This study aims at understanding the decision to buy "Made in Mozambique" products, which is important for developing marketing strategy and promoting national products. To explore the factors influencing consumers' buying decisions, means-end theory and its associated methodology provide a useful framework for understanding why people buy "Made in Mozambique" rice by characterising the relationships between the attributes, consequences associated with those attributes, and the values those consequences help reinforce. Methodology: a total of 20 consumers were interviewed. It is important to mention that only rice was used in this study. The laddering interviewing technique was then used to link these chains of meanings. Analyses and interpretation of the resulting data provide an effective complement for studying consumer purchasing motives and suggest recommendations for managerial practice and future research efforts. Summary of the study findings include: (i) Attributes: Quality, cost, national; (ii) Consequences: healthy, well-being, affordable, trust, contribution, and fulfillment; and (iii) Values: Feeling happy, longevity and self-esteem.The theoretical component of this research covers the definition and discussion of Means-end theory and consumer decision-making. / Industrial Psychology / M.A. (Industrial & Organisational Psychology)

Submitted by Cristiane Shirayama (cristiane.shirayama@fgv.br) on 2011-05-25T16:43:12Z No. of bitstreams: 1 61090100017.pdf: 1173276 bytes, checksum: cda7eb208e82169a3eb90adf64163258 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão(vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2011-05-25T16:55:56Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 61090100017.pdf: 1173276 bytes, checksum: cda7eb208e82169a3eb90adf64163258 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão(vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2011-05-25T16:58:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 61090100017.pdf: 1173276 bytes, checksum: cda7eb208e82169a3eb90adf64163258 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-25T17:23:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 61090100017.pdf: 1173276 bytes, checksum: cda7eb208e82169a3eb90adf64163258 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-07-07 / This thesis aims to evaluate whether humorous television commercials (TVCs) work for non-prescription drugs, known as “over-the-counter” (OTC). The construct humor in advertising is controversial since it involves complex and broad typology, and depends on the audience characteristics. Several studies within different product categories indicated that some consumer goods are better suited for humorous TVCs, while others, such as OTC drugs, may not take advantage from it. Paradoxically, drug announcers spend billions of dollars worldwide in humorous OTC ads. An experiment with real consumers was designed as between-and-within-subjects, to test three hypotheses. Sixty women were exposed to pairs of humorous and non-humorous TVCs, for each of the three drug categories (analgesics, vitamins, and laxatives). We used fictional brand names and real ads, and measured four dependant variables: attitude toward the advertising (AAD), attitude toward the brand (ABR), purchase intention (PI), and brand choice (BC), after subjects being exposed to manipulations of two independent variables: humorous vs. non-humorous TV commercials, for the drug categories. Conditional logit model confirmed that humor does not help to persuade respondents, whose choices, attitudes, and purchase intention were less favorable with humorous TVCs, in comparison to non-humorous executions. Future research is presented regarding marketing for pharmaceutical products.

D.Litt. et Phil. / Endometriosis is among the most common gynaecological maladies affecting women's reproductive health and is also known to be associated with infertility. The pathogenesis of endometriosis is however not well understood. Altered immunity has been indicated in the pathophysiology of this puzzling disease. Over the last decade or more the research evidence suggesting that stress might play a role in the pathogenesis of various illnesses has grown significantly. According to certain tenets of psychoneuroimmunology, behaviour and cognitive therapy, by changing an individual's reaction to stress and increasing the ability to cope with stress, thereby altering immune function, may have an effect on the proliferation of a specific illness, in the case of this study, endometriosis. Various behaviour patterns used by individuals to deal with personal and environmental stressors, have been identified. The incessant struggle to overcome real and imagined obstacles imposed by events, time and the actions of other people typifies the Type A behaviour pattern. The aims of this study were to detemine, whether there were, in a randomly chosen group of patients with endometriosis, persons with high indices of Type A behaviour; to determine whether the modification of Type A behaviour in these patients had a positive effect on their biopsychosocial functioning and finally, whether the modification of Type A behaviour had a positive effect on these patients' endometriosis-related infertility. Endometriosis patients being treated at an infertility clinic were invited to participate in the study. Forty-two subjects were recruited. A psychometric test battery was administered to all the participants. Based on the results of the Videotaped Structured Interview, the subjects were equally divided into three groups: a low index Type A group, a high index Type A group and a middle group. Experimental groups 1 and 2 received counseling aimed at reducing Type A behaviour, using the revised version of the SARCPP, which was originally used with coronary heart disease patients. The test battery was again administered after the intervention. It was found that a subset of endometriosis patients did show higher indices of Type A behaviour. Furthermore an intervention that was found to be successful in reducing the Type A behaviour intensity and frequency in subjects with coronary heart disease was also found to be similarly successful in a subset of women with endometriosis. The most significant finding was the increase in pregnancies among the group of subjects who had been exposed to the treatment. Type A behaviour modification was indeed found to be effective in the treatment of infertility in couples where the female experienced endometriosis-related infertility.

Doctorat en sciences psychologiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

M.A. / It is a well-known fact that South Africans of all races are a high risk population for the development of coronary heart disease and hypertension . More recent statistics indicate that cardiovascular disease caused 12 % of deaths amongst black South Africans in 1994 (Webster, 1996). Risk factors for CHI) can be grouped into four domains : Biomedical (e.g. hypertension, family history), behavioural (e.g. substance intake), sociodemographic (e.g. socio - economic status) and personality (e.g. Type A Behaviour). While there is a general agreement on many of the risk factors for CHIC, there are many more which are still being debated such as the influence of offspring parental heart disease and hypertension and coronary - prone behaviour. In a developing country, such as South Africa, with its heterogeneous population, it seemed that cardiovascular diseases are assuming epidemiological proportions among both White and Black South Africans, and thus appears necessary to establish whether Black patients with cardiovascular disease exhibits the TABP, closely related with diseases of the cardiovascular system among Whites. Els (1987) noted that stress associated with lifestyle changes in Black urbanisation in South Africa, not only showed psychological markers of CHD, but also physiological markers, such as substance intake. A cohort of 67 Black South African university students (38 male & 29 female), with a mean age of 23 was selected. The experimental groups being children of parents with hypertension and heart disease and the controls being children of normotensive parents and without a history of heart disease. A battery of tests were used to measure TAB, depression, hostility, anger and substance consumption. Results indicated that the experimental groups showed a significantly higher index of Type A Behaviour (p < 0, 01) than the controls and there was a significant correlation in terms of Parental hypertension and parental heart disease with coronary - prone behaviour (anger, hostility and depression) as well as substance consumption.

M.A. (Psychology) / The health context of South Africa is on the one hand unique in comparison to the rest of the world. On the other hand does it also. show characteristics of both Third World and First World disease patterns. There is a substantial component of the South African health sector that is negatively affected. This can possibly be ascribed to previous health policies. South Africa has unique characteristics concerning the chronic degenerative aspects of the First World disease pattern. White South Africans have the same cardiovascular disease patterns as the rest of the world with the exception that the South African disease patterns has a much larger incidence and degree of seriousness that the rest of the world. Research in the area of the chronic degenerative nature of heart disease and vascular disease is of great importance. It becomes necessary to address degenerative disease and also lifestyle diseases not only medically but also in terms of an individual's lifestyle. The management of an individual's lifestyle will not only have preventive consequences in the South African context, but it can also be utilised in the treat~ent of cardiovascular disease. Research undertaken at the Clinic and Centre for Behavioral Medicine at the Rand Afrikaans University found that the management or treatment of the Type A behavior pattern for the prevention of recurrent cardiovascular diseases were particularly effective. It therefore seems that technology developed elsewhere proves to be effective for the South African context. According to Johnston (1992) two types of risk factors contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease. The first constitute of classical risk factors which include aspects of blood pressure and cholesterol. The second risk factor includes psychological aspects and in particular the Type A behavior pattern and its components. Johnson and Broman (1987) indicate that the components of anger and hostility of the Type A behavior pattern constitute the most important behavioral factor of Type A coronary-prone behavior and cardiovascular disease. Research also indicate that the component of hostility presents a significant predictor of cardiovascular disease (Helmers et al., 1993) . The role of aggression and its components in the Type A behavior pattern was investigated in this study. An attempt was made to establish whether there is a simultaneous reduction in aggression, its components and the Type A behavior pattern and whether certain components of aggression were more important that others. A group of 39 heart patients were investigated on the following indexes: psychological, cardiological and biochemical in order to establish heart disease risk factors in a biopsychosocial context. A modified Type A treatment progranme was administered to this group over a period of twelve weeks at a local heart rehabilitation centre. A second group of 19 patients served as a no-treatment waitinglist control group, but simultaneously underwent an aerobic exercise and cardiovascular counselling programne. The results of this study indicated that cynical hostility was probably the major risk factor of all the components of aggression in the Type A behavior pattern. The second most important component of aggression in the Type A behavior pattern is the expression of anger in general. The latter also corresponds with results found in research on this subj ect. Ov-ert or specific expression of anger .nd the control of anger also contribute to the psychosocial causation of Type A behavior pattern in cardiovascular disease. Comparisons of the experimental and control groups after the intervention showed statistically significant differences of anger expression in general, specific anger expression, inhibition of anger, control of anger, and hostility. It was concluded that significant differences for the diverse components of aggression have been found due to the experimental intervention programme.

M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

D.Litt. et Phil. (Psychology) / It has long been known that South Africans are a high risk population for the development of coronary heart disease. Cardiovascular diseases accounted for 8,7% of all deaths in this country in 1988. Despite this distressing situation, rehabilitation facilities for people who have suffered a myocardial infarction or heart attack are relatively scarce. The facilities that exist tend to focus on the biomedical aspects of cardiac rehabilitation such as exercise and diet, and tend to neglect the psychosocial factors. A review of the literature shows, however, that psychosocial factors, and in particular the Type A coronary-prone behaviour pattern are significantly related not only to the development of coronary heart disease, but also to the probability of sUffering and surviving a heart attack. In addition, Type A.behaviour has been shown to be predictive of the risk of a second infarction after an initial attack. For this reason, the proven technology of a treatment programme developed under the auspices of the Recurrent Coronary Prevention Project (Powell & Thoresen, 1986) was applied in an attempt to adapt the programme for the" South African context. The study was aimed at establishing whether the RCPP programme could successfully be employed in this country, and whether the duration could be shortened so as to be more economically viable given the limited economic resources that characterise health care in South Africa. The modified programme was administered to a group of 13 post-myocardial patients at a local cardiac rehabilitation centre. A second group of 11 patients at the same centre served as a no-treatment waiting list control group, but simultaneously underwent an aerobic exercise and cardiovascular counselling programme. Results of the study indicate that 'the modified programme is highly successful in modifying Type A behaviour and its components in South African sUbjects. Comparisons of the experimental and control groups after the intervention showed statistically significant differences on the majority of measures. It was therefore concluded that the modified programme can be used fruitfully in the local context, but it was cautioned that the present sample needs to be followed up over time to ensure that the treatment gains are maintained.

As a social species, human beings are driven by an innate desire to belong and are thus motivated to develop and maintain meaningful social relationships. As such, perceiving a lack of belongingness strongly impacts psychological and physiological health and well-being. A common form of perceived relationship deficits is loneliness, a negative-affective experience detrimental to health and well-being over time. Through a series of three manuscripts, this dissertation applies the full-cycle model of social psychological research to explore various affective, behavioral, and cognitive consequences of loneliness. Whereas existing models of loneliness focus on long-lasting or chronic forms of loneliness, these studies investigate chronic and transient loneliness, as well as processes through which transient loneliness may develop into more chronic levels. The first paper demonstrates that solitary consumption is a unique behavioral response to transient loneliness, which may exacerbate the experience of loneliness and negatively impact health over time. The second paper provides support for a positivity-deficit perspective, demonstrating that chronic loneliness is related to less disclosure of recent positive experiences, a deficit which may be consequential for the development of close relationships. The third paper demonstrates the role of transient loneliness in inhibiting individuals and their interaction partners from reaping the social rewards of positive-event disclosure, particularly among those who typically feel socially connected. Taken together, these studies expand the current understanding transient loneliness, revealing various social-cognitive and behavioral consequences which could impede the social-reaffiliation process, and thus contribute to the maintenance of loneliness over time.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The classification of consumable media by mining relevant text for their identifying features is a subjective process. Previous attempts to perform this type of feature mining have generally been limited in scope due having limited access to user data. Many of these studies used human domain knowledge to evaluate the accuracy of features extracted using these methods. In this thesis, we mine book review text to identify nontrivial features of a set of similar books. We make comparisons between books by looking for books that share characteristics, ultimately performing clustering on the books in our data set. We use the same mining process to identify a corresponding set of characteristics in users. Finally, we evaluate the quality of our methods by examining the correlation between our similarity metric, and user ratings.