Doing gesture promotes learning a mental transformation task better than seeing gesture

Performing action has been found to have a greater impact on learning than observing action. Here we ask whether a particular type of action – the gestures that accompany talk – affect learning in a comparable way. We gave 158 6‐year‐old children instruction in a mental transformation task. Half the children were asked to produce a Move gesture relevant to the task; half were asked to produce a Point gesture. The children also observed the experimenter producing either a Move or Point gesture. Children who produced a Move gesture improved more than children who observed the Move gesture. Neither producing nor observing the Point gesture facilitated learning. Doing gesture promotes learning better than seeing gesture, as long as the gesture conveys information that could help solve the task.     

The influence of lay theories of Feng Shui on consumers' peace of mind: The role of regulatory fit

With its history dating back five millennia, the art of creating harmonious surroundings – commonly referred to as Feng Shui – has become deeply rooted in Chinese culture. Yet despite its significant effect on people's daily lives, a dearth of research is available on how Feng Shui influences consumers' decisions. This study investigates the influence of Feng Shui on customers' attitude based on their regulatory focus, providing suggestions for business opportunities. Three studies examine whether Feng Shui's goals influence participants' decisions and feelings of appropriateness. Study 1 demonstrated that the fit between Feng Shui's suggestions and consumers' regulatory focus impacted decision making. Participants were more likely to adopt the Feng Shui practitioner's suggestions of a goal compatible with the consumers' regulatory focus. Study 2 provided evidence that a regulatory focus also impacts participants' peace of mind. Study 3 tested whether the value experienced from regulatory fit is reflected in the price. Specifically, promotion‐oriented individuals feel more accepting of promotion‐focused Feng Shui that is consistent with an approach goal while prevention‐oriented individuals are more persuaded by prevention‐focused Feng Shui that is consistent with an avoidance goal. When the Feng Shui appeal is compatible with the self‐regulatory focus, individuals demonstrate a greater feeling of appropriateness and produce a higher level of peace of mind.     

The nature and consequences of topic avoidance in Chinese and Taiwanese close relationships

Two studies examined topic avoidance in Chinese and Taiwanese opposite‐sex friendships and romantic relationships. Five areas of topic avoidance emerged through analytic induction and cluster analysis: negative appraisal, relational issues, sexual issues, politics, and personal experience. Partner protection, negative relational impact, and self inefficacy emerged as the most common reasons for avoidance. Results revealed that friends, relative to romantic partners, engaged in higher levels of topic avoidance. Taiwanese participants, moreover, avoided discussing politics to a greater extent than did mainland Chinese participants. Lacking closeness was the main reason behind avoidance of political discussion. Topic avoidance was also linked to relationship quality, as relational satisfaction negatively predicted relational issue avoidance and topic avoidance breadth (i.e. the number of topics regularly avoided in the relationship). The authors explain these and other findings based on Chinese cultural codes and historically‐embedded concepts that shape interpersonal interaction.     

Customer reactions to encountering consecutive service failures

According to previous studies, many consumers in Taiwan have experienced consecutive service failures. Despite these failures, many consumers still remain loyal to a service provider for a variety of reasons, such as money deposits, contractual agreements, associated costs, time constrains, and health concerns. We attempt to investigate the emotional reactions and expectations of consumers after they have experienced two consecutive service failures. Our findings reveal that for high‐involvement services, although customers display strong negative emotional reactions after each service failure, the reaction to the second service failure is less intensive than that to the first one. Furthermore, our findings show that as long as the products or services remain in use, customers tend to retain high levels of expectation in regard to the service provider. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Servicescapes: The role that place plays in stay‐at‐home mothers’ lives

Over the past decade, increasing attention has been paid to gender‐related consumption behaviour. However, a relative gap in our knowledge still exists when it comes to understanding the changes that occur as a result of motherhood and how this may influence their interactions in the retail environment. The purpose of this article is to explore stay‐at‐home mothers’ experiences in the servicescape to gain a better understanding of how they associate with servicescapes during this transitional period, how they use retail space to suit their needs, and how they use retail space to negotiate their role as a stay‐at‐home mother. Five stay‐at‐home mothers with children younger than 5 years were provided with disposable cameras and asked to photograph servicescapes that they visited regularly. Over a 1‐year period, they were interviewed several times, and photo‐elicitation techniques were used throughout the interviewing process. The results of this study suggest that when consumers undergo role or identity changes, certain places can be used to smooth this process. Not only can the retail environment be used as a coping mechanism for stay‐at‐home mothers, it can also be viewed as a “second place” as opposed to a “third place”, thus enabling isolated consumers to feel connected with the outside world. Last, this study highlights the temporal dimensions of place. Throughout one's lifetime, one will form attachments to and patronise different places, which will evolve and change as individuals, accordingly, take on different roles and identities. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Development of Internal State Language during the Third Year of Life: A Longitudinal Parent Report Study

Children's talk about the mind has been scarcely studied in non‐English speakers. For this reason, this longitudinal study documents age‐related changes in German‐speaking children's internal state language. At 24, 30 and 36 months, children were administered general language tests and their internal state vocabulary levels were obtained via parental report. The developmental transition from a vocabulary rich in physiological, perceptual and desire terms to a vocabulary rich in a wider range of mental concepts confirmed previous research with French‐speaking and English‐speaking children and research in children's internal state comprehension. Further, children's category scores proved to be developmentally stable. Finally, with increasing age, children's category scores became more specifically related to each other, independent of general language skills. The results are discussed in regard to the universality of children's talk about the mind. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Humour Perception and Creation between Parents and 3‐ to 6‐month‐old Infants

Humour and laughter are universal to the human psychological experience and have serious developmental and evolutionary implications. Despite the early emergence of laughter in infancy, infants have been largely ignored in the humour research and humour has been largely ignored in the infant research. The present study describes the emergence of humour perception and creation in a sample of 20 parent–infant dyads who were followed from ages 3‐to‐ 6 months. The study examined how infants discover that absurd nonverbal behaviour, known as ‘clowning’, is amusing in the context of social engagement with caregivers. Results indicate that parents primarily use clowning when attempting to amuse their infants and pair these behavioural absurdities with affective cues like smiling and laughing. As they got older, infants were more likely to laugh and smile in response to clowning. Infants' ability to create humor via clowning also increased with age, starting with simple shrieks at 3 months to imitating absurd actions by 5 months. These increases are partly potentially explained by accompanying increases in parental smiling, laughing and clowning in response to infant clowning. Future research should employ more diverse samples and experimentally investigate the role of parental affect and social referencing in infants' interpretation of absurd behavior. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial reference in multiple object tracking

Spatial reference in multiple object tracking is available from configurations of dynamic objects and static reference objects. In three experiments, we studied the use of spatial reference in tracking and in relocating targets after abrupt scene rotations. Observers tracked 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 targets in 3D scenes, in which white balls moved on a square floor plane. The floor plane was either visible thus providing static spatial reference or it was invisible. Without scene rotations, the configuration of dynamic objects provided sufficient spatial reference and static spatial reference was not advantageous. In contrast, with abrupt scene rotations of 20°, static spatial reference supported in relocating targets. A wireframe floor plane lacking local visual detail was as effective as a checkerboard. Individually colored geometric forms as static reference objects provided no additional benefit either, even if targets were centered on these forms at the abrupt scene rotation. Individualizing the dynamic objects themselves by color for a brief interval around the abrupt scene rotation, however, did improve performance. We conclude that attentional tracking of moving targets proceeds within dynamic configurations but detached from static local background.