The purpose of this study was to determine whether practice or different experiential background has an effect on anticipation time. Anticipation time is performing a movement upon the arrival of an outside stimulus and having them meet at a designated point or objective. It was hypothesized that Division I baseball players would have better anticipation timing scores than Division III players because of their experiential background. Twelve Division I baseball players were compared to twelve Division III baseball players using a BASSIN Anticipation Timer. A ten foot runway with a string activated microswitch was used for the anticipation task. Subjects were asked to swing their hands, mimicing their regular batting motion through the string switch to coincide with the illumination of the last light on the runway. Each subject had twenty random trials at each of the two speeds. Nine mph represented a collegiate fastball, while eight mph represented a collegiate off-speed pitch. Independent t-tests indicated that Division I players had significantly better anticipation time for the collegiate fastball (9 mph) than Division III players. There was no significant difference at 8 mph. Thus, the hypothesis, that Division I would have better anticipation time was supported for the higher speed pitches. / Master of Science

“Will my flight be cancelled?” “Will I win the eBay auction?” These consumption and product acquisition situations would trigger the experience of . . . suspense. Suspense is defined as the overall anticipatory arousal associated with the hope and/or fear felt by a consumer assessing the likelihood of occurrence of an important and imminent consumption or acquisition event. If one views a potential outcome as causing pleasure (an approach appraisal), hope will be felt, while if one views a potential outcome as causing pain (an avoidance appraisal), fear will be felt. Other variables expected to indirectly impact suspense are frequency of probability change, degree of probability change and anticipation time. The conceptual model in this dissertation also proposes that people have an attitude toward the anticipation period and identifies four resolution emotions, satisfaction, disappointment, relief, and anguish, which may occur once the outcome is known. Further, attitude toward anticipation period and the resolution emotions are expected to affect attitude toward overall experience. Three studies were conducted. The objective of Studies 1 and 2 was to develop scales yielding reliable scores of hope, fear, and suspense. Fifty words related to hope, fear, and suspense were generated. In Study 1, 553 participants rated the words on the evaluative and activity dimensions using 18 semantic differential scale items. O-technique factor analysis was used to analyze the data in Study 1. In Study 2, 354 participants read one of three suspenseful stories, then indicated their hope, fear, and suspense. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used in Study 2. Study 3 consisted of an experiment in which 241 participants read a suspenseful house-buying scenario, then indicated their hope, fear, and suspense. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data in Study 3. Results supported the conceptualization of suspense: both hope and fear had a positive effect on suspense. Additionally, approach appraisal had a positive effect on hope, and avoidance appraisal had a positive effect on fear. The moderating effect of frequency of probability change was not supported. However, frequency of probability change did have a positive effect on both hope and fear.