Do commodities reproduce themselves through human beings? Toward an ecology of goods

The argument of this paper—'an ecology of goods'—could be summarized as follows: Goods exist only in relation to each other. Goods form groups, and in time higher organizational levels, groups of groups, i.e. networks of artifacts emerge. Mass consumption society is the most developed manifestation of this organizing process. The process of association and dissociation of goods is only partly controllable through human decisions. Human beings making decisions about buying, using and disposing of goods are constrained by the “logic” of the general organizing process. This process emerges out of different kinds interactions between commodities and feedback cycles with unintended consequences. In routinization and institutionalization processes commodity interactions become stabilized, i.e. the fidelity of replicative cycles increases. From this perspective, a system of commodities could be seen as an entity, which reproduces itself in a continuous resource exchange with its co‐actors and environment. In a system there is both a tendency toward functional differentiation and integration with other systems. Accordingly, systems of goods are cyclic processes within processes rather than given stable entities. This approach places many theoretical and practical problems of consumer society in a new perspective.     

“利润绩效”至上折射医德滑坡的启示

利益驱动是“利润绩效”至上折射从医人员对医德底线失去敬畏的根本因素;漠视患者的利益高于一切的服务根基是从医人员对医德底线失去敬畏的基本因素;“利润绩效”转嫁给患者是从医人员对医德底线失去敬畏的强化因素.“利润绩效”至上的利益机制昭示医学伦理缺陷,折射医德滑坡.     

The imbibing idiot bias: Consuming alcohol can be hazardous to your (perceived) intelligence

Alcohol consumption and cognitive impairment frequently co-occur. We propose that the relationship is so familiar that exposure to alcohol cues primes expectations of cognitive impairment. Across five studies, we find that in the absence of any evidence of reduced cognitive performance, people who hold an alcoholic beverage are perceived to be less intelligent than those who do not, a mistake we term the imbibing idiot bias. In fact, merely priming observers with alcohol cues causes them to judge targets who hold no beverage at all as less intelligent. The bias is not driven by a belief that less intelligent people are more likely to consume alcohol. We find that the bias may be costly in professional settings. Job candidates who ordered wine during an interview held over dinner were viewed as less intelligent and less hireable than candidates who ordered soda. However, prospective candidates believe that ordering wine rather than soda will help them appear more intelligent.     

Effects of mindful eating training on delay and probability discounting for food and money in obese and healthy-weight individuals

Obese individuals tend to behave more impulsively than healthy weight individuals across a variety of measures, but it is unclear whether this pattern can be altered. The present study examined the effects of a mindful eating behavioral strategy on impulsive and risky choice patterns for hypothetical food and money. In Experiment 1, 304 participants completed computerized delay and probability discounting tasks for food-related and monetary outcomes. High percent body fat (PBF) predicted more impulsive choice for food, but not small-value money, replicating previous work. In Experiment 2, 102 randomly selected participants from Experiment 1 were assigned to participate in a 50-min workshop on mindful eating or to watch an educational video. They then completed the discounting tasks again. Participants who completed the mindful eating session showed more self-controlled and less risk-averse discounting patterns for food compared to baseline; those in the control condition discounted similarly to baseline rates. There were no changes in discounting for money for either group, suggesting stimulus specificity for food for the mindful eating condition.     

Making markets with the dead: Residential burial among the Yoruba

The study examines how traditional meanings attributed to housing and the rituals relating to death and burials on private properties are being challenged due to modernisation, familial politics, and contending sets of interests (i.e., valuing property for its economic capital vs. social/cultural capital). The methodology approach is based on in‐depth interviews with 12 respondents from a diverse range of socio‐economic backgrounds. Findings reveal how negotiations and renegotiations of interests affect the physical state and marketability of houses in the Yoruba communities. The findings also sign‐post a fascinating entry point for exploring the way Yoruba are negotiating and navigating the relationship between modernity and tradition. An important implication for marketing and consumption praxes concerns the dynamism in the narratives of ritual behaviour, especially in the non‐Western tradition. The paper contributes to the navigation of relationships between the living and the dead within a Nigerian subculture from a marketing perspective.     

伦理消费者为何“言行不一”:解释水平的视角

伦理消费(Ethical consumption,EC)是指消费者在获取、使用或处置产品时考虑到个人消费行为对社会、环境或动物福祉的影响。虽然伦理消费日渐流行,但在金钱支付时伦理消费的态度却往往难以转化为实际的行为,即言行不一。本文从解释水平理论视角出发,以"心理距离→解释水平→个体反应"为分析框架展开。从时间维度上来说,在态度评价阶段和产品选择阶段两个时间点上,消费者与伦理产品的心理距离远近不同,分别激活了高低解释水平表征;高低解释水平下个体在动机和认知上又存在诸多差异,这种差异导致两个阶段的反应不同,继而出现伦理消费者态度与行为的分离。未来研究应重点关注如何根据解释水平理论有效提高伦理消费行为。     

Relationship between food habituation and reinforcing efficacy of food

Reinforcing value and habituation are two processes that have been used to study eating behaviors, but no research has examined their relationship, how they relate to energy intake, and whether they respond in a similar manner to food deprivation. Twenty-two female subjects were randomized to food deprived or non-deprived conditions, and assessed for food reinforcement, habituation to food and ad libitum eating. Results showed food reinforcement and habituation are correlated (r = 0.62, p = 0.002) and both independently predict energy intake. Hierarchical regression showed that the rate of habituation accounted for 30 percent of the variance in eating (p = 0.008), and adding food reinforcement increased the amount of variance accounted for up to 57.5 percent (p < 0.05). This suggests that both processes may influence energy intake in a meal.     

Controlling anger in self-reported sober and alcohol intoxicated states: moderating effects of trait anger and alcohol consumption

Controlling anger in self-reported sober and alcohol intoxicated states: Moderating effects of trait anger and alcohol consumption. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 382-388. Retrospective self-reports about prior sober and alcohol intoxicated states were explored to reveal moderating effects of trait anger and alcohol consumption on anger control. The analyses were based on self-reports of trait anger and alcohol consumption as well as self-reports of the participants' typical levels of anger control in sober and alcohol intoxicated states in a population based sample of Finnish twins and their siblings (N = 4,852). The reported levels of anger control were lower regarding prior alcohol intoxicated states than sober states. A three-way interaction between alcohol consumption, trait anger and anger control was found. Whereas no interaction between alcohol consumption and trait anger was found in the self-reported sober state, there was an interactive effect of trait anger and alcohol consumption on anger control in the intoxicated state, indicating that the difference in anger control between those with high levels of alcohol consumption and those with low levels, was greater at higher levels of trait anger. Women had lower levels of anger control than men, but the relationship between trait anger, alcohol consumption and anger control was similar for both genders. In conclusion, the results showed that those with high levels of trait anger and alcohol consumption showed the lowest levels of anger control in self-reported alcohol intoxicated states, and indicate the importance of separating between anger control when sober and intoxicated since anger control seems to be differently related to at least trait anger and alcohol consumption in these states.