Starting low but ending high: A reversal of the anchoring effect in auctions.

Counter to the "start high, end high" effect of anchors in individual judgments and dyadic negotiations, 6 studies using a diverse set of methodologies document how and why, in the social setting of auctions, lower starting prices result in higher final prices. Three processes contribute to this effect. First, lower starting prices reduce barriers to entry, which increase traffic and generate higher final prices. Second, lower starting prices entice bidders to invest time and energy (creating sunk costs) and, consequently, escalate their commitments. Third, the traffic generated by lower starting prices can lead bidders to infer value in the item, thereby explaining previous findings that traffic begets more traffic. The authors show that barriers to entry that limit traffic (e.g., a misspelled brand name) lead to anchoring's normal assimilative effect rather than its reversal. By broadening the understanding of anchors to extended social interactions and open markets, the authors identify when and why starting prices anchor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disconnecting outcomes and evaluations: The role of negotiator focus.

Three experiments explored the role of negotiator focus in disconnecting negotiated outcomes and evaluations. Negotiators who focused on their target prices, the ideal outcome they could obtain, achieved objectively superior outcomes compared with negotiators who focused on their lower bound (e.g., reservation price). Those negotiators who focused on their targets, however, were less satisfied with their objectively superior outcomes. In the final experiment, when negotiators were reminded of their lower bound after the negotiation, the satisfaction of those negotiators who had focused on their target prices was increased, with outcomes and evaluations becoming connected rather than disconnected. The possible negative effects of setting high goals and the temporal dimensions of the disconnection and reconnection between outcomes and evaluations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Zustandsänderung und Aufheizung des Gases in Seitenkanalverdichtern

Zusammenfassung Seitenkanalverdichter unterliegen trotz ihrer geringen Druckverh?ltnisse im Teillastbereich erheblichen thermischen Belastungen. Dadurch steigt nicht nur die Verdichtungsendtemperatur und die Maschinenbelastung, sondern mit steigender Maschinentemperatur erfolgt auch eine erhebliche Aufheizung des Gases bereits im Eintrittsbereich, wodurch die Arbeitsübertragung beeinflu?t wird. Die Resultate experimenteller Untersuchungen zeigen, da? die Aufheizung des Gases besonders im Eintrittsbereich des Seitenkanals erfolgt und dadurch die Arbeitsübertragung im vorderen Bereich stark verlustbehaftet erfolgt. Die Folge davon sind sehr hohe Polytropenexponenten bei gro?en Druckverh?ltnissen im Teillastbereich, die zu einer gro?en W?rmezufuhr an das Gas führen und den Wirkungsgrad der Maschinen mindern.     

A comparison of direct, indirect, and fantasy measures of identification.

"This study was designed to investigate predicted relationships of three levels of directness of assessment (direct, indirect, and fantasy) to two aspects of parental identification, i.e., perceived similarity to a parent and degree of involvement with a parent… . It was predicted that (a) perceived similarity measures would be positively related, (b) involvement measures would be positively related, and (c) since both… are assumed to be components of identification, they should be positively associated with each other." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Power and the objectification of social targets.

Objectification has been defined historically as a process of subjugation whereby people, like objects, are treated as means to an end. The authors hypothesized that objectification is a response to social power that involves approaching useful social targets regardless of the value of their other human qualities. Six studies found that under conditions of power, approach toward a social target was driven more by the target's usefulness, defined in terms of the perceiver's goals, than in low-power and baseline conditions. This instrumental response to power, which was linked to the presence of an active goal, was observed using multiple instantiations of power, different measures of approach, a variety of goals, and several types of instrumental and noninstrumental target attributes. Implications for research on the psychology of power, automatic goal pursuit, and self-objectification theory are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sorption of alkanes on sulfated zirconias—Modeling of TAP response curves

The transient TAP method was applied to investigate sorption phenomena of alkanes on differently prepared sulfated zirconias to provide further explanation of different catalytic performances in the n-butane isomerization. A modified “three-zone” model was developed to describe the experimental results of a single-pulse response experiment. It allowed the extraction of the ratios of adsorption and desorption rate constants. The introduction of a second sorption center in the model is proposed to reproduce the sorption behavior for larger alkanes quantitatively better, especially in the low-temperature region. Moreover, the new model is able to reflect the heterogeneous distribution of active centers, e.g., different acidic sites in combination with surface sulfate species. Temperature dependent measurements have been performed to calculate heats of adsorption for various alkanes. The impact of these values on the catalytic properties is discussed.     

Cultural borders and mental barriers: The relationship between living abroad and creativity.

Despite abundant anecdotal evidence that creativity is associated with living in foreign countries, there is currently little empirical evidence for this relationship. Five studies employing a multimethod approach systematically explored the link between living abroad and creativity. Using both individual and dyadic creativity tasks, Studies 1 and 2 provided initial demonstrations that time spent living abroad (but not time spent traveling abroad) showed a positive relationship with creativity. Study 3 demonstrated that priming foreign living experiences temporarily enhanced creative tendencies for participants who had previously lived abroad. In Study 4, the degree to which individuals had adapted to different cultures while living abroad mediated the link between foreign living experience and creativity. Study 5 found that priming the experience of adapting to a foreign culture temporarily enhanced creativity for participants who had previously lived abroad. The relationship between living abroad and creativity was consistent across a number of creativity measures (including those measuring insight, association, and generation), as well as with masters of business administration and undergraduate samples, both in the United States and Europe, demonstrating the robustness of this phenomenon. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From what might have been to what must have been: Counterfactual thinking creates meaning.

Four experiments explored whether 2 uniquely human characteristics—counterfactual thinking (imagining alternatives to the past) and the fundamental drive to create meaning in life—are causally related. Rather than implying a random quality to life, the authors hypothesized and found that counterfactual thinking heightens the meaningfulness of key life experiences. Reflecting on alternative pathways to pivotal turning points even produced greater meaning than directly reflecting on the meaning of the event itself. Fate perceptions (“it was meant to be”) and benefit-finding (recognition of positive consequences) were identified as independent causal links between counterfactual thinking and the construction of meaning. Through counterfactual reflection, the upsides to reality are identified, a belief in fate emerges, and ultimately more meaning is derived from important life events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thermodynamische Belastung von Seitenkanalverdichtern im Vakuumbetrieb

Like all turbo machines and rotating displacement machines side channel compressors are able to work in the pressure region and in the vacuum region. At present side channel compressors are used in vacuum operation only for the low vakuum region with an absolute suction pressure down to p_s = 10 kPa. The benefits of side channel compressors with the expansion flow in the breaker clearly grow contrasting the pressure operation mode and contrasting other compressor constructions with decreasing suction pressure. Therefore it is appropriate to make the working range of side channel compressors accessible also for the operation in the higher vacuum region down to the fine vacuum region because in this way side channel pumps open the possibility to cover the whole vacuum region from fine vacuum up to atmospheric pressure. This offers the advantage of using only high-speed turbo compressors in the vacuum region which have small construction dimensions, are simple designed and work lubrication free. These advantages also meet the desire of the vacuum technology for oil free delivery of gases and drawing off fumes.     

Perspective taking combats automatic expressions of racial bias.

Five experiments investigated the hypothesis that perspective taking—actively contemplating others' psychological experiences—attenuates automatic expressions of racial bias. Across the first 3 experiments, participants who adopted the perspective of a Black target in an initial context subsequently exhibited more positive automatic interracial evaluations, with changes in automatic evaluations mediating the effect of perspective taking on more deliberate interracial evaluations. Furthermore, unlike other bias-reduction strategies, the interracial positivity resulting from perspective taking was accompanied by increased salience of racial inequalities (Experiment 3). Perspective taking also produced stronger approach-oriented action tendencies toward Blacks (but not Whites; Experiment 4). A final experiment revealed that face-to-face interactions with perspective takers were rated more positively by Black interaction partners than were interactions with nonperspective takers—a relationship that was mediated by perspective takers' increased approach-oriented nonverbal behaviors (as rated by objective, third-party observers). These findings indicate that perspective taking can combat automatic expressions of racial biases without simultaneously decreasing sensitivity to ongoing racial disparities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)