Family interaction,gender, and status attainment value

Past research on adolescent attainment has virtually ignored the interactional aspects through which children learn attainment values. Using a simulated career game, parent-child interaction (father, mother, and adolescent son or daughter) was coded to assess its impact on the child's attainment value. Encouragement patterns, parental opportunity awareness, and family affect were examined. Results revealed differences in these family interaction variables as sources and determinants of adolescent attainment value, depending upon sex of child. The variables were able to account for considerably more of the variation in sons' attainment value than daughters'.This study was made possible by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (#15521-04), the Midwest Universities Consortium for International Activities (MUCIA) (*G-75), and the Minnesota Center for Comparative Studies in Technological Development and Social Change (funds provided by the Ford Foundation) (#26301), principal investigator, Irving Tallman. The author would like to acknowledge the helpful comments made by Viktor Gecas, Jeylan Mortimer, Irving Tallman, and especially Milton Rokeach on an earlier draft of this article.     

Socioeconomic status,value, and response to number

An experiment was designed to study the role of sensory; empirical, and motivational variables in number discrimination of coin or slug displays having equal luminance. It was found that groups of children, differentiated on the basis of economic status, social class, and availability of money but equated for knowledge of purchasing power of money, respond in identical fashion when the number of slugs or coins viewed is within the “span of attention,” i.e., when response is at a sensory level. Differences between groups of children appear when the number of coins (but not slugs) in a display are so many as to fall outside the child’s “span of attention,” thus requiring the additional utilization of a judgmental framework in ascertaining the “manyness” of a display. The less favored socioeconomic group coin estimates were significantly greater than those of the more favored. When response data are expressed as numerosity functions, the operation of motivational factors may be differentiated algebraically. A t a theoretical level, it appears that motivational and sensory explanations are both true, providing they are restricted to definite and appropriate ranges of stimulus number and type.     

The perceived value of team players: a longitudinal study of how group identification affects status in work groups

Theory and research on status attainment in work groups primarily focuses on members’ abilities and characteristics that make them appear competent as predictors of their status in the group. We complement the abilities perspective with a social identity perspective by arguing that another important determinant of a member’s status is based on the extent to which the member serves the group’s interests. Specifically, we assert that a member’s identification with the group affects performance on behalf of the group, which in turn affects other members’ assessment of the member’s status. We test this social identity perspective on status attainment by studying the influence of members’ group identification on their performance and status in the group, while controlling for the members’ abilities and status characteristics. In a three-wave longitudinal field study following 33 work groups during a six-month group project, we find that members’ identification enhances their performance on behalf of the group, which in turn increases their status within the group. As such, our study advances insights in the determinants of status attainment in work groups and points to the relevance of the social identity approach for research on the antecedents of status in work groups.     

The value of distrust

We assume that a state of distrust is the mental system’s signal that the environment is not normal—things may not be as they appear. Hence, individuals sense they should be on guard. In particular, they are likely to avoid routine strategies, ones proven to be optimal and regularly used in normal environments, because these strategies are easily anticipated by whoever may be seeking to deceive them. Conversely, a state of trust is associated with a feeling of safety. The environment is as it normally is and things really are as they appear to be. Thus, individuals see no reason to refrain from doing what they routinely do. Accordingly, we hypothesize that figuring out a new situation depends on the type of environment and the actor’s state of mind: in normal environments, where routine strategies are optimal, individuals who trust should outperform those who distrust; however, in unusual environments, where non-routine strategies are optimal, individuals who distrust should outperform those who trust. This paper reports three experiments that manipulate distrust via orienting tasks that participants perform prior to attempting to predict a series of events (Experiments 1 and 2) or solve matchstick arithmetic problems (Experiment 3). Performance success depends on discovering and implementing an appropriate rule. We found that, as predicted, the manipulation of distrust sensitized participants to the existence of non-routine contingencies, that is, contingencies that were not expected.     

The value of grandparents

This paper is a slightly revised version of a paper presented on 26 October 1989 as one of the Tavistock Open Lectures. The role of grandparents is discussed and the value of a supportive presence, both externally and internally, is emphasised, especially at birth and at times of mental illness. This concept is extended to the maternal or ‘grand’-maternal role adopted by agencies attempting to improve the quality of mental care, and its value is also visible in the transference in psychotherapeutic work.     

The value of value: Further excursions on the meaning and role of customer value

Grounded on fundamental marketing principles, the concept of customer value has been revisited and refined by academicians and practitioners for the last 30 years. However, research devoted to achieving a consistent theoretical and conceptual development of value‐related concepts has proceeded apace without ever reaching full closure. The present essay seeks reasons behind remaining deficiencies in value‐related research and offers a review intended to move our understanding of customer value toward what promises to become a more enlightened future. The topic of value is approached by theoretical analysis and conceptual development. First, “the challenge” of value research is presented: the researcher faces a topic that is central to the marketing discipline but that suffers from various conceptual and methodological difficulties. Second, among the literature on value from the last three decades, two main research areas are selected: the conceptual delimitation and the methodological links between quality, satisfaction, and value. Third, as a conclusion, we identify several streams of research that promise to expand future knowledge in the area of customer value. Several tables and figures that provide a systematic and structured review of value‐related knowledge support this inventory of the state‐of‐the‐art in value research. Even the most patient theoretical development of value‐related concepts tends to resist full conceptual closure. The breadth of customer value and its richness for marketing implications encourage novel and refreshing approaches. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

地位感知变化对消费者地位消费行为的影响

本文通过3个实验探究了地位感知变化对消费者地位消费行为的影响。研究发现,无论在感知到地位提升还是地位威胁的情况下,消费者对地位商品的购买意愿均会提升,然而两者却有着不同的作用机制。对于感知地位提升的消费者,自我提升动机在地位感知对地位商品购买意愿的影响中起中介作用;而对于感知地位威胁的消费者,自我补偿动机同时在地位感知对地位商品和非地位商品购买意愿的影响中起中介作用。在感知地位威胁的情境下,自我实现的新兴价值观具有强化消费者地位消费行为的作用,而谦卑的传统价值观具有弱化消费者地位消费行为的作用。     

The social value of risk-taking

In this study, the following hypothesis concerning the social value of risk-taking is advanced: young men who wish to assert themselves and to gain prestige tend to take greater risks in public when together with other young men than do young men who do not have these wishes, whereas there is no such difference in risk-taking in private. This hypothesis is empirically tested and is supported.