An Information Processing Theory of Ambivalence

This paper analyzes the sources of ambivalence toward political parties and candidates. We propose and test an information-processing theory of ambivalence in which systematic processing is hypothesized to heighten partisan and candidate ambivalence. We show that ambivalence is linked to several dispositional sources of systematic processing, including individuals' information, motivation, and cognitive style. Specifically, we find that ambivalence tends to be greater among the well informed and those who are high in need for cognition while it tends to be lower among those motivated by directional goals. Collectively, our results suggest that levels of partisan and candidate ambivalence are greatest among those most likely to engage in effortful processing of information and that these effects are independent of value conflict. The results further suggest that the effects of effortful processing on ambivalence are moderated by attitude commitment.     

应用层次析分法和模糊综合评判研究保健品消费心理

将层次分析方法与模糊综合评判理论相结合,以营养成分、包装情况、价格因素、广告宣传、售后服务为一级评判指标,以保健品专卖店、大型超市、小型超市、杂货店、厂家邮购五种销售渠道为二级评价指标,给出一种模糊判断的权重计算方法,建立了保健品消费心理的层次模糊决策模型。应用该模型对长春地区消费者的保健品消费心理进行了测试,结果表明：测试结果与实际销售情况相符。说明应用该方法建立起来的模型在了解消费者对保健品的消费心理方面是可行的,同时也为新型保健品的开发和市场推广提供了一定的依据。     

品牌个性与消费者自我概念的一致性及其对品牌忠诚的影响

品牌个性与消费者自概念的一致性是指消费者在进行品牌选择时,倾向于选择那些品牌个性与其自我概念一致的品牌。品牌个性与自我概念的一致性对消费者的品牌忠诚具有积极的影响。许多研究都证实了这一点。本文主要对品牌个性与消费者自我概念的一致性对品牌偏好的影响做了简要的概述,对并对其未来研究方向进行了展望。     

Monstrous infants and vampyric mothers in Bram Stoker's Dracula

Bram Stoker's Dracula continues to fascinate and horrify audiences, inviting a psychoanalytic explanation. While previous interpretations have emphasized oedipal dynamics and perverse sexuality, this paper proposes that early developmental issues are central. Vampires and the state of being 'undead' are representations of intense oral needs, experienced in a context of passivity and helplessness. Aggressive invasion and possession of the other, with a colonization of body and soul, offer a solution to this dilemma but one devoid of true object-relatedness. The imaginative source of the Dracula fi gure is posited as Stoker's early invalidism and his later idealization of a powerful and charismatic actor. Implicit in the Dracula story are ideas of intrusively experienced 'monstrous' babies and intrusively controlling 'vampyric mothers'. The author offers studies of key passages from Dracula in support of this reading, followed by comparative material to illustrate the spectrum of vampyric mothering: a clinical example and excerpts from a modern novel. The horror of the vampire myth is located in the unending internal attachment to a deeply needed but problematic object.     

The hysterical organization

The term hysteria has been used in the history of the psychoanalytical movement to describe a large variety of psychic modalities. What is the common denominator of the hysterias? The author suggests that ambivalence in relation to penetration in its passive form (vaginal desire), in its pregenital and genital valences, constitutes the essence of hysteria. It seems that the issue of hysteria thus configured finds its best resolution in the fantasy of an incorporeal penetration, which leads to orgasm, and spares one from the anxiety of destruction to the internal space as well as from the anxiety of guilt following the hoped for climax. The author is attempting to discern, by means of two case studies, how disembodied penetration, depending on whether it is fantasized or delusional, constitutes a solution, neurotic or psychotic respectively, to the issue of hysteria: the private theatre in neurosis, as well as the inhabited and influenced mind in psychosis (delusion of control), act as psychic figurations of vagina.     

A cross‐cultural assessment of attitudes regarding perceived breaches of ethical conduct by both parties in the business‐consumer dyad

Recent initiatives in business curricula have included emphases on global business and ethics. Using 28 scenarios which reflect potential concerns regarding the conduct of either business or a consumer, this research combines these issues by comparing the ethical predisposition of business students in Australia with their Canadian counterparts. A sample of 264 students indicated that students in both countries generally hold high expectations for the behaviour of business and consumers. Both groups exhibited quite similar views in relation to the 28 consumer and business‐related scenarios. When comparing Canadian students to Australian students, four significant differences were documented in the 14 scenarios which address the behaviour of business entities. The assessment of attitudes regarding questionable consumer actions provided even more homogeneity as only one statistically significant difference was identified. The study concludes by documenting a series of attitudinal differences on the part of groups defined not by nationality, but rather on the basis of gender or age. These demographic differences were more pronounced than were the differences across the two countries. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications.     

拥挤影响消费者情绪和购物反应的元分析

拥挤是由社会(人群)运动空间和物理空间受限引发的一种主观感受和客观状态。随着消费者所处的环境越来越拥挤, 近些年来消费者行为领域对拥挤的关注逐渐增多, 但目前的研究结论并不一致。本文通过元分析方法获得了38个研究、81个样本的149个效应值, 分别探讨了两类拥挤对消费者情绪和购物反应(趋近型购物反应与回避型购物反应)的影响, 并尝试找出以往研究结果表现出异质性的原因。从情绪层面来看, 社会拥挤正向影响消费者的消极情绪, 负向影响自主感知; 空间拥挤负向影响消费者积极情绪, 正向影响消极情绪。从购物反应层面来看, 社会拥挤会显著增强消费者的趋近型购物反应(ρ = 0.208, N = 28624), 增加风险规避, 并负向影响消费者的购物态度和意愿(ρ = -0.135, N = 10094); 空间拥挤对消费者趋近型购物反应的影响并不显著, 但能负向影响回避型购物反应(ρ = -0.409, N = 3223)。进一步的调节分析发现, 购物环境类型、研究情境的真实性、是否为学生样本、以及样本来源于西方国家还是东方国家等能够调节拥挤对消费者部分情绪和购物反应的影响。本文最后讨论了研究结果, 并对管理实践和未来研究提供了建议。     

Dissociative identity disorder and ambivalence

While many theorists have argued that dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a case of multiple selves or persons in a single body, I maintain that DID instead should be understood as involving a single self who suffers from significant disruptions to self-consciousness. Evidence of overlapping abilities and memories, as well as the very logic of dissociation, supports the claim that DID results from internal conflict endured by a single self. Along these lines, I will maintain that alter-formation should be understood as the result of extreme emotional ambivalence. While it is true that subjects with DID exhibit volitional conflict, as Frankfurt [1988. The Importance of What We Care About. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1999. Necessity, Volition, and Love. New York: Cambridge University Press] maintains, I argue that these incompatible volitions have a deeper source: conflicting desires and affective stances concerning basic emotional needs that are not easily abandoned. A single subject turns to different alter-personalities as a way to cope with pervasive inner conflict while at the same time hiding contradictory impulses from herself.     

What's the Value of Partisan Loyalty? Partisan Ambivalence,Motivated Reasoning,and Correct Voting in U.S. Presidential Elections

Partisans vary in the extent to which they rely on their partisan identities when voting. Are partisans who rely less on their partisan loyalties more likely to vote correctly than those who stick with their partisan intuitions? Research on motivated reasoning suggests so, but research focused on the heuristic value of partisanship implies otherwise. We examine this question using evidence from the ANES Time Series (1972–2004) and 2008 ANES Panel Survey. We find that ambivalent partisans, that is, those less reliant on partisanship when deciding, are generally less likely to vote correctly than univalent partisans, that is, those more reliant on partisanship. These results challenge some of the pessimism concerning the democratic competence of partisans as they imply that partisans engaging in directional reasoning can nevertheless perform their duties at the ballot box at least as well, if not better, than those engaged in more systematic and “rational” modes of decision-making.     

The Effects of Benefactor and Beneficiary Characteristics on Helping Behavior

Abstract

This study assessed the effects of perceived need and nearness of the beneficiary and the chronological maturity of the benefactor on helping behavior. The relationship between verbal and objective measures of helping behavior, and the relationship between available resources and helping behavior were also explored. Indian undergraduates (N = 80 men) composed the sample. The results showed that greater perceived need and nearness of the beneficiary, as well as lesser chronological maturity of the benefactor, led to extending greater help. Verbal and objective measures of help did not generally correspond; however, the relationship between verbal and objective measures was modified by the perceived need and nearness of the beneficiary. Resource availability did not have any direct bearing on helping behavior.