Active red sports car and relaxed purple–blue van: affective qualities predict color appropriateness for car types

Research suggests that color appropriateness differs as a function of object type. Thus, a color may be perceived as appropriate for one product and inappropriate for another product. We argue that perceived appropriateness depends upon the congruity of the affective qualities of a color with those of the product. This assumption was addressed in two studies in which participants assigned the best matching color out of 13 Munsell colors to each of seven car types. Additionally, affective qualities of both colors and car types were measured on semantic differential scales. The first study showed that color appropriateness varied according to car type. As predicted, the affective qualities of the assigned colors tended to be congruent with the affective qualities of the car types. Affective congruity along the potency dimension of the semantic differential was of particular importance in explaining assignments of colors to car types. The second study was a replication of the first study but with a different sample. The results confirmed what we found in the first study. An interesting difference was, however, that activity (not potency) turned out to be the most important dimension of the semantic differential in explaining assignments of colors to car types. Implications for product development and marketing practice are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance in auditory and visual emotional stroop tasks: a comparison of older and younger adults

Research has shown age-related declines in the cognitive ability to inhibit irrelevant information. Thirty-six younger adults (mean age = 22 years) and 36 older adults (mean age = 74 years) performed 2 versions of an emotional Stroop task. In one, they made lexical decisions to emotion words spoken in 1 of several tones of voice. Latencies were longer for test words spoken in an incongruent tone of voice, but only for older adults. In another, words were displayed on a computer screen in a colored font, and participants quickly named the font color. Latencies were longer for test words high on arousal, but only for older adults. Results are discussed in terms of inhibitory cognitive processes, attention, and theories of emotional development.     

Antirationalistische erkl?rungen in der Wissenschaftstheorie

Ohne ZusammenfassungIch danke Lorenz Krüger und Erhard Scheibe für Diskussion und Kritik und Siegfried Kanngießer für seine Unterstützung.     

Different functions of emotion regulation in linking harmony seeking and rejection avoidance to life satisfaction and social support in Germany,Hong Kong,and Japan

This study examined whether two facets of interdependence, harmony seeking and rejection avoidance, were differently related to life satisfaction and social support from friends across cultures through the differential use of emotion regulation strategies. Specifically, we propose that individuals who seek harmony and avoid rejection regulate emotions differently to achieve social adaptation in their sociocultural contexts. University students from Germany (n = 129), Hong Kong (n = 136), and Japan (n = 123) completed our online survey. Data were analysed through multigroup structural equation modelling. Across cultures, harmony seeking was positively while rejection avoidance was negatively related to indices of social functioning (life satisfaction or social support). For Germans, emotion regulation (more rumination, less reappraisal, more suppression) completely mediated the associations of rejection avoidance with life satisfaction. Germans may emotionally overreact when fearing rejection, which is reflected in using dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies. In contrast, rejection avoidance was only weakly related to emotional dysregulation among Hong Kong Chinese and Japanese who might be adapted to fearing exclusion due to living in low relational mobility societies. Our findings demonstrate cultural similarities and differences in the interplay of harmony seeking and rejection avoidance with emotion regulation, life satisfaction, and social support.     

FUTURE ORIENTATION AND SOCIALIZATION*

The present paper deals with the question of what kind of relationship may exist between future orientation and socialization. First, the nature of future orientation and related person variables are discussed. It is shown that a functional theory of personality and social behavior is needed in order to specify the relations between these variables. On the basis of such a theory the next question on the development of future orientation may be dealt with more fruitfully. Besides cognitive maturation, social experiences determine which kind of future orientation develops and can be adapted in different social situations. Finally, the question is dealt with to what extent future orientation (not only of parents and teachers, but also of the person to be socialized) may influence the process and result of socialization. Some preliminary data indicate the usefulness of an interactionist theory for the study on the relation between socialization and future orientation.     

Control and responsiveness in Japanese and German mother-child interactions

The present study aims to examine culturally invariant and culture-specific patterns of mother-child interaction, and, more specifically, to explore the stability and change of such interactions in structurally different situations. Starting from a control theoretical framework (primary and secondary control), we expected that differences in stress induced by differently structured achievement demands would affect mother-child interactions in Japan and Germany differently. For Japanese as compared to German mothers, less primary control and more responsiveness was expected as a result of the cultural value of social orientation. The sample consisted of 20 mother-child dyads (5-year-old girls) in each culture. The experimental procedure confronted each mother-child dyad with three different situations varying with respect to induced stress (from no stress to high stress). The mother-child interactions were videotaped and analysed in regard to control behaviour and responsiveness. Cultural differences with respect to control behaviour were observed in the expected direction only for high-stress situations. Also, Japanese mothers were more responsive in all three situations. Mother's responsiveness was related to child's secondary control in both cultures. Furthermore, Japanese children showed more secondary control than German children.     

Social class and sex as determinants of future orientation (time perspective) in adults

This studv was designed to test hypotheses concerning the influence of sex roles and social status on future orientation (FO). The latter was measured in various categories (spheres of life),on the dimensions of density (number of hopes andfears cited by the subject), extension, and optimism-pessimism. Also included was a measure of ‘internal vs. external control’ (the subject's assessment as to whether the realization of his hopes and fears is dependent more on himself or more on external factors). Subjects were 100 employed men and women of the lower and middle class. It was found that, in comparison with women, men voiced more hopes/fears in the public sphere (economy, politics, environment) and fewer in the private sphere uamily, occupation, personal development). Men had a more extended FO in the occupational and economic spheres; women, in contrast, in the private sphere. (These results contradicted the assumption of earlier studies that FO is a general orientation, not varying across different domains of life.) Middle-class (in comparison to lowerclass) persons manifested a, wore extended FO, envisioned the distant future more optimistically, and believed more markedly that the realization of their hopes and fears depended on themselves.