L’asinarteto ‘euripideo’ in Euripide

The paper examines the presence of the so-called ‘Euripidean’ asynartete 2ia 2 trΛΛ in the lyrics of Euripides’ preserved tragedies (Hippolytus, Suppliant Women, Trojan Women, Phoenissae) with the aim to observe its function in each context and to establish if the two cola can actually form a single verse. The sequence 2ia 2 trΛΛ occurs as a (sometimes internal) clausula in iambo-trochaic contexts, where it emphasizes the rhythmical opposition, or in a mainly iambic context, where it produces a contrast effect. When there is synapheia between the two cola, they likely form an asynartete verse, whereas when there is dieresis, the asynartete nature of the sequence is doubtful, but can be supported by metrical-rhythmical and thematic considerations.

USER EVALUATIONS OF CONTRAST-DOMINANT DISCOMFORT GLARE IN DIM DAYLIT SCENARIOS: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

Discomfort glare metrics typically consider at least one of the two effects of discomfort glare - saturation and contrast - in their equation. The former occurs when there is an excessively bright glare source in the field of view, while the latter occurs when there is a high luminance ratio between the glare source and the adaptation level of the eye. We hypothesize that the contrast effect may dominate in low-light scenarios such as those commonly found in open-plan offices. Thus, we designed and carried out a user study in controlled laboratory conditions with 63 participants with a total of 252 scenes to investigate discomfort glare evaluations in dim daylight office environments with low adaptation levels. Our preliminary findings support our hypothesis that contrast-driven metrics predict glare responses in a more reliable way than hybrid metrics at low adaptation levels where the contrast effect dominates, which underlines the need for refining glare metrics in low brightness conditions.

When the Past and the Present Collide:Contrast Effect of Sequential Psychological Contract Breaches on Employee Outcomes

Although it is common that employees can experience multiple psychological contract (PC) breaches with their employer over time, it is unclear how a past PC breach serves as a temporal context factor in shaping the impact of a present PC breach on employee outcomes. Integrating contrast effect theory and conservation of resources theory (COR), this research develops and tests hypotheses concerning how a past PC breach alters employees’ reaction intensity to a present PC breach. Three studies were conducted to investigate the hypotheses. In Study 1, findings from 168 employee-supervisor dyads of a building supply company supported the contrast effect of past and present PC breaches. Specifically, when a past PC breach was low, a present PC breach had a stronger negative influence on employee organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Results of Study 2, comprised of 412 full-time working adults, found that burnout mediated the contrast effect of past and present PC breaches on OCB. Specifically, the negative indirect effects of a present PC breach on OCB through burnout were stronger when a past PC breach was low. In Study 3, 154 subjects participated in a scenario-based experiment in which past and present PC breaches were manipulated. Results supported the contrast effect of past and present PC breaches on anticipated future breach. Implications of these results for future PC breach research and management practice are discussed.

What Triggers Travel Spending? The Impact of Prior Spending on Additional Unplanned Purchases

This study brings together prior and subsequent unplanned buying behaviors by investigating the large, albeit implicit, effect of the former on the latter in the tourism shopping context. The results of five experiments suggest that prior buying prices form a reference point that stimulates tourists’ unplanned buying intentions because of the contrast between prior and additional unplanned buying prices. The bigger (smaller) the former is, the bigger (smaller) the latter will be. However, once the illusion is eliminated, the contrast effect disappears. The study offers several theoretical contributions. It posits that prior buying prices affect the price evaluation of additional unplanned buying behaviors and intentions. The elimination of the illusion removes the effect of the former on the latter. The marketing and managerial implications of persuasive strategies to promote tourism consumption are discussed.

Does Emotional Expression Moderate Implicit Racial Bias? Examining Bias Following Smiling and Angry Primes

Given the pervasiveness of prejudice, researchers have become increasingly interested in examining racial bias at the intersection of race and other social and perceptual categories that have the potential to disrupt these negative attitudes. Across three studies, we examined whether the emotional expression of racial exemplars would moderate implicit racial bias. We found that racial bias on the Affect Misattribution Procedure only emerged in response to angry but not smiling Black male faces in comparison to White (Study 1) or White and Asian (Study 3) male faces with similar emotional expressions. Racial bias was also found toward Asian targets (Studies 2 and 3), but not only following angry primes. These findings suggest that negative stereotypes about Black men can create a contrast effect, making racial bias toward smiling faces less likely to be expressed in the presence of angry Black male faces.

Detecting the Voters’ Perceptions of Political Party Leaders via Optic Neuroimaging (fNIRS) Method: A Pilot Study

The question of how the political parties and political leaders are perceived by the voters has been one of the prominent fields of political marketing. Recently, brain-imaging technologies have increasingly been used for the marketing research due to their higher level of measurability and objectiveness. The main aim of the current study is to dissociate the voters’ perception by means of practical neuroimaging technologies with regards to their expected tendencies. Thus, an optic neuroimaging method (fNIRS) has been used in the current study because of its practicality and reliability in the literature. Thirty actively working party assembly members (30 Males, M: 34.76) from the top two parties of Turkey according to 2011 elections have been invited to participate in the study on a voluntary basis. These participants were exposed to the slides consisting of a political party leader and an adjective and they were asked to respond in a 3-Likert scale depending on their position. The participants were selected to be from opposite political parties to observe a potential contrast effect. The obtained physiological data has been analyzed with respect to expected positions of the participants and their behavioral measures were not included in the analyses. The results indicate that there are 5 channels (V1, V5, V7, V9, V11) demonstrating the contrast effect at a statistically significant level. The findings of this exploratory empirical study are important in terms of developing and applying new methods both in political marketing specifically and in marketing research more generally. Keywords: Optic neuroimaging (fNIRS), voters’ perception, political leaders, political brand

Asymmetric Hedonic Contrast: Pain Is More Contrast Dependent Than Pleasure

Research has shown that hedonic-contrast effects are a ubiquitous and important phenomenon. In eight studies ( N = 4,999) and four supplemental studies ( N = 1,809), we found that hedonic-contrast effects were stronger for negative outcomes than for positive outcomes. This asymmetric-contrast effect held for both anticipated and experienced affect. The effect makes risks that include gains and losses more attractive in the presence of high reference points because contrast diminishes the hedonic impact of losses more than gains. We demonstrated that the effect occurs because people are generally more attentive to reference points when evaluating negative outcomes, so drawing attention to reference points eliminates the asymmetric-contrast effect.

Contrast effect of emotional context on interpersonal distance with neutral social stimuli

In social interactions, valence-based judgements are an important component of interpersonal distances regulation. Within the framework of the Range-Frequency model, we tested whether the emotional context, which is known to produce a contrast effect on valence ratings, also contributes to the regulation of interpersonal distances. 51 participants divided in two groups were shown virtual characters with either a neutral facial expression (target-stimuli) or an emotional facial expression (contextual stimuli) in two successive sessions (angry then happy emotional context or vice-versa). The participants rated the valence of the virtual characters and judged the appropriateness of different interpersonal distances. For neutral characters, contrast effect of emotional context was observed, albeit only subtly on interpersonal distance judgments. Overall, the data suggest that although the emotional context influences valence-based judgments of social stimuli, it has a parsimonious effect on interpersonal distance regulation, presumably because the latter relies primarily on emotional facial expression categorical-information.

When no news is good news: failing to increase dividends

PurposeThe study's purpose is to examine market returns around dividend announcements that contrast with a pattern of prior dividend announcements.Design/methodology/approachThe paper identifies firms that have a smooth dividend pattern of once-a-year dividend increases but at some point break that pattern and announce an unchanged dividend. The sample design allows the opportunity to investigate the market reaction to unchanged dividend announcements when an increase was likely to have been expected.FindingsThe results indicate that failing to increase the dividend is associated with significantly positive abnormal returns that are greater in magnitude for more entrenched dividend-increase records, supporting a contrast-effect hypothesis.Originality/valueThe results indicate that dividends are interpreted not only relative to the immediate dividend amount but also how the decision contrasts with dividends over a prolonged period. This finding suggests that the information content of the announcement of an unchanged dividend can vary according to the prior dividend pattern.