Evolution and trends in consumer behaviour: Insights from Journal of Consumer Behaviour

The way consumers behave is fundamental to marketing. Journal of Consumer Behaviour (JCB) is an international journal dedicated to publishing the latest developments of consumer behaviour. To gain an understanding of the evolution and trends in consumer behaviour, this study presents a retrospective review of JCB using bibliometric analysis. Using bibliographic records of JCB from Scopus, this study finds that consumer behaviour research in JCB has grown substantially in terms of collaboration (co-authorships), global reach (countries), productivity (publications), and impact (citations). The major themes explored by consumer behaviour research in JCB include consumer information processing, consumption communities, consumption value, sustainable consumption, intergenerational consumer behaviour, consumer-brand relationship, consumer ethics, and conditional relationships in consumer behaviour. The most recent consumer behaviour research in JCB has considered externalities such as the COVID-19 pandemic and focused on themes such as consumer ethics and sustainable consumption in line with the global movement toward environmental social governance (ESG) and sustainable development goals (SDGs).     

Chinese child unsociability,maternal maladaptive parenting,and peer exclusion among preschoolers: A cross-lagged model

Previous research has consistently found that unsociability is linked to adjustment difficulties in Chinese children. However, far less attention has been paid to how parents and peers react when confronted with unsociable children. In this study, we explored the longitudinal linkages among Chinese preschoolers' unsociability, maladaptive parenting, and peer exclusion. Participants were mothers and teachers of N = 391 (M_age = 4.4 years, SD = 0.91 years; 54.5% boys) preschoolers attending eight kindergartens in Shanghai, People's Republic of China, followed over 8 months. Multi-source assessments were employed. Mothers rated children's unsociability and their maladaptive (physical hostility, verbal hostility, punishment) parenting practices, and teachers rated children's peer exclusion at each time point. Our results indicated that child unsociability contributed to later increases in both maladaptive parenting and peer exclusion. However, maladaptive parenting and peer exclusion could not predict later increases in unsociability. Results are discussed in terms of the implications of unsociability among Chinese children.     

From racial discrimination to risky sex: prospective relations involving peers and parents

This study investigated how early experience with racial discrimination affected the subsequent risky sexual behaviors of a diverse sample of African American youths (N = 745). The analyses focused on 3 risk-promoting factors thought to mediate the hypothesized discrimination → risky sex relation: negative affect, affiliation with deviant peers, and favorable attitudes toward risky sex. In addition, attentive parenting was examined as a protective factor. Analyses using structural equation modeling revealed that youths who perceived more racial discrimination at age 10 or 11 were engaging in more sexual risk taking at age 18 or 19. This relation was mediated by the hypothesized risk-promoting factors via pathways that were consistent with our conceptual model. Results also indicated a prospective reciprocal relation between parenting and children's deviant affiliations: deviant peer affiliations at age 10 or 11 predicted more attentive parenting behaviors by the parents; this response from the parents, in turn, predicted relatively fewer deviant affiliations when the youths were 15 or 16. Study findings are discussed in terms of their relevance to the disproportionately high rates of sexually transmitted infections among African Americans.     

Intentionality and partial belief

Suppose we wish to provide a naturalistic account of intentionality. Like several other philosophers, we focus on the intentionality of belief, hoping that we may later supplement our account to accommodate other intentional states like desires and fears. Now suppose that we also take partial beliefs or credences seriously. In cashing out our favoured theory of intentionality, we may for the sake of simplicity talk as if belief is merely binary or all-or-nothing. But we should be able to supplement or modify our account to accommodate credences. I shall argue, however, that it is difficult to do so with respect to certain causal or teleological theories of intentionality-in particular, those advanced by the likes of Stalnaker (Inquiry, 1984) and Millikan (J Philos 86:281–297, 1989). I shall first show that such theories are tailor-made to account for the intentionality of binary beliefs. Then I shall argue that it is hard to extend or supplement such theories to accommodate credences. Finally, I shall offer some natural ways of modifying the theories that involve an appeal to objective probabilities. But unfortunately, such modifications face problems.     

Detrimental effect of cellular precipitation on the creep strength of Inconel740H

Cellular precipitation (also known as discontinuous precipitation) has been observed at the grain boundaries of a newly developed nickel-based Inconel740H alloy designed for use at 700?°C in advanced ultrasupercritical coal-fired power plants. By means of element mapping and selected area diffraction, the cellular precipitates were identified as Cr-rich M₂₃C₆ carbides. The onset of cellular precipitation was found to follow a pucker mechanism in Inconel740H. The cellular precipitates at the grain boundaries, even at low volume fractions, were severely detrimental to the creep strength at 750?°C. The creep rupture life of Inconel740H containing cellular precipitates at grain boundaries was only one-tenth of that for the alloy without cellular precipitates. The reason for the drastically decreased creep rupture life is attributed to the poor resistance of cellular precipitates to crack propagation during creep.     

Fabrication of opal-like thin films

A process is described for the fabrication of opal-like thin films by controlling a solid–liquid interface moving at an inclined glass substrate. A special airflow is adopted to control solvent evaporation. SEM images and photographs show that the films, composed of polystyrene spheres, are coloured, flat, uniform, packed multilayers, and are well arrayed over a large scale. The ordered domains range in size from 10 to 15?µm. The spheres in suspension crystallized, caused by an intense interaction between the spheres on the boundary between the suspension and the substrate. A wide photonic band gap is observed in the normal-incidence transmission spectra of the films fabricated by this method. Cracks and defects in the films are examined and discussed.     

大学生压力量表的编制

本文旨在介绍大学生压力量表的编制及其标准化过程。本量表的编制过程分五个步骤 ,其中包括两个分研究。被试为北京市两所高校的一至三年级大学生 ,共 50 7人。结果显示 :本大学生压力量表的内部一致性为非常满意 (Cronbachα=0 .91 ) ,6个月后的重测信度为满意 (Cronbachα =0 .78) ,结构效度可靠。     

Not all cultural values are created equal: Cultural change in China reexamined through Google books

Given its major transformations in recent decades, China has figured prominently in research on cultural change. Previous research converges in showing a general trend towards individualism in contemporary China while noting that rising individualism tends to coexist with enduring collectivism. To further understand this, we tested whether perceived traditional importance of cultural values would modulate the trajectory of cultural change reflected in word usage frequencies in published books. We re‐analysed Google's Chinese corpus since 1980 based on a broad sample of words associated with individualism–collectivism. We replicated the pattern of rising individualism and declining collectivism among words of modest and low perceived traditional importance. Most important, however, collectivistic words of high perceived traditional importance increased in usage frequencies with time, thus departing from the general trend towards individualism. Overall, our research underscores the role of core culture in cultural maintenance during times of rapid cultural change.     

Making sense of positive self‐evaluations in China: The role of sociocultural change

Recent research points to Chinese people's elevated tendency to make positive self‐evaluations, despite the general claim that East Asians do not self‐enhance. We present three studies in support of a novel prediction that sociocultural change in China plays an important role in augmenting self‐enhancement. We operationalized self‐enhancement primarily in terms of the better‐than‐average effect (BTAE) and accounted for trait desirability or importance. We found that: (i) compared with Chinese Canadians, Chinese showed a stronger BTAE; (ii) within the Chinese, identification with contemporary Chinese culture uniquely predicted a stronger BTAE; and (iii) priming contemporary (vs. traditional) Chinese culture led to a stronger BTAE. Finally, we provided further evidence that motivation, in part, underlies the rising Chinese BTAE. We conclude by discussing the importance of both socioeconomic and cultural perspectives for understanding how and when of self‐enhancement in contemporary China and other societies undergoing social change.