The article for the next class is a little longer than the ones you have read so far, and although it is pretty straightforward, it is more complex than the studies you've read so far. Keep this in mind, and give yourself plenty of time to "digest" it. Asking yourself the questions in the "Reading Hints" found on the course webpage will help to guide your reading and comprehension.

1. What is a "collectivist" culture? What is an "individualistic" culture? How can aspects of these different cultures be manifested in advertisements?

2. Are ads OVERALL more individualistic or collectivist? Are there relative differences in this tendency across cultures? Does this difference also vary depending on what type of product is being offered? Han and Shavitt found in Study 1 that a particular kind of product was especially likely to differ in terms of how it was marketed, depending on which country it was marketed in--what kind of product was this, and what was the difference found? What is Han and Shavitt's explanation for this finding? Do you agree with this explanation?

3. In class we discussed how personal relevance (or high involvement) increased the likelihood that people would process persuasive messages centrally (as opposed to peripherally). How do Han and Shavitt manipulate high vs. low involvement in Study 2? Were they successful in manipulating involvement? Did they find any effects of involvement? Why do you think the found the results they did?

4. Did the ads in Study 2 differ on dimensions other than individualism/collectivism? How do you know? Why is this important?

5. Were the authors successful in selecting products whose usage was perceived as either "shared" and "personal"?

6. In Han and Shavitt's Study 2, one of the factors studied was a within-subjects variable. Which factor was it? Overall, this study had what kind of factorial design? (I.e., how many factors/independent variables were there, and how many levels did each have?)

7. In Han and Shavitt's Study 2, intention to buy a product is used as dependent variable? Why is this a good dependent variable to use? Why might it be a bad one?

8. If you could only present ONE kind of ad for BOTH kinds of products to BOTH kinds of countries, would you pick an individualistic ad, or a collectivist ad?

9. In what ways do the results of Han and Shavitt's Study 2 correspond to the results of their Study 1? How do these two studies differ in terms of methodology? Which study was most like "real life"? What was the benefit of doing the two different studies?