Pure motive
Advertisements impact the physiological efficacy of a branded drug
Emir Kamenica, Robert Naclerio & Anup Malani
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
We conducted randomized clinical trials to examine the impact of direct-to-consumer advertisements on the efficacy of a branded drug. We compared the objectively measured, physiological effect of Claritin (Merck & Co.), a leading antihistamine medication, across subjects randomized to watch a movie spliced with advertisements for Claritin or advertisements for Zyrtec (McNeil), a competitor antihistamine. Among subjects who test negative for common allergies, exposure to Claritin advertisements rather than Zyrtec advertisements increases the efficacy of Claritin. We conclude that branded drugs can interact with exposure to television advertisements.
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Political conservatism and variety-seeking
Daniel Fernandes & Naomi Mandel
Journal of Consumer Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
In this research, we document and explain a counterintuitive effect of political ideology on variety-seeking. Although political conservatives have a higher desire for control, which exerts a negative effect on variety-seeking, they also have a stronger motivation to follow social norms, which exerts a stronger, positive effect on variety-seeking. Three studies demonstrate that conservatism is positively related to variety-seeking due to social normative concerns and rules out an alternative explanation of heightened self-expressive motives among conservatives. This research provides preliminary evidence of how political ideology may explain differences in product choices.
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Glad to be sad, and other examples of benign masochism
Paul Rozin et al.
Judgment and Decision Making, July 2013, Pages 439-447
Abstract:
We provide systematic evidence for the range and importance of hedonic reversals as a major source of pleasure, and incorporate these findings into the theory of benign masochism. Twenty-nine different initially aversive activities are shown to produce pleasure (hedonic reversals) in substantial numbers of individuals from both college student and Mechanical Turk samples. Hedonic reversals group, by factor analysis, into sadness, oral irritation, fear, physical activity/exhaustion, pain, strong alcohol-related tastes, bitter tastes, and disgust. Liking for sad experiences (music, novels, movies, paintings) forms a coherent entity, and is related to enjoyment of crying in response to sad movies. For fear and oral irritation, individuals also enjoy the body's defensive reactions. Enjoyment of sadness is higher in females across domains. We explain these findings in terms of benign masochism, enjoyment of negative bodily reactions and feelings in the context of feeling safe, or pleasure at "mind over body". In accordance with benign masochism, for many people, the favored level of initially negative experiences is just below the level that cannot be tolerated.
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Effort Aversion: Job Choice And Compensation Decisions Overweight Effort
David Comerford & Peter Ubel
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, August 2013, Pages 152-162
Abstract:
The current research proposes that people avoid choosing effortful work even when they predict that it will provide them with a better working experience, a phenomenon we call Effort Aversion. In each of the studies, we presented a choice between an effortless but boring job and an effortful but enjoyable job. Study 1 found that participants were willing to accept lower wages to work at the effortless job, but they preferred the effortful job. This preference reversal is explained by the greater consideration wage setters gave to effort. Study 2 is a consequential lab experiment, in which participants were assigned to work at a job based on the wage they set. Those whose wage demands led them to be assigned to the effortless job experienced lower enjoyment than those who were assigned to the effortful job. Study 3 demonstrates that preference reversal was not attenuated by drawing attention to the hedonic experience afforded by work.
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Robert Baron, Rebecca Franklin & Keith Hmieleski
Journal of Management, forthcoming
Abstract:
While creating and running new ventures, entrepreneurs are exposed to conditions known to generate high levels of stress (e.g., rapid change, unpredictable environments, work overload, personal responsibility for others). Thus, it has been assumed that they often experience intense stress. A markedly different possibility, however, is suggested by Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) theory. This perspective suggests that persons who are attracted by, selected into, and persist in entrepreneurship may be relatively high in the capacity to tolerate or effectively manage stress. In contrast, persons who are relatively low in this capacity tend to exit from entrepreneurship either voluntarily or involuntarily. As a result, founding entrepreneurs as a group are predicted to experience low rather than high levels of stress while running new ventures. Results supported this reasoning: Founding entrepreneurs reported lower levels of stress when compared to participants in a large national survey of perceived stress. Additional findings indicate that entrepreneurs' relatively low levels of stress derive, at least in part, from high levels of psychological capital (a combination of self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience). Psychological capital was negatively related to stress, and stress, in turn, was negatively related to entrepreneurs' subjective well-being. Furthermore, and also consistent with ASA theory, the stress-reducing effects of psychological capital were stronger for older than younger entrepreneurs.
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John Terry et al.
Journal of Community Psychology, September 2013, Pages 902-909
Abstract:
Motivational interviewing (MI) is brief therapy originally designed to motivate adults to change risky or dysfunctional behavior. There is a push to use MI with middle and high school students; however, current research focuses on MI with families or teachers or to support program fidelity. In one of the few randomized studies, Strait et al. (2012) found one MI session produced statistically significant changes in middle school students' math grades and self-reported positive academic behavior. This study replicates Strait et al.'s study by using the exact MI protocol and similar data collection methods. In this study, 49 students were randomly assigned to either an MI (n = 25) or control (n = 24) group. As with the original MI study, there was a positive main effect on math grades. Effect sizes on academic behavioral outcomes were also similar. Independent replication, mechanisms of action research, and better understanding of why the effects are concentrated on math grades are needed.
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Non-cognitive skill formation in poor neighbourhoods of urban India
Pramila Krishnan & Sofya Krutikova
Labour Economics, October 2013, Pages 68-85
Abstract:
Recent labour market research has shown that a good education comprises investment in both cognitive and non-cognitive skills. We examine the impact of a long-term programme designed to raise non-cognitive skills of children and adolescents in slums in Bombay. We use a cross-cutting design with two comparison groups of peers for young adults who have attended the programme until leaving high school to analyse whether, compared to those from a similar environment and background, enrollment in the programme demonstrably raises such skills. We find evidence of substantial impacts on both self-esteem and self-efficacy (of about one standard deviation), as well as evidence of a smaller impact on life evaluation and aspirations. Furthermore, in line with the literature, both self-esteem and self-efficacy are positively related to success in school-leaving examinations and initial labour market outcomes.
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Paul Silvia, Lance Moore & Joseph Nardello
Self and Identity, forthcoming
Abstract:
Theories of effort and self-regulation see quitting as an important part of adaptive behavior. The present experiment examined effort withdrawal at the intersection of two theories: motivational intensity theory, a model of effort regulation, and self-awareness theory, a model of adaptive self-regulation. A sample of young adults worked on a challenging cognitive task that became increasingly hard. Self-focused attention was manipulated using nonconscious first-name priming. When the task was difficult, self-focus increased effort, quantified as systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity; when the task was impossible, all conditions withdrew effort. The findings support the conception of effort withdrawal as an adaptive component of self-regulation and expand on the growing interest in implicit influences on effort.
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Leaving a Legacy Neutralizes Negative Effects of Death Anxiety on Creativity
Daniel Sligte, Bernard Nijstad & Carsten De Dreu
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Mortality salience (MS) can lead to a paralyzing terror, and to cope with this, people strive for literal or symbolic immortality. As MS leads to conformity and narrow-mindedness, we predicted that MS would lead to lower creativity, unless creativity itself could lead to leaving a legacy and thus symbolic immortality. We show that this pattern holds (Experiment 1), but only when creativity is socially valued (Experiment 2). Finally, especially individualistic people are more creative under MS when they can leave a legacy than when they cannot, and high originality predicts subsequent accessibility of death thoughts (Experiment 3). Implications are discussed.
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Reward Sensitivity Is Associated with Brain Activity during Erotic Stimulus Processing
Victor Costumero et al.
PLoS ONE, June 2013
Abstract:
The behavioral approach system (BAS) from Gray's reinforcement sensitivity theory is a neurobehavioral system involved in the processing of rewarding stimuli that has been related to dopaminergic brain areas. Gray's theory hypothesizes that the functioning of reward brain areas is modulated by BAS-related traits. To test this hypothesis, we performed an fMRI study where participants viewed erotic and neutral pictures, and cues that predicted their appearance. Forty-five heterosexual men completed the Sensitivity to Reward scale (from the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire) to measure BAS-related traits. Results showed that Sensitivity to Reward scores correlated positively with brain activity during reactivity to erotic pictures in the left orbitofrontal cortex, left insula, and right ventral striatum. These results demonstrated a relationship between the BAS and reward sensitivity during the processing of erotic stimuli, filling the gap of previous reports that identified the dopaminergic system as a neural substrate for the BAS during the processing of other rewarding stimuli such as money and food.
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Specificity of partner feedback as moderator of group motivation gains in Olympic swimmers
Joachim Hüffmeier, Jens Kanthak & Guido Hertel
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, July 2013, Pages 516-525
Abstract:
Recent research has demonstrated that group motivation gains due to social indispensability are not restricted to the research laboratory but can be found in existing groups performing meaningful tasks. Our own previous research showed that freestyle swimmers at the 2008 Olympics swam faster in the relay than in the individual competition when swimming at the relay's later positions. Using aggregated data of freestyle and medley relays from the final heats of the four most recent Olympic Games, we show that high specificity of information on the partners' performance is a precondition for indispensability effects to occur. As expected, motivation gains in the relay as compared to the individual competition were demonstrated for swimmers at relay positions 2-4, but only in freestyle relays where effort and efficiency of preceding swimmers could be reliably assessed by swimmers. In medley relays, where such feedback is more ambiguous, no motivation gains occurred.
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The Person in the Purchase: Narcissistic Consumers Prefer Products That Positively Distinguish Them
Seung Yun Lee, Aiden Gregg & Seong Hoon Park
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, August 2013, Pages 335-352
Abstract:
Narcissists, who seek keenly to self-enhance, strive to positively distinguish themselves. Might they therefore be inclined to purchase consumer products that enable them to do so? Study 1 found that narcissism, but not self-esteem, predicted dispositions to purchase products for the purpose of promoting personal uniqueness. Studies 2 and 3 found that narcissism predicted greater interest in exclusive, customizable, and personalizable products. Study 3 also found participants higher in narcissism regarded their prized possessions as less likely to be owned by others. Finally, Studies 3 and 4 found that interest in a hypothetical product, respectively, to be bought either for oneself or someone else, covaried with an experimental manipulation of product exclusivity and scarcity, but principally when levels of narcissism were high. Our findings illustrate the impact of narcissism on consumer preferences and support an agentic interpretation of narcissistic self-enhancement.