Experimental Survey Research Articles

How does anthropomorphism promote consumer responses to social chatbots: mind perception perspective

PurposeBenefiting from the development and innovation of artificial intelligence and affective computing technology, social chatbots that integrate cognitive analysis and affective social services have flooded into the consumer market. For cognition and emotion-oriented tasks, social chatbots do not always receive positive consumer responses. In addition, consumers have a contradictory attitude toward the anthropomorphism of chatbots. Therefore, from the perspective of mind perception and the two dimensions of social judgment, this research explores the mechanism of consumer responses to anthropomorphic interaction styles when social chatbots complete different service tasks.Design/methodology/approachThis paper utilizes three behavior experimental designs and survey methods to collect data and the ANOVA, t-test and bootstrap analysis methods to verify the assumed hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that when the service task type of a social chatbot is cognition-oriented, compared to a warm anthropomorphic interaction style, a competent anthropomorphic interaction style can improve consumer responses more effectively. During this process, agent-mind perception plays a mediating role. When the service task type of a social chatbot is emotion-oriented, compared with a competent anthropomorphic conversation style, a warm anthropomorphic conversation style can improve consumer responses. Experience-mind perception mediates this influencing relationship.Originality/valueThe research results theoretically enrich the relevant research on the anthropomorphism of social chatbots and expand the application of the theory of mind perception in the fields of artificial intelligence and interactive marketing. Our findings provide theoretical guidance for the anthropomorphic development and design of social chatbots and the practical management of service task scenarios.

How bottom-up and top-down governance of community energy initiatives affects citizens’ perceptions, acceptability, and willingness to join

Community energy initiatives (CEIs) can potentially foster a sustainable energy transition. Yet, few citizens participate in them. This paper examines how CEI governance influences their appeal. We propose that community members' and external parties' (municipality and/or enterprises) involvement in CEI governance affects their appeal through different pathways. Whereas external parties' involvement may boost the CEI's perceived collective efficacy to advance a sustainable transition, community members' involvement may enhance perceived identity leadership, reflecting the extent to which the initiative is fostering ‘us’ as a local community. Results of three experimental studies and surveys (Ntotal = 3135) conducted in four EU countries show that community members' involvement, but not external parties' involvement, in CEI governance promotes perceived efficacy and identity leadership of the CEI, and thereby its acceptability and people's willingness to join. This has important policy implications for increasing citizen participation in CEIs and the sustainable energy transition.

HOW CAN STUDENTS BE ENCOURAGED TO USE ISLAMIC BANKS? ANALYSIS BASED ON EXPERIMENTAL SURVEYS

Despite being developed for more than 30 years, the market share of Islamic banks in Indonesia is still very low compared to conventional banks. Therefore, an increase in the number of customers is needed by attracting new customers, one of which is through marketing. Although there have been many studies on factors that influence the use of Islamic banks, there have been few studies that discuss the role of message strategy in marketing. This study aims to test the effectiveness of message strategy in marketing to attract new customers by focusing on the message conveyed to potential customers. This study is a quantitative study, where data is collected by experimental survey methods and analysed using Z proportion test and logistic regression. An online experimental survey was conducted on 905 students as potential customers, with one control group and four treatment groups receiving information about Islamic banks with additional information related to religion, social impact, influencers, and service excellence. The results of the analysis show that the influencer treatment significantly and positively increases the likelihood of students opening an account in an Islamic bank. On the other hand, students who have high parental influence, are Muslims, and study at Islamic universities have a greater chance of opening an account in an Islamic bank. From these findings, Islamic banks are recommended to use influencers to attract the interest of students, especially those who are Muslim and study at Islamic universities, as potential customers. The results of the study are also expected to enrich academic literature related to message strategy in marketing Islamic banks.

Actions speak louder than words: Brand activism effort effect on brand outcomes

ABSTRACT Brands typically engage in brand activism to align their values with those of their targeted consumers and employees. Some brands make more effort when taking these stands. This research analyzes such brand activism efforts, aiming to answer two questions: (1) Does high brand activism effort enhance brand-level outcomes and sharing intentions? (2) If so, why does this increase occur? This research addresses these questions through three studies. Study One uses a historical Twitter dataset in the context of the Black Lives Matter protests. Study Two employs an experimental survey design in the context of climate change, where a brand commits financial resources. Lastly, Study Three focuses on LGBT equality, where a brand implements a policy change. The results of these studies show that high-effort brand activism increases brand-level outcomes, and this relationship is mediated by perceived authenticity and pride. The implications of these findings are discussed.

When a bleak future comes closer: interaction effects of emotion and temporal distance framing in climate change communication

Given the widespread use of emotional and distance framing in climate change communication, this study investigated how these strategies interact to influence perceptions and behaviors related to climate change. Guided by the Situational Theory of Problem Solving and through an experimental survey, the research revealed that fear-inducing messages led to greater recognition of problems and involvement when combined with short-term temporal frames, compared to hope-inducing messages. These findings suggest that the effects of emotional appeals are conditioned on the temporal distance of the issue highlighted in climate change communication, offering a more nuanced understanding of the differentiated effects of fear and hope appeals and practical insights for crafting persuasive messages.

Multi-order attributes information fusion via hypergraph matching for popular fashion compatibility analysis

Popular fashion compatibility modeling aims to quantitatively assess the compatibility of a set of wearable items for everyday pairings and clothing purchases to assist human decision-making, which has garnered extensive academic attention. Earlier approaches that studied garments as a whole could only discern loose relationships between items, resulting in low accuracy and poor interpretability. Although existing state-of-the-art methods attempt to reveal the mechanism of garment compatibility at a fine-grained level by quantifying pairwise attribute compatibility, they overlook the fact that multi-attribute combinations between apparel items tend to play a more salient role in compatibility. Considering the complex and high-order characteristics of compatibility data, we propose a network named MAIF to deeply mine and reveal the intricate compatibility mechanisms of clothing by fusing multi-order attributes compatibility information through hypergraph matching. Specifically, we use the compatibility modeling of top-item and bottom-item as an example. First, we construct an adaptive hypergraph representation module to model the multi-attribute association combinations of individual clothing items and fuse single-attribute variable information to form multi-order attribute association information. Second, we learn the multi-order compatibility information of attributes between clothing items through spatial similarity matching. Considering the varying compatibility impacts caused by different attribute combinations, we construct a dynamic cross-plot matching mechanism to model the impact weights of multi-order attribute compatibility information. Finally, personalized ranking loss is designed to optimize the model parameters using fashion context information. Experimental and user survey studies conducted on the FashionVC and Polyvore-Maryland datasets verified the validity and superiority of MAIF in accurately assessing apparel compatibility, demonstrating its ability to interpret multi-order attribute compatibility information.

Experimental Investigation of the hydrodynamic and acoustic performance of a Gate Rudder® system over a conventional rudder

The Gate Rudder® is a new concept of energy saving device and manoeuvring system, consisting of two asymmetric and independent blades at each side of a propeller which combines the advantage to deliver additional thrust, similar to an accelerating ducted propulsor, and to enhance ship manoeuvrability and seakeeping ability due to the individual control of each rudder blades.The present study reports the results of a comprehensive experimental survey in which the hydrodynamic and hydro-acoustic performances of a Gate Rudder® system (GRS) were investigated with respect to a conventional rudder (CRS), for a reference container vessel. The survey, that was conducted in the framework of the EU H2020 Research Project “GATERS”, included detailed flow measurements by 2D-PIV and Stereo-PIV, cavitation tests and acoustic measurements on a scaled model of a target container ship. The tests matrix covered different rudder/rudder-blade angles, speeds and displacements. The study highlights the beneficial effects provided by the installation of a Gate Rudder® over a conventional rudder in terms of sound mitigation and reveals the fundamental underlying hydrodynamic mechanisms of the propeller wake interaction with the Gate Rudder blades under different operative conditions.The results provide useful insights on how to improve the hydrodynamic and acoustic performance of a GRS.

Economic impact of innovative entrepreneurship education: Dynamic modelling methods

AbstractThis paper aims to explore the economic impact of innovative entrepreneurship education and proposes a dynamic modelling method to quantify this impact. The paper establishes a theoretical analysis framework, starting from the effects of innovative entrepreneurship education on the regional economy, and establishes a corresponding dynamic economic model. This model comprises processes such as variable definition, relationship establishment, parameter setting and architecture construction. Different levels of education and forms of innovative entrepreneurship education were experimentally analysed from multiple perspectives. In the comparative experiment between innovative entrepreneurship education and traditional education, the entrepreneurial intention score of the innovative entrepreneurship education group was scattered in the range of 90–100, higher than the 60–80 score of the traditional education group. In the experimental survey on investment return rates of different forms of innovative entrepreneurship education, it was found that the investment return rate of education was the lowest, only 6.82%, and the return rate of entrepreneurship competition was the highest, reaching 9.19%. The experimental results have proven a positive correlation between innovative entrepreneurship education and economic growth. It is suggested that the government and enterprises should increase their investment in innovative entrepreneurship education to promote sustainable economic development.

Effect of human sound component on the sociability of urban public spaces—a case study in Sheffield, UK

Soundscape quality is important for fostering social interactions in urban public spaces. This study focuses on how and to what extent the compositions of the soundscape affect the sociability of urban public spaces where human sound is focused. Four 360° experimental soundscape samples were designed as foreground/background/no human sound type and signal sound type, based on the raw data collected in Peace Gardens, Sheffield, United Kingdom. Following Affordance Theory, sociability was analyzed by the experimental survey through two aspects—suitability and stimulation level—through a questionnaire consisting of Soundscape Quality evaluation (SQE) and Level of Willingness for social interactions (LoW), respectively. 120 participants were recruited in the same site representing the compositions of space users. Results show that only foreground human sound type significantly enhanced both suitability and stimulation levels, other samples were evaluated with either high suitability/low stimulation or low suitability/high stimulation. Results indicate people prefer a human sound dominated soundscape with high complexity and this preference was varied among different companion types and age groups. To achieve high sociability, it is suggested to create a complex and eventful soundscape within the range of pleasantness accompanied by a centripetal spatial form, and concerns users' diverse demographic backgrounds.

ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION PROBLEMS AMONG VIETNAMESE LEARNERS OF ENGLISH: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

In oral communication, inaccurate pronunciation or pronunciation errors may create serious consequences, such as conversational discomfort, business disruption, and negotiation failure, leading to miscommunication or, at times, regrettable occupational accidents. Unfortunately, in a number of educational institutions in Vietnam, inadequate attention has been paid to the teaching and learning of English pronunciation. This is why Vietnamese learners of English seem to have neither full awareness, and thus, nor good performance of English pronunciation. Through qualitative and quantitative data collected from an experimental survey, the study indicates that non-English majors at University of Transport, Ho Chi Minh City (UTH) encounter various pronunciation problems due to various reasons, both objective and subjective. The study also results in strategies and techniques that may be beneficial to both the lecturers and the students in teaching and learning English pronunciation at UTH in particular and in the Vietnamese contexts in general.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0802/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Transparent Corruption: The Effect of Illicit Connections and Trusted References on the Demand for Bureaucratic Intermediation

Abstract This article investigates the effect of priming the existence of corrupt connections to the bureaucracy and of trusted references on the demand for intermediary services. We performed an experimental survey with undergraduate students in Caracas, Venezuela. Participants are presented with a hypothetical situation in which they need to obtain the apostille of their professional degrees in order to migrate and are considering whether to hire an intermediary (“gestor”) or not. The survey randomly reveals the existence of an illicit connection between the gestor and the bureaucracy and whether a trusted individual referred the intermediary. Our findings are not consistent with the “market maker” hypothesis that revealing the existence of illicit connections increases demand. Consistent with the view that trust is a key element in inherently opaque transactions, we find that the demand for intermediaries is price inelastic when gestores are referred by trusted individuals.

Legal provisions on medical aid in dying encode moral intuition.

In recent decades, many jurisdictions have moved toward legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide, alongside a near-universal increase in public acceptance of medical aid in dying. Here, we draw on a comprehensive quantitative review of current laws on assisted dying, experimental survey evidence, and four decades of time-series data to explore the relationship between these legislative transitions and change in moral attitudes. Our analyses reveal that existing laws on medical aid in dying impose a common set of eligibility restrictions, based on the patient's age, decision-making capacity, prognosis, and the nature of their illness. Fulfillment of these eligibility criteria elevates public moral approval of physician-assisted death, equally in countries with (i.e., Spain) and without (i.e., the United Kingdom) assisted dying laws. Finally, historical records of public attitudes toward euthanasia across numerous countries uncovered anticipatory growth in moral approval leading up to legalization, but no accelerated growth thereafter. Taken together, our findings suggest that the enactment of medical aid in dying laws, and their specific provisions, crystallize patterns in moral intuition.

Multitasking, subtitles, and product placement effectiveness: an analysis of multitasking influencing the effectiveness of product placement and being influenced by audiovisual translation formats

ABSTRACT Placing brands and products in movies and series has significantly increased in recent years, leading to more research on the subject being undertaken. Little of this research has so far focused on the relationship between multitasking by audiences and the effectiveness of product placement. This study tests time the correlation between levels of multitasking and brand recall of placements in programs. The second objective of the study is to investigate if there is any link between the version of a program watched (i.e. original, dubbed, or subtitled), and levels of multitasking. The experimental online survey showed no difference in brand recall among viewers engaging in secondary activities while watching a program for up to 5 minutes in a 20-minute episode. The addition of subtitles increased screen attention, and viewers did not multitask as much. An innovative out-of-lab method consisting of in-home video observation produced high-precision time data on viewers’ multi-tasking behavior and enabled cross-checking with the survey answers for false-positives. The main outcome of this study is that multitasking while watching shows or movies should not be a concern for advertisers investing in product placement.

Modeling sediment movement in the shallow-water framework: A morpho-hydrodynamic approach with numerical simulations and experimental validation

This work presents a morpho-hydrodynamic model and a numerical approximation designed for the fast and accurate simulation of sediment movement associated with extreme events, such as tsunamis. The model integrates the well-established hydrostatic shallow-water equations with a transport equation for the moving bathymetry that relies on a bedload transport function. Subsequently, this model is discretized using the path-conservative finite volume framework to yield a numerical scheme that is not only fast but also second-order accurate and well-balanced for the lake-at-rest solution. The numerical discretization separates the hydrodynamic and morphodynamic components of the model but leverages the eigenstructure information to evolve the morphologic part in an upwind fashion, preventing spurious oscillations. The study includes various numerical experiments, incorporating comparisons with laboratory experimental data and field surveys.

Testing the social pressure hypothesis: Does in-party social pressure reduce out-party empathy?

Empathy is considered one of the most critical components for bridging political divides and reducing animosity between political groups. Yet, empathy between political opponents is rare. There is a growing concern that partisans do not empathize with out-partisans because they feel social pressure from fellow in-partisans not to do so. This article examines this social pressure hypothesis and draws two conclusions. First, on the surface, the hypothesis seems plausible: citizens perceive fellow in-partisans as comparatively disapproving of and reluctant to engage in out-party empathy, and naïve cross-sectional analyses suggest that this perception translates into lower empathy towards out-partisans. Second, however, experimental data suggest that this relationship is not causal. Expecting disapproval from fellow in-party members for empathizing with out-partisans does not lead to a significant reduction in intentions to empathize with out-partisans. Rather, exploratory analyses suggest that social pressure by the in-party increases empathy toward out-partisans and triggers disappointment toward in-partisans. This implies that partisans can resist social pressure from the in-party and might even compensate for in-partisans' lack of out-party empathy. The results are supported by original cross-sectional and experimental survey data ( ) collected in the United States, an arguably most likely case for in-party social pressure to shape partisans' intentions. The results have important implications for understanding the causes of and viable strategies for building empathy across political divides.

Bot Versus Humans: Who Can Challenge Corporate Hypocrisy on Social Media?

Social media offer opportunities for companies to promote their image, but companies online also risk being denounced if their actions do not align with their words. The rise of social media bots amplifies this risk, as it becomes possible to automate such efforts to highlight corporate hypocrisy. Our experimental survey demonstrated that bots and human actors who confront a corporation touting their commitment to equality by calling out organizational pay gaps damage perceptions of the corporation, heighten anger toward them, and ultimately can elicit boycott intentions. These hypocrisy challenges are equally effective when they come from bots and user accounts. Challenges to hypocritical behavior on social media are consequential and require further exploration.

Refugee Crisis, News Crisis: The Framing of Episodic and Thematic Articles

A main tenet of 21st Century journalism is to engage the public with highly informative and affective content. Through sociological journalistic processes of creating news content, however, audiences may lose the ability to completely conceptualize the level of human suffering observed in the coverage of refugee crises. This experimental survey tested the use of episodic and thematic frames in formatting American news articles about the Syrian refugee crisis of migrants landing on Grecian shores. It found that episodically framed articles increased moral understanding among Americans, as well as overall engagement in the crisis event. Respondents, however, were not more likely to participate in civic engagement about the refugee crisis with others. The results suggest that the use of episodic frames in the construction of refugee news articles may engage audiences more in the issue, however, alone are not enough to affect behavioral outcomes such as discussion. Further research should investigate the implications of framing choices made in the presentation of news stories about important issues such as mass human migrations. Keywords: framing, news, refugee, diaspora

READING PROFICIENCY AND COGNITIVE READING STRATEGIES THROUGH ONLINE DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT (ODA) IN ENGLISH FOR ECONOMY

Dynamic Assessment (DA) can help EFL students use more cognitive reading skills, but its application in ESP learning is restricted. DA in ESP is an important research subject since reading comprehension is an essential skill for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) students. The purpose of this study is to look into the impact of online DA on reading ability and the usage of cognitive reading comprehension strategies among English for Economy learners. The study employs a quantitative experimental design and survey, with two groups of management students (30 in the experimental class and 30 in the control class) currently enrolled in the English for Economy program, which includes planned and scheduled online dynamic assessments. The study found that the Online Dynamic Assessment-supported ESP reading program considerably improves management students' reading abilities, as shown by the experimental group's higher posttest performance and significant t-test results. The large range and standard deviation in the experimental group demonstrate the exam's capacity to discern between different student competencies. Furthermore, the study reveals students' proactive role in improving their comprehension and recall by detailing their cognitive reading strategies at various reading stages, including pre-reading anticipation and skimming, in-reading context-based inference, and post-reading categorization and content review. To improve ESP outcomes, future research should incorporate bigger sample sizes, a variety of ESP domains, motivating factors, strategy analysis, technique comparisons, proficiency adjustments, and skill integrations.

Comparison of the Effects of Gluma Gel, Sensodyne Repair and Protect Toothpaste, and an 810 nm Low Power Diode Laser on the Closure of Dentinal Tubules: An In Vitro Study.

Introduction: One of the common problems among dental patients is tooth hypersensitivity. There are various treatments for hypersensitivity, such as gels, solutions, toothpaste, and laser treatments. This report examined the effect of three treatments, namely 810 nm wavelength diode laser, Gluma gel, and Sensodyne Repair and Protect toothpaste, on tooth hypersensitivity. Methods: This experimental survey selected 40 premolars free of caries, fractures, restorations, root canal therapy, or wear. The enamel of the midline in the cervical part of the buccal surface was removed by a bur (the area was 2*2 mm and the depth was 2 mm), and the samples were then prepared and divided into four groups. Sensodyne Repair and Protect toothpaste, Gluma gel, and an 810 nm diode laser with 0.5 W power were applied to three groups of teeth. The samples were analyzed by using a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). The data from the occluded dentinal tubules, partially occluded tubules, and open tubules were analyzed by using the Tamhane test. Results: The amount of occluded dentinal tubules was 83.2±9% in the laser group, 74.4±11.62% in the Gluma group, 67.1±18% in the Sensodyne group, and 15.03±3.39% in the control group. The difference between the treatment groups and the control group was meaningful (P<0.05). However, the difference between the Gluma group, the Sensodyne group, and the 810 nm laser group was not significant (P>0.05). Conclusion: The three treatments (810 nm diode laser, Gluma, and Sensodyne) were all effective in occluding dentinal tubules compared to the control group. However, there was no significant difference between these three treatment methods (P>0.05).

Can ChatGPT be an author? Generative AI creative writing assistance and perceptions of authorship, creatorship, responsibility, and disclosure

AbstractThe increasing use of Generative AI raises many ethical, philosophical, and legal issues. A key issue here is uncertainties about how different degrees of Generative AI assistance in the production of text impacts assessments of the human authorship of that text. To explore this issue, we developed an experimental mixed methods survey study (N = 602) asking participants to reflect on a scenario of a human author receiving assistance to write a short novel as part of a 3 (high, medium, or low degrees of assistance) X 2 (human or AI assistant) factorial design. We found that, for a human author, the degree of assistance they receive matters for our assessments of their level of authorship, creatorship, and responsibility, but not what or who rendered that assistance, although it was more important to disclose human rather than AI assistance. However, in our assessments of the assisting agent, human assistants were viewed as warranting higher rates of authorship, creatorship, and responsibility, compared to AI assistants rendering the same level of support. These results help us to better understand emerging norms around collaborative human-AI generated text, with implications for other types of collaborative content creation.