Brand image and brand loyalty: Do they show the same deviations from a common underlying pattern?

The aim of the paper is to investigate whether deviations from the double jeopardy pattern observed in brand buying (panel) data such as niche brands (brands with few users, but high levels of brand loyalty) and change‐of‐pace brands (brands with many users, but low levels of brand loyalty) correspond with deviations from the same pattern in brand image data (i.e. brand image associations gathered through consumer surveys). The analysis of a unique data set in three product categories including brand purchases and brand image associations from the same consumers and for the same brands shows that such deviations in brand buying data and in brand image data seldom correspond. Moreover, deviations from the double jeopardy pattern in brand image data are rare and imply the existence of an underlying impact of a brand's associative rate (i.e. the average number of associations a brand obtains in a brand image consumer survey) on brand loyalty (measured as the frequency of brand buying). These findings provide contribution to buyer behaviour theory and have practical implications for branding strategies. For instance, to obtain any impact on brand loyalty, marketers may need to develop branding strategies aimed at increasing a brand's associative rate, whilst maintaining or enlarging its level of market penetration. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contributions of contingencies in modern societies to "privacy" in the behavioral relations of cognition and emotion

The aim of this paper is to examine specific features of modern individualistic societies that contribute to "emotions" and "cognitions" becoming a matter of privacy. Although some behavior analysts identify emotions and cognitions as "private events," we argue with Skinner (1945) that cognitions and emotions are relations among events and that their origin is in public events in the contingencies of reinforcement maintained by other people. Guided by Elias (1939/1996), we suggest that the shift from feudal economies to market economies involved the increasing individualization of society's members. This individualizing process includes the socially maintained contingencies that bring some verbal responses under control of private stimulation and reduce the magnitude of some verbal responses to a covert level. Behavioral relations in which either stimuli or responses (or both) cannot be observed by others set the stage for a concept of "privacy." Changes in societal contingencies that gave rise to individualization and the attribution of privacy to cognitions and emotions are suggested to include the following: (a) increasing frequency of individual consequences that have no apparent or direct relevance to the group; (b) increasing numbers of concurrent contingencies and choice requirements; (c) conflicts between immediate and delayed consequences for the individual; and (d) conflicts between consequences for the individual and for the group.     

Self-efficacy as a moderator of the planning-behaviour relationship in interventions designed to promote physical activity

Individuals who lack perceived self-efficacy may benefit less from planning interventions because they fail to apply their plans when encountering situations that appear challenging. Thus, self-efficacy may operate as a moderator in relation to the effects of planning interventions on behaviour. This article reports from two experimental studies using cluster randomisation. Study 1 included 58 patients with diabetes who received a face-to-face action planning intervention to improve their physical activity levels. Study 2 targeted the roles of planning and self-efficacy for the maintenance of regular running and for relapse prevention in 187 active individuals over a 2-year period. The email-delivered intervention prompted specific goal setting and facilitated planning to mobilise social support to secure relapse prevention. Results of the two studies were consistent with a moderating effect of self-efficacy in relation to the planning-behaviour relationship. Individuals with high self-efficacy benefited from planning interventions. If a person lacks self-efficacy, planning may not effectively promote physical activity.     

Unconscious task application

The nature of unconscious information processing is a heavily debated issue in cognitive science (e.g., Kouider & Dehaene, 2007), and neuroscience (e.g., Crick & Koch, 1998). Traditionally, it has been thought that unconscious cognitive processing is restricted to knowledge that is strongly prepared by conscious processes (e.g., Dehaene et al., 1998). In three experiments, we show that the task that is performed consciously can also be applied unconsciously to items outside the current task set. We found that a same–different judgment of two target stimuli was also performed on two subliminally presented prime stimuli. This was true for target and prime stimuli from entirely different categories, as well as for prime and target stimuli at different levels of abstraction. These results reveal that unconscious processing can generalize more widely than previously accepted.     

Sex differences in discriminative power of volleyball game-related statistics

To identify sex differences in volleyball game-related statistics, the game-related statistics of several World Championships in 2007 (N=132) were analyzed using the software VIS from the International Volleyball Federation. Discriminant analysis was used to identify the game-related statistics which better discriminated performances by sex. Analysis yielded an emphasis on fault serves (SC = -.40), shot spikes (SC = .40), and reception digs (SC = .31). Specific robust numbers represent that considerable variability was evident in the game-related statistics profile, as men's volleyball games were better associated with terminal actions (errors of service), and women's volleyball games were characterized by continuous actions (in defense and attack). These differences may be related to the anthropometric and physiological differences between women and men and their influence on performance profiles.     

The impact of omitting the interaction between crossed factors in cross‐classified random effects modelling

Cross‐classified random effects modelling (CCREM) is a special case of multi‐level modelling where the units of one level are nested within two cross‐classified factors. Typically, CCREM analyses omit the random interaction effect of the cross‐classified factors. We investigate the impact of the omission of the interaction effect on parameter estimates and standard errors. Results from a Monte Carlo simulation study indicate that, for fixed effects, both coefficients estimates and accompanied standard error estimates are not biased. For random effects, results are affected at level 2 but not at level 1 by the presence of an interaction variance and/or a correlation between the residual of level two factors. Results from the analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study and the National Educational Longitudinal Study agree with those obtained from simulated data. We recommend that researchers attempt to include interaction effects of cross‐classified factors in their models.     

Anxiety as a Predictor of Age at First Use of Substances and Progression to Substance Use Problems Among Boys

This study examined associations of generalized and social anxiety with (1) age at first use of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana and (2) interval from first use to first problem use of each substance. Participants were 503 males who comprised the youngest cohort (first assessed in the first grade) of the Pittsburgh Youth Study, a longitudinal community-based study of boys. Annual assessments of generalized and social anxiety, delinquency, and substance use from first grade through high school were included. Both types of anxiety predicted earlier first use of alcohol and tobacco, and generalized anxiety predicted earlier first use of marijuana. Both types of anxiety predicted the progression from first use to problems related to marijuana. The effect of generalized anxiety tended to be significant above and beyond the effect of delinquency, while the effect of social anxiety on risk for first use of substances was not. Overall, the associations between anxiety and substance use and related problems depend on the class of substance and the type of anxiety.     

Is Fallibility an Epistemological Shortcoming?

A familiar form of scepticism supposes that knowledge requires infallibility. Although that requirement plays no role in our ordinary epistemic practices, Barry Stroud has argued that this is not a good reason for rejecting a sceptical argument: our ordinary practices do not correctly reflect the requirements for knowledge because the appropriateness-conditions for knowledge attribution are pragmatic. Recent fashion in contextualist semantics for 'knowledge' agrees with this view of our practice, but incorrectly. Ordinary epistemic evaluations are guided by our conception of a person's standing with regard to the reasons that there are for and against the truth of a belief. Thus the objection from our ordinary practices is sound: fallibility is not an epistemological shortcoming, and a convincing sceptical argument must use only requirements which figure in ordinary epistemic practice.     

Solution‐Focused Counseling for Clients With Religious and Spiritual Concerns

Solution‐focused counseling is presented as a framework for clients with religious and spiritual concerns. The theory of solution‐focused counseling is described. Implications for using this model with religious and spiritual clients are considered. A case example is provided to illustrate the application of solution‐focused counseling for a client dealing with religious and spiritual issues.     

Reading and Writing: Psychoanalytical Treatment in a Case of Paranoia

Difficulties encountered in clinical work with psychoses require psychoanalytical approaches different from those used for treating neurosis. The authors use a clinical case of a paranoiac patient to highlight the role played by writing, drawing, and painting in the psychoanalytical treatment of psychosis. They also discuss the role of the reader-analyst in this patient’s transferential process, which led to the emergence of a new subjectivity.