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We propose that a positive mood, by signaling that a situation is benign, might allow people to step back and take in the big picture. As a consequence, a positive mood might increase abstract construal and the adoption o! abstract, future goals. In contrast, a negative mood, by signaling not only danger but also its imminence, might focus attention on immediate and proximal concerns and reduce the adoption of abstract, future goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores ridicule as a mechanism through which adolescents exchange information about consumption norms and values. The author finds that adolescents use ridicule to ostracize, haze, or admonish peers who violate consumption norms. Targets and observers learn stereotypes about avoidance-groups, consumption norms of aspirational groups, the use of possessions to communicate social linkages and achieve acceptance goals, and social consequences of nonconformity. As a result, many targets and observers of ridicule alter their perceptions, acquisition, use, and disposition of objects in order to avoid unwanted attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical research provides a qualitative interpretive method uniquely formulated to explain the causes of change through time. As such, it offers considerable potential for expanding our current understanding of inherently dynamic and volatile consumer phenomena. Despite recent interest in interpretive approaches among consumer researchers, the historical consumer behavior literature reveals that this method's potential has not been fully realized. We argue that this underutilization derives from the absence of a full explication of history's methodological assumptions and requirements, which are substantially different from those that have traditionally dominated consumer research. We address this problem by providing a conceptual and methodological review of historical research methods and by demonstrating the application of historical method to the study of change in consumer behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the measurement properties of cognitive age and its relationship both to demographic antecedent variables and to nondemographic consequential variables through the use of a structural modeling framework. Cognitive age is shown to possess unidimensionality and to demonstrate acceptable reliability. Cognitively younger "older" women manifested higher self-confidence and greater fashion interest, were more work oriented, and had greater participation in entertainment and culturally related activities. Contrary to the hypothesis, cognitively younger women were not more socially involved than their cognitively older counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on recent developments in the field of consumer research. He states that a central objective of consumer research is the increased attention to substantive consumer behavioral issues. He mentions that consumer research needs increased emphasis in substantive phenomena. He comments that there are three domains necessary for empirical research: conceptual, substantive, and methodological. He states that researchers need to adopt a more molar (broader) perspective when researching individual decision making and cognitive processes. He comments on his own research into relevance-accessibility models of advertising effectiveness.

This study develops and tests a hierarchical model of advertising effects on viewing time. The ads studied represent a sample of commercials aired during prime-time broadcasts, and the effects are analyzed across the ads rather than across people. Primary emphasis is placed on the attempt to explain a simulated behavioral measure of attention to television commercials--that of channel switching (zapping) and fast-forwarding through ads on prerecorded programs (zipping). In addition, the study demonstrates a chain of effects from the content of television ads, through emotional reactions and attitude toward the ad, to actual viewing behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The differential attention model and the cognitive elaboration model suggest vivid information has certain properties that exert greater influence on attitudinal judgments than does nonvivid information. To test these models, subjects evaluated alternatives described in terms of vivid and nonvivid attributes and elaborated on the material in high and low elaboration conditions. Our results demonstrate disproportionate influence for vivid versus nonvivid attributes included in the same description only in the high elaboration condition. Findings suggest that cognitive elaboration may be a necessary condition to produce an effect for vividness on attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attitudes are hypothetical constructs invented by researchers to explain phenomena of interest. Their appeal reflects the common preference for dispositional explanations. Construal models account for the same phenomena without assuming enduring predispositions and are better suited to accommodate a core requirement of any adaptive system of evaluation, namely, high context sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]