Suchergebnisse

"Can heuristic information processing affect important product markets? We explore whether the tendency to focus on the left-most digit of a number affects how used car buyers incorporate odometer values in their purchase decisions. Analyzing over 22 million wholesale used-car transactions, we find substantial evidence of this left-digit bias; there are large and discontinuous drops in sale prices at 10,000-mile thresholds in odometer mileage, along with smaller drops at 1,000-mile thresholds. We obtain estimates for the inattention parameter in a simple model of this left-digit bias. We also investigate whether this heuristic behavior is primarily attributable to the final used-car customers or the used-car salesmen who buy cars in the wholesale market. The evidence is most consistent with partial inattention by final customers. We discuss the significance of these results for the literature on inattention and point to other market settings where this type of heuristic thinking may be important. Our results suggest that information-processing heuristics may be important even in markets with large stakes and where information is easy to observe"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site

A technique for simulating culturally derived cognitions in a live role-playing situation is presented. Stable auxiliaries were trained to play opposite an Amer participant, & to reflect a synthetic-contrived but believable contrast-US culture. The content of this culture was defined at the cognitive level & contained a number of assumptions, values & cultural forms. These configurations were derived from an analysis of aspects of US culture judged salient to overseas performance, but systematically reflected to yield a mirror image of them. The technique permits one to deal in vivo with effectively loaded cognitions of an individual's personality, while maintaining a promising degree of exp'ay control over the interaction. Applying a quasi-exp'al device like simulation to the rich but for the most part exp'ly untouched field of cross-cultural COMM seems esp appropriate because of the technique's specific discovery potential & heuristic value. AA.

Risk and emotions -- Risk debates, stalemates, values, and emotions -- Emotions and values in current approaches to decision making about risk -- Risk perception, intuitions, and values -- Reasonable risk emotions -- Risk emotions: the affect heuristic, its biases and beyond -- The philosophy of moral risk emotions: towards a new paradigm of risk emotions -- Emotional deliberation about risk -- Reflection on and with risk emotions -- Participation with emotion -- Emotional deliberation on technological risks in practice

Is the Islamic Republic of Iran an ideological state, an Islamic democracy or a classic dictatorship? The heuristic dimension of the debate regarding the nature of the Islamic Republic has to be found in a better understanding of the decision-making process inside the regime. In other words, the choice of the criterion to define the political system of the Islamic Republic affects our analysis of its political functioning. It is therefore important to shed light on the diverging political classifications of the Islamic Republic as defined by scholars specialized in Iranian studies. Finally, this article challenges the relevancy of analyses underlining the "elective" or "republican" dimensions in the complex web of institutions of an Islamic theocracy. Adapted from the source document.

"Third-party intervention in situations of human conflict has a long history and a wide variety of forms and functions. Disputants in most, if not all, societies and at all levels of social interaction have had access to external actors to whom they can turn when they find they are unable to manage their differences by themselves. A common response to perceived incompatibilities in goals, methods or values between contesting parties is to enter into negotiation in order to reach a mutually acceptable agreement. Negotiation appears to be a universal, human phenomenon, although it is of course expressed in variations that are appropriate to each cultural context. Mediation, which is intended to facilitate the negotiation process, also needs to be practised within the norms and assumptions of any given cultural or subcultural milieu. At the same time, Western theorists of negotiation and mediation have attempted to spell out generic models, which they hope will serve to capture many of the essential elements. Much further crosscultural research will be necessary to tell us if this is indeed the case. Theorists have also identified additional forms of third-party intervention designed to complement negotiation that are distinguished primarily by the degree of power that the intervener exercises over the process and outcome of the conflict. This continuum of power is characterized not only by a varying capacity to influence, but also by a noteworthy shift in the type of power exercised. Thus, more traditional, coercive methods such as arbitration engage influence and control as 'power over', while more recent innovative methods such as problemsolving workshops (PSWs) seek to engage and induce 'power with', to draw on a useful distinction identified by Mary Parker Follett (1924 / 1942) and evident in feminist literature (Taylor / Miller 1994). A contemporary notion in the third-party literature is the idea that not all conflicts at all points in time will be amenable to a single and unified method of intervention. The defining characteristics of the conflict, particularly the stage of escalation, need to be considered in the light of the question as to which type of third party might intervene in the conflict most effectively and in which manner. Likewise, the interplay between different forms of third-party intervention and conflict transformation must be considered carefully, particularly because the various forms will typically play different roles in the overall process. Conflict transformation further requires that the antagonists agree upon and create the political, economic and social structures that will engender positive peace with social justice over the longer term. It is clear that these kinds of outcomes require more complex and coordinated third-party activities than the field of conflict resolution has been able to develop and implement so far, along with, of course, local empowerment and engagement. This chapter will focus first on the method of mediation, acknowledging its role as one of the most commonly applied and studied forms of intervention in conflicts. This will set the larger stage for a consideration of the various forms and functions of third-party intervention, some of which draw their appeal from their supplementary nature to mediation and negotiation. A rudimentary model for matching types of interventions to the stage of conflict escalation will be presented as an initial heuristic for realizing the potential complementarity of different forms of intervention. Finally, a number of issues will be identified that can affect the overall current and future usefulness of third-party intervention in addressing the multitude of destructive conflicts that regularly beset humankind." (excerpt)