This study uses ultrasound to image onset velar stop consonant articulation in words. By examining tongue body placement, the extent of velar closure variation across vowel contexts provides for the measurement of anticipatory coarticulation while productions within the same vowel context provide measurement of extent of token-to-token variation. Articulate Assistant Advanced 2.0 software was used to semi-automatically generate midsagittal tongue contours at the initial point of maximum velar closure and was used to fit each contour to a curved spline. Patterns of lingual coarticulation and measures of speech motor stability, based on curve-to-curve distance (Zharkova, Hewlett, & Hardcastle, 2011), are investigated to compare the speech of typically fluent speakers to the speech of people who stutter. Anticipatory coarticulation can be interpreted as a quantitative measure indicating the maturity of the speech motor system and its planning abilities. Token-to-token variability is examined from multiple velar vowel productions within the same vowel context, describing the accuracy of control, or stability, of velar closure gestures. Measures for both speaking groups are examined across the lifespan at stages during speech development, maturation, and aging. Results indicate an overall age effect, interpreted as refinement, with increased speech stability and progressively more segmental (less coarticulated) productions across the lifespan. A tendency toward decreased stability and more coarticulated speech was found for younger people who stutter, but this difference was small and absent among older adults. Outcomes of this study suggest the articulatory maturation trajectories of people who stutter may be delayed, but overall maturation of the speech mechanism is evident by older adulthood for typically fluent speakers and those who stutter. Applications to intervention are discussed in closing.

Although a vast amount of research has examined why job seekers become attracted to organizations, few studies have focused on how job seekers develop an initial attraction and attachment to organizations. In order to address this gap in the literature, this study examined the relationship between the ways new organizations communicate and potential job seekers' perceptions of organizational attractiveness and anticipatory organizational identification. The organizational identification literature has previously shown that organizations often use a variety of inducements in their communication to foster identification among members, and that when members perceive that membership in an organization is an opportunity to affirm, distinguish, or enhance their self-concepts, the perceived organizational identity becomes more attractive. Drawing upon these findings, this study posited that a similar relationship would occur between organizations and potential job seekers. In addition, based on findings on social categorization, this study examined whether the effectiveness of identification inducements varied depending on whether the new organization was situated within an established or emerging industry. In established industries, new organizations face the risk of being stereotyped based on job seekers' preexisting knowledge of the industry, and therefore effectively invisible to job seekers as unique organizations. In emerging industries, because it is not entirely clear what defines this set of organizations, new organizations face the risk that job seekers may be less certain about how they might connect with these organizations, and therefore tend to find them less attractive. As a consequence of these cognitive differences, this study posited that the effectiveness of identification inducements would depend on the type of industry. An experiment was conducted to test these hypotheses. Participants consisted of students either currently or recently active in job seeking activities. The findings indicate that the presence of identification inducements in an organization's external communication positively impacted job seekers' perceptions and attachment to organizations, and that the primary mechanism for this effect was job seekers' perception of similarity. No differences were found between new organizations in established versus emerging industries in terms of the impact of identification inducements. Theoretical and managerial implications of these results were discussed. / text

Movement of different body segments is an essential component for the control of postural stability. Notably, balance impairment has been reported in individuals with chronic low back pain. Various impairments that are likely to affect postural control have been reported in this population, including proprioceptive deficits and altered control of movement at the lumbopelvic region. Although little is known about how movement of the lumbar spine contributes to postural control, spinal movement is likely to be part of the movement strategy when the multisegmental nature of the human body configuration is taken into consideration. The overall objective of this thesis was to investigate the changes in postural stability in individuals with chronic LBP, and the association with altered movement control at the lumbar spine. The control of postural stability was examined with different postural challenges while standing on either a flat surface or a short base. A short base was used to force the subjects to use a “hip strategy”; movement at the lumbopelvic region for postural correction. Kinematics of different body segments including the lumbar spine and hip were recorded to study the movement of the lumbopelvic region. In addition, ground reaction force data were collected with a force platform system to examine postural adjustments during various postural tasks. The studies showed that people with chronic low back pain have difficulty maintaining stance, with increased risk of overbalancing when standing on a short base without any perturbation. Altered motion of the lumbar spine was evident during both expected and unexpected postural perturbations, which indicated impairment of both anticipatory and feedback control of lumbar motion in individuals with chronic low back pain. In addition, subjects took longer to regain postural stability and made more postural adjustments during the recovery period after expected and unexpected perturbations. Together, the studies suggested significant contribution of changes in lumbar motion to postural impairment in people with chronic low back pain. In summary, these findings provide further evidence that spinal movement plays a critical role in the maintenance of postural stability, and altered control of movement affects the quality of postural control in individuals with chronic low back pain.

This thesis provides a detailed analysis of the so-called `house money' or windfall endowment effect and its main determinants. Chapter 1 provides a detailed survey on the literature related to the house money effect. This effect according to Thaler and Johnson (1990) - refers to the situation where prior gains mitigate the influence of loss aversion and facilitate risk-seeking. The concept borrows its name from the expression employed in the gambling parlance of "playing with the house money", which is used when people gamble while ahead. As the literature has used a variety of concepts and ideas to describe the house money effect, this chapter presents and discusses them within the environment and the related literature that they have emerged. This is done in order to highlight the predominant answers to the main research questions raised in the various strands of the literature, namely: (i) whether people treat money differently depending on its origin; and (ii) the implications of the house money effect for the experimental methodology in economics. The literature is organised and presented according to the context in which the above two research questions have been examined. By presenting results in each particular context, we pin down the contextual differences that might be responsible for the presence (or absence) of the house money effect, and lay the initial ground work to answer a third research question: What drives the house money effect? In this regard, after we demonstrate the context-dependency of the house money effect we present the two main interpretations that it has received, namely that the house money effect is a result of different mental accounting over windfall gains (`windfall effect') or a result of fairness or deservingness concerns ('Lockean desert effect'). Chapter 2 re-examines the house money effect and explores its main driving forces. For that, we employ a novel experimental design utilising a within-subject approach, coupled with the use of three different contexts of economic decisions (a trust game, a set of lotteries and a public good game). Both the within-subject experimental design and the three contexts of economic decisions allow us to better test the two main interpretations of the house money effect. Our experimental data confirm the presence of the house money effect both in the decision to trust (but not in the decision of trustworthiness) in the trust game and in the decision to contribute in the public account of the public good game. However, our findings do not support the hypothesis that changes in risk behaviour of participants are due to different sources of money, suggesting that risk attitudes are robust and independent of the origin of money along the experiment. Therefore, our findings seem to favour interpretations of the house money effect as a result of 'just desert' or fairness preferences rather than the result of different mental accounting over windfall gains. Chapter 3 combines two branches of experimental literature, namely the house money effect and the literature on individual differences in social preferences. Both the house money effect and individual differences have been used extensively to explain cooperation in social dilemmas (and its decline over time). Here, we test the implications of house money on reciprocal behaviour, that is, whether participants in economic experiments are less likely to reciprocate when earned money rather than windfall money is at stake. Using the innovative experimental design of Fischbacher et al. (2001) with strategy method, we classify participants according to their behaviour in a linear public good game, and by adding the within-subject element in our experimental design we test the robustness of this classification across the different origin of endowments. Our results indicate that the types' classification is robust across the origin of money. Contrary to Harrison (2007), we find that participants' decision to free ride or not (contribute or not) is independent of the origin of money, but given that the decision to contribute has been made, contribution levels may vary -actually be lower- when money is earned rather than windfall endowed. We also elicit beliefs about others' contributions and test how these beliefs affected by the "house money" and in turn how they affect the decision to contribute. This discussion relates to what the literature has characterised so far as "anticipatory reciprocity".

abstract: Anticipatory planning of digit positions and forces is critical for successful dexterous object manipulation. Anticipatory (feedforward) planning bypasses the inherent delays in reflex responses and sensorimotor integration associated with reactive (feedback) control. It has been suggested that feedforward and feedback strategies can be distinguished based on the profile of grip and load force rates during the period between initial contact with the object and object lift. However, this has not been validated in tasks that do not constrain digit placement. The purposes of this thesis were (1) to validate the hypothesis that force rate profiles are indicative of the control strategy used for object manipulation and (2) to test this hypothesis by comparing manipulation tasks performed with and without digit placement constraints. The first objective comprised two studies. In the first study an additional light or heavy mass was added to the base of the object. In the second study a mass was added, altering the object's center of mass (CM) location. In each experiment digit force rates were calculated between the times of initial digit contact and object lift. Digit force rates were fit to a Gaussian bell curve and the goodness of fit was compared across predictable and unpredictable mass and CM conditions. For both experiments, a predictable object mass and CM elicited bell shaped force rate profiles, indicative of feedforward control. For the second objective, a comparison of performance between subjects who performed the grasp task with either constrained or unconstrained digit contact locations was conducted. When digit location was unconstrained and CM was predictable, force rates were well fit to a bell shaped curve. However, the goodness of fit of the force rate profiles to the bell shaped curve was weaker for the constrained than the unconstrained digit placement condition. These findings seem to indicate that brain can generate an appropriate feedforward control strategy even when digit placement is unconstrained and an infinite combination of digit placement and force solutions exists to lift the object successfully. Future work is needed that investigates the role digit positioning and tactile feedback has on anticipatory control of object manipulation. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Bioengineering 2011

Este estudo investigou o desenvolvimento e a influência dos ajustes posturais antecipatórios na performance de um movimento direcionado a um alvo em crianças com e sem DCD. Os participantes foram divididos de acordo com três faixas etárias [faixa etária (A) de 7-8 anos (média de 7.6 anos ± 0.6 ); faixa etária (B) de 9-10 anos (média de 9.7 anos ± 0.7); faixa etária (C) de 11-12 anos (média de 11.7 anos ± 0.5). Cada grupo foi formado por crianças com DCD e crianças de desenvolvimento típico. As com DCD foram identificadas através de um percentil igual ou inferior a 5 no Teste Movement ABC. As crianças com desenvolvimento típico foram identificadas como aquelas cujo escore apresentou-se igual ou superior a 30. As crianças foram orientadas a permanecer na posição em pé e executar um movimento direcionado a um alvo. Variáveis de tempo de reação, tempo de movimento e a amplitude dos ajustes posturais antecipatórios foram examinadas em função da idade. Os resultados indicaram que as crianças com DCD foram significativamente mais lentas que as crianças com desenvolvimento típico durante a iniciação e execução do movimento direcionado a um alvo e também apresentaram um maior deslocamento lateral do centro de pressão. A análise desenvolvimental mostrou que, à medida que a criança cresce, aumenta a estabilidade postural na direção lateral e reduz os tempos de reação e movimento. Porém, crianças com DCD não alcançaram o mesmo nível de performance em comparação as crianças de desenvolvimento típico. Quando atrasos hipotéticos de idade foram calculados a partir das equações da análise de regressão, as crianças mais velhas do grupo DCD mostraram aumento destes atrasos nos ajustes posturais e diminuição destes no tempo de reação e movimento. Estes resultados dão suporte à hipótese de que os ajustes posturais antecipatórios interferem na performance do movimento. / This study investigated the development and influences of anticipatory postural adjustments on the performance of a goal-directed movement in children with and without DCD. Participants were placed into one of three age bands [age band (A) with 7 and 8 years (mean age 7.6 years ± 0.6; age band (B) with 9 and 10 (mean age 9.7 ± 0.7); age band (C) with 11 and 12 years (mean age 11.7 ± 0.5)]. Each group consisted of children with DCD and typically developing children. Children with DCD were defined as those with scores at or below the 5thpercentile on Movement ABC Test. Typically developing children were those whose scores on the test were above the 30th percentile. The children were asked to stand in right position and perform a goal-directed movement. Reaction time, movement time and amplitude of postural adjustments were examined as a function of age. Results indicated that children with DCD were significantly slower than typically developing children during the initiation and execution of the goal-directed movement and also showed a larger lateral displacement of the center of pressure. Developmental analysis showed that, as children grow up, they increase their postural stability in lateral direction and decrease their reaction and movement time. However, children with DCD do not reach the same level of performance as compared to typically developing children. When hypothetical age delays were calculated by the equations in the regression analysis, older children in the DCD group showed increasing age delays of the postural adjustments but decreasing age delays in reaction and movement time. These results support the hypothesis that anticipatory adjustments interfere in movement performance.

O mundo dos negócios hoje em dia está cada vez mais competitivo e os consumidores buscam de forma acelerada a satisfação de suas necessidades imediatas. Na sociedade do conhecimento, caracterizada pela alta competitividade e pela necessidade inerente de informações, torna-se necessária a adoção de estratégias que permitam a manutenção das vantagens competitivas sustentáveis adaptadas a cada modelo de negócio das corporações. A reorientação de um modelo de negócios utilizando os conceitos de Inteligência Estratégica Antecipativa é foco deste trabalho. Em relação aos procedimentos metodológicos, realizou-se um estudo de caso com uma pesquisa exploratória em um banco de dados interno no CRM da empresa estudada e em paralelo uma coleta de fichas de captação com clientes desta empresa. Estes dois bancos de dados foram inclusos no software Sphinx®. O resultado deste estudo foi a geração de três exemplos: O primeiro com o objetivo de testar se um grupo de palavras com destaque de aparições pode trazer pistas de serviços a serem criados pela empresa. O segundo tinha o objetivo de testar se palavras com aparição nas fichas de captação podem ter algum tipo de relação com aparições destas mesmas palavras na base de CRM dando assim pistas de novas tecnologias a serem aplicadas/desenvolvidas pela empresa. O terceiro tinha o objetivo de testar se um grupo de palavras vinculadas ao tema “serviços” e agrupadas por região do país poderiam sinalizar prioridade de investimento da empresa para geração de serviços adicionais aos usuários de seus softwares através de uma rede de representantes. A aplicação dos conceitos de IEA em situações reais de uma empresa de software buscando auxiliar o gestor nas decisões estratégicas de uma possível reorientação de um modelo de negócios foi o resultado final apresentado neste trabalho. / Nowadays the world of business is becoming each day more competitive and the consumers are looking at a fast pace to satisfy their immediate necessities. At the knowledge society, characterized for the high competitiveness and the inherent necessity of information, becomes necessary the adoption of strategies that allows the maintenance of the sustainable competitive advantages to each model of business of the corporations. The reorientation of a business model using the Anticipatory and Collective Environmental Scanning concepts is the focus of this work. Related with the methodological procedures, a study case was made with an exploratory research in an internal data base in the CRM of the studied company and in parallel was become fulfilled a collection of captation fiches with customers of this company. These two data bases had been enclosed in the Sphinx® software The result of this study was the production of three cases: The first one with the objective to test if a group of words with prominence of appearances, it means, a great number of events, in a CRM database, can bring clues from services to be created by the company. The objective of the second was to test if words with appearance in the captation fiches can have kind of relation with appearances of these same words in the CRM base, thus giving clues of new technologies to be applied/developed by the company. The third had the objective to test if a group of words entailed to the subject “services” and grouped by region of the country could sign priority of investment of the company for the generation of add services to the users of its softwares through of a net representatives. The application of the concepts of IEA in real situations of a software company searching to help the manager in strategic decisions of a possible reorientation of a business model, was the final result presented in this work.

Um dos principais mecanismos do sistema nervoso central para o controle da postura estática são os ajustes posturais antecipatórios (APAs). APAs são gerados para responder às perturbações ou estratégias de desestabilização do centro de pressão (CP), como no caso do início da marcha. A fadiga tem efeitos sobre os APAs e CP. No entanto, pouco se sabe sobre o papel da preferência podal sobre as respostas de antecipação entre os membros inferiores. Consequentemente, os efeitos da fadiga sobre assimetrias nos APAs não são claros. O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar os efeitos da fadiga unilateral dos flexores do tornozelo do membro preferido (PREF) e não-preferido (NPREF) sobre os APAs de membros inferiores. Em 22 sujeitos jovens e saudáveis, divididos em dois grupos (Fp, n=11; e Fnp, n=11) foi analisada a atividade EMG dos músculos reto femoral (RF), bíceps femoral (BF), gastrocnêmio medial (GM) e tibial anterior (TA), bilateralmente, antes (PRE) e após fadiga (POS) voluntária unilateral de flexores plantares. A fadiga muscular foi induzida por um protocolo onde os sujeitos deveriam contrair unilateralmente os flexores plantares elevando o calcanhar ao máximo com o membro preferido (Fp) ou o não-preferido (Fnp) pelo maior tempo possível. Neste protocolo, já descrito na literatura, a cada 10 s, uma nova contração isométrica era executada até que o sujeito não conseguisse mais manter a posição desejada por pelo menos dois minutos. Foi calculado o início da ativação muscular (onset) do GM durante movimentos rápidos de flexão bilateral dos ombros, sendo o início deste denominado como T0. O onset foi calculado em dez tentativas pré (PRE) e pós fadiga (POS) unilateral. Em relação ao CP, foram analisados o RMS nas direções ântero-posterior (RMSap) e médio-lateral (RMSml), e a área da elipse. Após aplicação da análise de variância para medidas repetidas (fatores: perna, grupo e tentativa), não foi encontrada nenhuma diferença significativa em relação aos APAs (p>0,05). Entretanto, quando comparamos o RMSml (p=0,013) e área da elipse (p=0,019) do CP no grupo Fp, encontramos diferenças significativas entre PRE e POS fadiga. A simetria nos APA entre membro preferido e não-preferido denota similar capacidade de respostas à perturbação, independente da preferência podal. Com a adicional perturbação da fadiga muscular, este comportamento permaneceu inalterado, embora o CP tenha apresentado alterações significativas dependentes da preferência podal. Em conjunto, estes resultados suportam a idéia de que o SNC consegue gerar respostas satisfatórias de antecipação em ambos os membros inferiores, mesmo em situação de fadiga, e as alterações no CP médio-lateral indicam maiores contribuições de músculos posturais do quadril na manutenção da postura estática. / One of the most important mechanisms of the central nervous system (CNS) working for the control of posture are the anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs). The APAs minimize effects of perturbations influencing the control of the center of pressure (COP). APAs are also involved in the start of movements such as gait. The effects of fatigue on APAs and COP are well known. However, the role of the lower limb preference on symmetry of APAs is not clear. Consequently there is a lack of knowledge concerning effects of fatigue on APAs for preferred and non-preferred limb. This study was to investigate the effects of unilateral fatigue on the APAs of muscles from the preferred (Fp) and non-preferred (Fnp) lower limb. Twenty two healthy subjects were separated in two groups (Fp, n=11; e Fnp, n=11). We analyzed the bilateral EMG activity of rectus femoris (RF), biceps femoris (BF), gastrocnemius medialis (GM) and tibialis anterior (TA) before (PRE) and after (POS) isometric voluntary exhaustion of ankle plantarflexors muscles. Exhaustion was induced by a protocol were the subjects “stand on toes” unilaterally with the preferred (Fp) or non-preferred (Fnp) lower limb, as long as possible. After 10 s interval, a new isometric contraction was solicited until the subject could not maintain the position longer than two minutes. We calculated the muscular onset during fast bilateral arm rising movements, where the beginning of the movement was denominated T0. The muscular onset was calculated in 10 trials pre- (PRE) and post-fatigue (POS). For COP, we analyzed the RMS for the antero-posterior (RMSap), medio-lateral (RMSml) directions, and the ellipse area. After analysis of variance between the factors group (Fp and Fnp), leg (PREF and NPREF) and trial (PRE and POS), dependent t test, and independent t test between legs for every muscle, any statistical significant difference was found in APA generation (p<0.05). However, when compared COP RMSml (p=0.013) and ellipse area (p=0.019) in Fp group, there was significant differences between PRE and POS conditions. The symmetry in APA between lower limbs shows a similar CNS capacity to counteract perturbations induced by ankle plantarflexors fatigue, regardless of limb preference. In spite of the symmetry on APAs, we found significant differences in COP for medio-lateral direction. These results support the idea that the central nervous system can generate enough APAs to counteract a perturbation, even in fatigue situations. The medio-lateral changes in COP are consistent with incapacities of postural muscles of hip to generate the correct responses to maintain the balance.

Este estudo investigou o desenvolvimento e a influência dos ajustes posturais antecipatórios na performance de um movimento direcionado a um alvo em crianças com e sem DCD. Os participantes foram divididos de acordo com três faixas etárias [faixa etária (A) de 7-8 anos (média de 7.6 anos ± 0.6 ); faixa etária (B) de 9-10 anos (média de 9.7 anos ± 0.7); faixa etária (C) de 11-12 anos (média de 11.7 anos ± 0.5). Cada grupo foi formado por crianças com DCD e crianças de desenvolvimento típico. As com DCD foram identificadas através de um percentil igual ou inferior a 5 no Teste Movement ABC. As crianças com desenvolvimento típico foram identificadas como aquelas cujo escore apresentou-se igual ou superior a 30. As crianças foram orientadas a permanecer na posição em pé e executar um movimento direcionado a um alvo. Variáveis de tempo de reação, tempo de movimento e a amplitude dos ajustes posturais antecipatórios foram examinadas em função da idade. Os resultados indicaram que as crianças com DCD foram significativamente mais lentas que as crianças com desenvolvimento típico durante a iniciação e execução do movimento direcionado a um alvo e também apresentaram um maior deslocamento lateral do centro de pressão. A análise desenvolvimental mostrou que, à medida que a criança cresce, aumenta a estabilidade postural na direção lateral e reduz os tempos de reação e movimento. Porém, crianças com DCD não alcançaram o mesmo nível de performance em comparação as crianças de desenvolvimento típico. Quando atrasos hipotéticos de idade foram calculados a partir das equações da análise de regressão, as crianças mais velhas do grupo DCD mostraram aumento destes atrasos nos ajustes posturais e diminuição destes no tempo de reação e movimento. Estes resultados dão suporte à hipótese de que os ajustes posturais antecipatórios interferem na performance do movimento. / This study investigated the development and influences of anticipatory postural adjustments on the performance of a goal-directed movement in children with and without DCD. Participants were placed into one of three age bands [age band (A) with 7 and 8 years (mean age 7.6 years ± 0.6; age band (B) with 9 and 10 (mean age 9.7 ± 0.7); age band (C) with 11 and 12 years (mean age 11.7 ± 0.5)]. Each group consisted of children with DCD and typically developing children. Children with DCD were defined as those with scores at or below the 5thpercentile on Movement ABC Test. Typically developing children were those whose scores on the test were above the 30th percentile. The children were asked to stand in right position and perform a goal-directed movement. Reaction time, movement time and amplitude of postural adjustments were examined as a function of age. Results indicated that children with DCD were significantly slower than typically developing children during the initiation and execution of the goal-directed movement and also showed a larger lateral displacement of the center of pressure. Developmental analysis showed that, as children grow up, they increase their postural stability in lateral direction and decrease their reaction and movement time. However, children with DCD do not reach the same level of performance as compared to typically developing children. When hypothetical age delays were calculated by the equations in the regression analysis, older children in the DCD group showed increasing age delays of the postural adjustments but decreasing age delays in reaction and movement time. These results support the hypothesis that anticipatory adjustments interfere in movement performance.

Escalation of commitment refers to the tendency of decision makers to continue with failing courses of action (Staw, 1981). An abundance of research has shown that decision makers persistently escalate commitment to less favorable alternatives when making a series of decisions related to a single course of action. This decision making fallacy occurs across a wide range of personal and professional settings, and has significant implications for management and policy. There has been a wealth of research suggesting various explanations for why escalating commitment occurs across a wide range of situations; however, there have been relatively few studies investigating factors that may reduce this type of irrational decision making. Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and understand emotional information in oneself and others and use that information to guide one's thinking and behavior (Salovey & Mayer, 1990). This study investigated the previously unexplored relationship between emotional intelligence and escalation of commitment decisions. It also examined whether anticipatory emotions and risk perceptions mediate the relationship between emotional intelligence and escalation of commitment. It was hypothesized that individuals who have higher emotional intelligence will be less likely to commit additional funds to unfavorable courses of action, and that this relationship is mediated by anticipatory emotions and risk perceptions. These hypotheses were tested using a scenario based experiment with 110 undergraduate students at a large Midwestern university. Escalation of commitment was measured using Staw's (1976) "Adams & Smith Financial Decision Case" (p.30). Emotional intelligence was measured using the 33-item emotional intelligence scale (Schutte, Malouff, Hall, Haggerty, Cooper, Golden, & Dornheim, 1998) The relationship between emotional intelligence and escalation of commitment was tested using regression analysis, and the mediating relationships (anticipatory emotions, risk perceptions) were tested using Baron and Kenny's (1986) mediation procedure. Findings from the study reveal several practical and theoretical contributions. Results suggest that emotional intelligence is not significantly related to escalation of commitment. However, anticipatory emotions were shown to play an important role in one's tendency to escalate commitments. Those who anticipated more positive emotions about finishing the course of action were significantly more likely to escalate commitments toward its completion. In addition, managerial experience was significant in reducing one's tendency to escalate commitments. Results, strengths, weaknesses and future research directions are discussed in relation to the current study.