The role of instruction preference in analogy learning: Brain activity and motor performance

This study examined the role of verbal instruction preference when learning motor skills by analogy. During skill learning, analogies are a useful tool for providing knowledge about how to move. It has been argued that analogy instructions reduce reliance on verbal information processes during motor planning, compared to traditional forms of instruction (i.e., explicit rules about how to move). This may be reflected by reduced verbal activity in the brain, measured by EEG alpha power at the temporal region, as well as reduced verbal-motor cross-communication (EEG T7-Fz coherence) during the preparation phase of a movement. Preference for using verbal or visual instructions is likely to influence the efficacy of analogy instructions. This study investigated whether preference for verbal instructions was related to a) changes in performance and b) changes in verbal-cognitive information processing during performance of an adapted basketball task after instruction by analogy. Basketball novices with a high preference for verbal instructions (n = 15) showed significantly decreased activation of verbal brain regions when they used the analogy (high-alpha power), but their performance remained stable. Novices with a low preference for verbal instructions (n = 13) did not show a significant decrease in activation of verbal regions, and their performance deteriorated significantly after introduction of the analogy instruction. It is likely that both cognitive and performance changes after analogy instruction depend on personal aspects of information processing, such as verbal preference.     

权力感对道德困境判断的影响：基于CNI模型的分析

采用道德困境判断的CNI（consequence, norm, inaction）模型,通过两个实验考察权力感对道德困境判断的影响。实验1探讨个人权力感对道德困境判断的影响,结果显示高个人权力感显著增加被试对规则的敏感,促使个体做出道义论的道德判断。实验2考察回忆任务启动的权力感对道德困境判断的影响,发现相对于低权力感启动的被试,高权力感启动的被试在进行判断时更关注行为的结果,对规则更不敏感,这说明启动的权力感促进功利主义的道德判断,抑制道义论的道德判断。结果表明,不同类型的权力感对道德困境判断的影响存在差异。     

当代中国的社会转型

本文以我国社会生活发生的广泛而深刻的变化为背景,深入揭示了这种变化深层的社会转型。这种转型就是：由权力社会走向能力社会;由人治社会走向法治社会;由人情社会走向理性社会;由依附社会走向自立社会;由身份社会走向实力社会;由注重先天给定社会走向注重后天努力社会;由一元化社会走向多样化社会;由人的依赖社会走向物的依赖社会;由静态社会走向流动社会;由“国家”社会走向“市民”社会。     

The Role of Referent and Expert Power in Mutual Help

This study explored the roles of referent power (i.e., influence based on sense of identification) and expert power (i.e., influence based on knowledge and expertise) in Schizophrenics Anonymous (SA), a mutual-help group for persons experiencing a schizophrenia-related illness. The study describes SA participants' experience of referent and expert power with SA members, SA leaders, and with mental health professionals. It also examines whether or not referent and expert power ascribed to fellow SA participants predicts the perceived helpfulness of the group. One hundred fifty-six SA participants were surveyed. Participants reported experiencing higher levels of referent power with fellow SA members and leaders than with mental health professionals. They reported higher levels of expert power for mental health professionals and SA leaders than for SA members. The respondents' ratings of their SA group's helpfulness was significantly correlated with ratings of referent and expert power. Although expert power was the best independent predictor of helpfulness, a significant interaction between referent and expert power indicated that when members reported high referent power, expert power was not related to helpfulness. These results are interpreted to suggest that there are multiple forms of social influence at work in mutual help.     

Care of the Self and Patient Participation in Genetic Discourse: A Foucauldian Reading of the Surgeon General's “My Family Health Portrait” Program

Critics of genetic discourse are concerned that deterministic and discriminatory views of genetics are increasingly becoming adopted. These views argue that current genetic discourse becomes a source of power whereby powerful institutions harm people with so-called “bad” genes. This essay argues that current analyses of the power of genetics discourse are grounded in an improper reading that disempowers patients. Deploying Michel Foucault's concept “care of the self,” this essay claims that genetics discourse is better understood as a way that patients take on power through rhetoric rather than a force that has power over patients. Through a close reading of the “My Family Health Portrait” program, this paper argues that patients experience a process of “subjection” wherein they become agents of and objects of genetics discourse both. This alternative mode of analyzing the power of genetics discourse has implications for our collective understanding of the operations of the care of the self and the uses of genetic information that we propose.     

Direct parameter estimation for generalised balanced power diagrams

The statistical characterisation and synthetic reproduction of a polycrystalline material's microstructure is assisted by mathematically representing its morphology by a tessellation model. The generalised balanced power diagram (GBPD) is a tessellation model that was shown in previous studies to accurately reproduce the microstructure morphology of various materials by closely matching micrographs obtained through electron microscopy. These studies employed costly optimisation procedures to determine the best-fit model parameters, limiting the scalability of the model. In this work, it is shown that setting the tessellation cell parameters to values such that the shape moments of the corresponding grains are matched results in a quality of fit that is commensurate with optimisation procedures. This fitting approach decouples the interaction among grains when fitting the tessellation parameters and, most notably, provides analytical, closed-form expressions for all the model parameters. The performance of this parameter fitting approach is demonstrated on multiple micrographs of various materials, and it compares similarly to the performance of optimisation procedures reported in recently published literature. As the fitted parameter values are obtained through trivial computations, this approach enables extensive scalability of the GBPD model such that it can be used to represent extremely large characterisation data sets.     

How category advertising norms and consumer counter‐conformity influence comparative advertising effectiveness

Surprisingly little research examines whether and how category advertising norms influence the effectiveness of comparative advertising. To address this void, the present research investigates if the persuasiveness of a particular comparative advertisement depends on whether or not it is viewed as a typical tactic that conforms to category advertising norms. Results from experiments 1 and 2 indicate that a comparative advertisement used in violation of category norms results in a persuasion penalty that is evidenced by a reduction in the ad's impact on brand attitudes. This effect of category norms on persuasion is shown to be mediated by evaluations of the comparative advertisement's appropriateness in the product category. A final experiment confirms this persuasion penalty with respect to consumers holding conformity-based motives. However, this penalty is found to be reversed for individuals seeking counter-conformity in the marketplace, who respond more favorably to a comparative advertisement when it violates rather than conforms to category norms.     

Why brands should fear fearful consumers: How attachment style predicts retaliation

In two surveys of adult consumers, we find that attachment styles predict consumers' reactions after brand relationships end. Specifically, ‘fearful’ consumers—those high in both attachment anxiety and avoidance—are most likely to complain to third parties, to obsess about harming the brand, and to report seeking payback against brands. Two factors mediate the effect of attachment on reactions: threats to consumers' self-image and the loss of benefits from their relationship. This is consistent with the explanation we propose: specifically, fearful individuals invest in and depend more on consumption relationships and, therefore, lose more when such relationships end.     

When less is more: Consumer aversion to unused utility

A series of experiments demonstrates that consumers exhibit aversion to waste during forward-looking purchase. These experiments further reveal that such behavior is driven by distaste for unused utility, a reaction that is shown to be distinct from an aversion to squandering money. Waste aversion is especially pronounced when consumers anticipate future consequences and deprivation is salient. In addition to demonstrating robustness across consumers and marketing contexts, the results also demonstrate how waste aversion can lead to self-defeating behavior in which consumers forego desired utility. Finally, the present research demonstrates and discusses the implications of waste aversion for a variety of marketing issues, including buy-rent markets, bundling, and the fundamental distinction between goods and services.     

Building trust to increase purchase intentions: The signaling impact of low pricing policies

We examine the differential signaling impact of two low pricing policies, Price Matching Guarantees and Everyday Low Prices, on consumers' trusting beliefs and purchase intentions. We demonstrate that both PMG and EDLP pricing policies signal stores' ability to offer lower prices. However, whether these sellers were perceived as benevolent, and—consequently—consumers' purchase intentions, varied critically depending upon price uncertainty. Perceived benevolence and purchase intentions were significantly higher [lower] for sellers offering PMG than EDLP when price dispersion was high [low]. Our findings offer insights into whether and under what conditions firms should adopt these low pricing policies.