Memorable encounters: Ideology,information acquisition,and television news

Many consumers of television news perceive the ideological position held by certain networks as being either consonant with, or dissonant from, their own political beliefs. This raises the question of how the perceived consonance or dissonance of media sources influences the viewer's ability to acquire and recall information. It is possible that being exposed to a consonant media source could lead an individual to pay more attention, whereas the individual would be more inclined to dismiss a dissonant media source. In contrast, however, it is also possible that an individual may pay extra attention to the dissonant media source because it presents a perspective that differs from the one that individual currently holds. Utilizing an experimental research design, I am able to demonstrate that individuals are better able to acquire and recall information presented to them by a media source that they perceive to be ideologically dissonant from their own political position.     

An economic analysis of nanofood labeling

The paper examines the economic effects of labeling food nanotechnology products using an analytical framework of heterogeneous consumers and imperfectly competitive suppliers. Labeling results in increased costs for nanofood producers (the cost effect of the labeling policy), reduced consumer uncertainty regarding the nature of the food product (certainty effect), and can affect consumer attitudes towards nanofoods by being perceived as a warning signal (stigma effect). In this context, nanofood labeling can change the perceived quality differences between nanofoods and their conventional and organic counterparts, with such changes being more salient when the stigma effect is large, when consumers have low awareness of food nanotechnology in the absence of labeling, and/or when competition among nanofood suppliers is more intense. Despite its empirical relevance, the impact of a labeling policy on consumer preferences (and the economic ramifications of such impact) has largely been ignored by the theoretical literature on the economics of labels. Our analysis shows that it matters. Specifically, our study shows that the market and welfare effects of labeling are case-specific and dependent on consumer awareness of, and attitudes towards food nanotechnology before and after the introduction of the policy as well as the relative magnitude of the cost, certainty and stigma effects of nanofood labeling. Our analytical findings also suggest that the effects of nanofood labels on consumer welfare are asymmetric with certain groups of consumers benefiting even when labeling has a stigma effect on nanofoods.     

Modeling U.S.-Japan competition in semiconductors

This paper describes an analytical framework used to analyze Japanese-American competition in the market for computer memory devices. The nature of this competition has captured the attention of policy makers in both countries, as evidenced by recent trade disputes alleging Japanese firms have benefited from unfair government subsidies, lax antitrust policies, and restrictive home market practices. In this paper, we present a methodology that may be used to estimate the impact of some of these programs on the competitive structure of the United States market for dynamic random access memory devices (DRAMs). The model incorporates the nature of the DRAM manufacturing process (in which “learning curve” benefits are tremendously important), and portrays the worldwide DRAM market as one in which (1) geographic market segmentation is prevelant, (2) a limited number of suppliers compete, and (3) the products are imperfect substitutes. This situation matches well the situation found in the Semiconductor DRAM Market. The distinctive features of this approach are the detailed modeling of the impact of learning on the cost structure of the firm, and its framework for analyzing firm behavior in an imperfect market. Using this approach, we evaluate how a variety of Japanese government programs have affected the competitive position of their industry, and present our view on the major policy implications which emerge.     

Multiracial Faces: How Categorization Affects Memory at the Boundaries of Race

Monoracial and multiracial individuals are likely to have different conceptualizations of race and subsequently different approaches toward racial ambiguity. In particular, monoracial individuals may be more likely to rely on categories when processing ambiguous faces, whereas multiracial individuals may tend to ignore such categorizations due to a reduced tendency to essentialize race. We compared monoracial (White and Asian) and biracial (Asian/White) individuals' memory patterns. Specifically, we examined participants' memory for White, Asian, and biracial faces labelled as either White or Asian. Both White and Asian participants relied on the labels, remembering faces labeled as the in-group better than faces labeled as the out-group. Biracial participants relied less on the labels, exhibiting better recognition memory overall. Biracial participants' memory performance was also highly correlated with a less essentialist view of human traits. This cognitive flexibility may serve an adaptive function for biracial individuals and contribute to enhanced facial recognition.     

How do people value extended warranties? Evidence from two field surveys

Extended warranties are popular but expensive. This paper examines how consumers value these warranties, and asks whether economic considerations alone can account for their popularity. Results from two field surveys show that consumers greatly overestimate both the likelihood and the cost of product breakdown. However, these biases alone do not explain their willingness to buy warranties. In fact, we find evidence of probability neglect, in which warranty purchase decision depends on the magnitude of the possible consequences of not having insurance and not on the probability of having to suffer these consequences. The expected emotional benefits from having a warranty was the best predictor of purchase decision and willingness to pay. We also found that people with higher cognitive skills are less likely to overestimate the economic determinants of warranty value, yet are still highly influenced by emotional considerations when deciding whether to purchase a warranty.     

Does product complexity matter for competition in experimental retail markets?

We describe a first experiment on whether product complexity affects competition and consumers in retail markets. We are unable to detect a significant effect of product complexity on prices, except insofar as the demand elasticity for complex products is higher. However, there is qualified evidence that complex products have the potential to induce consumers to buy more than they would otherwise. In this sense, consumer exploitability in quantities cannot be ruled out. We also find evidence for shaping effects: consumers’ preferences are shaped by past experience with prices, and firms may in principle exploit this to sell more.     

Subjective beliefs and confidence when facts are forgotten

Forgetting can be a salient source of uncertainty for subjective beliefs, confidence, and ambiguity attitudes. To investigate this, we run several experiments where people bet on propositions (facts) that they cannot recall with certainty. We use betting preferences to infer subjects’ revealed beliefs and their revealed confidence in these beliefs. Forgetting is induced via interference tasks and time delays (up to one year). We observe a natural memory decay pattern where beliefs become less accurate and confidence is reduced as well. Moreover, we find a form of comparative ignorance where subjects are more ambiguity averse when they cannot recall the truth rather than never having learnt it. In a different vein, we identify an overconfidence pattern: on average, subjects overpay for bets on propositions that they believe in, but underpay for the opposite bets. We formulate a two-signal behavioral model of forgetting that generates all of these patterns. It suggests new testable hypotheses that are confirmed by our data.

     

Whisper campaigns: market risks through online rumours on the Chinese Internet

The rapid growth of the Chinese Internet has brought about the emergence of many new channels of communication between businesses (B2B), between businesses and consumers (B2C and C2B) and between customers (C2C). Amidst this growth, Chinese Internet users have demonstrated a fondness for online rumours that has become dangerous for a variety of organisations and businesses. Within the Chinese market consumers have emerged as actors whose interactions are posing a new form of risk for companies wishing to enter the Chinese market. Since 2009, companies have repeatedly been harmed by fast-spreading online rumours that called the quality of products into question, or attacked their ethics in dealing with the general public. Starting in 2010, online rumour campaigns have also been on sale to harm rivals, or to promote one’s own product. Using a few example cases from food-related incidents, this article will argue that companies operating in this highly suspicious and fraught environment should shift their focus from pure marketing to a much deeper level of engagement with their customers, and also keep track of the online chatter about their brand, their products and their image so as to minimise risks to their enterprise and to successfully sell their products and services.     

Tasting off-flavors: food science,sensory knowledge and the consumer sensorium

Abstract

In food science and technology, understanding off-flavors has a significance with both technical and commercial implications. In the food industry in the United States, it is a widely held truism that consumers will not buy a product if they do not like the way it tastes or if it contains unpleasant flavors. But how can science determine when food is off putting, and how do scientists learn to address bad tastes in their experimental and technical practice? Based on ethnographic work with food scientists in the United States, this paper is a reflexive account of learning to taste off-flavors, a form of sensory learning that utilizes the scientist’s own body as a kind of instrument. The paper argues that a particular understanding of the consumer sensorium emerges through food scientists’ approach to off-flavors. This is an image of the consumer as a chemically receptive sensory system that is highly sensitive to compounds at trace levels. By utilizing the sensitivity of their own senses, food scientists exploit the relationship between distaste, memory and sensory perception as a form of training to produce future aesthetic memories of off-flavors that can be deployed in a technical context.     

非自主回忆：普鲁斯特论个体记忆的社会性

哈布瓦赫集体记忆理论提供了“社会性”的视角,但没能深描个体创造社会的过程。普鲁斯特的记忆理论虽然也包含“社会性”维度,但并没有止步于此,而是呈现出社会与个体混融的社会形象,其中,不仅有社会的限制和引导二重性,还有个体的主动适应和创造：社会也内在于个体,个体也非纯粹的心理学意义上的个体,个体的创造离不开社会环境。这源于主客融合的立场,在这一视点下,普鲁斯特的社会形象不是二重性,而是多重的,甚至有无限可能。社会是在个体创造过程中的产物,在这一过程中,社会呈现出丰富的形象,社会的无限可能性蕴含在个体的创造过程中。     

Mothers' Typical and Event-Specific Positive Expressions Influence Children's Memory for Events

Mothers (N=67) taught their preschool children crafts while varying emotional expressions (delight, irritation). Mothers’ typical expressive styles were assessed by questionnaire. After three weeks, children's memory was assessed with a free‐recall interview followed by re‐enactment of craft‐making with an interviewer. Children of mothers high in positive expressiveness had more elaborate recall when mothers expressed delight rather than irritation. Children of mothers low in positive expressiveness re‐enacted more event details when their mothers were less varied in expression rather than expressive of emotion in general or delight in particular, and had more elaborate recall when their mothers expressed irritation rather than delight. Findings suggest that children remember more when their mother's emotional expressions during an event fit her typical style.     

Digital Distinction: Status‐Specific Types of Internet Usage*

Objective. Sociologists of technology propose that not only a technological artifact, as such, but also patterns of usage should be considered when studying the social implications of technologies. Accordingly, we explore how people's online activities are influenced by users' socioeconomic status and context of use. Methods. We analyze data from the Allensbacher Computer and Technology Analysis (ACTA) 2004 survey with uniquely detailed information about people's Internet uses and context of usage to explore this relationship. Results. Findings suggest that high‐status and low‐status individuals cultivate different forms of “Internet‐in‐practice.” High‐status users are much more likely to engage in so‐called capital‐enhancing activities online than are their less privileged counterparts. Conclusion. Results suggest differential payoffs from Internet use depending on a user's socioeconomic background. Digital inequalities might be mitigated by improving people's Internet equipment and digital experience, but they do not account for all the status differential in use.     

论区域农业虚拟产业集群的信息管理

区域农业虚拟产业集群突破了农产品改良、生产、销售在自然气候与地理条件上的限制,实现了组织之间跨地域的合作与竞争,促进了集群内部各成员的良性发展。鉴于我国目前在集群信息管理上存在着资源共享深度广度欠佳、产业人才匮乏、供求信息不畅的现状,提升集群的生产经营效率与核心竞争力,应采取的措施为:通过构建信息平台,提高对资源整合与共享程度;拓展外部网络,促进科技成果转化;掌握消费者消费需求与消费心理,扩大产品销售;与政府进行及时沟通与反馈,为集群的发展提供良好的软硬件环境。     

Assessing the Importance of Experimental Outcomes

This article discusses a common statistical error that frequently appears in efforts to assess the importance of experimental outcomes in the social work practice and research literature, failure to provide proportions of explained variance in a manner which permits judgements as to their substantive importance or clinical significance. It then briefly describes a partial remedy and presents practical statistical formulas which research consumers can use to calculate proportions of explained variance when published reports fail to provide this information.     

信息沟通技术与母职 一项关于香港菲佣的实证研究(英文)

随着全球化的发展和跨国移民的增多，跨国母亲已经成为家庭研究和性别研究的重要课题之一。香港的菲律宾家庭佣工，作为香港一个庞大的跨国母亲群体，近年来也引起了学术界广泛的关注。本文探讨香港的菲佣，作为跨国母亲，如何利用现代化的信息沟通技术（手机和因特网）重新建构她们的母职。本文基于笔者于2010年在香港进行的定性研究获得的资料，从两个层面探讨现代化信息沟通技术与母职建构之间的关系：（1）香港的菲佣如何利用手机和因特网所带来的便利沟通为他们远在菲律宾的孩子提供情感支持和帮助；（2）香港的菲佣如何利用现代化信息沟通技术教育并指导孩子的成长与发展。通过比较信息沟通技术在香港普及前后菲佣的母职建构方式，我们发现，频繁且便利的远程通讯使得跨国母亲们能够克服地理隔绝带来的不便，为她们的孩子建构一种母亲的‘虚拟在场’。通过这种‘虚拟在场’，跨国母亲们从情感和道德两个层面履行其母亲职责。在情感层面，菲佣们利用手机和因特网传达她们对孩子的关心和问候、为生病的孩子提供情感支持、并且为孩子们解决实际的问题；在道德和教育层面，菲佣们利用现代沟通技术指导孩子的功课、帮助他们养成良好的生活习惯，并对孩子们的一些不良行为进行教导和规训，不仅重新建构了她们的母职，而且为“母职”一词提供了新的诠释。     

Dynamic consistency in extensive form decision problems

In a stimulating paper, Piccione and Rubinstein (1997) argued how a decision maker could undertake dynamically inconsistent choices when, in an extensive form decision problem, she has a particular type of imperfect recall named absentmindedness. Such memory limitation obtains whenever information sets include decision histories along the same decision path. Starting from work focusing on the absentminded driver example, and independently developed by Segal (2000) and Dimitri (1999), the main theorem of this article provides a general result of dynamically consistent choices, valid for a large class of finite extensive form decision problems without nature.      

When learning meets salience

Behavior in one-shot coordination games with common knowledge labels can be described by theories of salience and focal points. Behavior in repeated games, including coordination games, can be explained by theories of learning. This paper considers games in which both theories apply, repeated coordination games with common knowledge labels. The research question asks how players combine the two sources of information—salience and the history of play—when making their choices. We specifically ask whether salience, normally considered as a one-shot strategy, continues to influence players’ actions beyond the first round, even while the player might learn from the history of play. We explore two possible mechanisms for such a continuing effect of salience: via an influence on prior beliefs, and/or via a bias, given beliefs. Regression analysis of individual-level choices shows that salience, normally considered only in the context of one-shot games, does exert a lasting effect, with the precise mechanism depending on the details of the game.     

Understanding online social support and its antecedents: A socio-cognitive model

Little attention has been paid in previous literature to understanding the factors that drive online social support from a perspective of social psychology. This study validates a research model that examines the above issue. In the setting of information technology, this study postulates self-efficacy and online support expectancy as the key drivers of information technology usage, whereas information technology usage and referent network size jointly influence online social support. This study contributes to the social science literature by extending information technology usage models to the area of rarely explored online social support and by presenting an operationalization of referent network size in the area.     

Costly and discrete communication: an experimental investigation

Language is an imperfect and coarse means of communicating information about a complex and nuanced world. We report on an experiment designed to capture this feature of communication. The messages available to the sender imperfectly describe the state of the world; however, the sender can improve communication, at a cost, by increasing the complexity or elaborateness of the message. Here the sender learns the state of the world, then sends a message to the receiver. The receiver observes the message and provides a best guess about the state. The incentives of the players are aligned in the sense that both sender and receiver are paid an amount which is increasing in the accuracy of the receiver’s guess. We find that the size of the language endogenously emerges as a function of the costs of communication. Specifically, we find that higher communication costs are associated with a smaller language. Although the equilibrium predictions do not perform well, this divergence occurs in a manner which is consistent with the experimental communication literature: overcommunication. We find that the sender’s payoffs, relative to equilibrium payoffs, are decreasing in the cost of communication. We also find that the receiver’s payoffs, relative to equilibrium payoffs, are increasing in the cost of communication. Finally, we find imperfections in coordination on the basis of the experimental labels.     

Perceived Hazard and Product Choice: An Application to Recreational Site Choice

We develop a "perceived hazard" model that estimates consumers' endogenous risk perceptions about products. These perceptions are then linked to a model of product choice. Our approach thus departs from the expected utility model that depends upon external risk assessments. In an application to recreational fishing, we find that anglers' perceived hazards associated with fish consumption advisories do affect product (recreational site) choice. Anglers' perceptions also affect welfare measures because the benefits of contaminant removal flow from these perceptions. The perceived hazard/product choice model is applicable to a wide variety of risky choices consumers face.