparent in both traditional explicit attitude measures and also in the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Further, brand choice was predicted by explicit attitudes, but prediction improved significantly when implicit attitudes were considered. Mood‐congruent judgment, demand effects, and conditioning are considered as potential explanations for our results, and we argue that conditioning provides the most parsimonious explanation. Finally, the results are discussed within the context of the associative‐propositional evaluation model ( Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006 ). This model provides a framework for the integration of the implicit attitude construct into the study of consumer behavior.     

Your ethnic model speaks to the culturally connected: Differential effects of model ethnicity in advertisements and the role of cultural self‐construal

This paper examines self‐construal and consumer self‐referencing as a mechanism for explaining ethnicity effects in advertising. Data were collected from a 2 (participant ethnicity: Turkish versus Kurdish) × 2 (model ethnicity: Turkish versus Kurdish) × 2 (self‐construal: independent versus interdependent) experiment. Results show that (i) individuals with interdependent self‐construal display more positive evaluations towards an in‐group ethnic ad model than do individuals with independent self‐construal; (ii) ethnic minority individuals (Kurdish people) self‐referenced more advertising portrayals of models of a similar ethnicity than models of a different ethnicity, as did ethnic majority individuals (Turkish people); (iii) ethnic minority individuals who experienced high levels of self‐referencing exhibited more favourable attitude towards the advertisement, attitude towards the brand and a higher purchase intention than ethnic minority individuals who experienced low levels of self‐referencing; and (iv) self‐referencing is found to partially mediate the relationship between culturally constructed self‐concept (self‐construal) and ethnicity on consumer evaluations for interdependent subjects. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Individual differences in working memory capacity predict visual attention allocation

To the extent that individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) reflect differences in attention (Baddeley, 1993; Engle, Kane, & Tuholski, 1999), differences in WMC should predict performance on visual attention tasks. Individuals who scored in the upper and lower quartiles on the OSPAN working memory test performed a modification of Egly and Homa’s (1984) selective attention task. In this task, the participants identified a central letter and localized a displaced letter flashed somewhere on one of three concentric rings. When the displaced letter occurred closer to fixation than the cue implied, high-WMC, but not low-WMC, individuals showed a cost in the letter localization task. This suggests that low-WMC participants allocated attention as a spotlight, whereas those with high WMC showed flexible allocation.     

Changing Parties,Changing Partisans: The Personalization of Partisan Attachments in Western Europe

This article investigates the effects of the deep transformations in the relationship between West European class‐mass parties and their electorates. Particular attention is paid to the changing nature of individuals' partisan attachments, which are hypothesized to be less rooted in social and ideological identities and more in individual attitudes towards increasingly visible partisan objects. The main objective of this article is to examine the influence of voters' attitudes towards one of these “objects”—the party leaders—in determining psychological attachments with the parties. The analysis concentrates on the two main cleavage‐based parties in Britain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. The empirical findings highlight the declining ability of social identities (class and religious) to predict individual feelings of partisan attachment, as well as the growing influence of voters' attitudes towards party leaders. The concluding section points to the crucial role that political psychology can play in our understanding of democratic elections' outcomes.     

Working memory capacity and the top-down control of visual search: Exploring the boundaries of "executive attention"

The executive attention theory of working memory capacity (WMC) proposes that measures of WMC broadly predict higher order cognitive abilities because they tap important and general attention capabilities (R. W. Engle & M. J. Kane, 2004). Previous research demonstrated WMC-related differences in attention tasks that required restraint of habitual responses or constraint of conscious focus. To further specify the executive attention construct, the present experiments sought boundary conditions of the WMC-attention relation. Three experiments correlated individual differences in WMC, as measured by complex span tasks, and executive control of visual search. In feature-absence search, conjunction search, and spatial configuration search, WMC was unrelated to search slopes, although they were large and reliably measured. Even in a search task designed to require the volitional movement of attention (J. M. Wolfe, G. A. Alvarez, & T. S. Horowitz, 2000), WMC was irrelevant to performance. Thus, WMC is not associated with all demanding or controlled attention processes, which poses problems for some general theories of WMC.     

孤独让我爱上你:产品陈列对孤独个体产品偏好的影响

研究通过3组实验分析产品陈列方式对孤独个体产品偏好的影响。实验1发现产品合并陈列时,孤独个体偏爱普通产品;产品单独陈列时,孤独个体更喜欢拟人化产品。实验2采用产品的功能关系代替陈列方式,进一步验证主效应。实验3分析广告信息类别对主效应的调节作用。本文为企业合理地使用拟人化策略提供建议。     

Between Hippocrates and God: Ugandan mental health professional's views on suicide

A negative attitude towards suicide is generally assumed to be predominant in low-income countries. In order to understand the negative attitude in general it is necessary to look at how religion and morality influence the attitudes. Our aim in this qualitative interview study was to investigate what attitudes professional mental health workers in Uganda bear towards suicide and suicidal persons. The professionals argue for their attitude by employing religious, communal and medical ethics arguments, which draw both in a negative and positive direction. The professionals are in general unambiguously negative towards suicide and positive towards suicidal people who are mentally ill. In cases other than mental illness non-accepting attitudes surface. This is discussed against previous research showing that effective treatment of suicidal people is to be based on a trusting and accepting relationship.     

Prefer feeling bad? Subcultural differences in emotional preferences between Han Chinese and Mongolian Chinese

As a multi‐ethnic country that is comprised of diverse cultural systems, there has been little research on the subcultural differences in emotional preferences in China. Also, little attention has been paid to examine how explicit and implicit attitudes towards emotions influence emotional preferences interactively. In this study, we manipulated explicit attitudes towards emotions among Han (N = 62) and Mongolian Chinese individuals (N = 70). We assessed participants' implicit attitudes towards emotions to explore their contributions to emotional preferences. (a) Han Chinese had lower preferences for pleasant emotions than Mongolian Chinese after inducing contra‐hedonic attitudes towards emotions, and (b) after priming contra‐hedonic attitudes towards emotions, the more Han Chinese participants evaluated pleasant emotions as negative implicitly, the less they preferred to engage in pleasant emotional activities. These findings contribute to the growing literature of subcultural differences and demonstrate that explicit and implicit attitudes towards emotions interactively influence individuals' emotional preferences between different subculture groups.     

Working through the pain: working memory capacity and differences in processing and storage under pain

It has been suggested that pain perception and attention are closely linked at both a neural and a behavioural level. If pain and attention are so linked, it is reasonable to speculate that those who vary in working memory capacity (WMC) should be affected by pain differently. This study compares the performance of individuals who differ in WMC as they perform processing and memory span tasks while under mild pain and not. While processing performance under mild pain does not interact with WMC, the ability to store information for later recall does. This suggests that pain operates much like an additional processing burden, and that the ability to overcome this physical sensation is related to differences in WMC.     

Individual differences in working memory capacity affect false memories for missing aspects of events

Recently, Gerrie, Belcher, and Garry (2006) found that, when participants watch an event with parts missing, they falsely claim to have seen the missing parts—but they were more likely to claim they had seen less crucial parts than more crucial parts. Their results fit with a source-monitoring framework (SMF; Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993) explanation of false memories. In this paper we used individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) to examine the SMF explanation of false memories for missing aspects of events. An accumulating body of research suggests that WMC is strongly related to controlling attention, including the ability to distinguish between sources of information. The primary purpose of the present study was to examine whether people with larger WMC are better able to ward off false memories for missing information than those with a smaller WMC. We showed that higher WMC reduced false recognition of crucial information, but did not change false recognition of noncrucial information. Additionally, we found that WMC had little effect on participants’ subjective experience of true and false recognition of events, regardless whether the information was crucial or not. These results provide further evidence that people's WMC is related to their source-monitoring ability.     

Individual differences in working memory capacity affect false memories for missing aspects of events

Recently, Gerrie, Belcher, and Garry (2006) found that, when participants watch an event with parts missing, they falsely claim to have seen the missing parts--but they were more likely to claim they had seen less crucial parts than more crucial parts. Their results fit with a source-monitoring framework (SMF; Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993) explanation of false memories. In this paper we used individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) to examine the SMF explanation of false memories for missing aspects of events. An accumulating body of research suggests that WMC is strongly related to controlling attention, including the ability to distinguish between sources of information. The primary purpose of the present study was to examine whether people with larger WMC are better able to ward off false memories for missing information than those with a smaller WMC. We showed that higher WMC reduced false recognition of crucial information, but did not change false recognition of noncrucial information. Additionally, we found that WMC had little effect on participants' subjective experience of true and false recognition of events, regardless whether the information was crucial or not. These results provide further evidence that people's WMC is related to their source-monitoring ability.     

Working through the pain: Working memory capacity and differences in processing and storage under pain

It has been suggested that pain perception and attention are closely linked at both a neural and a behavioural level. If pain and attention are so linked, it is reasonable to speculate that those who vary in working memory capacity (WMC) should be affected by pain differently. This study compares the performance of individuals who differ in WMC as they perform processing and memory span tasks while under mild pain and not. While processing performance under mild pain does not interact with WMC, the ability to store information for later recall does. This suggests that pain operates much like an additional processing burden, and that the ability to overcome this physical sensation is related to differences in WMC.     

基于人性本真性的拟人化广告的负面情绪与态度——愧疚感的中介作用

通常来说,商业活动中的拟人化设计可以起到增加亲切感、提升产品评价和增加购买意愿作用。然而,产品广告中不恰当的拟人化设计所引发的负面情绪和态度却很少受到学术界和实践界的关注。本文以食物广告的拟人化设计为研究背景,发现广告中对食用对象进行不恰当的拟人化设计会让人产生愧疚感,进而对广告态度产生负面态度。更进一步,本文表明这种负面效应只发生在感知该拟人化对象的人性本真性高的情况。当消费者不相信拟人化对象真的会拥有人性(本真性低)时,拟人化广告并不会给人们带来明显的负面情绪和态度。