DePaul University

About: DePaul University is a education organization based out in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 5658 authors who have published 11562 publications receiving 295257 citations.

Products as Pals: Engaging with Anthropomorphic Products Mitigates the Effects of Social Exclusion

Abstract: Feeling left out has been shown to trigger primal, automatic responses in an attempt to compensate for threats to social belongingness. Such responses typically involve reconnection with other human beings. However, four experiments provide evidence that exposure to or interaction with anthropomorphic consumer products (i.e., products featuring characteristics of being alive through design, interaction, intelligence, responsiveness, and/or personality) can also satisfy (at least partially) social needs, ultimately mitigating previously documented effects of social exclusion. Specifically, interacting with anthropomorphic (vs. non-anthropomorphic) products following social exclusion reduces 1) the need to exaggerate the number of one’s current social connections, 2) the anticipated need to engage with close others in the future, and 3) the willingness to engage in prosocial behavior. These effects are driven by a need for social assurance, rather than positive affect. Moreover, an important boundary condition exists: drawing attention to the fact that an anthropomorphic product is not actually alive (i.e., the product does not provide genuine human interaction) limits its ability to fulfill social needs. Thus, in a time when consumer products are becoming increasingly anthropomorphic in design and function, the results reveal potentially important consequences for human-to-human relationships.

Low-status compensation: A theory for understanding the role of status in cultures of honor.

Abstract: The mechanisms that link herding regions to cultures of honor have never been empirically tested. The objective of the present article is to show the important role that issues of status play in linking herding regions to cultures of honor using the theory of low-status compensation (P. J. Henry, 2008b) as a framework. Four studies are presented. Study 1 replicates the finding that counties in the American South conducive to herding have higher murder rates than do counties conducive to farming but shows those differences are mediated by indicators of status disparities in a county. Study 2 replicates the findings of Study 1 with an international sample of 92 countries. Study 3 tests the theoretical idea that people who are low in socioeconomic status face stigma in society and show self-defensive strategies generally. Finally, Study 4 provides experimental evidence that low-status tendencies toward aggressing in the face of insults may be due to strategies to protect their sense of social worth. The results are contextualized within the theory of low-status compensation as a theory for understanding the role status plays in predicting some forms of violence.

Understanding consumers' responses toward social media advertising and purchase intention toward luxury products

Abstract: Social media has rapidly risen in popularity as a new advertising platform that allows users to connect with one another and engage with brands. At the same time, the online luxury market has experienced rapid expansion due to the rising number of affluent online users between 18 and 35 years old. The current study examined young social media users' beliefs, attitudes, and behavioral responses toward social media advertising. Brand consciousness was found to have an impact on users' attitudes toward social media advertising, which in turn influences their behavioral responses toward social media advertising and consequent purchase intentions toward luxury products.

“A CHAMBERED NAUTILUS” The Contradictory Nature of Puerto Rican Women's Role in the Social Construction of a Transnational Community

Abstract: Recent transnational migration literature does not sufficiently explore women's role in the development of transnational communities By analyzing 30 interviews with Puerto Rican migrant and return migrant women, the author shows that women, through subsistence production, play a significant role in the social construction of transnational communities By using a transnational perspective and placing migrant women's subsistence work and its contradictory nature at the center of her analysis, the author challenges studies that assume that maintaining ties to homelands leads to freedom for all family members, moves away from home/host binary frame works of immigrant women's experiences that locate greater gender oppression in home countries and more freedom in host societies, and explores women's complex perceptions of home