Age differences in the underlying mechanisms of product placement influence

In an increasingly media-rich society, we are ever exposed to more varied marketing techniques. Advertising is no longer limited to traditional outlets such as print and television commercials. Consumers are moving away from watching television on a traditional TV set in favour of new technologies. The development of portable electronic devices such as tablet computers and smartphones has provided new platforms for commercial messages. These products not only increase the number of ways in which advertisers can use to target us, but also change the way we interact with the media. We increasingly use these devices on the go, even attending to multiple screens at the same time. These habits have become increasingly common, yet they may inadvertently increase our susceptibility to advertising communications. Changes in media consumption and government legislation had led advertisers to seek out new ways to target consumers and we need to consider two issues (Ofcom, 2011; Ofcom, 2017a). First, product placements have become increasingly prevalent and are regularly featured in television programs and movies. So, their influence needs to be examined further. Secondly, the existing research tends to neglect large sections of the population. Older adults account for almost one quarter of the UK (Office for National Statistics, 2017) population and watch more television than any other age group (Ofcom, 2013). Yet, little is known about how ageing mediates susceptibility to product placements. This thesis will integrate three areas of existing research and address questions which have emerged from the literature. The literature review (Chapter 1) initially provides an overview of prevalence of product placements. The role of consumer awareness and attitude toward this form of advertising in facilitating susceptibility is discussed in terms of the psychological theories proposed to explain how product placement works. I then debate whether variability in placement stimuli and measures may contribute to inconsistencies within this area of research. Next, I explore how implicit and explicit memory processes may shift in terms of the much-debated age cognitive decline. I consider how such changes might mediate placement impact. By way of example, the theory of ego depletion is evaluated and discussed in relation to ageing effects and product placement research. Finally, I consider how cognitive resource and ego depletion may interact with consumer viewing habits to mediate placement efficacy. In this thesis key issues which have emerged from the literature will be explored in three experimental chapters. Following the replication crisis in psychology research I will initially investigate whether product placement effects can be replicated. The assumption that implicit measures of placement influence are equivalent will be assessed through a comparison of two methods (see Chapter Two). The validity of frequently used measures will be discussed and the more methodologically sound method is put forward. The contribution of the methodological investigation will be discussed in relation to the replication crisis. Second, I will address the paucity of research exploring the impact which product placement has on older adults (see Chapter 3). Though older adults are becoming one of the largest groups in the population, it is not known whether cognitive decline increases vulnerability to this form of advertising. It is assumed within the literature that the mechanisms of placement influence are consistent in different age groups, yet this presumption has not previously been investigated. The impact which cognitive ageing may have on the underlying mechanisms of placement effects will be examined. The third issue to be addressed by this thesis is the role of ego depletion in product placement effects (see Chapter 4). The contribution of ego depletion to placement vulnerability will be assessed. In addition, we will consider a key debate in the ego depletion literature, of whether older adults are susceptible to resource depletion. The thesis will be concluded by the General Discussion (Chapter 5). This section evaluates key findings in relation to existing research. The contribution of the current research will be discussed in relation to the mechanisms of product placement, the effect of ageing on placement vulnerability and methodological considerations for future research. The observations from the thesis will be discussed in relation to theoretical models of memory, ageing and ego depletion. Finally, marketing implications based on the findings of the thesis are proposed. The thesis is presented in five chapters. Chapter 1 provides a literature review of research relevant to product placements. Chapter 2 presents the first paper of the thesis (Experiments 1 and 2), Are all measures equal? A comparison of product placement effects using stimulus based and text choice tasks, and an Appendix. The appendix reports additional analyses exploring order effects of implicit and explicit measures in product placement research. Though these analyses are relevant to the thesis they are beyond the scope of the main paper. Chapter 3 contains the second paper of the thesis (Experiments 3 and 4), The serendipitous decline of memory in aging: An age-related dissociation in the mechanisms of product placement influence, and an Appendix. The appendix reports additional analyses exploring age difference in the decision making process. Though these analyses are relevant to the thesis they are beyond the scope of the main paper. Chapter 4 presents the third paper of the thesis (Experiment 5), The serendipity of the decline of self-control in ageing. Are older adults less susceptible to ego depletion and product placement influence? and an Appendix. The appendix reports exploratory analyses which assess the extent to which COLT performance, time of day, fatigue and hunger mediate ego depletion effects. Though these analyses are relevant to the thesis they are beyond the focus of the main paper. Chapter 5 concludes the thesis with the General Discussion

Advances in Computational Social Science and Social Simulation

Aquesta conferència és la celebració conjunta de la "10th Artificial Economics Conference AE", la "10th Conference of the European Social Simulation Association ESSA" i la "1st Simulating the Past to Understand Human History SPUHH".Conferència organitzada pel Laboratory for Socio­-Historical Dynamics Simulation (LSDS-­UAB) de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.Readers will find results of recent research on computational social science and social simulation economics, management, sociology,and history written by leading experts in the field. SOCIAL SIMULATION (former ESSA) conferences constitute annual events which serve as an international platform for the exchange of ideas and discussion of cutting edge research in the field of social simulations, both from the theoretical as well as applied perspective, and the 2014 edition benefits from the cross-fertilization of three different research communities into one single event. The volume consists of 122 articles, corresponding to most of the contributions to the conferences, in three different formats: short abstracts (presentation of work-in-progress research), posters (presentation of models and results), and full papers (presentation of social simulation research including results and discussion). The compilation is completed with indexing lists to help finding articles by title, author and thematic content. We are convinced that this book will serve interested readers as a useful compendium which presents in a nutshell the most recent advances at the frontiers of computational social sciences and social simulation researc

Something to Say: Success Principles for Afterschool Arts Programs From Urban Youth and Other Experts

Engagement in the arts can help youth in myriad ways: as a vehicle for self expression, acquiring skills, and developing focus and teamwork. Unfortunately, with the develine of arts education in public schools, few urban, low-income young people have high-quality engaging art experiences at school. Alternatives outside of school, such as private lessons or arts camps, are typically limited to children of families with the resources and savvy to get access to them. What narrow arts experiences low-income youth have are often dull arts and crafts projects where they are instructed to follow a prototype, rather than create something from their own imagination. Consequently, many urban, low-income youth grow up without even a cursory understanding of what high-quality arts programs are like, or what benefits may accrue from participation. Even when there is awareness or interest in out-of-school time (OST) arts programs, many young people choose other activities for a variety of reasons. Further, community groups often report a steep drop-off in teen OST engagement and participation. That finding points to the importance of captivating young people's interest prior to the teen years when, as tweens, they are more willing to try new OST experiences. This report attempts to answer the following questions: How can urban, low-income tweens and teens gain equal access to high quality arts experiences? Is there a model of practices that could provide a blueprint for community based organizations to emulate, so that proven approaches could be deployed in more places, more often? Is there a way to approach the analysis of these problems that respects and honors the young people as consumers who make informed choices? and how do the insights of what tweens and teens want align with what other experts say they need

Media multitasking and performance on attentionally demanding tasks

This dissertation examined the behaviour of media multitasking, with a specific focus on three broad goals. The first goal, explored in Chapter 2, was to examine whether individual differences in the propensity to media multitask are associated with performance on attentionally demanding tasks. One particular attentionally demanding task – the n-back – was selected as it yielded mixed findings in prior work. It was found that higher trait-levels of media multitasking were associated with poorer performance on the n-back in terms of higher false alarm rates, but also with a greater propensity to omit trials, a performance metric that often goes unreported. The second goal, examined in Chapter 3, was to assess whether the presence of a concurrent, non-required media stream (video) influences performance on an attentionally demanding task, and whether the presence or absence of such a media stream influences subjective judgments of performance. The general findings were that the presence of the non-required video negatively affects performance on the attentionally demanding task (n-back), and that participants judged their performance to be worse when the video was present than when it was absent. Lastly, the third goal, explored in Chapter 4, was to examine whether participants will modulate their exposure to a non-required media stream in response to the demands of a primary task. In addition to replicating findings from Chapter 3, in Chapter 4, when given direct control over the presence or absence of the media stimuli, participants performing a high-demanding task (2-back) were more likely to turn off the video than participants performing a low-demanding task (0-back). It also appears that having a concurrently available media may be beneficial, particularly in situations of low demand, as it might increase perceived demand of the task to reach a more optimal zone of engagement, as well as lead to reduced boredom. In Chapter 5, the findings are discussed in the context of alternative theoretical perspectives and the utility of a laboratory-based paradigm for studying media multitasking

Investor Behaviour Facing Risk : Neurofinance and Financial Crises

Cette thèse étudie le comportement des investisseurs au travers de leur performance et de leurs attentes durant les crises financières de 2008-2011 et de leurs croyances. Elle se compose de trois chapitres. Dans le premier chapitre, nous faisons une revue de la littérature existante sur la performance des investisseurs individuels, leur biais comportementaux et leurs préférences. Nous montrons les principales lacunes en termes de performance des investisseurs individuels ainsi que leurs principaux biais comportementaux. Nous mettons également en lumière l’apport des neurosciences dans la compréhension du comportement des investisseurs individuels. Dans le deuxième chapitre, nous étudions l’impact des crises financières de 2008-2011 sur la performance des investisseurs individuels et leurs attentes à l’égard de leurs intermédiaires financiers dans quatre différents pays : Allemagne, Belgique, Luxembourg, France. Nous établissons également une comparaison en fonction du niveau de richesse des investisseurs à l’intérieur de chaque pays mais aussi globalement. Nos données proviennent de questionnaires distribués à des gestionnaires d’actifs dans les plus grandes banques des pays pris en considération ainsi que des données de marché historiques pour chacun de ces pays. Nous montrons que les investisseurs les plus fortunés sont les moins réfractaires à la prise de risque que ce soit avant ou après les crises financières, quel que soit le pays pris en considération. Nous remarquons aussi que ces derniers adoptent les stratégies d’investissement les moins conservatrices. Enfin nous notons un important changement des attentes des investisseurs par rapport à leurs intermédiaires financiers, demandant plus de transparence et un meilleur service clientèle, quel que soit le niveau de richesse. Nous montrons enfin que ces attentes peuvent être contradictoires notamment chez les investisseurs les moins fortunés. Dans le troisième chapitre, nous fournissons un test expérimental sur la formation des croyances chez les investisseurs individuels d’après le modèle de Brunnermeier et Parker (2005). Nous utilisons à cet effet une expérimentation avec deux loteries identiques exceptées leur skewness. Nous montrons que les participants à cette expérimentation ressentent des émotions par anticipation une fois qu’ils ont pris connaissance de la loterie à laquelle ils vont jouer. Ces émotions se forment à partir de la deuxième minute d’attente et restent stables jusqu’à ce qu’ils prennent connaissance de leurs gains. Par ailleurs, ces émotions par anticipation sont aussi fortes que celles ressenties une fois leurs gains connus. Enfin nous montrons que les sujets participants à la loterie avec une skewness positive présente moins de capacité d’auto régulation que les autres sujets. Les émotions qu’ils ressentent sont plus fortes et plus persistantes que chez les autres.This thesis studies the investors behaviour through their performance and their expectations during the 2008-2011 financial crises as well as their beliefs formation. It consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, we review the literature on individual investors performance, their behavioural biases and their preferences. We highlight their lack of performance on financial markets and their main behavioural biases. We also exhibit the contribution of neurosciences in the understanding of the investor’s brain. In the second chapter, we study the impacts of the 2008-2011 financial crises on individual investors returns and their expectations towards their financial intermediaries in four different countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg. We also consider investors differences regarding their endowment, inside each country and globally. Our dataset is extracted from questionnaires administered to asset managers in the main banks in the countries considered as well as historical market data for each country. We show that wealthier investors are less risk averse and their level of risk aversion has not changed with financial crises whatever the country considered. Furthermore, these wealthier investors adopt less conservative investment strategies than retail ones. We notice an important shift regarding the investors’ expectations towards their financial intermediaries, since the crises they ask for more transparency and more client services. We also show that these expectations may be contradictory a bit in retail investors. In the third chapter, we provide an experimental test of investors beliefs formations according to Brunnermeier and Parker model (2005). For this purpose, we use a two identical lotteries design except in terms of skewness. We show that participants to this experiment feel anticipatory emotions once they have learned the lottery they will play. These emotions are formed from the second waiting minute and remain stable until they learn their gains. Besides, anticipatory emotions are as strong as emotions felt once the payoffs known. Finally, we demonstrate that subjects participating in the positively skewed lottery exhibit less self-regulation than other subjects. Hence, their emotions are stronger and more persistent

Ergonomics evaluation into the safety of stepladders: User profile and dynamic testing - Phase 2

This report details the background, methodology and findings of an extensive investigation into the issue of the stability of stepladders. This work has been funded by the Health and Safety Executive to both build on previous work conducted by the Consumer Affairs Directorate of the Department of Trade and Industry, and in response to a continued high level of injuries and fatalities associated with this product group. The work uniquely approaches the problem from the perspective of the user and, through intensive user trials, has quantified the forces they generate which stepladder systems must resist if they are to remain stable. Through a diverse range of simulated tasks, a representative sample of domestic and professional users have been able to demonstrate their normal patterns of behaviour, reflecting their experience, attitudes, expectations and training relating to the use of stepladders. Armed with this knowledge, modern stepladder design has been scrutinised. The conclusion drawn is that current designs do not adequately meet the demands that users might reasonably make on the stability of stepladders, and this shortfall is leading to accidents. The current policy of trying to discourage users from undertaking activities they consider normal, by means of instructions and warnings had been shown to be flawed, both in the comprehension of the information and in its application. Users clearly need greater margins of safety to be built into stepladders to protect them during normal activity. Users were further scrutinised to determine their personalities and attitudes, as well as their approach to safety and risk management. It has been found that they can be grouped according to age, predisposition to risk and other variables, which correlate to undertaking risky behaviour with stepladders. This finding leads to the recommendation that some personality profiling tools may be used to help identify individuals who are unsuited to professional ladder use without some other safety intervention. The information gained from the evaluation of the stepladders and their users has been combined to form the basis of a new test specification, which it is recommended is integrated into standards relating to the safety of stepladders

Investor Behaviour Facing Risk : Neurofinance and Financial Crises

Cette thèse étudie le comportement des investisseurs au travers de leur performance et de leurs attentes durant les crises financières de 2008-2011 et de leurs croyances. Elle se compose de trois chapitres. Dans le premier chapitre, nous faisons une revue de la littérature existante sur la performance des investisseurs individuels, leur biais comportementaux et leurs préférences. Nous montrons les principales lacunes en termes de performance des investisseurs individuels ainsi que leurs principaux biais comportementaux. Nous mettons également en lumière l’apport des neurosciences dans la compréhension du comportement des investisseurs individuels. Dans le deuxième chapitre, nous étudions l’impact des crises financières de 2008-2011 sur la performance des investisseurs individuels et leurs attentes à l’égard de leurs intermédiaires financiers dans quatre différents pays : Allemagne, Belgique, Luxembourg, France. Nous établissons également une comparaison en fonction du niveau de richesse des investisseurs à l’intérieur de chaque pays mais aussi globalement. Nos données proviennent de questionnaires distribués à des gestionnaires d’actifs dans les plus grandes banques des pays pris en considération ainsi que des données de marché historiques pour chacun de ces pays. Nous montrons que les investisseurs les plus fortunés sont les moins réfractaires à la prise de risque que ce soit avant ou après les crises financières, quel que soit le pays pris en considération. Nous remarquons aussi que ces derniers adoptent les stratégies d’investissement les moins conservatrices. Enfin nous notons un important changement des attentes des investisseurs par rapport à leurs intermédiaires financiers, demandant plus de transparence et un meilleur service clientèle, quel que soit le niveau de richesse. Nous montrons enfin que ces attentes peuvent être contradictoires notamment chez les investisseurs les moins fortunés. Dans le troisième chapitre, nous fournissons un test expérimental sur la formation des croyances chez les investisseurs individuels d’après le modèle de Brunnermeier et Parker (2005). Nous utilisons à cet effet une expérimentation avec deux loteries identiques exceptées leur skewness. Nous montrons que les participants à cette expérimentation ressentent des émotions par anticipation une fois qu’ils ont pris connaissance de la loterie à laquelle ils vont jouer. Ces émotions se forment à partir de la deuxième minute d’attente et restent stables jusqu’à ce qu’ils prennent connaissance de leurs gains. Par ailleurs, ces émotions par anticipation sont aussi fortes que celles ressenties une fois leurs gains connus. Enfin nous montrons que les sujets participants à la loterie avec une skewness positive présente moins de capacité d’auto régulation que les autres sujets. Les émotions qu’ils ressentent sont plus fortes et plus persistantes que chez les autres.This thesis studies the investors behaviour through their performance and their expectations during the 2008-2011 financial crises as well as their beliefs formation. It consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, we review the literature on individual investors performance, their behavioural biases and their preferences. We highlight their lack of performance on financial markets and their main behavioural biases. We also exhibit the contribution of neurosciences in the understanding of the investor’s brain. In the second chapter, we study the impacts of the 2008-2011 financial crises on individual investors returns and their expectations towards their financial intermediaries in four different countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg. We also consider investors differences regarding their endowment, inside each country and globally. Our dataset is extracted from questionnaires administered to asset managers in the main banks in the countries considered as well as historical market data for each country. We show that wealthier investors are less risk averse and their level of risk aversion has not changed with financial crises whatever the country considered. Furthermore, these wealthier investors adopt less conservative investment strategies than retail ones. We notice an important shift regarding the investors’ expectations towards their financial intermediaries, since the crises they ask for more transparency and more client services. We also show that these expectations may be contradictory a bit in retail investors. In the third chapter, we provide an experimental test of investors beliefs formations according to Brunnermeier and Parker model (2005). For this purpose, we use a two identical lotteries design except in terms of skewness. We show that participants to this experiment feel anticipatory emotions once they have learned the lottery they will play. These emotions are formed from the second waiting minute and remain stable until they learn their gains. Besides, anticipatory emotions are as strong as emotions felt once the payoffs known. Finally, we demonstrate that subjects participating in the positively skewed lottery exhibit less self-regulation than other subjects. Hence, their emotions are stronger and more persistent

Animated storytelling in 360 degrees

Mastergradsoppgave i digital kommunikasjon og kultur, Høgskolen i Innlandet, 2019.This Master thesis is examining how film form and film style is utilized to tell stories within VR movies; animated shorts aimed at screening through head mounted displays (HMD). Mainly, these shorts have a linear narrative, but simultaneously leave some decisions to the spectator, e.g. where to turn their head at any moment, consequently leaving the framing of shots to the audience. Since they all have a certain degree of interactivity, these productions have inherited features from both movies and games. Thus, the theoretical basis will include works from both academic fields. The objective is to study what parts of film form and film style are still applicable within a ubiquitous 360-degrees view. I will also study how the potential sense of immersion and spatial presence achieved by the 360-degrees view influences the narration. The thesis is conducted as a qualitative analysis of the following study objects: Fan, M. (Producer) & Darnell, E. (Director). (2016). Invasion! [Animated short for 360 degrees screening]. USA: Baobab Studios. Eisenmann, D. (Producer) & Osborne, P. (Director). (2016). Pearl. [Animated short for 360 degrees screening]. USA: Evil Eye Pictures. Cellucci, C. (Producer), Pinkava, J. (Director) & Oftedal, M. (Director). (2018). Piggy. [Animated short for 360 degrees screening]. USA: Google Spotlight Stories. The first selection, Invasion! (Fan & Darnell, 2016), is one of the earliest attempts of transferring animated movies into HMDs, and in this one the spectator additionally is granted with an avatar. The second selection, Pearl (Eisenmann & Osborne, 2016) is considered a milestone within the medium as the first 360 animated short (and the only one till this date) to receive a nomination for an Academy Award. The final selection, Piggy (Cellucci, Pinkava & Oftedal, 2018) includes narrative elements proceeding in real time, and the pacing and order of events can thus partly be influenced by where the spectator is turning their gaze. Under the headlines Film Form, Film Style and Immersion/Presence, I will examine how a ubiquitous visual display affects the way a narrative pattern (film form) is constructed, and how the technical and aesthetic devices (film style) are utilized to convey this pattern. Finally, I will look at whether these movies are able to give a sense of immersion/presence and how this might influence the narrative