Cognitive and Emotional Processes in Individuals and Commercial Web sites

This research reports how banner ads are responded to in Web sites that emphasize either emotion or cognition. It also looks at the moderating effects of individuals’ own levels of need for cognition and need for emotion on banner responsiveness in the two kinds of Web sites. Recall and attitude toward banners are consistently better when their context is an emotion-based Web site. Need for cognition, but not need for emotion moderates this effect. For ad recall, it is better to be lower in need for cognition in a cognitive Web site, but higher in need for cognition on an emotional Web site. For attitude toward the banner and purchase intention, however, it is better to be higher in need for cognition in a cognitive Web site, but lower in need for cognition on an emotional Web site. The results are discussed in terms of advertising context theory that has been developed in applications to the traditional media like print and broadcast, but here is shown to be applicable to the Web.     

The effect of company recruitment web site orientation on individuals’ perceptions of organizational attractiveness

The use of company web pages to attract prospective job applicants has experienced tremendous growth in recent years. To date, very little is known about the process by which recruitment web sites influence individuals’ desire to pursue employment with an organization. This study attempts to address this issue by using an experimental design to investigate the relationships among recruitment web site orientation, individuals’ expectations concerning the use of Internet technology, web site usability, and organizational attractiveness. Survey results from 252 business students indicated that web site orientation and outcome expectancy influenced organizational attractiveness perceptions through influencing the perceived usability of the website. The implications of such results for firms interested in using recruitment web sites to attract applicants are discussed.     

The Live Outdoor Webcams and the Construction of Virtual Geography

The live outdoor webcam seems inseparable from the mid-1990s’ popular proliferation of the Internet. Combining a well-known medium, i.e. the photograph, with a new one, i.e. the Internet, the live outdoor webcam seems in the rear-view mirror to have contributed significantly to the popular perception of the Internet as a globally distended and thus “geographical” medium. Moreover, due to its role in the NASA Triana mission, the never-realised flagship of the Clinton–Gore administration’s Digital Earth project, the live webcam seemed to play an important part in the construction of what leading geographers coined a “virtual geography”—the geography of the Internet, and the networked geography—that sought to establish itself as a new field of study during the late 1990s. In order to substantiate for this interpretation, I would like in the first part of this article to identify a number of basic characteristics of the outdoor webcam and, in the second, to analyse and discuss two papers written by leading scholars in the field; papers which have been important in the assessment of the impact of the Internet and geographical information systems (GIS) before the scientific community as well as policy makers within technological innovation and the public sector.

A randomized controlled trial of an internet-based treatment for chronic headache

Chronic headache is a significant public health problem in Western nations. Although controlled trials demonstrate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of face-to-face behavioral therapy, most headache sufferers have limited access to these treatments. Delivery of behavioral interventions using Internet technology has the potential to reach a larger number of headache sufferers and reduce the burden of disease. This randomized controlled study evaluated an Internet-delivered behavioral regimen composed of progressive relaxation, limited biofeedback with autogenic training, and stress management versus a symptom monitoring waitlist control. Treatment led to a significantly greater decrease in headache activity than symptom monitoring alone. Thirty-nine percent of treated individuals showed clinically significant improvement on self-report measures of headache symptoms at post-treatment. At two-month follow-up, 47% of participants maintained improvement. Treatment had a significant impact on general headache symptoms and headache-related disability. There was a 35% within-group reduction of medication usage among the treated subjects. The Internet program was more time-efficient than traditional clinical treatment. Treatment and follow-up dropout rates, 38.1% and 64.8%, respectively, were typical of behavioral self-help studies. This approach to self-management of headache is promising; however, several methodological and ethical challenges need to be addressed.     

Web2.0环境中顾客参与的实现型快乐感形成机制

随着以用户间交互为特征的Web 2.0理念的深入发展,顾客期望借助互联网参与到价值的生产与创造过程中,以期通过自我潜能发挥和自我价值展示寻求获得一种有别于享乐型快乐感的实现型快乐感.以往顾客参与研究大多关注其经济利益、如何管理、影响因素、获得的实际利益,而对于顾客参与过程中的心理机制和参与后的心理收获研究不多.本研究以互联网为背景,从顾客视角出发,科学采用实验、实证等多种方法,并尝试采用生理仪器(如多导仪、脑电核磁共振仪等)采集顾客行为和生理的客观数据,利用自我决定理论对顾客参与过程的心理反应和参与后的心理收获进行系统探讨,构建顾客参与过程的心理动态模型.     

Searching for salvation: An analysis of US religious searching on the World Wide Web

Ministerial itinerancy is characteristic of, although not exclusive to, the British Methodist Church. Rational choice theorists Finke and Starke have claimed that, historically, itinerancy has served to promote and reinforce instrumental commitment to the local church. This article develops and assesses a rational choice analysis of the effects of ministerial itinerancy on the organisational commitment of Methodist congregations and their ministers. It concludes that rational choice theory can only offer a partial analysis and fails to take into account less instrumental forms of organisational commitment. The article surveys the current debate within the Methodist Church about the future of ministerial itinerancy and suggests that the Church may be in the process of recognising that ‘moving ministers’ is not necessarily good at ‘moving congregations’ to embrace the national Church's priorities. The article predicts that itinerancy will remain an important feature, but not a defining characteristic, of the Methodist ministry and will no longer tend to ‘go with the job’.     

Taoism Information Web Sites in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to introduce and examine the two Taoist Web sites in Hong Kong, and concludes with an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of these Web sites, as compared with other Web sites on Taoism.     

错失恐惧对大学生社交网络成瘾的影响:社交网络整合性使用与社交网络支持的中介作用

错失恐惧是社交网络成瘾的风险因素，但其中的作用机制并不清楚。本研究采用错失恐惧问卷、社交网络整合性使用量表、社交网络支持量表和中文社交网络成瘾量表，调查了重庆市三所高校的493名大一至大三的学生，探讨错失恐惧影响社交网络成瘾的机制。结果发现：（1）错失恐惧显著预测社交网络成瘾，错失恐惧水平越高，个体社交网络成瘾水平越高。（2）社交网络整合性使用在错失恐惧和社交网络成瘾之间起独立中介作用。（3）社交网络支持在错失恐惧和社交网络成瘾之间起独立中介作用。（4）社交网络整合性使用和社交网络支持在错失恐惧和社交网络成瘾之间起链式中介作用。研究结果表明，满足大学生基本心理需要、降低社交网络使用程度、提升现实社会支持可以有效预防社交网络成瘾。     

Measuring associations between social anxiety and use of different types of social media using the Swedish Social Anxiety Scale for Social Media Users: A psychometric evaluation and cross-sectional study

Research on the association between social anxiety and social media usage remains inconclusive: despite the preference for computer-mediated communication there is currently no clear empirical support for social anxiety being associated with longer duration of social media use. Self-report measures for social anxiety that are adapted for the context of social media could facilitate further research. The current study aimed to develop a Swedish version of the recently developed Social Anxiety Scale for Social Media Users (SAS-SMU), evaluate its psychometric properties, and explore associations between different uses of social media and social anxiety. Three factors were retained for SAS-SMU with excellent internal consistency. SAS-SMU evidenced convergent validity with measures of social anxiety, negative convergent validity with satisfaction with life, and divergent validity with measures of obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and generalized anxiety disorder. Results indicated that higher levels of social anxiety were associated with passive and active use as well as longer duration of social media use in general, which is at odds with a previous study where passive use remained the only significant predictor for social anxiety.