The effects of likeability on consumers' choice behaviour : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masterate of Business Studies at Massey University

The persuasive abilities of advertising and therefore, advertising effectiveness, have been discussed extensively in advertising literature. In particular, the components that make an advertisement effective have intrigued both advertisers and advertising agencies over the past three decades. Likeability of advertising is suggested to be a key indicator of advertising effectiveness (Haley & Baldinger, 1991) yet, the literature in this area concentrates on establishing what likeability is rather than exploring the effect of likeability on consumers' behaviour. Given the level of interest that has been driven by claims that likeability can heighten the persuasiveness of an advertisement, it seems pertinent to investigate the effect of likeability on consumer behaviour. The research reported in this thesis examined the effect of more and less likeable images on consumers' choice behaviour. The data for this research was obtained from a cross-sectional survey in which choice modelling techniques were used to establish consumers' choice behaviour. This data was used to investigate the effects of likeable images on consumers' choice behaviour for the product category of milk. Overall, it was found that advertisement likeability had a very weak effect on consumers' choice behaviour. Furthermore, it was established that the type of milk variant was the most influential attribute in determining consumers' choice behaviour. Price was also an important factor although this attribute was far less influential than the type of milk attribute. However, the research found some support for the idea that likeability enhances the salience of advertising, as likeability did improve the salience of the advertisements for different groups of consumers within the sample. The main implication that arises from this study is that likeable advertisements do not necessarily lead to consumers changing their purchasing behaviour. Likeability is one of many measures of effective advertising and does not appear to command more attention than any other measure of effective advertising

Social Context Modulates Tolerance For Pragmatic Violations In Binary But Not Graded Judgments

A common method for investigating pragmatic processing and its development in children is to have participants make binary judgments of underinformative (UI) statements such as Some elephants are mammals. Rejection of such statements indicates that a (not-all) scalar implicature has been computed. Acceptance of UI statements is typically taken as evidence that the perceiver has not computed an implicature. Under this assumption, the results of binary judgment studies in children and adults suggest that computing an implicature may be cognitively costly. For instance, children under 7 years of age are systematically more likely to accept UI statements compared to adults. This makes sense if children have fewer processing resources than adults. However, Katsos and Bishop (2011) found that young children are able to detect violations of informativeness when given graded rather than binary response options. They propose that children simply have a greater tolerance for pragmatic violations than do adults. The present work examines whether this pragmatic tolerance plays a role in adult binary judgment tasks. We manipulated social attributes of a speaker in an attempt to influence how accepting a perceiver might be of the speaker’s utterances. This manipulation affected acceptability rates for binary judgments (Experiment 1) but not for graded judgments (Experiment 2). These results raise concerns about the widespread use of binary choice tasks for investigating pragmatic processing and undermine the existing evidence suggesting that computing scalar implicatures is costly

Social Context Modulates Tolerance For Pragmatic Violations In Binary But Not Graded Judgments

A common method for investigating pragmatic processing and its development in children is to have participants make binary judgments of underinformative (UI) statements such as Some elephants are mammals. Rejection of such statements indicates that a (not-all) scalar implicature has been computed. Acceptance of UI statements is typically taken as evidence that the perceiver has not computed an implicature. Under this assumption, the results of binary judgment studies in children and adults suggest that computing an implicature may be cognitively costly. For instance, children under 7 years of age are systematically more likely to accept UI statements compared to adults. This makes sense if children have fewer processing resources than adults. However, Katsos and Bishop (2011) found that young children are able to detect violations of informativeness when given graded rather than binary response options. They propose that children simply have a greater tolerance for pragmatic violations than do adults. The present work examines whether this pragmatic tolerance plays a role in adult binary judgment tasks. We manipulated social attributes of a speaker in an attempt to influence how accepting a perceiver might be of the speaker’s utterances. This manipulation affected acceptability rates for binary judgments (Experiment 1) but not for graded judgments (Experiment 2). These results raise concerns about the widespread use of binary choice tasks for investigating pragmatic processing and undermine the existing evidence suggesting that computing scalar implicatures is costly

By their words ye shall know them: Language abstraction and the likeability of describers

According to the linguistic category model (LCM), behaviour can be described at concrete (e.g. ‘Kath hit Kim’) and abstract (e.g. ‘Kath is aggressive’) levels. Variations in these levels convey information about the person being described and the relationship between that person and the describer. In the current research, we examined the power of language abstraction to create impressions of describers themselves. Results show that describers are seen as less likeable when they use abstract (vs. concrete) language to describe the negative actions of others. Conversely, impressions of describers are more favourable when they opt for abstract descriptions of others' positive behaviours. This effect is partially mediated by the attribution of a communicative agenda to describers. By virtue of these attributional implications, language abstraction is an impression formation device that can impact on the reputation of describers

Deconstructing the stereotypes: building mutual respect

Through a combination of a detailed literature review and structure online survey, the study seeks to establish the extent of interdisciplinary attitudes within built environment students at Kingston University, whilst building a picture of not only the stereotypes held amongst and between disciplines, but also the fundamental root of such perceptions

A motion system for social and animated robots

This paper presents an innovative motion system that is used to control the motions and animations of a social robot. The social robot Probo is used to study Human-Robot Interactions (HRI), with a special focus on Robot Assisted Therapy (RAT). When used for therapy it is important that a social robot is able to create an "illusion of life" so as to become a believable character that can communicate with humans. The design of the motion system in this paper is based on insights from the animation industry. It combines operator-controlled animations with low-level autonomous reactions such as attention and emotional state. The motion system has a Combination Engine, which combines motion commands that are triggered by a human operator with motions that originate from different units of the cognitive control architecture of the robot. This results in an interactive robot that seems alive and has a certain degree of "likeability". The Godspeed Questionnaire Series is used to evaluate the animacy and likeability of the robot in China, Romania and Belgium

Illusory correlation, group size and memory

Two studies were conducted to test the predictions of a multi-component model of distinctiveness-based illusory correlation (IC) regarding the use of episodic and evaluative information in the production of the phenomenon. Extending on the standard paradigm, participants were presented with 4 groups decreasing in size, but all exhibiting the same ratio of positive to negative behaviours. Study 1 (N = 75) specifically tested the role of group size and distinctiveness, by including a zero-frequency cell in the design. Consistent with predictions drawn from the proposed model, with decreasing group size, the magnitude of the IC effect showed a linear in- crease in judgments thought to be based on evaluative information. In Study 2 (N = 43), a number of changes were introduced to a group assignment task (double presentation, inclusion of decoys) that allowed a more rig- orous test of the predicted item-specific memory effects. In addition, a new multilevel, mixed logistic regression approach to signal-detection type analysis was used, providing a more flexible and reliable analysis than previ- ously. Again, with decreasing group size, IC effects showed the predicted monotonic increase on the measures (group assignment frequencies, likability ratings) thought to be dependent on evaluative information. At the same time, measures thought to be based on episodic information (free recall and group assignment accuracy) partly revealed the predicted enhanced episodic memory for smaller groups and negative items, while also supporting a distinctiveness-based approach. Additional analysis revealed that the pattern of results for judg- ments though to be based on evaluative information was independent of interpersonal variation in behavioral memory, as predicted by the multi-component model, and in contrast to predictions of the competing models. The results are discussed in terms of the implications of the findings for the proposed mechanisms of illusory correlation

E-learning tools: engaging our students?

Since Generation Z students have grown up around WIFI-laptops, video game, etc. they expect technology to be involved in teaching approaches, however students' perception towards e-learning tools indicate that 80% of students (∼180 students) prefer a face-to-face approach.(undefined

Raising the Tone?:The Impact of 'Positive' and 'Negative' Campaigning on Voting in the 2007 Scottish Parliament Election

Most survey-based research on campaign effects in British elections has focussed on exposure to the campaign. Far less attention has been given to how the campaign is perceived, although American research on the effects of negativecampaigning suggests that this is a potentially important area. The article investigates the extent to which vote choices in the 2007ScottishParliamentelection were affected by perceptions of the parties’ campaigns as ‘positive’ or ‘negative’. Partisanship and increased exposure to a party’s campaign increased individuals’ chances of rating a campaign positively. Other things being equal, however, campaigns which come to be seen in a negative light backfire on the party responsible, reducing the propensity of people to vote for it