The present research is concerned with cognitive effects of habitually regulated primary motives. Specifically, two experiments tested the idea that feelings of thirst enhance the cognitive accessibility of, or readiness to perceive, action-relevant stimuli. In a task allegedly designed to assess mouth-detection skills, some participants were made to feel thirsty, whereas others were not. Results showed that participants who were made thirsty responded faster to drinking-related items in a lexical decision task, and performed better on an incidental recall task of drinking-related items, relative to no-thirst control participants. These results suggest that basic needs and motives, such as thirst, causes a heightened perceptual readiness to environmental cues that are instrumental in satisfying these needs.
In times of a high-impact safety incident citizens may have a variety of sources available to help them cope with the situation. This research focuses on the interplay of efficacy information in risk communication messages and peer feedback, such as responses on social network sites (SNSs) in the context of a high-impact risk on the intention to engage in self-protective behavior. The study pitted high and low efficacy information messages against supporting and opposing peer feedback (N = 242). Results show a significant interaction effect between efficacy information in a news article and peer feedback from SNS messages on both the intention to engage in self-protective behavior and levels of involvement. Participants who received the article with more efficacy information and also received supportive peer feedback via SNS messages were more likely to express higher levels of involvement and greater intentions to engage in protective behavior. When confronted with a low efficacious news article, the effect of peer feedback on these two variables was significantly stronger. Finally, implications for theory and government risk communication are discussed.
As consumers increasingly turn to luxury brands and associated benefits, brand managers face the question how to convey luxury perceptions via marketing communications such as packaging and advertising design. Inspired by theories addressing embodied cognition and symbolic meaning portrayal, this paper argues that visual cues inspiring verticality perceptions (i.e., camera angle and advertising background orientation) affect luxury perceptions and, consequently, consumer evaluations and price expectations. Across three experiments, verticality cues fostered perceptions of product luxury but differentially affected price expectations and purchase considerations depending on product type. Moreover, findings show that effects of vertical orientation are more pronounced for participants high on sociable dominance. Implications of these findings for visual brand management are discussed.
This paper addresses effects of picture–text congruence in the online environment on consumer response. Based on recent theorizing on processing fluency, it is argued that congruence among symbolic meanings connoted by pictorial and textual elements of web design increases processing fluency, in turn enhancing attitude formation. Since symbolic meaning integration requires elaborate processing, the influence of individual differences reflecting consumers’ information processing is discussed and predictions are formulated. An experimental study was conducted requiring participants to evaluate an online hotel booking site in which symbolic meanings connoted by hotel appearance and hotel description either matched or mismatched. Results show that picture–text congruence positively affects product attitude via processing fluency but only so for participants high in need for cognition. These findings indicate that picture–text congruence in web design may impact consumer response, thereby highlighting the importance of careful consideration of the online environment.
This research is designed to provide insight into the psychological (e.g., threat appraisal or coping appraisal) and other determinants (e.g., information quality judgments or demographics) of risk information seeking or avoidance in times of an acute risk, as part of the process of increasing public resilience through adherence to risk mitigating advice. Data were collected via telephone interviews. A specialized agency interviewed 1,000 Dutch citizens, randomly confronted with one of eight fictitious, but realistic, acute risk and emergency situations. Results indicate that information seeking in an acute situation is anticipated by a less elaborate set of predictors (age and risk perception) than information seeking in a nonacute situation (age and risk perception, as well as educational level and social norm). Although risk perception is a predictor for risk information seeking, its predictive value for acute-risk-related behavior, as one might have assumed based on theories such as protection motivation theory (PMT) or the extended parallel process model (EPPM), appears to be limited. Implications for risk communication are discussed.
Purpose
Detecting deviant behaviours that precede and are related to crimes can help prevent these crimes. Research suggests that the psychological mindset of wrongdoers may differ from others, such that they are more anxious, self‐focussed, and vigilant. As a result, their responses to environmental cues, specifically those that signal risk of exposure, may differ.
Method
In two randomized controlled trials, participants with high (vs. low) cognitive load walked a pre‐defined route to carry out a hostile or non‐hostile task. En route, participants were exposed to a strong (vs. mild) cue from a security officer (Study 1), or a cue (vs. no cue) resembling police walkie‐talkie static noise (Study 2). Participants filled out a questionnaire measuring psychological constructs. Reactions during the task were recorded and presented to independent observers to determine the participants’ intent.
Results
Participants with high (vs. low) cognitive load who were exposed to a strong (vs. mild or no) cue while carrying out their task were more often correctly identified by observers as either innocent or hostile based on their behaviour. Analysis of the questionnaire revealed that the experience of hostile intentions is related to anxiety, inhibitory control of anxiety, activation control of normal behaviour, and to other relevant constructs which may explain why cues that signal risk of exposure can improve the detection accuracy of individuals with hostile intentions.
Conclusion
These studies show that cues that signal risk of exposure can improve the detection of wrongdoers and the role of self‐regulation in the suppression of anxiety and deviant behaviours.
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