Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of brand personality dimensions on purchase intention. Furthermore, the brand personality dimensions are compared to study the differences between users and non-users of 12 brands. Design/methodology/approach – An estimated 400 undergraduate students participated. They were given a questionnaire divided into two sessions (six brands of think products in one session and six brands of feel products in another session). In the end, 313 participants completed the questionnaire on the six brands of think products, and 320 completed the questionnaire on the six brands of feel products. Findings – Multiple regression analysis revealed that Hipness/Vivacity, Success, Sincerity and Sophistication brand personality dimensions are significant predictors of purchase intention. In addition, Domesticity/Emotionality and Professionalism also explain purchase intention but with a negative weight. The results are also broken down into product categories. Compared with non-users of the brands, the users rate the brands higher in all the brand personality dimensions. Practical implications – This paper should prove useful to marketing practitioners to understand how Mexican customers perceive their brands and those of their competitors and, therefore, to understand what competitors of these brands can do to increase purchase intention. Originality/value – The results found regarding purchase intention are important, as they can be used to identify those personality brand dimensions that appear to be most important in explaining consumer preferences.

Maximization of pleasure (hedonicity) is a major mechanism in human decision-making by optimizing behavior, as previous research has shown on both sensory pleasure and purely mental pleasure (such as playing videogames or solving mathematical problems). Our group also documented that pleasure is a major factor in decision-making in social situations related to interpersonal aggression: people tend to make aggressive behavioral decisions as a function of the resulting pleasure. The present study tried to verify whether this trend was also found in inmates. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation on the relationship between pleasure and aggression performed in a prison. Fifty three male inmates in a Spanish prison condemned for severe legal transgressions and serving long detention were compared with seventy five male university students who served as controls. They responded to self-reported questionnaires devised to examine how hedonicity influences decision-making in the case of aggressiveness. Socially conflictive situations were described, with four alternative options ranging from passive to highly aggressive response. A similar bell-shaped trend was present in both populations -aggressive behaviors of medium intensity were rated as significantly less unpleasant than the most passive and most aggressive behaviors-, even though the degree of hedonicity was significantly higher in the inmates, who rated mild and moderate aggressive responses as pleasurable. Inmates also voted for an unexpected lower of aggressiveness than controls, which may be explained by social desirability. Conclusion: the sametrend is found in both populations: mild aggressive behavior may be pleasurable to the aggressor, but only up to a certain level. But this seems to be stronger in inmates: they showed hedonicity when experiencing higher level of aggression. Such a result is consistent with a fundamental role of hedonicity in decision making.

Abstract:To a large degree, humans use pleasure (hedonicity) maximization to guide decision making, thereby optimizing their behaviour, as shown by research on either sensory or purely mental pleasure (e.g., pleasure from video-game playing or mathematical problem-solving). Our group has now found that pleasure determines decision making in situations of interpersonal aggression, i.e., people tend to behave aggressively in proportion to the resulting pleasure. In the present study, two groups of inmates in a Spanish prison were compared: those serving long sentences and those being held in preventive detention. All participants answered self-administered questionnaires that had been devised to examine how hedonicity influences decision making in the case of aggressive behaviour. The questionnaires described social conflict situations and offered four options ranging from a passive response to a highly aggressive response. Previous research showed similar results between inmates serving long terms and a non-delinquent population, even though the degree of hedonicity was higher in the inmates: increasingly aggressive behavior is increasingly pleasurable to the aggressor, but only up to a certain level.. In contrast, this paper shows that inmates in preventive detention did not rate any of the aggressive responses as pleasant. Such a difference was present in males only and may have been caused by a desire for social acceptance.

RESUMENInvestigaciones señalan que la gente suele creer que hombres y mujeres tienen rasgos de personalidad diferentes caracterizando a las mujeres con rasgos "expresivos" y a los varones como "instrumentales". Debido a lo controvertido del tema la presente investigación examina las diferencias sexuales en los rasgos instrumentales y expresivos de 634 adolescentes, con edades comprendidas entre 14 y 18 años, quienes cumplimentaron el Cuestionario de Atributos Personales (Spence, Helmreich y Stapp, 1974). Los resultados muestran diferencias entre sexos en la autoidentificación con los valores tradicionales habitualmente atribuidos al otro sexo al igual que un cambio en los estereotipos de rol sexual, siendo la superación del estereotipo sexista más clara para las chicas quienes se identifican con más rasgos instrumentales.Palabras clave: Instrumentalidad; Expresividad; Diferencias sexuales; Estereotipos de rol sexual ABSTRACT Sex differences in Spaniard adolescents' instrumental and expressive traits Extensive research has shown that people believe that men and women have different personality traits characterizing women with "expressive" traits and men with "instrumental" traits. Because of the controversial nature of this topic, this research examines sex differences in the expressive and instrumental traits of 634 adolescents aged between 14 to 18 years, who answered the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (Spence, Helmreich & Stapp, 1974). The results show sex differences in self-identification with traditional values usually attributed to the other sex, also a change in the sex role stereotypes values, being the overcoming of the sexist stereotype clearer for girls who identified themselves with more instrumental traits.

Spirituality had been acknowledged as a key construct to observe in the treatment and recovery from addictions. Due to the individualistic nature of the construct and overlap with religion, it is still not clear how spirituality influence treatment and recovery of individuals. Different treatments and approaches like AA philosophy or spiritual practices embrace the whole construct to obtain better outcomes in recovery for addictions. The aim of this review was to examine the effects of this construct and its relationship with recovery. A search strategy was followed to retrieve 457 scientific papers related with the matter of study. A total of 14 studies were selected and assessed for quality. Experimental and observational studies were categorised by design, and reviewed through narrative synthesis. Results showed that due to the lack of experimental research, poor quality and diverse conceptions of the construct, spiritual treatments are not more effective than other treatments whereas high levels of spirituality and spiritual practices tend to reduce the substance use outcomes and improve in other areas of recovery. From the findings reviewed which need to be considered with caution, it was concluded that implementing this construct within the therapy or approach may improve, in many cases, to achieve a successful recovery. More research is needed to determine if spiritual-related treatments have better outcomes, and some recommendations were addressed for future research, in addition to an encouragement for the inclusion of spirituality with its diversity into different domains of clinical practice.