Despite many efforts to promote the importance of considering consumer experience, few studies have provided empirical evidence of their impact on immediate consumption outcomes and on their relationship with existing product/service design attributes, while considering the subjective nature of consumer experiences. In the present dissertation, we propose that important insights could be gained in building such evidence by considering research on emotions and rigorous empirical approaches that account for the subjectivity of the experience. Specifically, we propose a framework that builds on the consumption emotion literature and on functional theories of emotions and that is based on a Bayesian approach that takes into consideration individual differences in emotional experience. The framework rests on four core elements: (1) assessment of emotional experience emerging over the consumption episode, (2) link between this experience and immediate evaluative and behavioral outcomes, (3) exhaustive consideration of potential eliciting factors among elements of the consumption object and environment, and (4) assessment of the added value of the experience elicited by the consumption offering and consideration of alternative influences of consumption emotions on consumption outcomes consistent with their functional values. / The framework was applied in the context of extended health services in which repeated consumption episodes were observed. Results show that emotional states that arise during consumption do impact satisfaction measures, but have a limited impact on consumers' immediate consumption behavior. These relationships however could not be explained by the added value brought by the experience, as no evidence for mediation by emotional experience was found between service attributes and consumption outcomes. Emotional states experienced either prior or immediately following consumption showed a superior ability to predict consumption outcomes, with their influence being tied to their respective informational and, to some degree, motivational functions. We also provide evidence that emotions experienced before and elicited during consumption moderated the impact of service attributes on both satisfaction and immediate consumption behavior. Results highlight the importance of considering emotional states experienced at any stage during consumption, but also the challenge of doing so with existing resources in the present context. Contributions, limitations, and future directions are also discussed.

The objective of the proposed research study was to answer the following research questions: Do clients in their respectful stages of diagnosis place more emphasis on certain psychological issues than others? And if so, can we identify the specific psychological issues that were considered to be most significant and unique across the stages of the HIV/AIDS continuum? To test these research questions, 37 homosexual men falling in three specific stages of the infection were surveyed. These three stages included: (1) HIV+ asymptomatic, (2) HIV+ chronic symptomatic, and (3) AIDS diagnosis. The HIV/AIDS Client Concern (HACC) questionnaire was developed to assess the significance clients placed on certain psychological issues and, was administered to all the subjects. The statistical analyses revealed that clients' level of diagnosis influenced how much emphasis they placed on what they considered to be significant psychological issues. More specifically, clients in the asymptotic group reported a higher concern with issues surrounding confidentiality of their HIV/AIDS status than the AIDS diagnosis group. The chronic symptomatic group, on the other hand, was significantly more concerned with issues regarding feelings of guilt/shame, shock, depression, fear, loneliness, and anxiety of infecting other people through casual contact than the other groups. In addition, the AIDS diagnosis group was most concerned with issues surrounding the planning of their future care in comparison with the asymptomatic group. A more detailed analysis of each questions' content and its significance as well as the implications such results have for both researchers and practitioners alike will be discussed.

<p>The 21st century has awakened a call for new leaders to cope with the demands of the rapidly changing world of work which emphasises flatter structures, and a more democratic style of leadership. When looking at the changing competencies of the new leader, it is postulate that leadership takes into consideration the emotional attributes as well as the rational aspects of the individual. From this it becomes evident that the leaders of the 21st century would have to be emotionally intelligent to motivate employees to achieve organizational goals. The aim of this study was to investigate if there is a relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership styles in middle to senior managers.</p>

No description available.

This case study aims to better understand the process through which a college theatre actor creates and presents a dereified reified "self' (the character(s) they are portraying) in a play environment, and to consider to what extent this process is conscious. In essence, the actor attempts to take nothing for granted, taking apart and examining assumptions and their cultural context. This study posits that the actor is consciously aware of and is able to recognize and manipulate culture to construct a "self' (the character) within a "play universe." This study is unique as it focuses on the actors themselves as the agents of reification as well as dereification as their processes intersect with the director, the script, and eventually the audience. This study also considers the influence of play theory on developing and breaking the "rules" of the created cultural world of the stage play by utilizing the anthropological research methods supplemented with an analysis of the personal journals of cast members. The subject population is a cast of college-age students (18-28 years old), both males (9) and females (8), from Ball State University's Theatre and Dance Department who participated in the fall 2007 production of The Human Faustus Project, directed by Jennifer Blackmer. / Department of Anthropology

Research has shown that presenting incidental reminders of death, a manipulation referred to as mortality salience, increases unconscious accessibility of death thoughts and, in turn, increases the use of various defense mechanisms to reduce such thoughts. Death-thought accessibility and use of such defense mechanisms vary based on self-reported attachment style. Because self-reports do not verify causality, the current study aimed to establish a causal relationship between attachment and terror management. It was posited that experimentally activating a secure attachment schema after mortality salience should decrease unconscious accessibility of death thoughts, whereas activating an insecure attachment schema should increase accessibility of death thoughts (i.e., there should be a Mortality Salience x Attachment Priming interaction). Lastly, these effects should not be mediated by mood. A 2 Mortality Salience vs. Control) x 3 (Priming: secure. insecure, or neutral) x 2 (Sex) ANOVA on death-thought accessibility did not show the predicted interaction. The discussion section focuses on the obstacles in accurately rneasuring death-thought accessibility and future directions for research. / Department of Psychological Science

This study explored the experience of contraceptive use by women wanting to prevent pregnancy. Six women between the ages of 22 and 41 were interviewed concerning their lifetime experience with contraception. The women spoke of similar issues such as making their own decisions, being ambivalent at times, fear of pregnancy, taking risks, reactions to failure of a method and the influence of mothers, partners, and health care providers. The seven themes that emerged were titled as "the decision was mine", "throw caution to the wind", "scared half to death", "something's just not right here", "a big, big shock", "I was never told the facts of life" and "you don't ask any questions". Themes were described using the actual words of each woman interviewed so as to reflect the lived experience of contraceptive use. / School of Nursing

The purpose of this study was to identify and describe changes in behaviors of young children as reported by their parents following the March 28, 1984, tornadoes in eastern North Carolina.The population for the study consisted of 130 children (three, four and five-year-olds) whose parents had registered for disaster assistance with the American Red Cross after the tornado.The research instrument was the Pre- and PostDisaster Behavior Instrument constructed by the researcher to obtain data from parents regarding changes in behavior of the children following the tornado. Twenty-four interviewers were trained to administer the questionnaire to parents. The instrument yielded frequencies of forty selected behaviors during three time periods: (1) before the tornado to right after the tornado; (2) before the tornado to eight months after the tornado and (3) right after the tornado to eight months after the tornado. The McNemar test was employed to determine statistical significance between the responses for the three time periods. Statistical significance was reported provided two criteria were met: (1) ten percent or more of the subjects reported a change; and (2) the change was significant at the .05 level.FindingsChanges in behavior were found to be statistically significant in the three defined time periods. Females displayed more behavior changes than males, and retained those changes in behavior eight months after the tornado. Three and five year old children displayed more behavior changes than four year olds. Young children whose homes were destroyed experienced more behavior changes than children whose homes received minor or major damage. Children who were indirect victims exhibited a higher proportion of behavior changes than direct victims. The children who were at home during the tornado made more significant changes in behavior than children who were not at home.Fourteen changes in behavior were statistically significant at the .0000 level. Two behaviors, fear of loud sounds and fear of the wind, were reported to change significantly for more than half of the subjects. A significant relationship was found to exist between a limited number of parent behaviors and changes in child behaviors.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

In two related studies with dating and married couples, the protective function of beliefs about personal value similarity was examined. Relational threat was measured when couple members' value similarity beliefs were disconfirmed or when couple members reported beliefs of value dissimilarity. Gender-specific compensatory mechanisms, reflective of relational self-construal, were examined in association with relational well being. Study 1 was a controlled laboratory experiment with dating couples that examined disconfirmation of perceived value similarity. Study 2 examined naturally occurring variance of married couples' beliefs about value similarity in the context of pregnancy and amniocentesis testing. Results revealed that dating and married couples did assume similarity about their personal values in moral contexts that reflected relational significance. / Results supported that assumptions about value similarity were protective for couple members. Beliefs about value similarity that were disconfirmed by experimentally controlled feedback as well as perceived value dissimilarity in a naturally occurring context both posed relational threat for dating couples and pregnant women, respectively. Gender-specific compensatory mechanisms were evoked and were associated with overall relational well being when romantic intimates considered personal value dissimilarity. Women demonstrated pro-relational behaviors, consistent with their relational self-construal, such that they shifted their personal values and brought their values in closer alignment with their partners' values while, additionally, increasing their ratings of partners' positive attributes. Dating men, consistent with their less relational self-construal, did not alter their personal values and instead increased their ratings of their partners' positive attributes, which accounted for increased relational satisfaction. Married men who considered value dissimilarity with their pregnant partners did not experience relational threat but demonstrated pro-relational behaviors such that they shifted their personal values and brought their values in closer alignment with their partners' values while increasing their ratings of partners' positive attributes. The studies provide expanded knowledge for the growing field of close relationship literature. Results were also discussed in the context of pregnancy, social support, and the utilization of amniocentesis tests.