Disability Awareness and Etiquette: Transforming Perceptions Through a Series of Experiential Exercises

Individuals with disabilities represent one of the largest and most diverse subgroups within the population. Because of this diversity and the potential for many disabilities to be hidden, however, biases exist regarding what these individuals may look like or how they may act. The majority of these perceptions focus on inabilities as opposed to abilities despite the risk for all individuals to possess or develop a disability. Therefore, there is an increased need to address these issues. As such, this article involves a discussion regarding the integration of several experiential activities to target disability awareness, including information regarding the rationale, assumptions, objectives, and outcomes of these techniques as well as potential adaptations across various groups.     

Searching for certainty in an uncertain world: the difficulty of giving up the experiential for the rational mode of thinking

Our research explores predictions that people make in a simple environment consisting of sequences of a binary signal followed by two possible outcomes. In order to optimize their prediction success, respondents should use a very simple decision rule, called maximization, whereby they consistently predict according to the signal. In line with past research, our findings show that even respondents who realized after the experiment that maximization is optimal failed to use it during the experiment itself. We discuss conditions that weaken or reinforce behaving according to the optimal rule in a repeated choice situation. Experiment 1 shows that individuals who are forced to plan their strategy and justify their actions are more likely to discover and use the optimal rule than those not forced to do so. Thinking about the appropriateness of one's performance can be done in two different orientations: focusing on the past (justifying past actions) or on the future (planning future action). Experiment 2 shows that planning induces rule‐base thinking, while justifying fails to do so. These findings are discussed within a theoretical framework which suggest an interplay between the experiential and the rational modes of processing. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Web metrics: measuring patterns in online shopping

The Web has become a primary source of product information for online consumers. As such, basic questions regarding how consumers approach the search process need to be understood and measured if marketers and website developers are to identify patterns or trends in consumer information search strategies. To observe and measure changes in consumer search behaviour, it is necessary to establish benchmarks that can, at a later date, be compared with subsequent observation measurements. This study recorded the search activities of 37 subjects as they searched for information regarding the purchase of two products: one where they had expert product knowledge and one where they had novice product knowledge. Significance was found for particular site types used and, more importantly, in patterns of site type usage. The methodology and benchmarks offer researchers a means of tracking changes in consumer search behaviour on the Web. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Targeting a niche market of pet owners: consumer evaluation of a mobile veterinarian's service concept

The veterinary care service industry in the USA is projected to continue its growth during the next decade, primarily due to increasing numbers of pets and rising consumer expenditure for pet medical care. The increasing demand for pet care has spawned a proliferation of traditional and non‐traditional veterinary services. There is a need to examine the market potential for new veterinary services. A concept test among 150 target consumers is used here to provide an evaluation of a non‐traditional veterinary service—mobile veterinary care for small companion animals. Although using a vet who makes house calls would require a change in consumer behaviour, the findings indicate that the service concept is appealing to a niche market of pet owners who desire more service convenience and are willing to pay for it. Educating more consumers about the service benefits may broaden its appeal. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications Ltd.     

The importance of impulse purchasing behaviour in the international airport environment

Airports are unique retail environments due to the environmental and psychological issues linked with the travel process. Travellers experience feelings of anxiety, stress and excitement which make them react in unusual ways. Airport retail environments therefore differ from more day‐to‐day channels of distribution. Consequently, retailers' approaches must also differ in order to maximise performance. There is evidence of a considerable impulse purchasing effect in airport retail operations which, if understood and harnessed by airport retailers, can enhance performance. The impulse effects will differ significantly between customer segments due to both the psychological effects of the travel experience and the existence of normative traits. Retailers must create an environment that minimises inherent stress and accentuates or at least maintains natural levels of excitement, while also virtuously motivating impulse purchasing by reducing or eliminating barriers to purchase. Development of an impulse strategy, which should permeate all elements of airport retail activities, is essential for maximising performance and profitability. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications Ltd.     

Experience‐What is it?

The author takes a renewed look at the constitutive aspects of experience, looking at it as process rather than contents. Recently more psychoanalytic voices are discernible that argue for the complexity and multi-leveled nature of inner experience. Yet the predominant and preeminent psychoanalytic voice has traditionally emphasized the linearity and single-factored nature of experience and all that is based on it: development, object relations, psychopathology, and treatment. The author offers an understanding of experience as stemming from the operation of two contiguous, ongoing modalities of processing internal and external input, and reflecting two polarities of the subject-object experience: of separateness and instrumentality, and of oneness and ongoing being. Such a conceptual reframing of experience harbors multiple implications for understanding subjectivity and inter-subjectivity, inter-relatedness as well as single-person psychology, and the all-important role of an experiential 'goodness-of-fit' in the analytic situation and elsewhere.     

BRIDGING THE DISCONNECTION BETWEEN APPLIED RESEARCH AND PRACTICE: A REVIEW OF TREATMENTS THAT WORK: EMPIRICALLY SUPPORTED STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING CHILD BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS BY ED CHRISTOPHERSEN AND SUSAN MORTWEET

In recent years, behavior analysts have lamented a disconnection between applied research and practice. In their book, Treatments That Work: Empirically Supported Strategies for Managing Child Behavior Problems, Christophersen and Mortweet (2001) have attempted to bridge this gap for medical and behavioral health providers alike by describing empirically supported treatments, derived from behavior therapy and its application, that are specifically designed for challenging problems commonly seen in typical children. The book is clearly intended for both primary care physicians and behavior therapists, and in this article, we review the extent to which the book meets the needs of each. Discussion centers on the extent to which the book can meet the need for both technical precision and conceptual breadth in training of behavior therapists. We conclude that, in making explicit the connections between research and practice, the authors have provided a useful clinical teaching tool and have also raised important questions about how best to establish collaborative relationships with physicians and promote the use of behavioral technology in primary care.     

Preliminary psychometric properties of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II: a revised measure of psychological inflexibility and experiential avoidance

The present research describes the development and psychometric evaluation of a second version of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II), which assesses the construct referred to as, variously, acceptance, experiential avoidance, and psychological inflexibility. Results from 2,816 participants across six samples indicate the satisfactory structure, reliability, and validity of this measure. For example, the mean alpha coefficient is .84 (.78–.88), and the 3- and 12-month test–retest reliability is .81 and .79, respectively. Results indicate that AAQ-II scores concurrently, longitudinally, and incrementally predict a range of outcomes, from mental health to work absence rates, that are consistent with its underlying theory. The AAQ-II also demonstrates appropriate discriminant validity. The AAQ-II appears to measure the same concept as the AAQ-I (r = .97) but with better psychometric consistency.     

Generating leads with sequential persuasion: should sales influence tactics be consistent or complementary?

Firms are becoming increasingly systematic in sales lead generation activities and recognize that multiple interactions are often required to generate leads and to reassure buyers of the benefits of an offering. However, the literature is contradictory regarding what types of persuasive messages should be used across these multiple interactions. This paper investigates what combination of sales influence tactics (SITs) should be used when customers are approached more than once regarding the same offering, that is, sequentially. Should the SITs be consistent (the same), or complementary (different)? Consistent vs. complementary SIT approaches were tested in two field experiments, one with an electronics manufacturer in a single communication channel setting and one with a financial services provider in a cross-channel setting. The results supported our hypothesis and indicated that the use of complementary SITs across interactions, regardless of the order, increases lead conversion.