What makes people happy? Decoupling the experiential-material continuum

Extant literature suggests that consumers derive more happiness from experiences (e.g., vacations) than from material possessions (e.g., furniture). However, this literature typically pits material against experiential consumption, treating them as a single bipolar construct of their relative dominance: more material or more experiential. This focus on relative dominance leaves unanswered questions regarding how different levels of material and experiential qualities each contribute to happiness. Four preregistered studies (N = 3,288), using hundreds of product categories, measured levels of material and experiential qualities using two unipolar items. These studies investigate recalled, evoked, and anticipated happiness. Results show a more nuanced view of the experiential advantage that is critical for future research and consumer theory: material and experiential qualities both have positive relationships with happiness. Further, there is no inherent trade-off between experiential and material qualities: consumers can enjoy consumption that is high on both (e.g., swimming pools and home improvements).     

The asymmetric connection between money and material vs. experiential purchases

We examined the relationship between having a monetary mindset and the pursuit of material goods over experiences and found that people tend to think of their material purchases more in monetary terms than their experiential purchases. Purchase price correlated more highly with participants’ satisfaction with their material goods than their experiences (Study 1) and participants reported that the amount spent on significant components of a purchase (Study 2) would have more impact on their satisfaction with material goods than with experiences, as would a change in purchase price (Study 3). When the same purchase (a 3D TV) was framed in material terms (vs. experiential terms), participants reported that a price change would have a greater impact on their satisfaction. These findings suggest experiences suffer less than material possessions from the extrinsic psychology that comes with thinking about purchases in monetary terms.     

高难度材料的元记忆监测更受记忆广度的制约

以不同难度(有、无意义联系)的两种中文词对为记忆材料,随机选取在校大学生200名,采用经典的回忆-判断-再认(recall-judgement-recognition,RJR)范式,考察短时记忆广度和一般自我效能感对个体在不同难度材料上元记忆监测的影响。结果发现,相比于无意义联系的材料,个体在有意义联系的材料上,JOL、FOK和JOC判断等级更高,线索回忆测验成绩更好。但是,个体在不同材料上的JOL判断和线索回忆受短时记忆广度的调节。不同短时记忆广度的个体在有意义联系材料上的JOL判断等级和线索回忆测验成绩无显著差异,但是在无意义联系材料上,高短时记忆广度个体的JOL判断等级和线索回忆测验成绩均显著高于低短时记忆广度个体。同时,相关分析结果也发现,相比于低短时记忆广度的个体,高短时记忆广度的个体,其线索回忆测验成绩和再认测验成绩与JOL、FOK和JOC判断等级之间更加相关。实验结果表明,作为一种人格变量,一般自我效能感对个体元记忆监测的影响可能并不明显。而短时记忆广度,很大程度上反映了个体的记忆能力,是个体元记忆监测的一个重要影响因素,尤其是对难度较大的材料。     

P300 as an index of attention to self-relevant stimuli

Past work suggests that information related to the self receives ‘preferential access’ to the limited pool of attentional resources. However, these studies have been limited by their reliance on response-time measures, which require overt responding and represent the combined effects of multiple stages of information processing. One aim of the present study was to extend past work by obtaining a response-independent index of attention allocation sensitive to changes in discrete stages of information processing. An additional goal was to explore the potential time course of differential sensitivity to self-relevant cues. We assessed the P300, an ERP component that provides an index of attentional resources, evoked by autobiographical self-relevant stimuli (e.g., one’s own name). As expected, P300 was augmented for self-relevant stimuli relative to control stimuli. In addition, analyses of P300 latency indicate that the effects of self-relevance are present during higher-order stages of cognitive processing related to selective attention. These results complement and extend previous work on the role of self-relevance in the selection of material for further processing.     

阿多诺对斯特拉文斯基的三个批判

本文以斯特拉文斯基和勋伯格的音乐观念为契机,分析了阿多诺批判斯特拉文斯基的三个方面：“伪装”的现代音乐、反主体性以及基于本体时间基础的音乐作曲问题;文章进一步分析了阿多诺批判斯特拉文斯基的出发点并指出其不足之处,同时指出阿多诺音乐哲学的社会意义。     

内插材料加工对内隐记忆的影响:干扰?还是促进?

针对Manens和WolterS(2002)关于内插材料加工对内隐记忆的影响的研究设计中没有考虑到内插材料与目标词语义特征匹配这一条件,通过实验证实了,与目标词有不同特征匹配的内插材料加工对目标词线索提取的内隐记忆有着不同影响：可能没有影响,可能干扰也可能促进。在不同学习加工类型和不同测验类型条件下,内插材料对内隐记忆的影响将可能表现出更加复杂的情况。     

Assessment of tensile interphase profile of PVC/TiO2 polymer nanocomposites

The tensile properties of polymer nanocomposites depend dominantly on their interphase profile. The interfacial layer adhesion B-parameter, the relative interphase tensile strength (σ_IR) and the Z-interphase parameter for the central layer are quantified for assessment of tensile interphase properties of PVC/TiO₂ polymer nanocomposites. The redeveloped Pukanszky model is employed to determine the layer adhesion B-parameter of interphases. The study shows that the tensile strength of the interphase σ_I, as well as σ_IR and the B- and Z-parameters of the central layer of the interphase, are significantly correlated with the tensile strength of the nanocomposites.     

‘Crossing culture’: a multi‐method enquiry into consumer behaviour and the experience of cultural transition

Visitors, travellers and migrants have a range of reactions to ‘crossing culture’, ie moving from one cultural environment to another. This paper reports a two‐stage multi‐method study that examines how visitors' consumer behaviour and use of material possessions influence resolution of cultural fracture during periods of cultural transition. The research consisted of a quantitative survey (n = 598) and a qualitative ethnoconsumerist study of visitors to the UK. Analysis of the survey data shows that nationality is a poor indicator of crossing‐culture experiences. A Six Typology Model of Cultural Fracture identified six cluster groups using combinations of three types of cultural fracture experience: symbolic fracture, emotional fracture and functional fracture. The six clusters vary by consumer behaviour and possession use. The ethnoconsumerist study illustrates that consumer‐related activities and possession used together provide an important resource that visitors can use to make sense of crossing‐culture experiences. Product categories, retail formats and shopping conventions are also implicated in experiences of cultural fracture to varying degrees. The paper concludes by considering the limitations of importing a priori assumptions regarding nationality and ethnic differences in cross‐cultural consumer research, and discusses some of the potential benefits of multi‐method research in this context. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications.