The Effect of Applicant Impression Management Tactics on Hiring Recommendations: Cognitive and Affective Processes

The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether applicants' impression management (IM) tactics indirectly influence hiring recommendations through cognitive mechanisms (i.e. recruiters' perceptions of person–organisation [P–O] fit, person–job [P–J] fit, and person–recruiter [P–R] fit) or affective mechanisms (i.e. recruiters' positive mood) during authentic employment interviews for actual job openings. Participants consisted of 221 applicant–recruiter dyads from 50 companies in Taiwan. The results demonstrated that applicants' self‐focused IM tactics are positively related to recruiter perceptions of P–J fit, which in turn influence hiring recommendations. In addition, applicant other‐focused IM tactics affect hiring recommendations through recruiters' perceptions of P–O fit. Moreover, applicants' non‐verbal IM tactics were positively related to recruiters' positive mood, which in turn affected recruiters' perceptions of P–J fit and P–O fit, thereby affecting hiring recommendations.     

Cultural Meanings of Brands and Consumption: A Window into the Cultural Psychology of Globalization

With globalization, the number of individuals with knowledge about multiple cultures is on the rise. This article illustrates how studying consumer reactions to brands that are loaded with cultural meanings can contribute to developing a cultural psychology of globalization. Our review demonstrates that brands can be considered cultural ‘products’– they are tangible, public representations of meanings and ideas shared in a culture. As such, incidental exposure to culturally symbolic brands can spontaneously evoke its attendant cultural meanings and trigger culturally appropriate behavioral decisions. Because globalization makes these brands readily available in diverse cultural contexts, consumer reactions to culturally symbolic brands often reflect people’s views about the cultural effects of globalization. Consumers would respond favorably to these brands when the associated cultural meanings reinforce the consumers’ cultural identity. In contrast, consumers would react negatively toward these brands when they are perceived to be a threat to the local culture. We identify the factors that promote one type of reaction over the other, and discuss how this line of research can further contribute to building a cultural psychology of globalization.     

Retracted: Effects of cartoon violence on aggressive thoughts and aggressive behaviors

This article reports on an experiment designed to test whether the cartoon manipulation leads to significant increases in aggressive thoughts and aggressive behaviors among Chinese children (n = 3,000). Results indicated that brief exposure to a violent cartoon triggered higher aggressive thoughts and aggressive behaviors than a nonviolent cartoon. Females displayed higher aggressive thoughts and aggressive behaviors than males in a nonviolent cartoon condition, while males displayed higher aggressive behaviors than females in a violent cartoon condition. Mediation analysis suggested that the effect on aggressive behaviors was mediated by aggressive thoughts. The findings imply that cartoon developers, parents, and teachers should develop cartoons that inhibit children's aggressive thoughts to avoid aggressive behaviors. Females are the key group for the prevention and intervention of aggression in a nonviolent cartoon context, while males are the key group for the prevention and intervention of aggression in a violent cartoon context.