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Surprise

About: Surprise is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 4371 publications have been published within this topic receiving 99386 citations.


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28 Apr 2009
TL;DR: Ali A. Allawi as discussed by the authors, a respected Iraqi statesman and thinker who has served the postwar government in several posts, offers a bold analysis of today's crisis in the Islamic world.
Abstract: Ali A. Allawi-a respected Iraqi statesman and thinker who has served the postwar government in several posts-offers a bold analysis of today's crisis in the Islamic world. He offers proposals that will surprise some and anger others, but they cannot be ignored by anyone concerned about the future of Islamic civilization.

54 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Darwin's reading choices are examined, finding his consumption more exploratory than the culture's production, suggesting that underneath gradual societal changes are the explorations of individual synthesis and discovery.

54 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the role of explanations as a solution to control customers' expectations following a surprise-delight event was examined, and the results indicate that providing an explanation helps to avoid raising customer expectations to unsustainable levels and enhances customer delight.
Abstract: Purpose – Delighting customers by pleasant surprises is a common strategy, yet the potential downside of such a strategy (i.e. raising customer expectations) has received scant attention. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of explanations as a solution to control customers ' expectations following a surprise-delight event. Design/methodology/approach – Hypotheses were tested with a 2 (surprise)×2 (explanation) between-subjects experimental design in two different service contexts (utilitarian and hedonic). University staff and faculty members served as the participant pool. Findings – The results indicate that providing an explanation helps to avoid raising customer expectations to unsustainable levels and enhances customer delight. Research limitations/implications – Using hypothetical scenarios, single test for each context, and having the participants with high educational and income levels are identified as limitations in this study. Practical implications – This study demonstrates that ...

53 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, an essay by Nigerian writer Ben Okri addresses one aspect of classic empiricism in anthropology that I have found particularly important, namely the element of surprise, or "impression" (Hume), as an instigator to thought.
Abstract: My title is from an essay by Nigerian writer Ben Okri, which I draw on to address one aspect of classic empiricism in anthropology that I have found particularly important, namely the element of surprise, or “impression” (Hume), as an instigator to thought. Quickening is the moment when a being gives evidence of its own life and presence. An epistemology of surprise has been widely and frequently practiced in anthropology, as is illustrated from works across many fields and theoretical orientations. Variations in conventions of instigation and completion are traced back through skeptic and enlightenment practices; linked to artisanal, poetic, and artistic processes within the discipline across its history; compared in the imagery in classic works from Africa and Melanesia; and then explored in the recent “radical empiricism” of Michael Jackson and politically inflected works that focus on fragments, gaps, and absences rather than presences. Examples from my own work on political economic “quickenings”—a baffling confusion of referents for a number term in Cameroon, and an arresting Nigerian complaint that “there’s no money,” in a globally monetized world—conclude the lecture, showing the wide applicability of this mode of reasoning, which traces a genealogy from Hume and Greek skeptical empiricism.

53 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Findings show that the processing of social signals such as gaze and facial expression interact rather late and in a complex manner to modulate spatial attention.
Abstract: The impact of emotions on gaze-oriented attention was investigated in non-anxious participants. A neutral face cue with straight gaze was presented, which then averted its gaze to the side while remaining neutral or expressing an emotion (fear/surprise in Exp.1 and anger/happiness in Exp.2). Localization of a subsequent target was faster at the gazed-at location (congruent condition) than at the non-gazed-at location (incongruent condition). This Gaze-Orienting Effect (GOE) was enhanced for fear, surprise, and anger, compared to neutral expressions which did not differ from happy expressions. In addition, Event Related Potentials (ERPs) to the target showed a congruency effect on P1 for fear and surprise and a left lateralized congruency effect on P1 for happy faces, suggesting that target visual processing was also influenced by attention to gaze and emotions. Finally, at cue presentation, early postero-lateral (Early Directing Attention Negativity (EDAN)) and later antero-lateral (Anterior Directing Attention Negativity (ADAN)) attention-related ERP components were observed, reflecting, respectively, the shift of attention and its holding at gazed-at locations. These two components were not modulated by emotions. Together, these findings show that the processing of social signals such as gaze and facial expression interact rather late and in a complex manner to modulate spatial attention.

52 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
2023675
20221,546
2021216
2020237
2019239
2018226