Showing papers by "University of Mannheim published in 1988"

Priming and communication: Social determinants of information use in judgments of life satisfaction

Abstract: Two experiments examined the effects of answering a question about a specific component of life satisfaction on respondents' assessment of their overall satisfaction with life. The results suggest that the use of primed information in forming subsequent judgments is determined by Grice's conversational norms. In general, answering the specific question increases the accessibility of information relevant to that question. However, the effect that this has on the general judgment depends on the way in which the two questions are presented. When the two questions are merely placed in sequence without a conversational context, the answer to the subsequent general question is based in part on the primed specific information. As a result, the answer to the general question becomes similar to that for the specific question (i.e. assimilation). However, this does not occur when the two questions are placed in a communication context. Conversational rules dictate that communicators should be informative and should avoid redundancy in their answers. Therefore, when a specific and a general question are perceived as belonging to the same conversational context, the information on which the answer to the specific question was based is disregarded when answering the general one. This attenuates the assimilation effect. The conditions under which these different processes occur are identified and experimentally manipulated, and the implications of these findings for models of information use in judgment are discussed.

What triggers causal attributions? The impact of valence and subjective probability.

Abstract: Various field studies and experimental simulations demonstrated that causal reasoning increases after unexpected as well as after unpleasant events. However, unpleasant events are seen as less likely than pleasant ones in everyday life. Accordingly, the subjective probability of the event and its hedonic quality were naturally confounded in these studies. To isolate the contribution of both determinants, the subjective probability and the valence of an event were independently manipulated in a laboratory experiment. Subjects completed an ostensible ‘professional skills test’ and received either success or failure feedback in relation to a criterion set by the experimenter. The subjective probability of success was varied by informing subjects about the distribution of success and failure in a comparable population (either 23 per cent or 77 per cent were said to meet the criterion). The results indicate a pronounced valence effect: The iniensity of causal reasoning and the number of possible reasons reported for the outcome was greater after negative than after positive feedback, independent of the a priori probability of the outcome. No evidence for an increase in causal explanations after unexpected, as compared to expected, events was obtained. Several mediating processes are discussed.

Marketing‐Mix Standardisation: An Integrated Approach in Global Marketing

Abstract: This article shows the importance of marketing‐mix standardisation within a global marketing concept. A frame of analysis is described that can aid enterprises to decide whether global marketing can support their company in working out competitive advantages. The first analysis step is concerned with the question of whether marketing‐mix standardisation is important for the branch or the market of the company in question. This is oriented to strategic factors of success. The aim of the second analysis step is to find out in which ways marketing‐mix standardisation can be practised by one specific company. In this context a standardisation‐oriented segmentation concept is discussed.

Informativeness and Instrumentality in Referential Communication

Abstract: Speakers produce verbal utterances in order to achieve certain goals. As a necessary precondition of the instrumentality of a verbal message the listener must be informed about what is meant. But the example of referential communication shows that the structure and content of referential expressions cannot solely be predicted by the principle of instrumentality. The results of three naming experiments show that in addition to totally discriminative attributes—which are necessary and sufficient for unambiguous object identification—other features of the intended object are specified. Two object identification experiments then make clear that speakers tend to overspecify those attributes of a target which facilitate the listener's object search. The consequences of these correspondences for the assumption of a ‘listener-oriented’ strategy of object reference are discussed.

Employment, Labour Utilization and Procyclical Labour Productivity

Abstract: The paper provides a theoretical and empirical framework to analyze the effects of change in various labor-cost parameters on employment and labor utilization. By accounting for overtime work, a nonlinear cost scheme is obtained that can serve as an explanation of procyclic al movements in labor productivity. A generalized Leontief system, based on an onlinear labor-cost scheme, is estimated for employment, average hours worked, and capital input. The empirical evidence is consistent with the stylized fact of procyclical labor productivity. A reduction of standard hours leads to a loss in employment. Copyright 1988 by WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG

Hermeneutics and Economics A Criticism of Hermeneutical Thinking in the Social Sciences

Abstract: Some representatives of Misesian economics in the United States try to develop neo-Austrian views by using hermeneutical insights. They neglect the important difference between the views of Max Weber and German hermeneutical philosophy which is incompatible with Weber's views and method ologically useless. An adequate solution of the problems o f understanding presupposes explanations of the usual kind. It is shown that views of Mises have strong and weak points and that a hermeneutical reinterpretatio n of these views cannot help economic thinking. Copyright 1988 by WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG

Verbal Responses to Different Bargaining Strategies: A Content Analysis of Real‐Life Buyer‐Seller Interaction

Abstract: A field exerpiment was conducted in order to demonstrate a way in which social psychological research can avoid some of the shortcomings of past research on bargaining communication. Two preprogrammed male buyers negotiated a discount on the price of new cars with 48 professional salesmen. The salespersons' verbal responses to various bargaining strategies were recorded and analyzed by a content analytic scheme with the following categories: attempted antagonistic influence; attempted cooperative influence; strategic question; justification; self-disclosure; concession refusal; “other”. Results indicated that (a) soft bargaining is reciprocated with attempted cooperative influence, whereas tough bargaining does not provoke attempted antagonistic influence; (b) stragetic questions are used as a response to both soft and tough bargaining behavior; (c) justifications are most frequent in the last phase of a sales interaction, especially when accompanying a concession refusal; (d) self-disclosure was only present in the last phase of bargaining; (e) concessions are most frequently found in the early phase of bargaining and a concession refusal becomes increasingly frequent as bargaining proceeds; (f) most concessions are made in response to a soft-soft bargaining strategy.

Reduced intergroup differentiation as a result of self-categorization in overlapping categories. A quasi-experiment

Abstract: A quasi-experiment was conducted to examine the effects of self-categorization in overlapping categories on intergroup differentiation. ‘Old aged women’ was used as the first, ‘sports’ as the additional category. It could be shown that intergroup differentiation was significantly reduced under crossed categorization conditions. Implications for social compensation strategies are discussed.

The Mirage of Neo‐Corporatism

Abstract: The assessment of neo-corporatism as a societal concept involves a cooptation of large organized interests by political decision makers as negotiators that are made coresponsible, or even completely responsible, for the implementation of the results of the institutionalized political bargaining. It is argued that such a "private-interest government" would violate basic principles of democratic legitimacy and control. Furthermore, no solid theoretical underpinnings are recognizeable that would justify the hope that such a concept would allow the overcoming of the problems of governability and economic performance of the welfare state. Finally, the concept appears to suffer even more from a pretense of knowledge than the present pluralist economic interventionism. Copyright 1988 by WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG

Other-Relatedness in Language Processing

Abstract: Addressee-orientation or, more generally, other-relatedness must be considered a basic feature of language-in-use. Nevertheless, this feature has been largely neglected in language studies, mainly in experimental psycholinguistics. This neglect was one of the reasons for the foundation of the Heidelberg/Mannheim Research Group on Language Processing in Social Context (LISCO), whose major topic is the other-relatedness of speech and of language comprehension. Examples of this research and of the guiding theories are given as an introduction to this Special Issue which contains six reports on the work of the LISCO group plus an invited comment by Robert M. Krauss.

Characterization of weakly efficient points

Abstract: Weakly efficient points of a mapping F : S → Y are characterized, where the feasible set S is given by infinitely many constraints, and Y is equipped with an arbitrary convex ordering In the linear and in the convex case a necessary and sufficient condition is given, which needs no constraint qualification

The experience of crowding in real-life environments: an action oriented approach

Abstract: Based on reflection of the factual relationship of social and environmental psychology an attempt is made to explore the basic dimensions in the experience of crowded situations by use of multidimensional scaling method. Descriptions of 105 real-life crowding situations are analyzed according to cognitive, affective and behavioural responses. A representative sample of 15 situations is subjected to a multidimensional scaling procedure, the result of which is a two-dimensional solution representing the experience of crowding: one dimension focusing on rather objective situational parameters indicating interference of action, the other reflecting individual effects of environmental load.

Effekte Einer Emissionssteuer auf Sektorale Produktionsstrukturen am Beispiel Baden-Württembergs

Abstract: Die zunehmende Bedeutung des Umweltschutzes als Teil der staatlichen Regulierungsaktivitaten hat zu Fragen nach den okonomischen Auswirkungen dieser Aktivitaten gefuhrt. Es hat sich gezeigt, das gelegentlich ein Zielkonflikt zwischen hoher Umweltqualitat und anderen Zielen, wie Vollbeschaftigung, Preisstabilitat und Wachstum bestehen kann. Wirtschaftspolitiker werden daher mit der Aufgabe konfrontiert, die Vor- und Nachteile beim Ausgleich der Zielkonflikte kenntlich zu machen und insbesondere zu quantifizieren. Das Forschungsvorhaben strebt die Entwicklung eines langfristigen Gleichgewichtsmodells fur Baden-Wurttemberg mit integriertem Umweltteil an, das zur Quantifizierung der okonomischen Effekte der Masnahmen zum Umweltschutz dienen soll. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird die Konzeption eines Input-Output Modells mit Kostenfunktionen als Preissystem und mit Substitutionsmoglichkeiten erweitert, indem Emissionen als Kuppelprodukte der Produktion sowie Entsorgungsaktivitaten und deren Kosten berucksichtigt werden. Im Zuge des Ausbaus dieses regionalen Modells sollen Antworten aus folgenden drei Problemkreisen gefunden werden: 1) Adaquate Instrumente der Umweltregulierung 2) Allokations- und Inzidenzwirkungen der verschiedenen moglichen Regulierungsinstrumente 3) Anpassung des Regulierungsinstrumentariums zum Umweltschutz an Anderungen der Umgebungsbedingung oder technischen Fortschritt.

Current work on the social indicators system for the Federal Republic of Germany

Abstract: The paper in hand deals with the construction of the SPES Indicators Tableau and its extensions and modifications which are carried out by current work. Advantages of time series regression analysis for social reporting as well as classifying social change are discussed. The paper ends with a short prospect on the publication in preparation which shall continue the social reporting of the SPES Indicators Tableau.

Critical Rationalism: The Problem of Method in Social Sciences and Law*

Abstract: . The author characterizes the model of rationality devised by critical rationalism in opposition to the classic model of rationality and as an alternative to this. He illustrates and criticizes the trichotomous theory of knowledge which, going back to Max Scheler, is received in a secularized version by Habermas and Apel, also under the influence of the hermeneutic tradition of Heidegger and Gadamer and of the so-called “critical theory” of Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno. The author criticizes historicism as it expects to be an alternative to naturalism and not to make use of the method based on scientific laws. The author proposes as an example of technological social science the model developed in economics starting from Adam Smith. With regard to legal theories, natural law is rejected because of its sociomorphic cosmology. It is proposed that legal science as social technology has two parts. One part aims at efficient interpretations of valid law (for the space-time region concerned) and a second part aims at the construction of efficient norms for the modification of valid law by legislation

Asymptotic expansion of the minimax value in survey sampling

Abstract: Suppose that a real numbery u is associated with each unitu of a populationU and that the functiony:u →y u onU is known to be an element of the parameter space Θ. The statistician has to select a samples ⊂U ofn units and to employy u;u ∈s to estimate the arithmetic mean of ally u,u ∈U. The performance of such a strategy is assessed by its mean square error or, more simply, by the supremum of the mean square error. This supremum cannot be determined exactly for the parameter space of Scott/Smith (1975). We propose, therefore, an asymptotic approximation; this approximation is based on the assumption, that the sample sizen is fixed and that linear estimators have to be used.

Individual and social consequences of unemployment

Abstract: Effects of unemployment on psychological and physical well-being, self-esteem and financial and social problems were investigated by use of a questionnaire in a longitudinal study of 90 unemployed German workers. Results show significant higher depression scores for the unemployed compared to the re-employed and a corresponding (though not significant) difference in psychosomatic symptom scores. No differences can be detected for the self-esteem measure. Data are presented on financial, marital and social problems of the unemployed and implications for social interventions are discussed.

A conditional minimax approach in survey sampling

Abstract: Applying the usual minimax criterion in finite sampling theory yields complicated solutions except the parameter space has certain invariance properties. A conditional minimax criterion is suggested. After a sample is selected it is reasonable to seek an estimator that has good properties (e.g. minimaxity) for that sample. Explicit solutions are given in the case where the parameter space is described by quadratic forms.

In diesem Ton lasse ich nicht mit mir reden! - Einige psychologische Üerlegungen zu Aufforderungsinteraktionen zwischen Mensch und Computer

Abstract: This article provides description of a number of experimental and field studies on request production, carried out by members of the Mannheim Research Group on Speech and Cognition The results concern the following aspects: (a) Which dimensions are relevant in speakers’ cognitions to select a specific variant of request? (b) Which combinations of specific values on these dimensions form typically occuring types of request situations? (c) What are typical request structures speakers use in the situations above? (d) What about the interaction of verbal and nonverbal components in requesting?

A Sequential Lebesgue-Radon-Nikodym Theorem and the Lebesgue Decomposition of Martingales

Abstract: The present paper contains generalizations of Neveu’s sequential Lebesgue-Radon-Nikodym theorem and of Baez-Duarte’s Lebesgue decomposition of martingales The results are based on Darst’s extension of the classical Lebesgue-Radon-Nikodym theorem and on the properties of the generalized Radon-Nikodym operator

Countability, Completeness and the Closed Graph Theorem

Abstract: The webs of M. De Wilde [4] have made an enormous contribution to the closed graph theorems in locally convex spaces(lcs). Although webs have a very intricate layered construction, two properties in particular have contributed to the closed graph theorem. First of all, webs possess a strong countability condition in the range space which suitably matches the Baire property of Frechet spaces in the domain space; as a result the zero neighbourhood filter is mapped to a p-Cauchy filter, a filter attempting to settle down. Secondly webs provide a completeness condition which allow p-Cauchy filters to converge.

Intertemporale Entscheidungen und Unsicherheit

Abstract: Mehrperiodige Entscheidungsprobleme von Wirtschaftssubjekten sind fast immer eng mit denen bei Unsicherheit verknupft. Wenn dennoch in der Literatur haufig eine getrennte analytische Behandlung vorliegt, so beruht dies auf der Tatsache, das es sich bei den beiden Aspekten strukturell um zwei analytisch voneinander trennbare Probleme handelt, die zu okonomisch unterschiedlichen Resultaten fuhren, die durch eine simultane Berucksichtigung nicht voneinander zu trennen waren.