bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Strategic Orientation and Firm Performance in an Artistic Environment
Authors: Voss Glenn B. , Voss Zannie Giraud
Published: November 2003

Conventional marketing wisdom holds that a customer orientation provides a firm with a better understanding of its customers, which subsequently leads to enhanced customer satisfaction and firm performance. However, there are cautions that being too customer focused can lead to inertia, and anecdotal evidence suggests that it may be better to “ignore your customer” when developing new products. Building on the market orientation research stream, the authors examine the impact of three alternative strategic orientations—customer orientation, competitor orientation, and product orientation—on a variety of subjective and objective measures of performance in the nonprofit professional theater industry, which is marked by high rates of artistic innovation and largely unpredictable customer preferences. The results indicate that the association between strategic orientation and performance varies depending on the type of performance measure used. However, the most unambiguous result is that a customer orientation exhibits a negative association with subscriber ticket sales, total income, and net surplus/deficit.
The Influence of Anxiety: Ephebes, Έpées, Posterity, and Preposterity in the World of Stephen Brown
Authors: Holbrook Morris B.
Published: November 2003

The author responds to a recent article in which Stephen Brown compares the work of Ted Levitt and Morris Holbrook, casts the two into a precursor–ephebe relationship, and concludes that they are “father and son, one and the same.” Although honored by this comparison, the author mentions certain ways in which Brown's interpretations appear to distort his intentions as an author.
Marketing Literature Review
Authors: Leonard Myron
Published: November 2003

This section is based on a selection of article abstracts from a comprehensive business literature database. Marketing-related abstracts from over 125 journals (both academic and trade) are reviewed by JM staff. Descriptors for each entry are assigned by JM staff. Each issue of this section represents three months of entries into the database. JM wishes to thank UMI for use of the ABI/INFORM business database.

Each entry has an identifying number. Cross-references appear immediately under each subject heading.

The following article abstracts are available on-line from the ABI/INFORM database, which is published and copyrighted by UMI. For additional information about access to the database or about obtaining photocopies of the articles abstracted here, please call (800) 626-2823 or write to UMI, 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Each article costs $10.75. Customers with deposit accounts of $200 or more pay $8.75 per article.
New Product Quality and Product Development Teams
Authors: Sethi Rajesh
Published: November 2003

New product quality has been found to have a major influence on the market success and profitability of a new product. Firms are increasingly using cross-functional teams for product development in hopes of improving product quality, yet researchers know little about how such teams affect quality. The author proposes and tests a series of hypotheses regarding how new product quality is affected by team characteristics (functional diversity and information integration) and contextual influences (time pressure, product innovativeness from the firm's perspective, customers’ influence on the product development process, and quality orientation in the firm). The findings reveal that quality is positively related to information integration in the team, customers’ influence on the product development process, and quality orientation in the firm. New product quality is negatively influenced by the innovativeness of the new product from the firm's perspective. However, information integration mitigates the negative effect of innovativeness on quality. Quality orientation weakens the relationship between information integration and quality. Time pressure and functional diversity do not have any effect on product quality.
Marketing Literature Review
Authors: Leonard Myron
Published: November 2003

This section is based on a selection of article abstracts from a comprehensive business literature database. Marketing-related abstracts from over 125 journals (both academic and trade) are reviewed by JM staff. Descriptors for each entry are assigned by JM staff. Each issue of this section represents three months of entries into the database. JM thanks UMI for use of the ABI/INFORM business database.

Each entry has an identifying number. Cross-references appear immediately under each subject heading.

The following article abstracts are available online from the ABI/INFORM database, which is published and copyrighted by UMI. For additional information about access to the database or about obtaining photocopies of the articles abstracted here, please call (800) 626-2823 or write to UMI, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106.
Performance Productivity and Quality of Frontline Employees in Service Organizations
Authors: Singh Jagdip
Published: November 2003

To understand mechanisms that govern the productivity and quality of frontline employees (FLEs), this study (1) provides a conceptual distinction between frontline productivity and quality, (2) proposes an extended role theory–based model for mapping the influence of key antecedents and consequences of FLE productivity and quality, and (3) examines the effects of coping resources—boss support and task control—in helping employees cope with the inherent productivity–quality tension in frontline jobs. Using data from 159 customer service and 147 bill collection representatives, the author examines proposed hypotheses through multiple-group path analysis. The results indicate support for the distinction between productivity and quality. Moreover, with increasing burnout levels, FLEs are found to maintain their productivity levels while their quality deteriorates directly. Relative to boss support, task control emerges as a more powerful resource in aiding FLEs in coping with role tension. Key implications for theory and practice regarding FLE management and effectiveness are discussed.
Corridors of Influence in the Dissemination of Customer-Oriented Strategy to Customer Contact Service Employees
Authors: Hartline Michael D. , Maxham James G. , McKee Daryl O.
Published: November 2003

It is widely held that a customer-oriented firm is more likely to deliver exceptional service quality and create satisfied customers. However, little research has addressed the question of how the orientation can be disseminated among employees throughout the firm. This dissemination is especially important in service firms in which frontline, customer contact employees are responsible for translating a customer-oriented strategy into quality service. The authors propose a structural model that explains how service firms can disseminate their customer-oriented strategy by aligning the strategy with specific management- and employee-initiated control mechanisms (i.e., formalization, empowerment, behavior-based employee evaluation, and work group socialization) that lead to increased commitment and shared values on the part of customer contact employees. The findings indicate that there are three “corridors of influence” between customer-oriented strategy and shared employee values. The dominant corridor, which focuses on dual (management- and employee-initiated) control, emphasizes the importance of work group socialization and organizational commitment in the dissemination of customer-oriented strategy. A secondary corridor focuses on two management-initiated control mechanisms: formalization and behavior-based evaluation. The final corridor, which focuses on the empowerment of customer contact employees, has a more limited impact than originally hypothesized. The authors discuss implications for the implementation of customer-oriented strategy and the management of customer contact employees, along with several directions for further research.
Managing Marketing Channel Opportunism: The Efficacy of Alternative Governance Mechanisms
Authors: Brown James R. , Dev Chekitan S. , Lee Dong-Jin
Published: November 2003

The authors examine three governance mechanisms according to how well they mitigate opportunism in marketing channels. Using the U.S. hotel industry as the research context, the authors investigate how opportunism is limited by (1) ownership, (2) investment in transaction-specific assets, and (3) norms of relational exchange. They also investigate how various combinations of these governance mechanisms affect opportunistic behavior in hotel channels. Overall, the results generally support emphasizing relational norms in managing opportunism in marketing channels. The results also indicate that opportunism can be exacerbated when ownership or investments in transaction-specific assets are accentuated as governance mechanisms.
No Pain, No Gain: A Critical Review of the Literature on Signaling Unobservable Product Quality
Authors: Kirmani Amna , Rao Akshay R.
Published: November 2003

Recent research in information economics has focused on signals as mechanisms to solve problems that arise under asymmetric information. A firm or individual credibly communicates the level of some unobservable element in a transaction by providing an observable signal. When applied to conveying product quality information, this issue is of particular interest to the discipline of marketing. In this article, the authors focus on the ways a firm may signal the unobservable quality of its products through several marketing-mix variables. The authors develop a typology that classifies signals and discuss the available empirical evidence on the signaling properties of several marketing variables. They consider managerial implications of signaling and outline an agenda for future empirical research.
The Impact of Ad Repetition and Ad Content on Consumer Perceptions of Incongruent Extensions
Authors: Lane Vicki R.
Published: November 2003

The author challenges the view that incongruent extensions are doomed to fail and demonstrates that brand extension ad content and repeated exposure to those advertisements influence consumer reactions to incongruent extensions. In a study of four highly regarded brands, participants who viewed brand extension advertisements five times evaluated incongruent extensions more positively, expressed higher usage intentions, indicated more favorable consistency judgments, and exhibited increased elaboration and more positive elaboration than did participants who viewed the advertisements only once. This relationship was attenuated for highly incongruent extensions, for which the advertisement evoked primarily peripheral brand associations instead of benefit brand associations. However, for moderately incongruent extensions, advertisements that evoked either peripheral or benefit associations were equally effective. Process measures indicate the importance of the extent and nature of elaborative processing.
Slotting Allowances and Fees: Schools of thought and the Views of Practicing Managers
Authors: Bloom Paul N. , Gundlach Gregory T. , Cannon Joseph P.
Published: November 2003

Slotting allowances and fees have attracted considerable attention and controversy since their introduction in the mid-1980s. Currently, two schools of thought dominate the debate on these fees. One considers them a tool for improving distribution efficiency, whereas the other proposes that the fees operate as a mechanism for enhancing market power and damaging competition. Managers and public policymakers are uncertain as to the effects of slotting fees and the appropriate strategy to adopt. The current study attempts to inform the debate surrounding slotting fees and provide guidance to managers and policymakers. The authors summarize the arguments of the two schools and investigate the views of managers toward them through a large-scale survey of manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer grocery institutions. Though exploratory, the findings suggest that slotting fees shift the risk of new product introductions and help apportion the demand and supply of new products. The authors find that slotting fees are also associated with the exercise of retailer market power, are applied in a discriminatory fashion, and lead to higher retail prices. The authors encourage further research that examines slotting fees and their effects and indicate prospective directions.
The Incumbent's Curse? Incumbency, Size, and Radical Product Innovation
Authors: Chandy Rajesh K. , Tellis Gerard J.
Published: November 2003

A common perception in the field of innovation is that large, incumbent firms rarely introduce radical product innovations. Such firms tend to solidify their market positions with relatively incremental innovations. They may even turn away entrepreneurs who come up with radical innovations, though they themselves had such entrepreneurial roots. As a result, radical innovations tend to come from small firms, the outsiders. This thesis, which we term the “incumbent's curse,” is commonly accepted in academic and popular accounts of radical innovation. This topic is important, because radical product innovation is an engine of economic growth that has created entire industries and brought down giants while catapulting small firms to market leadership. Yet a review of the literature suggests that the evidence for the incumbent's curse is based on anecdotes and scattered case studies of highly specialized innovations. It is not clear if it applies widely across several product categories. The authors reexamine the incumbent's curse using a historical analysis of a relatively large number of radical innovations in the consumer durables and office products categories. In particular, the authors seek to answer the following questions: (1) How prevalent is this phenomenon? What percentage of radical innovations do incumbents versus nonincumbents introduce? What percentage of radical innovations do small firms versus large firms introduce? (2) Is the phenomenon a curse that invariably afflicts large incumbents in current industries? Is it driven by incumbency or size? and (3) How consistent is the phenomenon? Has the increasing size and complexity of firms over time accentuated it? Does it vary across national boundaries? Results from the study suggest that conventional wisdom about the incumbent's curse may not always be valid.
Sales through Sequential Distribution Channels: An Application to Movies and Videos
Authors: Lehmann Donald R. , Weinberg Charles B.
Published: November 2003

This article focuses on the sale of a product across channels that are entered sequentially. Using a two-channel model, the authors derive the optimal time to enter the second channel and then obtain a specific parametric solution for movie distributors regarding theater attendance and subsequent sales to video stores. Using data from 35 movies, the authors estimate exponential sales curves for both theater attendance and video rentals and demonstrate how knowledge of the sales parameters in the first channel (theaters) helps predict sales in the second channel (video rentals). Finally, from the movie distributor's perspective, the authors calculate optimal release times based on the model and its estimated parameters. The results suggest that profits would increase if movies were released to video sooner than is the current practice.
Relationship Marketing Activities, Commitment, and Membership Behaviors in Professional Associations
Authors: Gruen Thomas W. , Summers John O. , Acito Frank
Published: November 2003

The authors conceptualize and empirically examine professional associations’ relationship-building efforts (core services performance, rewards for contributions, dissemination of organizational knowledge, member interdependence enhancement activities, and reliance on external membership requirements) that are theorized to enhance their membership's commitment to the relationship as well as the membership's relationship behaviors. Three components of commitment—affective, continuance, and normative—are theorized to mediate differentially the correlation between the associations’ relationship-building efforts and their members’ relationship behaviors (membership retention, exchange-based participation, and cooperatively based coproduction). Confirmatory factor analysis validates the commitment measures, and structural equations analysis indicates that normative and affective commitment partially mediate the effects of selected relationship-building efforts on coproduction and member participation. Core services performance was the only construct in the model found to affect member retention.
Self-Service Technologies: Understanding Customer Satisfaction with Technology-Based Service Encounters
Authors: Meuter Matthew L. , Ostrom Amy L. , Roundtree Robert I. , Bitner Mary Jo
Published: November 2003

Self-service technologies (SSTs) are increasingly changing the way customers interact with firms to create service outcomes. Given that the emphasis in the academic literature has focused almost exclusively on the interpersonal dynamics of service encounters, there is much to be learned about customer interactions with technology-based self-service delivery options. In this research, the authors describe the results of a critical incident study based on more than 800 incidents involving SSTs solicited from customers through a Web-based survey. The authors categorize these incidents to discern the sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with SSTs. The authors present a discussion of the resulting critical incident categories and their relationship to customer attributions, complaining behavior, word of mouth, and repeat purchase intentions, which is followed by implications for managers and researchers.
Sales Call Anxiety: Exploring What it Means When Fear Rules a Sales Encounter
Authors: Verbeke Willem , Bagozzi Richard P.
Published: November 2003

The goal of this study is to develop and test a conceptualization of sales call anxiety (SCA) on the basis of current insights from the cognitive approach to social anxiety. Sales call anxiety is an irrepressible fear of being negatively evaluated and rejected by a customer, and it is coupled with a desire to avoid undertaking specific functional actions in selling situations. The authors present and test a model of SCA in two selling situations known to have threatening consequences for salespeople: canvasing and closing. The authors find that SCA consists of four components: negative self-evaluations, negative evaluations from customers, awareness of physiological symptoms (e.g., a queasy stomach, shaky voice, blushing), and protective actions (e.g., avoiding eye contact, fiddling with the hands, shunning self-disclosures). The authors show that these dimensions are functions of negative affectivity and anxiety-provoking contextual cues and that they negatively influenced the performance of 189 mortgage salespeople.
The Effects of Strategy Type on the Market Orientation–Performance Relationship
Authors: Matsuno Ken , Mentzer John T.
Published: November 2003

Prior research has been equivocal on the role that competitive environment plays in moderating the relationship between market orientation and a firm's business performance, even though such a moderating effect is conceptually quite plausible ( Slater and Narver 1994 ). In this article, the authors empirically examine the role of business strategy type as an alternative, potential moderator of the market orientation–performance relationship. By using an improved version of Kohli and Jaworski's market orientation scale ( Jaworski and Kohli 1993 ; Kohli, Jaworski, and Kumar 1993 ), the authors find evidence that supports the moderating effects of business strategy type on the strength of the relationship between market orientation and business performance. The authors also offer implications and future research questions based on the findings.
Opportunism in Interfirm Relationships: Forms, Outcomes, and Solutions
Authors: Wathne Kenneth H. , Heide Jan B.
Published: November 2003

Much of the recent literature on interfirm relationships has focused on strategies for controlling opportunism. Somewhat surprisingly, little attention has been paid in this literature to the opportunism construct itself. Specifically, prior research has failed to recognize the different types of behavior that are hidden behind the general opportunism label. As a consequence, the knowledge of strategies for managing opportunism remains incomplete. The authors review the original and emergent conceptualizations of opportunism and illustrate them using actual industry cases. The authors also develop a conceptual framework of governance strategies that can be used to manage different forms of opportunism.
When Does Vertical Coordination Improve Industrial Purchasing Relationships?
Authors: Buvik Arnt , John George
Published: November 2003

Vertically coordinated ties are purportedly effective responses to the uncertainties of fast-changing purchasing environments. Building on transaction costs arguments and related work in marketing, the authors analyze vertical coordination as a response to external uncertainty and show that its effectiveness is highly contingent on the magnitude of the safeguarding problem present. Indeed, its beneficial effects can be overwhelmed by the consequential increase in trading hazards. The authors use survey data from a sample of 161 industrial buyers to test the hypotheses. When specific investments are modest, greater vertical coordination diminishes transaction difficulties in adapting to high environmental uncertainty. Conversely, vertical coordination increases transaction difficulties when firms adapt to high environmental uncertainty and specific investments are substantial. The authors discuss the importance of these results for transaction cost theory and develop the results into a managerial decision framework for designing purchasing ties that balances safeguarding and adaptation.
A Benefit Congruency Framework of Sales Promotion Effectiveness
Authors: Chandon Pierre , Wansink Brian , Laurent Gilles
Published: November 2003

Are monetary savings the only explanation for consumer response to a sales promotion? If not, how do the different consumer benefits of a sales promotion influence its effectiveness? To address the first question, this research builds a framework of the multiple consumer benefits of a sales promotion. Through a series of measurement studies, the authors find that monetary and nonmonetary promotions provide consumers with different levels of three hedonic benefits (opportunities for value expression, entertainment, and exploration) and three utilitarian benefits (savings, higher product quality, and improved shopping convenience). To address the second question, the authors develop a benefit congruency framework, which argues that a sales promotion's effectiveness is determined by the utilitarian or hedonic nature of the benefits it delivers and the congruence these benefits have with the promoted product. Among other results, two choice experiments show that, as predicted for high-equity brands, monetary promotions are more effective for utilitarian products than for hedonic products. The authors then discuss the implications of the multibenefit and the benefit congruency frameworks for understanding consumer responses to sales promotions, reexamining the value of everyday-low-price policies, and designing more effective sales promotions.
The Commodification of the American West: Marketers’ Production of Cultural Meanings at the Trade Show
Authors: Peñaloza Lisa
Published: November 2003

The author employs critical ethnographic methods to examine empirically marketers’ processes of producing cultural meanings at a western stock show and rodeo. Western cultural meanings and values of freedom, naturalism, competition, and family values are produced by marketers in attracting a nonranch audience; juxtaposing business, education, and entertainment; making ample references to historical tradition; and using business activity as the basis for claims of authenticity. Marketing implications center on tapping into rich sources of cultural meaning by (1) attending to the cultural dimensions of economic activity, (2) taking industry as the unit of analysis through an examination of representations of production in market discourses and practices, (3) expanding history from a research method to a source of market meaning, and (4) considering the marketplace as a lived tradition.
Entry Barriers: A Dull-, One-, or Two-Edged Sword for Incumbents? Unraveling the Paradox from a Contingency Perspective
Authors: Han Jin K. , Kim Namwoon , Kim Hong-Bumm
Published: November 2003

The long-held precept of equating entry barriers with sustainable incumbent advantage increasingly is met with skepticism as incidents of innovative late entrants leapfrogging over market incumbents become more pervasive across industries. Ostensibly, the reassessment of the traditional assumptions underlying entry barrier strategy has become imperative; to this end, the authors present a framework that investigates the contingent effects of incumbents' barrier building on their own performance. Specifically, the authors examine five types of entry barriers (capital requirements, cost advantages, switching costs, distribution access, and proprietary assets) for the nature of their impact in the following presupposed yet unresolved roles: (1) as effectual versus ineffectual entry deterrents and (2) as enablers versus inhibitors of incumbents' innovativeness. In addition, the authors take other variables into account (i.e., competitors' innovativeness and incumbents' market and technological orientation) to identify the contingencies of the framework. Using data from Korean consumer product industries, the authors empirically test and substantiate the variable (i.e., positive, negative, and neutral) impact of entry barriers on incumbents' performance.
Buyer–Supplier Relationships and Customer Firm Costs
Authors: Cannon Joseph P. , Homburg Christian
Published: November 2003

Academic literature and business practice are directing increased attention to the importance of creating value in buyer–supplier relationships. One method for creating value is to reduce costs in commercial exchange. The authors develop a model that explains how supplier behaviors and the management of suppliers affect a customer firm's direct product, acquisition, and operations costs. The model proposes that these costs mediate the relationship between buyer–supplier relationship behaviors and the customer firm's intentions to expand future purchases from the supplier. The model is tested on data collected from almost 500 buying organizations in the United States and Germany. The results indicate that increased communication frequency, different forms of supplier accommodation, product quality, and the geographic closeness of the supplier's facilities to the customer's buying location lower customer firm costs. In addition, customer firms intend to increase purchases from suppliers that provide value by lowering each of these costs.
Market Response to a Major Policy Change in the Marketing Mix: Learning from Procter & Gamble's Value Pricing Strategy
Authors: Ailawadi Kusum L. , Lehmann Donald R. , Neslin Scott A.
Published: November 2003

Much research has focused on how consumers and competitors respond to short-term changes in advertising and promotion. In contrast, the authors use Procter & Gamble's (P&G's) value pricing strategy as an opportunity to study consumer and competitor response to a major, sustained change in marketing-mix strategy. They compile data across 24 categories in which P&G has a significant market share, covering the period from 1990 to 1996, during which P&G instituted major cuts in deals and coupons and substantial increases in advertising. The authors estimate an econometric model to trace how consumers and competitors react to such changes. For the average brand, the authors find that deals and coupons increase market penetration and surprisingly have little impact on customer retention as measured by share-of-category requirements and category usage. For the average brand, advertising works primarily by increasing penetration, but its effect is weaker than that of promotion. The authors find that competitor response is related to how strongly the competitor's market share is affected by the change in marketing mix and the competitor's own response and to structural factors such as market share position and multi-market contact. The net impact of these consumer and competitor responses is a decrease in market share for the company that institutes sustained decreases in promotion coupled with increases in advertising.
On the Optimality of Delegating Pricing Authority to the Sales Force
Authors: Joseph Kissan
Published: November 2003

An important decision facing sales managers today is precisely how much pricing authority should be delegated to the sales force. Received theory suggests that the salesperson's superior information about customers' valuations will invariably make price delegation profitable for the firm. The empirical evidence, however, reveals that firms that grant full pricing authority generate lower profits than firms that limit pricing authority. Given this state of affairs, the author develops and analyzes a formal model that examines the optimality of delegating pricing authority to the sales force. The model preserves the notion of superior information assumed in the literature but considers as well a negative feature of much concern to practitioners, namely, the suboptimal substitution of selling effort by price discounting. The model reveals that providing the salesperson with full pricing authority is not always optimal. Specifically, in some environments, it is appropriate to limit pricing authority because this decision forces the salesperson to target high-valuation customers. In addition, the model predicts that the commission rate offered to the salesperson should be higher when pricing authority is limited. The author concludes by summarizing the context, calculus, and implications of the model with a view to assisting managers charged with the price-delegation decision.
Pursuing the Value-Conscious Consumer: Store Brands versus National Brand Promotions
Authors: Ailawadi Kusum L. , Neslin Scott A. , Gedenk Karen
Published: November 2003

The objective of this article is to determine whether national brand promotions and store brands attract the same value-conscious consumers, which would aggravate channel conflict between manufacturers and retailers. The authors identify psychographic and demographic traits that potentially drive usage of store brands and national brand promotions. They then develop a framework and structural equation model to study the association of these traits with store brand and national brand promotion usage. The authors find that though demographics do not influence these behaviors directly, they have significant associations with psychographic characteristics and therefore are useful for market targeting. Most important, usage of store brands and usage of promotions, particularly out-of-store promotions, are associated with different psychographics. Store brand use correlates mainly with traits related to economic benefits and costs, whereas the use of out-of-store promotions is associated mainly with traits related to hedonic benefits and costs. These differences result in four well-defined and identifiable consumer segments: deal-focused consumers, store brand–focused consumers, deal and store brand users (use-all), and nonusers of both store brands and deals (use-none). Therefore, manufacturers and retailers have the opportunity to either avoid each other or compete head to head, depending on which segment they target.
Exploring the Phenomenon of Customers' Desired Value Change in a Business-to-Business Context
Authors: Flint Daniel J. , Woodruff Robert B. , Gardial Sarah Fisher
Published: November 2003

Increasingly, organizations are pushed to adopt customer value strategies in order to grow profits and ensure long-term survival. Yet little is known about the dynamic nature of how customers perceive value from suppliers. The authors present findings from a grounded theory study conducted in a business-to-business context that sheds light on the nature of customers' desired value change and related contextual conditions. The authors discover that the phenomenon of customers' desired value change typically occurs in an emotional context, as managers try to cope with feelings of tension. The phenomenon extends well past the change itself into strategies customers use to motivate suppliers to meet their changed needs. Customers' value change provides a reason for customers to seek, maintain, or move away from relationships with suppliers.
Psychology as a Science
Authors: Fuchs Alfred H. , Milar Katharine S.
Published: November 2003

Scientific psychology arose in the nineteenth century out of western philosophical inquiry into the nature and function of mind. This “new psychology” was symbolized by the laboratory of psychology at the University of Leipzig founded by Wilhelm Wundt in 1879; experimental methods were adapted from physiology and psychophysics to pursue traditional philosophical questions about mental life. Early laboratory experiments included the measurement of the time course of mental operations, the determination of sensory thresholds, and in time, more complex cognitive processes. Introspection under controlled laboratory conditions replaced philosophical introspection of conscious experience, but its importance waned as the science came to embrace a wider range of normal and abnormal mental and behavioral phenomena and as children and animals became the subjects of investigation, both in and of themselves and in comparison with adult human subjects. Schools and systems of psychology (e.g., Structuralism, Functionalism, Gestalt Psychology, and Behaviorism) competed to define the content of psychology and its methods. As psychology matured, the definition of the psychological experiment, the methods appropriate to it, and the statistical treatment of data changed to meet evolving conceptions of scientific psychology and the diverse subject matter that contemporary psychology came to encompass.
Sensation and Perception
Authors: Coren Stanley
Published: November 2003

The long history of sensory and perceptual research has resulted in a huge data base and much information that has accrued on the substantive issues about how the specific sensory systems operate and how we extract and interpret information from them.

This chapter is an overview of the field and concentrates on general themes, rather than upon the data and findings from any one sensory modality. From the overview some idea of the context and scope of the study of perception, and its relation to other aspects of psychology and other sciences will emerge. Three global issues appear repeatedly in several guises throughout the history. The first concerns the perceptual problem or the issue of correspondence between our internal representation of the environment in consciousness as compared to objectively measured external stimuli. The second has to do with borrowing methods and theoretical frameworks from other sciences, such as physics and physiology.

And the third is the distinction between sensation and perception; currently they are united in the organism and are interdependent aspects of behavior. The task of the future may be to find some way of reuniting the two aspects of research, which are inextricably bound to each other.
Cognition and Learning
Authors: Leahey Thomas Hardy
Published: November 2003

This chapter traces ideas about cognition and learning from the ancient Greeks to modern times. Its treatment is divided into three sections. The first section, The Philosophical Period, describes the epistemological approach to cognition, in which theories about mental activity were framed with an eye toward the search for justifiable knowledge. The impact of the Scientific Revolution is emphasized. It created a new concept of mind—the Way of Ideas—that ultimately pushed thinkers away from philosophical concerns to psychological ones. The second section, The Early Scientific Period, begins with the founding psychology of consciousness and moves through the behaviorist movement of c. 1920–1950, in which under the impact of evolutionary theory the topic of learning—adaptive behavior change—took precedence over the topic of cognition. The third section, The Modern Scientific Period, examines contemporary cognitive science, the fruit of seeing the mind as like a computer program. The three founding concepts of this new approach to cognition and learning, feedback, information, and computationalism are described, and the two chief architectures of cognition, the symbol system hypothesis and the connectionist, or subsymbolic hypothesis are compared and contrasted.
Intelligence
Authors: Sternberg Robert J.
Published: November 2003

This article reviews the history of theory and research on intelligence. It starts with a consideration of expert opinions on the nature of intelligence. It considers in particular operational definitions and symposia of expert opinions on the nature of intelligence. The chapter then continues with a discussion of the seminal views of Galton and Binet. Then it discusses psychometric theories of intelligence, including Spearman's theory of the general factor (so‐called “two‐factor theory”), Thomson's theory of bonds, Thurstone's theory of primary mental abilities, hierarchical theories (Holzinger, Burt, Vernon, Cattell, Carroll, Guilford's structure‐of‐intellect theory, and Guttman's radex theory.

After discussing psychometric theories, developmental theories are discussed. First, Piaget's theory of intellectual development is considered. Next, Vygotsky's theory is considered. The first theory emphasizes development more from the inside‐out, and the latter theory, more from the outside‐in. Next the chapter moves on to theories of cognitive processes. The earliest cognitive work was done by Spearman. Many years later, Hunt proposed a cognitive‐correlates approach, and Sternberg, a complementary cognitive‐components approach. A third approach emphasized cognitive training, and a fourth approach, cognitive contents. The chapter next discusses biological approaches and then, contextual approaches.

Finally, the chapter discusses recent systems approaches to intelligence, which integrate some of the earlier approaches. Gardner has proposed a theory of multiple intelligences, according to which each of 8 sets of skills are viewed as emanating from separate intelligences. Sternberg has proposed a triarchic theory, which emphasizes the respective roles of analytical, creative, and practical abilities.

Approaches to intelligence are still evolving, and the future may bring new syntheses with regard to the best ways to understand the nature of human intelligence.
Personality
Authors: Barenbaum Nicole B. , Winter David G.
Published: November 2003

This chapter examines the history of American personality psychology, focusing on a puzzling question: In a field defined as the scientific study of individual persons and differences among persons, how can we explain the history of ambivalence toward case studies and life histories? Adopting a multidisciplinary perspective, we suggest that the marginal status of these methods in personality psychology was related to their identification between 1900 and 1930 as preferred methods in psychiatry, psychopathology (considered primarily a medical specialty at the time), and sociology. In contrast, psychologists interested in personality adopted psychometric measures that could establish their scientific expertise in meeting practical goals. These preferences persisted during the emergence of personality psychology as a separate subdiscipline in the 1930s, despite calls for more attention to case study methods. To illustrate the lasting effects of these methodological choices, we trace the efforts of Gordon Allport and Henry Murray to promote the study of individual lives in personality psychology, and we examine psychologists' responses to their work. Finally, we reconsider the historical course of personality psychologists' ambivalence toward the study of individual lives and suggest an interpretation of the revival of interest in case studies, life histories, and psychobiography in recent years.
Educational Psychology
Authors: Weinstein Claire Ellen , Way Pamela J.
Published: November 2003

The history of educational psychology traces a path from its origins in concerns about cultural improvement and transmission, philosophy, general education, and psychology. Although the folk tradition of educational psychology has probably existed since the earliest times of humans on the earth, formal histories of educational psychology trace its origins to ancient philosophers. In the late eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, there were strong European influences on the early development path of educational psychology as a discipline. The subtle transition from philosophy to newer conceptions of psychology as the framework for understanding and applying educational variables was introduced to America by William James, and greatly expanded in 1910 in an essay by Thorndike in the first issue of the
Journal of Educational Psychology
. As Mayer reflected, there was a time during which psychologists developed theories, and left it to educators to apply them; next came a period during which psychology resolutely focused on theoretical issues that were unrelated to educational issues, and education resolutely focused primarily on practical issues; and, now, we have an era in which psychology and education seem to be working more hand‐in‐hand, combining the strengths of both groups to work for the mutual benefit of each group, as well as for the public.
Assessment Psychology
Authors: Weiner Irving B.
Published: November 2003

Psychological assessment consists of translating observations of a person into inferences about the person's nature and how he or she is likely to behave in various situations. In more formal terms, assessment psychology is the field of behavioral science concerned with methods of identifying similarities and differences among people in their personal characteristics, functioning capacities, and action tendencies. Assessment methods are accordingly designed to identify what people are like and how they can be expected to conduct themselves, specifically with respect to their disposition to think, feel, and act in certain ways. This chapter begins by identifying the origins of assessment psychology and then traces the development of assessment methods for serving four purposes: the evaluation of intellectual ability, the identification of personality characteristics and psychopathology, the monitoring of neuropsychological functioning, and the measurement of aptitudes, achievement, and interests. The chapter concludes with comments concerning issues currently confronting assessment psychology and bearing on its future prospects.
Clinical Psychology
Authors: Routh Donald K. , Reisman John M.
Published: November 2003

The study of psychopathology, later a part of clinical psychology, was a part of modern psychology from its inception in Wundt's Leipzig laboratory in 1879. In France, the study of psychopathology was even more central to the concept of psychology of such pioneers as Theodule Ribot, who wrote on disorders of memory and disorders of the personality. The actual founding of clinical psychology, as a field involving helping individuals (as opposed to merely studying them), was due to Lightner Witmer, who in 1896 founded the first psychology clinic at the University of Pennsylvania. Witmer's interest was focused on work with children and on academically related problems more than is the case in present day clinical psychology. Despite Witmer's active involvement in remediation as well as diagnostic study, clinical psychology, as it developed early in the twentieth century was largely concerned with the psychometric evaluation of individuals, particularly with the administration and interpretation of the Binet test. The American Association of Clinical Psychologists, founded by J.E.W. Wallin and Leta Hollingworth in 1917, was the first instance of organized clinical psychology. It was later incorporated as the Clinical Section of the American Psychological Association. After World War II, clinical psychology expanded greatly in America under the stimulus of funds from the Veterans Administration and the National Institute of Mental Health. It also emerged as a field internationally in Great Britain, the Scandinavian countries, and elsewhere as a part of emerging nationalized health systems. Post‐World War II clinical psychology acquired a strong interest in psychological intervention, including psychotherapy and behavior therapy. As the twentieth century drew to a close and psychiatry became preoccupied with psychotropic medications and less interested in psychoanalysis, clinical psychology emerged as a field with the primary expertise in psychotherapy and in the development of evidence‐based approaches to psychological intervention.
Counseling Psychology
Authors: Baker David B.
Published: November 2003

Counseling psychology is a relatively recent phenomenon. The original counseling psychologists were largely social reformers intent on improving the lives of immigrants and children through more thoughtful vocational and career planning. With an emphasis on individual differences, the vocational guidance movement was greeted with interest by applied psychologists, just coming into their own early in the twentieth century. Finding its way in to the university setting, vocational guidance provided laboratories for the development of materials and methods, and provided training for student's training in the field of clinical psychology. With applications in the military, industry, and education, counseling and guidance benefited from significant federal funding after World War II. The federal government's need for and support of mental health professionals, led counseling psychology further from its roots in vocational guidance and closer to its current identity as a health service profession. Today counseling psychology is a recognized area of professional practice in psychology with well‐established graduate training programs, two successful journals, and the American Psychological Association's 10th largest division, Division 17, Counseling Psychology.
Industrial‐Organizational Psychology
Authors: Koppes Laura L.
Published: November 2003

This chapter is a nascent effort to describe the zeitgeist or social‐historical context of industrial‐organizational psychology by identifying various dynamic influences that shaped the rise of the discipline during the past 100 years in the United States. Significant developments and persons were examined within the overall social, cultural and political contexts of the times to answer the question, “Whywere psychologists studying behavior in work settings and applying psychology to improve the workplace?” The first section encapsulates I‐O psychology's growth: industrial‐organizational psychology shifted from a simple, narrowly defined technical field focused on individual issues for accomplishing organizational objectives to a complex, broad scientific and applied discipline emphasizing individual and organizational issues for achieving both individual and organizational goals. The second section describes the dynamic forces that shaped I‐O psychology and reveals that the discipline's evolution was the result of confluences of several external (socioeconomic, business, legal, military, technology, psychology) and internal forces (individuals, theories, and applications). These forces, along with other influences (e.g., interdisciplinary fields), interacted in shaping both the science and practice of industrial‐organizational psychology. The history presented in this chapter is not intended to be a comprehensive description of industrial‐organizational psychology content or a duplication of historical accounts previously written.