“I live with terror inside me”: Exploring customers’ instinctive reactions to terror

Terrorist attacks occur mostly at public service-oriented sites. Consequently, their victims are likely to be customers. The present study explores how customers instinctively react toward the reality of terror in a matrix of 2 × 2 aspects concerning terror circumstances: temporal proximity (brief or long) and physical proximity (close or remote) from the terror event. In qualitative in-depth interviews, customers from France and Israel were requested to share their instinctive reactions and coping strategies when approaching hospitality (hedonistic) and transportation (utilitarian) services. Participants (N = 47) comprised customers having a protracted acquaintance with persistent terror threats. The analysis identified differences in reactions, subject to temporal and physical proximities. When terror attacks are physically close, customers’ emotions, cognitions, and behaviors undergo modification with time. However, when terror attacks occur at a location remote from the customer, customers’ emotions and cognitions, but not their behavior, change with time. These reactions were comparable for the two service contexts. Practical implications were elaborated to enable service establishments (i.e., hospitality and transportation) to design and manage their operations for the short and long term to assist customers in the difficult era of terror.     

Do terror attacks affect the dollar-pound exchange rate? A nonparametric causality-in-quantiles analysis

While much significant research has been done to study the effects of terror attacks on stock markets, less is known about the response of exchange rates to terror attacks. We suggest a non-parametric causality-in-quantiles test to study whether (relative) terror attacks affect exchange-rate returns and volatility. Using data on the dollar-pound exchange rate to illustrate the test, we show that terror attacks mainly affect the lower and upper quantiles of the conditional distribution of exchange-rate returns, while misspecified (due to nonlinearity and structural breaks) linear Granger causality test show no evidence of predictability. Terror attacks also affect almost all quantiles of the conditional distribution of exchange-rate volatility (except the extreme upper-end), with the significance of the effect being particularly strong for the lower quantiles. The importance of terror attacks is shown to hold also under an alternative measure of volatility and for an important emerging-market exchange rate as well.     

恐惧控制理论综述

本文对恐惧控制理论(Terror Management Theory,TMT)进行系统地述评与展望.论文从恐惧控制理论的溯源,引述到可能采取的三种防御机制--世界观防御、自尊防御与归属感防御,并对这三者之间的逻辑关系进行梳理.接下来解析防御的认知加工过程,即防御的双重加工模型.最后综述了恐惧控制理论在社会各个的各个领域的应用、不足及展望,尤其是基于中国文化的研究基础.     

Whether to attack a terrorist's resource stock today or tomorrow

A terrorist defends an asset which grows from the first to the second period and is attacked. With large asset growth, the terrorist's first period outcome is low caused by a large attack. With no expenditure constraint, the terrorist's total outcome is positive. With equal attack and defense inefficiencies, when the terrorist as defender requires his first period outcome to be positive, the attacker eliminates the asset in the first period when asset growth multiplied with the square roots of the terrorist's and attacker's discount parameters exceed . This gives maximum conflict in the first period. Growth and the two discount parameters are strategic complements. The range for the attack inefficiency divided by defense inefficiency, which causes negative first period outcome for the terrorist, increases with asset growth. The attacker refrains from asset elimination in the first period due to strength (weakness) if the ratio is below (above) the range.     

The role of social presence in mortality salience effects

Terror management theory (TMT; Greenberg et al., 1986) suggests that reminders of death intensify the desire to express cultural norms leading to culturally prescribed behavior such as charitable giving, church attendance, and exorbitant spending. Living up to these norms provides high levels of self-esteem, which can serve as a buffer against existential anxiety. The present paper argues that people can experience an extra self-esteem boost when they act in accordance with cultural norms while others can observe this behavior. More specifically, the present studies hypothesized and found that the presence of others (i.e., social presence) moderates mortality salience effects on consumption-related behavior. Study 1 demonstrates that consumers, under conditions of mortality salience, express more favorable attitudes towards a luxury brand (valued in Western cultures) when they know that other can observe their behavior. Study 2 extended these results to non-luxury brands. Under conditions of mortality salience, consumers express less favorable evaluations of non-luxury (non-valued brands) when they are aware of the presence of others. These results imply that consumers derive self-esteem indirectly from the knowledge that others observe their appropriate behavior rather than directly from following the cultural values or norms of one's society.     

Who has terror angst? Perceptions of the effects of terror on the world economy

We examine sources of biased terror perceptions. In particular, we investigate how international experts of the IFO World Economic Survey assess the effect of terror on the world economy and the economy of their own country. The results show that respondents from terror-stricken countries have more favourable views on the effect of terror on the word economy (but not on their own countries). Male respondents and those from democratic and richer countries are likewise more optimistic.     

A quarantined lodging stay: The buffering effect of service quality

How do guests feel during their stay at quarantine lodging? This study draws on terror management theory and social exclusion theory to synthesize a model that highlights guests’ perceptions about their experience under enforced isolation. The model articulates guests’ feeling of anxiety and loneliness, whereas quality of service presents warmth and care that activates an anxiety buffer mechanism that mitigates the effect of anxiety. In turn guests’ level of anxiety is further explained by an interaction between their health status and the length of stay. Results point to a conduit for studying the dark side of hospitality, opening up research avenues that could help assess broader social behavioral changes during the global pandemic, while offering operators revelations for lodging management during a crisis.     

哥特式风格的传承和发扬——对爱伦·坡小说的一种解读

埃德加·爱伦·坡的短篇小说具有独特风格,它们继承了传统哥特式文学的一般创作手法,对这些一般创作手法巧妙搭配,予以细化和深化,赋予了作者的独特气质.同时,爱伦·坡运用了其擅长的心理分析方法,拓展了哥特式文学样式的表现空间.凭借对爱伦·坡短篇小说代表作的分析,文章从人物塑造、氛围营造、心理分析三方面予以展开,揭示了爱伦·坡的文学成就.     

Increasing customer loyalty and WOM in an age of terror: Cross-cultural development and validation of the customers’ reactions to terror scale (CRTS)

The threat of terror places customers in a vulnerable situation, giving rise to a variety of protective behaviors. The ability to employ these behaviors dictates customers' preferences for specific services. To enable a better understanding of this dynamic and its implications for positive customer outcomes, the current study developed a customers’ reactions to terror scale (CRTS) in a four-stage process. Data were collected from customers in France and Israel across two service contexts, hospitality and public transportation. Nomological examinations showed that services that enable customers to employ protective behaviors under the threat of terror can facilitate increased loyalty and word of mouth (WOM).