Symbolic Associations Research Articles

Symbolically Simple: How Simple Packaging Design Influences Willingness to Pay for Consumable Products

Although consumers often value minimalist aesthetics, little work has examined why and when simple packaging designs of consumable products enhance consumer outcomes. The authors theorize that simple packaging evokes a symbolic association whereby minimizing design complexity signals that the product contains few ingredients, which increases perceived product purity and willingness to pay (WTP). A field study examining a supermarket chain's product packages (N = 1,353) provided preliminary support for this increase in WTP and two boundary conditions. Six preregistered studies replicated these effects and tested the underlying process. Studies 1a and 1b showed that the increase in WTP for simple packaging is driven by few-ingredients inferences increasing perceived product purity. Study 2 demonstrated the increase in WTP using an incentive-compatible design. Study 3 reinforced the proposed process via moderated mediation. Lastly, Studies 4 and 5 tested the boundary conditions in the field study, showing that WTP for simple packaging decreases when the product is from a store (vs. nonstore) brand and when consumers have an indulgence (vs. health) goal. These findings offer theoretical and managerial insight into minimalist aesthetics.

The horror of the woman flower: Fetish and florals in the work of Richard Quinn

Since the start of his career, British fashion designer Richard Quinn has juxtaposed highly fetishistic imagery with bourgeois floral prints in his runway presentations. The interplay of Quinn’s masks, latex and whips with his choice of bold and bright florals is informed by the various and complex symbolic associations with flowers, which communicates both a delicate femininity and sexual danger. At the core of this is the idea of the hybridized image of the woman-as-flower, who embodies a beguiling combination of exaggerated feminine beauty and uncanny horror. To contextualize why Quinn’s fetish-chic fashion is so impactful, this article explores the fashionable representations of the ‘woman-flower’ through history and how Quinn co-opts imagery of bondage, discipline and sado-masochism (BDSM), and fetishwear to evoke the complex associations found within floral symbolism, its links to eroticism and sexuality, and how this is enacted on the runway within the discourses of plant horror and the monstrous-feminine.

Exploring the utility of eye tracking for sociological research on race.

One part of the social construction of race is the symbolic association of given physical features with different races. This research note explores the utility of eye tracking for sociological research on racial perception, that is, for determining what race someone 'looks like.' Results reveal that participants gave greatest attention to targets' hair. This was especially so when targets of all races had straight hair or when a target identified as Black/White mixed-race. The mixed-race results in particular provide physiological evidence of the theory of multiracial dissection. We conclude by suggesting that eye tracking can be useful to sociologists by revealing subconscious tendencies and biases which, once identified, can be consciously addressed in service to reducing social disparities.

Unternehmen Kolibri: Of Hitler and Hummingbirds

Abstract The hummingbird’s biological and cultural associations with beauty, sweetness, and docility belie a longstanding symbolic association with violence and danger. Taking the Nazis’ surprising adoption of the symbol as a point of departure, this essay traces this association to its Mesoamerican origins, and follows its emergence in European and British culture through travel writing, naturalism, commercialism, and popular culture, reflecting on how an evolving understanding of the birds’ behavior and morphology influenced its symbolic history.

Use of Bridge with Path Drawings with Military Service Members Experiencing Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

This article introduces the use of an art therapy assessment, the Bridge with Path Drawing, for service members experiencing effects of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and/or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during treatment at an outpatient clinic. Brief clinical vignettes describe the processes and outcomes of Bridge with Path Drawing Assessment for two service members. Bridge to Path Drawing aided service members with TBI/PTSD in discovering and disclosing thoughts and feelings through symbolic and metaphorical associations to their drawings. Service members shared meanings related to their senses of identity, their futures, the transitions to civilian lives, strategies to overcome obstacles, and purposes and meanings in their lives. Providers working with service members experiencing effects of TBI/PTSD and military-to-civilian transition found an art therapy assessment, the Bridge with Path Drawing, useful to explore patients’ meaning in life at an outpatient medical clinic on a military base.

Place promotion, place branding and social media communication around entrepreneurial ecosystems: a Twitter analysis

ABSTRACT We discuss the use of social media communication for place promotion and place branding of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs). As places resting on the advantages of co-location for entrepreneurial activity, EEs offer a novel testbed for the co-creation of a place image in the virtual space of social media. By exploring almost 370,000 tweets from Twitter across 20 European EEs, we observe virtual spaces of EEs being broadly used to share positive messages about the place. However, no EE stands out with a unique image evoking symbolic associations with the place in target audiences. The results suggest the presence of place promotion more than place branding.

The Effects of Religiosity in Ads Toward Brand Image

Religious beliefs play a significant role including brand preference by adapting symbolic associations to motivate better engagement, which reflects the audience's personal behavioral dimension (values and beliefs) in marketing activities. However, religiosity's role in the development of a brand image by religious visual communication design is rarely discussed, even though there are emotional connections in the marketing activities. This study’s objective is to understand how culture, specifically religiosity, could affect the brand image through local ads’ appeal. Five different brands from outdoor advertisements were selected as a case study for this research. A qualitative study was employed to obtain an in-depth appreciation in sociological context. Thus, seven informants of expertise participated using semi-structured interviews as the data collection tool and continued with thematic analysis assisted by Atlas.ti in identifying patterns across the collected datasets. Three main themes were discovered which are; commodification, halalness and trustworthiness. Religiosity is said to be positively affected by religious visual communication design in ads. These emotional strategies in marketing easily gain attention from their values, which are later translated into trustworthiness which is called commodification. Religious cues in ads are easily associated as the products’ brand image even though some are considered as misled. A fine line between marketing and religion needs to be drawn by the marketers or advertisers to avoid exaggeration and becoming a norm in marketing. Keywords: Advertisement, brand image, Islamic ads, religiosity, visual communication.

Tilting at 5G Towers: Rethinking Infrastructural Transition in 2020

5G has the potential to expand the horizons of digital inclusion by providing higher speeds, lower latency, and support for more devices on a given network. However, mis‐ and disinformation about 5G has proliferated in recent years and stands to be a persistent barrier to the adoption of this generation of wireless technologies. After rumours linking 5G to Covid‐19 emerged in the wake of the pandemic, isolated actors attempted to disrupt infrastructure with a perceived connection to 5G. Media coverage of these incidents inadvertently spread such claims, engendering lasting uncertainty about 5G. Infrastructure scholars have long held to the maxim that “the normally invisible quality of working infrastructure becomes visible when it breaks” (Star, 1999, p. 482), but efforts to interpret the uptake of mis‐ and disinformation have struggled to define the technical difference 5G makes and describe diffused acts of anti‐5G sentiment that exploited its slippery symbolic associations. What broke to make 5G so visible? This article reassesses interference with infrastructure through the lens of a literary metaphor derived from Miguel de Cervantes’ epic novel Don Quixote. Using the Don’s famed joust with windmills, I examine what efforts to disrupt the development of 5G in 2020 can tell us about infrastructural transition. With reference to Quixote’s tilt, I contend that the disruptions of 2020 illustrate conflicting imperatives of inclusion and exclusion underlying neoliberal schemes of telecommunication development.

Late antique Mediterranean rotary keys from Avaria

AbstractThe present paper describes and discusses a group of iron and copper-alloy rotary keys characterised by a moveable joint connecting the shaft and the key-ring, appearing in the seventh-century material record of the Carpathian Basin whose origins can be sought in the Mediterranean. While the few published examples of the class were in previous studies mainly regarded as Roman-period artefacts secondarily re-used as amulets by the Avar-period population of the Carpathian Basin, the present study argues that these pieces in fact have a sixth-to seventh-century production date, being thereby contemporaneous with their deposition in seventh-century mortuary assemblages. Taking this observation as a springboard for further interpretation, an overview of the possible meanings and symbolic associations attached to keys in Roman, late antique, and early medieval times is offered. The main argument presented here is that besides serving amuletic purposes, some of the Avar-period keys could in all probability have conveyed more explicit messages about their owners, such as that of their feminity and of their economic role and authority in their respective households. The Appendix supplementing the present paper seeks to provide a theoretical reconstruction of a wooden casket buried with the woman interred in Grave 119 of the Kölked-Feketekapu B cemetery, one of the burials yielding a Mediterranean hinged rotary key.

Learning from English and Kuwaiti children’s transcoding errors: how might number names be temporarily adapted to assist learning of place value?

This study identifies language specific errors made with transcoding tasks to inform possible future pedagogic decisions regarding the language used when teaching early number. We compared children aged 5–7 years from Kuwait and England. The spoken Arabic language of Kuwait gave the opportunity to compare not only languages where the tens and units digits are said in a different order, but also where the direction of writing is different. We asked 396 children from Kuwait and 256 children from England to write down 2-, and 3-digit numbers which were spoken to them. We found that the direction of the language did not affect the nature of errors made, but that other aspects of the two languages could account for some of the differences we found. As well as supporting previous studies regarding the significance of the order in which the tens and units are said, we found significance in the role the word and can play in marking the number of digits involved. We also noted that the way the numbers 20, 100 and 200 are said in Arabic can set up particular symbolic associations which could account for other differences we found. Having identified language-specific errors, we discuss possible pedagogic decisions to temporarily use more regular language for the number names in each of the languages and propose the order in which number names are taught might be different to their mathematical order of magnitude.

American Girl Dolls as Professionals

American Girl Dolls as Professionals

Trans-paw-tation: on animal geographies and mobilities in South African cities

This paper contributes to the robust dialogue in animal geographies by adding a focus on mobilities. Trans-paw-tation establishes a framework for understanding animal mobilities by drawing on a range of epistemological and methodological approaches, all of which aim to better understand animals and their role in the world. It goes on to propose three approaches to trans-paw-tation and the theoretical possibilities of thinking across animal geographies and mobilities: first, by reflecting on the movement of animals and animals’ movements in both the historic and contemporary city; second by examining animal policies and the ways in which animals are included and excluded from urban mobilities; and third, by considering the metaphorical and symbolic associations between animals and mobilities. These deliberations are based in South African cities where both animal and transport geographies have been exploited as a mechanism for discrimination and control, and in the postapartheid context, offer opportunities for social and spatial integration. In so doing, this paper moves beyond anthropocentric approaches to mobilities by bringing animal geographies into conversation with African and urban studies and by offering a methodological contribution towards understanding trans-paw-tation.

Adolescents’ fear of the dark: associations with fear of death and trait-anxiety

ABSTRACT Fears related to death and darkness are common during adolescence. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the association between these two types of fear, considering trait-anxiety and gender differences. A total of 171 16–18 years old adolescents (99 girls and 72 boys) completed paper-and-pencil questionnaires (Intensity of Fear of the Dark Scale, Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale, Spielberger Trait-State Anxiety Inventory – Trait version). According to our results, girls had higher levels of fear and anxiety than boys. Fear for significant others was the most intensively feared aspect of fear of death among both genders. Fear of the dark was associated with fear of death and trait anxiety, and the effect of trait anxiety on fear of the dark was partially mediated by fear of death. These results underline the symbolic association between fear of the dark and fear of death and have possible treatment implications.

Haiku Seven Gastronomicity

Haiku is an unrhymed verse form of Japanese origin having three lines containing usually five, seven, and five syllables respectively, a poem in this form usually having a seasonal reference. I have always been searching for new ways to express myself and my recent collection of Haiku in ‘In One Breath’ was published in 2022. I chose to do seven Haiku to capture the various foods I enjoy covering a myriad of cuisines that reflect a very multicultural Singapore with multinational presence. Not that I am numerologist, but the number seven was particularly interesting because it consisted of the union of the physical (number 4) with the spiritual (number 3), and in Pythagorean numerology the number 7 means spirituality. Furthermore, as an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has also greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, superstition, philosophy and now in poetry as it reflects both the physical and spiritual nature of food. Food that unites and reunites relationships, always prepared with love and respect for the origins of the recipe and respect for the consumer as it becomes one with the body that enjoys its nourishment and teases the senses.

How Russian speakers express evolution in Pokémon names: an experimental study with nonce words

Abstract Sound symbolism, systematic and iconic relationships between sounds and meanings, is now a topic that is very actively explored by linguists, psychologists and cognitive scientists. As a new research strategy to study the nature of sound symbolic connections across different languages, a number of scholars have started using Pokémon names, a research paradigm that is now dubbed “Pokémonastics.” The previous Pokémonastics studies have experimentally explored how the evolution status is symbolically expressed by native speakers of English, Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese. Building on these studies, the current experiment examined the sound symbolic knowledge of Russian speakers, and found that they are more likely to associate large, post-evolution Pokémon characters with names containing voiced obstruents than with names containing voiceless obstruents, and that they are also more likely to associate post-evolution characters with names containing [a] than with names containing [i]. The experiment also revealed that Russian speakers are less likely to associate post-evolution characters with names having labial consonants than with names having coronal or dorsal consonants. Overall, the current results show that Russian speakers generally have knowledge of sound symbolic associations that is similar to that of English, Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese speakers, suggesting that some sound symbolic patterns hold robustly across multiple languages.

“Were you treated differently because you wore the hijab?”: Everyday Islamophobia, racialization and young Turks in Britain

Numerous studies suggest that British society is becoming more Islamophobic, and Muslims, especially youth, in Britain have been its victims. But while there is growing evidence of how they have been targets of explicit and severe instances of Islamophobia, less attention has been focused on how they are also targets of its subtle and implicit forms. The purpose of this paper is to examine how Islamophobia manifests in everyday interactions and how Muslims are racialized from the perspective of one of its supposed victims that has been so far under-researched, i.e., young Turks in Britain. The young Turks’ accounts about themselves and their immediate circle of relatives revealed that Turks in the UK experience Islamophobia, but that it is often enacted during mundane interactions without ever becoming explicit. Visible Turkish-Muslim women, however, are the target of everyday Islamophobia far more than Turkish men and secular women, both of whom do not display any religious signifiers in public places. They face Islamophobia at the intersection of gender and religion. Many Turkish women are racialized through the hijab which is interpreted and described in ways that draw upon a set of symbolic meanings and associations. In addition, contrary to what has been discussed about the Islamophobic experiences of Muslim women in previously conducted studies, the evidence of this research shows that Islamophobia appeared to visible Turkish women more frequently in a more mundane, subtle way.

“We need to protect each other”: COVID-19 vaccination intentions and concerns among Racialized minority and Indigenous Peoples in Canada

People may choose to receive vaccines in response to pressures that outweigh any concerns that they have. We explored Racialized minority and Indigenous Peoples' motivations for, perceptions of choice in, and concerns about, COVID-19 vaccination. We used a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach, including a national survey administered around the time vaccines were first authorized (Dec 2020) followed by qualitative interviews when vaccines were becoming more readily available to adults (May–June 2021). We analyzed survey data using descriptive statistics and interviews using critical feminist methodologies.Survey respondents self-identified as a Racialized minority (n = 1488) or Indigenous (n = 342), of which 71.4% and 64.6%, respectively, intended to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Quantitative results indicated perceptions of COVID-19 disease were associated with vaccination intention. For instance, intention was associated with agreement that COVID-19 disease is severe, risk of becoming sick is great, COVID-19 vaccination is necessary, and vaccines available in Canada will be safe (p < 0.001). COVID-19 vaccines were in short supply in Canada when we subsequently completed qualitative interviews with a subset of Racialized minority (n = 17) and Indigenous (n = 10) survey respondents. We coded interview transcripts around three emergent themes relating to governmentality and cultural approaches to intersectional risk theories: feelings of collective responsibility, choice as privilege, and remaining uncertainties about COVID-19 vaccines. For example, some mentioned the responsibility and privilege to receive a vaccine earlier than those living outside of Canada. Some felt constraints on their freedom to choose to receive or refuse a vaccine from intersecting oppressions or their health status. Although all participants intended to get vaccinated, many mentioned uncertainties about the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination. Survey respondents and interview participants demonstrated nuanced associations of vaccine acceptance and hesitancy shaped by perspectives of vaccine-related risks, symbolic associations of vaccines with hope, and intersecting social privileges and inequities (including racialization).

The Politics of Breastfeeding in Northeast Indian Literature

AbstractBreastfeeding, both in its literal consequences on a woman’s body and its symbolic associations with attachment, highlights the simultaneously powerful yet servile position of the maternal figure. I trace this ambivalence in Mahasweta Devi’s story “Breast-Giver,” exploring women’s literal and metaphorical hungers, as well as the hunger their children experience, arguing that breastfeeding often serves as a means of showcasing a woman’s physical limitation based on her familial status as “feeder.” However, I also argue for a profoundly embodied version of the breastfeeding trope, one that negates prior conceptions of breastfeeding as a “taking” and establishes it as a “giving” that not only nourishes one’s family, but also one’s self, as mothers circumvent hierarchical systems of cooking and food preparation. Ultimately, I both lay bare the interconnection between a woman’s body and food-based labor systems and reveal literary methods for their extrication, through narrative instances of breastfeeding.

Local-To-Global Hypotheses for Robust Robot Localization.

Many robust state-of-the-art localization methods rely on pose-space sample sets that are evaluated against individual sensor measurements. While these methods can work effectively, they often provide limited mechanisms to control the amount of hypotheses based on their similarity. Furthermore, they do not explicitly use associations to create or remove these hypotheses. We propose a global localization strategy that allows a mobile robot to localize using explicit symbolic associations with annotated geometric features. The feature measurements are first combined locally to form a consistent local feature map that is accurate in the vicinity of the robot. Based on this local map, an association tree is maintained that pairs local map features with global map features. The leaves of the tree represent distinct hypotheses on the data associations that allow for globally unmapped features appearing in the local map. We propose a registration step to check if an association hypothesis is supported. Our implementation considers a robot equipped with a 2D LiDAR and we compare the proposed method to a particle filter. We show that maintaining a smaller set of data association hypotheses results in better performance and explainability of the robot’s assumptions, as well as allowing more control over hypothesis bookkeeping. We provide experimental evaluations with a physical robot in a real environment using an annotated geometric building model that contains only the static part of the indoor scene. The result shows that our method outperforms a particle filter implementation in most cases by using fewer hypotheses with more descriptive power.

Mountain Witches: Yamauba

Mountain Witches: Yamauba