David Brinberg

Assessing Attribute Importance: A Comparison of Six Methods

Six methods of measuring attribute importance were evaluated for convergent validity. The methods were (1) an open-ended elicitation approach, (2) an information-search approach based on Jacobys behavioral process technology, (3) direct ratings of importance, (4) conjoint measurement, (5) indices based on Jaccards subjective probability approach, and (6) a paired comparison approach. The convergent validity of importance methods was investigated for two product classes: birth control and cars. Results indicated relatively low levels of convergence among measures.

A meta-analysis of food- and nutrition-related research

Abstract In this study, we used the technique of meta-analysis to address two specific questions: First, is there a relationship between dietary intake and either a) nutrition knowledge or b) food- and nutrition-related attitudes? And second, if there is a relationship, what is the strength (effect-size) of the relationship between these variables? A review of the literature identified nine studies that met our criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis. We coded the characteristics of each study and then analyzed the data by using two analytic techniques that combine the probability levels associated with a significance test of the relationship between the theoretical variables, and estimated the effect-size of the relationship between the variables. We found a significant relationship between nutrition knowledge and dietary intake and between food- and nutrition-related attitudes and dietary intake, but the effect-size estimates of these relationships were relatively small. These effect-size estimates may reflect a lack of consideration for the dimensionality of the theoretical variables, a lack of validity in the measurement of knowledge and attitudes, and/or a lack of correspondence between the measures of dietary intake and knowledge or attitudes.

A Resource Exchange Theory Analysis of Consumer Behavior

Marketing has been described as an exchange between two or more social units. A psychological exchange theory developed by Foa and Foa (1974) was used to examine: (a) the structure underlying six different resource categories—i.e., love, status, information, money, goods, and services—and (b) the functional relations among these six resource categories—i.e., the patterns of exchange. The economic concept of resource constraint (scarcity) was also incorporated into the exchange process. The results were basically consistent with both the structural and functional relations derived from Foas theory. Moreover, resource scarcity was found to affect the types of resources an individual was likely to give in an exchange.

Dyadic decision making

Preface.- Contributors.- 1 Psychological Perspectives.- 1 Cognitive Theory and Methodology for Studying Marital Interaction.- Theoretical Overview.- Personal Experimental Design.- Empirical Analysis.- Attitude Theory.- Everyday Life.- 2 The Role of the Relationship in Marital Decision Making.- Group Decision Making.- The Role of Interpersonal Perception.- Decisions About the Relationship.- Conclusion.- 3 Expectancy Theory and Image Theory in the Description of Decisions About Childbearing.- The Benefits and Costs of Cost-Benefit.- Some Lessons Learned.- Image Theory.- Implications for Research.- Concluding Remarks.- 2 Consumer Behavior Perspectives.- 4 Couple Decision Making: Individual- and Dyadic-Level Analysis.- Individual-Level Analysis.- Implications of Member Differences on Perceptual and Preference.- Structures.- More General Individual Variables and Relational Variables.- The Decision Context.- Interaction Processes.- The Coding System.- Implementation of Coding System.- Integration of Individual and Dyadic Decisions.- Concluding Remarks.- Appendix 4.A.- Appendix 4.B.- 5 Analyzing Sequential Categorical Data on Dyadic Interaction.- Background: Data Format and Construct Definition.- Analysis of Sequences of Paired Data.- Analysis of Single Sequence Data.- A General Probabilistic Model.- Summary.- 6 Information Integration in Husband-Wife Decision Making About Health-Care Services.- Previous Methods.- Consumer Information Integration.- Experiment 1.- Experiment 2.- Experiment 3.- General Discussion.- Appendix 6. A.- 3 Communication Perspectives.- 7 After the Decision: Compliance-Gaining in Marital Interaction.- Introduction..- A Typological Approach to Marital Interaction.- Compliance-Gaining in Marriage.- Conclusion.- Appendix 7.A.- 8 Implicit and Explicit Decision-Making Styles in Couples.- Decision-Making Styles.- Eliciting Conditions.- Resources and Demands.- Summary and Conclusion.- 9 The Structuring of Dyadic Decisions.- A Picture of Dyadic Decision Making.- The Theory of Structuration.- A Model of the Structuring of Dyadic Decisions.- The Structuring of Dyadic Decisions.- Conclusion.- 4 Sociological Perspectives.- 10 Joint-Decision Making in the Contemporary Sexually Based Primary Relationship.- The Contemporary Primary Relationship.- Elements of Joint Decision Making.- Joint Decision Making Within the Sexually Based Situation.- Summary.- 11 Dyadic Models of Contraceptive Choice, 1957-1975.- Resolution of Fertility Disagreements.- Interaction Models of Individual Goals and Contraceptive Behavior.- Desires for Children and Marital Contraception, 1975.- Desires for Children and Marital Contraception, 1957.- Desires for Children and Marital Contraception, 1957 and 1975.- 12 Decision-Making on Retirement Timing.- The Retirement Decision-Making Process.- Previous Research.- Sex Differences in Retirement Timing and Adjustment.- Some Preliminary Findings.- Conclusion.- 5 A Reprise.- 13 Multiple Perspectives on Dyadic Decision Making.- Interaction Analysis.- Translating Interaction Information into Empirical Data.- Research Agenda for Dyadic Decision-Making.- Author Index.

Hypothesized and Confounded Explanations in Theory Tests: A Bayesian Analysis

Traditional views of research methodology hold that little, if any, useful information can be obtained from one or more confounded studies, unless the results from one study rule out or falsify an alternative explanation from a previous study. We present a Bayesian analysis of hypothesis testing to model knowledge accumulation from a series of confounded or unconfounded experiments. By applying this Bayesian analysis, we find that a hypothesis can receive support from a study with known flaws. Our analysis also implies that the status of an explanation is independent of whether it was proposed a priori or post hoc. Copyright 1992 by the University of Chicago.

The “Response-to-Failure” Scale: Predicting Behavior Following Initial Self-Control Failure

Whereas most existing self-control research and scales focus on singular self-control choice, the current work examines sequential self-control behavior. Specifically, this research focuses on behavior following initial self-control failure, identifying a set of key cognitive and emotional responses to initial failure that jointly underlie post-failure behavior. The tendency to experience these responses is captured in a new scale, the Response-to-Failure scale, which the authors develop and test in three consumer domains: eating, spending, and cheating. The results support the use of the same emotional and cognitive factors to predict post-failure behavior across these three domains, providing evidence of the generalizability of the scale structure. The data support the scales structure, nomological and discriminant validity, and test–retest reliability across five studies. In five additional studies, the scales predictive validity is demonstrated beyond other existing relevant scales. The authors also develop and test a short form of each domain scale. Finally, the authors discuss the implications for understanding post-failure behavior and suggest practical uses for the scale.

Improving the Dietary Status of Low-Income Pregnant Women at Nutritional Risk

The Women, Infants, and Children program provides food assistance, nutrition education, and social service referrals to low-income women. The authors report the results of a small-scale study to evaluate the effectiveness of a tailored nutrition message. The results suggest that these messages could increase the effectiveness of the nutrition counseling.

A Conceptual Framework to Structure Research in Strategic and Social Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship can be characterized as consisting of two distinct approaches: social and commercial orientation. We present the validity network schema (VNS) to better understand these two orientations. The VNS is a framework that describes the components, stages, and paths for conducting research. The components of research reflect three domains: methodological, conceptual, and substantive. Social entrepreneurs generally begin their research efforts in the substantive domain, whereas commercial entrepreneurs initiate research in the conceptual domain. The article delineates ways in which researchers and practitioners whose focus is on one entrepreneurial orientation can learn from the other, draw insights from the VNS, and consequently enhance their efforts.

Emergent Leadership Structures in Informal Groups: A Dynamic, Cognitively Informed Network Model

This paper advances novel theory and evidence on the emergence of informal leadership networks in groups that feature no formally designated leaders or authority hierarchies. We integrate insights from relational schema and network theory to develop and empirically test a three-step process model. The model’s first hypothesis is that people use a “linear ordering schema” to process information about leadership relations. The second hypothesis argues that when an individual experiences a particular leadership attribution to be inconsistent with the linear ordering schema, that individual will tend to reduce the ensuing cognitive inconsistency by modifying that leadership attribution. Finally, the third hypothesis builds on this inconsistency-reduction mechanism to derive implications about a set of network structural features (asymmetry, acyclicity, transitivity, popularity, and inverse popularity) that are predicted to emerge endogenously as a group’s informal leadership network evolves. We find broad sup...

A Conceptual Framework of Narrative Persuasion

This article draws insights from several disciplines to propose an integrated perspective on mechanisms underlying narrative persuasion. One approach to narratives emphasizes a deictic shift into the narrative, resulting in an absorbed state of processing and a loss of one’s sense of self (e.g., transportation, narrative engagement, identification). Another approach focuses on processes to construct meaning from a narrative; that is, how narratives are actively compared with and applied to one’s life. The current work has conceptualized the relationship between these two broad processes as occurring in sequence, and as a pathway of narrative persuasion: A shift and absorption into the narrative leads to a process of reflecting on the narrative, which is antecedent to narrative influence.