Includes vita. / Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: The primary purpose of this study was to examine the potential joint influence of need for cognition (NC), the dispositional preference for engaging in (or avoiding) effortful cognitive processing of information, and type of smoking risk message (i.e., factual and evaluative messages similar in message content and length) on the construction of smoking-relevant risk perceptions among college smokers. A secondary purpose was to examine potential mechanisms through which changes in risk perception might occur. 227 college smokers evaluated one of three pamphlets, (1) a factual (i.e., primarily fact-based) smoking risk pamphlet, (2) an evaluative (i.e., primarily emotion based) smoking risk pamphlet, or (3) a control pamphlet unrelated to smoking. Among occasional smokers, NC interacted with type of risk message to influence perceptions of post-pamphlet risk for several of the risk perception outcomes examined. / ABSTRACT: Specifically, smokers lower in NC reported higher levels of perceived risk in response to the evaluative pamphlet whereas smokers higher in NC reported greater perceived risk in response to the factual pamphlet. The interaction did not predict risk perception outcomes among daily smokers. Significant changes in the mechanisms examined were not observed. Findings provide evidence that NC interacts with type of smoking risk message to influence changes in smoking-related health risk perceptions among occasional college smokers. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Forskning i kognitiv psykologi har påvisat att testbaserad inlärning genererar bättre hågkomst jämfört med att läsa om ett inlärningsmaterial. Detta fenomen kallas för testeffekten. Denna studie undersökte skillnader i hågkomst mellan testbaserad inlärning och repeterad läsning för olika tidsintervall, samt huruvida individuella variationer avseende arbetsminneskapacitet och personlighetsdragen ‘need for cognition’ och grit relaterar till testeffekten. 182 svenska gymnasieelever deltog i studien. Materialet som användes för att mäta testeffekten var 60 swahili-svenska ordpar. Varje deltagare exponerades för hälften av ordparen genom testbaserad inlärning, och den andra hälften genom repeterad läsning. Tre hågkomsttest utfördes (direkt efter inlärning, en vecka efter och fyra veckor efter) med både ordpar som inte hade testats tidigare (unika ordpar) och ordpar som var med i föregående hågkomsttest (som tillsammans med de unika ordparen utgör ackumulerade ordpar). Resultaten uppvisade en signifikant testeffekt vid samtliga hågkomsttest för både unika och ackumulerade ordpar. En regressionsanalys visade att arbetsminneskapacitet, ‘need for cognition’ och grit, varken var för sig eller tillsammans, hade någon signifikant inverkan på testeffektens magnitud. Resultaten indikerar att testeffekten är robust för olika tidsintervall, samt att den är likvärdigt fördelaktig för personer som skiljer sig åt avseende arbetsminneskapacitet, ‘need for cognition’ och grit, som har visats påverka inlärning i flera andra sammanhang. Dessa resultat adderar till den växande mängd vetenskapliga belägg som talar för testeffektens effektivitet och lämplighet som inlärningsmetod. / Research in cognitive psychology has provided evidence for retrieval practice as superior for retention compared to reading a to-be-learned material. This phenomenon is called the testing effect. The current study investigated differences in retrieval achieved by retrieval practice and by reading at different time intervals, and whether individual differences in working memory capacity and the personality characteristics ‘need for cognition’ and grit is related to the testing effect. The sample consisted of 182 Swedish students in upper-secondary school. The to-be-learned material was 60 Swahili-Swedish word-pairs. Each participant was exposed to half of the word-pairs by testing, and the other half by reading. Three retention tests followed (directly after learning, one week later and four weeks later) consisting of word-pairs not previously tested (unique word-pairs) as well as word-pairs from previous retention tests (which together with the unique word-pairs constitutes the accumulated word-pairs). Significant testing effects were found at each retention test for both unique and accumulated word-pairs. A regression analysis showed that working memory capacity, need for cognition and grit, neither separately nor combined, had a significant impact on the magnitude of the testing effect. The results indicate that the testing effect is robust for different time intervals, and that it is equally beneficial across individual differences in working memory capacity, need for cognition and grit, each of which has been shown to affect learning in other contexts. These results add to the growing amount of scientific support for the effectiveness and appropriateness of the testing effect as a learning method.

There are currently scarce research regarding further training programs and employees’ attitudes toward them. This present work examined 95 preschool employees from one municipal community in matters of emotional intelligence, need for cognition, and cognitive reflective ability and how these influenced their attitudes toward a further training program called International Child Development Programme, ICDP (study 1). Six participants were also interviewed in regards to more organizational aspects of the ICDP-training and their experiences of the program’s implementation in the actual worksituation (study 2). The results of study 1 showed a positive relationship between emotional intelligence and attitudes toward the program. Study 2 revealed lack of follow-ups and sustainability of the program in the real-life work-situation. Suggestions for countering these flaws as well as a more individually focused approach in embracing, applying and maintaining the teachings of a further training program are discussed.

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Humans have difficulties grasping the notion of exponential growth and often underestimate the accumulated final value, a phenomenon called exponential growth bias (EGB). During the COVID-19 pandemic, this tendency led to the inaccurate judgment of the virus spread, ultimately making safety measures seem less important. In prospect theory, loss aversion refers to the tendency of perceiving loss as more severe than a gain of the same magnitude is perceived as good. The question addressed was whether loss aversion through the valence of framing influences the judgments of exponential changes within the context of COVID-19. Furthermore, the association between EGB and the individual characteristic Need for Cognition (NFC) was investigated. Participants (n=129) were randomized into one of the two framing conditions (Recovery or Infection) and were presented with six EGB problems with different change rates and the six-item version of the Need for Cognition Scale. The results confirmed the existence of EGB at all growth rates (+5%, +15%, +25%), while the effect of EGB was mixed for exponential decline. The framing did not show a considerable effect on the accuracy of judgments. Simple linear regression analyses indicated that NFC moderates the effect of EGB at higher growth rates (i.e., at +15% and +25%). Overall, the results were more consistent and clearer for exponential growth than for exponential decline. The underestimation of exponential growth in the context of COVID-19 is quite alarming as it entails the risk of insufficient behavioral changes, which can lead to serious consequences for both the individual and society.

Currently our world consumes the equivalent of 1.6 earths per year. Although the production has become resource-efficient by using fewer natural resources to produce one dollar of GDP, per-capita consumption in the US firmly increases. Individuals consume an ever-increasing quantity of goods and services which inevitably leads to environmental damages in terms of pollution, deforestation, climate change and psychological disorders such as reduced wellbeing, unhappiness, and anxiety. Past research has suggested that embracing sustainable consumption - where consumption of products and services have minimal impact on the environment, and improvement in society's wellbeing-might mitigate the detrimental effects of over-consumption. Increasingly studies in this stream propose that adopting a psychological approach, specifically by enhancing individuals' inherent capability known as mindfulness may aid in boosting sustainable consumption behaviors. However, only few studies have investigated the decision-making processes associated with mindfulness that could show a detailed picture of how mindfulness - receptive attention to and present moment awareness is positively associated with sustainable consumption behaviors. Conceptual model for this study was built based on mindfulness-related mechanisms, namely re-perceiving, systematic processing, and ability to overcome need for fulfillment. Using a four-step conceptual model: mindfulness-cognitive personality variables-values and beliefs variables-sustainable consumption behaviors, this research empirically examines how trait mindfulness is associated with sustainable consumption behaviors. Embracing a broad definition of sustainable consumption in terms of its impact on environment (composition) and level of consumption (volume), this research includes both pro-environmental and downshifting consumption behaviors. By utilizing an online survey method, data was collected from 1005 respondents in Amazon Mechanical Turk (Mturk). Findings from self-reported measures suggested that while mindfulness directly and positively associated with sustainable behaviors, significant indirect relationships are explained by cognitive personality variables such as cognitive flexibility, need for cognition, attention based self-regulatory control, and values/beliefs namely altruistic values, self-acceptance values, materialistic values, and perceived consumer effectiveness. Comparing empirical models using measures of both socio-cognitive based mindfulness and meditation based mindfulness demonstrated that the former has both direct and indirect relationships with sustainable behaviors while the latter showed only indirect relationships through cognitive personality variables and values/beliefs. By identifying cognitive personality variables that are closely associated with mindfulness, this research teases out the tenets of mindfulness that are more relevant for sustainable consumption behaviors. Also, the recognized cognitive personality variables in this research have been rigorously studied in consumer behavior research, hence finding their relationships with mindfulness might help uncover applications of mindfulness in mainstream consumer behavior research. In addition, by supporting relationships involving cognitive personality variables and values/beliefs relevant for sustainable consumption, this study may offer insights for policy makers and practitioners in maneuvering consumers' mindfulness and their sustainable behaviors to bring about change in their sustainable consumption behaviors.

Abstract The purpose of this paper is attempt to build and test the model of consumer behavior, using data communication on the mobile phone. Despite the explosive growth of 2nd generation mobile system (GSM) and rapidly increasing number of consumers who use media (such as photos or access the website) and try to get information they want. We adopt four dimensions to build the structural model of consumer behavior, including need for cognition, product attributes, price factors and purchase intention, and define them as unobserved variables in the LISERL. Finally, we perform relative strength in the Path analysis showing causal model. For model analysis, there are two phase to implement as follows: Firstly, we use Confirmatory Factors Analysis (CFA) to explore the correlation between unobserved (latent) and observed variables. Secondly, the relative relations of four unobserved variables will be confirmed by identification, estimation, test and model-fitting in the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). We expect that the model of consumer behavior will be appropriately inferred and explain to 3rd mobile communication (3G) in the future.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T13:16:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1511081 bytes, checksum: 15cf12e97a61817295a3f17c497f5fec (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-12-01 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The current dissertation aimed at evaluating the influence of human values, judgment and meaning, and need for cognition in the choice and attributes of postal services. In accordance with these objectives, two studies were conducted. Study 1 aimed at knowing the psychometrics parameters of the Attributes of Postal Services Scale and the Judgment and Meaning Scale for services, and testing the theoretical model with a sample of students. Participants were 215 students of a public university in João Pessoa (PB), most of them females (61.40%), with mean age of 20 years old (sd = 3.79). A preliminary statistical analysis indicated that all items presented satisfactory discriminative power. Prior to performing the factor analysis, the suitability of using this technique was checked, and for both scales results were adequate: Attribute of Postal Services [KMO = 0.70, Bartlett‟s Sphericity Test, χ ² (210) = 1183.31 p <0.001], and Judgment and Meaning Scale [KMO = 0.75, Bartlett‟s Sphericity Test, χ ² (300) = 1210.93, p <0.001]. A PAF (Principal Axis Factoring) was conducted, without fixing the number of factors and rotation. According to what was expected, in both scales a two-factor solution emerged, and reliability indexes (Cronbach‟s Alpha) were 0.81 and 0.76, respectively. These results evince the factor validity and reliability for both instruments. The theoretical model was confirmed by the correlations found between the symbolic attributes of postal services with emotive judgment and meaning (r = 0.46, p <0.01); the normative (r = 0.24, p <0.01 ) and interactional subfunction of values (r = 0.23, p <0.01); and need for cognition (r = -0.15, p <0.05); as well as the correlation found between the utilitarian attributes of postal services with rational judgment and meaning (r = 0.28, p <0.01); and need for cognition (r = 0.14, p <0.05). This model fitted the empirical data [χ ² (7) = 17.77, p = 0.01, χ ² / df = 2.54, GFI = 0.98, AGFI = 0.91, CFI = 0.95 and RMSEA = 0.085 (0.03 - 0.14); PCLOS = 0.10]. The documents‟ importance and the services attributes were better predictors of the choice of postal services, and the mails‟ opening priority was influenced by the psychological variables measured. Study 2 aimed at testing the same theoretical model with a sample of postal service users. Participants were 238 clients of postal offices of João Pessoa (PB), 50.8% were female and the mean age was 32 years old (sd = 11.45). Findings were similar to Study 1 results, with the exception of the correlations hypothesized to need for cognition. The model also proved to be adjusted to the empirical data [χ ² (7) = 14.88, p = 0.04, χ ² / df = 2.13, GFI = 0.98, AGFI = 0.93, CFI = 0, 97 and RMSEA = 0.07 (0.02 - 0.11); PCLOS = 0.22]. The documents‟ importance and the services attributes were better predictors of choice of postal services and mails‟ opening priority. The psychological variables measured showed greater influence in this study. In conclusion, it is hoped that the aims proposed in this dissertation were reached. Therefore, it is likely it presents a contribution to this field in Social Psychology: the influence of psychological variables in the behavior of postal services‟ consumption. / A presente dissertação objetivou conhecer a influência dos valores humanos, do julgamento e a atribuição de significado e da necessidade de cognição nos atributos e escolha de serviços postais. Para tanto, levaram-se a cabo dois estudos. O Estudo 1 verificou os parâmetros psicométricos das Escalas de Atributos dos Serviços Postais e de Julgamento e Significado do Serviço e a testagem do modelo teórico com uma amostra de estudantes. Participaram 215 universitários de uma instituição pública de João Pessoa (PB), a maioria do sexo feminino (61,4%) com idade média de 20 anos (dp = 3,79). Inicialmente, comprovou-se que os itens das duas escalas apresentaram poder discriminativo satisfatório. Prévia a realização da comprovação da estrutura fatorial, testou-se a adequação de se empregar esta técnica, tanto para a Escala de Atributos de Serviços Postais [KMO = 0,80 e Teste de Esfericidade de Bartlett, χ² (210) = 1183,31; p < 0,001] como para a de Julgamento e Significado do Serviço [KMO = 0,75; Teste de Esfericidade de Bartlett, χ² (300) = 1210,93; p < 0,001], optando-se pelo método PAF (Principal Axis Factoring). Como esperado, ambas as escalas apresentaram dois fatores, com índices de consistência interna (Alfa de Cronbach) de 0,81 e 0,76, respectivamente, reunindo-se evidências de validade fatorial e consistência interna. O modelo teórico foi confirmado com a correlação entre os atributos simbólicos dos serviços postais e o julgamento e significado emotivo (r = 0,46, p < 0,01), as subfunções valorativas normativa (r = 0,24; p < 0,01) e interacional (r = 0,23, p < 0,01) e a necessidade de cognição (r = -0,15; p < 0,05), e com a correlação entre os atributos utilitários e o julgamento e significado racional (r = 0,28, p < 0,01) e a necessidade de cognição (r = 0,14; p < 0,05). Este modelo se mostrou ajustado aos dados empíricos [χ² (7) = 17,77, p = 0,01, χ²/gl = 2,54, GFI = 0,98, AGFI = 0,91, CFI = 0,95 e RMSEA = 0,085 (0,03 0,14); PCLOSE = 0,10]. Verificou-se que a importância do documento e os atributos dos serviços postais foram os melhores preditores da escolha de serviços de postagens e que a prioridade de abertura de correspondências sofre influência das variáveis psicológicas aferidas. O Estudo 2 teve o objetivo de testar o mesmo modelo teórico com uma amostra de usuários de serviços postais. Participaram 238 clientes de agências de Correios de João Pessoa (PB), sendo 50,8% do sexo feminino e a idade média de 32 anos (dp = 11,45). Foram encontrados resultados semelhantes aos do Estudo 1, com exceção das correlações hipotetizadas para a necessidade de cognição. O modelo mostrou-se ajustado aos dados empíricos [χ² (7) = 14,88, p = 0,04, χ²/gl = 2,13 , GFI = 0,98, AGFI = 0,93, CFI = 0,97 e RMSEA = 0,07 (0,02 0,11); PCLOSE = 0,22]. A importância do documento e os atributos dos serviços postais mostraram-se melhores preditores da escolha de serviços de postagem e da prioridade de abertura de correspondências, porém as variáveis psicológicas analisadas apresentaram maior influência neste estudo. Concluindo, confia-se que os objetivos desta dissertação tenham sido alcançados, apresentando-se nesta oportunidade uma contribuição para o campo da Psicologia Social: A influência de variáveis psicológicas nos comportamentos de consumo de serviços postais.

Spirituality and religiosity can play key roles in individual lives through influencing health, social relationships, political views, as well as many other facets (Newberg, D'Aquili & Rause, 2001; Milevsky & Levitt, 2004; Hirsh, Walberg & Peterson, 2013). As important as religious and spiritual beliefs are to societies, cultures, and individuals, little is known about which psychological factors determine choices of faith. Although there are likely many determinants of religious, spiritual, atheist or agnostic beliefs, this study explored four possible factors: critical thinking skills, need for cognition, need for emotional comfort/security, and need for closure. Participants included an undergraduate sample and a community sample. It was hypothesized that religious and spiritual individuals will have lower critical thinking skills, lower needs for cognition, higher needs for emotional comfort/security and higher needs for closure than agnostic and atheist individuals. Hypotheses also included potential interactions between these variables in predicting each faith path. Religiosity was measured using the I/E Religious Orientation Scale - Revised (Gorsuch & McPherson, 1989) and Spirituality was measured utilizing the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality (BMMRS) (Fetzer Institute, 1999). These two faith paths were also self -reported by participants after definitions of each were provided. Atheist and Agnostic beliefs were only measured through self-report. Results indicated that both measures of logic (critical thinking skills and need for cognition) and emotional comfort/security (Need to Belong and Religious Motivations) predicted various faith paths. Limitations included sample characteristics and small numbers of Atheist and Agnostic individuals. A better understanding of the motivations for choosing either spiritual or non-spiritual paths may assist in further explanation of the multiple roles each faith choice plays in individual lives.

Online shopping has gained more and more popularity over the years, naturally, leading to an increase in the number of e-commerce websites. From a variety of websites users can choose the one that best suits their needs depending on different factors, such as information or easy navigation. E-commerce websites have the aim to sell, thus besides providing information and easy navigation other strategies such as persuasion are implemented on the website to increase its selling performance. Some of the well-known persuasive design factors and how they influence user’s purchase behaviour will be discussed in this study. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the effects of persuasive design factors on purchase intention, as well as to assess the effect of the need for cognition as a user condition on the relationship. Based on the literature review, a theoretical framework is proposed to accomplish the aim of the thesis. For the empirical evidence, a quantitative approach was taken, with the help of two online questionnaires (one with persuasive factors and one without persuasive factors). A non-probability convenience sampling approach was used for gathering data. The results of the study provide evidence that using persuasive design factors on an e-commerce website can increase the likelihood of purchase intention. The findings do not conclude the mediating role of attitude towards using the website, yet a relationship between attitude and purchase intention was found. The moderating effect of need for cognition was not established.