From cyber to cyborg : The influence of motivation and personality traits on the merging of consumer and technology

As technology extends further into consumer daily lives, consumers develop significant relationships with their technology, particularly mobile devices. This conceptual paper aims to investigate the merging of consumers and their technology, termed the cyborg consumer, which has been previously overlooked in the marketing literature. More specifically, this investigation extends the marketing theories of consumer psychological motivation and ersonality traits in examining the influence of these elements on cyborg consumer behaviour, such as intensive consumption of technology and construction of an important part of the self on the Internet. A conceptual framework of the cyborg consumer is presented, which will help marketers to better understand how consumers’ relationships with technology are changing and how marketing practices can be better targeted to the cyborg consumers.

Oförändrad prestation, men varierande motivation under menstruationscykeln : Ett examensarbete som undersöker om maximalstyrka och explosivitet förändras under menstruationscykeln samt om motivationen korrelerar med prestationen

Syfte - Studien avser att undersöka om prestation gällande maximalstyrka och explosivitet varierar under menstruationscykeln. Dessutom undersöks om den psykologiska motivationen eller känslan korrelerar med prestationen. Studiens syfte är att skapa en utgångspunkt för att se om periodisering av styrketräning i relation till menstruationscykeln faser är aktuell för kvinnor inom prestationsidrotter. Metod - Testerna genomfördes under en menstruationscykel, fyra veckor. Ett test genomfördes varje vecka för att täcka in fyra faser under menstruationscykeln och för att erhålla ett konsekvent veckomönster. Menstruationscykelns faser räknades ut i efterhand för att inte i förhand påverka testdeltagarnas motivation och prestation i förhållande till menstruationscykeln. Fas 1 menstruationsfas, fas 2 intermenstruation, fas 3 intermenstruation/ägglossning och fas 4 premenstruation. I testgruppen ingick fyra kvinnor, 32 år (± 10), längd 162,8 cm (± 7,32), vikt 57,4 kg (± 5,79). I kontrollgruppen ingick en man och två kvinnor utan menstruation, 26,67 år (± 9,02), längd 168,3 cm (± 8,96), vikt 71,7 kg (± 11,02). Fysiska tester, längdhopp och knäböj. En standardiserad uppvärmning genomfördes inför varje test, följdes av tre stycken jämfota längdhopp utan ansats med två minuter vila mellan hoppen. Bästa hoppet av tre dokumenterades. Längdhopp (CV 1,8 %) (Hopkins, Schabort & Hawley, 2001), knäböj, en repetition max [1RM] (CV 1,57 %) (Urquhart, Moir, Graham & Connaboy, 2015). En specifik uppvärmning genomfördes även inför 1RM knäböj därefter försök på en repetition på 1RM. Frågeformulär gällande hälsotillstånd och motivation “Snabbkollen” (Cross & Lyle, 1999) besvarades inför varje testtillfälle. Vid sista testtillfället fick alla testdeltagare fylla i ett frågeformulär om upplevda symptom och tillstånd under den gångna menstruationscykeln. Resultat och slutsats - Det är ur denna studie svårt att tyda om menstruationscykelns olika faser skulle ha någon relevant effekt värd att ta hänsyn till när det gäller prestationen hos idrottande kvinnor. Dock visar resultaten att menstruationscykeln påverkar motivationen.  

“Teaching them a lesson?” : a qualitative exploration of underlying motivations for driver aggression

Aggressive driving is increasingly a concern for drivers in highly motorised countries. However, the role of driver intent in this behaviour is problematic and there is little research on driver cognitions in relation to aggressive driving incidents. In addition, while drivers who admit to behaving aggressively on the road also frequently report being recipients of similar behaviours, little is known about the relationship between perpetration and victimisation or about how road incidents escalate into the more serious events that feature in capture media attention. The current study used qualitative interviews to explore driver cognitions and underlying motivations for aggressive behaviours on the road. A total of 30 drivers aged 18-49 years were interviewed about their experiences with aggressive driving. A key theme identified in responses was driver aggression as an attempt to manage or modify the behaviour of other road users. Two subthemes were identified and appeared related to separate motivations for aggressive responses: ‘teaching them a lesson’ referred to situations where respondents intended to convey criticism or disapproval, usually of unintended behaviours by the other driver, and thus encourage self-correction; and ‘justified retaliation’ which referred to situations where respondents perceived deliberate intent on the part of the other driver and responded aggressively in return. Mildly aggressive driver behaviour appears to be common. Moreover such behaviour has a sufficiently negative impact on other drivers that it may be worth addressing because of its potential for triggering retaliation in kind or escalation of aggression, thus compromising safety.

Functional Imagery Training to reduce snacking: Testing a novel motivational intervention based on Elaborated Intrusion theory

Functional Imagery Training (FIT) is a new theory-based, manualized intervention that trains positive goal imagery. Multisensory episodic imagery of proximal personal goals is elicited and practised, to sustain motivation and compete with less functional cravings. This study tested the impact of a single session of FIT plus a booster phone call on snacking. In a stepped-wedge design, 45 participants who wanted to lose weight or reduce snacking were randomly assigned to receive a session of FIT immediately or after a 2-week delay. High-sugar and high-fat snacks were recorded using timeline follow back for the previous 3 days, at baseline, 2 and 4 weeks. At 2 weeks, snacking was lower in the immediate group than in the delayed group, and the reduction after FIT was replicated in the delayed group between 2 and 4 weeks. Frequencies of motivational thoughts about snack reduction rose following FIT for both groups, and this change correlated with reductions in snacking and weight loss. By showing that FIT can support change in eating behaviours, these findings show its potential as a motivational intervention for weight management.

Citizen motivation on the go : the role of psychological empowerment

Although advances in technology now enable people to communicate 'anytime, anyplace', it is not clear how citizens can be motivated to actually do so. This paper evaluates the impact of three principles of psychological empowerment, namely perceived self-efficacy, sense of community and causal importance, on public transport passengers' motivation to report issues and complaints while on the move. A week-long study with 65 participants revealed that self-efficacy and causal importance increased participation in short bursts and increased perceptions of service quality over longer periods. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for citizen participation projects and reflect on design opportunities for mobile technologies that motivate citizen participation.

Is a Majority Enough? Psychological Well-being and Its Relation to Academic and Prosocial Motivation, Self-regulation and Achievement at school

This cross-sectional study analyzed psychological well-being at school using the Self-Determination theory as a theoretical frame-work. The study explored basic psychological needs fulfillment (BPNS), academic (SRQ-A), prosocial self-regulation (SRQ-P) and motivation, and their relationship with achievement in general, special and selective education (N=786, 444 boys, 345 girls, mean age 12 yrs 8 mths). Motivation starts behavior which becomes guided by self-regulation. The perceived locus of control (PLOC) affects how self-determined this behavior will be; in other words, to what extent it is autonomously regulated. In order learn and thus to be able to accept external goals, a student has to feel emotionally safe and have sufficient ego-flexibility—all of which builds on satisfied psychological needs. In this study those conditions were explored. In addition to traditional methods Self-organizing maps (SOM), was used in order to cluster the students according to their well-being, self-regulation, motivation and achievement scores. The main impacts of this research were: a presentation of the theory based alternative of studying psychological well-being at school and usage of both the variable and person-oriented approach. In this Finnish sample the results showed that the majority of students felt well, but the well-being varied by group. Overall about for 11–15% the basic needs were deprived depending on the educational group. Age and educational group were the most effective factors; gender was important in relation to prosocial identified behavior. Although the person-oriented SOM-approach, was in a large extent confirming what was no-ticed by using comparison of the variables: the SEN groups had lower levels of basic needs fulfillment and less autonomous self-regulation, interesting deviations of that rule appeared. Some of the SEL- and GEN-group members ended up in the more unfavorable SOM-clusters, and not all SEN-group members belonged to the poorest clusters (although not to the best either). This evidence refines the well-being and self-regulation picture, and may re-direct intervention plans, and turn our focus also on students who might otherwise remain unnoticed. On the other hand, these results imply simultaneously that in special education groups the average is not the whole truth. On the basis of theoretical and empirical considerations an intervention model was sug-gested. The aim of the model was to shift amotivation or external motivation in a more intrinsic direction. According to the theoretical and empirical evidence this can be achieved first by studying the self-concept a student has, and then trying to affect both inner and environmental factors—including a consideration of the basic psychological needs. Keywords: academic self-regulation, prosocial self-regulation, basic psychological needs, moti-vation, achievement

Motivation and psychological need salience in the experiences of initiating and maintaining exercise as an older female adult

Objectives: The primary objective ofthis study was to explore motivation and psychological need salience in the initiatory and maintenance experiences of older female exercIsers. Methods: Female initiates (n = 3) and reflective maintainers (n = 3) 65 years of age or older (M = 76 years; SD = 5.37) participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed holistically and categorically, following a hermeneutic approach to inquiry. Results: Perceived importance of exercise benefits appeared to be the strongest motive for initiates at this stage of life and connections to others were perceived as valued, but less important in exercise contexts. Also, listening to one's body over instructions from the exercise leader emerged as a key factor to success. Conclusions: Overall, the results ofthis study implicate more self-determined than controlled motives as sources of regulation in older females' exercise initiation experiences. Evidence for psychological needs was more heterogeneous and less conclusive.

Work-related stressors and psychological strain in the sales force:the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

The contemporary workplace appears rife with psychological strain, which can have considerable deleterious outcomes to the firm and the individual. However, research on strain in the sales force is underdeveloped. This paper reports the results of a study of the antecedents and consequences of psychological strain in the sales force, with particular attention to the roles of role ambiguity, emotional exhaustion, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Emotional exhaustion is found to increase strain. Intrinsic motivation reduces strain under conditions of relatively high role ambiguity, but leads to more strain under conditions of low role ambiguity. Strain is found to have a J-shaped relationship with turnover intentions, and is linearly related to lower job satisfaction and lower job performance.

Psychological predictors of the propensity to omit short-response items on a high-stakes achievement test

This article presents the findings of a study of the psychological variables that discriminate between high and low omitters on a high-stakes achievement test using a short-response format. Data were obtained from a questionnaire administered to a random sample (N = 1,908) of students prior to sitting the 1997 Queensland Core Skills (QCS) Test (N = 29,273). Fourteen psychological variables were measured including test anxiety (four subscales), emotional stability, achievement motivation, self-esteem, academic self-concept, self-estimate of ability, locus of control (three subscales), and approaches to learning (two subscales). The results were analyzed using descriptive discriminant analysis and suggested that the psychological predictors of the propensity to omit short-response items include test-irrelevant thinking and academic self-concept, with sex of candidate being a mediating variable.

The formation of, and change in, the psychological contracts of graduates entering the Queensland public sector

The workplace is evolving and the predicted impact of demographic changes (Salt, 2009; Taylor, 2005) has seen organisations focus on strategic workforce planning. As part of this, many organisations have established or expanded formalised graduate programs to attract graduates and transition them effectively into organisations (McDermott, Mangan, & O'Connor, 2005; Terjesen, Freeman, & Vinnicombe, 2007). The workplace context is also argued to be changing because of the divergence in preferences and priorities across the different generations in the workplace - a topic which is prolific in the popular culture media but is yet to be fully developed in the academic literature (Jorgenson, 2003). The public sector recruits large numbers of graduates and maintains well established graduate programs. Like the workplace context, the public sector is seen to be undergoing a transition to more closely align its practices and processes with that of the private sector (Haynes & Melville Jones, 1999; N. Preston, 1995). Consequently, questions have been raised as to how new workforce entrants see the public sector and its associated attractiveness as an employment option. This research draws together these issues and reviews the formation of, and change in, the psychological contracts of graduates across ten Queensland public sector graduate programs. To understand the employment relationship, the theories of psychological contract and public service motivation are utilised. Specifically, this research focuses on graduates' and managers' expectations over time, the organisational perspective of the employment relationship and how ideology influences graduates' psychological contract. A longitudinal mixed method design, involving individual interviews and surveys, is employed along with significant researcher-practitioner collaboration throughout the research process. A number of important qualitative and quantitative findings arose from this study and there was strong triangulation between results from the two methods. Prior to starting with the organisation, graduates found it difficult to articulate their expectations; however, organisational experience rapidly brought these to the fore. Of the expectations that became salient, most centred on their relationship with their supervisor. Without experience and quality information on which to base their expectations, graduates tended to over-rely on sectoral stereotypes which negatively impacted their psychological contracts. Socialisation only limited affected graduates' psychological contracts and public service motivation. The graduate survey, measured thrice throughout the first 12 months of the graduate program, revealed that the psychological contract and public service motivation results followed a similar trajectory of beginning at mediocre levels, declining between times one and two and increasing between times two and three (although this is not back to original levels). Graduates attributed these to a number of sectoral, organisational, team, supervisory and individual factors. On a theoretical level, this research provides support for the notion of ideology within the psychological contract although it raises some important questions about how it is conceptualised. Additionally, support is given for the manager to be seen as the primary organisational counterpart to the employee in future theoretical and practical work. The research also argues to extend current notions of time within the psychological contract as this seems to be the most divergent and combustible issue across the generations in terms of how the workplace is perceived. A number of practical implications also transpire from the study and the collaborative foundation was highly successful. It is anticipated that this research will make a meaningful contribution to both the theory and practice of the employment relationship with particular regard to graduates entering the public sector.