Consumption symbols as carriers of culture: A study of Japanese and Spanish brand personality constucts.

This research argues that the meaning embedded in consumption symbols, such as commercial brands, can serve to represent and institutionalize the values and beliefs of a culture. Relying on a combined emic-etic approach, the authors conducted 4 studies to examine how symbolic and expressive attributes associated with commercial brands are structured and how this structure varied across 3 cultures. Studies 1 and 2 revealed a set of "brand personality" dimensions common to both Japan and the United States (Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, and Sophistication), as well as culture-specific Japanese (Peacefulness) and American (Ruggedness) dimensions. Studies 3 and 4, which extended this set of findings to Spain, yielded brand personality dimensions common to both Spain and the United States (Sincerity, Excitement, and Sophistication), plus nonshared Spanish (Passion) and American (Competence and Ruggedness) dimensions. The meaning of the brand personality dimensions is discussed in the context of cross-cultural research on values and affect, globalization issues, and cultural frame shifting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Elastodynamic full waveform inversion on GPUs with time-space tiling and wavefield reconstruction

The Journal of Supercomputing - Full waveform inversion (FWI) is a procedure used to determine the elastic parameters of the Earth by reducing the misfit between observed elastodynamic wavefields...     

Bringing the Frame Into Focus: The Influence of Regulatory Fit on Processing Fluency and Persuasion.

This research demonstrates that people's goals associated with regulatory focus moderate the effect of message framing on persuasion. The results of 6 experiments show that appeals presented in gain frames are more persuasive when the message is promotion focused, whereas loss-framed appeals are more persuasive when the message is prevention focused. These regulatory focus effects suggesting heightened vigilance against negative outcomes and heightened eagerness toward positive outcomes are replicated when perceived risk is manipulated. Enhanced processing fluency leading to more favorable evaluations in conditions of compatibility appears to underlie these effects. The findings underscore the regulatory fit principle that accounts for the persuasiveness of message framing effects and highlight how processing fluency may contribute to the "feeling right" experience when the strategy of goal pursuit matches one's goal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A dynamic model of relationships among advertising, consumer awareness, attitudes, and behavior.

19 telephone surveys, made at 2-mo intervals to a national probability sample of 1,200 households who were users of instant coffee, yielded aggregate measures of brand awareness, attitudes towards brands, and advertising exposure. These measures and an aggregate purchase behavior measure were used to estimate 3 multiple regression equations that formed a dynamic recursive model of the relationships between the measures. Advertising influenced both awareness and attitude, while awareness and attitude influenced behavior. The influence of advertising went directly from awareness to behavior, not through attitude. Thus, the hierarchy model of communication effects was only partially correct. Attitude change preceded behavior change, although a less significant reverse effect also emerged. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The pleasures and pains of distinct self-construals: The role of interdependence in regulatory focus.

Regulatory focus theory distinguishes between self-regulatory processes that focus on promotion and prevention strategies for goal pursuit. Five studies provide support for the hypothesis that these strategies differ for individuals with distinct self-construals. Specifically, individuals with a dominant independent self-construal were predicted to place more emphasis on promotion-focused information, and those with a dominant interdependent self-construal on prevention-focused information. Support for this hypothesis was obtained for participants who scored high versus low on the Self-Construal Scale, participants who were presented with an independent versus interdependent situation, and participants from a Western versus Eastern culture. The influence of interdependence on regulatory focus was observed in both importance ratings of information and affective responses consistent with promotion or prevention focus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)