<p>Consumers’ beliefs can influence enjoyment via beliefs about a product (e.g., whether a wine is believed to be high quality) and explored beliefs about themselves (e.g., where the consumers believes they have the expertise to appreciate any high qualities in a wine). Across nine experiments in five domains (e.g. film, tea, wine) we seek to better understand this latter and far less understood component by experimentally altering people’s subjective expertise (beliefs about ability in a consumption domain) independent of their real expertise and independent of real or framed differences in products’ qualities. We find subjective expertise alone generally increases two sources of enjoyments, item enjoyment (the enjoyment of an item’s qualities such as liking an item’s flavor) and process enjoyment (the enjoyment of consumer processes such as critically evaluating an item’s flavor). Importantly though, when consumption items are perceived to be lower quality, the subjective expertise effect on item enjoyment is eliminated but remains positive for process enjoyment. Additionally, subjective expertise leads consumers to engage in more actions and effort to improve their consumption (e.g. stirring a drink, learning more about a consumption item). This project improves general understanding of consumer expertise and consumer beliefs, finds subjective expertise has unique and often diverging effects on two sources of enjoyment important to everyday consumption, and demonstrates how and when subjective expertise can be altered to effectively enhance consumer enjoyment.</p> / Dissertation

This study examines brand customization in advergames and its effects on brand memory, game enjoyment, and attitudes gamers form toward the embedded brand. This study also tests for interactions between individuals’ locus of control and brand customization on the measured variables. A 2(customization) x 2(locus of control) experimental design was used. Subjects (N=60) were invited to a laboratory and the car racing game Gran Turismo 3™ was used as the advergame. Participants completed a questionnaire before and after treatment exposure, t-tests were calculated to test the hypotheses, and ANOVAs were run to examine all research questions. Findings suggest that individuals who customize the brand during gameplay recall the brand almost four times as much as individuals who don’t customize the brand. Results also reveal that subjects under the no customization condition negatively described the brand twice as much as subjects under the customization condition. Furthermore, a significant interaction between individuals’ locus of control and brand customization on brand recall was detected. There were no significant differences in attitude toward the brand and game enjoyment due to brand customization. Finally, the data didn’t demonstrate significant interactions between individuals’ locus of control and brand customization for game enjoyment and brand attitude. / text

Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

This study investigated the effects of music choice on the ratings of attentional focus, affective valence, perceived exertion, and enjoyment during and after self-paced treadmill exercise of varied intensities. Thirty-four college-aged, healthy, active males and females volunteered to participate in the study. Participants completed 6 visits to the laboratory: the first visit was a medical screening to ensure safety of the participants. For the second visit, participants completed a maximal treadmill exercise test. On the third visit, participants completed the Brunel Music Rating Inventory-2 to determine their preferred and non-preferred music genres, and to self-select the low, moderate and high intensity exercise speeds that would be used in the experimental trials. During the last three visits, participants completed each of the three (preferred, non-preferred, no music) randomized and counterbalanced experimental trials. The Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale and the Feeling Scale were used to measure baseline and post-exercise ratings of enjoyment and affective valence. During exercise, the single-item Attentional Focus Scale, Feeling Scale, Borg 6-20, and Exercise Enjoyment Scale were used to measure attentional focus, affective valence, perceived exertion, and enjoyment, respectively. Results revealed a main effect for condition for affective valence and enjoyment (p < 0.001 for both interactions). A main effect was also found for intensity for attentional focus (p = 0.002) and perceived exertion (p < 0.001). Lastly, there was a main effect for activity revealed for affective valence (p = 0.047) and enjoyment (p = 0.012). Moreover, tests of between and within subjects factors revealed an interaction effect for condition by intensity for affective valence (p = 0.019) and for condition by intensity by activity for perceived exertion (p = 0.005). There was a general trend for thoughts to be more associative as intensity increased in both groups. In addition, there was a general trend for thoughts to be more dissociative during the preferred music condition compared to the non-preferred and no music trial. However, these differences were only found to be significant in the active group. Furthermore, there was a general trend in the active group for affective valence to be more positive regardless of exercise intensity or music condition when compared to the inactive group. Both groups showed the highest ratings of affective valence during the preferred music condition, followed by the non-preferred and no music condition. In-task enjoyment ratings were highest during the preferred music condition when compared to the non-preferred and no music condition regardless of exercise intensity or activity status. The results did not reveal significant differences for ratings of exertion across music conditions, which does not support previous findings. In conclusion, the perceptual responses in this study, which represent affective valence, attentional focus, and enjoyment, were generally more favorable during the preferred music condition and in the active participants. These results support previous findings to suggest exercising while listening to preferred music may lead to an increase in physical activity adherence.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Este trabalho tem como objetivo propor um diálogo teórico entre as obras O Ato de Leitura: uma teoria do efeito estético (1996, 1999), de Wolfgang Iser, e O Prazer do Texto (2006), de Roland Barthes. Da primeira obra, interessa-nos particularmente a formulação teórica sobre o vazio que, a nosso ver, pode ser articulada a outras elaboradas por Barthes na sua referida obra, sobretudo à delicada distinção entre gozo e prazer. A partir do entretecimento de uma rede teórica fundamentada nesta inter-relação, poderemos propor um ponto de vista concatenador que permita observar o objeto literário simultaneamente sob algumas noções oriundas da Teoria do efeito e outras vindas do pensamento barthesiano. A nosso ver, é possível demonstrar que as noções barthesianas de texto de prazer e textos de fruição ou gozo podem se adequar à observação do texto literário, quando considerado em relação à forma e à abundância dos vazios que eclodem na sua relação dialética com o leitor / This research proposes a theoretical intersection between The Act of Reading: a theory of aesthetic response (1996, 1999), written by Wolfgang Iser, and The Pleasure of the Text (2006), by Roland Barthes. From the first book, our interests reside particularly at the concept of empty spaces, which can be articulated to another notional formulations conceived by Barthes, especially to the subtle distinction between enjoyment and pleasure. As from, we intend to interweave a theoretical net based upon this interrelation, a comprehensive point of view, which allows us to examine literature both under the notion of aesthetic response, and Barthess deconstructionist ideas. We think it is possible to demonstrate that some Barthess notions, such as text of pleasure and text of bliss can fit into the observation of literary texts, if we thought about them under the considerations of form and abundance of the empty spaces that emerge during the dialectic relation between the book and the reader

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Este trabalho tem como objetivo propor um diálogo teórico entre as obras O Ato de Leitura: uma teoria do efeito estético (1996, 1999), de Wolfgang Iser, e O Prazer do Texto (2006), de Roland Barthes. Da primeira obra, interessa-nos particularmente a formulação teórica sobre o vazio que, a nosso ver, pode ser articulada a outras elaboradas por Barthes na sua referida obra, sobretudo à delicada distinção entre gozo e prazer. A partir do entretecimento de uma rede teórica fundamentada nesta inter-relação, poderemos propor um ponto de vista concatenador que permita observar o objeto literário simultaneamente sob algumas noções oriundas da Teoria do efeito e outras vindas do pensamento barthesiano. A nosso ver, é possível demonstrar que as noções barthesianas de texto de prazer e textos de fruição ou gozo podem se adequar à observação do texto literário, quando considerado em relação à forma e à abundância dos vazios que eclodem na sua relação dialética com o leitor / This research proposes a theoretical intersection between The Act of Reading: a theory of aesthetic response (1996, 1999), written by Wolfgang Iser, and The Pleasure of the Text (2006), by Roland Barthes. From the first book, our interests reside particularly at the concept of empty spaces, which can be articulated to another notional formulations conceived by Barthes, especially to the subtle distinction between enjoyment and pleasure. As from, we intend to interweave a theoretical net based upon this interrelation, a comprehensive point of view, which allows us to examine literature both under the notion of aesthetic response, and Barthess deconstructionist ideas. We think it is possible to demonstrate that some Barthess notions, such as text of pleasure and text of bliss can fit into the observation of literary texts, if we thought about them under the considerations of form and abundance of the empty spaces that emerge during the dialectic relation between the book and the reader

abstract: The gameplay experience can be understood as an interaction between player and game design characteristics. A greater understanding of these characteristics can be gained through empirical means. Subsequently, an enhanced knowledge of these characteristics should enable the creation of games that effectively generate desirable experiences for players. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between gameplay enjoyment and the individual characteristics of gaming goal orientations, game usage, and gender. A total of 301 participants were surveyed and the data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). This led to an expanded Gameplay Enjoyment Model (GEM) with 41 game features, an overarching Enjoyment factor, and 9 specific components, including Challenge, Companionship, Discovery, Fantasy, Fidelity, Identity, Multiplayer, Recognition, and Strategy. Furthermore, the 3x2 educational goal orientation framework was successfully applied to a gaming context. The resulting 3x2 Gaming Goal Orientations (GGO) model consists of 18 statements that describe players' motivations for gaming, which are distributed across the six dimensions of Task-Approach, Task-Avoidance, Self-Approach, Self-Avoidance, Other-Approach, and Other-Avoidance. Lastly, players' individual characteristics were used to predict gameplay enjoyment, which resulted in the formation of the GEM-Individual Characteristics (GEM-IC) model. In GEM-IC, the six GGO dimensions were the strongest predictors. Meanwhile, game usage variables like multiplayer, genre, and platform preference, were minimal to moderate predictors. Although commonly appearing in games research, gender and game time commitment variables failed to predict enjoyment. The results of this study enable important work to be conducted involving game experiences and player characteristics. After several empirical iterations, GEM is considered suitable to employ as a research and design tool. In addition, GGO should be useful to researchers interested in how player motivations relate to gameplay experiences. Moreover, GEM-IC points to several variables that may prove useful in future research. Accordingly, it is posited that researchers will derive more meaningful insights on games and players by investigating detailed, context-specific characteristics as compared to general, demographic ones. Ultimately, it is believed that GEM, GGO, and GEM-IC will be useful tools for researchers and designers who seek to create effective gameplay experiences that meet the needs of players. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Technology 2013

Identifying modifiable factors associated with physical activity (PA) is necessary to develop effective behaviour change interventions to promote PA. We examined the associations between parental support, parental control, youth’s self-efficacy, enjoyment, and PA participation in- and out-of-school. Data for our cross-sectional study were collected via self-report questionnaires from 602 youth (Mage=13.4 years; SD=.6) and analyzed using path analysis. We found that parental support and parental control indirectly influenced youth’s PA via self-efficacy and enjoyment. Specifically, parental control negatively influenced youth’s self-efficacy and enjoyment (β=-.12 to -.15), whereas parental support positively influenced youth’s self-efficacy and enjoyment (β=.18 to .31). Also, youth’s self-efficacy and enjoyment positively influenced PA performed in- and out-of-school (β=.12 to .26). Our findings suggest parental supportive and controlling behaviours affect youth’s self-efficacy and enjoyment, which in turn influence PA participation in different settings. Promoting parental support, while reducing parental control, may effectively increase youth’s participation in PA.

Cette thèse soutient que l’abord topologique lacanien permet de rendre compte de la structure chez les sujets autistes. La structure est topologique. L’effort auto-thérapeutique des sujets autistes relève d’une tentative de construction, de stabilisation, d’élaboration d’un espace subjectif ayant pour enjeu central la production d’un manque canalisateur de lajouissance.Les mathématiques et la logique - outils privilégiés par Jacques Lacan dans l’abord du réel propre à la psychanalyse - maintiennent une exigence de rationalité et de formalisation au coeur de cette discipline. La topologie (science des lieux) dans son usage analytique rend compte de la dimension spatiale de l’inconscient.Nous verrons que la construction du bord autistique s’y déploie comme réponse topologique du sujet - à l’effet traumatique de l’Un de jouissance sur le corps. L’autisme construit un espace visant l’extraction d’une trace nocive, celle d’une substance jouissante laissée par la matière même du signifiant. Au-delà d’une conception déficitaire, l’autisme peut alors s’entendre comme une réponse du sujet au traumatisme causé par la rencontre avec le langage.Si l’autisme a structure topologique, l’acte de l’analyste doit alors se centrer sur ses particularités topologiques pour que se produisent des effets sur le sujet. L’enjeu crucial est d’aider les autistes à trouver une position d’énonciation. Pour cela, une voie majeure est de border - en acte - l’espace qui enserre la place du dire. / This study supports the Lacanian topological approach as a way to show the structure of unconsciousness in autistic subjects. The autistic self-therapy effort is an attempt to build, to stabilize, and to develop a subjective space for the central challenge of a lack of channels to process the “jouissance”.Mathematics and logic, Jacques Lacan´s favourite tools in his study of the “Real” particular to psychoanalysis, maintains a requirement of rationality and formalisation in the heart of this discipline. The Topology (the science of places) in psychoanalysis attempts to account for the spatial dimension of unconscious.We will see that the construction of the autistic border is deployed as a topological response of the subject – a traumatic response of the One of jouissance on the body. Autistic built a space which aims to extract the harmful trace, one of a substance of the jouissance left by the substance of the signifier.Beyond this deficit, autism can be understood as a response of the subject to the trauma caused by an encounter with the language.If autism has a topological structure, the analytical act must focus on its topological features that will produce effects on the subject. The crucial challenge is to help autistics find a position of enunciation. For this, a major pathway is to mark out the space that surrounds the place of saying.