Effect of brand name on consumers' risk perceptions of online shopping

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between brand names and consumers' perceived risk. Hypotheses dealt with whether the presence of a product's brand name affects consumers' perceived risk towards shopping online; whether the familiarity with a brand name influences consumers' perceived risk; and whether online shoppers and non‐shoppers perceive risk towards shopping online differently. Results indicate that the presence or absence of a product's brand name affects online shoppers' perceived risk, but in the opposite direction to that expected. There was no significant difference between online shoppers' perceived risk vis‐à‐vis brand familiarity; however, online shoppers possessed lower perceived risk than non‐shoppers. Implications and limitations are discussed and recommendations for future research are provided. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications Ltd.     

Person‐Group Value Congruence and Subjective Well‐Being in Students from Argentina,Bulgaria and Finland: The Role of Interpersonal Relationships

The present study examined the relations between personal values, value congruence, interpersonal relationships and subjective well‐being in psychology/education and business students from Argentina (N = 275), Bulgaria (N = 182) and Finland (N = 148). Regression analyses showed, first, that there were no direct relations between higher order value priorities and life satisfaction (LS), positive affect (PA) or negative affect (NA). Second, objective value‐congruence (VC)—the similarity between individual and group values—was positively related to LS and PA, and negatively related to NA. Most importantly, the effects of VC on LS, NA and PA were partially mediated by good interpersonal relationships. Our results show that interpersonal relationships are facilitated by sharing values similar to those of one's fellow students. More generally, personal values per se appear not to be associated with subjective well‐being, more important is how these values fit into the social context. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Forward inference in risky choice: Mapping gaze and decision processes

The study of cognitive processes is built on a close mapping between three components: overt gaze behavior, overt choice, and covert processes. To validate this overt–covert mapping in the domain of decision‐making, we collected eye‐movement data during decisions between risky gamble problems. Applying a forward inference paradigm, participants were instructed to use specific decision strategies to solve those gamble problems (maximizing expected values or applying different choice heuristics) during which gaze behavior was recorded. We revealed differences between overt behavior, as indicated by eye movements, and covert decision processes, instructed by the experimenter. However, our results show that the overt–covert mapping is for some eye‐movement measures not as close as expected by current decision theory, and hence question reverse inference as being prone to fallacies due to a violation of its prerequisite, that is, a close overt–covert mapping. We propose a framework to rehabilitate reverse inference.