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Post-series depression: scale development and validation
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report the development and validation of a scale for measuring “post-series depression” (PSD), a concept that describes the feelings of melancholy and longing that can occur when an individual’s all-consuming film or screen product comes to an end. Although largely ignored by academic research in the arts and leisure (A&L) domain, PSD has received wide coverage in grey literature concerning the termination of certain film or TV series.
Design/methodology/approach
Exploratory interviews were conducted with fans of a range of A&L products. Questionnaire surveys then examined the relationships between PSD, nostalgia and emptiness, and between PSD, binge-watching and compulsive consumption.
Findings
A 15-item scale to measure PSD was developed and its reliability demonstrated.
Research limitations/implications
The study was conducted within an A&L context. It only examined the abovementioned variables and no other potentially relevant psychological and behavioural considerations (e.g. audience involvement, narcissism and social anxiety).
Practical implications
The scale will be useful for investigating the marketing implications of fanship and its connections with addictive behaviour. It will help marketers when segmenting A&L markets, in understanding how to extend the period during which audiences purchase screen product-related memorabilia and to know how to market binge-watching-related items (e.g. box sets, clothing, books, theatre tickets and film studio visits).
Originality/value
This paper provides a rigorous examination of the concept of PSD and presents a scale for its measurement.
... Although there is a lack of academic research and definition based on gray literature, also called fugitive literature, PSD still has great application potential regarding psychological context. From the original paper, PSD is a context-specific mood state, a term used to express the feelings of emptiness, loss, and melancholy of arts and leisure lovers after their favorite screen products, such as movies and TV series, were discontinued (Kottasz et al., 2019). These special feelings for a screen product can result from the fans' parasocial relationship with TV stars (Cohen, 2004). ...
... The emotions that are manifestations of PSD (e.g., emptiness, melancholia) can negatively affect individuals' mental health. Emptiness could make people want to "fill up something missing inside" by excessive use of an addictive substance, television addiction, excessive computer use or internet access, or compulsive use of video or computer games that would lead to significant impairment to the abilities to function effectively in daily life (Kottasz et al., 2019). The concept of melancholia comprises mood disturbance, disturbance in cognition or behavior, and relates to a depressed mood (Tondo et al., 2020). ...
... Moreover, PSD is discussed to correlate with other negative emotions. Kottasz et al. (2019) concluded that individuals with feelings of nostalgia and emptiness were significantly more likely to experience PSD than others. Nostalgia is a mixed emotion (Newman and Sachs, 2020) that happens when a person is craving sentimentally for the past (Cheung et al., 2013) or when they believe that their past was better than their recent life found that nostalgia, along with loneliness was negatively affecting wellbeing. ...
Vietnam, a middle-income country, has been suffering four waves of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and a massive lockdown to suppress the spread of this infectious disease. Consequently, COVID-19 has caused psychological ramifications and affected humankind's life satisfaction. Because of the lockdown period, numerous people had plentiful time. Hence, they found solace in excessive watching of television and movies, which could lead to post-series depression. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between life satisfaction (LS), post-series depression (PSD), and positive mental health (PMH) and inquire about the mediation effect of satisfaction of life and PSD. A total of 2,572 participants who were voluntarily recruited from various media platforms completed self-report questionnaires, including the Satisfaction with life scale, Post-series depression scale, and Positive Mental Health Scale. This study was assessed using the PLS-SEM approach. The findings of this research discovered (i) a significantly positive effect of LS on PMH; (ii) a significantly negative effect of PSD on PMH; (iii) a significantly negative effect of LS on PSD, and (iv) a significant indirect effect of LS on PMH through PSD. The study provided additional evidence to the relationship between life satisfaction and PMH of individuals. Besides, the Frontiers in Psychology 01 frontiersin.org
... Although there is the lack of academic research and definition is built based on grey literature which is also called fugitive literature, PSD still has a great application potential regarding psychological context. From the original paper, PSD is a context-specific mood state, a term used to express the feelings of emptiness, loss, and melancholy of arts and leisure lovers after the favourite screen products such as movies and TV series were discontinued (Kottasz et al., 2019). These special feelings for a screen product can be a result from the fans' parasocial relationship with TVs stars (Cohen, 2004). ...
... The emotions which are manifestations of PSD (e.g: emptiness, melancholia) can lead to negative effects on individuals' mental health. Emptiness could make people want to "fill up something missing inside" by excessive use of an addictive substance, television addiction, excessive computer use or internet access, compulsive use of video or computer games that would lead to significant impairment to the abilities to function effectively in daily life (Kottasz et al., 2019). The concept of melancholia comprises mood disturbance, disturbance in cognition, or behaviour and relates to depressed mood (Tondo et al., 2020). ...
... Moreover, PSD is discussed to have correlation with other negative emotions. Kottasz et al. (2019) concluded that individuals who had the feelings of nostalgia and emptiness were significantly more likely to experience PSD than others. Nostalgia is a mixed emotion ) that happens when a person is craving sentimentally for the past (Cheung et al., 2013) or when they believe that their past was better than their recent life found that nostalgia, along with loneliness were negatively affecting well-being. ...
Vietnam, a middle-income country has been suffering four waves of Covid-19 pandemic and massive lockdown to suppress the spread of this infectious disease. As a consequence, COVID-19 has caused psychological ramifications and humankind life satisfaction. Because of the lockdown period, numerous people have plentiful time, hence, they found solace in excessive watching television and movies which could lead to post-series depression. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between satisfaction of life (LS), post-series depression (PSD) and positive mental health (PMH), and inquire about the mediation effect of satisfaction of life and post-series depression. A total of 2,572 participants who were voluntarily recruited from various media platforms completed self-report questionnaires including Satisfaction with life scale, Post-series depression scale and Positive Mental Health Scale. This study was assessed by using the PLS-SEM approach. The findings of this research discovered (i) a significantly positive effect of LS on PMH; (ii) a significantly negative effect of PSD on PMH; (iii) a significantly negative effect of LS on PSD and (iv) a significantly indirect effect of LS on MH through PSD. The study provided additional evidence to the relationship between life satisfaction and positive mental health of individuals. Besides, the negative effects of post-series depression, which is a non-clinical term for feeling down that frequently appears after individuals finished their much-loved film and TV series, on individuals' positive mental health is proved, especially in the COVID-19 pandemic context in which Vietnamese people must remain in their current location.
... Furthermore, various studies have suggested depressive symptoms parallel with the post-binge-watching phenomenon. 3,15,32,33 For instance, Kottasz et al 33 measured the "post-series depression" phenomenon and described it as a feeling of longing and melancholy after consuming all the series. Evidence from literature 15 plausibly indicates that binge-watching can intensify depression and anxiety among people. ...
... 63 Interestingly, our findings suggested that when bingewatching is personally not fulfilling, it is associated with loneliness and depression. 15,32,33 One plausible reason can be that the reality of binge-watchers resonates with the reality depicted in the episodes that may give them the impression that other people around them are more content with their lives. This may make them feel depressed due to social isolation. ...
Background and Purpose
Watching multiple episodes using streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu, and Youku, has become widespread in recent years. While much attention has been paid to binge-watching, there is, however, a dearth of research on binge-watching and its adverse psychological effects during the COVID-19 pandemic. To the best of our knowledge, less attention has been paid to understanding the multiple influences of binge-watching on binge-watchers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the past studies on this topic mainly underscored the individual’s motivations for binge-watching. Also, past studies were limited and inconclusive as they mostly espoused only the underpinning adverse effects of binge-watching without looking into the association between binge-watching and screen time for web series through online streaming services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study sought to fill this gap by probing the association between binge-watching and psychological aftereffects.
Participants and Methods
The study employed a cross-sectional research design vis-à-vis the survey method. A sample of 1089 adult respondents was collected through an online administrated questionnaire.
Results
The findings of this study demonstrated that extensive binge-watching is an antecedent of stress, loneliness, insomnia, depression and anxiety. Furthermore, it was found that screen time on binge-watching could intensify these adverse effects of binge-watching. Interestingly, the moderating effect of screen time on binge-watching was found to be insignificant for stress and loneliness.
Conclusion
The findings of this study suggest that binge-watching correlates with psychological and mental health symptoms including stress, loneliness, insomnia, depression and anxiety. Hence, this study suggests that consumption of web series through online streaming services related literacy interventions are imperative to help the audience become critical about online streaming content and its comparison to the real social world.
... But it seems that post-game depression is not noticed in any major research. In fact, post-series depression is quite similar to that which gamers describe as post-game depression on a conceptual level, and is also a niche subject, despite being a part of an experience that is quite common (see Kottasz et al., 2019). ...
Despite the fact that video games and gaming are one of the main focuses of scholars in the field of cyberpsychology, there are a lot of phenomena that hardly get any scientific cover. One of them is post-game depression, a term coined in the gamers community to express a specific state that some of them experience after playing certain video games. However, as to the authors' knowledge, there has been no research focusing on understanding that state. Based on the findings of narrative psychology, a narrative inquiry approach was chosen for the presented qualitative, exploratory study. Using guidelines from the interpretative phenomenological analysis, the final sample of 35 given narratives of players were analysed, of which 22 described post-game depression and 13 of narrators described reasons why they did not experience it. After comparing the results between the two groups, the general conclusion is that post-game depression is a state of media anhedonia and reminiscing about the game that gave a visceral, insightful, thought-provoking and emotionally driven experience where players had parasocial relationships with in-game characters and/or their avatars/protagonists. Possible buffer factors can be personal growth from the experience and a fulfilling ending for the player. It is important to further understand what other factors, for example, personal traits of the players and specific game mechanics, contribute to that state since it can be a possible cause of serious psychological distress on the one hand, on the other a possible phase of being personally enriched by the experience of playing certain video games.
... The last objective of this research is to determine the relationship between 'escape' motive and binge-watching behaviour among university students, and the regression results show that 'escape' motive does not significantly influence the binge-watching behaviour. This is contradicted by the findings by Kottasz et al., (2019) which demonstrate that individuals usually binge-watch to escape from their realities. Cova et al., (2018) also discovered that an individual's escape is related to the action of avoiding stressors or unwarranted situations, where a common method of release is binge-watching. ...
Streaming media like Netflix has become a mainstream trend for people to have fun and relax during the Covid-19 pandemic, and numerous studies found that college students and millennials account for a large group who binge-watch television programmes. Hence, understanding university students' motive for binge-watching is timely, especially during the Covid-19 lockdown period, when there is a lack of studies on this phenomenon. Thus, this study aims to examine the motives that influence Netflix binge-watching behaviour among university students. The study utilised the Uses and Gratifications (U&G) Theory, and three motives, namely 'entertainment', 'social interaction' and 'escape' were deduced from the theory. The study adopted a quantitative research approach using an online survey method. A total of 150 valid responses were collected through the purposive sampling technique, and the results were analysed using correlation and regression analysis. The findings through the Pearson's correlations indicated that 'entertainment' has a positive and strong relationship with Netflix binge-watching behaviour, while 'social interaction' and 'escape' motives have a positive but moderately significant relationship with the binge-watching behaviour. Regression analysis further showed that only 'entertainment' and 'social interaction' were the predictors of binge-watching behaviour; however, 'escape' was not a predictor. This study also contributes to the U&G Theory as Journal of Communication, Language and Culture Vol 2, Issue 2, July 2022 2 well as the literature on the youth's media consumption, particularly during the Covid-19 lockdown period, for it benefits the parents, video streaming service providers and government in understanding the motives that influence binge-watching among youths; thus, strategies can be implemented to avoid excessive binge-watching behaviour during the lockdown which leads to negative social media outcomes.
Positive mental health (PMH) has been shown to be of great importance to adaptive functioning. The aim of this article is to review the literature on PMH as assessed with the PMH-Scale. A literature search identified 85 articles that were published between 2007 and 2023 on PMH as assessed with the PMH-Scale. The identified articles focus on seven thematic areas: (1) psychometric studies; (2) sociodemographic factors; (3) mental disorders; (4) suicidality; (5) coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); (6) influencing factors; (7) treatment. The findings support the predictive power of PMH regarding the cross-cultural course of psychopathology/mental disorders as well as health-related behavior and healthy development. Results on PMH are comparable across cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. The significance of these findings is limited by the fact that only few studies involving experimental manipulation of PMH have been carried out. The present findings emphasize the importance of PMH at the individual and collective level, as well as the urgent need to make PMH part of the routine assessment of mental health in addition to variables of psychopathology.
The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it seeks to conceptualize attachment to manga (Japanese comics) by extrapolating attachment theory’s behavioral markers to manga readership. Second, it compares manga attachment markers between avid, moderate, and occasional readers in order to find differences in the strength of the attachment. The study predicted that (a) attachment theory’s common behavioral markers (i.e., proximity maintenance, safe haven, secure base, and separation distress) map onto manga readership and that (b) avid readers display stronger attachment behaviors towards manga than moderate and occasional readers. Participants (N = 279) answered a questionnaire identifying a set of 24 manga attachment markers. Analyses revealed a four-component solution that mirrors attachment theory’s markers, supporting the premise that manga attachment mirrors interpersonal attachment. The results also revealed statistically significant differences in the strength of the attachment behaviors to manga between avid, moderate, and occasional readers among three behavioral markers (i.e., proximity maintenance, safe haven, and separation distress), confirming that avid manga readers maintain proximity with manga, find in manga a safe haven when feeling distressed, and experience separation distress at the real or perceived possibility of the manga not being available. These findings contribute to the increasing literature and understanding on the role of media in individual’s wellbeing.
The relationships that people form with media personae such as celebrities, vloggers, fictional characters, etc., are called parasocial relationships (PSRs). The article discusses three chief ways in which these PSRs can impact mental health: (1) the benefits individuals experience with PSRs similar to what they feel with real-life social ties, (2) the dark sides to PSR, including deep feelings of loss and grief if the relationship ends, (3) and the way PSR influences attitude and behavioral change related to mental health destigmatization, treatment, and support for social policies.
Introduction . The article examines modern psychological television series as one of the ways to satisfy the thirst for consumption and the desire to find meaning. The author considers the consumer society and the thirst for consumption as its integral characteristic and habit of a person in modern society. To analyze this phenomenon, the author turns to the works of philosophers, finding confirmation of their concepts in modern reality. The emphasis is on the fact that the objects of consumption are “objects” belonging to both material and spiritual culture, with the peculiarity that in the consumer choice itself there is no reflection as its basis. The subject of the research is the phenomenon of modern psychological TV-series.
Methodology and sources. To analyze the phenomenon of psychological television series in the context of modern mass and popular culture, the author uses the method of phenomenological analysis, the method of historical parallels, the value method, the dialectical method. The article uses an interdisciplinary and comparative approach. The author relies on the work of representatives of these philosophical trends – Karl Marx, Erich Fromm, Alvin Toffler, Jean Baudrillard, Victor Frankl and others.
Results a n d discussion. We can name many reasons why people can watch TV-series, for example, taking a break from routine, a desire to relax, this is a certain way of spending leisure time. Our goal was to analyze TV-series as a phenomenon of a consumer society, and the situation when watching the series is a goal in itself and a kind of escapism, a way to escape from reality and filling your time. The task was to identify the natural and social reasons for the popularity of modern psychological series.
Conclusion. As a result of the analysis, the author concluded that modern high-quality television series perform a triune task. On the one hand, they captivate the plot and allow you to relax and relieve stress, avoiding strong concentration. On the other hand, they involve a claim to be intelligent. And the third point – they distract from routine and everyday life while eliminating the need for a daily choice of a way of spending leisure time. TV-series are a product of the consumer society, and therefore the prerequisite for reflection contained in them is far from always being realized. As a result, the series itself becomes for a person just another way to spend their own time and fill the inner emptiness.
Recent studies of alcohol consumption among students have consistently linked in-group influence with excessive drinking. Concurrently, these studies have largely overlooked the influence of non-alcohol-consuming peers (the out-group) on the in-group's decisions to consume alcohol. However, out-groups can have a significant impact on in-group members' decisions regarding publicly consumed products (White, Simpson, & Argo, 2014), such as is the case of alcohol. In light of this, our study aims to explore how in-group members' views of their consumption of alcohol are influenced by their out-group. This study uses Social Identity Theory as the theoretical lens to explain consumer interaction with the out-group (abstainers) and subsequent views of in-group members (alcohol consumers). A social constructivist approach is adopted to enable this exploration of meaning, with concomitant use of the qualitative narrative methodology. A sample of 18 postgraduate students studying in the UK was selected. Narratives were collected and analysed using thematic analysis. Although the widely accepted view is that people tend to avoid products or behaviours that are linked with an out-group, this paper demonstrates conditions in which alcohol consumers appreciate the out-group. Furthermore, it reveals how drinkers' interaction with their out-group can lead to negative attitudes towards their in-group and their own consumption of alcohol. Based on their views of out-groups, we propose a categorisation of alcohol consumers into 3 groups: avoiders, open admirers, and covert admirers. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications for social marketers and policy makers.
Although theories of narcissism describe the experience of emptiness as a possible mechanism for addictive behaviors such as compulsive buying, this link hasn’t been examined empirically. This study investigated the relationships between narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability, emptiness, materialism, and compulsive buying among adults. Participants included 204 Israeli adults (97 males; Mage = 45.86) who completed a battery of self-reported questionnaires. Our results show that narcissistic grandiosity, narcissistic vulnerability, materialism and emptiness were negatively related to compulsive buying. Furthermore, while emptiness mediated the relationships between narcissistic vulnerability and compulsive buying, materialism mediated the relationships between narcissistic grandiosity and compulsive buying. These findings highlight the differential associations between the two facets of pathological narcissism and compulsive buying, and lend empirical support to the importance of the emptiness experience for compensatory behaviors such as compulsive buying by the vulnerable narcissist.
This article explores the concept of the binge as viewing protocol associated with fan practices, industry practice and linked to ‘cult’ and ‘quality’ serialised content. Viewing binge-watching as an intersection of discourses of industry, audience and text, the concept is analysed here as shaped by a range of issues that dominate the contemporary media landscape. In this, factors like technological developments, fan discourses and practices being adopted as ‘mainstream’ media practice, changes in the discursive construction of ‘television’ and an emerging video-on-demand industry contribute to the construction of binge-watching as deliberate, self-scheduled alternative to ‘watching TV’.
Marketing of destinations through films by product placement is a new phenomenon apllied by DMOs since they have realized its economic impact on driving tourists to destinations by creating a desirable image visually and literally in films. In order to support film tourism that enhances the brand image of the destination, DMOs adapt many activities to attract filmmakers through various strategies. In this regard, film tourism is studied by many scholars but for the first time this research aims to center both qualitative and quantitative research in addition to the literature review. This study targets all the members of DMAI with their activities related to destination marketing before and after the release of films through a quantitative research. In addition each destination website was examined to find out how destinations benefit internet technology through a list of items in terms of destination marketing. The results provide fruitful implications both for scholars and practitioners.
This paper discusses the nostalgia in marketing. Nostalgia as a way to communicate with consumers has already been more and more favorable in the marketing field. Previous studies have shown that nostalgia has achieved good results in the field of marketing. This article will present the concepts and mechanism of nostalgic marketing, the target group and strategies of nostalgic marketing. Finally we summarized the myth in nostalgic marketing practice, so as to provide feasible suggestions for the successful implementation of nostalgia marketing in the future.
This research emically documents consumers’ experience of the end of a favorite television series. Anchored in the domain of evolving narrative brands, of which TV series are an archetypal example, this work draws from narrative theory, brand relationship theory, and basic research on interpersonal loss to document the processes of loss accommodation. The authors triangulate across data sources and methods (extended participant observation, long interview, and online forum analysis) to unfold the processes of loss accommodation triggered by brand discontinuation. Accommodation processes and postwithdrawal relationship trajectories depend upon the nature and closural force of the narrative inherent to the brand but also the sociality that surrounds its consumption. Consumption sociality allows access to transitive and connective resources that facilitate the processes of accommodation during critical junctures in consumer-brand relationships.
Entertainment is fast becoming an all-you-can-eat buffet. Call it the Netflix effect.
Whatever our televisual drug of choice—Battlestar Galactica, The Wire, Homeland—we’ve all put off errands and bedtime to watch just one more, a thrilling, draining, dream-influencing immersion experience that has become the standard way to consume certain TV programs.
When Netflix released all fifteen episodes of a new season of Arrested Development in the summer of 2013, reports showed that approximately 10% of viewers made it through the entire season within twenty-four hours (Wallenstein). This was not the first time Netflix had released an entire season of an original program simultaneously and caused a nationwide video-on-demand stampede. When House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black premiered in 2013, huge percentages of Netflix subscribers watched back-to-back episodes, devouring a season of content in just days. Although these three shows belong to different genres—one a sitcom and the others adult-themed melodramas—what they share is an enormous popularity among the millennial cohort that makes up the majority of the subscriber base of Netflix. When all episodes of a season were released simultaneously, these shows inspired widespread marathon-viewing sessions for the eighteen-to-thirty-four age demographic and among the younger audiences of Netflix, many of whom binge watched and then took to social media to post their (largely positive) reviews of the first steps Netflix had taken to produce original TV content. To analyze the significance of these emergent digital media use trends, I explore in this essay some of that online discourse, unpacking two emerging patterns in young people’s on-demand media engagement with some of the most currently popular (and thus binge-worthy) Netflix shows, namely, the rising importance of social TV viewing practices and new expectations about the availability of commercial-free, high-quality, and original television content.
In the popular press, binge viewing and Netflix are becoming synonymous, especially for young viewers, including “screenagers.” Of course, not all millennials were “born digital” or have access to these services. Those who do, however, increasingly are not content to abide by traditional weekly and seasonal programming schedules: connected Gen Y (currently aged eighteen to thirty-four) and Gen Z (young people born after 2005) with access to these services are practising new television viewing styles using a variety of digital technologies, particularly subscription-based video on demand (VOD or SVOD) via Netflix. In 2013, according to research by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, 63% of households in the United States used a video streaming and delivery service such as Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon Prime (Solsman), and, as the Leichtman Research Group found, 22% of those households are streaming Netflix every single week of the year (“TV”). In English Canada, approximately 25% of residents have signed up for Netflix. In households with teens, that figure jumps to 33%, and it rises again to 37% in households with children under the age of twelve. (Oliviera). With its long-tail inventory of TV shows and movies, commercial-free viewing experience, and “post play” seamless episode delivery, Netflix is changing viewers’ expectations concerning what, how, and when they watch TV. As a result, viewers not surprisingly are watching more television, including in larger doses at a time.
This technological shift also has widespread impact on television program production decisions, distribution deals, and promotional strategies. The growing consumer preference for over-the-top (OTT) streaming services (instead of cable bundles) and video on demand (instead of appointment viewing) is having a disruptive effect on traditional television scheduling, ratings, advertising, and cable subscriptions. As a larger share of the TV audience consumes more TV shows via Netflix and other OTT services, some critics argue that such consumption practices interfere with the cultural unification effects (or “water cooler talk”) that bond people through shared, mass-mediated experiences. Especially for the Facebook generation (composed of teens and twenty-somethings, who consist of Gen Z and Gen Y, respectively), however, the Netflix effect that enables weekend-long binges on Arrested Development is not just about convenience and customization (although those are important) but also about...
Problematic Internet use or excessive Internet use is characterized by excessive or poorly controlled preoccupations, urges, or behaviors regarding computer use, and Internet access that leads to impairment or distress. Cross-sectional studies on samples of patients reported high comorbidity of Internet addiction with psychiatric disorders, especially affective disorders (including depression), anxiety disorders (generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
We have investigated the association between Internet addiction and social anxiety in 2 samples of 120 university students (60 males and 60 females in each sample).
We found a correlation between Internet addiction and social anxiety in the 2 samples (r = 0.411, P < .001; r = 0.342, P < .01) respectively. Secondly, we found no difference between males and females on the level of Internet addiction. Thirdly, we did not find a preference for social networks among participants with high levels of social anxiety.
The results of the study support previous evidence for co-occurrence of Internet addiction and social anxiety, but further studies need to clarify this association.
In this article, I examine the cultural and subcultural construction of consumption meanings and practices as they are negotiated from mass media images and objects. Field notes and artifacts from 20 months of fieldwork at Star Trek fan clubs, at conventions, and in Internet groups, and 67 interviews with Star Trek fans are used as data. Star Treks subculture of consumption is found to be constructed as a powerful utopian refuge. Stigma, social situation, and the need for legitimacy shape the diverse subcultures' consumption meanings and practices. Legitimizing articulations of Star Trek as a religion or myth underscore fans' heavy investment of self in the text. These sacralizing articulations are used to distance the text from its superficial status as a commercial product. The findings emphasize and describe how consumption often fulfills the contemporary hunger for a conceptual space in which to construct a sense of self and what matters in life. They also reveal broader cultural tensions between the affective investments people make in consumption objects and the encroachment of commercialization.
Nostalgia is a resource that functions, in part, as a response to self-discontinuity and a source of self-continuity. We tested and supported this regulatory role of nostalgia in the tradition of establishing a causal chain. In Study 1, we examined the naturalistic association between events precipitating self-discontinuity and nostalgia. Self-discontinuity, especially when stemming from negative life events, was associated with higher proneness to nostalgia. In Study 2, we experimentally induced negative self-discontinuity (i.e. relatively disruptive), positive self-discontinuity (i.e. relatively non-disruptive) or self-continuity (i.e. neutral non-disruptiveness) and subsequently assessed state levels of nostalgia. Only negative self-discontinuity evoked heightened nostalgia. In Study 3, we experimentally induced nostalgia (versus ordinary autobiographical recollection) and assessed self-continuity. Nostalgia augmented self-continuity. In Study 4, we experimentally induced nostalgia (versus ordinary autobiographical recollection versus positive autobiographical recollection) and assessed self-continuity. Again, nostalgia augmented self-continuity and did so above and beyond positive affect. Here, we ruled out demand characteristics as a rival hypothesis. Taken together, the findings clarify the role of nostalgia in the dynamic between self-discontinuity and self-continuity and elucidate the restorative properties of nostalgia for the self-system. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The present study investigates the influence of contingent self‐esteem (CSE) on compulsive buying tendencies. It is argued that this influence is mediated by the self‐presentational concerns of fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and the importance of social identity (SI). These core propositions are tested using a multimethod approach that includes a survey of 402 US adults and two experiments with 160 and 243 subjects, respectively. Survey results find that CSE's impact on compulsive buying is fully mediated by FNE and SI. The two experiments deepen understanding of this effect. Only under high levels of anxiety do those high in CSE exhibit compulsive buying. High CSE leads to higher FNE and SI regardless of anxiety levels, but only at high anxiety levels do FNE and SI lead to compulsive buying. The study's results increase understanding of the role and process by which CSE impacts compulsive buying in adults of all ages.
The increasing popularity of the telephone interview as a research method may be a reflection of broader social change and technological advances, with increased use and acceptability of telecommunications to support healthcare and service industries in general. Despite its widespread use there are few definitions of the term. Studies which directly compare telephone and face-to-face interviewing tend to conclude that telephone interviewing produces data which are at least comparable in quality to those attained by the face-to-face method. While it has been used for large survey studies, in nursing research the telephone interview is used predominantly in smaller-scale qualitative studies, where contact has already been made with the participants. The telephone interview was used in a study by one of the authors (EC) which explored the experience of postoperative pain. Issues relating to ethical considerations, reliability, validity, limitations and analysis are explored. The use of the approach for pain research is reflected upon before considering the wider applications that are available for this method of data collection in healthcare practice.
In this article, we provide guidance for substantive researchers on the use of structural equation modeling in practice for theory testing and development. We present a comprehensive, two-step modeling approach that employs a series of nested models and sequential chi-square difference tests. We discuss the comparative advantages of this approach over a one-step approach. Considerations in specification, assessment of fit, and respecification of measurement models using confirmatory factor analysis are reviewed. As background to the two-step approach, the distinction between exploratory and confirmatory analysis, the distinction between complementary approaches for theory testing versus predictive application, and some developments in estimation methods also are discussed.
This study investigated the effects of the Korean television (TV) drama series titled, Winter Sonata, on the potential or actual Japanese tourist flow to Korea. More specifically, this research explored the reasons for the popularity of the Korean TV drama series, the change of perceived image as an impact of the melodrama, and the preferred products of soap opera-induced tourism. The objectives of this study were achieved through two ways: (1) review of articles in newspapers, magazines, and reports; (2) analyses of a survey of Japanese tourists visiting featured locations of the Winter Sonata TV drama series. The results of this study indicated that this Korean TV series had a variety of impacts in relation to Korea and Japan. Interestingly, Japanese respondents in their 40s and over-preferred Korean TV dramas and indicated a stronger desire to take a Hallyu trip. Additionally, a high level of interest and empathy for leading actors and actresses were the key reasons for their preference for Korean dramas. Results of the canonical analysis indicated that respondents preferred the Korean TV dramas due to all five reason dimensions which demonstrated higher levels and agreement for the development of five out of the eight product types from this study.
This study examined social and parasocial interaction from interpersonal attribution perspectives. Parasocial interaction is a perceived interpersonal relationship on the part of a television viewer with a mass media persona. We proposed that attributional confidence associated with parasocial interaction would mirror that resulting from social interaction and that personal construct theory and uncertainty reduction theory might add to knowledge about the nature of attributional confidence. Soap-opera-viewing college students (N = 105) completed questionnaires. Analysis revealed that, similar to social relationships, parasocial relationships with favorite soap opera characters were based, to some extent, on reduction of uncertainty and the ability to predict accurately the feelings and attitudes of the persona. The discussion focuses on implications of these findings for uncertainty reduction theory and personal construct theory.
Places play an important role as anchoring fictional (books, movies, songs, video games) as well as artistic universes to reality. Conversely, imaginary places affect the way people perceive real places. 'Set-jetting', which transforms film locations into tourist attractions, is a perfect example of the increasing demand for connecting fictional spaces with real places. The interaction of imaginary and real places, which has been for years an operating function of fiction, is increasing both qualitatively and quantitatively. This is not limited to cinema but also affects literature and art. Once located on a map, the fictional place becomes attractive for tourists and a potential source of profit. The connection between imaginary and real places has been transformed by recent dramatic changes in communication and information technologies, and more specifically in the domain of geospatial technologies. These technologies offer more effective ways of georeferencing locations in films, books and art works. Many Web sites compile information on film shooting locations. Geoparsing techniques offer solutions for automatically georeferencing novels or short stories. New technologies allow visitors practicing set-jetting or cultural tourism to collect extensive information about films or books related to these places. Geospatial technologies contribute to the development of an intermediary territory, a space between the real world and the fantasy world.
A systematic review of the literature on predictors of complicated grief (CG) was undertaken with the aim of clarifying the current knowledge and to inform future planning and work in CG following bereavement. Predictors of CG prior to the death include previous loss, exposure to trauma, a previous psychiatric history, attachment style, and the relationship to the deceased. Factors associated with the death include violent death, the quality of the caregiving or dying experience, close kinship relationship to the deceased, marital closeness and dependency, and lack of preparation for the death. Perceived social support played a key role after death, along with cognitive appraisals and high distress at the time of the death. Inconsistent definitions of CG and measurement tools were noted in the earlier studies reviewed. Limitations identified in the studies included use of cross-sectional designs, heterogeneous samples, high attrition, demographic differences between cases and controls, differences in length of time since death, and differences in types of death experienced. Notwithstanding these limitations, some consistent findings have emerged. Further research into conceptualizations of CG in terms of attachment theory and constructivist and cognitive-behavioral concepts of finding purpose and meaning after bereavement is warranted.
This paper explores the contention that the next frontier in the tourism development process lies beyond the highly packaged destination-based tourism product within the realms of Special Interest Tourism (SIT). It focuses on the underlying conceptual foundations for this contention and initiates the process of differentiating between ‘general’ and ‘special’ interest tourism and tourists by proposing both a general ‘Tourism Continuum’ and a new typology of special interest tourists. Finally, it also contains the results from an exploratory survey on UK Outbound special interest tourists which was designed to empirically explore many of the basic ideas and propositions developed from the earlier conceptual work.
Examined factors influencing fan identity salience and attendance at women's college basketball events, and developed and tested a model. 190 undergraduate students completed questionnaires designed to measure situational involvement, enduring involvement, attachment, identity salience, satisfaction, and attendance. Results show that Ss who attained higher scores concerning situational involvement, enduring involvement, and attachment were more likely to rate their fan identity as being an important part of their self-concept. Identity salience was a greater predictor of fan attendance than was satisfaction. Findings suggest that identity salience is an important factor in explaining fan-related behavior and may be useful for exploring other leisure behaviors. The questionnaire is appended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This paper introduces a new conceptual approach to understanding the potential and actual motivations of the film-induced tourist. It could be said that this newly defined tourism niche refers to a post-modern experience of a place that has been depicted in some form of media representation. That is, an experience that is highly personalised and unique to each individual based on their own interpretation and consumption of media images. The Push and Pull Factor theory of motivation presents an appropriate theoretical framework in which to examine film-induced tourism, from a consumer perspective. It is proposed that a distinction will be made between the three concepts of Place (location attributes, landscapes, scenery), Personality (cast, characters, celebrity) and Performance (plot, theme, genre), and whether different or distinct motivations drive or induce travel behaviour. Further, it is proposed to then develop a continuum of film-induced tourism motivation which might range from the specific film-induced tourist to the general film-induced tourist to the serendipitous film tourist. This paper will provide examples, sourced from previous literature on film-induced tourism, to illustrate this conceptual approach to understanding the film-induced tourist.
The following article describes a study of the neural correlates of compulsive buying. Twenty-six non-compulsive (“normal”)
and 23 compulsive buyers were measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing purchasing decisions.
The compulsive buyers were selected based on strict criteria, such that they were all undergoing psychotherapeutic treatment
due to their buying behaviour. The results show evidence of significant differences between non-compulsive and compulsive
buyers regarding brain activity in regions known to be involved in decision making. The findings give a deeper insight into
the nature of compulsive buying and are relevant to consumer policy.
KeywordsCompulsive buying–Consumer behaviour–Consumer research–Consumer policy–Neuroeconomics
Cross-cultural studies using Hofstede’s national scores to operationalize his five cultural factors at an individual level
suffer from ecological fallacy, and those using self-report scales treat cultural factors as unidimensional constructs and
provide little or no evidence of the construct validity and measurement equivalence of these scales. This paper reconceptualizes
Hofstede’s five cultural factors as ten personal cultural orientations and develops a new 40-item scale to measure them. It
also establishes the validity, reliability, and cross-cultural measurement equivalence of the new scale, and discusses its
advantages over other scales.
KeywordsCulture-Horizontal–vertical-Individualism–collectivism-Long-term orientation-Masculinity–femininity-Power distance-Uncertainty avoidance
This chapter discusses celebrity worship, parasocial interaction, and stalking. It includes fan worship, celebrity worship, research methods, measurement scales and results
The sport marketplace is overcrowded, and contemporary sport fans have more choices than ever. This makes it difficult for new teams, leagues, and sports to enter the marketplace. In addition, a cultural oligarchy of mainstream sport leagues currently dominates media coverage. As a result, marketers and managers of emerging sports need to understand the attributes for which sport fans connect with entities. Little is known, however, about the differences between fans of niche (emerging or nonmainstream) sports and their mainstream-sport counterparts. Guided by social-identity theory, this study explored the dispositional and behavioral differences between niche- and mainstream-sport fans as a means of psychometric and behavioral segmentation. In particular, an individual’s need for uniqueness and communication behaviors were compared. The results suggest that dispositional differences between the segments were minimal. However, potentially important behavioral differences were uncovered related to how sport fans assimilate with others and advertise their sport affiliations.
Through a micro-ethnographic engagement with consumers’ binge-watching experiences of the web-TV series House of Cards, this videography explores what we consider to be the ‘extended frontiers’ of escapism. In contrast to passive/active classifications of escapism which risk reducing escapist fare to a textual resource which can be categorised discretely at the point of consumption, we consider ‘sustained encounters’ with escapist fare as appropriable textures characterised by ongoing and less immediately discernible processes. Drawing upon the concept of hyperdiegesis, we consider potentially ‘projective’ forms of narrative transportation in binge-watching; heterochronic breaks from normal patterns of time; and post-object behaviours. In doing so, we outline how forms of escapism traditionally considered passive may under certain conditions represent much richer and more complex enterprises than previously imagined.
Despite the significant research in the consumer behavior literature on compulsive buying behavior (CBB), there is still no general agreement about the dimensionality or diagnostic screening of the disorder. Previous studies have identified two principal dimensions: compulsivity and impulsivity, although more recent strands of theory characterize CBB with reference to loss of self-control and behavioral addiction. This study challenges the impulsive–compulsive paradigm by validating a new model with compulsive and self-control impaired spending dimensions. The model more closely reflects the disorder's ego-dystonic character, routed in an anxiety-based reactive mechanism with uncontrollable buying and an inability to rationalize the behavior and its consequences. The study also develops and cross-validates a new seven-item CBB screening tool, using a comparative analysis with three existing screeners and an independent sample. The findings indicate that compulsive buying results from both compulsive and self-control impaired impulsive elements, which are characteristic of behavioral addiction.
The statistical tests used in the analysis of structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error are examined. A drawback of the commonly applied chi square test, in addition to the known problems related to sample size and power, is that it may indicate an increasing correspondence between the hypothesized model and the observed data as both the measurement properties and the relationship between constructs decline. Further, and contrary to common assertion, the risk of making a Type II error can be substantial even when the sample size is large. Moreover, the present testing methods are unable to assess a model's explanatory power. To overcome these problems, the authors develop and apply a testing system based on measures of shared variance within the structural model, measurement model, and overall model.
How users consume media has shifted dramatically as viewers migrate from traditional broadcast channels toward online channels. Rather than following the schedule dictated by television networks and consuming one episode of a series each week, many viewers now engage in binge watching, which involves consuming several episodes of the same series in a condensed period of time. In this research, the authors decompose users' viewing behavior into (1) whether the user continues the viewing session after each episode viewed, (2) whether the next episode viewed is from the same or a different series, and (3) the time elapsed between sessions. Applying this modeling framework to data provided by Hulu.com, a popular online provider of broadcast and cable television shows, the authors examine the drivers of binge watching behavior, distinguishing between user-level traits and states determined by previously viewed content. The authors simultaneously investigate users' response to advertisements. Many online video providers support their services with advertising revenue; thus, understanding how users respond to advertisements and how advertising affects subsequent viewing is of paramount importance to both advertisers and online video providers. The results of the study reveal that advertising responsiveness differs between bingers and nonbingers and that it changes over the course of online viewing sessions. The authors discuss the implications of their results for advertisers and online video platforms.
Binge watching is a relatively new behavioural phenomenon that may have health implications. The aim of this study was to estimate the frequency of, and identify modifiable factors associated with, TV binge watching. A total of 86 people completed an online questionnaire assessing self-efficacy, proximal goals, outcome expectations, anticipated regret, automaticity, goal conflict and goal facilitation, and self-reported binge watching over the last week. Participants reported binge watching a mean 1.42 days/week (standard deviation = 1.42). Intention and outcome expectations accounted for variance in binge watching, and automaticity, anticipated regret and goal conflict each separately accounted for additional variance in binge watching. Binge watching is commonplace and associated with both reflective and impulsive factors.
How can marketers stop speeding motorists and binge drinking? Two experiments show that the beliefs consumers have about the degree to which they define themselves in terms of their close relationships (i.e., relational-interdependent self-construal (RISC)) offer useful insights into the effectiveness of communications for two key social marketing issues—road safety (Study 1, New Zealand sample) and alcohol consumption (Study 2, English sample). Further, self-referencing is a mechanism for these effects. Specifically, people who define themselves in terms of their close relationships (high-RISCs) respond most favorably to advertisements featuring a dyadic relationship (two people), and this favorable response is mediated by self-referencing. In contrast, people who do not include close relationships in their sense of self (low-RISCs) respond most favorably to self-reference advertisements featuring solitary models.
Copyright
Previous research has shown consistent relationships between the Five-Factor Model personality traits, materialism and excessive buying. However, little is known about the channels of influence through personality traits and materialism leading to excessive buying. Therefore, the main objective of this current study is to examine whether materialism is a mediating variable in the relationship between the Five-Factor Model and excessive buying. The results of the path analysis using a sample of 667 women generally confirm the suitability of materialism as a vehicle for the effects of Big-Five personality traits on excessive buying. Specifically, neuroticism exerts both positive direct and indirect influences on excessive buying. Moreover, materialism mediates the influence of extraversion, openness, and agreeableness on excessive buying. Whereas extraversion shows a positive association with materialism, openness and agreeableness present negative relations with materialism which, in turn, is associated with higher excessive buying propensity. Conscientiousness is the only exception to the mediating model, and presents a direct and negative relation with excessive buying. Generally speaking, the finding that five factors effects are mediated by materialism increases the probability that preventive and interventive efforts aimed at reducing materialistic values effectively influence the associated risk for excessive buying originating from certain personality traits.
Systematic measures are developed, with 270 Ss, predominantly students, for the concepts of experienced levels of emptiness and existential concern. These measures are then correlated with a measure of depressive affect. The measures were again correlated, this time with a sample of 24, with level of religious interest. Factor analysis demonstrates the two concepts of emptiness and existential concern to be discrete and stable. Experienced level of emptiness correlated highly with level of depressive affect. Existential concern, however, was not correlated with depressive affect, but was correlated with level of religious interest (as measured on the Allport, Vernon, and Lindzey A Study of Values).
Subsequent to a previous article in JCP (Scherhorn, 1990) outlining a theoretical approach to addictive buying, the authors report on the results of their empirical study of addictive buyers in West Germany. The study indicates that addictive buying is clearly one kind of addiction which may be substituted by other addictions, may take the place of another addiction, or even alternate with other forms of addiction. At the same time, there is substantial evidence that there are special key experiences to which the propensity to addictive buying can be traced. Addictive buyers have been subjected to a specific form of distortion of autonomy: They have felt that for parents, relatives, or neighbours, material goods (money, property, consumer goods) seemed to be more relevant and more important than they themselves. Thus, they have acquired a strong predisposition for using consumer goods as a favourite means of compensating for the lack of self-esteem from which they suffer. This predisposition, however, is reinforced by the fact that consumption and buying increasingly take on the role of a socially favoured means of compensation.
In this article I use the concept of genre as a notion to look into the relationship between the production and the audience, especially on the production side. The empirical material of the study is a Japanese television family drama called Wataru seken wa oni bakari or Wataoni. Recently the concept of genre - traditionally known from literary theory and cinema studies - has been found useful especially in studies on (news) journalism. In these studies genre is usually defined as a cultural and social contract between the production and the audience, the rhetorical mode of address inherent in genre being a central notion. The mode of address is seen to recommend audience members certain meanings and viewing patterns. Although the idea of `communicative contract' also includes the production side, empirical studies of the rhetorical force of genre in both production and reception are rare.
I propose that it can be useful in an empirical study to look into the ways in which genre addresses both the viewers and the makers. The way the generic mode of address works for each direction may differ, but nevertheless genre also persuades the makers to adopt a certain subject position and meaningful relationship with the programme in question.
This study examined the responses of television viewers to the potential loss of their favorite television characters. A sample of 381 Israeli adults completed questionnaires, including questions about their relationships with their favorite characters, how they would react if those characters were taken off the air, and their attachment styles. Results showed that viewers expecting to lose their favorite characters anticipate negative reactions similar to those experienced after the dissolution of social relationships. These reactions were related both to the intensity of the parasocial relationship with the favorite character and to the viewers’ attachment style. Anxious–ambivalently attached respondents anticipated the most negative responses. The results are discussed in light of their contribution to attachment research and as evidence of the similarity between parasocial relationships and close social relationships.
Purpose
The paper aims to establish which formally and informally published sources of knowledge were mainly used by executives in the computer service industry to obtain knowledge of current developments in the field of marketing and to examine the purposes for which the knowledge gathered from these sources was employed.
Design/methodology/approach
Marketing managers in 141 large computer services businesses completed a questionnaire concerning the extents to which they used books, marketing magazines, academic journals, and grey literature (GL) for instrumental, conceptual, and symbolic purposes. Four “motivating factors” (e.g. occupational learning orientation) were examined plus three other influences (e.g. length of time in a marketing role). The possible consequences of the extensive use of various sources were explored.
Findings
Only 2 per cent of the sample read academic marketing journals, and just 3 per cent looked at marketing textbooks. However, 89 per cent of the sample accessed (mainly internet‐based) grey marketing literature and 62 per cent read marketing magazines. Nearly, one in six of the respondents stated that they had read practitioner “how to do” marketing books. Several hypothesised independent variables exerted positive and significant impacts on the degrees to which magazines; GL and practitioner books were employed to obtain marketing knowledge.
Research limitations/implications
It was not possible to examine exactly why a particular knowledge source was preferred for a specific purpose. Potential connections between past academic research outputs and the contents of contemporary grey marketing literature and articles in marketing magazines could not be investigated. The results imply that GL must be recognised as a vital source of marketing knowledge. Issues relating to the codification and wider distribution of GL, copyright, the shortage of specialised GL bibliographies in the marketing area, and the long‐term availability of materials in electronic form need to be addressed.
Originality/value
This was the first empirical study to connect the use of marketing knowledge sources to the purposes (instrumental, conceptual, symbolic) for which the knowledge contained within them was required.
Here we explore an alternative conceptualization and measurement of parasocial interaction, using data from a qualitative content analysis of audience letters written to an extremely popular television soap opera, Hum Log", in India. Parasocial interaction is the degree to which an audience member develops a perceived interpersonal relationship with a media character. We measure five sub-dimensions of parasocial interaction (affective, cognitive, and behavioral involvement of audience members, and referential and critical involvement) in a qualitative content analysis of listeners' letters. "The actors are all doing such a great job fin portraying an Indian family] that I am convinced that they are all related to each other." (A male audience member from Andhra Pradesh state). "Your program inspired me to do something, so I have started tutoring young children in my locality." (A college student in Calcutta). "Bore, Bore, Bore." (Four students from Bombay who demanded that "Hum Log be discontinued).
Star Trekkers, hot-rodders, Elvis impersonators and NASCAR nuts all travel in order to indulge their interests, but who are these people and how far will they go to fulfil their fanatical dreams? This study attempts to discover more about this little understood tourist market, their needs and behaviours. The article draws together the disparate literature on fanaticism to present a model from which further analysis can occur. Accordingly, the examination begins with a psycho/social perspective of fanatics that identifies their behaviours generally, and further as consumers. The analysis is followed by melding tourism and recreation literature to establish an enhanced understanding of the leisure fanatic. The examination illuminates the concept of travel as being a function of the fanatic's make-up and, as such, the study points to the types of touristic activities they will undertake. Similarly, the role of special events is discussed as being of high importance to the needs and desires of the fanatic in providing the right environment to pursue their passions. In a final aspect to the study, negative aspects of fanatics are highlighted which may affect their travel behaviours in certain situations. The article examines the implications for those in the fields of tourism and leisure management, where special interest tourism, or niche tourism, is of increasing interest.
Although images of the relationship between marketing science and practice have been dominant features of past and contemporary marketing thought, surprisingly little research has been conducted on the subject, particularly at the level of the marketing practitioner. This article provides a framework for characterizing and better understanding the ways in which practitioners value and use academic theory, and defines a set of propositions for guiding research into this area. The exercise is intended to urge fellow researchers to refine, test and augment the working hypotheses suggested herein in order to achieve a better understanding of the ways in which marketing practitioners attend to, value and use marketing scientific theories. Managerial implications of this research are discussed.
Lays the groundwork for a conceptual framework that might be used to study fanatical consumers and consumption. We review literature on fanatics produced by psychologists, sociologists, cultural theorists, political scientists, theologists and marketers and then place their multidisciplinary insights into a consumption context. We identify two familiar features of fanatics – intensity and intolerance – but suggest a third feature – incoherence among thinking, behaviour and goals caused by intensity and/or intolerance might be the conceptual key to understanding fanatical consumers, measuring their fanaticism and interpreting their consumption experiences.
This study examined reactions to a temporary parasocial breakup situation during the television writers’ strike of 2007–2008 when many television shows stopped airing new episodes. Past research on parasocial breakups and uses and gratifications theory was used to predict emotional and behavioral reactions. Questionnaire results revealed that participants with stronger parasocial relationships experienced greater distress—even after controlling for the number of favorite programs that went off the air. Moreover, those with greater television affinity reported greater distress when their favorite show was disrupted, although television viewing motives also played a role in this process. Finally, when their favorite shows were no longer airing new episodes, viewers primarily replaced television viewing time with other media exposure rather than increasing nonmedia activities such as social interaction. However, a number of these activities varied by gender.
The numerous associations between eating disorders and drug addictions--craving, preoccupation, compulsive use/behavior despite adverse consequences, denial of problem, use of substance to relieve negative affect with guilt following use, comorbidity, genetic links, high recidivism especially when exposed to cues or triggers, overeating and weight gain during early recovery from drug addiction, common neurobiological pathways, modification of drug reward by eating or starvation--suggest that binge eating disorders represent a drug-free auto-addiction for a significant subset of the addiction prone. In some it is a trigger leading to a drug or alcohol relapse, and in others it is an apparent result of alcohol or drug abstinence when food becomes a new drug of choice. In any case, food is a powerful mood altering substance that is repetitively and destructively used or restricted in eating disorders just as drugs are in substance use disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Marketers frequently evoke personal nostalgia in their advertising. To date, scales have been developed to measure the propensity to get nostalgic but not the actual dimensions of personal nostalgia. Results from four studies show that advertising-evoked personal nostalgia comprises four correlated but distinct dimensions: past imagery, positive emotions, negative emotions, and physiological reactions. This multidimensional scale showed a high level of validity and reliability. Moreover, due to careful choice of sampling frames, the study demonstrates a high level of external generalizability. Evaluating nostalgia-based advertising using the study’s multidimensional scale may provide marketers with strategic insights for developing and fine-tuning advertising aimed at inducing nostalgia among consumers.
One area of consumption disorders receiving a great deal of attention lately is compulsive buying. Researchers have begun moving from descriptive studies of this phenomenon to attempts to explain some of its causal mechanisms. One possible explanation is that such behavior may serve as a way of self-medicating depression and negative affect for compulsive buyers. This study examines reported mood states prior to and during shopping for 24 compulsive buyers and a matched comparison group. The findings indicated that relative to the comparison group, the compulsive buyers reported feeling most of the mood states more frequently prior to going shopping, especially the more negative moods. Compulsive buyers also more frequently experienced extreme moods (both positive and negative), while shopping than did the comparison group. When within-subject differences were examined for preshopping and shopping moods, compulsive buyers were more likely to move from negative to positive moods, whereas the opposite was true for the comparison group. The findings suggest that compulsive buyers may be using buying behavior to manage undesirable mood states. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
This article reports on a study of addictive consumption in the UK. Individual depth interviews with 15 women were followed by a mail survey of a further 46 self-identified addictive shoppers. The study suggests that the behaviour serves a variety of functions for the individual and that there is no simple uniform picture of an addictive shopper. Prime functions of the behaviour are to repair mood, and to increase the ability to match perceptions of socially desirable or required appearances. The behaviour is located in the context of postmodern fragmentation, in which personal identity is manifested in a reliance on affect-charged experiences. Links are made with other aspects of consumption pathology.
Suchtartiges Kaufverhalten: Funktion und postmoderne Zersplitterung Dieser Beitrag berichtet ber eine Untersuchung suchtartigen Kaufverhaltens in Gro\britannien. Die Daten stammen aus Tiefeninterviews mit 15 Frauen und einer schriftlichen Erhebung bei weiteren 46 Personen, die sich selbst als kaufschtig bezeichnen. Die Befunde legen nahe, da\ kaufschtiges Verhalten einer Vielzahl von individuellen Funktionen dient und da\ es kein einheitliches Bilddes kaufschtigen Verbrauchers gibt. Hauptfunktionen des Verhaltens sind offenbar der Ausgleich stimmungsm\iger Strungen und Hilfe, wenn es darum geht, wahrgenommenen sozialen Wnschen oder Anforderungen an das u\ere Verhalten zu entsprechen. Kaufschtiges Verhalten wird in den Kontext postmoderne Zersplitterung gestellt, in welchem persnliche Identitt sich in einem Vertrauen auf gefhlsbeladene Erfahrungen darstellt. Schlie\lich stellt der Beitrag Bezge zu anderen Aspekten krankhaften Konsumverhaltens her, vor allem zum Ladendiebstahl.