Faulty Judgment,Expert Opinion,and Decision-Making Capacity

An assessment of decision-making capacity is the accepted procedure for determining when a person is not competent. An inferential gap exists between the criteria for capacity specific abilities and the legal requirements to understand relevant information and appreciate the consequences of a decision. This gap extends to causal influences on a person'scapacity to decide. Using a published case of depression, we illustrate that assessors' uses of diagnostic information is frequently not up to the task of bridging this inferential gap in a justifiable way. We then describe cases of faulty judgement which challenge the understanding of diagnostic causal influences. These cases help to clarify the nature of the expertise required for capacity assessments. In practice, the requirements of decision-making capacity are often abandoned to other considerations due to a lack of requisite expertise. The legal policy supporting decision-making capacity as a means to protective intervention is justified only if the requisite expertise is developed. We propose the requisite expertise to be developed in the long term as a distinct multidisciplinary endeavour.     

Psychoanalysis and Diplomacy: Part III. Potentials for and Obstacles Against Collaboration

Given the pervasive influence of Realpolitik over government and the study of international relations, and some inherent difficulties within the field of psychoanalysis, it is not surprising that political science and psychoanalysis remain distant cousins. Part III in this series on diplomacy and psychoanalysis discusses obstacles against collaboration between these two disciplines, but also points to areas where collaboration is possible and can be useful.     

消费者产品质量知觉研究

本文探讨了品牌、产地、价格、服务及消费者的知识经验对消费者产品质量知觉的影响。结果表明：１、品牌、产地、服务对消费者的产品质量知觉有显著影响;２、消费者对名牌产品的质量知觉显著高于不知名品牌,对进口产品质量知觉显著高于国产产品,对服务好的产品质量知觉显著高于服务差的产品;３、知识经验丰富的消费者的产品质量知觉易受品牌的影响,而知识经验不足的消费者的产品质量知觉易受价格、服务的影响。     

Effects of decision-making on reactions to an evaluational stressor

The present study tested the hypothesis that an opportunity to make decisions enhances perceived control. This hypothesis predicts that decision-making will reduce the adverse effects of stress. Subjects worked on an intellectual task and their stress reactions were assessed using subjective and behavioral measures. Decision-making improved the highly anxious subjects' persistence with the task. This finding supports the hypothesis. However, less anxious subjects persisted less after being allowed to make decisions. Several explanations positing possible cognitive and motivational processes of the less anxious subjects are offered.     

中学生消费决策风格的特点及其与家庭理财教育方式的关系

该研究以377名中学生为被试,探讨了中学生消费决策风格的特点及其与家庭理财教育方式的关系。结果表明:(1)中学生消费决策风格部分符合Shim(1996)提出的二阶模型(包括质量导向、非理性导向、享乐导向和价格导向等四个二阶因子);(2)中学生消费决策风格的年级差异不显著,性别差异显著,男生在品牌导向上高于女生,在流行导向和娱乐导向上低于女生;(3)中学生消费决策风格可划分为决策随意型、决策紊乱型、决策理智型和决策实惠型;(4)父母消极的理财教育方式会导致中学生形成非理性导向或享乐导向的消费决策风格,而积极的教育引导则能在一定程度上减弱中学生的非理性决策风格,促进其形成质量导向的决策风格。     

Customer reactions to encountering consecutive service failures

According to previous studies, many consumers in Taiwan have experienced consecutive service failures. Despite these failures, many consumers still remain loyal to a service provider for a variety of reasons, such as money deposits, contractual agreements, associated costs, time constrains, and health concerns. We attempt to investigate the emotional reactions and expectations of consumers after they have experienced two consecutive service failures. Our findings reveal that for high‐involvement services, although customers display strong negative emotional reactions after each service failure, the reaction to the second service failure is less intensive than that to the first one. Furthermore, our findings show that as long as the products or services remain in use, customers tend to retain high levels of expectation in regard to the service provider. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Compassion for one reduces punishment for another

The ability of compassion felt toward one person to reduce punishment directed at another was examined. The use of a staged interaction in which one individual cheats to earn higher compensation than others resulted in heightened third-party punishment being directed at the cheater. However, among participants who were induced to feel compassion toward a separate individual, punishment of the cheater disappeared even though the cheater clearly intended to cheat and showed no remorse for doing so. Moreover, additional analyses revealed that the reduction in punishment was directly mediated by the amount of compassion participants experienced toward the separate individual.     

Confucian Dynamism,the Role of Money and Consumer Ethical Beliefs: An Exploratory Study in Taiwan

Consumer ethics is the moral principles and standards that guide consumers to determine the certain consumption behaviors are ethically right or wrong. Whereas cultural and personal dimensions are crucial constructs affecting individual ethical attitudes and behaviors, few studies consider Confucian dynamism and the role of money in consumer ethics. Confucian dynamism, a cultural dimension based on Confucianism, has played a central role in guiding moral obligations and ethics in human relations in several East Asian countries. Thus, this study tested its hypotheses using a sample of 521 respondents obtained via a systematic random sampling technique. The authors find that individuals with a higher tendency to Confucian dynamism are less tolerant of unethical practices. These findings also show that the role of money partially influences consumer ethical beliefs. Finally, we examine the impact of demographic variables and find age and education affect consideration of ethical values.     

有“新”同享：共有消费促进对不熟悉产品的选择*

共有消费是多位消费者共同参与并承担开销的一种常见的消费活动。本研究基于风险转移理论, 探究了消费情境(单独消费vs.共有消费)对不熟悉产品偏好的作用机理及边界条件。通过5个实验, 结果发现：相比于单独消费情境下的消费者, 在共有消费情境下的消费者更愿意尝试不熟悉的产品。原因在于共有消费情境会转移消费风险, 使得消费者对不熟悉产品的感知风险降低。但是该效应仅发生于产品风险较低的产品。同时, 当共有消费群体的关系较为疏远时, 该效应会消失甚至逆转。