How Power States Influence the Persuasiveness of Top‐Dog versus Underdog Appeals

Although both top‐dog and underdog positioning appeals are widely used in marketing and advertising, little is known about which strategy is more effective in persuading consumers. By introducing a sense of power, a social variable that is inherently relevant to the nature of the top‐dog versus underdog classification, we propose that consumers' responses to these two appeals are influenced by their psychological experience of power. Specifically, low‐power consumers will respond to top‐dog appeals more favorably because associating with top dogs facilitates power restoration. In contrast, high‐power consumers will respond to underdog appeals more favorably because supporting underdogs facilitates power expression. In four experimental studies, we provide consistent support for our main predictions as well as the underlying processes. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate the differential effect of consumers' power states on their attitudes toward top‐dog versus underdog appeals. Providing process evidence, Studies 3 and 4 identify boundary conditions under which the basic effect was eliminated. These findings contribute to the persuasion literature and power research and provide important implications for positioning strategy and advertisement development.     

Romantic Crushes Promote Variety‐Seeking Behavior

Consumers making repeat consumption choices often need to decide whether to stick to their favorite option or to select something different. Understanding the situational factors that influence their willingness to seek more or less variety in consumption is of both theoretical and practical importance. The current research proposes that a salient relationship state—romantic crush—can increase consumers' variety‐seeking tendency in unrelated consumption situations. Building on the compensatory consumption literature, we suggest that the lack of reciprocal response in the romantic crush experience may lower consumers' sense of control in the romantic relationship. Therefore, they are motivated to restore their sense of control by making more varied choices in consumption domains. Five studies provide support for this hypothesis. In line with our control‐restoration account, the effect disappears when consumers' sense of control is boosted via other means. Moreover, the effect is specific to the experience of a romantic crush and cannot be generalized to other types of romantic relationship (e.g., initial stage of love).     

The Illusion of Double‐Discount: Using Reference Points in Promotion Framing

Double‐discount is an effective format for promoting purchase decisions. However, extant literature has overlooked how temporal order of discounts applied affects consumers’ purchase decisions. In this paper, we show that the sequence of discount magnitude (e.g., 10% followed by 40% vs. 40% followed by 10%) leads to biases in consumer judgment and influences the perceived appeal and purchase intention of the deal. We term this the double‐discount sequence effect. Using four experiments, we showed that double‐discount in an ascending sequence (e.g., taking 10% off, then an additional 40% off) is preferable over that in a descending sequence. We also found that discount application sequence—but not the presentation order—matters to consumers. Consumers anchor on the first discount they encounter and evaluate the second discount with respect to this first one.     

Trait compassion is associated with the neural substrate of empathy

Individual differences in the personality trait Agreeableness underlie humans’ ability to interpret social cues and coordinate effectively with others. However, previous investigations of the neural basis of Agreeableness have yielded largely inconsistent results. Recent evidence has demonstrated that Agreeableness can be divided into two, correlated subdimensions. Compassion reflects tendencies toward empathy, sympathy, and concern for others, while Politeness reflects tendencies toward compliance and refraining from aggression and exploitation. The present study seeks to clarify the neural substrates of Agreeableness by examining whether structural differences in the brain show distinct associations with Compassion and Politeness. Results of a meta-analysis of fMRI studies examining empathy were used to generate hypotheses about the brain regions and networks that underlie trait Compassion. Results of a large-scale structural neuroimaging investigation (N = 275) were largely consistent with the meta-analysis: Compassion was positively correlated with gray matter volume in the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and anterior insula (AI). Further, these differences appear to be associated with Compassion specifically, as opposed to Politeness, suggesting that these two traits have at least partially distinct neuroanatomical substrates.     

When kinesthetic information is neglected in learning a Novel bimanual rhythmic coordination

Many studies have shown that rhythmic interlimb coordination involves perception of the coupled limb movements, and different sensory modalities can be used. Using visual displays to inform the coupled bimanual movement, novel bimanual coordination patterns can be learned with practice. A recent study showed that similar learning occurred without vision when a coach provided manual guidance during practice. The information provided via the two different modalities may be same (amodal) or different (modality specific). If it is different, then learning with both is a dual task, and one source of information might be used in preference to the other in performing the task when both are available. In the current study, participants learned a novel 90° bimanual coordination pattern without or with visual information in addition to kinesthesis. In posttest, all participants were tested without and with visual information in addition to kinesthesis. When tested with visual information, all participants exhibited performance that was significantly improved by practice. When tested without visual information, participants who practiced using only kinesthetic information showed improvement, but those who practiced with visual information in addition showed remarkably less improvement. The results indicate that (1) the information is not amodal, (2) use of a single type of information was preferred, and (3) the preferred information was visual. We also hypothesized that older participants might be more likely to acquire dual task performance given their greater experience of the two sensory modes in combination, but results were replicated with both 20- and 50-year-olds.     

关于临床决策问题

医生在临床工作中做出明确诊断,并据此给予有效的处理均属于决策过程.制定决策的整个过程,同时也是进行决策思维的过程.近年来高新技术的迅猛发展以及医疗费用急剧增加,使制定决策更加复杂.如何进行正确的决策思维,做出最切实可行的和最佳的决策,对避免决策的盲目性、局限性及惰性具有重要的现实意义.     

逻辑与人工智能

20世纪中期以来,计算机科学以撼世惊人的速度不断向前发展.作为其核心分支的人工智能研究亦取得了一次又一次的突破,并且以其不断逼近与挑战人类智能的姿态而引人注目.在人工智能成就的背后,逻辑学是促其前行的最主要动力引擎之一.逻辑为人工智能提供了根本性的观点与方法,并促成了人工智能研究中最主要派别--逻辑主义AI.而有着漫长学科发展史的逻辑学本身也在与人工智能的结姻过程中获得了自数学公理化、形式化运动以来的又一次全新发展契机.有论者认为"人工智能将是21世纪逻辑学发展的主要动力源泉,并且在很大程度上将决定21世纪逻辑学的面貌".[1]     

青少年身体自我的发展特点和性别差异研究

对1699名青少年学生用自编具有较好信度和效度指标的身体自我量表进行测试。结果表明：青少年学生对身体的满意度从“最满意”到“最不满意”依次是负面特征、相貌特征、性特征、运动特征和身材特征,随年龄的增长其发展呈现波动性,青春期早期和中期呈明显下降趋势,青春期后期有缓慢上升;身体自我在相貌特护、身材特征、性特征、负面特征方面都存在显著的性别差异,男生比女生对身体更满意;城市学生比农村学生对自己的身体更满意。     

孔子的政治伦理思想及其现实意义——兼论其在祖国和平统一的作用

孔子“为政以德”的政治伦理思想以“仁”为基础,以“利民”为价值导向,以实现社会“大同”为理想目标。为此,他要求治国者自身不断加强道德修养,坚持人道主义的伦理原则,选贤任能,反对战争,维护和平。坚持和发扬孔子的政治伦理思想,对于实现海峡两岸的和平统一具有重要现实意义。