Cognitive,affective and conative responses to visual simulation: the effects of rotation in online product presentation

• Rotation, one type of visual simulation used to create three‐dimensional (3‐D) experiences, and currently being used for product presentation on some e‐tail websites, may create consumer responses. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the effects of rotation in product presentation on the cognitive, affective, and conative responses of consumers. This study employed a single‐factor between‐subjects design: product presentation (rotating vs. non‐rotating). Causal model analysis showed the influence of rotation in product presentation on perceived information quantity, mood, attitude, and purchase intention. Theoretical and managerial implications, as well as future research directions, are discussed.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wittgenstein's rule-following paradox: How to resolve it with lessons for psychology

Four assumptions about rule-learning in mathematics continue to be central to psychology—mathematical rules are clear and exact, their applications are well defined, their learning is typically through social experiences, whose mechanisms are causal. All four are contradicted in Wittgenstein's analysis of the rule-following paradox (RFP) one of whose essential features is the normativity of mathematical rules. Although RFP is alive well in 21st century philosophy, it has received scant attention in psychology. My argument is in four parts—a brief review of rule-learning in psychology under the four assumptions; a substantial review of RFP in which they are invalidated; a confirming re-analysis in Piaget's developmental epistemology (DE) with its research-program for an empirically based interpretation of normativity; and four implications for psychology about the limits of causal models, constructivism and rules, rules and networks, novelty as inherent in mental functioning throughout human development.     

An Exploratory Study of Integrative Personality Pathology Systems and the Interpersonal Circumplex

Normative and pathological personality traits are theoretically associated with interpersonal behavior patterns and difficulties. However, little is known about relations between dimensional personality systems that integrate pathological and normative traits and social functioning. The current study explores the projections of scales from two integrative frameworks, the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology and the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality, onto interpersonal circumplex traits and problems. The DAPP and the SNAP demonstrated similar overall validity in predicting the interpersonal domain. Results suggest a novel framework for understanding personality—interpersonal behavior relations by categorizing scales according to their: a) minimal, b) non-specific, c) specific, and d) differential relations to interpersonal traits and problems with important implications for future research relating clinical constructs to interpersonal behavior as well as clinical assessment and behavioral predictions based on SNAP and DAPP scales.     

Changing patterns of religious affiliation,church attendance and marriage across five areas of Europe since the early 1980s: trends and associations

This study draws on three waves of the European Values Survey (conducted between 1981 and 1984, between 1989 and 1993, and between 1999 and 2004) across five countries for which full data are available (Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Spain, and Sweden) in order to address five research questions. Question one examined changes in religious affiliation. Across all five countries, the proportions of the non‐affiliated increased. Question two examined changes in church attendance. Across all five countries, the proportions of the non‐attenders increased. Question three examined changes in marital status. Across all five countries the proportions of the population checking the category ‘married’ declined, although in Spain the decline was marginal. Question four examined the association between religious affiliation and being married. The religious affiliated were more likely to be married than the non‐affiliated. Question five examined the association between church attendance and being married. Weekly attenders were more likely to be married than the non‐attenders. Overall these data support the close association between religion and marriage across five European countries (where there are very different religious climates) and support the hypothesis that changing religious values and changing family values go hand‐in‐hand.     

For whom the mind wanders, and when: an experience-sampling study of working memory and executive control in daily life

An experience-sampling study of 124 undergraduates, pretested on complex memory-span tasks, examined the relation between working memory capacity (WMC) and the experience of mind wandering in daily life. Over 7 days, personal digital assistants signaled subjects eight times daily to report immediately whether their thoughts had wandered from their current activity, and to describe their psychological and physical context. WMC moderated the relation between mind wandering and activities' cognitive demand. During challenging activities requiring concentration and effort, higher-WMC subjects maintained on-task thoughts better, and mind-wandered less, than did lower-WMC subjects. The results were therefore consistent with theories of WMC emphasizing the role of executive attention and control processes in determining individual differences and their cognitive consequences.     

The Personality Characteristics of Methodist Ministers: Feminine Men and Masculine Women?

A detailed questionnaire was mailed to every Methodist minister engaged in circuit ministry in Great Britain. Each of the 1,339 respondents completed the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQR-S). The male ministers recorded lower psychoticism scores than the male population norms. The female ministers recorded lower neuroticism scores than the female population norms. These findings support the view that ministry may appeal particularly to men who value and display the tender-minded personality characteristics associated with femininity and to women who value and display the stable personality characteristics associated with masculinity. Implications of these findings for ministry are discussed.     

“Sherry’s Secret”

The case and commentaries below were developed as part of a project, Graduate Research Ethics Education, undertaken by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF Grant No. SBR 9421897 and NSF Grant No. 9817880). The project aims at training graduate students in research ethics and building a community of scientists and engineers who are interested in and capable of teaching research ethics. As part of the project, each graduate student participant develops a case for use in teaching and writes a commentary to go with the case, and then a staff member is asked to write additional commentary on the case. The case below was written in the second year of the project and was published in Research Ethics: Cases and Commentaries edited by B. Schrag, Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, Bloomington, Indiana, Vol. II (1998). Publication of these cases and commentaries will be a recurring feature of Science and Engineering Ethics.     

Validation and predictive utility of the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire for Eating Disorders (SATAQ-ED): internalization of sociocultural ideals predicts weight gain

A widely used measure of societal influences on body image and eating disturbances—the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ) was validated in women with eating disorders. The original SATAQ and measures of convergence and divergence were administered to 165 eating disordered inpatients. Factor analyses were conducted to determine the underlying structure of the SATAQ. Convergent validity, diagnostic category norms and the predictive utility of the revised SATAQ were examined. Factor analyses indicated three factors: Internalization, Awareness, and Success. Internalization significantly predicted treatment success after controlling for admission BMI and drive for thinness. The revised SATAQ-ED measures multiple aspects of societal influence, predicts short-term outcome, and can be a useful tool for evaluating potential outcome and treatment efficacy.