Consumer Response to a Prosocial Marketing Initiative: The Case of Discount Stores and Gun Sales

This research examined factors that influence how consumers respond to prosocial marketing initiatives. Specifically, consumers' attitudes toward the societal role of corporations were examined within the context of a prosocial (an activity perceived by the consumer to benefit society) marketing action being undertaken by a corporation. The results indicate that whether a consumer believed a firm should be managed primarily for the benefit of the common good (e.g., the greater community, consumers, employees) or managed primarily for the benefit of investors significantly influenced the likelihood of store patronage. Perceived ethicality of the retailer's action also mediated the relationship between consumers' attitudes toward the societal role of corporations and the likelihood of store patronage. The marketing and societal implications of these results are discussed.     

Relationship of social support and social burden to repeated breast cancer screening in the women's health initiative.

Direct and interactive effects of social support, social burden (caregiving, negative life events, and social strain), education, and income on repeated use of breast cancer screening among a large (N=55,278), national sample of postmenopausal women participating in the Women's Health Initiative observational study were examined. Repeated screening decreased as emotional/informational support and positive social interactions decreased (ps<.01). Repeated mammography decreased with frequent caregiving (p<.01). Less social strain reduced the frequency of repeated breast self-examinations (BSEs; ps<.01), but frequent caregiving and more negative life events increased repeated use of BSE (ps<.01). Interactive effects suggested that emotional/informational but not tangible support is associated with repeated mammography and clinical breast examinations (ps<.01) and may be particularly important among low-income older women, especially those burdened by caregiving.     

Interaction of Recruiter and Applicant Gender in Resume Evaluation: A Field Study

In the present study, we examined the effect of recruiter and applicant gender on recruiters' evaluations of applicants' qualifications as reported on actual applicant resumes. Forty recruiters evaluated applicant resumes that were randomly allocated to them. In total, 388 recruiter evaluations of applicant resumes comprised the sample. Results indicate that recruiter and applicant gender interacted to predict recruiters' perceptions of applicants' qualifications. Male recruiters' perceptions of applicants' work experiences did not differ depending on applicant gender. However, female recruiters perceived male applicants' resumes to report more work experiences than resumes of female applicants. Furthermore, male recruiters perceived female applicants as having more extracurricular interests than male applicants. Female recruiters rated both male and female applicants as having about the same amount of extracurricular activity information on their resumes. Gender role theory provides a possible explanation for the study's findings.     

Perception in the absence of attention: perceptual processing in the Roelofs effect during inattentional blindness

We present two experiments that examine sensory processing during conditions of inattentional blindness. A large rectangular frame that normally induces a Roelofs effect can go unreported due to inattentional blindness. Even when participants fail to report the frame, they mislocalize an attended target in a way consistent with having processed the frame. A more demanding visuospatial distractor task can increase inattentional blindness during conditions of divided attention, but has no effect on the spatial mislocalization illusion. Our results support theories that postulate a significant amount of perceptual processing in the absence of attention.     

Genetic architecture of context processing in late middle age: more than one underlying mechanism

Studies comparing young and older adults suggest a deficit in processing context information as a key mechanism underlying cognitive aging. However, the genetic architecture of context processing has not been examined. Consistent with previous results, we found evidence of functionally dissociable components of context processing accuracy in 1127 late middle-aged twins ages 51-60. One component emphasizes use of context cues to prepare responses (proactive cognitive control), and the other emphasizes adjustment of responses after probes are presented (reactive control). Approximately one-quarter of the variance in each component was accounted for by genes. Multivariate twin analysis indicated that genetic factors underlying two important components of context processing were independent of one another, thus implicating more than one underlying mechanism. Slower reaction time (RT) on noncontext processing trials was positively correlated with errors on the strongly proactive control component on which young adults outperform older adults, but RT was negatively correlated with errors on the strongly reactive control component on which older adults perform better. Although this RT measure was uncorrelated with chronological age in our age-homogeneous sample, slower RT was associated with performance patterns that were more like older adults. However, this did not generalize to other processing speed measures. Genetic correlations, which reflect shared genetic variance, paralleled the phenotypic correlations. There was also a positive genetic correlation between general cognitive ability and accuracy on the proactive control component, but there were still mostly distinct genetic influences underlying these measures. In contrast, the reactive control component was unrelated to general cognitive ability.     

Associations between evaluation anxiety,cognitive interference and performance on working memory tasks

According to Cognitive Interference Theory, evaluation anxiety leads to increased negative off‐task self‐dialogue which then results in diminished cognitive performance. Given that negative off‐task self‐dialogue is primarily verbal, the phonological loop and central executive components of the working memory system should be most affected by evaluation anxiety. Eighty‐eight participants were randomly assigned to receive evaluation anxiety inducing instructions or supportive instructions prior to administration of three tests (Digit Span, Visual Memory Span, and StroopColour‐Word) that measured the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and central executive components of working memory. Measures of evaluation anxiety and negative off‐task self‐dialogue were obtained during and after testing. Results showed that participants receiving anxiety inducing instructions reported significantly more evaluation anxiety and off‐task self‐dialogue. They also had significantly lower performance on the Digit Span Test and the StroopColour‐Word Test. Negative off‐task self‐dialogue also mediated the relationship between evaluation anxiety and performance on the Digit Span Test. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Building Collaborative Mental Health Teams in Schools Through MFT School Certification: Initial Findings

Building collaborative multidisciplinary mental health teams to boost student achievement has been a growing initiative in American schools since the 1970s. Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs)joined those teams in 2008, when Connecticut became the first state to certify MFTs for schoolbased practice. This article chronicles the history of that collaboration and reports initial research into MFT school-based participation on those teams.     

So what do you think of the organization? A contextual priming explanation for recruitment Web site characteristics as antecedents of job seekers’ organizational image perceptions

Although job seekers’ organizational image perceptions can influence attraction to recruiting organizations, little is known about how these perceptions are formed or modified. To address this research gap, the authors drew from research in social cognition theory and demonstrated that recruitment Web site characteristics influenced the development and modification of organizational image perceptions via a priming mechanism. Results of two studies showed that having technologically advanced Web site features and depicting racially diverse organizational members served as contextual primers and influenced participants’ organizational image perceptions. Results also revealed that participants’ familiarity with recruiting organizations moderated the effects of these Web site characteristics on several dimensions of organizational image such that effects were weaker for more familiar organizations. These findings suggest that organizations can manage job seekers’ organizational image perceptions through strategic recruitment Web site design; however, such attempts may be tempered by job seekers’ familiarity with the organization.     

The legal self: executive processes and legal theory

When laws or legal principles mention mental states such as intentions to form a contract, knowledge of risk, or purposely causing a death, what parts of the brain are they speaking about? We argue here that these principles are tacitly directed at our prefrontal executive processes. Our current best theories of consciousness portray it as a workspace in which executive processes operate, but what is important to the law is what is done with the workspace content rather than the content itself. This makes executive processes more important to the law than consciousness, since they are responsible for channelling conscious decision-making into intentions and actions, or inhibiting action. We provide a summary of the current state of our knowledge about executive processes, which consists primarily of information about which portions of the prefrontal lobes perform which executive processes. Then we describe several examples in which legal principles can be understood as tacitly singling out executive processes, including principles regarding defendants' intentions or plans to commit crimes and their awareness that certain facts are the case (for instance, that a gun is loaded), as well as excusatory principles which result in lesser responsibility for those who are juveniles, mentally ill, sleepwalking, hypnotized, or who suffer from psychopathy.