Dr. Seuss, felicitator

This article uses the life and work of Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) to discuss certain aspects of what it means to be a ‘felicitator’, i.e. a person who brings happiness to others. The focus is particularly on his promotion of creativity and social inclusion, and his critique of materialism

Personality and Values Based Materialism: Their Relationship and Origins

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141942/1/jcpy389.pd

Traditional, Interpretive, and Reception Based Content Analyses: Improving the Ability of Content Analysis to Address Issues of Pragmatic and Theoretical Concern

This paper argues for a subtle but important shift in the way we view content analysis which allows for the introduction of two new variants on this methodology. Previously, content analysis has been seen as a method for quantifying the content of texts. This paper argues that we should view content analysis as a method for counting interpretations of content. Based on this reconceptualization, this paper suggests two new varieties of content analysis. Reception based content analysis allows researchers to quantify how different audiences will understand text. Interpretive content analysis is specially designed for latent content analysis, in which researchers go beyond quantifying the most straightforward denotative elements in a text. These new forms of content analysis are contrasted with traditional content analysis, and the appropriate conditions for their use are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43696/1/11205_2004_Article_273898.pd

Individualism/Collectivism and Cultures of Happiness: A Theoretical Conjecture on the Relationship between Consumption, Culture and Subjective Well-Being at the National Level

This theory paper seeks to explain an empirical puzzle presented by past research on the relationship between consumption and subjective well-being (SWB). Research has shown that people in rich countries are, on average, significantly higher in SWB than people in poor countries, which is consistent with a strong link between one's overall level of consumption and one's SWB. However, when individuals within the same country are compared, income has little relationship to SWB above the level at which basic needs can be met, suggesting that higher levels of consumption may not be linked to higher levels of SWB. This link between consumption and SWB when nations are compared to each other, but not when individuals within a given nation are compared to each other, presents a puzzle. As a solution, I propose that economic development leads to higher levels of national average SWB not by increasing consumption (again, with the caveat that this statement excludes situations where basic needs are not being met), but by creating more individualistic cultures which encourage their members to pursue personal happiness over honor and meeting social obligations. Whether or not this is seen as a socially positive development depends in a circular fashion on the cultural values of the person making the judgement.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43060/1/10902_2004_Article_404141.pd

Pride of Ownership: An Identity-Based Model

Pride of ownership is explored in a series of depth interviews utilizing a new "surfacing" methodology. Results support some past findings, but also uncover some new and unexpected aspects. Consistent with past research, pride of ownership is linked to a brand’s or product’s ability to help consumers construct a positive identity. Specifically, we find that pride of ownership is related to constructing five major aspects of identity: cultivating personal taste, achieving non-dependence and adulthood, achieving social status, building close relationships, and connecting to groups. These five implicit identity goals are ordered based on the extent to which each aspect of identity is part of the independent-self (i.e. personal taste) or the interdependent-self (i.e. social roles and connecting to groups). We introduce the terms independent pride and interdependent pride to refer to pride that helps construct the independent and interdependent aspects of the self, respectively. In addition, this research uncovers several ways that consumer’s pride of ownership changes over time. Conclusions are drawn for further theory-building and for managers

Happiness: An interactionist perspective

Few would deny that happiness arises from a complex interaction of internal and external factors, like optimism on the one hand and money on the other. Yet research, as well as practical strategies for promoting happiness, tends to focus narrowly on one side or the other. A typical study, for instance, might examine the correlation between happiness and an internal variable like optimism, or an external variable like income. And practical strategies commonly divide into “change the world” versus “change your mind” approaches: promote health and wealth, for example, or cultivate gratitude for what you already have. This paper explores how our understanding of happiness is enhanced by “interactionist” approaches that emphasize the complex webs of interactions and feedbacks that give rise to happiness and unhappiness. While implicitly interactionist themes have increasingly characterized research on happiness, we anticipate that an explicit recognition of the interactionist perspective will foster greater attention to the complexities of happiness, particularly in the domain of human sociality, which involves especially rich and potent webs of interaction. A further upshot, we believe, is a greater awareness of our co-responsibility for one another’s happiness

Mosque-based emotional support among young Muslim Americans

Despite a growing literature on social support networks in religious settings (i.e., church-based social support), little is known about mosque-based support among Muslims. This study investigates the demographic and religious behavior correlates of mosque-based social support among a multi-racial and ethnic sample of 231 young Muslims from southeast Michigan. Several dimensions of mosque-based support are examined including receiving emotional support, giving emotional support, anticipated emotional support and negative interactions with members of one’s mosque. Results indicated that women both received and antic- ipated receiving greater support than did men. Higher educational attainment was associated with receiving and giving less support compared to those with the lowest level of educational attainment. Moreover, highly educated members reported fewer negative interactions than less educated members. Mosque attendance and level of congregational involvement positively predicted receiving, giving, and anticipated emotional support from congregants, but was unrelated to negative interactions. Overall, the study results converge with previously established correlates of church- based emotional support.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107410/1/art%3A10.1007%2Fs13644-013-0119-0(1).pd

Commentary on exploring the dark side of pet ownership: Status- and control-based pet consumption: A reinterpretation of the data

This paper adds another layer of interpretation to the data of Beverland, Farrelly, and Lim (2007). First, I explore the link between Beverland et al. (2007) and the thought of Martin Buber (1923). Then I argue that some respondents see their dogs through the metaphor of human friendship and others through the metaphor of human parenting. I share Beverland et al.'s ethical views that in the highest forms of relationships, people attempt to see the other as they really are. But note an irony - namely, that many of the respondents most committed to individual relationships with their pets anthropomorphize their dogs in ways that work against this kind of honest relationship.

Beyond the Extended Self: Loved Objects and Consumers' Identity Narratives

This article investigates the possessions and activities that consumers love and their role in the construction of a coherent identity narrative. In the face of social forces pushing toward identity fragmentation, interviews reveal three different strategies, labeled "demarcating," "compromising," and "synthesizing" solutions, for creating a coherent self-narrative. Findings are compared to Belk's "Possessions and the Extended Self." Most claims from Belk are supported, but the notion of a core versus extended self is critiqued as a potentially confusing metaphor. The roles of loved objects and activities in structuring social relationships and in consumer well-being are also explored. (c) 2005 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

Dismantling a stereotype : an empirical test of utilization of dating service

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/35350/2/b1698321.0001.001.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/35350/1/b1698321.0001.001.tx