Stimulus generalization in classical conditioning: An initial investigation and extension

Conditioning as a mechanism for attitude change has received much attention over the past 10 years. This research examines stimulus generalization, the extent to which a response conditioned to one stimulus transfers to similar stimuli. Stimulus generalization relates to both brand extension and private‐label imitations of national brands. Two studies collectively provide evidence that attitudes which are conditioned to a particular brand can be transferred to a product with a similar name in the same category, as well as a product with the same name in a different category. Study Two suggests that stimulus generalization effects may be relatively transitory. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

An Olympic legacy for all? The non-infrastructural outcomes of the Olympic Games for socially excluded groups (Atlanta 1996-Beijing 2008)

The use of mega sporting events to achieve social goals for socially excluded groups is heavily contested. Comparative evidence regarding the effects of the Olympic Games for these groups is scarce, and there is an even greater dearth of studies focusing on non-infrastructural programmes (such as sport participation initiatives, volunteering opportunities, training and employment schemes). This study identifies planning principles that allow for the development of such non-infrastructural benefits for socially excluded groups in host cities, and reviews their application in recent Olympic Games.This study examines data from 7 Olympic cities (Atlanta, Nagano, Sydney, Salt Lake City, Athens, Turin and Beijing). It shows that the Olympic Games generally bring few benefits for socially excluded groups, although these benefits are often important justifications in the bidding stage. The study highlights the growing importance placed by the International Olympic Committee on environmental sustainability, and proposes a similar emphasis on social sustainability.     

How Do Playful People Play? Gendered and Racial Leisure Perspectives,Motives, and Preferences of College Students

Playfulness is an aspect of personality that predisposes individuals to reframe boring situations into more amusing ones for themselves. This study extends knowledge about the playfulness construct by contrasting college students who were high or low in playfulness relative to the activity preferences they make, the motives they have, and their perspectives on their leisure time. Significant differences were found in perspectives and motives but not in activity preferences, leading to the conclusion that playfulness relates more to how individuals view their leisure and what they seek than in what they do. Only minor differences due to gender or race were observed.     

Boredom in Free Time: Relationships with Personality,Affect, and Motivation for Different Gender,Racial and Ethnic Student Groups

The propensity to experience boredom in free time was investigated by exploring relationships with the individual's demographic characteristics, personality, motivational orientation, and affective style assessed through group-administered questionnaires to 999 university students. The self-as-entertainment personality attribute consistently predicted the likelihood that students would be bored, and inverse relationships with extraversion and intrinsic motivational orientation were found for all student groups. Multiple regression analyses revealed that race, ethnicity, and gender were the only significant demographic predictors of the likelihood an individual would be bored in free time. Group similarities and differences in depicting students who were prone to experience boredom in free time are described.     

Theorizing about play: Critique and direction

This paper presents a review of the extant theoretical models of play behavior. Play theories can be clustered insofar as they suggest different motivations and presuppose distinct underlying mechanisms for playful behavior. The biological view sees the motivation to play as instinctually determined and suggests a genetically inherited predisposition to emit playful responses. The play theories discussed under this heading stress the importance of homeostatic mechanisms and the transformation of energy states as determining when play will occur. The play theories subsumed under the environmental view focus on the typology of play activities and suggest that play is only a subclass of behavior to which the principles of environmental contingencies and reinforcement in learning also apply. Cognitive explanations impart the causation to play as a function of the information‐processing mechanisms of the individual. Within this framework play is defined as a state of mind rather than an activity and it is the player's perception of his environment, in interaction with cognitive processes, which determines the characterization of a playful response. Although the theoretical models of play are discussed within these three perspectives, it is suggested that it is more useful to view these three headings as lying on a continuum, since a review of the theories shows a gradual transition and later cognitive‐based models still presume an internal biological drive. The difficulties with each perspective are discussed and a synthesis is provided which extrapolates some of the tenets of each of the models, as well as presenting an alternative and interactive view of play behavior.     

Businesspeople: Academics need your help to make business research relevant

In the last two decades, industry-university collaborations (IUCs) in research and development in the hard sciences have become increasingly more successful and common. In contrast, successful IUCs in softer social sciences, such as business, remain relatively uncommon. But business research requires an even higher degree of collaboration than research in the hard sciences if its results are to be relevant to businesspeople. Fortunately, business academics are becoming more and more interested in collaborating with businesspeople. The purpose of this article is to motivate businesspeople to collaborate as well. We do this by showing the businessperson the historical origins of business research’s irrelevance, by describing the benefits the business world could receive from collaborative research, by showing why collaboration is especially needed in social sciences such as business, and by showing why academics cannot do relevant business research without practitioners’ help. Specifically, we will show that the businessperson’s help is needed to ensure that their priorities are met, to formulate the right research questions, to provide relevant data, and to contribute their problem-solving inventiveness.     

The baby boomer market maven in the United Kingdom: an experienced diffuser of marketplace information

This study identifies and profiles market mavens among the baby boomer generation in the United Kingdom. Boomers are an important market segment, yet most advertising targets younger audiences, making word-of-mouth communications crucial among this older cohort. Findings suggest boomer mavens place great importance on ‘respect’ values, are particularly concerned with fashion and compared with non-mavens are more likely to try new brands, watch more television, hold positive attitudes towards advertising and seek out bargains. The study is useful to those businesses wishing to target a mature consumer who people perceive as a good source of marketplace information and who likes introducing new brands to others.     

A Political Economic Analysis of U.S. Rice Export Programs to Japan and South Korea: A Game-Theoretic Approach

The Uruguay Round Agreement on agriculture has contributed to the increase in U.S. and world rice trade since 1994. Despite this, the Japanese and Korean rice markets continue to be characterized by high levels of trade intervention. This article attempts to analyze both import markets incorporating econometric estimates and public choice theory in a game-theoretic framework. Various scenarios are analyzed. The results show that the overall Nash equilibrium occurs with a 4% tariff reduction for Japan and Korea under the U.S. Market Development Program, which includes the Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development Program.