Consumer acceptance of innovations in food: A survey among Polish consumers

The aim of the study was to examine the possible factors that might contribute to consumer acceptance of food innovations. Particular attention was paid to 3 main factors: (a) relationship between socio‐demographic determinants and level of consumer innovation, (b) evaluation of consumer innovation acceptance, particularly toward animal‐derived food products, and (c) consumer preferences for health‐promoting food innovation over time. Studies were conducted using quantitative research methods in 2004 and 2011. An organic method of production, least important in 2004, was top rated in 2011, and ease of preparation dropped to the bottom of the list in 2011, whereas food origin, low fat, and sugar content were ranked in the first group of the considered factors in 2011. Since 2004, consumers have become used to products with various innovations. The new generation of Poles is relatively more open to new food products, due to the wide range of food products available on the free market. Furthermore, the group of well‐educated consumers with a higher level of income has increased in size, and this includes people interested in knowledge of a product's nutritional value and its health impact. Our study extends existing research in the area of understanding consumer expectations toward food innovations. The results not only contribute to the field of consumer behavior but also have practical potential for food market applications, especially for companies operating on or planning to enter the Polish food market, and which could be used for developing communication strategies.     

Effect of personal involvement in traumatic events on memory: The case of the Dolphinarium explosion

The association between memories of the terrorist explosion at the Dolphinarium discotheque in Tel Aviv and the level of personal involvement in the explosion was investigated. Memories of injured victims, uninjured eyewitnesses, and uninvolved controls who learned about the explosion from the mass media were compared. It was expected that memory of the explosion would be most and least detailed and accurate among the victims and the controls, respectively. The participants responded to an open-ended question about the explosion, as well as to specific and multiple-choice questions. Data analyses showed that the victims and the eyewitnesses remembered more details than the controls, and that the victims remembered both central and peripheral details more accurately than the other participants. Degree of involvement in the same traumatic experience was thus shown to be differentially associated with memory accuracy.     

Pathways to resilience: maternal nurturance as a buffer against the effects of childhood poverty on metabolic syndrome at midlife

Children raised in families with low socioeconomic status (SES) go on to have high rates of chronic illness in adulthood. However, a sizable minority of low-SES children remain healthy across the life course, which raises questions about the factors associated with, and potentially responsible for, such resilience. Using a sample of 1,205 middle-aged Americans, we explored whether two characteristics--upward socioeconomic mobility and early parental nurturance--were associated with resilience to the health effects of childhood disadvantage. The primary outcome in our analyses was the presence of metabolic syndrome in adulthood. Results revealed that low childhood SES was associated with higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome at midlife, independently of traditional risk factors. Despite this pattern, half the participants raised in low-SES households were free of metabolic syndrome at midlife. Upward social mobility was not associated with resilience to metabolic syndrome. However, results were consistent with a buffering scenario, in which high levels of maternal nurturance offset the metabolic consequences of childhood disadvantage.     

Intra- and inter-judge reliabilities in measuring the skin-fold thicknesses of ultra runners under field conditions

Inter- and intra-judge reliabilities of skinfold measures were investigated in a sample of 27 men and 11 women ultramarathon runners. Two physicians had agreement higher than 90% in field measurements before an ultramarathon race.     

Place matters: consensual features and regional variation in American well-being and self

Consensual and regionally distinct features of well-being and self were examined in a nationally representative survey of midlife Americans (ages 25-75). Consistent with key American ideology, Study 1 found that a majority of Americans believe they have high levels of mastery, purpose, life satisfaction, overall health, family and work obligation, and partner and family support. Study 2 found distinct regional well-being profiles (e.g., New England reflected concern with not being constrained by others; Mountain showed concern with environmental mastery; West South Central with personal growth and feeling cheerful and happy; West North Central with feeling calm, peaceful, and satisfied; and East South Central with contributing to others' well-being). Study 3 found regional self profiles consistent with the well-being profiles.     

Locus of control in aging research: a case for multidimensional and domain-specific assessment

Do locus of control beliefs change in later life? Is locus of control related to aging-relevant outcomes involving intelligence and health? In past research on these topics, the use of unidimensional and generalized measures of locus of control has led to a set of inconsistent findings. Three studies were conducted to examine the usefulness of multidimensional and domain-specific measures of locus of control for examining age differences and correlates. College students and elderly adults were compared on Levenson's multidimensional and generalized (internal, chance, and powerful others) locus of control scales and two domain-specific versions related to intelligence and health. As predicted, no age differences were found with generalized measures, but the elderly were more external on intelligence- and health-specific locus of control dimensions. Age differences were found most often on the chance and powerful others control dimensions, suggesting that the elderly acknowledge the importance of external sources of control and at the same time preserve their sense of internal control. In addition, the domain-specific scales were better predictors of behavioral outcomes within their respective domains for the elderly but not for the young. The findings suggest that multidimensional and domain-specific conceptions of control are advantageous for aging research.     

Expert systems: A cognitive science perspective

The theory and technology of knowledge-based systems are intrinsically interdisciplinary and are closely related to the formalisms of cognitive psychology. In this paper, strategies of incorporating intelligence into a computer program are described along with a common architecture for expert systems, including choices of representation and inferential methods. The history of the field is traced from its origins in metamathematics and Newell and Simon’s (1961) GENERAL PROBLEM SOLVER to the Stanford Heuristic Programming Project that produced DENDRAL and MYCIN (Buchanan & Shortliffe, 1984). MYCIN gave rise to EMYCIN and a shell technology that has radically reduced the development time and cost of expert systems. Methodology and concepts are illustrated by transactions with a shell developed for graduate education and a demonstration knowledge base for the diagnosis of senile dementia. Knowledge-based systems and conventional programs are compared with respect to formalisms employed, applications, program characteristics, procedures supplied by the development environment, consistency, certainty, flexibility, and programmer’s viewpoint. The technology raises basic questions for cognitive psychology concerning knowledge and expertise.     

Images of midlife development among young,middle-aged,and older adults

This study examined patterns of perceived change across adulthood in a sample of 121 young (M age=19.8 years), middle-aged (M age=47.9 years) and older (M age=74.6 years) adults. Subjects rated amount of stress in life domains, salience of life course issues, and nature of personal attributes for young, middle-aged, and older targets. Seven prototypical patterns of perceived change were found. Midlife was seen as a period with many responsibilities, increased stress in several domains, and little time for leisure, but also as a peak in competence, ability to handle stress, sense of control, productivity, and social responsibility. The findings are discussed in terms of losses, which were seen primarily in the physical realm, and gains, which were mainly seen in the psychological and social realms.     

Rethinking the gender identity crossover hypothesis: A test of a new model

Both self-report and projective assessment techniques were used to examine whether there exists a gender identity crossover at midlife such that men develop a communal or affiliative orientation and women become more interested in agency and power. A sample of 150 predominantly Caucasian men and women ages 24–84 were divided into three age groups for comparison: (1) young (ages 20–39); (2) middle-aged (ages 40–65); and (3) old (ages 66–84). Measures included six pictures from the Thematic Apperception Test, which were coded for achievement, power, intimacy, and affiliation needs, and the Goldberg 50-Bipolar, from which items were selected to derive agency and communion scales. Middle-aged men were lower in the need for power and higher in the need for affiliation than were younger men; there were no age differences in self attributions of agency and communion. Results are discussed in terms of the traditionality of the men and the nontraditionality of the women with respect to work and family roles.This research was supported in part by grants to Margie Lachman from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development and the National Institute on Aging (AG06038).     

Functional relationships in the nuclear and extended family: A 16‐culture study

This study investigated the relationship between culture, structural aspects of the nuclear and extended family, and functional aspects of the family, that is, emotional distance, social interaction, and communication, as well as geographical proximity. The focus was on the functional aspects of family, defined as members of the nuclear family (mother, father, and their children) and the extended family (grandmother/grandfather, aunt/uncle, cousins). Sixteen cultures participated in this study, with a total number of 2587 participants. The first hypothesis, that the pattern of scores on the psychological measures and the behavioral outcomes are similar across cultures, an indication of cultural universality, was supported. The second hypothesis, that functional relations between members of the nuclear family and their kin are maintained in high‐affluent and low‐affluent cultures, and that differences in functional relationships in high‐ and low‐affluent cultures are a matter of degree, was also supported by the findings. The results suggest that it is less meaningful in cross‐cultural family studies to ask questions about the structure of the family, than to ask about the functional relationships between members of the nuclear family and their kin. In looking only at the nuclear family, one focuses only on those residing in the household, but ignores those important members of the extended family who may reside nearby and their significant relationships with the members of the nuclear family.