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This volume has sought to identify the benefits of using cognitive psychology in understanding the tourist experience. It discusses areas where tourism researchers should be cautious in applying cognitive psychology. Certainly, t scholars must understand the assumptions, criticisms and limitations of cognitive theories and associated data collection techniques. Cognitive psychology is a dynamic field with alternative theoretical perspectives and emerging debates. This volume discusses particular mainstream ideas, such as cognitive appraisal theory and seeks to identify their relevance and identifies difficulties and perceived limitations scholars discover in exploring this new field.

The primary objective of this chapter is to synthesize and organize prevailing theoretical perspectives on metacognition into a framework that can enhance understanding of metacognitive phenomena, with the aim of stimulating future research in the field of organizational behavior and human resources management (OBHRM). The author starts with a review of the history of metacognition research, distinguishing it from related theoretical constructs such as cognition, executive function, and self-regulation. Following this, the author outlines five constituent elements of metacognition – metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive experiences, metacognitive monitoring, a dynamic mental model, and metacognitive control – with discussions on their interrelationships and respective functions. Two approaches to metacognition, a process approach and an individual-difference approach, are then presented, summarizing key questions and findings from each. Finally, three broad directions for future research in OBHRM are proposed: examining metacognitive processes, considering mechanisms beyond learning to explain the effects of metacognition, and exploring both domain-specific and general metacognitive knowledge and skills. The implications of these research directions for personnel and human resources management practices are discussed.

Stories are a part of being human. They are powerful tools to create social bonds, elicit emotions, and consolidate personal and shared memories. Their role, characteristics, and effects are studied in a variety of scientific fields. In tourism, they can enhance destination distinctiveness, as well as the tourist experience. However, the cognitive processes through which stories contribute to elicitation of emotions or memorability, the very reasons why they are considered important in tourism, are still little understood. This chapter discusses some of the cognitive processes involved in storytelling drawing insights from cognitive psychology and neuroscience, which may help in better understanding and managing the tourist experience.

Cognitive moral development, often referred to as moral reasoning, stems from the field of cognitive developmental psychology and moral psychology. Early work done by Jean Piaget studying the cognitive abilities of children to make moral judgments as they grow and mature created the foundation for the later work of Lawrence Kohlberg and James Rest in studying the moral reasoning abilities of adults. Thus, moral reasoning refers to the cognitive process of how a person reasons about ethical situations. This chapter will present the evolution of the use and validity of cognitive moral development/moral reasoning in determining how individuals resolve ethical or moral dilemmas. Further, more recent models and potential measurement of moral reasoning and ethical decision-making including our intuition and emotions will be discussed and suggestions regarding directions for developing methods to measure such cognitive and emotional (or intuitive) means by which individuals make difficult moral choices will be discussed.

This chapter provides concluding comments on a cognitive paradigm and related concepts applied to tourism, as well as in studies of social and environmental sustainability. Adopting a new paradigm is difficult but worthwhile as it allows researchers to move on from a behaviourist worldview and open the black-box, that is, the brain. The main points of each of the previous chapters are provided. A number of areas for future research are discussed, including schema change, wellness and the mind-body problem, new methodologies, motivation and goals for travel and the importance of further research on emotion in tourism experiences. The use of cognitive psychology is vital for further progress into a theory of experience design.

Goals play a critical role in everyday life and shape life and lifestyles. This chapter reviews and discusses the main approaches to the study of goals, addressing main theoretical endeavours that have emerged from psychological research, and emphasising the contributions from cognitive psychology to the topic. It also discusses literature on goals and motivation as found in tourism studies, highlighting the theoretical underpinnings used in this field. The discussion concludes with the need to update, in tourism studies, knowledge from cognitive psychology and propose how a better understanding of the cognitive foundations of goal-oriented behaviour can contribute to change tourism practice.

This chapter presents a case for updating the use and development of psychological theory in tourism through an examination of the psychological stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model. The historical development and the criticism of the model has been addressed. A revised version of the model is provided based on importing new theoretical knowledge from the original discipline. This chapter argues that with an explicit focus on tourism psychology, there is some evidence to suggest that tourism theory may benefit from adopting theory from the parental discipline rather than inventing its own. Future research can address other examples of imported theories and to further examine mechanisms for this knowledge transfer and update from original disciplines relevant to the study of tourism.

Adopting a dual processing cognitive perspective, this study explores the decision-making processes past the start-up stage that small entrepreneurial businesses employ to grow. The author examines how entrepreneurs evaluate and make decisions on growth opportunities in their business environment. The author uses cognitive style as a theoretical lens to capture differences in information processing, combining interviews and psychometric questionnaires to analyse cognitive styles. The longitudinal mixed methods approach illustrates the richness of the entrepreneur’s decision-making process, which the author tracks over a two-year period. The author determines how intuitive and analytical cognitive styles are used by entrepreneurs and the contribution these styles make to decision-making. The findings show that the two cognitive styles are versatile as entrepreneurs adjust and adapt their cognitive style over time, in keeping with the situational factors of their business environment. The author also finds marked differences between novice and mature entrepreneurs and that experienced entrepreneurs exhibited greater levels of cognitive versatility, which was directly linked to their prior experience. The study has significant implications for future research, which should consider the question how an entrepreneur’s cognitive style is dependent on the business context and their prior experience.