Embodying Meaning Visually: From Perceptual Dynamics to Motion Kinematics

This paper adopts an embodied cognitive perspective to review the significance of dynamic patterns in the visual expression of meaning. Drawing upon the work of Rudolf Arnheim we first show how perceptual dynamics of inanimate objects might be extended in order to structure abstract meaning in fixed images such as paintings. Second, we evaluate existing experimental work that shows how simple kinematic structures within a stationary frame might embody such high-level properties as perceptual causality and animacy. Third and last, we take inspiration from these experiments to shed light on the expressiveness of dynamic patterns that unfold once the frame itself becomes a mobile entity (i.e., camera movement). In the latter case we will also present a filmic case study, showing how filmmakers might resort to these dynamic patterns so as to embody a film’s story content, while simultaneously offering a further avenue for film scholars to deepen their engagement with the experimental method.

Effects of institutions on the eco-brand orientation of millennial consumers: a social cognitive perspective

Purpose Given the lucrative millennial or generation Y market across the globe, this study aims to draw on social cognitive and institutional theories to tease out the crucial roles of regulatory and social pressures in shaping the eco-brand orientation of millennial consumers. The study focuses on millennials from a developing country – a context that is less explored in the literature on the social and institutional perspectives of green consumer behaviour. Design/methodology/approach Using data from a survey of 354 millennial consumers in the Philippines, the authors tested the hypotheses on the effects of two types of institutional pressures (social and regulatory) on the key constructs espoused by social cognitive theory. The authors followed the partial least square approach to path analysis to determine the significant empirical relationships and linkages of the constructs contained in the proposed model. Findings The results highlight the significant influence of the social-institutional environment on the internal drivers of millennials' orientation towards green or environmentally sustainable brands. Research limitations/implications Although the sample size has generalisability-related constraints, the findings extend the current understanding of green millennial consumer behaviour from a social cognitive perspective by highlighting the role of institutions – a concept that is less explored in the marketing and consumer behaviour literature. Practical implications It provides valuable business and policy insights and directions for future research on how business enterprises such as producers, manufacturers, retailers and marketers can influence millennial consumers’ orientation towards green brands. Originality/value This study uses data from a survey of millennial consumers in the Philippines. The study extends the ambit of social cognitive theory by drawing on institutional theory to highlight the role of institutional social pressures on sustainable consumer behaviour.

A Cognitive Perspective on Autofictional Writing, Texts, and Reading

This chapter argues for the necessity of a cognitive and holistic approach to autofiction—an approach that considers textual signposts in combination with the cognitive-affective dynamics of a text’s production and reception. On the basis of empirical data in the form of writers’ self-reports and psychological studies into the differences between fictional and factual reading modes, the chapter argues for and offers definitions of autofictional writing and autofictional reading modes. Their potential affordances and effects both for authors and readers are illustrated in relation to three works, which exhibit different degrees of fictionality: Philip Roth’s The Facts (1988), Olivia Laing’s Crudo (2018), and Ben Lerner’s 10:04 (2014).

Optical Versus Cognitive Perspective: Study of Indian Folk Paintings

Is painting space fundamentally perspectival? In the European Renaissance (14th to the 17th century), the painting space was thought of as having an interior of perspective where one could place an object. It took many years after the Renaissance for European art to come out of this optical or geometrical perspective and realise that the space of painting is fundamentally non-perspectival. Historically in Europe, impressionists (1860) painters are the ones who tried to break away from this optical or single-point perspective and create paintings according to ‘lived perspective’. Optical perspective is one of the visual dogmas which are believed till today; thus, it is tough to appreciate non-perspectival paintings. This paper aims to give technical reasons why painting space is fundamentally not perspectival; the first section of the paper will deal with the question ‘what kind of space is painting space?’, and in the second section, we will compare method of photograph and drawing to find the differences between mechanism of camera and human perception . In the last section of the paper we will use Indian folk paintings, to demonstrate how cognitive or alternative/multiple perspectives open new possibilities in painting space.

Embracing Paradox: TMT Paradoxical Processes as a Steppingstone between TMT Reflexivity and Organizational Ambidexterity

Top management teams (TMTs) are crucial in managing the ambidexterity paradox. This endeavour, however, generates cognitive conflicts. Surprisingly, this particular topic has received little attention within the ambidexterity literature. We aim to address this lacuna, and in doing so, extend the paradox literature and the emerging socio-cognitive perspective on ambidexterity. In our hypothesized mediation model, TMTs embrace the exploration-exploitation paradox through reflexivity, then overcome this paradox through paradoxical cognitive processing -the capacity to cognitively differentiate and integrate exploration and exploitation- which finally fosters ambidexterity. We test and find support for our hypotheses using a sample of 335 Dutch and German SMEs. We end with a discussion on how socio-cognitive factors influence the management of the ambidexterity paradox. In doing so, we refine scholarly understanding of motivating and enabling factors that allow TMTs to deal with the paradoxical tensions surrounding ambidexterity.