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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to establish a readiness for entrepreneurship theoretical framework. The paper marks the first of three stages to build a scale to measure readiness for entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach – The current paper is conceptual. The research approach consists of formulating proposals and definitions based on an extensive literature review. Findings – The literature review reveals that no such readiness for entrepreneurship measurement tool exists. The literature review also yields definitions and components of key concepts for the theoretical framework. Research limitations/implications – The paper offers a new, holistic perspective of readiness for entrepreneurship. This research addresses measurement of readiness for entrepreneurship from a rigorous, scientific approach. The main limitation lies in capturing and organizing extensive information on topics from diverse disciplines (i.e. sociology, psychology, and business management). Practical implications – This theoretical framework enables the design and creation of a scale to measure readiness for entrepreneurship. The literature review confirmed the possibility of building such a measurement scale. Social implications – A complex tool able to identify and measure readiness for entrepreneurship would be applicable in numerous situations including the following: determining entrepreneurial abilities, analyzing potential for entrepreneurship, simulating organizational transformations, and evaluating investment recommendations. Originality/value – No holistic, scientifically grounded tool to measure readiness for entrepreneurship exists, yet there are numerous entrepreneurial capacity tests with no rigorous scientific grounding. As a remedy, this paper provides solid scientific foundations upon which to develop an instrument for measuring readiness for entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How attitude gets formed in human psychology is basic point of discussion of the paper. For background scenario of it, regarding its description & all, consumer marketing has been taken as the consideration point/field. Consumer behaviour is what on experiencing a proposition of consumer marketing is to be measured by attitude construction. From a proposition (product or service) introduction to a behavioural attitude - this entire process of attitude must go through forming of attitude clusters in the decisive cognition. The paper has described these clusters through methodological 'quantitatively modelling' way which is by approaches like emphasis of attitude variables & their related combination possibility. Entire study is academic & at present, at theoretical level. Also, variables of a marketing programme to persuade a proposition before consumers are discussed on fundamental ways that the interaction happens (as a function or process). The study, in all, would facilitate the study of attitude research into aspects of quantitative estimation & approach. Entire study has ultimately led into determination of field based attitude outcomes (by emphasis-combination analogy); the field could be a market, marketing or any proposition that a prospect experiences his/her attitude level in consumer marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have documented that many consumers have positive attitudes towards responsible products but do not consistently buy these alternatives. In this paper we present a new perspective, based on categorisation theory, to examine the attitude-behaviour gap. Through a qualitative study, we identify two dimensions that influence consumers' categorisation of ethical products: (1) construing the decision as altruistic or self-interested and (2) perceiving the context of the behaviour as private or public. Using these dimensions to assess the consumption situation, consumers construe four types of responsible purchase that rest on different motivations. Analysing the categorisation process allows a more nuanced understanding of the potential reasons that underpin the attitude-behaviour gap. We show that the inconsistency between words and deeds has different explanations depending on the frame applied by consumers to the decision, and suggest that a deeper understanding of framing processes is necessary for the development of more effective marketing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the results of a research on attitude of students of University of Ilorin, Nigeria towards computer based test (CBT). The case study research was adopted to collect the sample of undergraduate students from various faculties of the university. A computer based test attitudinal survey (CBTAS) was used to collect the data. It was found that respondents showed positive attitude towards CBT and preferred CBT over pencil tests. It was also revealed that respondents demonstrated a perception of increase in learning and performance by taking a CBT/examination. Several problems encountered were shortage of computers, loss of data while writing CBT, and slow network.

This article, prepared for the 75th-anniversary issue of Public Opinion Quarterly, observes some trends in the articles published in the journal from 2002 to 2008 and examines marked shifts brought about by changes in academic publishing. Methodological publication trends include a major focus on nonresponse in sample surveys and mode of survey administration. Trends in substantive articles include a focus on homosexuality and gay rights, on public opinion–policy linkage, and on historical analysis of public opinion. Changes in publishing led to fully electronic manuscript processing and publication, space for supplementary content, and a fully accessible electronic archive containing all issues of the journal. These developments and a new AAPOR-publisher relationship enable POQ to better fulfill its mission to advance the field of public opinion research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

What theories explain variation in public opinion toward asylum seekers? We implement a survey experiment in which a representative sample of German residents evaluates vignettes of asylum seekers, which randomly vary attributes that speak to deservingness, economic and religious threat, and gender considerations of attitude formation. We find strong support for deservingness theories. Economic and religious threat theories also receive empirical support. Gender plays a negligible role. Importantly, we also document that economic and—to a lesser extent—religious threat considerations only matter when respondents evaluate economic refugees. By contrast, political refugees are welcomed nearly unconditionally. Our paper thus replicates key findings from Bansak, Hainmueller, and Hangartner (2016) and Czymara and Schmidt-Catran (2016) using a representative sample and points to an important interaction effect in public opinion formation toward asylum seekers: economic threat only gets activated when refugees' deservingness is in doubt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To permit exploration of the development of attitudes in a group decision support system environment, eight groups of four and five persons each met in a computer-supported conference room over a period of two months. Each group addressed two strategic planning tasks, meeting for a total of eight two-hour sessions. The computer support provided was Software-Aided Meeting Management (SAMM), a system designed to support common group needs such as problem identification, alternatives generation, and alternatives evaluation. Groups were permitted to use or not use SAMM, according to their own perceived needs. Members' attitudes toward the group decision process and their perceptions of meeting quality were assessed after each meeting. As part of an academic course in which they were enrolled, the groups were required to submit a detailed report of their plans for each task; the plans were evaluated by the course instructor. Results suggested two patterns of adoption of SAMM: (1) groups that accepted the technology and used it throughout their meetings, and (2) groups that discarded the technology and ceased to use it. This paper discusses attitudinal development in these two types of groups and explores the relationship between attitudes and the quality of group planning in the SAMM environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores why certain adults are, or at least consider themselves to be, more ironic than others. The study looked at comprehension and application of irony compared to subjective affective evaluation of irony reported by Polish-speaking adults and with relation to nonverbal intelligence measured with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised-Polish versions (WAIS-R(PL), 2004). Fifty-four subjects aged 20-66 years (28 females and 26 males) participated in Study 1 on subjective perception of irony. The comprehension, emotional valence and social functions of ironic meanings as well as the degree to which subjects perceived themselves as ironic were assessed through a self-report questionnaire. Inter-correlations were performed and related to the performance quotient (IQ) which was measured in Study 2, where 45 (24 females and 21 males) out of the 54 participants were tested with performance subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised-Polish versions (WAIS-R(PL), 2004). The nonverbal intelligence scale was administered. Performance on nonverbal intelligence tests is not limited by language abilities and its analysis and can be considered important for future cultural comparative studies. Subjects who perceived themselves as ironic showed a higher nonverbal IQ in comparison to subjects who described themselves as non-ironic or barely ironic. The pragmatic qualities of irony were analyzed for their affective valuation and balanced for gender. Individual differences and gender effects in the perception of the social functions of ironic utterances were found. The paper describes the implicit emotional layer conveyed in irony and its importance in irony processing and comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the causes and implications of potential negative consumer response to music in broadcast commercials. It aims to accomplish this by introducing a new consumer response variable, attitude toward the advertising music (Aam) and relating Aam's components to advertising goals. It also aims to propose that Aam is a significant component of attitude toward the ad (Aad). Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of an integrative review of the relevant literatures in the psychology of music, consumer marketing, and advertising to formulate Aam. Findings – Favorable Aam is a necessary but insufficient condition for favorable Aad in ads employing music. Furthermore, a negative Aam might cause a negative Aad. Given the numerous possible negative responses to music in a TV or radio commercial, achieving a favorable Aam among most target audience members is very challenging, especially when music-message fit is lacking. Practical implications – The paper offers cautionary advice for advertisers using music and directions for future research. Originality/value – The paper provides a novel integration of literatures in psychology and marketing/advertising. Whereas most scholars and practitioners assume that music adds value to commercials, the authors demonstrate key ways in which music can cause adverse listener reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how attitudes and subjective norms predict channel migration across the three channels based on the theory of reasoned action (TRA). Design/methodology/approach – A self-administered questionnaire was administered to the participants comprised of staff, faculty, and students from four different universities in the southern and midwestern USA. The survey instrument was administered online and a total of 503 completed surveys were obtained. Findings – TRA was successful in predicting channel-migration intention in brick-and-mortar stores, catalogues, and the internet. Utilitarian beliefs were more relevant in predicting attitude toward channel migration for all three channels. Normative beliefs for bricks-and-mortar stores and catalogues were significant in predicting subjective norms, the relationship was negative. Attitude and subjective norms were the predictors of the channel-migration intention for all three channels. Research limitations/implications – These findings may not be generalizable to the study population because the sample was restricted to a small area. Additionally, the survey was administered online, which made it difficult to calculate the response rate. Originality/value – The paper adds insights into the subject by examining channel-migration behaviour using TRA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Celebrating the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), this paper presents results of two exploratory surveys taken in the province of Manitoba, Canada in January to March 2008. A random sample of 506 adults completed a mailed out questionnaire designed to measure respondents' knowledge, attitudes and behaviours concerning the basic themes of the UN Decade. In the same period, a convenience sample of 294 students in grades 6-12 in four schools was surveyed based on a simplified version of the same questionnaire. Using these two datasets, we constructed somewhat crude standardized tests and showed that for students and adults, having attitudes favourable to ESD/SD is relatively more influential than age, levels of education and knowledge for behaviours favourable to ESD/SD. The differences are that (1) gender was most influential for the student samples, while favourable attitudes were most influential for the adult samples; and (2) while attitudes were practically equally influential to knowledge (though numerically more influential) for the student sample, attitudes were vastly more influential than education for the adult samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on two experiments challenging the common assumption that events with objective probabilities constitute a unique source of uncertainty. We find that, similar to the domain of ambiguity, the domain of risk is rich in the sense that behavior is systematically different when subjects face risky bets based on simple or more complex events. Furthermore, we find a tight association between attitudes toward complex risky bets and attitudes toward both ambiguity and compound lotteries. These results raise questions about the characterization of ambiguity aversion and the modeling of decisions under uncertainty. This paper was accepted by James Smith, decision analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an attempt to gain differentiation, companies are allocating resources to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. At the same time, they are giving consumers a more active role in the process of creating value. In this sense, consumer participation represents a new approach to gain competitive advantage. However, the effectiveness of consumer participation in CSR campaigns still remains unknown. With the purpose of shedding light on this issue, this paper shows that participatory CSR campaigns lead to greater consumer perceptions of CSR, which in turn results in more favorable attitudes toward the company. Furthermore, the effect is stronger for sensory pleasure seekers, whose involvement with the experience is greater. The findings contribute to the CSR literature and reveal important implications for marketers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of the paper is to present the results of research concerning psychological and socio-cultural risk factors for development of negative anti-health (that is too restrictive and compensatory) attitude toward one's body in young Polish women. The study comprised 120 women, of 20 to 25 years of age, with similar socio-demographic status (marital status, living and having been brought up in multi-generation families) who so far in the course of their lives have not disclosed mental or somatic disturbances (having accompanying manifestations of body image distortion). The theoretical theses for the research model were the contemporary cognitive concepts (multifactor models of body image dissatisfaction), as well as socio-cultural concepts. The following have been used in the study: thematic drawings (body images), the Contour Drawing Rating Scale (CDRS) developed by - developed by Thompson & Gray, the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) created by D. Garner (Polish version developed by C. Żechowski), The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire 3 (SATAQ 3), and questionnaire for behaviour towards the body (KZWC - Kwestionariusz Zachowań Wobec Ciała) (author's own tool). The results confirmed the existence of negative attitude toward one's own body, as well as development of inclinations for compensation-generating behaviour (application of various cleansing means and methods to change body weight and body image, which are disadvantageous for health). A group of risk factors has been identified, which may lead to the development of the above attitudes and behaviours toward one's body in healthy women, who at the same time do not accept the image of their real bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The design of a method to induce emotions in children from 6 to 11 years old based on the interaction with a robot in a Wizard of Oz scenario. • The analysis of the emotional content obtained from the recorded sessions. • The analysis of the reliability of the labeling based on the measurement of the agreement between the raters. In this paper, we describe the process that we used to create a new corpus of children's emotional speech. We used a Wizard of Oz (WoZ) setting to induce different emotional reactions in children during speech-based interactions with two robots. We recorded the speech spoken in Mexican Spanish by 174 children (both sexes) between 6 and 11 years of age. The recordings were manually segmented and transcribed. The segments were then labeled with two types of emotional-related paralinguistic information: emotion and attitude. The corpus contained 2093 min of audio recordings (34.88 h) divided into 19,793 speech segments. The Interactive Emotional Children's Speech Corpus (IESC-Child) can be a valuable resource for researchers studying affective reactions in speech communication during child-computer interactions in Spanish and for creating models to recognize acoustic paralinguistic information. IESC-Child is available to the research community upon request. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exploration of public attitudes toward animal research is important given recent developments in animal research (e.g., increasing creation and use of genetically modified animals, and plans for progress in areas such as personalized medicine), and the shifting relationship between science and society (i.e., a move toward the democratization of science). As such, public engagement on issues related to animal research, including exploration of public attitudes, provides a means of achieving socially acceptable scientific practice and oversight through an understanding of societal values and concerns. Numerous studies have been conducted to explore public attitudes toward animal use, and more specifically the use of animals in research. This paper reviews relevant literature using three categories of influential factors: personal and cultural characteristics, animal characteristics, and research characteristics. A critique is given of survey style methods used to collect data on public attitudes, and recommendations are given on how best to address current gaps in public attitudes literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past years have seen an increasing debate on cooperation and its unique human character. Philosophers and psychologists have proposed that cooperative activities are characterized by shared goals to which participants are committed through the ability to understand each other's intentions. Despite its popularity, some serious issues arise with this approach to cooperation. First, one may challenge the assumption that high-level mental processes are necessary for engaging in acting cooperatively. If they are, then how do agents that do not possess such ability (preverbal children, or children with autism who are often claimed to be mind-blind) engage in cooperative exchanges, as the evidence suggests? Secondly, to define cooperation as the result of two de-contextualized minds reading each other's intentions may fail to fully acknowledge the complexity of situated, interactional dynamics and the interplay of variables such as the participants' relational and personal history and experience. In this paper we challenge such accounts of cooperation, calling for an embodied approach that sees cooperation not only as an individual attitude toward the other, but also as a property of interaction processes. Taking an enactive perspective, we argue that cooperation is an intrinsic part of any interaction, and that there can be cooperative interaction before complex communicative abilities are achieved. The issue then is not whether one is able or not to read the other's intentions, but what it takes to participate in joint action. From this basic account, it should be possible to build up more complex forms of cooperation as needed. Addressing the study of cooperation in these terms may enhance our understanding of human social development, and foster our knowledge of different ways of engaging with others, as in the case of autism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the measurement of trust transfer in interpersonal contexts. Despite the importance of this topic, little evidence of comparable indicators exists to fill the current gap in knowledge regarding the measurement of interpersonal transference of trust and its reciprocal. We propose a modification of the classical structure of a widely accepted experimental setting for analyzing trust (i.e. a trust game) and build two indexes for the measurement of trust transfer and its reciprocation. Several properties of these indicators are investigated to examine their robustness and accuracy for measuring the transference of interpersonal trust. Furthermore, using data from our own modified trust game, we provide an empirical examination of both indexes. The results show that the existence of a mutually known third party fosters a stronger willingness to achieve cooperative behavior in an anonymous trust game; thus, the transference of interpersonal trust works in both directions of the dyad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every day, thousands of polls, surveys, and rating scales are employed to elicit the attitudes of humankind. Given the ubiquitous use of these instruments, it seems we ought to have firm answers to what is measured by them, but unfortunately we do not. To help remedy this situation, we present a novel approach to investigate the nature of attitudes. We created a self-transforming paper survey of moral opinions, covering both foundational principles, and current dilemmas hotly debated in the media. This survey used a magic trick to expose participants to a reversal of their previously stated attitudes, allowing us to record whether they were prepared to endorse and argue for the opposite view of what they had stated only moments ago. The result showed that the majority of the reversals remained undetected, and a full 69% of the participants failed to detect at least one of two changes. In addition, participants often constructed coherent and unequivocal arguments supporting the opposite of their original position. These results suggest a dramatic potential for flexibility in our moral attitudes, and indicates a clear role for self-attribution and post-hoc rationalization in attitude formation and change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of public opinion polls in electoral democracy is undeniable because, for good or for bad, they affect, in part, the kinds of laws and policies elected officials enact. But the voices measured in polls are not perfectly representative of their populations of interest. More precisely, polls generally sing with a more “knowledgeable” accent than those they represent because of the greater tendency of the less knowledgeable to remain silent. This distortion, however, can be palliated by providing conditions more propitious to attitude development. By relying on survey-experiments conducted in Brazil and in the U.S., I present evidence that inducing people to think more carefully before answering attitude questions reduces substantially the likelihood of the less knowledgeable, which compose most of the Brazilian and American populations, to express a nonopinion response. Thus providing people with greater opportunity to think about politics—something most of them do not do very frequently—makes for more representative measures of public opinion. But the analyses also suggest that increased thought induces greater uncertainty or ambivalence among the most knowledgeable. As a whole, this paper improves our understanding on how people come to develop political attitudes and on the conditions that lead to greater attitude uncertainty or ambivalence. It also carries important lessons and implications for survey design more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chris Heathwood has recently put forward a novel and ingenious argument against the view that intrinsic value is analyzable in terms of fitting attitudes. According to Heathwood, this view holds water only if the related but distinct concept of welfare--intrinsic value for a person--can be analyzed in terms of fitting attitudes too. Moreover, he argues against such an analysis of welfare by appealing to the rationality of our bias towards the future. In this paper, I argue that so long as we keep the tenses and the intrinsic/extrinsic distinction right, the fitting-attitudes analysis of welfare can be shown to survive Heathwood's criticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a national CVM survey administered in combination with a psychometric scale on pro-social environmental attitudes to test for non-economic motivations for WTP. The multi-item scale measures biospheric,altruistic, and egoistic motives, and analyzes their association with rights-based (deontological) and consequential (utilitarian) ethics. I test hypotheses concerning the existence of distinct value orientations,and the relationships between attitudes, ethics, protest bids, and WTP. Contrary to some recent claims based upon convenience samples, environmental attitudes are found to be significant in explaining intended WTP; this is associated with an egoistic motive and rights-based, rather than consequential, beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results obtained following the nondestructive ultrasonic testing of crankpin shaft of a crankshaft that were reconditioned by welding. After the ultrasonic testing, the reconditioned samples were cut and subjected to visual testing and microstructure examination. When the results obtained following the nondestructive tests were analyzed, it was observed that the ultrasonic nondestructive testing method is an efficient way to determine the conformity of the areas that were reconditioned by welding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development paradigm involves a shift of attitude and, therefore, Education for Sustainable Development, supposed to have a transformative role, must aim this purpose: to help human being to overcome his selfish condition, to think and to act responsibly, motivated by sympathy, as Adam Smith wrote in "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", and solidarity with present and future generations. This is not an easy task, as the neo-classical paradigm works mainly under the principles of competition and profit seeking. Economic development is important and professional skills are needed, but the current higher educational system, based on specialisation and employability, must be rethought taking into account humanistic values and principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unsustainable land-use decisions and agricultural practices have become the key drivers of deteriorating watershed services in developing countries. However, landholders may have little or no incentives to take these impacts into account in their decision-making process. In recent years, reward-based provision of environmental services has emerged as an important market-based incentive for motivating landholders to adopt environmentally friendly land-use changes and agricultural practices. In this regard, for instance, the Pro-Poor Rewards for Environmental Services in Africa (PRESA) project has emerged as a large network to support and facilitate reward mechanisms in Africa. However, in many African rural settings, little is known about landholder attitudes and preferences related to the alternative land-management schemes. Using locally identified sets of six key land-management attributes, this paper applies conjoint methods to evaluate landholder preferences towards alternative land-management schemes aimed at enhancing the provision of watershed services in the River Kapingazi catchment in central Kenya. Data were collected from primary sources through focus groups and a questionnaire based conjoint survey. Three conjoint models were used; a traditional conjoint ratings model, a binary logit model, and an ordered logit model. Results from the focus groups indicated that shortage of water for both domestic use and irrigation was perceived as the most acute environmental problem in the area. Deforestation, poor river bank management and agricultural practices were identified as the major causes of the problem. Results from conjoint models show that the three principal attributes influencing landholder’s ratings and probability of adopting the proposed land management options were ‘size of land area to be committed’, ‘length of contract period’, and ‘granting or prohibiting rights to harvest environmental products from the committed land’. Thus, these attributes should be the focal points in designing land-management contract for watershed services in the study area. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article examines what aspects influence an individual’s moral attitudes on topics such as infidelity. This paper attests that those attitudes can be formed due to abstract principles such as religious ideals, yet can also be influenced by the individual’s relational experience. Using a sample group of American adults between the ages of 57 and 85, the author tests a series of hypotheses about attitudes toward infidelity and concludes that distinct differences emerge when the scenarios surrounding acts of infidelity involve greater moral ambiguity. These results are discussed in relation to the dual-process theory posited by the social theorist Stephen Vaisey.

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges confronting the international community requiring action to achieve deep cuts in carbon emissions. The implementation of potentially uncomfortable but necessary policy measures is, though, critically dependent upon public acceptability. This paper reports a novel application of stated preference techniques to explore the influence of key design attributes on the acceptability of a personal carbon trading scheme in isolation and when compared to a carbon tax. Illustrative forecasts from the models developed indicate the importance of design attributes, especially the basis of the initial permit allocation for personal carbon trading and the use to which revenues are put for carbon tax. Results indicate that the “best” scheme designs could be acceptable to a majority of respondents. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Attitude research in accounting has utilized numerous methodologies to study various topics of interest. However, the substantiation of the research techniques sometimes leaves a void which obscures the results, This paper presents a model which, if followed, allows for reliability and validity tests to be conducted which provide for acceptance of the attitude scales as viable measurement and theoretical research methods. When acceptable instruments are employed, the concepts tested can then enhance the goal of theoretical advancement. The instrument-issue controversy is dealt with through a review of attitude research in accounting. Positive comments and constructive criticisms are made. The "so-what" question of construct validity is analyzed: does it really matter if accounting attitude research is undertaken ? The implication is that if the researcher does not consider the guidelines of the attitude model, the "so-what" issue may negate the potential contribution of such research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates beliefs that players of digital games hold toward the practice of in-game advertising (IGA), referred to as "attitudes toward in-game advertising" (AttIGA). The hedonic nature of IGA is the strongest, positive predictor of AttIGA. Beliefs about IGA as a means to lower games' prices contribute positively, and beliefs about fostering materialism. contribute negatively to AttIGA. Further, the relative importance of the belief factors determining AttIGA relates to the playing frequency of role-playing games and racing games. The results contribute to theory building and practical considerations of digital games as an important yet underutilized advertising medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of mood on ad processing was examined by orthogonally manipulating valence (positive versus negative) and arousal (moderate versus high). Measures of signal detection were used to provide evidence of the level (deep versus shallow) and nature (schematic versus data-driven) of processing. Results indicate that the arousal and valence dimensions of mood differentially affect ad processing, with arousal affecting the level of processing and valence influencing the nature of processing. The processing level was more shallow when the arousal level was high rather than moderate. Positive valence was associated with the greater use of schematic processing, whereas negative valence was associated with the greater use of data-driven processing. These results were obtained even when covarying out the effect of arousal and valence at ad retrieval. Therefore, the effects are attributable to the impact of the two dimensions of mood at encoding (i.e., during ad processing) versus ad retrieval (i.e., when responding to the questionnaires). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the effects of evaluative inconsistencies in product attribute information on the strength of the resultant attitude, as manifested in its predictive ability. The existing literature makes opposing predictions regarding the effects of information inconsistency on attitude strength. We seek to resolve this dilemma by investigating the likelihood of inconsistency reconciliation—that is, whether or not people elaborate on inconsistencies with the goal of achieving an integrated evaluation. A strengthening effect should result when the processing goal is conducive to reconciliation and goal-facilitating factors are present in the environment; however, a weakening effect should be obtained when conditions are unfavorable to inconsistency reconciliation. Results from three experiments provide support for this conceptualization and offer a possible resolution of the opposing theoretical perspectives present in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Introduction: Family medicine physicians are first contact of patients in the community and their role in treating mental health is highly recommended. The aim of the current study is to assess attitudes towards psychiatry among doctors enrolled in master degree in family medicine in Gezira University before and after training in psychiatry. Methods: This study was a quantitative cross-sectional study with two stages – pre- and post-psychiatry training. It has included one batch of master students of family medicine at Gezira University, Sudan. The whole master program lasts for 18 months, of which 3 weeks are dedicated to psychiatry training. All students in the batch were invited to participate in both stages – before and after psychiatric training. Result: 31 students participated in the study, 35.5% of them were males (N = 11). Mean age was 39.4 (SD ± 5.34) and mean number of years after graduation was 13.3 (SD ± 4.96). 26 students (83.9%) earned Attitudes Toward Psychiatry (ATP) scores >90, which indicates a positive attitude. The ATP mean score for all participants was 104.26 (SD ± 12.56). The least score was 79 while the maximum was 130. Doctors' attitudes toward psychiatry became more positive after psychiatric training and this difference was statistically significant (P value = 0.038) and this was found to be statistically significant only among participants below age of 40 years and those who have been graduated less than 15 years ago. Conclusion: Psychiatric training for family physicians in training was associated with significant improvement in attitudes towards psychiatry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racial attitudes are multidimensional, and the corresponding picture we get from survey data on racial attitudes is complex. Tracing the results of major national surveys that provide trends over at least 10 years, and with at least three time points (primarily the General Social Survey and the National Election Studies), this article reveals that complexity. Some survey questions show dramatic changes in support of racial equality, while others reveal stagnation or even increasing negativity or disinterest. The article also describes the differences between whites and blacks in patterns and trends. Although compared to some issues, the survey record on racial attitudes is robust and lengthy, we draw attention to important ways in which it is uneven. We conclude by highlighting areas for future research that focus on improved survey measures that will capture more fully the complexity of contemporary public opinion on racial matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A meta-analysis of pairwise relationships involving attitude toward the ad was conducted. Analyses of correlations across studies are first analyzed and reported. Because significant variance across studies was found, moderator analyses were conducted to account for interstudy variance. The results suggest a number of methodological variables that moderate the strengths of relationships found in studies of ad attitudes. Analyses were also conducted to assess the robustness of the dual-mediation path model of the effects of ad attitudes. Results indicate support for the model as well as a more important role for the indirect influence of ad attitudes on brand attitudes (via brand cognitions) than that found in previous model tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attitudes toward a number of products and the accessibility of those attitudes as indicated by the latency of response to an attitudinal inquiry were assessed. Subjects with highly accessible attitudes toward a given product displayed greater attitude-behavior correspondence than did those with relatively less accessible attitudes. Furthermore, subjects with less accessible attitudes displayed more sensitivity to the salience afforded a product by its position in the front row, as opposed to the back row, than did subjects with more accessible attitudes. The implications of these data for a model of the process by which attitudes guide behavior are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Econometric techniques are used to test in a nonlinear fashion a model built around the learning subsystem of the Howard-Sheth theory of buyer behavior. Findings of nonlinearities (including interactions) are shown to improve the R2s to be generally consistent with the theory, and to provide researchers with hypotheses to be tested in other purchase situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a discussion on an experiment that examined an attitude change model which related change in cognitive structure to attitude change. In this experiment, subjects were provided with information about nine different attributes of a fictitious brand of laundry detergent. The information was constructed so that different groups of subjects would form different cognitive structures, as measured by the constructs of Fishbein's Attitude Mode, toward the brand. The author notes that the attitude was not changed by the experiment; however, it was formed by the various manipulations.

In this article the author addresses criticism over a study he conducted that examined attitude change. The author provides a summary of the critique noting that the authors felt key relationships were not explored or fully explained. They suggested that behavior change may precede, rather than follow, attitude change. He notes that attitude change through active participation has been research and is not a novel idea, adding that self-perception theory, dissonance theory and impression management theory have all been influenced by this notion.

This article presents information on the examination of two laboratory tests of the extended Fishbein attitude model. The objective of the two experiments undertaken in the study was to manipulate subjects' beliefs and evaluations of a fictitious laundry detergent. Although the Fishbein formulation suggests attitude is a determinant of behavior, behavior may also precede the formation of beliefs and attitudes. Involvement theory predicts that attitude formation can follow behavior under conditions of low person-product involvement. Cognitive dissonance and attribution theory also predict that attitudes and beliefs can change after a purchase decision or commitment to purchase or not purchase.

The nature of innovativeness, and its relationship to adoption, are explored in this article. It is argued that innovativeness should be conceptualized at a higher level of abstraction, and that explicit recognition should be given to the complex communication processes intervening between this construct and observable behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method is proposed for determining the best possible fit that can be obtained by rescaling the multiplicative components of multiattribute attitude models. This optimal scaling approach is illustrated on both cross-sectional and intra-individual data. It is concluded that valid comparisons between the performance of competing multiattribute attitude models must be made between optimally-scaled versions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in attitude research include a general class of "expectancy-value" models which allow both prediction and diagnosis of attitude. The present research undertakes a validation study of one form of the ExV model, and presents an illustrative diagnosis of student attitudes toward a career in advertising. The model is found to exhibit a satisfactory degree of validity and offers promise for the formulation of communication strategies, whether in the recruiting of new employees or in the marketing of goods and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimating the likelihood of future events is a critical aspect of making a variety of marketing management decisions. Prior research has shown very robust patterns in the probability assessments of individuals, the predominant finding being that individuals are overconfident. The author theoretically investigates why overconfidence occurs by drawing on prior work on how cognitions are used in decisions. Specifically, the effects of evaluative feedback, counterfactual reasoning, and expertise are explored in two experiments in the context of making strategic marketing predictions. The findings provide some novel insights on overconfidence and accuracy of predictions. They suggest that (1) "humbling" feedback increases accuracy and lowers overconfidence, (2) overconfidence from being "blind sided" can be reduced by counterfactual reasoning, and (3) "richness" of experts' mental representations results in higher overconfidence. The authors concludes with a discussion of these findings and managerial implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effect of employee commitment on individuals' nonwork and career satisfactions. Data on public employees' attitudes indicated that the individual consequences of employee commitment are positive, supporting the notion that psychological attachment to a work organization yields personal benefits for individuals. These results contradict the notion that people necessarily pay a high personal price for high levels of employee commitment and caution against viewing psychological attachment as a zero-sum phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three replicate regressions of three independently drawn U. S. national samples reveal few significant sex differences among white workers for 13 reported determinants of job satisfaction when the effects of a number of other variables are held constant. The absence of significant sex differences in overall level of job satisfaction reported in numerous national surveys, despite women's typically lower job prestige and wages, is explained as the intervening influence of a discrepancy for employed women between the objective conditions and their subjective evaluations of work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A probability sample survey (n = 1,041) explored the relationship of both work-related and extra-workplace variables to four subjective quality of life measures: life satisfaction, life satisfaction over time, job satisfaction, and evaluation of health. The interrelationships among these four measures were also examined. A conceptual model relating job satisfaction to life satisfaction was offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics or SATS was administered for three consecutive years to students in an Introductory Statistics course at Cornell University. Questions requesting demographic information and expected final course grade were added. Responses were analyzed to investigate possible differences between sexes and racial/ethnic groups. The findings showed that female students had significantly lower average scores than their male counterparts in affect, cognitive competency, and subject difficulty. In addition, they expected lower average final course grades. When expected and achieved grades were compared, both male and female students overestimated their final scores, but female students did so to a lesser extent. No differences in attitudinal scores or grade expectations were found between racial/ethnic groups. However, significant differences between racial groups were found when comparing student's expected and actual grades. Asian students outperformed the other groups in both meeting their personal expectations and achieving significantly higher final grades. Latino and Black students had outcomes well below their expectations. These results suggest that educators should focus on differences between sexes when planning ways to improve students' confidence in their quantitative ability. They should also consider implementing strategies for minority students to achieve their expected final course grade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, I present a theory which explains how the influence of others may generate overconfidence. The argument is built on the idea that the more help an agent receives when performing a task, the less informative the score on that task will be relative to the agent's ability to perform it. If an agent is confident, he tends to benefit from more cooperation opportunities simply because he is likely to be perceived as being more skilled. As a result, he remains confident because the future signals he will observe will contain very little information regarding his ability. On the contrary, if the agent is not confident, he will receive more informative scores, which will help him learn his true ability faster. ( JEL D81, D83, D84) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study deals with the theoretical interpretations of childhoods in the twenty-first century, and presents the results of an exploratory research on students' attitudes towards contemporary childhood discourses conducted in Hungarian secondary schools. In a narrative literature review, the developmental and the new social paradigms of childhood are discussed. In the quantitative part of the research, the participants' (N=806) attitudes were measures by a fourdimension questionnaire. The results of the exploratory research show that there are three dominant themes in childhood discourses highly accepted by the research participants: childhood as a development, the motif of initiation and the social and cultural relativity of childhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]