IV. Logic and truth‐finding in society and sociology

The question of sociological truth‐finding is posed in the light of the view that logical formalizations, along with other arguments, only acquire relevance in illocutionary contexts, where it is not so much the abstract correctness of a sentence as the stating of it that counts. In order to become a counterfactual an argument requires its antecedent to be recognized as being contrary to the ‘facts’. To this extent there is a clear link with ‘reality’ or with a view of the world that is taken as factually given. Social science develops on the basis not only of generalizations but also of historical facts and political requirements. The question arises: in terms of what world‐view or purpose can we unambiguously declare a conditional to be a counterfactual ‐ and a significant or non‐trivial one at that? Further, can Elster's clarifications help identify political agents and the proper entities within and through which political action is performed? Finally, the problem‐solving capacity of the concept of closeness of one possible world to another or to the actual world, especially with regard to counterfactuals and causality, is questioned.     

Existential motive underlying cosmetic surgery: A terror management analysis

Why do people consider cosmetic surgery? Based on the terror management theory, the present research identifies an existential motive: Through cosmetic surgery, people can symbolically defend against their death anxiety. A correlational study and an experiment showed that death terror, whether operationalized as individual differences in fear of death or experimentally manipulated mortality salience, was associated with stronger acceptance of cosmetic surgery. This association was absent among participants who did not consider physical appearance important, and weaker among those who were satisfied about their appearance. Also, this association was particularly strong among those with high explicit self‐esteem. This concurs with the recent theoretical development about the role of self‐esteem in symbolic defenses against death terror.     

The Effect of Companion's Gender on Impulsive Purchasing: The Moderating Factor of Cohesiveness and Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence

Most impulse purchasing research investigates individual‐level factors. This paper, however, examines the influence of shopping companion gender on impulse purchasing. The results of the three studies show that shoppers were more likely to exhibit impulse purchase behavior when shopping with an opposite gender companion. In addition, shoppers who were in the low‐cohesive condition and who shopped with an opposite gender companion were more likely to exhibit impulse purchase behavior than those who shopped with the same gender companion, and those who were susceptible to interpersonal influence were also more likely to exhibit impulse purchase behavior when shopping with an opposite gender companion. For shoppers who were not as susceptible to interpersonal influence, the influence of their companion's gender appeared to diminish on impulsive purchasing.     

Importance of having agreeable friends in adolescence (especially when you are not)

Using the actor–partner interdependence model, we examined whether adolescent's agreeableness, best friend's agreeableness, and the interaction between adolescent‐friend agreeableness are important for interpersonal functioning. Adolescents (N = 158) in fifth to eighth grades who were part of best friend pairs completed personality and friendship measures. Adolescents' adjustment and victimization experiences were assessed by peer nominations. For boys, best friend's agreeableness moderated the relationship between the target boy's agreeableness and overt victimization, relational victimization, and externalizing problems. For girls, best friend's agreeableness moderated the relationship between the target girl's agreeableness and internalizing problems and prosocial skills. This study provides an initial glimpse into how traits of friends can influence outcomes beyond what would be expected from adolescents' personality alone.     

Cyber peers’ influence for adolescent consumer in decision‐making styles and online purchasing behavior

Nowadays, there is a boom in online purchasing, especially by adolescents. In fact, scholars and marketers alike have long noticed the emergence of adolescent consumers and their consumption behaviors. This research aims at exploring the effect of adolescent decision‐making styles on online purchasing behavior, with peer influence as a moderating variable. An online questionnaire survey was conducted on 2,419 adolescents and further verified by regression analysis and analysis of covariance. Adolescents with planned purchase behaviors can be considered as rational consumers, in that they do not care about fashion, or recreational, hedonistic shopping consciousness, but rather focus on brand, price value, and high quality. Indeed, adolescent purchase decision making can be strengthened by peer influence.     

How immigrant adolescents' self‐views in school and family context relate to academic success in Germany

Immigrants' sense of self can be derived both from being members of their ethnic in‐group and their country of residence. We examined how the ways in which immigrant adolescents integrate these self‐views in relation to academic success in German schools. Students describe themselves at school and when with family. Using a standardized literacy performance test, analyses revealed that immigrants whose school‐related self‐view did not include Germany were less successful: Students who described their self as including both aspects of their ethnic group and Germany, and students who saw themselves predominantly as German, outperformed students with purely ethnic school‐related selves. As expected, though, an ethnic family‐related self‐view did not have a negative impact on scholastic achievements.     

Perceived emotional intelligence and its relationship with perceptions of effectiveness in negotiation

In this study, we examined possible connections between perceived emotional intelligence (PEI) and effectiveness during the negotiation process in a sample of 123 workers from different organizations. Participants completed a set of questionnaires, including an exploration of the predictive and incremental validity of PEI measured by Trait‐Meta‐Mood Scale. Moreover, personality traits were carefully controlled to test the percentage of variance that PEI accounted for in efficiency during negotiation. Multiple regression analyses revealed that emotional repair accounts for part of the variance in the balance of power and in procedural flexibility that cannot be explained by personality traits alone. Thus, our results show that emotional repair accounts for negotiation effectiveness in a way that is independent of personality traits.     

The role of self‐determination in the relationship between social support and physical activity intentions

Using the hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (HMIEM) and self‐determination theory as theoretical frameworks, the purpose of the present study was to assess the role of motivation‐related variables in the relationship between perceptions of social support and intentions to be physically active. Undergraduate students completed surveys assessing perceptions of social support, psychological needs satisfaction, self‐determination, and future exercise intentions. Model fit with the data was examined and was considered acceptable, indicating that social support was positively related to the satisfaction of psychological needs, which, in turn, was related positively to self‐determination and then to physical activity intentions.