On the wisdom and utility of (under)sociality: A consumer psychology perspective

Kumar and Epley (2023) review robust evidence for an intriguing hypothesis: That people fail to appreciate the benefits of everyday social behaviors and thus hesitate to connect with others in ways that would increase well-being. In this commentary, we discuss how consumer research can enrich theory and application in this emerging line of inquiry. We suggest (a) that the hedonic implications of undersociality can be integrated with reputational signaling insights to generate new questions about the wisdom and utility of social behavior, and (b) that undersociality has interesting implications for a consumption domain of particular interest to maximizing welfare: charitable giving.     

Bayesian inference for finite mixtures of generalized linear models with random effects

We present an hierarchical Bayes approach to modeling parameter heterogeneity in generalized linear models. The model assumes that there are relevant subpopulations and that within each subpopulation the individual-level regression coefficients have a multivariate normal distribution. However, class membership is not known a priori, so the heterogeneity in the regression coefficients becomes a finite mixture of normal distributions. This approach combines the flexibility of semiparametric, latent class models that assume common parameters for each sub-population and the parsimony of random effects models that assume normal distributions for the regression parameters. The number of subpopulations is selected to maximize the posterior probability of the model being true. Simulations are presented which document the performance of the methodology for synthetic data with known heterogeneity and number of sub-populations. An application is presented concerning preferences for various aspects of personal computers.     

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。     

Through rose-tinted glasses: How inducing and resolving curiosity makes consumers less skeptical and improves their product evaluations

Research indicates that in general, curiosity leads to more intense processing of an advertisement, which might result in a more skeptical response toward a persuasive message. However, we propose the opposite and argue that a process of evoking curiosity toward a stimulus in the first step (with the creation of an information gap) and resolving it in the second step creates a positive affective experience. Upon receiving curiosity-resolving information after becoming curious, consumers are less skeptical toward the advertised product, which leads to a more favorable attitude and a higher purchase intention. Based on four studies, we demonstrate curiosity's skepticism-reducing effect, its downstream consequences, and the underlying mechanism of positive affect. We show that this curiosity-stimulating way of information disclosure caused the effect instead of the information itself, which remained constant. The effects occur for integral curiosity, directed at the focal product, and for incidental curiosity, elicited by an unrelated stimulus. These results contribute to understanding consumer responses to curiosity-evoking advertisements, which are widespread, and provide implications for consumer psychologists, practitioners, and policy makers.     

Work attitudes, employment barriers, and mental health symptoms in a sample of rural welfare recipients

Most of the extant research on welfare reform has neglected to consider the experiences of families in rural settings. Fifty women receiving welfare for their dependent children in a rural community were interviewed about their work experiences and aspirations, barriers to employment and service use, as well as mental health and social support. The findings indicate that the majority of participants were connected to the labor force and expressed positive attitudes about work. Barriers to employment (lack of available jobs, child care) and service use (transportation, inconvenient office hours) were endorsed. Perceived social support was negatively related to depression symptoms and positively related to self-efficacy and self-esteem. The importance of understanding the life experiences of welfare recipients in different contexts is discussed.     

Transforming animal species: the case of ‘oncomouse’

In this paper I deal with ethical implications arising from animal biotechnology. I analyse some general questions surrounding the production of transgenic animals through a specific case study: the oncomouse. In particular, I explore ethical factors involved in the production of oncomice. This is because biologists genetically modify animals’ germ cells and refuse to modify human germ cells. I will underline how the international community has thus far justified this ‘ethical difference’. The opinions here expressed are personal and do not commit the European Commission. Maurizio Salvi is member of the Scientific Staff of the Higher Institute of Philosophy, University of Leuven. Currently he is a Scientific Officer (National Expert Detached) of the European Commission, (Directorate-General XII, Science Research and Development, Directorate B.II.3) dealing with Bioethics research.     

Life Stressors, Social Support, and Depressive Symptoms Among First-Time Welfare Recipients

This paper examines the associations among stressful life events, social support, and depressive symptoms in a sample of 580 first-time welfare recipients. Self-reported number of depressive symptoms was greater than in corresponding community samples. Stressors and social supports made independent main effect contributions to depressive symptoms in a multiple regression analysis. Women with transportation barriers to employment, those experiencing greater numbers of stressful life events, and those who were less satisfied with their housing situation reported greater numbers of depressive symptoms. In contrast, women who were more satisfied with their social support and those with higher attendance at religious services reported fewer depressive symptoms. Implications for welfare reform policy and programs are discussed.     

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。