Age-related decline of fine motor control commences even in middle adulthood. Less is known, however, whether age-related changes can be postponed through continuous practice. In this study we tested how age and professional expertise influence fine motor control in middle-aged adults. Forty-eight right-handed novices and experts (35 to 65 years) performed submaximal precision grip force modulation tasks with index or middle finger opposing the thumb, either with the right hand or the left hand. Novices revealed expected age-related differences in all performance measures (force initialization, mean applied force, variability), whereas experts outperformed novices in all outcome measures. Expertise seems to contribute to maintaining manual skills into older age, as indicated by the age and expertise interaction for the force initialization.

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As the development of the Internet and social media has led to pervasive data collection and usage practices, consumers’ privacy concerns have increasingly grown stronger. While previous research has investigated consumer valuation of personal data and privacy, only few studies have investigated valuation of different privacy aspects (e.g., third party sharing). Addressing this research gap in the literature, the present study explores Internet users’ valuations of three different privacy aspects on a social networking service (i.e., Facebook), which are commonly captured in privacy policies (i.e., data collection, data control, and third party sharing). A total of 350 participants will be recruited for an experimental online study. The experimental design will consecutively contrast a conventional, free-of-charge version of Facebook with four hypothetical, privacy-enhanced premium versions of the same service. The privacy-enhanced premium versions will offer (1) restricted data collection on side of the company; (2) enhanced data control for users; and (3) no third party sharing, respectively. A fourth premium version offers full protection of all three privacy aspects. Participants’ valuation of the privacy aspects captured in the premium versions will be quantified measuring willingness-to-pay. Additionally, a psychological test battery will be employed to examine the psychological mechanisms (e.g., privacy concerns, trust, and risk perceptions) underlying the valuation of privacy. Overall, this study will offer insights into valuation of different privacy aspects, thus providing valuable suggestions for economically sustainable privacy enhancements and alternative business models that are beneficial to consumers, businesses, practitioners, and policymakers, alike.

Incentives, both rewards and punishments, are effective instruments that have been embedded in electricity product designs to reduce electricity consumption. Reducing electricity consumption can considerably contribute to climate change mitigation. To better understand consumer preferences for incentive‐based electricity products, a choice experiment using choice‐based conjoint analysis was conducted among a representative sample of Swiss electricity consumers. Based on stated preferences for different product attributes, four consumer segments were identified. While two segments (49.6%) stated preference for incentive‐based products, two other segments were less accepting of incentive components (particularly of penalties). We further explain the segments' preferences using psychographic characteristics, combining measures from psychology and behavioral economics. Precisely, environmental values and emotions, energy saving intentions and motives, perceived product attractiveness, as well as loss and risk aversion, and comparative optimism bias best described the segments. We align our findings with previous segmentation studies and argue for a stronger integration of behavioral economics in the environmental discourse. We further discuss the usefulness of consumer segmentation to develop tailored strategies that effectively target consumers' preferences and needs.

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