Seeking attention: an investigation of salesperson influence strategies used while selling to small retailers

The use of influence strategies is an integral component of the salesperson's role, while selling to retailers. However, it remains a chronically under-researched area, particularly so in emerging markets, which are distinct in terms of retail formats and salesperson challenges. In this study, we investigate influence strategies used by salespersons for selling to retailers in the dominant small retail format in India. Using a combination of observation techniques and in-depth interviews, we allow salesperson influence strategies at play to emerge. In comparison to extant literature, we find evidence for both universality and specificity in the types of influence strategies used at small retail. We identify ‘share of counter’ as a unique small retail phenomenon, potentially requiring a specific set of salesperson influence strategies to succeed. Based on this, a modified typology of salesperson influence strategies, specific to small retail, is proposed. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical and managerial implications for emerging markets, and offer suggestions for future research.     

Therapy and the challenge of evil

This paper expresses the author's personal view on the question of evil as considered by psychotherapeutic theories. It challenges the psychotherapeutic tendency to avoid the moral and existential dimensions of evil via the transformative language of psychopathology which allows theorists and practitioners either implicitly or explicitly to rely upon metaphors of disease or immaturity—be it physical or psychic. The author argues that such views are problematic not least because they mimic the separatist attitudes of those persons who have been labelled as evil since both rely upon notions of being 'less than fully human'. Further, taking a perspective that is informed by existential-phenomenological theory, the author highlights the inconsistencies and limitations that arise when the issues surrounding evil are considered from an intrapsychic perspective. As an alternative to this dominant tendency within psychotherapy and psychology, the author presents an inter-psychic viewpoint derived, in part, from the writings of Martin Heidegger and seeks to demonstrate that while such a perspective illuminates further complexities with regard to our understanding of evil, nonetheless, it also provides a more adequate, if disturbing, interpersonally focused viewpoint.     

Psychiatric Symptoms and Quality of Life in Patients Affected by Epidermolysis Bullosa

The aim of our study was to provide a psychosocial and psychiatric evaluation of patients with epidermolysis bullosa (EB; a rare genetic disorder characterized by skin fragility), to assess psychological status, ascertain the presence of any psychiatric disorders and understand the impact of EB on quality of life. Twenty-five patients were assessed using a case record form and several standardized instruments. In 82% of patients, EB had a negative impact on quality of life and 80% of patients experienced psychiatric symptoms. Our findings revealed a high prevalence of psychosocial problems and psychiatric symptoms in patients with EB and suggested that a combined bio-psychosocial approach is the most appropriate therapeutic intervention.     

Reparations in Democratic Transitions

This article proposes a normative theory of reparations for political violence from the standpoint of contemporary critical theory debates on recognition and redistribution. I argue that any satisfactory reparations theory should aspire to ‘status parity’, a term coined by Nancy Fraser, and should include symbolic and material components for both individuals and groups. The essay argues that reparations can promote a number of worthy goals, including the reaffirmation of moral respect and dignity of victims.     

Psychosis: New Existential, Systemic, and Cognitive-Behavioral Developments

Until recently, perhaps the major avenues of working with severely disturbed patients have been based upon either organic-chemical or intrapsychic determinants and treatment components. One recent development is an emphasis upon interpsychic and interpersonal factors and determinants in both the understanding and the treatment of extreme psychotic disturbances. Existential, systemic, and cognitive-behavioral conceptualizations and therapies maintain substantial independence of one another. Yet these three share at least two significant commonalities. One is that they each emphasise the interpsychic and interpersonal. A second is this first commonality has led to some exciting new developments in the understanding and treatment of psychosis.     

From Ogden to Ferenczi. The constitution of a contemporary clinical thought*

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis - This paper, in its first part, offers historical and clinical research that aims to establish, in a new frame, forms of organizing psychoanalytic theories...     

Spatial distance effects on incremental semantic interpretation of abstract sentences: Evidence from eye tracking

A large body of evidence has shown that visual context information can rapidly modulate language comprehension for concrete sentences and when it is mediated by a referential or a lexical-semantic link. What has not yet been examined is whether visual context can also modulate comprehension of abstract sentences incrementally when it is neither referenced by, nor lexically associated with, the sentence. Three eye-tracking reading experiments examined the effects of spatial distance between words (Experiment 1) and objects (Experiment 2 and 3) on participants’ reading times for sentences that convey similarity or difference between two abstract nouns (e.g., ‘Peace and war are certainly different...’). Before reading the sentence, participants inspected a visual context with two playing cards that moved either far apart or close together. In Experiment 1, the cards turned and showed the first two nouns of the sentence (e.g., ‘peace’, ‘war’). In Experiments 2 and 3, they turned but remained blank. Participants’ reading times at the adjective (Experiment 1: first-pass reading time; Experiment 2: total times) and at the second noun phrase (Experiment 3: first-pass times) were faster for sentences that expressed similarity when the preceding words/objects were close together (vs. far apart) and for sentences that expressed dissimilarity when the preceding words/objects were far apart (vs. close together). Thus, spatial distance between words or entirely unrelated objects can rapidly and incrementally modulate the semantic interpretation of abstract sentences.