Delay-discounting probabilistic rewards: Rates decrease as amounts increase

The independence of delay-discounting rate and monetary reward size was tested by offering subjects (N = 621) a series of choices between immediate rewards and larger, delayed rewards. In contrast to previous studies, in which hypothetical rewards have typically been employed, subjects in the present study were entered into a lottery in which they had a chance of actually receiving one of their choices. The delayed rewards were grouped into small ($30–$35), medium ($55–$65), and large amounts ($70–$85). Using a novel parameter estimation procedure, we estimated discounting rates for all three reward sizes for each subject on the basis of his/her pattern of choices. The data indicated that the discounting rate is a decreasing function of the size of the delayed reward (p < .0001), whether hyperbolic or exponential discounting functions are assumed. In addition, a reliable gender difference was found (p = .005), with males discounting at higher rates than females, on average.     

When less is more: Consumer aversion to unused utility

A series of experiments demonstrates that consumers exhibit aversion to waste during forward-looking purchase. These experiments further reveal that such behavior is driven by distaste for unused utility, a reaction that is shown to be distinct from an aversion to squandering money. Waste aversion is especially pronounced when consumers anticipate future consequences and deprivation is salient. In addition to demonstrating robustness across consumers and marketing contexts, the results also demonstrate how waste aversion can lead to self-defeating behavior in which consumers forego desired utility. Finally, the present research demonstrates and discusses the implications of waste aversion for a variety of marketing issues, including buy-rent markets, bundling, and the fundamental distinction between goods and services.     

The Influence of Sex Information on Gender Word Processing

Three different tasks (word repetition, lexical decision, and gender decision) were designed to explore the impact of the sex clues (sex of the speaker, sex of the addressee) and the type of gender (semantic, arbitrary) on the processing of isolated Spanish gendered words. The findings showed that the grammatical gender feature was accessed when no mandatory attentional focus was required. In addition, the results indicated that the participants organize information according to their own sex role, which provides more salience to the words that match in grammatical gender with their own sex role representation, even when the gender assignment is arbitrary. Finally, the sex of the speaker biased the lexical access and the grammatical gender selection, serving as a semantic prime when the two dimensions have a congruent relationship. Furthermore, the masculine form serves as the generic gender representing both male and female figures.     

Reaction time reduction after parafoveal preview in a lexical decision task

Time and the accuracy of a lexical decision performed on a letter string (either a word or nonword), presented foveally after a parafoveal preview displayed at 5 degrees of eccentricity and 100 msec. duration were measured. Students of Padova University, 10 women and 7 men, ages 19 to 23 years were subjects. The hypothesis investigated was whether the facilitatory effect, a reduction in lexical decision time due to the parafoveal preview, was tied to global visual information acquired in the visual periphery during the preview presentation. In Exp. 1, eight subjects performed the task either with no preview (No Preview) or with a preview presented at 5 degrees eccentricity in two conditions, preview of the same foveal string (Preview-Letters) and preview of symbols ("x xx...") of the same length as the foveal string (Preview Symbols). In Exp. 2, 9 subjects performed the task with two preview conditions, No Preview and preview of the foveal string in uppercase letters at 5 degrees of eccentricity (Preview Uppercase). Analyses suggested the reduction in lexical decision time due to the Preview with respect to the No Preview condition is tied to global information extracted during parafoveal presentation. The reduction in lexical decision time depends on word texture, i.e., letters' identities and also word boundary, in addition to word length.     

Sincere Flattery: Trade‐Dress Imitation and Consumer Choice

A copycat strategy uses visual similarity to an established leader as a persuasion tool. Although not uncommon in the marketplace, little is known about consumer response to such imitation. Contrary to speculation regarding consumer sensitivity to salient persuasion tactics, we find only conditional evidence that consumers spontaneously penalize brands that blatantly imitate market leaders. The results are discussed in the context of common marketing wisdom regarding the virtues of differentiation.     

Communication between domestic dogs and humans: effects of shelter housing upon the gaze to the human

It is widely known that gaze plays an essential role in communicative interactions. Domestic dogs tend to look at the human face in situations of conflict and uncertainty. This study compares the gaze of shelter and pet dogs during acquisition and extinction phases in a situation involving a reward in sight but out of reach. Even though no significant differences between the groups were recorded during acquisition, gaze duration decreased in both groups during extinction, with shelter dogs showing a significant shorter duration. This could be related to their different living conditions and to the fact that through their ordinary everyday interactions, pet dogs have more opportunities to learn to persist in their communicative responses when they do not get what they want. These results highlight the relevance of learning experiences during ontogeny, which would therefore modulate communicative responses.     

Temporal Relations vs. Logical Reduction: A Phenomenal Theory of Causality

Kant, in various parts of his treatment of causality, refers to determinism or the principle of sufficient reason as an inescapable principle. In fact, in the Second Analogy we find the elements to reconstruct a purely phenomenal determinism as a logical and tautological truth. I endeavour in this article to gather these elements into an organic theory of phenomenal causality and then show, in the third section, with a specific argument which I call the “paradox of phenomenal observation”, that this phenomenal determinism is the only rational approach to causality because any logico-reductivistic approach, such as the Humean one, would destroy the temporal order and so the very possibility to talk of a causal relation. I also believe that, all things said, Kant did not achieve a much greater comprehension of the problem than Hume did, in his theory of causality, for he did not free a phenomenal approach from the impasse of reductivism as his reflections on “simultaneous causation” and “vanishing quantities” indeed show, and this I will argue in Sect. 4 of this article.