Merely Activating the Concept of Money Changes Personal and Interpersonal Behavior

ABSTRACT— Money plays a significant role in people's lives, and yet little experimental attention has been given to the psychological underpinnings of money. We systematically varied whether and to what extent the concept of money was activated in participants' minds using methods that minimized participants' conscious awareness of the money cues. On the one hand, participants reminded of money were less helpful than were participants not reminded of money, and they also preferred solitary activities and less physical intimacy. On the other hand, reminders of money prompted participants to work harder on challenging tasks and led to desires to take on more work as compared to participants not reminded of money. In short, even subtle reminders of money elicit big changes in human behavior.     

Relation of useful field of view and other screening tests to on-road driving performance

The purpose of this study was to examine the value of a clinical driving assessment battery in predicting performance on an on-road driving test. 43 participants referred to the Bryn Mawr Rehab Adapted Driving Program for evaluation of driving ability underwent an evaluation consisting of a predriver screening and an on road driving test. The predriver screening included a vision screening, a reaction rime task, a split-attention task, the Hooper Visual Organization Test, verbal and symbolic sign recognition, and assessment of Useful Field of View. Logistic regression analyses were applied to identify which predriver screening variables could be used to predict outcome on the on road driving test (pass/fail); UFOV was that best single predictor. The addition of screening tests beyond UFOV alone did not increase predictive validity. These findings suggest that UFOV may serve as an indicator of the need for further driving assessment.     

Latent growth models of the longitudinal effects of dementia caregiving: a comparison of African American and White family caregivers

Self-report measures of depression, physical health symptoms, and life satisfaction were collected over a 2-year period from 197 family caregivers of dementia patients and 218 noncaregivers (controls). Latent growth models were used to compare changes across time for African American and White caregivers, with gender, age, and socioeconomic status serving as covariates. Results indicated that White caregivers sustained higher levels of elevated depression and decreasing life satisfaction over time compared with African American caregivers. Both groups of caregivers reported increases in physical symptoms over time. These results indicate worsening difficulties over time for many White caregivers. African American caregivers show more resilience on measures of depression and life satisfaction but are still vulnerable to increases in physical symptoms over time. Implications for additional research and clinical intervention are discussed.     

The Paradox of Howard Becker’s Intellectual Identity

Howard S. Becker, best known as a sociologist of deviance, claims that he “never really did work on deviance as such.” Why does he say this? The fortuitous nature of his entry into the field, his belief that deviance is not an analytic category, and the amount of time, energy, and commitment he has invested in this as opposed to other fields, play a role in this stance. In all likelihood, contrary to his wish, Howard Becker will always be regarded as a deviance researcher.     

Consumers' product evaluation: a study of the primary evaluative criteria in the precious jewellery market in the UK

It is normally argued that consumers make their purchase decisions on the basis of their evaluation of, and knowledge about, the product attributes. This paper reports findings from a research study, which was conducted to determine the nature and type of evaluative criteria used by an individual while purchasing a piece of precious jewellery. In doing so, the study looked into the significance of product category knowledge, brand familiarity and brand consciousness in product evaluation. A questionnaire was sent to 500 consumers of precious jewellery in five major cities of the UK. Results indicate that, in general, subjective attributes are more important for people buying precious jewellery than the objective attributes. The significance of specific attributes during product evaluation could vary according to one's level of product category knowledge, brand familiarity and brand consciousness. The paper discusses implications for the marketers. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications.     

When additional multiple‐choice lures aid versus hinder later memory

Three experiments were conducted to investigate whether increasing the number of lures on a multiple‐choice test helps, hinders or has no effect on later memory. All three patterns have been reported in the literature. In Experiment 1, the stimuli were unrelated word lists, and increasing the number of lures on an initial multiple‐choice test led to better performance on later free recall and cued recall tasks. In contrast, in Experiments 2 and 3, stimuli were facts from prose materials, and increasing the number of multiple‐choice lures led to robust costs in cued recall and smaller costs in free recall. The results indicate that performance on the initial multiple‐choice test is a critical factor. When initial multiple‐choice performance was near ceiling, testing with additional lures led to superior performance on subsequent tests. However, at lower levels of multiple‐choice performance, testing with additional lures produced costs on later tests. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Samuel Benjamin: Unorthodox observer of the Middle East

Artist, author, diplomat, Samuel Greene Wheeler Benjamin's long association with the Middle East provided the raw material for much of his work. A self‐confessed ‘freelance’ in an age of increasing specialization and professionalism, he had difficulty adjusting to the myriad changes in American society. To make matters worse, Benjamin held unfashionable opinions on many subjects. Nowhere were his ideas more contentious than in his writings on the Middle East, where he set out his thoughts on Islam, on the role of missionaries, on the position of minorities, on ‘Oriental’ government. His unorthodox observations frequently elicited unfavourable reviews of his work. Yet from a late‐twentieth‐century perspective, Benjamin stands out among his contemporaries in his breadth of knowledge and understanding of the Middle East. There were, to be sure, some strange and uninformed ideas scattered here and there throughout his works, but what surprises the careful reader today is the durability of many of those views written a century ago.     

Useful Field of View and Other Neurocognitive Indicators of Crash Risk in Older Adults

Older adults represent a rapidly growing segment of the driving population. Although most older drivers are safe, research has shown that this group has more crashes per mile driven than most other age groups. The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the utility of a set of commonly used neuropsychological/cognitive tests in comparison to a newer measure of visual attention (Useful Field of View; UFOV®) in predicting state-recorded, at-fault crashes over the previous five years in a group of older adult drivers. Participants (N = 239) completed tests of mental status, visual attention, memory, and UFOV®. Results show that among all cognitive tests administered, UFOV® was most strongly related to crash involvement, with high levels of sensitivity (86.3%) and specificity (84.3%) at the standard cutoff score of 40% reduction. Practical implications for the assessment of crash risk are discussed.     

Superiority of variable to repeated practice in transfer on anagram solution

Previous research in motor learning shows that practicing variations of a task (variable practice) leads to better transfer than does repeatedly practicing the exact same task (repeated practice). In contrast, research on priming using verbal materials shows that performance on a test improves to the extent that the material at learning and test overlap. We tested whether variability in practice conditions can lead to improved performance with the verbal priming task of anagram solution. Participants practiced solving anagrams, either repeatedly solving the same anagram that was later tested, repeatedly solving a different anagram from the one that was later tested, or solving different variations of the anagram that was later tested. We found that this last condition-variable practice on different versions of an anagram-led to improved test performance in relation to repeated practice, even when the test anagram was the one that had been repeatedly practiced. This finding aligns results from the motor learning literature with a higher level cognitive task: anagram solution. Shea and Kohl's (1991) hypothesis, arguing that varied practice may lead to greater elaborative processing than does repeated practice, provides one account of the results.     

Critical factors in consumer supermarket shopping behaviour: a neural network approach

This paper studies UK supermarket shopping behaviour, by analysing the antecedent variables of three critical factors: overall levels of customer satisfaction, number of trips to the supermarket, and amount spent. A neural network approach predicts these factors using ten input variables and three hidden nodes. Results show that the most satisfied and high‐spending customers tend to be those who have the income to take full advantage of the choice and quality offered. Other customers are more concerned with prices being reasonable and discounts available, but the satisfaction of these shoppers is also linked with store atmosphere. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications.