Social intelligence is a construct that not only appeals to laymen as a relevant individual difference but also has shown promising practical applications. Nevertheless, the use of social intelligence in research and applied settings has been limited by definitional problems, difficulties in empirically differentiating social intelligence from related constructs, and the complexity of most existing measures of social intelligence. The goal of the present research was to address some of these obstacles by designing a multi-faceted social intelligence measure that is short and easy to administer. Three studies were conducted to develop and validate the Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale (TSIS). Study 1 examined professional psychologists' interpretations of social intelligence to derive a consensually agreed-upon definition of the construct. In Study 2, a large pool of social intelligence items were tested, and a 3-factor, 21-item scale was identified. In Study 3, the stability of this measure was confirmed.

This research examines whether consumers infer that celebrity endorsers like the products they endorse, and presents a model using these inferences and other characteristics of the endorser to predict attitudes toward the endorsed product. Participants in two experiments examined written endorsement advertisements and were asked to infer the extent to which the endorser truly liked the advertised product and to rate the endorser's attractiveness, similarity to themselves, and knowledge of the product. Attitudes toward the advertisement, the endorser and the product were also measured. The resulting model indicated that product attitudes were predicted by inferences about the endorser's liking for the product and by attitudes toward the endorser.

Purpose -The purpose of this research is to examine predictors of impulse buying. Although moderate levels of impulse buying can be pleasant and gratifying, recent theoretical work suggests that chronic, high frequency impulse buying has a compulsive element and can function as a form of escape from negative affective states, depression, and low self-esteem. Design/methodology/approach -The present research empirically tests a theoretical model of impulse buying by examining the associations between chronic impulse buying tendencies and subjective wellbeing, affect, susceptibility to interpersonal influence, and self-esteem. Findings -Results indicate that the cognitive facet of impulse buying, associated with a lack of planning in relation to purchase decisions, is negatively associated with subjective wellbeing. The affective facet of impulse buying, associated with feelings of excitement and an overpowering urge to buy, is linked to negative affect and susceptibility to interpersonal influence. Practical implications -Given the link to negative emotions and potentially harmful consequences, impulse buying may be viewed as problematic consumer behavior. Reductions in problematic impulse buying could be addressed through public policy or social marketing. Originality/value -This study validates and extends the Verplanken et al. model by examining the relationship between impulse buying and other psychological constructs (i.e. subjective wellbeing, positive and negative affect, social influence, and self-esteem).

We propose that attributions about an endorser truly liking, using, or desiring a promoted product mediate the relationship between source and message factors and persuasion via endorsement. In this paper, we integrate the persuasion literature into a framework for examining endorser effectiveness via focus factors (e.g., involvement, cognitive load) that determine whether a consumer thinks carefully or superficially about a message, and lead consumers to rely on different source and message elements (e.g., source attractiveness, argument strength). These elements then influence attributional processing. Correspondent inferences about an endorser can lead to enhanced advertisement and brand attitudes, and spur either fleeting identification with the endorsement or more enduring internalization (Kelman, The Public Opinion Quarterly 25:57-78, 1961) of the endorser's message as a consumer's own. Implications of our framework and research directions are discussed.In a consumer-led, user-generated and vastly cluttered media marketplace, with the average consumer streaming through 3,000 messages daily, how do endorsers influence consumers-and can they still be an effective tool for marketing? In this paper, we argue that the theoretical models that are foundational to understanding endorser influence remain effective, but must be adapted to better organize collected findings on paid-by-brand endorsements and to adjust for the emerging role of earned endorsements, such as recommendations from influential bloggers and online reviewers.

Purpose -This cross-cultural study examines inter-relationships between values (using the list of values), collective self-esteem (CSE), and consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence (CSII). Design/methodology/approach -Data were collected through surveys administered to 783 university students in four countries (Australia, English-speaking Canada, Korea, and Norway). Findings -Results indicate that external and interpersonal values are positively related to the normative component of CSII, while internal values are negatively related to the normative component of CSII. The CSE subscale measuring importance of the group to one's identity is positively related to normative CSII, while the CSE subscale of membership esteem is negatively related to normative CSII. Normative CSII was substantially higher among Korean participants than among participants from the other countries. Research limitations/implications -This research was limited to a sample of university students in Canada, Australia, Norway, and Korea. Future research could expand the sample to include a more representative adult sample, in order to ensure the generalizability of the results. Practical implications -CSII may be an important factor in many consumer purchases that relate to self-image. The relationship of values and collective self-esteem to CSII provides valuable insights to managers regarding consumer purchasing behavior. Originality/value -Given that values, consumer self-esteem, and country explain a large degree of the variation in consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence, managers can benefit from this knowledge when developing advertising content and marketing interventions.

Confidence in personality impressions is proposed to stem from the richness of people's mental representations of others. Representational richness produces confidence because it enhances the fluency with which people can make judgments, and it increases confidence even when it does not result in more accurate impressions. Results of 3 experiments support these propositions. A 4th experiment suggests that representational richness is increased by both pseudorelevant and relevant information, but not by irrelevant information. A 5th experiment suggests that representational richness has effects on confidence above and beyond the effects of metainformation (i.e., extracontent aspects of information). The implications of these findings for evaluating evidence of error in person perception and for reducing stereotyping and prejudice are discussed.

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The hypothesis that the physical size of an object can influence aesthetic preferences was investigated. In a series of four experiments, participants were presented with pairs of abstract stimuli and asked to indicate which member of each pair they preferred. A preference for larger stimuli was found on the majority of trials using various types of stimuli, stimuli of various sizes, and with both adult and 3-year-old participants. This preference pattern was disrupted only when participants had both stimuli that provided a readily accessible alternative source of preference-evoking information and sufficient attentional resources to make their preference judgments. Research has demonstrated that people rely on a variety of heuristics on memory and judgment tasks. In performing these tasks, people have been shown to rely heavily on information that is computationally simple (e.g. Hunt and Agnoli, 1991), readily available (Tversky and Kahneman, 1974), representative (Tversky and Kahneman, 1974), and attentionally salient (e.g. Taylor and Fiske, 1978). Furthermore, a substantial body of research suggests that people often use simple judgment rules that rely on readily apparent context information (cf. Kahneman, Slovic, and Tversky, 1982) in preference to normative strategies that depend on information that is computationally complex (e.g. Pelham, Sumarta, and Myaskovsky, 1994) or difficult to access (Bryson et al., 1991;Funke, 1991;Schooler, Ohlsson and Brooks, 1993). HEURISTICS IN AESTHETIC JUDGMENTSSimplicity also appears to have a strong influence on aesthetic judgments. In particular, research in a variety of domains suggests that individuals tend to prefer objects that are easily processed. For example, familiar