Can I Count on Getting Better? Association between Math Anxiety and Poorer Understanding of Medical Risk Reductions

Lower numerical ability is associated with poorer understanding of health statistics, such as risk reductions of medical treatment. For many people, despite good numeracy skills, math provokes anxiety that impedes an ability to evaluate numerical information. Math-anxious individuals also report less confidence in their ability to perform math tasks. We hypothesized that, independent of objective numeracy, math anxiety would be associated with poorer responding and lower confidence when calculating risk reductions of medical treatments. Methods. Objective numeracy was assessed using an 11-item objective numeracy scale. A 13-item self-report scale was used to assess math anxiety. In experiment 1, participants were asked to interpret the baseline risk of disease and risk reductions associated with treatment options. Participants in experiment 2 were additionally provided a graphical display designed to facilitate the processing of math information and alleviate effects of math anxiety. Confidence ratings were provided on a 7-point scale. Results. Individuals of higher objective numeracy were more likely to respond correctly to baseline risks and risk reductions associated with treatment options and were more confident in their interpretations. Individuals who scored high in math anxiety were instead less likely to correctly interpret the baseline risks and risk reductions and were less confident in their risk calculations as well as in their assessments of the effectiveness of treatment options. Math anxiety predicted confidence levels but not correct responding when controlling for objective numeracy. The graphical display was most effective in increasing confidence among math-anxious individuals. Conclusions. The findings suggest that math anxiety is associated with poorer medical risk interpretation but is more strongly related to confidence in interpretations

Chasing Clarity: Rumination as a Strategy for Making Sense of Emotions

Research is needed on the affective mechanisms that motivate people to ruminate. One possibility is that some people might ruminate in response to deficits in emotional clarity because not knowing how they feel might be intolerable to them. We tested the hypothesis that the relationship between low emotional clarity and rumination would be moderated by intolerance of ambiguity. Participants in a longitudinal online study (N = 195) provided self- reports of intolerance of ambiguity and rumination and reported state emotional clarity following an idiographic mood induction; three weeks later they reported on rumination again. As predicted, participants with low emotional clarity at Time 1 ruminated more three weeks later, but only if they were intolerant of ambiguity. Findings support the notion that rumination sometimes functions as a search for answers about emotions. We discuss implications for understanding the affective disturbances perpetuating vicious cycles of rumination and for rumination-focused clinical interventions

Does Co-Creation of Service Recovery Create Value for Customers? The Underlying Mechanism of Motivation and the Role of Operant Resources

International audienceThis study focuses on the underlying mechanism that leads to co‐recovery behaviour and favourable co‐created value as response to a service failure. It argues that consumers’ ability to integrate their operant resources (e.g., knowledge and skills) to co‐recover from a service failure motivates them to express higher value co‐recovery in‐role behaviour and hence enjoy higher hedonic and utilitarian values. To test this claim, our study investigates the impact of consumers’ ability to co‐recover on value co‐recovery in‐role behaviour by taking into account extrinsic and intrinsic motivation as mediators. The results reveal that extrinsic motivation only partially mediates the relationship between ability to co‐recover and value co‐recovery in‐role behaviour. Furthermore, the outcomes demonstrate that value co‐recovery in‐role behaviour increases utilitarian value but decreases hedonic valu

How service design cues help in service failures

Terres, M. D. S., Herter, M. M., Pinto, D. C., & Mazzon, J. A. (2020). The power of sophistication: How service design cues help in service failures. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 19(3), 277-290. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.1816By analyzing three experimental studies, this research tests how and when sophisticated service environment designs (compared to modest service designs) can minimize consumers' negative emotions and increase repurchase intentions after a failure. Drawing on part-list cueing literature, this research proposes that when a service failure occurs in a sophisticated (vs. modest) environment, consumers will rely on the sophisticated style of design as cues for service quality. We argue that sophisticated (vs. modest) service designs work as strong cues for quality that restrict the retrieval of negative information by consumers and can minimize the negative impacts of service failure, reducing consumers' negative emotions and increasing repurchase intentions. We further advance our theorizing by showing how choice failure consequences (i.e., the risk or consequence related to the service choice) moderate the effects via associative pathways of retrieval. The findings contribute to theory and practice by revealing how service designs can serve as cues to mitigate adverse consequences of service failure.authorsversionpublishe

Evaluating Arguments From the Reaction of the Audience

In studying how lay people evaluate arguments, psychologists have typically focused on logical form and content. This emphasis has masked an important yet underappreciated aspect of everyday argument evaluation: social cues to argument strength. Here we focus on the ways in which observers evaluate arguments by the reaction they evoke in an audience. This type of evaluation is likely to occur either when people are not privy to the content of the arguments or when they are not expert enough to appropriately evaluate it. Four experiments explore cues that participants might take into account in evaluating arguments from the reaction of the audience. They demonstrate that participants can use audience motivation, expertise, and size as clues to argument quality. By contrast we find no evidence that participants take audience diversity into account

In vitro cell culture of amniotic fluid keratinocytes on amniotic membrane: the ideal tissue for repairing skin ulcers

OBJECTIVE: The amniotic fluid contains a large population of stem keratinocytes demonstrating minimal immunological rejection. Recent evidence suggests that stem cells from the amniotic fluid can be employed in the field of tissue engineering. In this work we identified precursors of the epithelial cells and expanded them in vitro.MATERIALS AND METHODS: After collecting samples of amniotic fluid and separating the cells via centrifugation, we seeded a portion of these cells in selection media to analyze the proliferation of epithelial cells. The stem cells precursors of keratinocytes were identified through specific markers. The expression of these markers was evaluated by immunofluorescence and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR).RESULTS: The stem cells demonstrated 90% confluence, after undergoing proliferation in the selection medium for 15 days. Most of these cells tested positive for the keratinocyte-specific markers, but negative for stem cell specific markers. Of note, the identity of the keratinocytes was well established even after several subcultures.CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that it is feasible to isolate and expand differentiated cell populations in the amniotic fluid from precursor cells. Furthermore, amniotic membranes can be utilized as scaffolds to grow keratinocytes, which can be potentially exploited in areas of skin ulcer transplantation and tissue engineering interventions

Examining how companies’ support of tourist attractions affects visiting intentions: The mediating role of perceived authenticity

As public funding for the restoration of tourist attractions decreases, assistance is often sought from the private sector in the form of corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, research has yet to understand how such CSR activities impact the beneficiary, namely tourist attractions. Thus, extending past CSR literature, we explore whether differing company CSR motivations can influence a tourists’ visiting intentions. The results of two experimental studies show low company altruism (e.g., demanding to acquire naming rights of the site), compared to high company altruism (e.g., demanding nothing in return), decreases visiting intentions. Furthermore, we show that perceived authenticity of the site mediates this effect. Finally, we find the negative effect of low altruistic CSR is mitigated in the case of no heritage. Based on the results, we show tourist attraction managers should be wary of companies displaying nonaltruistic intentions, as such activity may have harmful consequences

Mutation profile of BBS genes in patients with Bardet-Biedl syndrome : An Italian study

Background: Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a rare inherited multisystemic disorder with autosomal recessive or complex digenic triallelic inheritance. There is currently no treatment for BBS, but some morbidities can be managed. Accurate molecular diagnosis is often crucial for the definition of appropriate patient management and for the development of a potential personalized therapy. Methods: We developed a next-generation-sequencing (NGS) protocol for the screening of the 18 most frequently mutated genes to define the genotype and clarify the mutation spectrum of a cohort of 20 BBS Italian patients. Results: We defined the causative variants in 60% of patients; four of those are novel. 33% of patients also harboured variants in additional gene/s, suggesting possible oligogenic inheritance. To explore the function of different genes, we looked for correlations between genotype and phenotype in our cohort. Hypogonadism was more frequently detected in patients with variants in BBSome proteins, while renal abnormalities in patients with variations in BBSome chaperonin genes. Conclusions: NGS is a powerful tool that can help understanding BBS patients' phenotype through the identification of mutations that could explain differences in phenotype severity and could provide insights for the development of targeted therapy. Furthermore, our results support the existence of additional BBS loci yet to be identified

Vacation posts on Facebook:A model for incidental vicarious travel consumption

Vicarious consumption of travel is ubiquitous. However little is known about the psychological processes this initiates or the potential for resultant behaviors beyond direct steps toward patronage. We address this gap through developing and testing the incidental vicarious travel consumption model (IVTCM), which draws from well-established knowledge of the self-concept and compensatory consumption. In the context of vicariously consuming idyllic vacation posts on Facebook, the model identifies the following: individuals’ travel-related self-discrepancies may become active, leading to feelings of dejection, initiating five possible compensatory consumption behaviors (Direct, Symbolic, Dissociation, Escapism, Fluid). A sequential mixed-method design (total n=860) provides support for the IVTCM. The primary contributions of the paper are as follows: first the IVTCM can be used to understand different forms of vicarious travel consumption. Second, specific understanding on the impact of idyllic vacation posts is contributed, furthering knowledge on the role of social media within touris

The role of photograph aesthetics on online review sites:Effects of management- versus traveler-generated photos on tourists’ decision-making

Tourists searching for information about destinations on online review sites areconcurrently exposed to two different photograph aesthetics, professional (produced by destination managers) and amateur (generated by travelers). While the former is glossy and sharp, the latter is often grainy and overexposed. Although aesthetics are important factors in tourist decision-making, the effects of the exposure to both types of photo aesthetics remain largely unexamined. This research investigates how both types of aesthetics, either singularly or in combination, affect a destination’s visual appeal and tourists’ booking intentionsthrough four controlled experiments (N = 1282). Our results show that despite the ‘messy’ beauty in amateur aesthetics, photos with professional aesthetics make a depicted destinationappear more visually appealing, ultimately driving booking intentions. However, the negative effects of amateur aesthetics are mitigated when (i) viewed by risk-averse tourists, (ii) presented alongside positive reviews, and (iii) accompanied by a greater number of professional photos