Interpersonal Attraction Essays - Social Psychology,

Interpersonal Attraction Relationships with the individuals around us are key to ones social existence. Personal accounts by people who have been isolated from the outside world serve as a reminder of our dependence on others. What draws us into these relationships? Studies of interpersonal attraction have concluded that people are attracted mostly to those that they find physically attractive and who are geographically close. The first step to understanding why we are attracted to certain individuals we must first understand an individuals person perception or the process of forming impressions of others. First impressions often help us to determine whether we are attracted to another individual. Our first impressions of an individual has a great impact on our perception of that person, even though we encounter that person for only a brief period of time. When we perceive a person we account for both the positive and negative characteristics of that individual. Although most people seem to be interested in another individuals positive characteristics, the negative information is usually weighed so heavily that it overrules all the positive information about that person. What makes another person attractive? Researchers have identified five factors that are important in determining whether we are likely to find another person attractive. These factors are physical attractiveness, proximity, competence, mutual attraction or liking, similarity or complementarity of interest and beliefs. Physical attractiveness is the most important factor in the early stages of relationships. In general, people are more likely to interact with people who they find physically attractive. As Krebs and Adinolfi once stated there is a growing body of evidence which shows that the average person drastically underestimates the influence of physical attractiveness. Although this factor is highly important in affecting the initial attraction, it tends to diminish over time. Physical closeness or proximity is another important factor in interpersonal attraction. Obviously, in order to meet, two people must share close proximity. The sharing of this space will help you to get to know a person better. In some cases becoming more familiar with an individual can lead to a dislike of that individual. More often, though, getting to know someone leads to a deeper relationship with that individual. . The third factor of interpersonal attraction is competence. People tend to be attracted to individuals with the same qualities that they possess, such as intelligence, strength, social skill, education, and athleticism. People who appear too competent may suffer a loss of attractiveness, because the individuals around them feel inferior when near them. Attraction is defined as a force that draws people together. Often times one individual's attraction of another will lead to a liking in return. One possible reason for this is that liking someone actually makes you more physically attractive. Many times a person will improve on their physical appearance to get others to notice. For example, when one wears more fashionable clothing. Another reason that ones attraction leads to mutual attraction is that you tend to be nicer to the people that you like, which in return makes you more attractive to them. We are most attracted to and become more involved with individuals that share similar backgrounds, educational levels, beliefs, values. But what about the theory that opposites attract? The principle of complementarity states that people are attracted to others whose traits or characteristics supplement or contrast their own. This is illustrated by the belief that outgoing individuals are attracted to individuals who are shy and reserved. Statistics show that individuals in long-term relationships prefer to associate with other people who are similar to them. Application of interpersonal attraction do not deal just with the search for love, but stem into the work environment and the classroom . Many researchers used personality test to find suitable college roommates. Also, studies have concluded that students tend to have higher grades if they relate well with the teacher. In conclusion, people tend to be attracted to individuals who are physically attractive, physically accessible and socially available; and similar in terms of purposes, backgrounds, beliefs, and needs. However , interpersonal attraction is not the only factor that effects the building of a strong and health relationship. A good relationship requires communication and the ability to adapt to one another Psychology Essays

Interpersonal Attraction Essays - Social Psychology,

Interpersonal Attraction Relationships with the individuals around us are key to ones social existence. Personal accounts by people who have been isolated from the outside world serve as a reminder of our dependence on others. What draws us into these relationships? Studies of interpersonal attraction have concluded that people are attracted mostly to those that they find physically attractive and who are geographically close. The first step to understanding why we are attracted to certain individuals we must first understand an individuals person perception or the process of forming impressions of others. First impressions often help us to determine whether we are attracted to another individual. Our first impressions of an individual has a great impact on our perception of that person, even though we encounter that person for only a brief period of time. When we perceive a person we account for both the positive and negative characteristics of that individual. Although most people seem to be interested in another individuals positive characteristics, the negative information is usually weighed so heavily that it overrules all the positive information about that person. What makes another person attractive? Researchers have identified five factors that are important in determining whether we are likely to find another person attractive. These factors are physical attractiveness, proximity, competence, mutual attraction or liking, similarity or complementarity of interest and beliefs. Physical attractiveness is the most important factor in the early stages of relationships. In general, people are more likely to interact with people who they find physically attractive. As Krebs and Adinolfi once stated there is a growing body of evidence which shows that the average person drastically underestimates the influence of physical attractiveness. Although this factor is highly important in affecting the initial attraction, it tends to diminish over time. Physical closeness or proximity is another important factor in interpersonal attraction. Obviously, in order to meet, two people must share close proximity. The sharing of this space will help you to get to know a person better. In some cases becoming more familiar with an individual can lead to a dislike of that individual. More often, though, getting to know someone leads to a deeper relationship with that individual. . The third factor of interpersonal attraction is competence. People tend to be attracted to individuals with the same qualities that they possess, such as intelligence, strength, social skill, education, and athleticism. People who appear too competent may suffer a loss of attractiveness, because the individuals around them feel inferior when near them. Attraction is defined as a force that draws people together. Often times one individual's attraction of another will lead to a liking in return. One possible reason for this is that liking someone actually makes you more physically attractive. Many times a person will improve on their physical appearance to get others to notice. For example, when one wears more fashionable clothing. Another reason that ones attraction leads to mutual attraction is that you tend to be nicer to the people that you like, which in return makes you more attractive to them. We are most attracted to and become more involved with individuals that share similar backgrounds, educational levels, beliefs, values. But what about the theory that opposites attract? The principle of complementarity states that people are attracted to others whose traits or characteristics supplement or contrast their own. This is illustrated by the belief that outgoing individuals are attracted to individuals who are shy and reserved. Statistics show that individuals in long-term relationships prefer to associate with other people who are similar to them. Application of interpersonal attraction do not deal just with the search for love, but stem into the work environment and the classroom . Many researchers used personality test to find suitable college roommates. Also, studies have concluded that students tend to have higher grades if they relate well with the teacher. In conclusion, people tend to be attracted to individuals who are physically attractive, physically accessible and socially available; and similar in terms of purposes, backgrounds, beliefs, and needs. However , interpersonal attraction is not the only factor that effects the building of a strong and health relationship. A good relationship requires communication and the ability to adapt to one another Psychology Essays

Aplastic Anemia Essays - Transplantation Medicine, Stem Cells

Aplastic Anemia Essays - Transplantation Medicine, Stem Cells Aplastic Anemia Aplastic anemia is a disease of the bone marrow? the organ that produces the body's blood cells. Approximately two thousand people in the U.S. are diagnosed each year with aplastic anemia. The symptoms of aplastic anemia are fatigue, bruising, infections, and weakness. Although these symptoms are much like those associated with leukemia, aplastic anemia is not a form of cancer. In patients with aplastic anemia the bone marrow stops producing, or produces too few red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Without sufficient red blood cells, oxygen cannot reach organs and tissues throughout the body. A decrease in the number of white blood cells causes the body's ability to fight infection as well as it should. Platelets are needed to help blood clot (Bone). Although the exact cause of aplastic anemia is not known, most evidence points to a combination of factors. The first factor is damaged stem cells. These are the primitive cells in the bone marrow that produce blood cells. Another factor is damage to the bone marrow environment in which blood cells develop (Aplastic). Other factors include abnormalities in the proteins that regulate blood cell production and a malfunctioning immune system that interferes with the normal blood cell production (Bone). Certain environmental factors have been associated with the development of aplastic anemia. Chemotherapy drugs such as busulfan or antibiotics such as chloraphenicol can cause temporary or prolonged aplastic anemia. Chemicals such as benzene and pesticides, infections such as viral hepatitis and mononucleosis, autoimmune disorders and ionizing radiation also have been linked to the development of aplastic anemia. Although exposure to these agents increases the risk of developing aplastic anemia, it is proven that they are not the sole cause of aplastic anemia (Aplastic). Aplastic anemia was once considered incurable. Today, more than fifty percent of patients diagnosed with aplastic anemia can be cured. For patients under the age of fifty and those over fifty that are in good health, the treatment of choice is a bone marrow transplant (National). However, more than half of the patients that are diagnosed are ineligible foe a bone marrow transplant because of age or the lack of a suitable bone marrow donor. For these patients, the preferred treatment is immunosuppressive therapy consisting of injections of antithymocyte globulin (ATG), with or without oral closporine. ATG therapy boosts the production of red blood cells, blood cells, and platelets in thirty to fifty percent of patients. In some cases, blood cell production returns to normal, while in others it returns to a level that allows the patient to have a normal lifestyle (Aplastic). Approximately ten to fifteen percent of patients who initially respond to ATG therapy have the disease relapse during the first twelve months following treatment. Another round of ATG therapy may be administered in an effort to bring blood cell production back to an acceptable level. Some patients who respond to ATG therapy eventually develop another bone marrow disorder such as myelogenous syndrome or acute nonmyelogenous leukemia. These disorders may be temporarily treatable, but are seldom curable. Overall, between thirty and forty percent of patients treated with ATG therapy become long term survivors and the majority of these long term survivors appear to be cured (Aplastic). Patients who have a relative with matching bone marrow have a seventy to ninety percent chance of being cured following a bone marrow transplant. Patients transplanted with marrow from a related donor whose marrow type nearly matches the patient's have a fifty percent chance of being cured. If marrow from a matched unrelated donor is used, the likelihood of a cure is twenty to thirty percent (Bone). Physicians determine whether a donor's marrow type matches the patient's by examining genetic markers on the surface of white blood cells called HLA antigens. These are the antigens that help the body identify invading organisms, and trigger an immune system attack on any substances that do not belong in that particular person's body, such as viruses and bacteria (Severe). If the patient's and donor's HLA antigens do not match, the patient's body will perceive the donor's bone marrow as foreign material to be destroyed. This condition is called graft rejection and results in a failed bone marrow transplant.

Biography of Corrie ten Boom, Hero of the Holocaust

Biography of Corrie ten Boom, Hero of the Holocaust Cornelia Arnolda Johanna Corrie ten Boom (April 15, 1892 – April 15, 1983) was a  Holocaust survivor who started a rehabilitation center for concentration camp survivors as well as a global ministry to preach the power of forgiveness. Fast Facts: Corrie ten Boom Known For: Holocaust survivor who became a renowned Christian leader, known for her teachings on forgivenessOccupation: Watchmaker and writer  Born: April 15, 1892 in Haarlem, the NetherlandsDied: April 15, 1983 in Santa Ana, CaliforniaPublished Works: The Hiding Place,  In My Fathers Place,  Tramp for the LordNotable Quote:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.† Early Life Corrie ten Boom was born in Haarlem, in the Netherlands, on April 15, 1892. She was the youngest of four children; she had a brother, Willem, and two sisters, Nollie and Betsie.  A brother Hendrik Jan died in infancy. Corrie’s grandfather, Willem ten Boom, opened a watchmaker’s shop in Haarlem in 1837. In 1844, he began a weekly prayer service to pray for the Jewish people, who even then experienced discrimination in Europe. When Willem’s son Casper inherited the business, Casper continued that tradition. Corrie’s mother, Cornelia, died in 1921. The family lived on the second floor, above the shop. Corrie ten Boom apprenticed as a watchmaker and in 1922 was named the first woman  to be licensed as a watchmaker in Holland. Over the years, the ten Booms took care of many refugee children and orphans. Corrie taught Bible classes and Sunday school and was active in organizing Christian clubs for Dutch children. Creating a Hideout During the German blitzkrieg across Europe in May 1940,  tanks and soldiers invaded the Netherlands. Corrie, who was 48 at the time, was determined to help her people, so she turned their home into a safe haven for people trying to escape the Nazis. Dutch resistance members carried grandfather clocks into the watch shop. Hidden inside the long clock cases were bricks and mortar, which they used to build a false wall and hidden room in Corrie’s bedroom. Although it was only about two feet deep by eight feet long, this hiding place could hold six or seven people: Jews or members of the Dutch underground. The ten Booms installed a warning buzzer to signal their guests to hide, whenever the Gestapo (secret police) were searching the neighborhood. The hideout worked well for nearly four years because people were constantly coming and going through the busy watch repair shop. But on February 28, 1944, an informant betrayed the operation to the Gestapo. Thirty people, including several of the ten Boom family, were arrested. However, the Nazis failed to find the six people hiding in the secret room. They were rescued two days later by the Dutch resistance movement. Prison Meant Death Corrie’s father Casper, then aged 84, was taken to Scheveningen Prison. He died ten days later. Corrie’s brother Willem, a Dutch Reformed minister, was released thanks to a sympathetic judge. Sister Nollie was also released. Over the next ten months, Corrie and her sister Betsie were shuttled from Scheveningen to Vugt concentration camp in the Netherlands, finally ending in Ravensbruck concentration camp near Berlin, the largest camp for women in German-controlled territories. The prisoners were used for forced labor in farm projects and armament factories. Thousands of women were executed there. Living conditions were brutal, with meager rations and harsh discipline. Even so, Betsie and Corrie conducted secret prayer services in their barracks, using a smuggled Dutch Bible. The women voiced prayers and hymns in whispers to avoid the attention of the guards.   On December 16, 1944, Betsie died at Ravensbruck of starvation and lack of medical care. Corrie later recounted the following lines as Betsies last words: †¦ (we) must tell them what we have learned here. We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. They will listen to us, Corrie, because we have been here.† Two weeks after Betsies death, ten Boom was released from the camp due to claims of a clerical error. Ten Boom  often called this occurrence a miracle. Shortly after ten Booms release, all of the other women in her age group at Ravensbruck were executed.   Post-War Ministry Corrie traveled back to Groningen in the Netherlands, where she recuperated in a convalescent home. A truck took her to her brother Willem’s home in Hilversum, and he arranged for her to go to the family home in Haarlem. In May 1945, she rented a house in Bloemendaal, which she converted into a home for  concentration camp survivors, fellow wartime resistance collaborators, and the disabled. She also set up a nonprofit organization in the Netherlands to support the home and her ministry.   In 1946, ten Boom boarded a freighter for the United States. Once there, she began speaking at Bible classes, churches, and Christian conferences. Throughout 1947, she spoke extensively in Europe and became affiliated with Youth for Christ. It was at a YFC world congress in 1948 that she met Billy Graham and Cliff Barrows. Graham would later play a major role in making her known to the world. From the 1950s through the 1970s, Corrie ten Boom traveled to 64 countries, speaking and preaching about Jesus Christ.  Her 1971 book, The Hiding Place, became a best-seller. In 1975, World Wide Pictures, the film branch of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, released a movie version, with  Jeannette Clift George in the role of Corrie. Later Life Queen Julianna of the Netherlands made ten Boom a knight in 1962. In 1968, she was asked to plant a tree at the Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations, at the Holocaust Memorial in Israel. Gordon College in the United States awarded her an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters in 1976. As her health deteriorated, Corrie settled in Placentia, California in 1977. She received resident alien status  but curtailed her travel after pacemaker surgery. The next year she suffered the first of several strokes, which reduced her ability to talk and get around by herself. Corrie ten Boom died on her 91st birthday, April 15, 1983. She  was buried at Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana, California. Legacy From the time she was released from  Ravensbruck until illness ended her ministry, Corrie ten Boom reached millions of people throughout the world with the message of the gospel. The Hiding Place remains a popular and impactful book, and ten Booms teachings on  forgiveness continue to resonate. Her family home in the Netherlands is now a museum dedicated to remembering the Holocaust.   Sources Corrie Ten Boom House. The Museum.  https://www.corrietenboom.com/en/information/the-museumMoore, Pam Rosewell.  Life Lessons from the Hiding Place: Discovering the Heart of Corrie Ten Boom. Chosen, 2004.United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. â€Å"Ravensbruck.† Holocaust Encyclopedia. www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId10005143.Wheaton College. Biography of Cornelia Arnolda Johanna ten Boom. The Billy Graham Center Archives.  http://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/GUIDES/078.htm#3

The Terrorist Among Us Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Terrorist Among Us - Research Paper Example The second bombing was outside a building, near an abortion clinic, whichwas believed to have been the prime target in the bombing. His actions did only portray him as a hero to the people in the community who had similar views, but also encouraged some of his followers to commit similar acts (Collett, 2005). To make it worse, a restaurant even came up with the sign saying â€Å"Rudolph eats here† as a way of trying to reach out to more customers who had similar affiliations as Eric Rudolph. At the time of the two bombings, people were not that open to the idea of gay marriage or abortion. As of 1996, gay people and abortion was not a generally accepted fact among the members of the society. After managing to accept the death sentence, Rudolph wrote a over a dozen essays stating is beliefs on abortion and gays. Although a mail bomb is a rather rare occurrence, people need to be on the lookout for any suspicious mail that may arrive at their premises or organizations. In most instances, the return address is normally nonexistent of fictitious. In most cases, if not all, the bomb mails are normally addressed to particular people. The letter bombs always targets individuals Additionally, the bomb mails are usually marked as private. They are normally personal; and addressed a specific person unlike other forms of bombing. Personnel working in organizations need to be able to identify suspicious mail without necessarily opening it. There are various indicators, which may act as a red flag to mail bombs. Alternatively, there are various aspects, which may symbolize or give a clue to mail bombings. Some of the common aspects, which may indicate mail bombs, include excessive weight, attributed to the parcel of package, excessive postage, excessive postage material, unusual odors on the package an d excessive securing the material such as tape. In most cases, most

3 researches Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

3 researches - Research Paper Example paper though is the solid inter-relationship between two components that complete each other for their existence like matter and antimatter; black and white photography and genes and inheritance. Matter and antimatter forge a particular chemistry in asymmetry and bonding because one hardly exists without the other, because they both share similar masses. A positron that is positively charged is an antiparticle to the electron that is negatively charged. They are always produced as a pair. Genes and inheritance is also a working pair because a chromosome pair contains characteristics from both parents hence these traits are passed to the children as inheritance. Black and white photography tops it all because it is the most beautiful chemistry in basic visual arts or photography because where one color is involved there can never be any photography the two contrasting color element of black and white have to co-exist in a similar setting to capture the aspect of photography. Perhaps the best hero myth to explain the Joseph Campbell hero’s journey model of delving into the special or imaginary world from the ordinary world and back to the ordinary world in history of myths with famous heroes is one Hercules (BBC). Hercules or Heracles as the Greeks call him is a Greek hero as a son of Zeus, a god and Alcmene the granddaughter of Perseus. Hercules grows up to become a warrior hero. Hercules or Heracles hero starts in the ordinary world when Hera the jealous wife of Zeus made him temporarily insane so that Hercules killed his very own wife and children. As a punishment by the king Eurystheus of Tiryns he was sent to travel for twelve years and perform twelve different gruesome tasks. These tasks seem to capture the special world context because one of the tasks which is killing an evil character by the name of Lernean Hydra who has snake like hydra and nine separate heads shows the difficult tests Hercules had to undergo in dealing with the creatures from the

International Business Essay Example for Free

International Business Essay In present time and age globalisation has gained much more importance then what it had about thirty years ago. No doubt globalisation started ever since human being existed on this planet, but it is observed that in this era geographical boundaries has a very little part to play, when it comes to trade, culture, travelling and communication. Effects of this integration of different economies will have its outcomes and many of them can be seen already. In most countries however due to Globalization one can see the growing concern regarding employment and income distribution (Lee Vivarelli 2006, p. 168). Based on qualative and quantative analysis this paper would come with the conclusion to suggest wether globalisation is beneficial for everybody or the complete opposite. Globalisation means increasing flows of trade, finance and factors of production across the border, with the help of faster transportation and effective communications set up. It is globalisation which is compeletly responsible for making this world a global village. With globalisation, international bonds develop not just amongst specific groups of countries but across a wide global network in which factors of production or finished goods can move freely. The second era of globalisation that we are now living has come as a outcome of a numerous factors, not only because of of internet (which has allowed the speedy flows of massive volumes of information) but also because of intense changes in institutional environments. The economic ideas of the 1970s promoted moves towards financial liberalisation and deregulation within a large number of OECD countries during the 1980s and 1990s, the policy approaches of the Bretton Woods institutions were also modified with the Washington Consensus being built upon the promotion of economic severity, privatisation and liberalisation Stiglitz and Gualerzi (cited in Baddeley 2006, p 392). Furthermore, Baddeley claims that this deregulation has made the movement of capital and factors of production across national boundaries, contributing to the globalisation process In most countries, however, the current wave of globalization has been accompanied by increasing concern about its impact in terms of employment and income distribution (Lee Vivarelli 2006). Evidence has been provided from group studies to explain that globalisation does promotes growth by Dreher (cited in Baddeley 2006, p 393). However, it has been argued that the benefits do not essentially help to alleviate poverty. Krugman and Venables( cited in (cited in Baddeley 2006, p 393) emphasize that globalisation has the potential to benefit less-developed nations but at the start globalisation will worsen world inequality but then it will reduce it down. For example—as transport costs fall below a threshold, developing nations suffer real income declines. Falling transport costs allow core nations to exploit greater economies of scale in manufacturing to the loss of manufacturing sectors in developing economies. Labour demand will fall in peripheral nations and rise in core nations as a consequence. Milanovic (cited in Baddeley 2006, p. 394) completely discards the view of globalisation as something that would benefit any economy, he also provides evidence that, since 1870, globalisation has worsen international inequality with particularly prominent increases in inequality during the 1978–1998 globalisation era. He argues that the blow on less developed countries have been severe which means per capita GDP has not increased in Africa and a number of less developed countries are in a financial crisis and many transition economies are facing extraordinary levels of debt. The point worth mentioning here is that globalisation has increased the level of business activity all around the world but to be honest for many developing countries this is of very little use rather it is to the their detriment. Now when the host country provides its labour and resources, it is just like other economies eating away host countries resources. Plus all the profits are gone somewhere else. And the story does not end here, on the other side developing countries have always been forcing all the countries to reduce the amount of tariff and import duties and talking about how good free trade is. Now the rich countries enjoy economies of scale therefore the imported goods in some poor countries are cheaper than their own home base industry products. This discourages the economy of developing countries and does not allow it to become self sufficient. (Kaplinsky 2001, p. 60) When we look at the labour market outcomes, (Wood 1998, p. 1463) explains that there have been gaps between skilled and unskilled labour both in terms of wages and in terms of unemployment rates and claims that globalisation is the most likely cause for this rising inequality. Feenstra 1998, p. 37) adds outsourcing into the reasearch to prove that the outcomes of globalisation on employment and wages will be comparable to the outcomes of skills-biased technological innovation. Which means demand for skilled labour in less developed countries will rise but the demand for unskilled labour will fall contributing to wage inequality. Even though globalisation has encouraged factor price equalisation, it has been at the expense of lower incomes for low-skilled workers. (Williamson 1997, p. 5) explains that factor-price convergence in the earlier stages of globalisation improved conditions for unskilled workers in Europe but made the situation worse for poor unskilled workers in the new global village. As per the concept of comparative advantage, trade and FDI both should take advantage of the cheap and readily available amount of labour in developing countries and so generate a movement of specialization in domestic labour intensive Activities and, ultimately, an expansion in local employment (Lee Vivarelli 2006, p. 170) On the contrary Heckscher-Ohlin recent research leads to the conclusion that the employment impact of increasing trade is not necessarily positive for a developing country. In a developing country, the final employment impact of increasing trade depends on the interaction between productivity growth and output growth both in traded-goods sectors and in non-traded sectors. The final outcome cannot be assessed for different reasons. On the one hand, export may involve demand-led economic and employment growth, but on the other hand – imports may displace previously protected domestic firms, inducing labour redundancy. Moreover, in the presence of supply constraints (lack of infrastructure, scarcity of skilled labour, under-investment, labour market inefficiencies), productivity growth may exceed output growth even in the exporting sectors, to the detriment of job creation Fosu and Reddy (Lee Vivarelli 2006, p. 171). Finally, lucky sectors of the domestic economy e. g. agriculture, public administration, construction, non-traded services may act as labour sinks, often implying hidden unemployment and underemployment in the informal labour market . Shifting the center of attention from trade to FDI inflows, when a developing country opens its borders to foreign capital, FDIs generate positive employment effects directly and indirectly through job creation by suppliers and retailers. They also produce a tertiary employment effect by generating extra incomes and in that way increasing total demand (Sanjaya 2004, p. 91). By comparing the labour intensities of exported, imported and non-traded goods, it is sorted out that in 21 out of 39 sampled developing country which is an increase in the level of trade resulted in an increase in employment. In the remaining group of 18 countries, however, increased integration in the global economy produced a reduction in employment which is the opposite of (Heckscher-Ohlin theorem). In reality inequality comes from a bunch of other sources: corruption, the overextended power of states, technological change, demographic change and diseases, the spread of AIDS in Africa etc. Globalisation, engagement with the wider changes in the world, is as crucial for the less developed countries as it is for the more developed ones. No country which has cut itself off from the wider world has prospered. Take a look at North Korea or Burma to see what happens to a country which tries to simply isolate itself from the world economy. Future is not in regionalism or dull protectionism. That does not mean you should simply accept free trade. Industries should only be opened up to markets when certain favourable conditions prevail. Nonetheless, you do need to tackle with the wider global economy. â€Å"The main challenge for poorer countries is to find what circumstances of that engagement are† (Giddens 2000) People on both sides of this debate have been very swift to draw conclusions about the Impacts of â€Å"globalization† from their measured poverty numbers. The title of a book published recently by the International Forum of Globalization asks: â€Å"Does globalization help the poor? † and the book confidently answers the question with a big â€Å"no. † The back cover of Bhalla (2002) asks: â€Å"Who has gained from globalization? † and answers with equal confidence: the poor. However, readers of neither book will become any wiser about the answer to these questions than when they started. Actually neither book contains the sort of analysis that would be needed to convincingly allow acknowledgment of the claimed changes in poverty and inequality to â€Å"globalization. † I am not given any evidence that would allow me to identify the role played by greater openness to external trade in the distributional changes observed, against other factors such as rising agricultural productivity, demographic factors, changes in the distribution and returns to education and internal policy reforms (Ravallion, p. 15). Globalisation is like a fire, a form of force which is bad if not controlled but useful if channelled responsibly.

The Importance of Globalization Essay -- Outsourcing, Offshoring, Free

In recent years, terms such as â€Å"Global community,† â€Å"globalization,† and â€Å"global awareness† have seemed to roll off the tongues of every newscaster, advertiser, and politician with such ease that the popular phrases have nearly become clichà ©. With the Internet now possessing a rather prominent role in life and with communications faster than ever, it would seem the world’s rapid progress toward international relations necessitates such terminology. However, in America, these optimistic clichà ©s possess a seed of hypocrisy, a false note that clangs discordantly to disturb the practiced cadence of the telecaster’s report. It is not that America does not â€Å"Think globally,† but rather that, to many Americans, America is the extent of their terrestrial sphere. Yet even within the confines of our own country-world, we don’t shed our comfortable, self-imposed boundaries. We don’t see the growing Hispanic and Asian populations in our midst, viewing them—if we acknowledge them at all—as invaders in our world. According to Census 2000, 35,305,818 people of Hispanic or Latino origin inhabited the United States in the year 2000, nearly 13 million more than in 1990. The census revealed the growth rate among the Hispanic population of the U.S. to be the greatest out of any of the minorities at a surprising 57.9%, and the growth of America’s Asian population to be the second fastest, growing at 48.3% in that single 10- year period (U.S. Census Bureau, Table 4). If the trend of the past decade continues, in two years, the Hispanic population will be the largest minority in the U.S, with Asians making up a larger portion of our population as well. Will we then take notice? Or will we still not offer Asian languages i n our high schools, and insi... ...e outside world, we will never be able to expand our horizons. Until we expand our horizons, we shan’t realize the promise of a true â€Å"global community.† Works Cited U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. â€Å"Population by Race and Hispanic or Latino Origin for the United States: 1990 and 2000 (PHC-T-1).† Available Online. Last updated: April 03, 2001 at 02:19:24 PM. http://blue.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/ phc-t1.html. Table 4. [Accessed 6/3/2001]. Woyach, Robert B. â€Å"World History in the Secondary School Curriculum.† ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education. Bloomington, Indiana. Available Online. Last Updated 1989-09-00 (SIC) http://navigation.helper.realnames.com/framer/1/112/ default.asp?realname=Department+of+Education&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eed%2 Egov%2F&frameid=1&providerid=112&uid=30012423. [Accessed 6/3/2001].

The Effect of Visual and Verbal Information on Attitudes

The Effects of Visual and Verbal Information on Attitudes and Purchase Intentions in Internet Shopping Minjeong Kim, Ph. D. Oregon State University Sharron Lennon, Ph. D. University of Delaware ABSTRACT The present study investigated how different product presentation formats (visual vs. verbal) influence consumer attitudes toward product and purchase intentions in Internet shopping.The overall results from two Web experiments simulating Internet apparel shopping showed that both visual and verbal information had significant effects on affective and cognitive attitudes toward apparel products, but only verbal information had a significant effect on purchase intention. Though the superiority of visual information was predicted based on prior literature, the results of the study supported verbal superiority. This finding provides an important implication for Internet retailers who tend to pay more attention to visual product presentation.Although visual product presentation is also fou nd to be important, detailed product descriptions are critical to positively influence consumer shopping experience in Internet shopping.  © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The Internet is changing almost every aspect of our daily lives, from how we communicate, learn, and play, to how we shop, buy, and consume products and services (Dertrouzos, 1997). Evolving from a new communication Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 25(2): 146–178 (February 2008) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www. interscience. wiley. com)  © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.DOI: 10. 1002/mar. 20204 medium into an innovative retailing medium, the Internet is changing the world of retailing (Klein, 1998). As the fastest growing retail channel, the growth of Internet retail sales nearly tripled that of total retail sales in 2004 (U. S. Census Bureau, 2004). Although Internet retail sales remained only 5% of total retail sales in 2005 (DMNews, 2006), its future growth is optimistic. According to Forrester Re search (2004), Internet retail sales will reach over $331 billion by 2010, accounting for 13% of total retail sales in 2010.With the rapid adoption of the Internet and the growing popularity of broadband among the general population, the future of Internet retailing is bright (â€Å"Digital Economy,† 2000). Despite the impressive growth rate and optimistic outlook, there is compelling evidence to suggest that many consumers are still reluctant to purchase via the Internet. Many Internet retailers continue to struggle with low conversion from browsers to purchasers and high shopping cart abandonment (Internet Retailer, 2005a).The proportion of actual purchasers to total browsers has remained low, ranging between 2. 8% and 3. 2% of Web site visitors (Shop. org. & Boston Consulting Group, 2000), compared to nearly 50% of mall visitors who purchase during their visit as reported by Stillerman Jones and Co. (Sansoni, 1999). In addition, shopping cart abandonment during the Interne t shopping process, especially just prior to checkout, has been prevalent among would-be Internet customers (Shop. org, 2001). Such phenomena imply that there are some factors that keep Internet shoppers from buying via the Internet.A primary deterrent of Internet buying is the inability to physically examine items prior to purchase (Internet Retailer, 2005b; Retail Forward, 2001). According to Forrester Research, more than half the consumers who visit an Internet store do not purchase because they cannot physically inspect an item before purchasing (Internet Retailer, 2005b). Consumers need to acquire adequate product information to make a purchase decision, often by physical examination of a product, but Internet shopping does not accommodate physical product evaluations like brick-and-mortar stores do (Nitse et al. 2004). This is more problematic for certain types of products that require sensory evaluation. Holbrook and Moore (1981) suggested that products with aesthetic, sensor y, or symbolic benefits (e. g. , apparel) must be experienced for adequate judgments to be made. Likewise, in Internet shopping the problem of lack of product examination is magnified for products like apparel that require sensory inspection to assure adequate fit or color co-ordinate items.Although apparel is one of the major merchandise categories sold via the Internet (Internet Retailer, 2003), many sales opportunities are lost because of the inability to touch and feel an item prior to a purchase (Beck, 2003; Pastore, 2000). The biggest reason for not purchasing via the Internet was the uncertainty of fit and size. Such problems caused by the lack of adequate product examination further result in high product return rates (e. g. , 30%) and lost customer loyalty. The estimated loss due THE EFFECTS OF VISUAL AND VERBAL INFORMATION ON ATTITUDES Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 002/mar 147 to these problems was more than $2 billion dollars in the Internet apparel industry (Beck, 2003 ). Responding to the insufficiency of customer experience related to product examination, Internet retailers have begun to implement innovative technologies that improve the Internet shopping experience. To simulate the store shopping experience in which physical inspection of an item is possible, several technologies that enhance visual product presentation (i. e. , 3-D images, virtual models, digital images, and zooming technology) have been introduced (Retail Forward, 2001).For example, Lands’ End launched My Virtual Model (MVM) Visualization technology in 1998 to allow online shoppers to experience products in the virtual dressing room. However, even though big Internet retailers are making substantial financial commitments to adopt these new technologies to improve consumer experience of online product evaluation, their effects are largely unknown. It is a common belief that new technologies will improve the Internet shopping experience, but available evidence does not s upport this common belief.In their panel study with Internet shoppers, Retail Forward found that the Internet shoppers did not perceive 3-D images to be important to their shopping satisfaction, although they considered them a nice feature to have on the Web site. In addition, one recent study found that survey respondents perceived 3-D images and virtual models to be unimportant features in Internet apparel shopping, whereas large pictures and close-ups were perceived to be important features (Kim, Kim, & Lennon, 2006).Regarding virtual models, although Lands’ End reported the positive impact of MVM on conversation rates and average order value (Direct Marketing, 2001), Lane Bryant, the nation’s largest plus-size retailer, removed MVM technology after using it only for a few years because their customers no longer used it (Lane Bryant, 2005). Likewise, the effects of various product presentation technologies are largely unproven, despite the magnitude of financial com mitment required in adopting new technologies. Product nformation plays an important role in consumer purchase decisions (Kim & Lennon, 2000; Mitchell & Boustani, 1994). Particularly due to the inability to physically evaluate products in Internet shopping, product presentation offered by Internet retailers plays a critical role in satisfying consumer needs for adequate product information for purchase decisions (Fiore, Jin, & Kim, 2005; Nitse et al. , 2004; Then & Delong, 1999). Despite its importance in Internet shopping, very little has been learned about how different online product presentation formats influence consumer decision making in Internet shopping.Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how different online product presentation formats influence consumer attitudes toward the product and purchase intention in Internet shopping. This study focused on the two most basic forms of product presentation; visual (picture) and verbal (text) as the first step in the line of research that would investigate various presentation techniques including 3-D images, virtual models, and zooming technology in the future. Research objectives for this study were 148 KIM AND LENNON Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 002/mar Stimuli Information Processing Consumer Responses Imagery Information Processing Affective Attitude Purchase Intention CONTEMPORARY TORN STRETCH DENIM JACKET INFUSED WITH STRETCH FOR A TOUGH LOOK, AND DECORATED IN RHINESTONE ZIG-ZAGS FOR A GIRLY EDGE. ZIP FRONT. HITTING AT THE HIP. 96% COTTON/14% ELASTIC. Discursive Information Processing Cognitive Attitude Figure 1. The conceptual model for the effect of visual and verbal information on attitudes and purchase intentions in Internet shopping. hreefold: (1) to examine the effects of visual and verbal information on consumers’ attitudes toward the product, (2) to examine the effects of visual and verbal information on consumers’ purchase intentions, and (3) to evaluate the rela tive importance of visual and verbal information in product presentation in Internet shopping. Although Internet retail sales remain a small fraction of total retail sales and are considerably less than once predicted, Internet retailing is becoming more important in the retail industry, and consumer demands for Internet shopping are increasing.The findings of this research will provide useful information that Internet retailers can use to develop more effective product presentations and thus satisfy consumer needs for adequate product evaluation in Internet shopping. LITERATURE REVIEW In this section, a conceptual model is developed to explain how visual and verbal information influence consumer attitudes toward a product and further influence Internet purchase intentions (see Figure 1).Visual versus Verbal Information1 Information presented in visual and/or verbal form is a fundamental element of the consumer information environment, especially in a nonpersonal marketing context s uch as advertising or non-store retailing. 1 Visual information is limited to pictorial representation of a product and verbal information is limited to textual information about a product in this study. THE EFFECTS OF VISUAL AND VERBAL INFORMATION ON ATTITUDES Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar 149 Information is available in visual form, verbal form, or more frequently as a combination of both forms.In Internet shopping, product information is most often presented as a combination of both visual and verbal forms. There have been two distinct approaches to studying the effects of visual versus verbal information in consumer and advertising research. One approach focused on the effects of visual and verbal information on memory (Guenther, Klatzby, & Putnam, 1980; Lutz & Lutz, 1977; Shepard, 1967; Starch, 1966), and the other approach focused on the effects of visual and verbal information on consumer judgments or attitudes (Childers & Houston, 1984; Edell & Staelin, 1983; Hirs chman, 1986; Holbrook & Moore, 1981; Kisielius & Roedder, 1983).The first research stream has generally supported the idea that visual information is superior to verbal information in recall and recognition. Using print advertisements as stimuli, Starch (1966) found that people remembered a print advertisement with a picture better than one without a picture. Shepard (1967) also found that a photo from advertisements was more easily recognized and remembered over time. Subsequent research (Hirschman & Solomon, 1984; Guenther et al. , 1980) provided additional support for the superiority of visual information.Researchers further found that memory was enhanced when there was a certain amount of redundancy or correspondence between visual and verbal information (Childers & Houston, 1984; Son, Reese, & Davie, 1987). The second research stream focused on the influence of visual and verbal stimuli on attitudinal responses (Holbrook, 1985; Mitchell & Olson, 1981). Using print advertisement s, Mitchell and Olson found that the visually oriented advertisement was more effective in generating a positive attitude toward the brand and more effective in communicating attributes of the product advertised than the verbally oriented advertisement.They concluded that visual information led to more changes in beliefs about the product and thus created more positive attitudes and purchase intentions than verbal information. Imagery versus Discursive Information Processing Different forms of information lead to different information processing (e. g. , dual coding hypothesis by Paivio, 1971; left-right hemisphere specialization by Geschwind, 1979; sequential vs. simultaneous processing modes by Das, Kirby, & Jarman, 1975) (see Figure 1). Visual stimuli2 evoke imagery information processing, whereas verbal stimuli evoke discursive information processing.Previous research focused more on discursive processing through an examination of how words or numbers are pooled together in work ing memory to signify or resolve problems 2 Visual (verbal) information is also referred to as visual (verbal) stimuli. The terms â€Å"information† and â€Å"stimuli† are used interchangeably in this study. 150 KIM AND LENNON Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar (e. g. , Bettman, 1979), whereas increasing research attention has shifted to the role of imagery information processing (Childers & Houston, 1982, 1984; Childers, Houston, & Heckler, 1985; Rossiter & Percy, 1983; Smith, Houston, & Childers, 1984).Imagery information processing evoked by visual stimuli represents sensory or perceptual information in working memory. Imagery processing sometimes includes multi-sensory dimensions—including sight, taste, smell, and other sensations—or involves a single dimension such as sight, whereas discursive processing by verbal stimuli tends to be detached from inner sensory experience (MacInnis & Price, 1987). Therefore, discursive information processing be comes less concrete than imagery processing due to its lack of sensory experience of information in working memory (MacInnis & Price, 1987).Overall, prior research findings support the superiority of imagery information processing. In a consumer research context, researchers found superior effects for imagery information processing as opposed to discursive processing (Cautela & McCullough, 1978; MacInnis & Price, 1987). MacInnis and Price posited that both discursive and imagery processing can be activated to frame problems, and the way in which a problem is presented with visual or verbal information can have a remarkable impact on problem solving.In brand evaluation, discursive processing may lead to an implicit or explicit summary of brand attributes and features based on some combination rules, whereas imagery processing may lead to a holistic evaluation of the brand. They further speculated that imagery information processing leads consumers to expect a higher likelihood for de cision outcomes than discursive processing because imagery makes it easier to visualize decision outcomes and visualization makes an event look more real (MacInnis & Price, 1987). Prior research findings further supported the effects of imagery processing on purchase intentions and purchase timing.In clinical contexts, Cautela and McCullough (1978) found that imagery processing was more influential in affecting behavioral intentions than discursive processing. Staats and Lohr (1979) posited that imagery could affect behavior by eliciting an emotional response. Images that create positive emotions elicit approach responses, whereas images that create negative emotions elicit avoidance responses. MacInnis and Price (1987) posited that imagery processing may generate a stronger emotional or more concrete sensory experience than discursive processing, which in turn increases desire for the product.They further postulated that the emotions evoked by elaborated imagery processing may redu ce the delay between purchase consideration and actual purchase, thus affecting purchase timing. Moreover, imagery processing can enhance the consumption experience compared to discursive processing because the sensory experience evoked by imagery processing allows consumers to attain some of the enjoyment, satisfaction, or stimulation that would derive from actual consumption (Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982; Lindauer, 1983).THE EFFECTS OF VISUAL AND VERBAL INFORMATION ON ATTITUDES Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar 151 Dual Coding Theory One consideration in the study of human cognition is the process of verbal coding. Verbal coding proponents assert that verbal coding is vital to perceptual processing and believe that visual information is identified by naming it (Bruner, 1957; Glazner & Clark, 1963). A second approach is imagery coding, and this approach argues that both visual and verbal information are stored most efficiently as nonverbal images.A third approach to cognition is dual coding theory, first proposed by Paivio (1971, 1986). This approach explains that visual information and imagery information processing evoked by visual stimuli are superior to verbal counterparts. The dual coding theory views cognition activities as a result of two mental subsystems, a verbal system (processing verbal events) and an imaginal system (processing nonverbal events). These two subsystems are thought to be separate but interconnected components of human cognition. Each subsystem is linked to particular sensory systems through epresentational connections, and an associative network exists within each subsystem. Each subsystem is also associated with referential connections among them. The verbal system facilitates sequential processing whereas the imaginal system facilitates parallel processing of information. According to Paivio (1971, 1986), encoding of information in memory is done as a verbal form or nonverbal/pictorial form. When a person encounters a visual stimulus like a picture, an imaginal code is activated, whereas the verbal code will be activated when the person encounters a verbal stimulus like text.These two independent and distinct codes form three discrete levels of processing for incoming stimuli. The most basic level of processing is called â€Å"representational processing,† and this processing involves the direct activation of either the verbal or imaginal systems, depending on whether incoming stimuli are visual or verbal. The next level of processing is called â€Å"referential processing† which involves building connections between the verbal and imaginal system. These connections between the two subsystems allow for evocation of imaginal responses from verbal stimuli or vice versa.The most complex processing is called â€Å"associative processing,† which occurs when verbal and visual stimuli are associated with other verbal and visual stimuli, respectively within each subsystem. When a stimulus i s received, it first goes through the representational processing, where either a verbal code or imaginal code is activated. Next, the stimulus passes through referential processing, where the visual cue is named or images are created for verbal cues. In the final step, the stimulus is processed at the associative level, where connections may be established between the verbal and imaginal codes and previously stored information.The dual coding model further assumes that the verbal information is sequentially processed, whereas visual information is simultaneously processed and encoded as both images and verbal traces. Coding redundancy (i. e. , two 152 KIM AND LENNON Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar codes are better than one) accounts for the picture superiority effect. This dual process results in superior memory responses to visual stimuli (Paivio & Csapo, 1973). Prior research findings in both psychology and consumer research generally support the picture superiority effe ct (Paivio & Foth, 1970; Peterson & McGee, 1974; Purnell & Solman, 1992).The picture superiority effect is generally attributed to the mental imagery elicited by visual stimuli (Paivio, 1969). Paivio (1971, pp. 135–136) defines mental visual imagery as a â€Å"memory code or associative mediator that provides spatially parallel information that mediates overt responses without necessarily being consciously experienced as a visual image. † Many media, especially advertising, rely greatly on visual and verbal information to present the advertised product. Albeit not exactly the same, the commercial Web sites present a picture of a product with verbal descriptions in a similar manner as in advertising.Recent e-commerce research supports the idea that the Internet works as an advertising medium (Joines, Scherer, & Scheufele, 2003; Joint & Waterhouse, 2003). Singh and Dalal (1999) contended that the commercial Web pages perform the same function as advertisements: to inform consumers of the product and to encourage consumers’ positive attitudes and behaviors toward the product. To date most prior research on the effects of visual and verbal information has been conducted in an advertising context and has generally supported the superior effects of visual information to verbal counterparts.Given the similarities between advertising and the Internet in product presentation, this study expects that the superior effects of visual information found in advertising are likely to hold in Internet shopping. Dual Processing Models of Attitudes A number of attitude researchers have proposed two characteristics of attitudes. The first characteristic proposed is that an attitude is a function of responses to the attitude object (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993) and the second characteristic is related to the evaluative nature of an attitude categorized as either good or bad.In spite of pervasive findings of the influence of affect on attitudes (Forgas, 1992: Schwarz, 1990), this view does not posit an affective component to attitudes. There has been disagreement among attitude researchers regarding where to place the affective component. Some researchers have attempted to distinguish affect from attitude by differentiating affect as a more temporary feeling state versus attitude as a more constant and general evaluation (Petty & Cacioppo, 1983), whereas others have expanded the scope of attitude to include all mental phenomena generating positive or negative evaluations (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993; Greenwald, 1968).Some researchers have embraced affect as a component of attitude but distinguished it from the cognitive component of attitude, which is a deliberate, conscious, and propositional THE EFFECTS OF VISUAL AND VERBAL INFORMATION ON ATTITUDES Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar 153 thought process (Crites, Fabrigar, & Petty, 1994; Millar & Tesser, 1989). A more recent approach is to embrace both affective and cognitive responses as compon ents of attitudes, called â€Å"dual processing of attitudes† (Chen & Chaiken, 1999; Epstein & Pacini, 1999; Koriat & LevySadot, 1999).The cognitive component of attitude represents the deliberate, conscious, and propositional thought process, whereas the affective component of attitude represents immediate evaluation and emotional responses to the attitude object. Among many viable explanations, the heuristic-systematic model (Chen & Chaiken, 1999) identifies two basic modes (systematic vs. heuristic) by which people form attitudes and make social judgments. Systematic processing involves a relatively extensive and logical processing of judgment-relevant information, whereas heuristic processing involves the activation and use of judgment-relevant rules.Another group of attitude researchers posit two different judgment systems: an affect-based system and an information-based system (Koriat & Levy-Sadot, 1999). A third approach to dual processing of attitudes is proposed by E pstein and Pacini (1999). CEST (Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory) proposed two different information-processing systems: a preconscious experiential system and a conscious rational system. All three models delineate two components of attitudes; affective and cognitive attitudes.Based on the dual processing model of attitudes, visual information is posited to influence affective attitudes through imagery information processing, and verbal information is posited to influence cognitive attitudes through discursive information processing. Although it is possible that visual information may influence cognitive attitudes and vice versa, it is posited that the major influences on each component of attitudes are dependent on type of information (see Figure 1). Hypotheses Development Visual Information.Visual information can vary by picture size. Both psychology and advertising research has shown that picture size is positively related to memory and attitudes (Kossyln, 1980; Mitchell & Ols on, 1981; Rossiter & Percy, 1980, 1983). In an advertising context, when the same picture is used in different sizes, larger pictures engender significantly more favorable attitudes than the same picture in a smaller size. Rossiter and Percy (1978, 1983) found that a larger picture generated more positive effect on brand attitude than did a smaller picture.Imagery research suggests that elaborated imagery processing affects behavioral intention (McMahon, 1973), and a large picture better facilitates imagery processing (MacInnis & Price, 1987). As compared to a small picture, a large picture is likely to have a more positive influence on elaborated imagery processing and subsequently affect behavioral intention (Rossiter & Percy, 1978; Smith et al. , 1984). Better elaborated imagery processing increases perceived likelihood of an event (MacInnis & Price, 154 KIM AND LENNON Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar 987), and people who imagined themselves performing a behavior showed a significant increase in their behavioral intentions (Gregory, Cialdini, & Carpenter, 1982). Mitchell and Olson (1981) found that positively evaluated visual stimuli increased attitude toward and purchase intention for a product. Thus, the following hypotheses were developed. In the present study, picture size is posited to determine the level of visual information. H1: As compared to people exposed to less visual information, those exposed to more visual information will have more positive attitudes toward the product. a: affective attitude, b: cognitive attitude) H2: As compared to people exposed to less visual information, those exposed to more visual information will have greater purchase intentions. Amount of Verbal Information. Prior research emphasizes the importance of verbal information in purchase decisions, especially in non-store retailing. Spiller and Lohse (1998) conjectured that product descriptions available on the Internet are equivalent to salespeople’s serv ice at retail stores. Their analysis of 137 Internet retail stores revealed that good product descriptions influence ales in Internet shopping. Kim and Lennon (2000) posited that the perceived amount of verbal information moderates the level of perceived risk associated with television apparel shopping and subsequently increases purchase intentions. Other Internet shopping research further confirmed the positive role of product information on consumer behavior (Ballantine, 2005). Accordingly, the following hypotheses were developed. H3: As compared to people exposed to less verbal information, those exposed to more verbal information will have more positive attitudes toward the product. a: affective attitude, b: cognitive attitude) H4: As compared to people exposed to less verbal information, those exposed to more verbal information will have greater purchase intentions. In Internet retailing, the size of product pictures varies to a great extent and so does the amount of verbal pro duct information. According to a recent content analysis of Internet apparel retailers (Kim et al. , 2006), picture sizes substantially varied across 111 apparel retail Web sites that were fairly good representations of Internet apparel retailers. Picture size ranged from 100 100 pixels to 800 600 pixels across apparel retail Web sites.The researchers also found that the amount of verbal product information varied to a great extent across retail Web sites. When both visual and verbal information are available in Internet THE EFFECTS OF VISUAL AND VERBAL INFORMATION ON ATTITUDES Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar 155 retailing, it is further expected that visual and verbal information interact to influence consumer responses to the product. Therefore, the following hypotheses were developed. H5: Visual and verbal information will interact to affect attitudes toward the product. a: affective attitude, b: cognitive attitude) H6: Visual and verbal information will interact to affe ct purchase intentions. Prior research findings in both psychology and consumer research support the picture superiority effect in consumer memory and attitudes (Paivio & Foth, 1970; Peterson & McGee, 1974; Purnell & Solman, 1992). Therefore, the following hypotheses were developed. H7: Visual information will explain more variance in attitudes than verbal information. H8: Visual information will explain more variance in purchase intentions than verbal information.METHODOLOGY This study employed a Web experiment using a mock retail Web site. According to Hantula (2005), Web experiments can be realistic and may be indistinguishable from real-life online interactions. For a mock Web site, a fictitious brand name was used to avoid any effects on attitudes and purchase intentions due to well-known brand names. A pretest was first conducted to develop visual and verbal stimuli for a mock Web site simulating Internet apparel shopping. The present study focused on apparel products consisti ng of multiple apparel categories such as tops, blouses, pants, skirts, and dresses.As a key type of item sold online (Internet Retailer, 2003), apparel requires sensory evaluation to make a purchase decision and thus is deemed appropriate for the present study. Stimulus Development Visual Stimuli. First, visual stimuli (pictures of apparel items) were developed by downloading apparel pictures from commercial Web sites. Apparel items were selected from commercial Web sites because items sold on commercial Web sites are expected to be desirable by target customers, thus encouraging research participants to engage in simulated online shopping.A total of 28 apparel items were initially selected, including woven shirts, knit tops, pants, skirts, dresses, sweaters, and jackets for women. To avoid extraneous factors, only pictures of garments without 156 KIM AND LENNON Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar models were selected. All pictures were shown on a body form. To assure a consis tent size of garments, all 28 items were tried on and adjusted to fit the dummy model with full body, developed using Adobe Photoshop. The same image size of pants and shirts do not reflect the same garment size because pants are longer than shirts.If their image sizes are the same, pants are probably smaller than shirts in terms of garment size. This problem was solved by fitting apparel items to the dummy body. Consistency in background, angle of photo shots, and the quality of pictures was achieved through a careful sampling process and touch-up using Photoshop. For the current research, the size of pictures was manipulated (small, large) to vary visual information. The small-size picture was one-fourth of the large-size picture. Verbal Stimuli.Verbal product information to accompany apparel items was created using evaluative criteria for apparel purchases developed by Eckman, Damhorst, and Kadolph (1990). Eckman et al. categorized apparel evaluative criteria into intrinsic and e xtrinsic attributes. First, intrinsic criteria refer to product attributes that cannot be changed or manipulated without changing the physical characteristics of the product itself (e. g. , style, fiber content). Extrinsic criteria refer to product attributes that are not component parts of the physical products but are created by the manufacturer or retailer (e. g. , price, brand name).Both intrinsic and extrinsic criteria are used in apparel purchase situations, but prior research shows that intrinsic criteria are more important to consumers than extrinsic criteria (Eckman et al. , 1990; Jacoby, Olson, & Haddock, 1971). In this study, extrinsic and intrinsic verbal stimuli were developed. The intrinsic criteria were (1) style (design features), (2) construction details, (3) fit, (4) fiber content (or fabric name), (5) care instruction, (6) color (also print information for printed fabrics), and (7) size; the one extrinsic criterion was (8) price. Amount of verbal information was m anipulated as high and low.The high amount of verbal information included all eight pieces of information; the low amount of verbal information included three pieces of intrinsic information (style, color, and size) and one piece of extrinsic information (price). This manipulation was based on prior research findings on consumer need for information in making apparel purchase decisions. When purchasing apparel, price, style, and color were the most frequently sought types of information, followed by fiber content (or fabric name), garment care instructions, brand name, and fit information (Davis, 1987; Martin, 1971).Thus, the low verbal condition included the most needed information (style, color, price) in addition to information about size. Size information was added because a shopper must choose a size to proceed with a purchase. For the high verbal condition, further information was added that consumers seek when purchasing apparel, such as fiber content (or fabric name), care i nstructions, and fit (Davis, 1987; Martin, 1971). Detailed style information THE EFFECTS OF VISUAL AND VERBAL INFORMATION ON ATTITUDES Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar 157 nd construction details were also added to the high verbal condition, based on the suggestion that more sensory-oriented, tactile descriptions of a product are desired in Internet shopping (Park & Stoel, 2005). Therefore, the low verbal condition was designed to include information necessary to make an apparel purchase, whereas the high information condition was intended to include additional information that consumers are likely to desire when shopping for apparel online. Pretests A pretest of apparel pictures was first conducted to select visual stimuli for the main study and also to perform a manipulation check on verbal stimuli.The goal was to select apparel items that were neutral in terms of attractiveness, fashionableness, and likableness, to minimize the potential effect of apparel items per se on attitudes and purchase intentions (e. g. , a very attractive apparel item will be desired by many people regardless of presentation format). College women (n 44) participated in the pretest, using a mock Web site in exchange for course credit. During the pretest, all participants evaluated 28 apparel items in the same size (picture only) on attractiveness, fashionableness, and likableness measures, one apparel item at a time.Three evaluative measures used a 7-point rating scale from 1 (highly unattractive; highly unfashionable; highly unlikable) to 7 (highly attractive; highly fashionable; highly likable). To select neutral apparel stimuli, scores from the three evaluative measures for each apparel item were collapsed, based on the consistency of three measures (all s 0. 90). The possible summed scores per item ranged from 3 to 21. The 10 apparel items with the most neutral ratings on the three measures (summed scores ranged from 11 to 13; midpoint 12) were selected for the main stu dy.To assess order effects, three different presentation orders of the 28 apparel items were used in the pretest. MANOVA revealed no effect for presentation order [Wilks’s l 0. 94, F(6, 70) 0. 37, p 0. 90] on the three dependent variables (attractiveness, fashionableness, and likableness). During the pretest, a manipulation check of verbal stimuli was also conducted. After evaluating apparel items, participants were randomly assigned to one verbal condition (high vs. low) to evaluate their perceptions of the amount of verbal product information.For stimulus sampling purposes, two apparel items were evaluated in each verbal condition. Pretest participants were randomly assigned to one of the verbal conditions (high vs. low) and viewed both apparel items under their assigned condition. After viewing the items, participants rated the perceived amount of verbal information in the product description using a 7-point rating scale from 1 (very little) to 7 (very much). Responses evo ked by both outfits were summed ( 0. 85) and used as a measure of the perceived amount of information.One-way ANOVA was performed to examine the effect of the verbal manipulation on perceived amount of information 158 KIM AND LENNON Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar and found a main effect for verbal condition on perceived amount of information [F(1, 42) 6. 63, p . 05] Pretest participants exposed to the high amount of verbal information (M 11. 45, SD 2. 04) perceived more information than those exposed to the low amount of information (M 10. 00, SD 1. 69). Thus, the manipulation of the amount of verbal information was appropriately perceived by the pretest participants. Instrument Development Attitude Measures.Attitude items were adopted from Hirschman (1986). Affective attitudes were measured by attractiveness and likableness, and cognitive attitudes were measured by perceived amount of information and perceived usefulness of information. All attitude items used 7-point Lik ert scales with endpoints of 1 (strongly disagree) and 7 (strongly agree). Purchase Intention Measure. One item was used to measure Internet purchase intention. Adopted from Taylor and Baker (1994), this item addressed the intention to purchase an apparel item viewed during the Web experiment in a certain time frame (i. . , in the upcoming year) using a 7-point Likert rating scale with endpoints of 1 (strongly disagree) and 7 (strongly agree). Other Measures. Two items were developed to measure perceptions of picture size and amount of verbal information, respectively. Other items assessing prior experience with the Internet and Internet shopping and demographic information were also included. Except for demographic items, all items used 7-point rating scales. To enhance the realism of the experiment, this study used a Web experiment so that participants could participate when and where convenient.Unlike lab experiments in which participants use the same types of computers, the part icipants in this study could use various types of computers and monitors. Though improving realism, this method posed a concern due to additional variability with regard to picture size as a function of types of computers used to participate in the experiment. Therefore, information about types of computer, monitor size, and monitor resolution was collected to better interpret the results. Instructions were provided to participants about how to find the information about resolution of their monitors.EXPERIMENT 1 Procedure Experiment 1 was a 2 (Visual: Large vs. Small) 2 (Verbal: High vs. Low) between-subjects design. When participants logged onto the mock THE EFFECTS OF VISUAL AND VERBAL INFORMATION ON ATTITUDES Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar 159 Web site, they were randomly assigned to one of the four treatment conditions and evaluated all 10 apparel items for stimulus sampling purposes (Fontenelle, Phillips, & Lane, 1985). Stimulus sampling is used so that results can be generalized over more than one stimulus (i. e. , to increase external validity).In this research, using 10 apparel items ensures that any significant effects are not due to idiosyncratic characteristics of a single stimulus. The order of presentation of the apparel items was completely randomized to distribute any order effects randomly over the four treatment conditions. Participants were instructed to assume that they had enough money to purchase any items they wished to buy, to minimize the effect of monetary constraints on purchase intentions. Participants College women (n 159) enrolled at a large Midwestern university participated in a Web experiment in exchange for course credit.College women were recruited for the study because young women comprise a significant portion of Internet shoppers. According to Internet Retailer (2004c), they make up 63% of shoppers at online apparel and beauty sites. Additionally, research evidence supports that college students do not differ from typical consumers in terms of beliefs and attitudes (Duvasula et al. , 1997). After eliminating unusable responses due to incomplete questionnaires, there were 145 usable questionnaires. The mean age of participants was 22 (see Table 1).More than 80% of participants were juniors or seniors. Over 88% of participants owned PCs and almost 95% of them had Internet access at home. Results Manipulation Checks. After completing the dependent measures, participants rated the perceived picture size and perceived amount of verbal information. As anticipated, ANOVA results indicated that actual picture size had a significant effect on perceived size of picture [F (1, 143) 184. 02, p . 001] and actual amount of verbal information had a significant effect on perceived amount of verbal information [F(1, 143) 56. 9, p . 001]. Participants who viewed large pictures perceived pictures to be larger (M 5. 07, SD 1. 06) than those who viewed small pictures (M 2. 43, SD 1. 28). Participants exposed to the high amount of verbal information perceived more verbal information (M 5. 23, SD 1. 18) than those exposed to the low amount of information (M 3. 55, SD 1. 48). Thus, experimental manipulations were successful. Preliminary Analysis. Participants evaluated all 10 apparel items on the four attitudinal items and purchase intention. After checking reliabilities (all s 0. 0), scores for each item were collapsed for all 10 apparel 160 KIM AND LENNON Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of Participants. Experiment 1 (n 145) Characteristics Age 20 20–25 26–30 30 Academic standing Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior Graduate student Own PC Yes No Access to the Internet Yes No Monitor size Smaller than 15? 15? –17? 19? –21? Bigger than 21? Monitor resolution 640 480 800 600 1024 768 Others f 12 121 8 4 3 12 62 58 10 128 17 137 8 12 93 34 6 4 93 45 3 % 8. 3 83. 4 5. 5 2. 8 2. 1 8. 3 42. 8 40. 0 6. 9 88. 3 11. 7 94. 5 5. 8. 3 64. 1 23. 5 4. 1 2. 8 64. 1 31. 0 2. 1 f 15 133 1 1 1 18 74 55 2 122 28 144 6 15 102 30 3 11 84 48 7 Experiment 2 (n 150) % 10. 0 88. 7 0. 7 0. 7 0. 7 12. 0 49. 3 36. 7 1. 3 81. 3 18. 7 96. 0 4. 0 10. 0 68. 0 20. 0 2. 0 7. 3 56. 0 32. 0 4. 7 stimuli. Scores for each stimulus ranged from 10 to 70 (10 stimuli with a 7-point rating scale). Then the two items tapping affective attitudes were summed ( 0. 97); likewise the two items tapping cognitive attitudes were summed ( 0. 96). Affective attitude scores ranged from 20 to 140 and cognitive attitude scores ranged from 20 to 138.Purchase intention scores ranged from 10 to 67. Analyses. All hypothesized relationships were initially examined in a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with affective and cognitive attitudinal responses to apparel stimuli and purchase intention as dependent variables; visual information varied by picture size and verbal information varied by the amount of product information were the independent variabl es. Results indicated that amount of verbal information was significantly related to the set of dependent variables [Wilks’s 0. 82, F(3, 139) 10. 17, p . 0001].Follow-up univariate analyses of THE EFFECTS OF VISUAL AND VERBAL INFORMATION ON ATTITUDES Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar 161 variance indicated that the amount of verbal information was related to both affective [F(1, 141) 6. 9, p . 05, 2 0. 04] and cognitive [F(1, 141) 30. 74, p . 0001, 2 0. 17] attitudes. Participants exposed to more verbal information about the product expressed stronger affective attitudes (M 95. 07, SD 21. 53) than those exposed to less verbal information (M 85. 25, SD 24. 72). Also, participants exposed to more verbal information exhibited stronger cognitive attitudes (M 112. 6, SD 19. 40) than those exposed to less verbal information (M 89. 34, SD 29. 38). Therefore, H3a and H3b positing the effects of verbal information on affective and cognitive attitudes were supported. No main eff ect for verbal information on purchase intention was found, and no significant multivariate effect was found for visual information or the interaction. Thus, the remaining hypotheses were not supported. Post-hoc Analysis. Results from Experiment 1 were surprising in that no effects for visual information were found, despite evidence from previous literature supporting picture superiority.Picture size had no effect on affective attitudes, whereas the amount of verbal information had a significant effect on affective attitudes. Additional analyses were performed to see whether participant perceptions of visual and verbal information have different effects on attitudes and purchase intentions. Simple regression analyses were performed using perceived picture size and perceived amount of information as independent variables and both components of attitudes and purchase intention as dependent variables. Simple regression analyses revealed that perceived picture size was positively relate d to affective attitudes [F(1, 143) 19. 0, p . 0001] and also to cognitive attitudes [ F(1, 143) 5. 40, p . 05]. Perceived amount of verbal information was also a significant predictor of affective attitudes [F(1, 143) 23. 32, p . 0001] and cognitive attitudes [F(1, 143) 155. 12, p . 0001]. Further, both perceived picture size and perceived amount of verbal information were significant predictors of purchase intention [F(1, 143) 14. 34, p . 0001; F(1, 143) 17. 52, p . 0001, respectively]. Whereas objectively manipulated picture size had no effect on either affective or cognitive attitudes, perceived picture size was a significant predictor of both components of attitudes.In addition, both visual and verbal information had a significant influence on purchase intention when participant perceptions of picture size and amount of verbal information were used instead of objectively manipulated visual and verbal information. Examination of monitor size and monitor resolution provided usefu l insights to explain why there were no effects for visual information as hypothesized. Monitor size used for the experiment greatly varied from 15? to 21? (see Table 1). For resolution, about 64% of participants used 800 600 pixels and 31% used 1024 768 pixels.Thus, although picture size was objectively manipulated in the experiment, the actual size of pictures that participants saw during the experiment varied depending on both the size and resolution of monitors used to participate in the 162 KIM AND LENNON Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar study. Although participants were instructed to participate in this study by logging onto the Web site when and where convenient in order to enhance the realism of the Internet shopping context, variations in monitor size and resolution may have confounded true effects of visual information.To avoid such problems, Experiment 2 was conducted to expose participants to all four treatment conditions. In this way, although actual picture siz e viewed by participants might vary depending on monitor size and resolution, participants could see relative differences between large and small pictures. This context is also more realistic, given that in actual Internet shopping situations picture sizes vary greatly across different retail Web sites as do shoppers’ computer monitors. EXPERIMENT 2 Procedure Experiment 2 was a 2 (Visual: Large vs.Small) 2 (Verbal: High vs. Low) within-subjects design. Eight apparel items were selected from the 10 items used in Experiment 1 by eliminating two items deemed inappropriate due to seasonal change. Participants were exposed to all four visual by verbal treatment conditions and evaluated two apparel items in each condition, for a total of eight apparel items rated. Sixteen different presentation orders of the experimental conditions were used to balance out order effects. The presentation order of eight apparel items was fully randomized.The questionnaire used in Experiment 2 was mo dified from the questionnaire used in Experiment 1 by eliminating the questions about perceptions of picture size and amount of information. Aside from these differences, the stimulus materials, procedures, independent variables, and dependent variables were identical to those of Experiment 1. Scores on the dependent variables were collapsed for two apparel items within each treatment condition. Participants College women (n 160) enrolled at a large Midwestern university participated in a Web experiment in exchange for course credit.Participants in Experiment 2 did not overlap with participants in Experiment 1. After eliminating unusable responses due to incomplete questionnaires, there were 150 useable questionnaires. The mean age of the participants was 21 (see Table 1). A majority of participants were juniors or seniors. More than 81% of participants owned PCs and 96% of them had Internet access at home. Overall, demographic characteristics of participants in Experiment 2 were si milar to participants in Experiment 1. THE EFFECTS OF VISUAL AND VERBAL INFORMATION ON ATTITUDES Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 002/mar 163 Results Repeated measures MANOVA involving all dependent measures indicated that one or more dependent variables differed by visual information [Wilks’s 0. 91, F (3, 147) 5. 06, p . 01], by verbal information [Wilks’s 0. 31, F (3, 147) 108. 00, p . 0001], and by an interaction between visual and verbal information [Wilks’s 0. 92, F (3, 147) 4. 15, p . 01]. Follow-up repeated measures ANOVAs for visual information found that visual information had significant main effects on affective [F(1, 149) 7. 73, p . 01, 2 0. 04] and cognitive attitudes [F(1, 149) 11. 63, p . 1, 2 0. 07], thus supporting H1a and H1b. Purchase intention was not related to visual information, thus failing to support H2. Subsequent ANOVAs for verbal information indicated that amount of verbal information had significant main effects on affective [F(1, 149 ) 23. 50, p . 0001, 2 0. 13] and cognitive attitudes [F(1, 149) 289. 57, p . 0001, 2 0. 70]. Purchase intention was also significantly related to the amount of verbal information [F(1, 149) 7. 64, p . 01, 2 0. 04]. H3a, H3b, and H4 positing the main effects of verbal information on dependent variables were all supported.Follow up ANOVAs were further conducted for interactions (see Figure 2). Results indicated that visual by verbal interaction effects were significant for cognitive attitudes [F(1, 149) 9. 68, p . 01, 2 0. 05] and purchase intentions [F(1, 149) 3. 95, p . 05, 2 0. 02]. Simple effects tests revealed that the effect of visual information on cognitive attitudes was significant [F(1, 149) 17. 30, p . 0001] only when the amount of verbal information was low. When the amount of verbal information was low, participants who viewed the large picture exhibited more positive cognitive attitudes (M 18. 6, SD 4. 68) than those who viewed the small picture (M 16. 92, SD 4. 70). Thi s difference was larger when the amount of verbal information was low rather than when the amount of verbal information was high. The effect of verbal information on cognitive attitudes was significant both when picture size was large [F(1, 149) 182. 81, p . 0001] and small [F(1, 149) 268. 20, p . 0001]. Data supported H5b, but not H5a. Simple effects tests further indicated that the effect of visual information on purchase intention was significant when the amount of verbal information was low [F(1, 149) 5. 9, p . 05] (see Figure 2). When the amount of verbal information was low, participants who viewed large pictures (M 7. 05, SD 3. 08) exhibited stronger purchase intentions than those who viewed small pictures (M 6. 50, SD 2. 81). Simple effects tests also indicated that the effect of verbal information on purchase intention was significant when small pictures were used [ F(1, 149) 10. 52, p . 01]. When exposed to small pictures, participants who received more verbal information (M 7. 30, SD 3. 08) expressed stronger purchase intentions than those who received less verbal information (M 6. 0, SD 2. 81). H6 was thus supported. 164 KIM AND LENNON Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar 24 23. 32 22. 97 Purchase Intentions 7. 3 7. 2 7. 30 7. 23 7. 05 Verbal Info High Low Cognitive Attitudes 22 Verbal Info 20 18. 36 18 16. 92 High Low 7. 1 7. 0 6. 9 6. 8 6. 7 6. 6 16 Large Small 6. 5 Large 6. 50 Small Picture Size Picture Size Figure 2. Visual by verbal interaction. H7 and H8 posited that visual information varied by picture size would explain more variance in attitudes and purchase intentions than verbal information.Omega squared ( A2) was used to assess the relative importance of each of the independent variables. According to Cohen’s (1977) guidelines, 2 0. 15 is a large effect, 2 0. 06 is a medium effect, and 2 0. 01 is a small effect. As shown in Table 2, verbal information had a larger effect on attitudes than visual information. Contrary to predi ction of H7, verbal information accounted for 13% of the total variance in affective attitudes, whereas 4% was accounted for by visual information. For cognitive attitudes, verbal information accounted for 10 times more variance than visual information ( 2 0. 0 vs. 2 0. 07) in cognitive attitudes. In regards to purchase intention, verbal information had a moderate effect on purchase intention ( 2 0. 04), whereas visual information did not have a significant effect. Discussion The present study examined how different presentation formats in Internet shopping influence consumer attitudes toward the product and subsequent purchase intention. Extending visual and verbal research in advertising into the Internet shopping context, this study investigated the effects of visual and verbal information on consumer responses.Table 2. Comparisons of Effects ( Experiment 2. 2 A ) of Visual and Verbal Information in Visual by verbal interaction ns 0. 05 0. 02 Visual information Affective attitude Cognitive attitude Purchase intention 0. 04 0. 07 ns Verbal information 0. 13 0. 70 0. 04 THE EFFECTS OF VISUAL AND VERBAL INFORMATION ON ATTITUDES Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar 165 Table 3. Summary of Experiment 1 and 2. Experiment 2 (within-subjects design) MANOVA Visual Sig. ** Sig. ** ns Verbal Sig. **** Sig. **** Sig. **Experiment 1 (between-subjects design) MANOVA Visual Affective attitudes Cognitive attitudes Purchase intentions *p . 05. **p . 01. ***p . 001. ****p . 0001. Regression Perceived visual Sig. **** Sig. * Sig. **** Perceived verbal Sig. **** Sig. **** Sig. **** Verbal Sig. * Sig. **** ns ns ns ns As summarized in Table 3, the findings showed that both visual and verbal information have significant effects on consumers’ affective and cognitive attitudes toward apparel products. However, only verbal information had a significant effect on purchase intention.One noteworthy finding is that when consumer perceptions of picture size and the amount of verbal information were used instead of actual picture size and amount of verbal information, both visual and verbal information significantly influenced both affective and cognitive attitudes and also affected purchase intentions. The findings further support verbal superiority in product presentation in Internet shopping. This is contrary to the predicted visual superiority based on previous literature supporting picture superiority and need for sensory evaluation for apparel products.Although it was anticipated that visual information would have stronger effects on consumer attitudes toward apparel products, especially affective responses, and purchase intentions, the results of the study suggest verbal superiority for both attitudes (affective and cognitive) and purchase intention. Based on the guidelines for effect sizes ( 2) of Cohen (1977), it was observed that verbal information had large effects for both affective and cognitive attitudes and had a moderate effect on purchas e intention.Although both visual and verbal information had significant effects on affective attitudes, visual information had a weaker impact on affective attitudes than verbal information. In regards to cognitive attitudes, both visual and verbal information influenced cognitive attitudes, and verbal information had a stronger impact on cognitive attitudes as expected. The effect of visual information on cognitive attitudes was significant only when the amount of verbal information was low and it was a medium effect. Regarding purchase intentions, verbal information had a significant effect only when small pictures were used, and it was a small effect.Although the findings of verbal superiority were unexpected, the findings of the study are generally consistent with findings in Smith (1991). In an 166 KIM AND LENNON Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar advertising context, Smith found that the effect of visual information was dominant only when visual information conveys diffe rent messages from verbal claims. When both visual and verbal information conveyed the same message, Smith found that inferences based on visual stimuli were weaker than inferences based on verbal claims due to higher uncertainty associated with visual stimuli.Verbal information in an ad makes explicit, specific claims about product attributes or performance, which facilitate inferences about unknown information about a product. On the contrary, claims made using visual information tend to be less explicit and less specific, which is likely to result in a heightened uncertainty of inferences. Thus, in the present study, it is possible that the effect of visual information was lessened compared to verbal information because both visual and verbal stimuli conveyed the same messages about the product to some extent, especially for style information and construction details.In addition, the way visual and verbal stimuli were manipulated in this study may have contributed to the stronger effects of verbal information than visual information. For visual stimuli, picture size was manipulated such that a small picture was one-fourth of a large picture. Despite the size difference, the same pictures were used. However, for verbal stimuli, the amount of verbal information was manipulated such that a low verbal condition did not include four pieces of intrinsic information that were provided in the high verbal condition.Therefore, the difference between high and low verbal conditions (i. e. , absence of information) may be larger than the difference between visual condition groups, resulting in larger effects of verbal information. Indeed, visual information had a significant impact on both affective and cognitive attitudes, albeit weaker effects than verbal information. Another plausible explanation of the findings of the study is that perhaps verbal product information used in this study evoked imagery information processing in addition to discursive information proces sing because of concrete verbal stimuli (e. . , construction details of apparel). Imagery processing can be induced by a number of external sources. Pictures are the most well-known predictor of imagery (Paivio, 1971; Shepard, 1967). The superiority of visual information has been attributed to the imagery induced by visual information as compared to discursive information processing by verbal information (Childers & Houston, 1984; Lutz & Lutz, 1977; Paivio, 1971). In addition to pictures, concrete verbal stimuli can stimulate imagery processing (Paivio & Csapo, 1973; Paivio & Foth, 1970; Richardson, 1980).The level of the concreteness of words was found to be significantly related to the level of imagery value (Pavio, Yuille, & Madigan, 1968). Paivio (1971) also posited that the verbal superiority of high imagery values can occur. In this study, the difference between high and low verbal conditions was the amount of product information, especially intrinsic product information inclu ding construction/style details, fit, fiber/fabric information, and care instructions. THE EFFECTS OF VISUAL AND VERBAL INFORMATION ON ATTITUDES Psychology & Marketing DOI: 10. 1002/mar 167In particular, construction details and style information provide concrete information about apparel products (e. g. , the pointed collar and barrel cuffs, pearl buttons for front closure, rounded shirt bottom, and single chest pocket; two layers of silk with a sheer top, a pattern of slender roses with delicate, thorny stems in deep brown and green, transparent seed and bugle beads across the upper layer). Such verbal information may have led participants to engage in imagery information processing as well as discursive information processing evoked by other verbal messages.Additionally, previous research supports that the effects of visual and verbal stimuli are interactive in such a way that the addition of verbal stimuli that explains the message conveyed by visual stimuli enhances the use of imagery processing (Bower, Karlin, & Dueck, 1975; Childers & Houston, 1984). Concrete verbal descriptions of style information and construction details of apparel items may have helped participants interpret the picture of the item and thus may have stimulated imagery processing. These interpretations may explain why verbal information had stronger effects on both affective and cognitive attitudes.The concept of perceptual fluency provides useful insights to interpret the findings of the study. Concrete verbal descriptions used in this study are likely to improve perceptual fluency (e. g. , the ease of identifying the physical identity of the stimulus). The availability of concrete verbal infor