Malleable Mental Accounting: The Effect of Flexibility on the Justification of Attractive Spending and Consumption Decisions

Mental accounts are often characterized as self‐control devices that consumers employ to prevent excess spending and consumption. However, under certain conditions of ambiguity, the mental accounting process is malleable; that is, consumers have flexibility in assigning expenses to different mental accounts. We demonstrate how consumers flexibly classify expenses, or construct accounts, to justify spending. An expense that can be assigned to more than one account (i.e., an ambiguous expense) is more likely to be incurred than an unambiguous expense that is constrained either by existing budgets or by previously constructed accounts. We explore the justification processes that underlie these results and their implications for mental accounts as self‐control devices.     

Decisional capacity in mental illness and substance use disorders: empirical database and policy implications

Debates on decisional capacity in people with mental illnesses or substance use disorders have tended to be heated. Yet, they are often based not on empirical data but on personal opinions and experiences. The empirical database in this area is quite limited, but has been growing in recent years. The following discussion focuses on relevant clinical investigations. We consider variations across and within different diagnoses, barriers to decision-making, methods for assessing capacity—interview versus instruments, choosing from among different capacity instruments, decisional capacity—is it a state or a trait?, triggers for assessment of decisional capacity, methods for enhancing capacity, and decisional capacity in people with substance use disorders. Finally, we discuss some relevant health policy recommendations. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Begging the question,circularity and epistemic propriety

In this paper we shall try to understand what it is to beg the question, and since begging the question is generally believed to be linked with circularity, we shall also explore this relationship. Finally, we shall consider whether certain forms of valid argument can go through smoothly in anepistemio context without begging the question. We shall consider, especially, the claims of the disjunctive syllogism in this regard.     

Spontaneous Interentity Coordination in a Dissipative Structure

Humans and other creatures display remarkable interorganism coordination. For ecological theorists, interorganism coordination poses a challenge because it appears to be an especially “representation-hungry” phenomenon (Clark, 1999 Clark, A. (1999). An embodied cognitive science? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 3, 345–351.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Ecological researchers have proposed that interorganism coordination arises from fundamental laws of pattern formation and synchronization. A key example in support of the ecological approach to coordination is the phase locking of 2 or more weakly coupled metronomes. Here we provide a complementary example of interentity coordination in a system that is more closely analogous to living systems. We show that two self-organizing dissipative structures, coupled in a single electrical field, spontaneously exhibit fairly complex motion coordination. Further, the degree of coordination predicts the rate of entropy production for the system as a whole. We suggest that the complex behavior of motion coordination fulfills a rudimentary end-directedness of the system: evolve to states that create higher rates of entropy production.     

Memory markers: How consumers recall the duration of experiences

In the present article, we propose a three-stage memory marker model of memory for experience. The human mind generates and encodes “memory markers” of specific episodes, stores them in memory, and after a temporal delay retrieves these markers to reconstruct the experience and make relevant judgments. Rich experiences characterized by vivid stimuli seem to pass by quickly, yet feel longer when recalled after a period of time because the number of retrieved memory markers is large. We also examine situations in which key predictions of the memory marker model can be moderated. A field study and five laboratory experiments were conducted to test various aspects of the memory marker model and provide process support.     

Expectations and beyond: The nexus of AI instrumentality and brand credibility in voice assistant retention using extended expectation-confirmation model

AI-based voice assistants (AIVA) are capable of interpreting human speech and responding with useful information, aiding with tasks, and controlling other devices. The usage of these AIVAs has grown significantly worldwide. Despite this growth, studies on user behavior related to continued usage intention of AIVAs and effects on the long-term commercial sustainability of brands, remain low. What is less understood is the potential of AI instrumentality attributes and brand credibility components in provoking shifts in post-use behavior of AIVAs. This study proposes a model which expands on the Expectation-Confirmation Model for user continuance behavior of AIVAs, by integrating user's technology related traits, AI instrumentality attributes and brand credibility. To verify the research hypotheses, the study employed partial least square—structural equation modelling, based on 281 validated responses of a survey. This study highlights the significance of Optimism, Innovativeness, and Discomfort for post-adoption confirmation. Higher post-adoption confirmation is strongly associated with perceived intelligence, anthropomorphism, information quality, and system quality. Anthropomorphism and information quality are key factors for brand expertise, while anthropomorphism and system quality are significant for brand trustworthiness. The study confirms that brand expertise and trustworthiness lead to post-use satisfaction and use continuance intention. Understanding the antecedents of satisfaction and continuance intention extends the existing literature on AIVAs and provides valuable insights for academics and practitioners alike. Some implications for researchers and managers are discussed.     

Relational Semantics and Domain Semantics for Epistemic Modals

The standard account of modal expressions in natural language analyzes them as quantifiers over a set of possible worlds determined by the evaluation world and an accessibility relation. A number of authors have recently argued for an alternative account according to which modals are analyzed as quantifying over a domain of possible worlds that is specified directly in the points of evaluation. But the new approach only handles the data motivating it if it is supplemented with a non-standard account of attitude verbs and conditionals. It can be shown the the relational account handles the same data equally well if it too is supplemented with a non-standard account of such expressions.     

The mental accounting of sunk time costs: why time is not like money

The sunk‐cost effect, an irrational attention to non‐recoverable past costs while making current decisions, has been documented widely in the domain of monetary costs. In this paper, I study the effect of past time investments on current decisions. In three experiments using choice situations, I demonstrate that the sunk‐cost effect is not observed for past investments of time, but the effect reappears when the investments are expressed as monetary quantities. I further propose that this ‘pseudo‐rationality’ is due to the fact that individuals lack the ability to account for time in the same way as they account for money. In two additional experiments, I facilitate the accounting of time and show that the irrational sunk‐cost effect reappears. In a final experiment, I test my propositions in a setting where subjects make real investments of time and subsequently make real choices. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Capacity to consent to or refuse treatment and/or research: theoretical considerations

This article discusses theoretical dimensions of competency to consent to or refuse treatment and/or research. We will consider a number of issues. Our first subject is the nature of assessments of competency-their empirical, normative, and conceptual aspects. We then discuss how we should divide up the components of capacity-understanding, appreciation, reasoning, and evidencing a choice; how we should understand these different components; and whether all are indeed necessary. We discuss where to draw the line between capacity and incapacity on each of the four elements of capacity. We ask whether we should have a variable competency standard, either in general or in different contexts (e.g. treatment versus research). Finally we consider the role of mental illness in competency assessments.