Life events and brand preference changes

Three types of variable have been used to explain brand preference changes: consumer characteristics, marketing mix factors and situational influences. The study presented in this paper focuses on the relationship between life events experienced by individuals, resultant stress and lifestyle changes and changes in brand preferences. Based on theory and past research, a model is proposed and tested. The data support the notion that brand preference changes may be viewed as the outcome of adjustments to new life conditions and changes in consumption lifestyles that reflect consumer efforts to cope with stressful life changes. Implications for consumer research are also discussed. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Lesions of the rat nucleus basalis magnocellularis disrupt appetitive-to-aversive transfer learning

Rats with selective lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) and sham-lesion control animals were tested in an operant appetitive-to-aversive transfer task. We hypothesized that NBM lesions would not affect performance in the appetitive phase, but that performance would be impaired during subsequent transfer to the aversive phase of the task. Additional groups of NBM lesion and control rats were tested in the avoidance condition only, where we hypothesized that NBM lesions would not disrupt performance. These hypotheses were based, on the argument that the NBM is not necessary for simple association learning that does not tax attention. Both the appetitive phase of the transfer task and the avoidance only task depend only on simple associative learning and are argued not to tax attention. Consequently, performance in these tasks was predicted to be spared following NBM lesions. Complex, attention-demanding associative learning, however, is argued to depend on the NBM. Performance, in the aversive phase of the transfer task is both attentionally demanding and associatively more complex than in either the appetitive or aversive tasks alone; thus, avoidance performance in the NBM lesion group was predicted to be impaired following transfer from prior appetitive conditioning. Results supported our hypotheses, with the NBM lesion group acquiring the appetitive response normally, but showing impaired performance following transfer to the aversive conditioning phase of the transfer task. Impairments were not attributable to disrupted avoidance learning per se, as avoidance behavior was normal in the NBM lesion group tested in the avoidance condition only.     

Prior beliefs and methodological concepts in scientific reasoning

This investigation focuses on the relations between prior beliefs, methodological concepts, and college students' (N=211) scientific reasoning in different problem contexts. Participants were presented with exercises that described the method and results of experiments, and were asked to draw conclusions about the causal status of variables that violated their prior beliefs. Participants drew conclusions in both abstract (i.e. recommend a conclusion for the fictional experimenter), and personal settings (i.e. draw their own conclusions about the phenomenon). Participants' recommendations for the hypothetical experimenter were predicted by their understanding of two methodological concepts: the function of empirical evidence and experimental control. Students' personal conclusions were predicted by their prior beliefs and their appreciation of the objectivity of inquiry. Thus, even when students understand in the abstract how data should relate to scientific conclusions, prior beliefs often take precedence in their own conclusions, especially when they do not understand the issue of objectivity. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender Representation in the NCAA News: Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

The purpose of this study was to provide a reexamination of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) News and the extent to which the publication provides equitable coverage to women and women's teams. To do so, 5,745 paragraphs and 1,086 photographs from 24 issues (12 issues in 1999, 12 issues in 2001) were coded for (a) gender, (b) size, (c) location, and (d) content. Results were then compared to a standard (i.e., the proportion of female athletes competing in NCAA intercollegiate athletics). Results indicate that coverage in the NCAA News was more representative, with respect to the amount of text and number of photographs, than it was in 1988 and 1991.     

Two traditions,one space: orthodox Christians and Muslims in dialogue

The Eastern Orthodox Church has encountered Islam from the first decades of its appearance and they interacted in a variety of ways. Most frequently the meeting took the form of polemical clash and confrontation. However, in the many centuries of silent coexistence, it was often expressed in a concrete form of dialogue that sought to define the differences and the positions of the two religious forms and experiences. The present study focuses on the contemporary academic dialogues between Orthodox Christianity and Islam which began in the spring of 1985 at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA. These dialogues were initiated by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and further meetings were held under its auspices in Chambésy, Constantinople (Istanbul), Athens, and Amman. This article presents the issues discussed, pointing to the fact that peaceful coexistence and justice may only prevail on a basis of mutual knowledge and understanding of the other.     

Distance underestimation in virtual space is sensitive to gender but not activity-passivity or mode of interaction.

Four groups of undergraduates (half of each gender) experienced a movement along a corridor containing three distinctive objects, in a virtual environment (VE) with wide-screen projection. One group simulated walking along the virtual corridor using a proprietary step-exercise device. A second group moved along the corridor in conventional flying mode, depressing a keyboard key to initiate continuous forward motion. Two further groups observed the walking and flying participants, by viewing their progress on the screen. Participants then had to walk along a real equivalent but empty corridor, and indicate the positions of the three objects. All groups underestimated distances in the real corridor, the greatest underestimates occurring for the middle distance object. Males' underestimations were significantly lower than females' at all distances. However, there was no difference between the active participants and passive observers, nor between walking and flying conditions.     

Similarity relations among spoken words: The special status of rimes in English

This paper presents an analysis of the distribution of phonological similarity relations among monosyllabic spoken words in English. It differs from classical analyses of phonological neighborhood density (e.g., Luce &; Pisoni, 1998) by assuming that not all phonological neighbors are equal. Rather, it is assumed that the phonological lexicon has psycholinguistic structure. Accordingly, in addition to considering thenumber of phonological neighbors for any given word, it becomes important to consider thenature of these neighbors. If one type of neighbor is more dominant, neighborhood density effects may reflect levels of segmental representation other than the phoneme, particularly prior to literacy. Statistical analyses of the nature of phonological neighborhoods in terms ofrime neighbors (e.g.,hat/cat),consonant neighbors (e.g.,hat/hit), andlead neighbors (e.g.,hat/ham) were thus performed for all monosyllabic words in the Celex corpus (4,086 words). Our results show that most phonological neighbors are rime neighbors (e.g.,hat/cat) in English. Similar patterns were found when a corpus of words for which age-of-acquisition ratings were available was analyzed. The resultant database can be used as a tool for controlling and selecting stimuli when the role of lexical neighborhoods in phonological development and speech processing is examined.     

Heroin Use Among Southern Arrestees: Regional Findings From the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program

The identification of jurisdictional drug use patterns is critical to counselors who address substance abuse proactively. In the current study, heroin use data were analyzed from adult arrestees who were surveyed between 1990 and 1997 through the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring program.     

Telemetry Provides New Insights into Entrainment of Activity Wheel Circadian Rhythms and the Role of Body Temperature in the Development of Ulcers in the Activity-Stress Paradigm

Two methods of monitoring the circadian rhythm of activity in rodents: (1) an activity wheel cage, which detects the number of wheel revolutions, and (2) an internal radio transmitter, which records gross motor activity (GMA) of the animal, were compared in both normal circadian cycles and during the development of activity-stress ulcers. Rats were implanted with a biotelemetry transmitter that detected GMA and body temperature (BT) and placed in activity wheel cages. A 12 hour/12 hour light/dark cycle was maintained throughout the experiment. Subjects were subdivided into two groups: (1) unlimited access to activity wheel (AW) cages and (2) locked activity wheel (LW) cages. Following an ad-libitum habituation period, animals were allowed food access for 1 hour/day during the light. In the habituation period, the animals showed higher GMA and BT during the dark phase when housed in AW cages than in LW cages. Both GMA and number of wheel revolutions increased dramatically after the onset of food restriction for the AW animals. There was a deleterious drop in BT in AW animals as the food-restricted period continued and a significant correlation existed between severity of ulcerations and BT. The findings of this experiment demonstrate that the activity wheel imposes an alternation of the circadian cycle, which, in turn, influences rhythmicity through reentrainment. Additionally, in the activity-stress paradigm, a significant drop in BT correlates with severity of ulcerations. A disrupted circadian cycle, involving hypothermia, is proposed as the mechanism underlying the demise of animals in the activity-stress paradigm.     

Emotional arousal and gender differences in aggression: A meta‐analysis

This meta‐analysis investigated the possibility that gender differences in aggression, and the variability in these differences, are a function of gender differences in the regulation of arousal generated in emotionally evocative contexts. The sample of studies for this analysis was based on an exhaustive search of the relevant research reports from 1965–1999. Studies were excluded from the sample if they were case studies; investigated spousal/familial or societal violence, war, suicide, or political violence; involved clinical or deviant participants; included fewer than 10 participants; included all male, all female, all non‐Caucasian, or non‐US/non‐Canadian participants. Based on previous evidence that males may be more easily aroused by aggressive‐relevant emotional stimuli than females, and that males may have more difficulty regulating emotionally arousing states than females, we hypothesized that the magnitude of the gender differences in aggression would covary, in a nonlinear manner, with the emotional evocativeness of the study context. Consistent with our hypothesis, the magnitude of gender differences in aggression was relatively small in research contexts that appeared to produce no or large increments in emotional arousal and larger (favoring males) in contexts that appeared to produce small or medium increments in emotional arousal. Aggr. Behav. 28:366–393, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.