Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/10071/25785
Author(s): | Hinrichs, K. Hoeks, J. Campos, L. Guedes, D. Godinho, C. Matos, M. Graça, J. |
Date: | 2022 |
Title: | Why so defensive? Negative affect and gender differences in defensiveness toward plant-based diets |
Journal title: | Food Quality and Preference |
Volume: | 102 |
Reference: | Hinrichs, K., Hoeks, J., Campos, L., Guedes, D., Godinho, C., Matos, M., & Graça, J. (2022). Why so defensive? Negative affect and gender differences in defensiveness toward plant-based diets. Food Quality and Preference, 102: 104662. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2022.104662 Medeiros, E., Valente, B., Gonçalves, V., & Castro, P.(2022). How impactful are public policies on environmental sustainability? Debating the Portuguese case of PO SEUR 2014–2020. Sustainability, 14(13): 7917. https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su14137917 |
ISSN: | 0950-3293 |
DOI (Digital Object Identifier): | 10.1016/j.foodqual.2022.104662 |
Keywords: | Plant-based diets Meat consumption Reactance affect Gender differences |
Abstract: | Evidence consistently shows that men (compared to women) tend to be more attached to meat consumption, less willing to follow plant-based diets, and overall more likely to express defensiveness toward plant-based eating. This study expands knowledge on the meat-masculinity link, by examining whether negative affect toward plant-based eating helps explain why these gender differences occur. Young consumers (N = 1130, 40.4% male, aged 20–35 years, USA) watched a video message promoting plant-based diets and completed a survey with three relevant expressions of defensiveness toward plant-based eating, namely threat construal, psychological reactance, and moral disengagement. Exposure to the messages did not impact gender differences in defensiveness compared to a control condition. Nonetheless, male consumers scored higher than female consumers in all measures of defensiveness (irrespective of experimental manipulation), with negative affect toward plant-based eating partly or fully mediating the associations between gender and defensiveness. Overall, these findings suggest that: (a) male defensiveness toward plant-based eating may be partly explained by negative affect, which is linked to a greater tendency to perceive reduced meat consumption as a threat and a limitation to one's freedom, and an increased propensity to deploy moral disengagement strategies such as pro-meat rationalizations; but (b) exposure to communication products promoting plant-based diets does not necessarily heighten male defensiveness toward plant-based eating (i.e., this study found no evidence of a “boomerang effect”). Future research on the topic could test whether affect-focused strategies may help decrease defensiveness to plant-based eating. |
Peerreviewed: | yes |
Access type: | Open Access |
Appears in Collections: | CIS-RI - Artigos em revistas científicas internacionais com arbitragem científica |
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