Sex Really Does Sell: The Recall of Sexual and Non‐sexual Television Advertisements in Sexual and Non‐sexual Programmes

The present study examined memory for advertisements as a function of both advertisement content and the contextual programme content. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: in one condition, they watched a sexual programme and in the other a non‐sexual programme. Embedded within each programme were the same highly sexual and non‐sexual advertisements that had been matched in pairs for five products. Memory for the advertisements and involvement in the programmes was measured. It was found that on three indices (free recall, brand recognition and prompted recall), memory for the sexual advertisements was superior to that for non‐sexual advertisements. There was no effect of the programme content on advertisement recall and no relationship between programme involvement and advertisement recall. The results are discussed with reference to extant literature on memory for advertisements. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reconsidering Foucault’s dialogue with Buddhism

Against the backdrop of various interpretations and criticisms of Michel Foucault’s engagement with Buddhism, the focus of this article falls on the specific type of Zen Buddhism which he studied during his 1978 trip to Japan, and the possible relationship between its dynamics and those of his own research trajectory following the publication of The Will to Knowledge. In this regard, Foucault’s eschewal of the Engaged Buddhism of Thich Nhat Hanh and the Zen Buddhism of Taisen Deshimaru—both of which had risen to prominence in France by the late 1970s— and his concomitant interest instead in the teachings of Zen Master Omori Sōgen, in which Zen and the samurai code of bushidō were closely aligned, will be examined. Moreover, it will be argued that such preference on Foucault’s part was indicative of his eminently practical, rather than general philosophical, interest in Buddhism as a technology for the adversarial repositioning of subjectivity in relation to discourse. Finally, the implications of this for the abovementioned various interpretations and criticisms of Foucault’s engagement with Buddhism, will be considered.     

Understanding Creativity,One Metaphor at a Time

Any effort to clarify the meaning of creativity, although productive, risks limiting this important concept to a singular definition at the exclusion of other valuable interpretations. This article presents generative redefinitions of creativity by surveying a range of metaphors that are used to describe creativity. To explore the polysemic possibilities of creativity, 12 common metaphorical frameworks are examined for the ways in which they expand conceptual understanding, including metaphors such as incubation, illumination, evolution, divergence, investment, algorithm, boundary, organism, and democratic attunement. The purpose of this exploration is not to arrive at a singular understanding of creativity, but to acknowledge, examine, and celebrate the diverse ways it can be conceptualized. This article posits that using the language of metaphor as a tool for comparison and understanding helps sift through the complexity of conceptual differences. The argument concludes that considering multiple metaphors for creativity can generate new ways of appreciating the range of possibility implicit in creativity research.     

Rebound or Resignation: Developing a Predictive Model of Return to Subjective Wellbeing Set-Point

Though subjective wellbeing (SWB) is generally stable and consistent over time, it can fall below its set-point in response to adverse life events. However, deviations from set-point levels are usually only temporary, as homeostatic processes operate to return SWB to its normal state. Given that income and close interpersonal relationships have been proposed as powerful external resources that are coincident with higher SWB, access to these resources may be an important predictor of whether or not a person is likely to recover their SWB following a departure from their set-point. Under the guiding framework of SWB Homeostasis Theory, this study considers whether access to a higher income and a committed partner can predict whether people who score lower than normal for SWB at baseline will return to normal set-point levels of SWB (rebound) or remain below the normal range (resigned) at follow-up. Participants were 733 people (53.3 % female) from the Australian Unity Longitudinal Wellbeing Study who ranged in age from 20 to 92 years (M = 59.65 years; SD = 13.15). Logistic regression analyses revealed that participants’ demographic characteristics were poor predictors of whether they rebounded or resigned. Consistent with homeostasis theory, the extent of departure from the proposed normal SWB set-point at baseline was significantly associated with rebound or resignation at time 2. These findings have implications for the way that SWB measures can be used in professional practice to identify people who are particularly vulnerable to depression and to guide the provision of appropriate and effective therapeutic interventions.     

Effects of program‐advertisement congruity and advertisement emotional appeal on memory for health and safety advertisements

The aim of this study was to examine the memory for health and safety advertisements (HSAs) embedded within a congruent (documentary) or incongruent (sitcom) program. A total of 80 participants aged 16–25 years took part. Participants watched either a sitcom or a health‐related program with health and safety and “filler” advertisements. After they watched the 30 minute program, they were given free and cued recall measures as well as program evaluation. These showed that the free recall scores were generally better for HSAs than filler advertisements across both program types, while the cued recall and advertisement recognition scores were better for filler advertisements than HSAs. Memory scores revealed that the HSAs were better remembered than filler advertisements in an incongruent program environment. Health advertisements are better recalled in non‐health‐related programs. This supported the interference hypothesis.     

Narratives,mechanisms and progress in historical science

Geologists, Paleontologists and other historical scientists are frequently concerned with narrative explanations targeting single cases. I show that two distinct explanatory strategies are employed in narratives, simple and complex. A simple narrative has minimal causal detail and is embedded in a regularity, whereas a complex narrative is more detailed and not embedded. The distinction is illustrated through two case studies: the ‘snowball earth’ explanation of Neoproterozoic glaciation and recent attempts to explain gigantism in Sauropods. This distinction is revelatory of historical science. I argue that at least sometimes which strategy is appropriate is not a pragmatic issue, but turns on the nature of the target. Moreover, the distinction reveals a counterintuitive pattern of progress in some historical explanation: shifting from simple to complex. Sometimes, historical scientists rightly abandon simple, unified explanations in favour of disunified, complex narratives. Finally I compare narrative and mechanistic explanation, arguing that mechanistic approaches are inappropriate for complex narrative explanations.