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This research introduces a new theoretical perspective (termed the Adaptive Processing Perspective) that reexamines how consumers should think before making decisions and the optimal outcomes that result. New insights into conscious (“careful deliberation”), unconscious (“sleeping on it”), and intuitive (“going with your gut”) thought processes are provided. Across four studies, empirical evidence demonstrates that consumers can make significantly better decisions by thinking more about routine choices, using their intuition for occasional purchase decisions, and distracting themselves before making major purchase decisions. Specifically, in study 1, increased conscious thought optimized routine decision making due to increases in openness to information. In study 2, consumers using intuition optimized an occasional purchase decision by focusing attention on relevant information. Study 3 demonstrated unconscious thought to be optimal for consumers when making a major purchase decision via their engagement in associative processing. Lastly, study 4 provided further support for the Adaptive Processing Perspective by manipulating the decision setting (i.e., routine, limited, extensive) across a common product and replicating the earlier study results. Several theoretical and practical advances to the domains of information processing and consumer decision making are offered and discussed.

Philosophical and physiological investigations define thought to be the result of thinking. psychological Inquiry has mainly focused on discovery of the mechanisms and topology of thought. Philosophical Inquiry either has explored the mind-body problem or has analyzed the linguistics of the expression of a thought. However, neither has Investigated adequately phenomenal characteristics of thought Itself, the Intermediary between the production and the expression of a thought. The use of thought to analyze phenomenal characteristics of thought engenders a paradox. If the expression of thought requires finite series of linked words with rules governing syntax, then analysis of both the thought and the expression of the thought must necessarily transcend the linguistic level. During the last century many examples of logical paradoxes In linguistics of thought have been given. The culminating difficulty of dealing with a finite structure, a characteristic of any language, Is Godel's Incompleteness Theorem, which says in essence that in order to render all decisions about a finite system requires the use of material outside the system. Thus, a potentially complete interpretation of thought must use some technique which is basically non-linguistic . Wittgenstein proposed such a method with his "Picture theory. " This technique solves the major paradoxical problem generated by investigation of a reflective system using the system itself , but leaves unsolved the question of ultimate resolution . Using pictorial models with examples to assist in understanding phenomenal characteristics of thought, this paper investigates basic units of thought, attempting to identify properties of a basic unit of thought and of the collection of thoughts for a person, and analyzes relationships and interactions between units of thought.

The purpose of the study was to develop a theory and model for motivity of consciousness which would constitute a system of thought motivity. The major premises of currently prominent theories of motivation, including psychoanalysis, learning theory, self-actualization theory, and topological psychology, were surveyed. Related materials in the area of psychic research and energy systems related to mental function were surveyed. The primary activities and processes called thought motivity were identified along with some of the major forces on the individual. From the identified forces and processes a theory of thought motivity was developed. A conceptual model for motivity of consciousness based upon the theory was designed. The theory and the model considered together constituted the system of thought motivity. Brain processes and biological actions of the human organism were proposed to have a functional, interdependent relationship. Thought was considered to be a functional of brain processes. It was postulated that a certain minimal level of biological actions were continuous in the living organism; therefore, thought was continuous. It was postulated that at any given point in time and space a universe of events would exist which was capable of producing outcomes in the brain. Of that universe of events a field of events was likely to produce outcomes in the brain. Of those events likely to produce outcomes in the brain a region of events would produce outcomes. The net relationship between the universe of events, the field of events, and the region of events was one of decreasing quantity of stimuli. The universe of events was postulated to include stimuli which affected the brain through sensory organs and other receptors. Events which produced outcomes in the brain and were not received through sensory organs were proposed to operate through para-sensory receptors in the brain. As a functional of a universe of events and biological. actions, each of which had a nature of constancy and change, thought was postulated to be subject to constant motivity. Thought motivity was proposed to be a process of differentiation and integration of events as reflected by outcomes produced in the brain. At any given point in time and space, brain processes were theorized to be limited by experiential factors, the universe of events, and the functionals of brain processes.

The speed and variability of thought are purportedly common features of specific psychological states, such as anxiety and mania. The present study explored the proposed independent and combinational influence of these variables upon condition-specific symptoms and affective state. A general population sample was recruited online (N = 263). Participants completed a thought speed and variability manipulation task, inducing a combination of fast/slow and varied/repetitive thought. Change in anxiety and mania symptoms was assessed through direct self-reported symptom levels and indirect, processing bias assessment (threat interpretation). Results indicated that both fast and varied thought independently increased self-reported manic symptoms. Affect was significantly less positive and more negative during slow thought. No change in anxiety symptoms or threat interpretation was found between manipulation conditions. Critically, no evidence for the proposed combinational influence of speed and variability was found. Implications for developing understanding of condition-specific mechanisms and avenues for therapeutic intervention are discussed.

Bugelski and Sharlock (1952) credit McGeoch with saying that although the concept of mediation was an old one, it had generated more discussion than experimentation. Bugelski and Sharlock in commenting on McGeoch's statements had this to say, "The concept of mediation is of great potential value for the psychological analysis of learning, thinking, and insight." (Bugelski and Sharlock, 1952, p. 334) The views of Bugelski and Sharlock represent the current thinking in verbal learning circles relevant to the importance of mediation in symbolic forms of behavior. The experimental emphasis, at the present time, is upon the conditions underlying the process. With regard to the nature of mediation Jenkins has stated, The second task, I believe, is to press on in our experimental attack on the conditions of mediation: that is, we should attempt to discover how these implicit processes are acquired, how they are actuated, how they are inhibited, and in general, how they are employed by the subjects. (Jenkins, 1963, p. 212) One method by which the conditions of mediation may be discovered is to determine the relationship between this process and many other forms of intervening variables. In commenting on this latter point Mowrer has stated, "But no one, it seems, has addressed himself systematically to the question of the relation between intervening variables and mediators." (Mowrer, 1960, p. 68) These views of Jenkins and Mowrer on the direction experimentation should take in mediation suggest the need for the current study. The purpose of this study was to investigate the function of visual imagery, type of mediator and associative frequency in mediate association. The role of these factors was examined within an induced mediation paradigm of the form A- B, B-C, A-C.

<p>Hua-yen Buddhism is generally considered as the most theoretical and systematic presentation of Buddhist ideas among the various Buddhist schools that appeared in China during the Sui-T'ang period (589-900 A.D.). Furthermore, its philosophico-religious teachings played a significant role in the religious history of East Asia. In spite of such an importance, very little is known about Hua-yen Buddhism in the Western world. This thesis, therefore, attempts to achieve a proper understanding of Hua-yen Buddhism through an extensive investigation of its central doctrine of dharmadhātu(fa-chieh) as it occurs in the writings of the patriarchs of the Hua-yen school. Part One, as a background study, examines first of all the etymological and contextual meaning of the term dharmadhātu. It also surveys the Avatamsaka-sūtra(Hua-yen ching), the canonical scripture from which the Hua-yen school derived the idea of dharmadhātu as the central theme for teaching and meditation. In addition, it discusses the background and development of the Hua-yen school. In Part Two, the main body of the study, the dharmadhātu doctrine of the Hua-yen school is examined in terms of its development. The basic writings of its five patriarchs and their ideas concerning "the dharmadhātu are chronologically and systematically analyzed in detail. It is demonstrated that the dharmadhātu doctrine can be said to have been, by and large, founded by Tu-shun, formulated by Chih-yen, systematized by Fa-tsang, and elucidated by Ch'eng-kuan and Tsung-mi. Part Three, the concluding part, embarks upon an inquiry into the significance of the Hua-yen dharmadhātu doctrine. It is argued that the dharmadhātu doctrine is not "a pointless exposition of empty words," as characterized by some outside critics, but that it contains solid "philosophical," "religious," and "historical" significance within it. First, it is clarified that the dharmadhātu doctrine is meant to lead man toward an insight into the interrelatedness, that is, the "mutual identification" and "interpenetration," of all the dharmas — an insight which liberates him from all kinds of rigid philosophical preconceptions and dogmatism concerning reality. Second, it is also discovered that the dharmadhātu doctrine of mutual identification and interpenetration is relevant to the formulation of the religious conviction of the "instantaneous attainment of Buddhahood" upheld by the Hua-yen school. Finally, it is verified through concrete evidence that the dharmadhātu doctrine exerted a significant influence on the religious thought of China, especially on the Ch'an(Zen) and the T'ien- t'ai traditions, Taoism, and Neo-Confucianism.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>Careful study of the commentaries of both Sankara and Rāmānuja concerning the relationship between Self-knowledge and dharma confirmed the usual doctrinal differences between them which have been the focal point of scholarship on Vedānta but as well it also uncovered areas of structural convergence co-existing with the former. Accordingly this investigation proceeded on two levels: the first level was concerned with those difference in their ontologies; the second level was concerned with the "meaning-structures" common to both. Previous scholarship on Vedānta has not made reference to these areas of structural convergence. The objective of this work has been to verify how these areas of structural convergence throw light on their respective explicit positions.</p> <p>The following are the major findings of this work: Whereas generally Sankara and Rāmānuja have been understood in terms of their doctrinal differences, with special attention to Rāmānuja's explicit refutation both of Sankara's māyā-vāda and his doctrine of Brahman as Nirguna, I have sought out and argued for a common ground between them. Sankara is usually understood as arguing for a radical discontinuity between Self-knowledge and dharma. I have demonstrated his implicit concession to their community is sāndhana and his use of two key categories to explain this apparent continuity: (i) Self-knowledge in its "secondary sense" as vrtti-jnana and (ii) dharma in its "primary sense" and jnana-yoga. Rāmānuja is usually understood as arguing for a continuity between Self-knowledge and dharma. I have shown his implicit emphasis on their discontinuity which is especially evident when dealing with the question of prapatti where a discontinuity is set up between dharma, understood as man's own isolated efforts and Self-knowledge, understood as Self-surrender, which is surrender to the Lord as the "eternally established means".</p> <p>Two distinct but inseparable strands were discovered in both Sankara and Rāmānuja. They were respectively designated as the "explicit Sankara", the "implicit Sankara" , and the "explicit Rāmānuja" and "implicit Rāmānuja". Two major areas of structural convergence were discovered between these strands: between the "implicit Rāmānuja" and the "explicit Sankara"; and between the "explicit Rāmānuja" and the "implicit Sankara", The structural convergence between the "implicit Rāmānuja" and the "explicit Sankara" threw light on their explicit areas of agreement on the nature of dharma which they share as Vedānta. The structural convergence between the "explicit Rāmānuja" and the "implicit Sankara" threw light on their explicit areas of agreement, which they share as Vedānta, on the nature of Self-knowledge.</p> <p>Areas of tension between their doctrines and methods were uncovered. The most striking example of such a tension is illustrated by Rāmānuja's explicit rejection both of Sankara's two levels of truth and of his māyā-vāda, in the context of Rāmānuja's use of methodological equivalents.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

For sometime the psychological and academic communities have maintained mixed positions on the validity of mind control or the notion of "brainwashing." "Mind- control being: A theory proposing that an individual's thinking, behavior, emotions or decisions can, to a greater or lesser extent, be manipulated arbitrarily by outside sources." (Wikipedia, 2006) Although those above terms bring about debate and controversy, scholars from the American Psychological Association and the American Sociological Association have agreed on a new term that takes into account and includes the effects of persuasion, propaganda, group dynamics, media manipulation, and religions & cults: Thought Reform. The formal definition of thought reform is: The application of coercive techniques to change the beliefs and/or behaviors of one or more persons usually for political or religious purposes. As of today, famous psychologists such as the renowned Dr. Margaret Singer, former APA president Dr. Philip Zimbardo, and sociologist Benjamin Zablocki have acknowledged the existence and significance of thought reform and research has been conducted to grant an increased understanding of this important aspect of psychology. Through this thesis, an attempt to open and explore the psychological and academic perspectives behind thought reform and its subsidiaries has been created. (e.g. Brainwashing, mind-control). This particular thesis' goals consist of: expanding personal knowledge and understanding of the subject and secondly, opening this topic of discussion amongst peers in the academic community. This thesis will attempt to investigate the importance of the beginnings of thought reform, it's origins in the Korean War and the People's Republic of China, and how it was introduced in the United States. It will also cover the psychological aspects of thought reform (subtle and overt), and its significance in the psychological community. While at the same time, bring out the past and current views and positions of two of the key scholars in the field concerning thought reform such as Dr. Singer and Dr. Zimbardo, as well as some popular opinions and beliefs concerning the topic. Pertaining to current views of thought reform and brainwashing, former APA president Dr. Zimabardo stated in an issue of Psychology Monitor, "A body of social science evidence shows that when systematically practiced by state-sanctioned police, military or destructive cults, mind control can induce false confessions, create converts who willingly torture or kill 'invent enemies,' engage indoctrinated members to tirelessly, give up money-and even their lives- for 'the cause.' (Zimbardo, 2002). This statement alone gives the significance of thought reform to the scientific and psychological community and will be presented within the thesis. In essence, this thesis will endeavor in presenting an unbiased look into Thought Reform, the psychology behind it, and the position of pioneering researchers in the field. This thesis will be relevant and important in the field of psychology and others, because in our attempts to become broad-minded and positive free thinkers, we should be aware and arm ourselves with the knowledge and backgrounds of these potential antagonistic methods of "brainwashing" and thought reform.

This study of the concept of glory across four different religions begins with Christianity. There the term 'glory' translates Greek doxa, a word which, deriving from a root meaning 'to seem', denotes 'outward appearance', and has in secular Greek the basic meaning 'opinion'. The New Testament, however, not only omits this connotation but gives doxa an entirely new one (radiance, divine Presence). Given that symbols are rooted in the experiential well-springs of a people, why did the Christian experience not bring a totally new symbol to birth. The answer is two-fold: (a) Christians took the word from the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Bible wherein it was used to translate Kavodh (glory) and (b) the meaning of doxa resonated with the Christian Encounter. It had first resonated with the Hebrew experience. It is this thesis that doxa was used by Christians and Greek-speaking Jews precisely because of its root meanings ('to seem' 'outward appearance' 'manifestation') and that these meanings, resonating also with the experience of Zoroastrians and Buddhists, are reflected in their ideas of glory, albeit within their different conceptual frameworks. 'Glory' in all four religions is related to man's experience of polarities: Immanence/Transcendence, Manifestation/Hiddenness, Presence/Absence, and it speaks of a Reality beyond appearance. Man longs for the Real; he seeks Self-transcendence. In the measure that he becomes 'selfless' he comes closer to that which he seeks and sees things as they really are. He grows from glory to glory until he becomes what he is. In Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism man is of the essence of glory.