Advertising Effectiveness and Attitude Change Vary as a Function of Working Memory Capacity

Prior research has confirmed that the amount of attention paid to an advertisement will influence its effectiveness when it comes to changing consumer attitudes. This study expands on this understanding by exploring how individual differences in the ability to control attention (i.e., working memory capacity; WMC) might further moderate the effect of attention on advertising. Participants who varied in WMC were evaluated on their attitudes towards a consumer brand before and after viewing a video advertisement. While the advertisement did make participants more positive towards the product overall, this change in attitude was directly related to participants' ability to control attention and the degree to which the ad fostered the activation of autobiographical memories. Further, these changes in attitude were unrelated to how well the ad was remembered. This suggests that individual differences in attentional control can influence how advertisements impact customer attitude and the acceptance of persuasive messaging. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Relative and Perceived Impact of Irrelevant Speech,Vocal Music and Non-vocal Music on Working Memory

The ability to retain and manipulate information for brief periods of time is crucial for proficient cognitive functioning but working memory (WM) is susceptible to disruption by irrelevant speech. Music may also be detrimental, but its impact on WM is not clear. This study assessed the effects of vocal music, equivalent instrumental music, and irrelevant speech on WM in order to clarify what aspect of music affects performance and the degree of impairment. To study this, 60 college students completed WM tests (digit span) in the presence of irrelevant speech, vocal music, instrumental (karaoke) versions of the vocal music, and silence. As expected, both speech and vocal music degraded performance. WM performance with instrumental music was better than with vocal music but not significantly different from either silence or speech. Familiarity with song lyrics had little effect on performance. People were poor judges of the degree of memory impairment resulting from various irrelevant sounds. This study was reviewed and approved by the Clemson University Institutional Review Board.     

WEIRDness abounds! Sample characteristics,restricted variance,and why they matter for international selection and assessment research

There is increasing awareness that reliance on samples from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic (WEIRD) countries may have skewed our view of human phenomena. Nowhere is this more true than in international selection and assessment (ISA) research. In the present paper, we describe a way of understanding the impact of WEIRDness on ISA phenomena: restricted variance (RV). The WEIRDness problem is usually one of cross level interactions in which a country-level variable (e.g., individualism/collectivism) might moderate the relationship between two individual-level variables. RV can help to see not only where such cross level interactions might exist, but also provide a specific, mathematical reason for their existence. We use several examples from IJSA and related sources to illustrate the role of RV in ISA-based WEIRDness.     

A laser-based technique for measuring accuracy and distortion in judgments of linear dimensions

A new technique is described that permits precise measurement of accuracy and distortion in judgments of linear dimensions based on either perception or memory. This technique involves the use of a single laser beam and a reference line placed on a projection surface. By rotating a laser device, the distance between the reference line and the point created by the beam may be continuously varied. This procedure avoids unintentional distortion from misjudgment of standard metrics, while the semicircular movement required by this technique eliminates body-referenced estimation and some other potential confounds. Potential applications to research in visual perception, spatial memory, and body image are discussed.     

Young adults' caregiving and the age level of a potential recipient

The hypothesis that two caregiving tendencies are affected by the age of potential recipients was investigated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, two matched groups of 40 young adults selected from 16 pairs of either facial profile drawings or age-labels (e.g., "2-year-old") those individuals that they would feel most compelled to protect (i.e., the most "defense-provoking" in each pair). Both groups tended to select younger and more elderly individuals over more middle-aged ones. In Experiment 2, two more matched groups of 40 adults rated the defense-provokingness or the cuddliness of a series of facial profile drawings showing a male at eight ages, from newborn to 70 years old. Although rated cuddliness decreased as portrayed age increased from age 6 months onward, rated defense-provokingness decreased with age from birth to 35 years, but increased thereafter. These results are generally consistent with the expectation that adults' tendency to protect or cuddle others varies in accordance with the typical neediness of individuals of different age levels for these forms of care.     

The Family Responsibility Index: a behavioral measure of marital work allocation

An instrument was developed to measure behaviorally the division of family-role responsibilities between spouses. Currently available marital role inventories, attitudinal scales and sex role surveys represent inadequate or inappropriate methods for measuring actual performance. The Family Responsibility Index (FRI) was designed to assess a spouse's degree of behavioral participation in 54 specific tasks divided among 10 areas of typical family responsibilities. A balance of traditionally masculine and traditionally feminine tasks was approximated. Sixty-one dual career family couples completed the instrument in two separate administrations. Results showed moderately high reliability of report between spouses and acceptable concurrent validity.