Marital Adjustment and Subjective Well-Being in Indian-Educated Housewives and Working Women

We compared marital adjustment and subjective well-being in Indian-educated housewives (N = 200) and working women (N = 200) who were administered a Marital Adjustment Questionnaire (Kumar & Rastogi, 1976) and 10 measures of subjective well-being (Warr, 1984). Results indicated significantly better marital adjustment and subjective well-being for the working women than for the housewives. Specifically, working women reported higher scores on general health, life satisfaction, and self-esteem measures and lower scores on hopelessness, insecurity, and anxiety, compared with the housewives, although the housewives had lower scores on negative affect than the working women. Findings were insignificant on positive affect and depression.     

The influence of implicit theories and message frame on the persuasiveness of disease prevention and detection advocacies

This research investigates the effectiveness of health message framing (gain/loss) depending on the nature of advocacy (prevention/detection) and respondents’ implicit theories (entity/incremental). Three experiments demonstrate that for detection advocacies, incremental theorists are more persuaded by loss frames. For prevention advocacies, incremental theorists are more persuaded by gain frames. For both advocacies (detection and prevention), entity theorists are not differentially influenced by frame. However, entity theorists are message advocacy sensitive such that they are more persuaded by prevention than detection advocacies, regardless of the message frame. These results are robust for measured as well as manipulated implicit theories and for different health contexts.     

Synthesis and evolution of crystalline garnet phases in Y3Sc5– x Ga x O12

Mixed-metal oxides with the composition Y₃Sc _x Ga_{5? x} O₁₂ (x?=?2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.25, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, and 3.0) have been prepared by an aqueous sol–gel method. The effects of scandium substitution on the garnet phase formation were studied by IR spectroscopy and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The XRD data indicate that single-phase Y₃Sc _x Ga_{5? x} O₁₂ ceramic samples were obtained for x?=?2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.25, 2.3, and 2.4. The results also show that the formation of Y₃Sc _x Ga_{5? x} O₁₂ garnets depends on the molar ratio of scandium and gallium in the investigated composition, and consequently on the mean cationic radius at the Al³⁺ sites. The variation of lattice parameters for the Y₃Sc _x Ga_{5? x} O₁₂ phases with different x is reported.     

Consumers' implicit theories about personality influence their brand personality judgments

Three studies document that consumers' implicit theories about the fixedness/malleability of personality guide brand personality updating in a brand extension context. The first two studies show that extension fit with the parent brand impacts brand personality updating only for incremental (vs. entity theorists). Specifically, for incremental theorists, brand personality is enhanced (vs. diluted) when extension fit is poor (vs. good), and only when brand personality is salient. The third study identifies conditions under which entity theorists focus on brand personality. Interestingly, overall evaluations of the parent brand and extension vary only with extension fit. Implications of our research are discussed.     

Age-related differences in the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in attentional control

We investigated the relative involvement of cortical regions supporting attentional control in older and younger adults during performance on a modified version of the Stroop task. Participants were exposed to two different types of incongruent trials. One of these, an incongruent-ineligible condition, produces conflict at the non-response level, while the second, an incongruent-eligible condition, produces conflict at both non-response and response levels of information processing. Greater attentional control is needed to perform the incongruent-eligible condition compared to other conditions. We examined the cortical recruitment associated with this task in an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm in 25 older and 25 younger adults. Our results indicated that while younger adults demonstrated an increase in the activation of cortical regions responsible for maintaining attentional control in response to increased levels of conflict, such sensitivity and flexibility of the cortical regions to increased attentional control demands was absent in older adults. These results suggest a limitation in older adults’ capabilities for flexibly recruiting the attentional network in response to increasing attentional demands.     

Consumer stress‐handling strategies: theory and research findings

• Although stress research has received increased attention in the behavioral and social sciences, it has been virtually ignored by marketing and consumer researchers. This paper attempts to advance the concept of stress as a viable construct in consumer studies. A conceptual model is developed based on theory and research, and cross‐sectional and longitudinal data are used to test specific hypotheses, producing results consistent with the general stress model.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of attention control on sustained attention during induced anxiety

Anxiety has wide-reaching and complex effects on cognitive performance. Although it can intrude on cognition and interfere with performance, it can also facilitate information processing and behavioural responses. In a previous study, we showed that anxiety induced by threat of shock facilitates performance on the Sustained Attention to Response Task, a vigilance test, which probes response inhibition to infrequent nogo stimuli. The present study sought to identify factors that may have contributed to such improved performance, including on- and off-task thinking (assessed with thought probes) and individual differences in attention control, as measured with the Attention Control Scale. Replicating our prior finding, we showed that shock threat significantly reduced errors of commission on the nogo trials. However, we extended this finding in demonstrating that this effect was driven by subjects with low attention control. We therefore confirm that anxiety increases inhibitory control of prepotent responses—a mechanism which is adaptive under threat—and show that this effect is greater in those who rely more upon such prepotent responding, i.e., those with low attentional control.     

Assessment of tensile interphase profile of PVC/TiO2 polymer nanocomposites

The tensile properties of polymer nanocomposites depend dominantly on their interphase profile. The interfacial layer adhesion B-parameter, the relative interphase tensile strength (σ_IR) and the Z-interphase parameter for the central layer are quantified for assessment of tensile interphase properties of PVC/TiO₂ polymer nanocomposites. The redeveloped Pukanszky model is employed to determine the layer adhesion B-parameter of interphases. The study shows that the tensile strength of the interphase σ_I, as well as σ_IR and the B- and Z-parameters of the central layer of the interphase, are significantly correlated with the tensile strength of the nanocomposites.