Sexism and the Effectiveness of Femvertising in China: A Corporate Social Responsibility Perspective

The present study draws on theories and prior research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and gender attitudes (i.e., sexism) to understand young Chinese peoples’ responses toward women-empowering advertising (i.e., femvertising). We conducted two experiments in which male and female Chinese college students (232 in Study 1 and 231 in Study 2) were exposed to either women-empowering or control advertisements (traditional ad in Study 1 and gender-irrelevant ad in Study 2) and reported their attitudes about the ads as well as their purchase intentions toward the advertised products (shampoo and smartphone, respectively). In line with our predictions, both experiments showed that messaging about women’s empowerment in advertising can induce perceptions of CSR, thereby increasing favorable responses such as enhanced positive ad attitudes and increased purchase intentions toward the advertised products. Moreover, hostile sexism was negatively associated with consumer responses toward femvertising such that the lower participants’ hostile sexism, the more positive ad attitudes and stronger purchase intent participants they reported. However, benevolent sexism was not predictive of consumer responses toward femvertising. These results offer insights into people’s responses toward women-empowering advertisements and also have practical implications for advertisers and marketers who are interested in using such an advertising tactic to promote products and services.

     

Political Party, Strength of Identification, and Knowledge and Evaluation of Bush v. Gore

Two studies examined knowledge of and attitudes toward Bush v. Gore , the Supreme Court decision that ended Election 2000, to examine the effects of a strong counterattitudinal message about a high-relevance issue. Republicans reported the most positive attitudes, while high-identification Democrats possessed the most accurate knowledge (Study 1); high-identification participants rated Bush v. Gore as more important and personally relevant than those less identified. Upon persuasion, high-identification Republicans maintained positive attitudes unrelated to knowledge and issue importance, while Democrats and low-identification Republicans reported negative attitudes predicted by persuasion (Study 2). High-identification Republicans reported more positive and fewer negative emotions upon persuasion, with emotions most predictive of attitudes. Implications for the role of emotions in resistance to persuasion are discussed.     

Rater information acquisition processes: Tracing the effects of prior knowledge, performance level, search constraint, and memory demand

Research on performance ratings has tended to neglect factors affecting raters' acquisition of ratee performance information. The present research examined the dynamic effects of this rater information acquisition process. Study 1 examined the effects of prior ratee knowledge (familiarity) and ratee performance level on subsequent acquisition of ratee performance information under varying levels of constraint. After exposure to prior ratee information, raters acquired additional information concerning a set of ratees using a computer controlled information board procedure. The results indicated significant effects on the amount of search for prior knowledge, search constraint, and the interaction between prior knowledge and performance level. Study 2 extended the research by including a memory component (time delay) between the exposure to prior information and subsequent search. Results were congruent with Study 1. They indicated significant main effects on the amount of search for prior knowledge, ratee performance level, search constraint, and on the interaction between prior knowledge and performance level. In addition, the results indicated a significant interaction between memory demand and prior knowledge. Implications of these results, limitations, and extensions of this research approach are discussed.     

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。     

Contact and Anxiety as Predictors of Bias Toward the Homeless1

We examined contact and anxiety as predictors of attitudes toward the homeless and attributions for homelessness. Study 1 presents data on undergraduates' attitudes, Study 2 reports on student and nonstudent data from an Internet survey, and Study 3 examined attitudes of individuals who have been homeless at one time. Structural equation modeling and path analyses indicated that data fit our conceptual model well and that contact quality consistently predicted more positive attitudes and situational attributions for homelessness. However, contact quantity did not reliably predict attitudes or attributions, and the mediating role of anxiety was inconsistent across studies. We contrast results with findings regarding attitudes toward other types of out‐groups and suggest reasons for why our findings differ.     

Value Relevance and the Value-Attitude Relation: Value Expressiveness Versus Halo Effects

This study examined whether considering the relevance of values to an attitude issue differentiated between two processes potentially underlying the relations between undergraduates' general value priorities and their attitudes toward capital punishment and affirmative action: value expressiveness, whereby attitude express values, and halo effects, whereby attitudes affect perception of values. In line with findings that indicate the attitudes of low self-monitors (SMs) are value expressive, while those of high SMs are not, the impact of value relevance on the value-attitude relation differed for high and low SMs. Low SMs' attitudes were correlated only with those values deemed relevant to an attitude issue, while high SMs' attitudes were related to both relevant and irrelevant values. Regression analyses revealed that controlling for the relation between low SMs' attitudes and irrelevant values slightly increased the relation between their attitudes and relevant values. Controlling for the relation between high SMs' attitudes and irrelevant values, in contrast, decreased the strength of the relation between their attitudes and relevant values. This suggest the magnitude of the relation between attitudes and relevant values, after controlling for the extent to which attitudes are tied to irrelevant values, may reflect the extent to which attitudes are value expressive. The implications of these findings for the methods used to change values and attitudes are also discussed.     

The Instrumental and Symbolic Functions of Attitudes toward Persons with AIDS1

Five studies explored the psychological bases of attitudes toward persons afflicted with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). These studies examined both instrumental and symbolic bases of these attitudes. In Studies 1, 2, and 3, both instrumental factors (e.g., beliefs about the probability of one's own child contracting AIDS) and symbolic factors (general attitudes toward homosexuality) independently contributed to the prediction of attitudes toward having one's child attend classes with a nonhomosexual person having AIDS. In Study 4, only attitudes toward homosexuality (symbolic factors) and not beliefs about contagiousness related to students' expressing a desire to transfer from a class with an AIDS-infected professor. In Study 5, subjects role played the situation experienced by subjects in Study 4. A wider array of instrumental concerns was assessed. While both instrumental and symbolic factors were related to attitudes of role-playing subjects, the specific instrumental concerns of importance were related to beliefs about subjects' feeling comfortable with the professor and not the contagiousness of AIDS. Thus, these results paralleled those of Study 4. These findings are discussed with regard to their relevance for understanding the varying functions of attitudes and for understanding the stigmatization of disease victims.     

A Process Analysis of the Effects of Humorous Advertising Executions on Brand Claims Memory

We report 2 studies that examined how the strength of humorous advertising executions and their relevance to the brand claims in the advertisement influence consumer memory for the claims. We infer the underlying memory processes by testing claims memory using recall, recognition, and indirect tests following incidental exposure to advertisements manipulating humor strength and claims relevance. Memory for the humor component was checked as corroborating evidence. We also validated these inferences by contrasting these effects on claims and humor memory with those under instructed elaboration. Study 1 shows that for humor of low claims relevance, brand claims memory is an inverted U‐shaped function of humor strength. Compared to both nonhumor and high‐strength humor, moderate humor facilitates both encoding and retrieval of the claims. The patterns of humor memory and instructed elaboration effects suggest that low‐relevance humor is not spontaneously linked to the claims even when processing resources are available. Study 2 shows that when strong humor is made more relevant, brand claims memory improves even during incidental exposure. Corresponding humor memory and instructed elaboration effects imply that relevance encourages the formation of humor‐claims links that facilitate encoding and retrieval of the claims. The results show that although strong humor inhibits the processing received by the brand claims, enhancing its claims relevance can compensate for such inhibition.     

Priming attachment security improves attitudes towards a range of therapies

We sought to understand how attachment orientation influenced attitudes towards different types of psychological therapies. In two studies, we (1) examined attachment orientation as a predictor of attitudes towards different therapies and (2) tested whether attachment security priming could improve attitudes. Study 1 (n = 339) found associations between attachment orientation and attitudes towards, and likelihood of using different therapies. Positive and negative attitudes about different therapies mediated the relationship between attachment avoidance and likelihood of use. Study 2 (n = 412) showed that primed security (vs. neutral prime) improved attitudes towards relational, non‐relational and distanced‐relational therapies for those with a fearful‐avoidant attachment orientation. For relational and distanced‐relational therapies, the mechanism of this effect was increased cognitive openness. Attachment orientation is a determinant of therapy attitudes and anticipated help‐seeking behaviour. Priming security may promote open‐minded decision‐making about some therapies. Findings are discussed with relevance to attachment theory, research and clinical practice.     

Studying Strategy Effects on Memory,Attitudes, and Intentions

In this experiment, 175 participants generated node-link maps or summaries using multiple, massed, or ad lib schedules while reading text on stress-related information. They rated personal relevance immediately following studying and completed tests on the information and measures of attitudes and intentions 48 hours later. Low-verbal-ability participants who mapped and high-verbal-ability participants who summarized performed best on the tests and reported higher personal relevance. Multiple regression analyses indicated that personal relevance predicted test performance for those who mapped and was consistent in predicting both intentions to learn about and manage stress for all participants.     

The role of right-wing authoritarianism and political sophistication in shaping attitudes toward redistribution

Using data from the Austrian National Election Study (Study 1) and the American National Election Study (Study 2), this research investigated the role of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) in shaping attitudes toward governmental action related to the redistribution of wealth. We show that RWA is a relevant variable in explaining attitudes toward redistribution policies, and that the association between RWA and redistribution attitudes is moderated by political sophistication. RWA was associated with opposition to redistribution policies among individuals high in political sophistication, while among individuals low in political sophistication, RWA was either associated with support for redistribution policies (Study 1) or unrelated to redistribution attitudes (Study 2). Results suggest that exposure to the political discourse in a society affects how psychological needs and motives are related to preferences regarding the redistribution of wealth through the government.     

Blind and constructive patriotism,national symbols and outgroup attitudes

We examined whether there is a relationship between the different forms patriotism can take (i.e., blind vs. constructive) and different representations of one's own nation. We considered two types of national symbols representing the nation in terms of confrontation between groups (polarized symbols) and as a unique entity (unpolarized symbols). In Study 1 we found that blind patriotism was positively associated with the degree to which individuals perceived their nation through confrontation whereas constructive patriotism was positively associated with the degree to which individuals perceived their nation as unique entity. In Study 2 we tested how the relationship between blind patriotism and outgroup attitudes changed when the nation was defined either through confrontation or as a unique entity. The results emphasize the essential role of the specific meaning associated to the nation when studying patriotism and its relation to outgroup attitudes.     

Understanding knowledge effects on attitude-behavior consistency: the role of relevance, complexity, and amount of knowledge

The role of properties of attitude-relevant knowledge in attitude- behavior consistency was explored in 3 experiments. In Experiment 1, attitudes based on behaviorally relevant knowledge predicted behavior better than attitudes based on low-relevance knowledge, especially when people had time to deliberate. Relevance, complexity, and amount of knowledge were investigated in Experiment 2. It was found that complexity increased attitude- behavior consistency when knowledge was of low-behavioral relevance. Under high-behavioral relevance, attitudes predicted behavior well regardless of complexity. Amount of knowledge had no effect on attitude- behavior consistency. In Experiment 3, the findings of Experiment 2 were replicated, and the complexity effect was extended to behaviors of ambiguous relevance. Together, these experiments support an attitude inference perspective, which holds that under high deliberation conditions, people consider the behavioral relevance and dimensional complexity of knowledge underlying their attitudes before deciding to act on them.     

Child decision-making: On the burden of predecisional information search

In many decision situations, individuals must actively search information before they can make a satisfying choice. In such instances, individuals must be aware of the fact that not all information may be equally relevant for the choice at hand—thus, individuals should weight information by its respective relevance. We compared children’s and adult’s decision-making in a child-friendly decision game. For each decision, participants received information on the content of 3 piggy banks on an information-board. In Experiment 1, we manipulated the weight-structure by presenting decisions with similarly relevant or differently relevant information. Results suggested that 8- to 9-year-olds did not adapt their search to the weight-structure. In contrast, 10- to 12-year-olds did consider relevance weights. Still, 8- to 9-year-olds and 10- to 12-year-olds were unable to search for a good, adultlike information sample containing all relevant and no irrelevant information. Thus, children based their decisions on a biased information sample. In Experiment 2, we intensified the need to consider relevance weights by introducing a search constraint. In doing so, we replicated the deficits of 8- to 9-year-olds and found adultlike behavior in 11- to 12-year-olds. Our findings suggest that although children understand that relevance may vary, they are not immediately able to effectively consider relevance weights in their information search—which appears to be a skill that continues to develop throughout childhood. We discuss the resulting implications for understanding children as decision makers as well as the general ability to perform structured information search.     

The Effect of Involvement,Arousal, and Pace on Claim and Non-claim Components of Attitude toward the Ad

This study examined whether structural features of television advertisements (pace and content arousal) have different effects on attitudes toward the ad, depending upon viewers' level of involvement with the ad message. Results provide some, though limited, support for involvement's moderating influence on the effect that pace and arousal have on the claim-related component of attitude toward the ad (Aad-c). As expected, involvement did not influence these relationships for the non-claim-related component of Aad (Aad-nc). Practical and theoretical implications of these results are discussed.     

Solidarity across group lines: Secondary transfer effect of intergroup contact,perceived moral distance,and collective action

We tested, in three studies, whether the generalization of contact effects from primary to secondary outgroups—the secondary transfer effect (STE)—occurs for collective action. The results supported a serial mediation model: contact with immigrants by advantaged group members (Italians: Study 1, N = 146, 121 females, M_age = 28.31 years; Study 3, N = 406, 239 females, M_age = 36.35; British people, Study 2, N = 160, 113 females, M_age = 32.31) was associated with lower perceived moral distance toward primary outgroups, which in turn was associated with more positive attitudes and greater collective action intentions toward primary outgroups, and lower perceived moral distance toward secondary outgroups. Lower perceived moral distance toward secondary outgroups and stronger collective action intentions toward the primary outgroup were associated with higher collective action intentions toward secondary outgroups (results were inconsistent for attitudes). We discuss the findings with a focus on how a consideration of perceived moral distance extends current theorizing, and the relevance of generalized prejudice for the STE.     

The Ideological Foundations of Economic Protectionism: Authoritarianism,Social Dominance Orientation,and the Moderating Role of Political Involvement

Even though economic globalization and foreign trade are major topics in the political discourse of most societies and negative attitudes toward international trade are prevalent, there is a lack of research investigating the ideological roots of protectionist preferences from a psychological perspective. In the present research, we examined the implications of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) for trade attitudes. Using data from two nationally representative samples from the United States (Study 1) and Germany (Study 2), we found that RWA predicted protectionist attitudes above and beyond economic self-interest. Furthermore, we found that the relationship between RWA and opposition to international trade was moderated by political involvement. The association of SDO with protectionist attitudes was inconsistent across the two studies and was not moderated by political involvement. Taken together, these results emphasize the importance of basic ideological orientations and the psychological dispositions they reflect in explaining public attitudes toward international trade.     

When organizational justice and the self-concept meet: Consequences for the organization and its members

In two studies, we examined the joint effects of employed participants’ self-concept levels and perceptions of fairness on organizational attitudes and citizenship behavior intentions. We examined the effects of chronic self-concept activation in Study 1, whereas we primed the working self-concept in Study 2. Combining the results of both studies, we found support for our hypotheses that particular self-concept levels and organizational justice dimensions interact to predict various work-related outcomes. Specifically, we observed interactions between the relational self-concept and interactional justice, and between the collective self-concept and procedural justice, such that the justice–outcome relationships were stronger for those experiencing higher activation on the relevant self-concept level. Thus, as hypothesized, justice information is weighted differently depending on the particular level of self-concept that is active. In addition, interesting direct effects of employees’ self-concepts were also observed. We discuss the implications of these findings and the importance of considering the self-concept in conjunction with organizational justice.     

权力感知对怀旧偏好的影响机制

作者考察了权力感知对消费者怀旧偏好的影响及其心理机制。通过3个实验, 作者发现低权力者比高权力者更加偏好怀旧产品或怀旧品牌, 而寻找生活意义的动机在该影响过程中起中介作用。具体而言, 权力的缺失导致个体认为自己的生活缺乏意义, 进而激发出寻找生活意义的动机。由于怀旧可以通过回忆有意义的事件和提供社会支持两条途径来帮助个体重拾生活意义, 因此低权力的消费者倾向于进行怀旧消费。这一研究发现进一步丰富了现有的权力和怀旧文献, 并对怀旧营销的设计具有重要的实践指导意义。     

The Power of the Unsaid: The Influence of Nonverbal Cues on Implicit Attitudes

Attitudes are often shaped through social influence processes. We examined how observation of nonverbal behaviors can impact on implicit and explicit racial attitudes. In Study 1, participants observed an interracial interaction in which a White actor expressed friendly or unfriendly nonverbal behaviors toward a Black target (e.g., low eye contact, large seating distance). The results show that newly formed implicit attitudes toward the Black actor were shaped accordingly. In Study 2, participants were required to read a passage containing stereotypical contents against Black people while a confederate either remained neutral or expressed her approval (e.g., nodding). Implicit attitudes toward Black people became more negative in the latter condition. The results confirm the power of nonverbal cues in shaping implicit attitudes.