Psychological Journal Article Summary and Analysis Research Paper

Psychological Journal Article Summary and Analysis - Research Paper Example Another explicit purpose of the study was to compare mere exposure (exposure without a reward) to a no-treatment control condition. The role that this control condition played in the experiment was to provide a baseline for the analysis of child responses when external rewards were presented. The authors were also interested several factors that contribute to the discrepancy between the tendency for rewards to increase acceptance in field studies on one hand, but the tendency of rewards to decrease liking in laboratory studies. Implicit in the design of their study, the researchers attempted to study the type of reward used, the initial liking, and the intended outcome of the study and whether those factors play a role. To accomplish these tasks, the researchers used a cluster-randomized experimental design that arranged over 400 children into four conditions: an exposure plus tangible non-food reward, an exposure plus social reward, an exposure alone, and a no-treatment control grou p. Over 12 days, the children were presented daily with the exposure to a vegetable that children find objectionable in taste. Then, the children from the respective conditions were either given an additional reward or, for those in the control condition, left alone. The results measured from these tests of taste were collected at a one-month and a three-month point after the 12 exposures in order to examine the effects of the exposures on acquisition and maintenance of the taste. This research design was intended to either accept or reject the hypothesis that external rewards have a significant effect on changing children’s tastes for vegetables. The children in the study fell in between the range of 4 and 6 years old and were randomly assigned to their conditions. To test each of the children individually, the researchers used a vegetable that the child rated in the middle of five other vegetables so that there was the potential of learning to enjoy the taste of that middle vegetable. During the intervention period, children were given praise as a reward (in the social reward condition), a sticker (in the tangible non-food condition), or minimal social interaction (in the no exposure condition). Through all of this testing, the researchers discovered that liking for the vegetable increased in the three intervention conditions as compared to the control condition, in which children were not exposed to the vegetable. Within these results, there was no significant difference in liking between each of the exposure conditions (that is, social rewards did not increase liking more than non-food tangible rewards). In terms of timing after the initial study, each of the interventions maintained their difference at a significant level for one month, during the acquisition phase. However, children who were rewarded with external rewards maintained their liking for three months or more during the maintenance phase. Likewise, during this maintenance phase, there w as no significant difference between the social reward and the non-food tangible reward condition in terms of who continued to like the vegetables more. Meanwhile, the effect of the no reward exposure because insignificant by that three month point. In other words, external rewards do not produce negative effects and may actually be useful to

Apple and the iPod Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Apple and the iPod - Case Study Example Competitiveness in terms of the creation of an advantage for a company emanates from having in place and or developing competitive strategies to achieve that end. In the fast paced world of corporate operations companies cannot afford to stand pat on their developments, and or market positioning as its competitors are always seeking to gain market share through acquiring customers as well as retaining their own brand franchise. The pace of technological change, along with fast changing consumer wants, needs, and desires represents a serious challenge that must be planned for as well as implemented. To fully appreciate the context of this examination, one needs to understand that innovation is defined as "the introduction of something new a new idea, method or device (Merriam Webster Online, 2008). Within a corporate mode, this is not a process that can or does happen overnight, it is a corporate culture that emanates from the top of the leadership structure, and is fostered by an atm osphere that prides new ideas and directions (Tidd et al, 201, p. 228). In helping us to understand the context of innovation in a corporate setting Degraff and Lawrence (2002, p. 2) tell us that creativity is a fundamental part of innovation, and in that sense, today's corporations need to be more creative than in the past as a result of the competitiveness of globalisation, and the increased sophistication of consumers who can access the Internet to compare and analyse products. The information age has heightened the stakes in the consumer arena, thus companies must respond in the product segment of their business. In providing us with a further illustration of this new business climate Degraff and Lawrence (2002, p. 2) advise "Creativity, in short, is the core of all the competencies of an organization because creativity is what makes something better or new". The preceding is a core facet of innovation, which also includes new approaches to the creation of products, maintaining active communication with customers to understand the dynamics of their w ants, needs and desires, and then translating this into innovative products (Degraff and Lawrence, 2002, p. 2). The preceding areas have been covered as they represent important considerations in the study of innovation on