Showing papers on "Surprise published in 2010"

Psychological Games and Sequential Rationality

Abstract: In psychological games the payoff to each player depends not only on what every player does but also on what he thinks every player believes, and on what he thinks they believe others believe, and so on. In equilibrium, beliefs are assumed to correspond to reality. Yet psychological games and psychological equilibria allow one to model belief-dependent emotions such as anger and surprise that are problematic for conventional game theory. We are particularly interested in issues of sequential rationality for psychological games. We show that although backward induction cannot be applied, and “perfect” psychological equilibria may not exist, subgame perfect and sequential equilibria always do exist.

Better to be frustrated than bored: The incidence, persistence, and impact of learners' cognitive-affective states during interactions with three different computer-based learning environments

Abstract: We study the incidence (rate of occurrence), persistence (rate of reoccurrence immediately after occurrence), and impact (effect on behavior) of students' cognitive-affective states during their use of three different computer-based learning environments. Students' cognitive-affective states are studied using different populations (Philippines, USA), different methods (quantitative field observation, self-report), and different types of learning environments (dialogue tutor, problem-solving game, and problem-solving-based Intelligent Tutoring System). By varying the studies along these multiple factors, we can have greater confidence that findings which generalize across studies are robust. The incidence, persistence, and impact of boredom, frustration, confusion, engaged concentration, delight, and surprise were compared. We found that boredom was very persistent across learning environments and was associated with poorer learning and problem behaviors, such as gaming the system. Despite prior hypothesis to the contrary, frustration was less persistent, less associated with poorer learning, and did not appear to be an antecedent to gaming the system. Confusion and engaged concentration were the most common states within all three learning environments. Experiences of delight and surprise were rare. These findings suggest that significant effort should be put into detecting and responding to boredom and confusion, with a particular emphasis on developing pedagogical interventions to disrupt the ''vicious cycles'' which occur when a student becomes bored and remains bored for long periods of time.

Prognostic significance of the "surprise" question in cancer patients.

Abstract: Background Physicians consistently overestimate survival for patients with cancer. The "surprise" question--"Would I be surprised if this patient died in the next year?"--improves end-of-life care by identifying patients with a poor prognosis. It has not been previously studied in patients with cancer. Objective To determine the efficacy of the surprise question in patients with cancer. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Academic cancer center. Patients 853 consecutive patients with breast, lung, or colon cancer. Measurements Surprise question classification and patient status at 12 months, alive or dead, by surprise question response. Results Oncologists classified 826 of 853 prospective patients with cancer (97%) with 131 (16%) classified into the "No" group and 695 (84%) into the "Yes" group. In multivariate analysis, a "No" response identified patients with cancer who had a seven times greater hazard of death in the next year compared to patients in the "Yes" group (HR 7.787, p Limitations Single center study. Conclusion The surprise question is a simple, feasible, and effective tool to identify patients with cancer who have a greatly increased risk of 1-year mortality.

Ignorance and Surprise: Science, Society, and Ecological Design

Abstract: Ignorance and surprise belong together: surprises can make people aware of their own ignorance. And yet, perhaps paradoxically, a surprising event in scientific research--one that defies prediction or risk assessment--is often a window to new and unexpected knowledge. In this book, Matthias Gross examines the relationship between ignorance and surprise, proposing a conceptual framework for handling the unexpected and offering case studies of ecological design that demonstrate the advantages of allowing for surprises and including ignorance in the design and negotiation processes. Gross draws on classical and contemporary sociological accounts of ignorance and surprise in science and ecology and integrates these with the idea of experiment in society. He develops a notion of how unexpected occurrences can be incorporated into a model of scientific and technological development that includes the experimental handling of surprises. Gross discusses different projects in ecological design, including Chicago's restoration of the shoreline of Lake Michigan and Germany's revitalization of brownfields near Leipzig. These cases show how ignorance and surprise can successfully play out in ecological design projects, and how the acknowledgment of the unknown can become a part of decision making. The appropriation of surprises can lead to robust design strategies. Ecological design, Gross argues, is neither a linear process of master planning nor a process of trial and error but a carefully coordinated process of dealing with unexpected turns by means of experimental practice.

Alcohol and the prefrontal cortex.

Abstract: The prefrontal cortex occupies the anterior portion of the frontal lobes and is thought to be one of the most complex anatomical and functional structures of the mammalian brain. Its major role is to integrate and interpret inputs from cortical and sub-cortical structures and use this information to develop purposeful responses that reflect both present and future circumstances. This includes both action-oriented sequences involved in obtaining rewards and inhibition of behaviors that pose undue risk or harm to the individual. Given the central role in initiating and regulating these often complex cognitive and behavioral responses, it is no surprise that alcohol has profound effects on the function of the prefrontal cortex. In this chapter, we review the basic anatomy and physiology of the prefrontal cortex and discuss what is known about the actions of alcohol on the function of this brain region. This includes a review of both the human and animal literature including information on the electrophysiological and behavioral effects that follow acute and chronic exposure to alcohol. The chapter concludes with a discussion of unanswered questions and areas needing further investigation.

Letting Different Views about Business Cycles Compete

Abstract: There are several candidate explanations for macro-fluctuations. Two of the most common discussed sources are surprise changes in disembodied technology and monetary innovations. Another popular explanation is found under the heading of a preference or more generally a demand shock. More recently two other explanations have been advocated: surprise changes in investment specific technology and news about future technology growth. The aim of this paper is to provide a quantitative assessment of the relative merits of all these explanations by adopting a framework which allows them to compete. In particular, we propose a co-integrated SVAR approach that encompasses all 5 shocks and thereby offers a coherent evaluation of the dynamics they induce as well as their contribution to macro volatility. Our main finding is that surprise changes in technology, whether it be of the disembodied or embodied nature, account for very little of fluctuations. In contrast, expected changes in technology appear to be an important force, with preference/demand shocks and monetary shocks also playing non-negligible roles.(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Surprise, defence, or making sense: What removes hindsight bias?

Abstract: This paper examines predictions concerning the absence of hindsight bias. Some hypothesise that because hindsight bias increases with outcome "surprisingness", only unsurprising outcomes will remove it. Others suggest the opposite-that very surprising outcomes will reduce or reverse the bias. A proposed sense-making model suggests that unexpected outcomes (i.e., initially surprising) invoke greater sensemaking, which typically produces greater hindsight bias. If the process is not successful, however, the bias may be reduced or reversed. Expected outcomes will also produce little hindsight bias, but only because they invoke relatively little sensemaking in the first place. Feelings of surprise arising from sensemaking (i.e., resultant surprise) should be inversely related to hindsight bias. Results of four experiments provide support for the model. A secondary goal was to determine the boundaries of a defensive-processing mechanism also thought to reduce hindsight bias for negative, self-relevant outcomes. Results suggest that a sense of responsibility for the outcome may be necessary for defensive processing to be activated.

Pleasurable Surprises: A Cross-Cultural Study of Consumer Responses to Unexpected Incentives

Abstract: Consumer reactions to a surprising event are generally stronger than those to an identical but unexpected event. But the experience of surprise differs across cultures. In this article, we examine differences between East Asian and Western emotional reactions to unexpected incentives. When given an unexpected gift, East Asians report less surprise and less pleasure than Westerners. East Asians’ dampened pleasure is explained by their motivation to maintain balance and emotional control, which leads to a reappraisal of perceived likelihood. However, if the unexpected gift is attributed to good luck, which is a desirable form of the unexpected, East Asians experience even greater pleasure than Westerners.

Monitoring affect states during effortful problem solving activities

Abstract: We explored the affective states that students experienced during effortful problem solving activities. We conducted a study where 41 students solved difficult analytical reasoning problems from the Law School Admission Test. Students viewed videos of their faces and screen captures and judged their emotions from a set of 14 states (basic emotions, learning-centered emotions, and neutral) at relevant points in the problem solving process (after new problem is displayed, in the midst of problem solving, after feedback is received). The results indicated that curiosity, frustration, boredom, confusion, happiness, and anxiety were the major emotions that students experienced, while contempt, anger, sadness, fear, disgust, eureka, and surprise were rare. Follow-up analyses on the temporal dynamics of the emotions, their contextual underpinnings, and relationships to problem solving outcomes supported a general characterization of the affective dimension of problem solving. Affective states differ in: (a) their probability of occurrence as regular, routine, or sporadic emotions, (b) their temporal dynamics as persistent or random emotions, (c) their characterizations as product or process related emotions, and (d) whether they were positively or negatively related to problem solving outcomes. A synthesis of our major findings, limitations, resolutions, and implications for affect-sensitive artificial learning environments are discussed.

Construction Cost Management: Learning from Case Studies

Abstract: Keith Potts, Taylor & Francis, London, 2008, 306 pp., ISBN 978 0 415 44287 9, £25.65 Construction cost management is a very broad topic, so it comes as a surprise to find a single text attempting t...

Creativity and Art: Three Roads to Surprise

Abstract: Margaret Boden presents a series of essays in which she explores the nature of creativity in a wide range of art forms. Creativity in general is the generation of novel, surprising, and valuable ideas (conceptual, theoretical, musical, literary, or visual). Boden identifies three forms of creativity: combinational, exploratory, and transformational. These elicit differing forms of surprise, and are defined by the different kinds of psychological process that generate the new ideas. Boden examines creativity not only in traditional fine art, but also in craftworks, and some less orthodox approaches--namely, conceptual art and several types of computer art. Her Introduction draws out the conceptual links between the various case-studies, showing how they express a coherent view of creativity in art.

The dark side of outside directors: Do they quit when they are most needed?

Abstract: Outside directors have incentives to resign to protect their reputation or to avoid an increase in their workload when they anticipate that the firm on whose board they sit will perform poorly or disclose adverse news. We call these incentives the dark side of outside directors. We find strong support for the existence of a dark side. Following surprise director departures, affected firms have worse stock and operating performance, are more likely to suffer from an extreme negative return event, are more likely to restate earnings, have a higher likelihood of being named in a federal class action securities fraud lawsuit, and make worse mergers and acquisitions. Consistent with the market inferring bad news from surprise departures, the announcement return for surprise director departures is negative.

Emotions in the Field: The Psychology and Anthropology of Fieldwork Experience

Abstract: As emotion is often linked with irrationality, it's no surprise researchers tend to underreport the emotions they experience in the field However, denying emotion altogether doesn't necessarily lead to better research Methods cannot function independently from the personalities wielding them, and it's time we questioned the tendency to underplay the scientific, personal, and political consequences of the emotional dimensions of fieldwork This book explores the idea that emotion is not antithetical to thought or reason, but is instead an untapped source of insight that can complement more traditional methods of anthropological research With a new, re-humanized methodological framework, this book shows how certain reactions and experiences consistently evoked in fieldwork, when treated with the intellectual rigor empirical work demands, can be translated into meaningful data Emotions in the Field brings to mainstream anthropological awareness not only the viability and necessity of this neglected realm of research, but also its fresh and thoughtful guiding principles

Stance-taking and public discussion in blogs

Abstract: Blogs, which can be written and read by anyone with a computer and an internet connection, would seem to expand the possibilities for engagement in public sphere debates. Indeed, blogs are full of the kind of vocabulary that suggests intense discussion. However, a closer look at the way this vocabulary is used in context suggests that the main concern of writers is self-presentation, positioning themselves in a crowded forum, in what has been called stance-taking. When writers mark their stances, for instance by saying I think, they enact different ways of signalling a relation to others, marking disagreement, enacting surprise, and ironicising previous contributions. All these moves are ways of presenting one's own contribution as distinctive, showing one's entitlement to a position. In this paper, I use concordance tools to identify strings that are very frequent in a corpus of blogs, relative to a general corpus of written texts, focus on those relatively frequent words that mark stance and analyse the...

Perceptions of Swearing in the Work Setting: An Expectancy Violations Theory Perspective

Abstract: This study investigates perceptions of swearing from an expectancy violations perspective. Degree of expectancy violation is hypothesized to depend on several communicator, relationship, contextual, and message characteristics. Results support that expectancy violations are related to the formality of the situation in which swearing occurs and the specific swearing phrase. No support is found for swearer's sex or status as predictors of expectancy violations. Hearer's degree of surprise perceived is associated with perceptions that the speaker is incompetent. These results support the usefulness of expectancy violations theory as an explanation for perceptions of swearing.

Effects of Age and Task Difficulty on Recognition of Facial Affect

Abstract: Current evidence suggests that older adults are less accurate than young adults in their ability to identify facial expressions of emotion. In the present study, young and older adults' ability to correctly recognize facial affect representative of 6 different emotions (happiness, surprise, disgust, fear, anger, and sadness) was examined in 3 conditions varying in difficulty. Task difficulty was measured by varying the number of labels available in a forced choice recognition task to 2, 4, and 6. Results showed that age differences were present in the 2 more difficult conditions for fear and sadness. Older adults were impaired in recognizing facial expressions of surprise only in the 4-label condition. Current findings suggest that task difficulty moderates age differences in emotion labeling. The present study has contributed to previous research by illuminating the conditions under which age differences in the accuracy of labeling of facial affect are more likely to be observed.

Oxford Textbook of Suicidology and Suicide Prevention. A Global Perspective

Abstract: [⇓][1] ![Figure][2] Around the world there are about 1 million deaths from suicide each year. This is more than in all the various wars and conflicts currently ongoing, a fact that would doubtless surprise many, including some policy makers. Suicide is clearly a major public health

Annotating and Identifying Emotions in Text

Abstract: This paper focuses on the classification of emotions and polarity in news headlines and it is meant as an exploration of the connection between emotions and lexical semantics. We first describe the construction of the data set used in evaluation exercise “Affective Text” task at SemEval 2007, annotated for six basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness and surprise, and for positive and negative polarity. We also briefly describe the participating systems and their results. Second, exploiting the same data set, we propose and evaluate several knowledge-based and corpus-based methods for the automatic identification of emotions in text.

Sentiment Analysis in Student Experiences of Learning.

Abstract: In this paper we present an evaluation of new techniques for automatically detecting sentiment polarity (Positive or Negative) in the students responses to Unit of Study Evaluations (USE). The study compares categorical model and dimensional model making use of five emotion categories: Anger, Fear, Joy, Sadness, and Surprise. Joy and Surprise are taken as a Positive polarity, whereas Anger, Fear and Sadness belong to Negative polarity in the binary classes, respectively. We evaluate the performances of category-based and dimension-based emotion prediction models on the 2,940 textual responses. In the former model, WordNet-Affect is used as a linguistic lexical resource and two dimensionality reduction techniques are evaluated: Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) and Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF). In the latter model, ANEW (Affective Norm for English Words), a normative database with affective terms, is employed. Despite using generic emotion categories and no syntactical analysis, NMF-based categorical model and dimensional model result in better performances above the baseline.

Modeling Cognitive-Affective Dynamics with Hidden Markov Models

Abstract: Modeling Cognitive-Affective Dynamics with Hidden Markov Models Sidney K. D’Mello (sdmello@memphis.edu) Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 39152 USA Art Graesser (a-graesser@memphis.edu) Department of Psychology, University of Memphis Madison, TN 38152 USA Abstract We present and test a theory of cognitive disequilibrium to explain the dynamics of the cognitive-affective states that emerge during deep learning activities. The theory postulates an important role for cognitive disequilibrium, a state that occurs when learners face obstacles to goals, contradictions, incongruities, anomalies, uncertainty, and salient contrasts. The major hypotheses of the theory were supported in two studies in which participants completed a tutoring session with a computer tutor after which they provide judgments on their cognitive-affective states via a retrospective judgment protocol. Hidden Markov Models constructed from time series of learners’ cognitive-affective states confirmed the major predictions as well as suggested refinements for the theory of cognitive disequilibrium during deep learning. Keywords: affect dynamics, hidden markov model, learning. Introduction Deep learning and problem solving are emotionally rich experiences. Students experience boredom when the material does not appeal to them, confusion when they have difficulty comprehending the material and are unsure about how to proceed, frustration when they make mistakes and get stuck, and perhaps even despair and anxiety when their efforts seem to be futile and the big exam is creeping around the corner. This negative picture of the emotional experiences that accompany learning has a complimentary positive side. Students experience curiosity when they encounter topics that interest them, eureka moments when insights are unveiled and major discoveries made, delight when challenges are conquered, and perhaps even flow-like states (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) when they are so engaged in learning that time and fatigue disappear. There have been several theories that link cognition and affect very generally (Bower, 1981; Mandler, 1984; Ortony, Clore, & Collins, 1988; Russell, 2003; Stein & Levine, 1991). While these theories convey general links between cognition and emotions, they do not directly explain and predict the sort of emotions that occur during complex learning, such as attempts to master physics, biology, or computer literacy. Researchers in many different fields are familiar with Ekman’s work on the detection of emotions from facial expressions (Ekman, 1984). However, the emotions that Ekman intensely investigated (e.g., sadness, happiness, anger, fear, disgust, surprise) have minimal relevance to learning in typical academic settings (D'Mello, Craig, Sullins, & Graesser, 2006; Kort, Reilly, & Picard, 2001; Lehman, D’Mello, & Person, 2008). Instead, the pervasive cognitive-affective states during complex learning include confusion, frustration, boredom, flow/engagement, and sometimes delight, surprise, anxiety, and curiosity (D'Mello et al., 2006; Lehman, Matthews, D'Mello, & Person, 2008). The identification of the cognitive-affective states that occur during learning is critical, but it could be argued that merely knowing what states occur has limited utility. What is missing is a specification of how these states evolve, morph, interact, and influence learning and engagement. What is required is a fine-grained analysis of the rapid dynamics of the cognitive-affective processes that naturally occur during effortful learning activities. Although affect dynamics has been generally ignored by theories that link affect and cognition during learning, one theory, called the cognitive disequilibrium theory, does address transitions between states. The theory postulates an important role for cognitive disequilibrium in comprehension and learning processes, a notion that has a long history in psychology (Berlyne, 1960; Festinger, 1957; Piaget, 1952). Cognitive disequilibrium is a state that occurs when learners face obstacles to goals, contradictions, incongruities, anomalies, uncertainty, and salient contrasts (Graesser, Lu, Olde, Cooper-Pye, & Whitten, 2005; Otero & Graesser, 2001; Piaget, 1952). The cognitive disequilibrium theory is depicted in Figure 1 as a state transition network. The nodes (circles) in the figure represent the cognitive-affective states (in parentheses) and their presumed causes (in bold). Links represent situations that trigger transitions between the different states. Figure 1. Cognitive Disequilibrium Theory

From Surprise Parties to Mapmaking: Undergraduate Journeys toward Interdisciplinary Understanding

Abstract: The authors use cognitive-constructive developmental theory as an interpretive lens to understand the patterns of experiences shared by interdisciplinary undergraduate students in interviews conducted over four years. The analyses offer insights into the developmental process of students' understanding of interdisciplinarity and themselves as interdisciplinarians.

Building Common College-Ready Standards

Abstract: Many people in higher education were caught by surprise when the nation's governors and chief state school officers announced their intention to adopt common standards for American high schools tha...

Designing Unique and Memorable Experiences: Co-creation and the "surprise" Factor.

Abstract: The unique and memorable experience emerges as a strategic choice for tourism and event management organizations in order to capture an intangible differentiation. The paper proposes a theoretical framework of antecedents and outcomes of the salient experience memorizing and cocreation process. A survey was conducted with 80 post-graduate students who described a written narrative of their most memorable experiences. These experiences were classified within a grid (Pine and Gilmore, 1988): (un)controlled entertainment (D1/D2) versus (un)controlled exploring (D3/D4). Personnel's responsiveness, sympathy, professionalism and personalized and unexpected surprises are pointed out as potential competitive advantages. The experience-mix was at some extent predicted in terms of self-concept attributes (organized/disorganized, rugged/delicate, and common/unique) and ideal hotel preferences (good for shopping; promotions; and children friendly).

Stability of Perceptual Organisation in Auditory Streaming

Abstract: In everyday situations, we perceive sounds organised according to their source, and can follow someone’s speech or a musical piece in the presence of other sounds without apparent effort. Thus, it is surprising that recent evidence obtained in the most widely used experimental test-bed of auditory scene analysis, the two-tone streaming paradigm, demonstrated extensive bistability even in regions of the parameter space previously thought to be strongly biased towards a particular organisation. This raises the question of what aspects of the rich natural input allow the auditory system to form stable representations of concurrently active sound sources. Here, we report the results of perceptual studies aimed at testing this issue. It is possible that the extreme repetitiveness of the alternating two-tone sequence, i.e. lack of change, causes perceptual instability. Our first experiment addressed this hypothesis by introducing random changes in the stimulation. It is also possible that under natural conditions, multiple redundant cues stabilise perception. The second experiment tested this hypothesis by adding a second cue which favoured one organisation. Much to our surprise, neither one of these manipulations stabilised the perception of two-tone streaming sequences. We discuss these experimental results in the light of our previous theoretical proposals and findings of significant differences between the first and later perceptual phases. We argue that multi-stability is inherent in perception. However, it is normally hidden by switches of attention, which allow the return of the dominant perceptual organisation resulting in the subjective experience of perceptual stability. In our third experiment, we explored this possibility by inserting short gaps into the sequences, since gaps have been shown to reset auditory streaming in a manner similar to switches in attention.

Cognitive Interruption as an Object of Metacognitive Monitoring: Feeling of Difficulty and Surprise

Abstract: An important question regarding metacognition in problem solving is what triggers the metacognitive experience of feeling of difficulty? In this chapter, we present three experiments suggesting that feeling of difficulty arises from lack of fluency in processing due to either working memory load or cognitive interruption. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that working memory load reduces performance (as measured by accuracy of response and reaction times) and increases feeling of difficulty. Experiment 3 further demonstrated that reaction times and feeling of difficulty ratings increase with cognitive interruption caused by discrepancies in processing. Interestingly, in Experiment 3, feeling of difficulty correlated highly and positively with surprise, which is another response to discrepant events. The implications of these findings are discussed as are suggestions for future research.

Customer Delight: A Review

Abstract: Marketers now realize that simply satisfying customers may not be enough to insure loyalty. Rather, they should strive for customer delight, defined as a combination of joy and surprise. Yet, only in the last decade have customer delight and especially its proposed opposite, outrage or disgust, been given much attention in the literature. The review below examines the literature on delight and disgust. As much as possible it avoids the extensive work on customer satisfaction. Though satisfaction and delight are conceptualized quite differently, some researchers operationalize them in much the same way. Indeed, some measure delight/disgust as extreme ends of a satisfaction/ dissatisfaction continuum even while agreeing that the concepts are different. This paper consists of a review and evaluation of research and opinion on or related to delight. INTRODUCTION Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel (2006) state that, "... businesses have begun to realize that simply satisfying customers may not be enough. Rather, they should strive for 'customer delight,' which comes when customers are satisfied completely (p. 214)." Only recently has customer delight and its opposite, outrage or disgust, been given much attention in the literature. Note that though some see delight as an extension of satisfaction at the extreme positive end and outrage or disgust at the extreme negative end, others view delight and its opposite as a concept separate and apart from satisfaction. The review below examines both delight and disgust and avoids that satisfaction research which sheds little light on delight, it antecedents, and consequences. The review is organized into two sections: antecedents and results. Each review examines the theoretical underpinnings, the methodology, and the conclusions as they relate to delight/disgust. The criteria for choosing published material for review include the mention of delight and/or its opposite somewhere in the article, usually in the theoretical underpinnings or conclusions/discussion. This review is not meant to be exhaustive nor an abstract, but a short summary of the research and opinion relative to delight along with my comments. ANTECEDENTS OF DELIGHT/DISGUST Oliver, Rust, and Varki (1997) In a review of the services literature, Oliver, Rust, and Varki conclude that while a growing body of literature exists on consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction, little academic work as been performed on customer delight (p. 313). Yet service practitioners believe that in order to retain customers they must go beyond satisfaction to delight. Indeed, they see delight/disgust as different concepts than satisfaction/dissatisfaction. The practitioners, then, define delight as a strong, positive, emotional reaction to a product or service. And though delight is dependent on emotion in the consumer's response to consumption, the type of emotion is not clear. . . The academic's perspective provides little insight into the concept of delight. While some assume that delight is at an extreme end of a satisfaction/dissatisfaction continuum, and by extension disgust is at the other, the research has not established this proposition. In their review of the emotion literature, delight is defined as "... a combination of high pleasure (joy, elation) and high activation ... or surprise (p. 317)." That is, delight occurs when the consumer experiences a positive outcome and the outcome is unanticipated. The authors develop a model of delight and satisfaction based on Oliver's (1981) disconfirmation paradigm. In a set of six hypotheses the model links (a) surprise to arousal, (b) disconfirmation and arousal to positive affect, (c) surprising consumption, arousal, and positive affect to delight, (d) positive affect and disconfirmation to satisfaction, and (e) satisfaction and delight to behavioral intention. To test the model, two studies examined consumers patronizing a recreational wildlife theme park (n = 90) and single ticket purchasers for a symphony concert (n = 104). …

Looking for some different answers about teaching assistants

Abstract: It is no great surprise that Peter Blatchford and his colleagues should have come to such disappointing conclusions about the impact of teaching assistants in schools. A closer look at the dynamics...