Asymmetric preferences for road safety: Evidence from a stated choice experiment among car drivers

Recent research has proposed fitting responses from discrete choice experiments to asymmetric value functions consistent with prospect theory, taking into account respondents’ reference points in their valuation of choice attributes. Previous studies have mainly concentrated on travel time and cost attributes, while evidence regarding road safety attributes is very limited.This paper investigates the implicit utility of a road safety attribute, defined as the number of casualties per year in alternative car trip choices, when safety improves or deteriorates. Using appropriate statistical tests we are able to reject symmetric preferences for losses and gains in the level of safety and estimate a sigmoid value function that exhibits loss aversion and diminishing sensitivity. This adds an interesting psychological dimension to the preference of road safety. Possible implications of this finding for policy making are discussed.     

Masculine body ideologies as a non-gynocentric framework for the psychological study of the male body

Psychological research of the body disproportionately centers on body-appearance concerns. Grounded in women's experience of objectification, it neglects much of men's bodily experience. To address this we introduce Masculine Body Ideologies (MBI), a set of belief systems that prescribe how men should engage with their bodies. Three MBI ideal-types are identified and situated within broader masculinity ideologies: unattended, functional body ideology associated with traditional masculinity rooted in modern industrial society; metrosexual body ideology associated with post-industrial, consumer masculinity and reemploying signifiers of body functionality to form an objectified body esthetics; and holistic body ideology emphasizing inner-harmony, authenticity and expressivity, manifesting post-industrial trends of self-aware masculinity. As a normative framework, MBI underscores how similar body practices may be motivated by different body concerns associated with alternative body ideologies. This framework can clarify conceptual and empirical inconsistencies in studies of male body-appearance concerns and inform emerging research and mental-health considerations.     

Consumer conviction and commitment: An appraisal‐based framework for attitude certainty

This paper explores consumers' commitment to and conviction about their beliefs in the form of attitude certainty. Based on a review of past research, we present a new framework for understanding attitude certainty and how consumers' attitude certainty is shaped by their resisting or yielding to persuasive messages, or even by their reflections on the evidence supporting their attitudes. We propose that attitude certainty is formed and changed largely through an attribution-based reasoning process linked to a finite set of distinct appraisals. Our framework is used to both organize past research and offer guidance for future research endeavors. In addition, we distinguish our framework of appraisal-based attitude certainty from past models in attitudes and persuasion research that have referenced or taken note of the attitude certainty construct. Implications and future directions for the study of consumer behavior are discussed.     

Peer acceptance among Chinese adolescents: The role of emotional empathy,cognitive empathy and gender

Previous studies have found mixed results on the relationship between empathy and peer acceptance. Emotional and cognitive components of empathy were hypothesised to play different roles in peer acceptance, and the relationship between empathy and peer acceptance differed across genders. In this study, 375 Chinese adolescents completed self‐report measures of emotional and cognitive empathy. They also provided peer nominations that allowed for the determination of social preference and social impact scores. The results showed that a boy's cognitive empathy positively correlated with the extent to which he was liked by his male classmates, whereas a girl's cognitive empathy positively correlated with her social impact among her female classmates. This study suggests that empathy does not affect peer acceptance among adolescents uniformly; instead, gender plays a determinative role in the dialectics between social acceptance and empathy.     

Stakeholders’ Perspectives on Community-Based Participatory Research to Enhance Mental Health Services

Historically, consumers of mental health services have not been given meaningful roles in research and change efforts related to the services they use. This is quickly changing as scholars and a growing number of funding bodies now call for greater consumer involvement in mental health services research and improvement. Amidst these calls, community‐based participatory research (CBPR) has emerged as an approach which holds unique promise for capitalizing on consumer involvement in mental health services research and change. Yet, there have been few discussions of the value added by this approach above and beyond that of traditional means of inquiry and enhancement in adult mental health services. The purpose of this paper is to add to this discussion an understanding of potential multilevel and multifaceted benefits associated with consumer‐involved CBPR. This is accomplished through presenting the first‐person accounts of four stakeholder groups who were part of a consumer‐involved CBPR project purposed to improve the services of a local community mental health center. We present these accounts with the hope that by illustrating the unique outcomes associated with CBPR, there will be invigorated interest in CBPR as a vehicle for consumer involvement in adult mental health services research and enhancement.     

Eficacia de tácticas de influencia en la intención de conducta proambiental

This paper analyzes the effectiveness of social influence tactics based on both psychological (commitment/consistency), and cultural principles (identitarian, conspicuous, statutory), for favoring the intention of pro-environmental behavior. An experimental study was conducted using a 2×5 factorial design, where the variables were the type of influence tactics manipulated by discourse in each experimental group and gender. The dependent variable measured the intention of pro-environmental behavior related to reducing waste, wasteful or unnecessary expense of water, gas and electricity at home. The effectiveness of the tactics for favoring the intention of pro-environmental behavior is verified, and significant differences are found between males and females in messages based on principles of coherence and conspicuous consumption.