Preference for Human (vs. Robotic) Labor is Stronger in Symbolic Consumption Contexts

Advances in robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence increasingly enable firms to replace human labor with technology, thereby fundamentally transforming how goods and services are produced. From both managerial and societal points of view, it is therefore important to understand demand‐side incentives for firms to employ human labor. We begin to address this question by examining for which products and services consumers are more likely to favor human (vs. robotic) labor. In six studies, we demonstrate that consumers prefer human (vs. robotic) labor more for products with higher (vs. lower) symbolic value (e.g., when expressing something about one's beliefs and personality is of greater importance). We theorize that this is because consumers have stronger uniqueness motives in more (vs. less) symbolic consumption contexts (and associate human labor more strongly with product uniqueness). In line with this account, we demonstrate that individual differences in need for uniqueness moderate the interaction between production mode and symbolic motives and that a measure of uniqueness motives mediates the effect of consumption context on preferences for human (vs. robotic) production.     

States of curiosity and interest enhance memory differently in adolescents and in children

Curiosity – broadly defined as the desire to acquire new information – enhances learning and memory in adults. In addition, interest in the information (i.e., when the information is processed) can also facilitate later memory. To date, it is not known how states of pre‐information curiosity and post‐information interest enhance memory in childhood and adolescence. We used a trivia paradigm in which children and adolescents (N = 60, 10–14 years) encoded trivia questions and answers associated with high or low curiosity. States of high pre‐answer curiosity enhanced later memory for trivia answers in both children and adolescents. However, higher positive post‐answer interest enhanced memory for trivia answers beyond the effects of curiosity more strongly in adolescents than in children. These results suggest that curiosity and interest have positive effects on learning and memory in childhood and adolescence, but might need to be harnessed in differential ways across child development to optimize learning.     

An empirical investigation into carpooling behaviour for sustainability

Carpooling is a sustainable, economical, and environmental friendly solution that can significantly reduce air pollution and traffic congestion in urban areas. In spite of its numerous benefits, commuters are still skeptic about adopting it as a routine choice for transportation. This study attempts to map commuters’ attitude towards carpooling services. The study has focused on a few motivational constructs that can have an influence on commuters’ behavior. The study has looked at the role of cognitive complexity and empowerment perceptions of commuters to check if these constructs significantly intervene in the behavioral outcomes. The methodology used is a scenario-based 2 × 2 survey design where the sample is an individual who has experience with carpooling. The survey has used two levels (high, low) each of cognitive complexity and psychological empowerment to give rise to four scenarios. The final sample consisted of 400 carpoolers selected from an IT park having more than 5000 employees. MANOVA analysis showed that cognitive complexity and psychological empowerment had significant influence on the motivational constructs used in the study. Value beliefs, safety and platform quality perceptions were found to have a direct impact on attitude formation and intention to engage in carpooling behavior. The findings offer many implications for managers in the sense that that they can focus on creating suitable communication that creates favorable perceptions towards carpooling to bring about better adoption intentions.     

东西方文化下的真实自我研究：一种关系的视角

真实自我反映了个体行为与其价值观、信仰、需求等内在状态的一致性程度, 分为特质真实与状态真实。在辨析了真实自我与自我认知、自我概念清晰性、自我一致性、正直、真诚等相关概念的异同, 并梳理该领域已有理论后, 提出真实自我表现或实现的文化差异, 即西方文化中的真实自我是自主动机驱动的, 而东方文化中的真实自我是关系要求驱动的。未来可以将“关系化”作为现象场, 以儒家传统思想为理智资源, 从理论建构、社会现象(新兴网络社交平台、社会变迁), 以及结合具体的研究方法(如跨文化比较、突显情境变化的方法)等方面开展研究。     

A person-centred approach to understanding dark-side antecedents and students’ outcomes associated with physical education teachers’ motivation

The present study firstly establishes physical education (PE) teachers’ motivational profiles based on their autonomous motivation, controlled motivation and amotivation and, secondly, investigates how different PE teachers’ motivational profiles differ in terms of certain maladaptive antecedents (i.e. psychological need frustration, pressures perceived at work and burnout). It also addresses the differences in their students’ perception of autonomy support, psychological need satisfaction and autonomous motivation. A total of 105 PE teachers and their 2164 students completed validated questionnaires. Four profiles were retained in the cluster analysis. Results showed that teachers who were high on autonomous motivation displayed the most optimal pattern of outcomes, whereas teachers who were high on amotivation showed the opposite pattern. Analysis of the established profiles suggested that the experience of controlled motivation was linked with maladaptive outcomes among both teachers and students. Implications for educational policy and practice are discussed.     

敬则不逐物——敬畏对炫耀性消费倾向的抑制：小我的中介作用

以往炫耀性消费研究多囿于自尊补偿视角,本文着眼于驱动炫耀性消费动机的自我增强属性,提出敬畏的自我超越属性可以降低个体对自身目标重要性的评估（即提升“小我”水平）,进而降低炫耀性消费倾向。四个研究采用三种炫耀性消费倾向测量方式,通过测量特质敬畏（研究1a）和操纵状态敬畏（研究1b）均验证了敬畏对炫耀性消费倾向的抑制作用。研究2表明敬畏不影响非炫耀性消费倾向。研究3发现“小我”在敬畏与炫耀性消费倾向之间起到了中介作用。     

越近越诱惑？感知食物空间距离对消费欲望的影响

探讨消费欲望的影响因素及影响机制对解决个体非健康饮食问题具有重要意义。采用2个实验考察感知食物空间距离是否及如何影响消费欲望,以及感知资源口腔占用是否会降低感知空间距离对消费欲望的影响。结果发现：（1）感知空间距离越近,消费欲望越强;（2）感知空间距离通过心理模拟影响消费欲望;（3）占用感知资源口腔会阻碍心理模拟从而降低感知食物空间距离对消费欲望的影响。因此,操纵食物的感知空间距离会通过心理模拟影响个体的消费欲望。     

Does inconsistency always lead to negative affect? The influence of need for closure on affective reactions to cognitive inconsistency

We present an experiment showing that need for closure (NFC)—defined as the epistemic desire for certainty—can moderate individuals' affective reactions to cognitive inconsistency. Informed by Kruglanski and colleagues' new theory, that cognitive inconsistency elicits negative affect particularly under certain circumstances, we find that NFC (i.e. the desire for certain, stable and unambiguous knowledge) influences the strength of consistency effects and resulting negative affect. More specifically, we find that individuals who are high on NFC experience more negative affect upon encountering an inconsistent (vs. consistent) cognition. However, when individuals are low on NFC, inconsistency is irrelevant, and their affect depends on whether the ultimate outcome of the cognition is positive or negative. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this research.