Carlos J. Torelli

Bio: Carlos J. Torelli is an academic researcher from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. The author has contributed to research in topics: Consumer behaviour & Brand equity. The author has an hindex of 23, co-authored 72 publications receiving 2361 citations. Previous affiliations of Carlos J. Torelli include University of Minnesota.

Advancing Our Understanding of Cross-Cultural Issues in Consumer Science and Consumer Psychology

Abstract: Globalization has resulted in a more complex marketplace. Growing multiculturalism of consumer markets and increased global competition are pushing marketing scholars to better understand cross-cultural issues in consumer science and consumer psychology. The chapters in this book cover the field to offer in a single volume the key frameworks and methods to conduct research in the area. Chapters in this book not only include general topics such as the different cultural frameworks used in various disciplines, the distinction between national and individual level of analysis, and main cross-cultural research methods, but also specific topics such as consumer sentiments towards foreign products, country-of-origin effects, and branding in a cross-cultural context.

Individuality, Relatedness, Or None of the Above? How Thinking Concretely Can Impair the Activation of Self-Relevant Goals

Abstract: This research shows the importance of mindsets as cognitive processes that can interact with people’s self-representations and impact their interpretations of consumer situations. In four experiments, we show that individuals are more likely to bring to mind goals linked to a primed self-concept when they are in an abstract mindset (compared to a concrete mindset). Participants in an abstract mindset who are primed with independence bring to mind more independence goals whereas those primed with interdependence bring to mind more relatedness goals. In contrast, participants in a concrete mindset focus on concrete experiences from the situation regardless of self-concept priming.

Consumers’ Reactions to the Cultural Meanings in Brands

Abstract: Attracted by a youthful, growing population of 70 million, Mango, the iconic Spanish clothing brand whose ads feature Penelope Cruz, opened its first store in central Tehran in April 2009. Although wearing a Mango miniskirt in public is grounds for being arrested, the aisles were crowded soon after the store opening, and the venture was anticipated to quickly become profitable.1 The sudden success of the Mango store stands out against an apparent negative sentiment toward Western fashion brands doing business in Iran—seen by politicians as a bad influence on women—which even resulted in the torching of a Benetton store during anti-Western demonstrations earlier the same year. These situations illustrate the mixed reactions of consumers to the cultural meanings in brands. Exposure to brands loaded with cultural meanings can bring culture to the fore of the mind, which in turn can facilitate the framing of situations in cultural terms. In some cases, this cultural framing can induce an assimilation of consumers’ judgments and actions to implicit cultural values and norms. However, on other occasions, framing a situation in cultural terms can create a contrast and elicit exclusionary responses. Furthermore, all of this can occur without consumer awareness of culture as a driver of the effects.

Brands and the Fulfillment of Cultural-Identity Needs

Abstract: As a consumer, John can have multiple identities (e.g., a father, an engineer, a male, an American), some of which he more strongly associates with than others. Those identities that more centrally define who he is are more likely to be salient in his mind in different contexts. However, certain situations can make salient any given social identity that matters to him. For instance, although John might consider being an engineer as a defining aspect of himself, which probably affects how he pragmatically thinks about events and the physical environment, his identity as an American would likely dominate his thoughts when he is with his family at a Fourth of July fireworks celebration of American independence. In this context, John might think differently about Volkswagen versus Ford cars. Although John might normally value Volkswagen’s well-known engineering expertise (based on his engineer identity), the Fourth of July might increase the value that he sees in Ford cars, which symbolize the salient American identity. A central issue discussed in this chapter is the extent to which consumers’ valuation of a brand (e.g., evaluations, purchase intentions, or willingness to pay for branded products) responds to the brand’s ability to fulfill social identity needs that are salient in the situation.

Power, approach, and inhibition. Власть, напористость и подавленность

Abstract: Статья посвящена вопросам влияния власти на поведение человека. Авторы рассматривают данные различных источников, в которых увеличение власти связывается с напористостью, а ее уменьшение - с подавленностью. Конкретно, власть ассоциируется с: а) позитивным аффектом; б) вниманием к вознаграждению и к свойствам других, удовлетворяющим личные цели; в) автоматической переработкой информации и резкими суждениями; г) расторможенным социальным поведением. Уменьшение власти, напротив, ассоциируется с: а) негативным аффектом; б) вниманием к угрозам и наказаниям, к интересам других и к тем характеристикам я, которые отвечают целям других; в) контролируемой переработкой информации и совещательным типом рассуждений; г) подавленным социальным поведением. Обсуждаются также последствия этих паттернов поведения, связанных с властью, и потенциальные модераторы.

Human MotivationThe Mind in Action: A Study of Motives and Values. A. Campbell Garnett

Abstract: In his Preface the author' says that he started out to review all the more important theories upon the topics ordinarily discussed under human motivation but soon found himself more and more limited to the presentation of his own point of view. This very well characterizes the book. It is a very personal product. It is an outline with some defense of the author's own thinking about instincts and appetites and sentiments and how they function in human behavior. And as the author draws so heavily upon James and McDougall, especially the latter, the book may well be looked upon as a sort of sequel to their efforts. There is a thought-provoking distinction presented between instinct and appetite. An instinct is said to be aroused always by something in the external situation; and, correspondingly, an appetite is said to be aroused by sensations from within the body itself. This places, of course, a heavy emphasis upon the cognitive factor in all instinctive behaviors; and the author prefers to use the cognitive factor, especially the knowledge of that end-experience which will satisfy, as a means of differentiating one instinct from another. In this there is a recognized difference from McDougall who placed more emphasis for differentiation upon the emotional accompaniment. The list of instincts arrived at by this procedure is much like that of McDougall, although the author is forced by his criteria to present the possibility of food-seeking and sex and sleep operating both in the manner of an appetite and also as an instinct. The Shand-McDougall concept of sentiment is taken over and used in the explanation of moral motivation. There is the development within each personality of a sentiment for some moral principle. But this sentiment is not a very powerful motivating factor. It is reinforced by social pressures and by religion, which is treated as an effort of finite man to live in harmony with the infinite reality. Those whose psychological thinking is largely in terms of McDougall will doubtless find this volume a very satisfying expansion; but those who are at all inclined to support their psychological thinking by reference to experimental studies will not be so well pleased. The James-Lange theory, for example, is discussed without mention of the many experimental studies which it has provoked. Theoretical sources appear in general to be preferred to experimental investigations.