
Patrizia CatellaniUniversità Cattolica del Sacro Cuore | UNICATT · Department of Psychology
Patrizia Catellani
PhD
About
169
Publications
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Introduction
My research activity deals with reasoning and communication in different social and political contexts, as well as the integration between social psychology and artificial intelligence.
I’m especially interested in the effects of counterfactual and prefactual communication on: a) impression formation; b) nutrition and physical activity; c) adherence to environmental policies.
Additional affiliations
November 1987 - present
Publications
Publications (169)
We examined the role of hostile sexism in vote at the 2022 general election in Italy, where the largest among center-right parties was led by a woman, Giorgia Meloni. We analyzed data from a sample of 1635 voters who participated in the 2022 ITANES survey. Hostile sexism was associated with male gender, lower education, higher religiosity, and righ...
Previous research investigated the impact of psychosocial predictors (e.g. attitude, social and moral norm, perceived behavioral control, intention) on sustainable clothing purchasing. To date, no studies considered whether proenvironmental self-identity moderates the effects of these predictors on behavior. In this study, we adopted an intraperson...
Mobile apps can effectively promote healthy and sustainable eating, but their success depends on initial user engagement. This study aimed to increase initial user engagement by tailoring app descriptions to users’ regulatory focus (prevention versus promotion). Four conditions were created by combining two types of messages: regulatory concern (sa...
Previous research investigated the impact of psychosocial predictors (e.g. attitude, social and moral norm, perceived behavioural control, intention) on sustainable clothing purchasing behaviour. To date, no studies considered whether pro-environmental self-identity moderates the effects of these predictors on behaviour. In this study, we adopted a...
Introduction
Although consumers bought more local food during the changing context of pandemic COVID -19, this positive modification may not become a stable habit afterward.
Methods
To understand this change in drivers of consumers' intention to buy local food, we investigated the role of perceptions of various intrinsic and extrinsic attributes o...
Objective
We investigated how physical activity can be effectively promoted with a message-based intervention, by combining the explanatory power of theory-based structural equation modeling with the predictive power of data-driven artificial intelligence.
Methods
A sample of 564 participants took part in a two-week message intervention via a mobi...
The effectiveness of communication in promoting healthy and sustainable eating habits depends largely on personalizing the communication according to the psychosocial characteristics of the recipients. Therefore, profiling (or segmentation) is crucial in the field of public nutrition communication, as it helps to understand how people differ and ho...
Habit is an important factor involved in the development of automatic eating decisions.Eating habits result from repeated and consolidated experiences and are difficult to change. The transtheoretical model is a useful tool for understanding behavioral changes that go through different stages, including pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation...
The food choice process is multi-faceted and involves several dimensions that interact with each other, including life course events and experiences, influences, and the personal food system. The food choice process model provides a framework for understanding how these dimensions come together and influence a person’s food preferences. The theory...
When we buy, prepare, or consume food, we are often with other people. The presence of others influences us and often leads to social facilitation, that is, the tendency to eat more when we are in the presence of others than when we are alone. We may also adapt our food choices and eating behavior to create a certain impression or to fit in with a...
The emotional level plays an important role in our relationship with food. The act of eating can serve to regulate negative emotions, such as sadness, or enhance positive emotions associated with the pleasure of eating. Eating comfort food due to emotional stress is defined as emotional eating. It can lead to binge eating and weight gain, creating...
People differ in terms of their food literacy, the motives for their food choices, and their attitudes toward food. Food literacy refers to a person’s knowledge and skills in making healthy and conscious food choices. Higher levels of food literacy have been shown to have a positive impact on a person’s physical and psychological well-being. Motive...
The social psychology of eating and artificial intelligence can be integrated to develop effective online and personalized interventions to promote sustainable lifestyles that consider individual preferences and orientations. Combining the explanatory power of social psychological models with the predictive power of data-driven artificial intellige...
To be persuasive, messages promoting healthy and sustainable diets need to make the psychosocial processes underlying food choices understandable. They can provide information about the health consequences of food choices (e.g., information about the ingredients, the function activated by the ingredients, and the benefits derived from the activated...
In the present research, we analyzed how to promote a plant-based diet by involving 428 volunteers in a 2-week mobile app intervention. We compared messages promoting the addition of legumes versus messages promoting the replacement of meat with legumes. Messages were either combined or not combined with dynamic norms (i.e., information that more a...
We aimed to understand how to promote innovative technology in the sustainable fashion market. The case study was the advertisement of a feminine bag with a chain coated using a new technology. We invited 550 women to read an Instagram post. In the control condition, the post only described the new technology. In the informational condition, the po...
In two studies, we investigated whether counterfactual messages (i.e., “If… then…”) on the economic costs of past public policies influence support for future climate change policies. In Study 1, we tested whether the effect of upward counterfactual messages depended on their referring (or not) to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results showed lower support...
Although the study of the affective components involved in predicting physical activity is spreading faster and faster, there is a lack of studies testing their role when promoting physical activity through message interventions. In the present study, we considered these components by focusing on how anticipated affective reactions and emotional pr...
Given the complexity of contrasting the spread of fake news and conspiracy theories, past research has started investigating some novel pre-emptive strategies, such as inoculation and prebunking. In the present research, we tested whether counterfactual thinking can be employed as a prebunking strategy to prompt critical consideration of fake news...
Le nostre scelte alimentari sono guidate da molteplici dimensioni psicologiche: cognitive, emotive, valoriali, sociali e comportamentali. La psicologia sociale dell’alimentazione aiuta a comprendere queste dimensioni e a capire come promuovere un’alimentazione sana e sostenibile, migliorando il benessere delle persone. Cosa conta di più nella nostr...
Although a Mediterranean diet (MeDiet) provides several psychophysical health benefits, research on how to effectively promote MeDiet adherence is still lacking. In the present study, we tested the effectiveness of a messaging intervention aimed at promoting the adherence to the Mediterranean diet. A total of 435 Italian participants responded to a...
Although local food purchasing provides several benefits to both consumers and producers, research on what recommendation messages can effectively promote the purchase of local food is still lacking. In the present study, 410 participants were involved in a 2-week intervention relying on prefactual (i.e., “If … then”) messages promoting the purchas...
Research has shown that dynamic norm information can promote pro-environmental actions (i.e. information indicating that a growing number of people are behaving pro-environmentally). Yet, the question remains whether adding dynamic norm information would increase the effectiveness of information on the environmental consequences of behavior. We com...
Objective:
Most previous research on the antecedents of healthy food choice has not investigated the links between these antecedents and has focused on specific food choice rather than on an overall diet. In the present study, we tested the plausibility of an integrated theoretical model aiming to explain the role of different psychosocial factors...
Purpose
The present research aimed to understand how to predict and promote plant-based meat (PBM) consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
In Study 1 ( N = 550), the authors investigated the psychosocial antecedents of the intentions to add PBM and to replace animal meat with PBM. In Study 2 ( N = 390), the authors tested the effectiveness of dif...
Effective recommendations on healthy food choice need to be personalized and sent out on a large scale. In this paper, we present a model of automatic message selection tailored on the characteristics of the recipient and focused on the reduction of red meat consumption. This model is obtained through the collaboration between social psychologists...
Following the rise of populist parties and leaders in the last decade, research has extensively investigated the political and economic factors that have driven some voters towards populism. Less research has been devoted to the individual psychological factors associated with populist attitudes, and to how those can influence political decisions,...
Aims of the study. Previous research has shown that message persuasive mass can depend on message framing Through an experimental study, we in sticated the effects of messages promoting vegetable consumption on recipi ests with different baseline intention to change their food choices. Persuasive messages were framed in terms of prefactual ("If......
Despite increased knowledge of the impact of clothing production on the environment, the general public still has a low intention to purchase sustainable clothing. The present study analyzed the psychosocial predictors of Italian women’s intention to purchase sustainable clothing, proposing an integration of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and...
Previous research has shown that sending personalized messages consistent with the recipient's psychological profile is essential to activate the change toward a healthy lifestyle. In this paper we present an example of how artificial intelligence can support psychology in this process, illustrating the development of a probabilistic predictor in t...
Natural labels are increasingly present in the market and appreciated by consumers, despite formal regulation still missing. Knowing the psychosocial factors that may predict natural food choice may be useful to understand what drives consumers to choose this category of food. We analyzed the antecedents of consumers’ intention to purchase natural...
This study aimed to contribute to the growing literature investigating the psychosocial factors associated with intentions to reduce red and processed meat consumption, given the significant negative impact of meat on public health and in contributing to climate change. A framework combining the Theory of Planned Behaviour with meat-eater identity...
Past research suggests that although citizens are generally favorable to pro-environmental policies, their negative economic impact can be a relevant source of concern. In two studies, we investigated the agreement with messages highlighting the positive vs. negative economic impact of a pro-environmental policy (the creation of a protected natural...
Citizens are increasingly polarized on climate change, making persuasive communication on the issue rarely effective. We investigated how individuals with different climate change beliefs evaluated gain- and loss-framed messages on the environmental and economic impact of a related policy. In Studies 1 & 2, we found that Italian (N = 240) and Ameri...
We tested the plausibility of a persuasion model to understand the effects of messages framed in terms of gain, non-loss, loss, and non-gain, and related to the physical, mental and social consequences of doing physical activity at home during the lockdown restrictions. 272 Italian participants responded to a questionnaire on their attitude and int...
We tested the plausibility of a cognitive-emotional model to understand the effects of messages framed in terms of gain, non-loss, non-gain, and loss, and related to the health consequences of red/processed meat consumption. A total of 544 Italian participants reported their attitude toward reduced red/processed meat consumption and intention to ea...
The tendency to perceive outcomes as more foreseeable once they are available is a well-known phenomenon. However, research on the cognitive and motivational factors that induce individuals to overestimate the foreseeability of an electoral outcome has yielded inconsistent findings. In three studies based on large-scale electoral surveys (ITANES, I...
Aims of the study. Previous research has shown that message persuasive- ness can depend on message framing. Through an experimental study, we in- vestigated the effects of messages promoting vegetable consumption on recipi- ents with different baseline intention to change their food choices. Persuasive messages were framed in terms of prefactual (“...
To be really effective, conversational agents must integrate well with the characteristics of the humans with whom they interact. This exploratory study focuses on a method for integrating well-assessed methods from the field of social psychology in the design of task-oriented conversational agents in which the dialogue management module is develop...
This study analyzed the psychosocial aspects that predict intention to reduce red/processed meat consumption, proposing an integration of the Theory of PlannedBehavior (TPB) and the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) approaches. Participants (N = 233) filled in a self-report online questionnaire, measuring the intention to reduce red/processed meat consumptio...
Past research has shown that counterfactual (“If…then…”) thoughts influence causal and responsibility attribution in the judicial context. However, little is known on whether and how the use of counterfactuals in communication affects lay jurors’ and judges’ evaluations. In two studies, we asked mock lay jurors (Study 1) and actual judges (Study 2)...
Caprara and his collaborators' research have contributed to develop predictive models of voting decisions that properly consider psychological factors, especially personality dimensions and values. The reflections carried out by Caprara and Vecchione (2017) can be usefully supplemented by the analysis of psychosocial processes involved in online po...
Background:
The persuasiveness of nutritional messages varies according to individual regulatory focus. However, so far research has focused on the negative or positive valence of the message, while we lack research on the differential effectiveness of health vs. well-being messages. We tested whether messages centred on negative health or well-be...
Previous research has shown that messages aimed at reducing red meat intake often do not have the expected effect. In the present study, we tested whether prefactual (“If… then”) or factual messages focused on health or wellbeing concerns have different persuasive effects depending on the recipient’s level of eating self-efficacy. Young adult parti...
The development of online political communication has profoundly changed the way in which we relate to political reality. Some features of the internet favor the use of fast and intuitive ways of thinking that, despite having various advantages, also come with several drawbacks. These drawbacks are reduced when citizens use slower and more reflecti...
Il modo in cui i cittadini si coinvolgono nella vita politica si sta profondamente e rapidamente modificando e la comunicazione politica attraverso Internet gioca un ruolo importante in questo cambiamento. Alcune caratteristiche di questa comunicazione favoriscono il ricorso a modalità di pensiero veloci e intuitive che, pur avendo diversi vantaggi...
In the present study we tested a daily messaging intervention aimed at promoting the reduction of red and processed meat consumption (RPMC). We randomly allocated 180 young adults to three different message conditions. Participants in the informational condition read messages on the consequences of excessive RPMC on one's health and the environment...
The current study tested the impact of different messaging interventions on changing attitude and behaviour in relation to Red and Processed Meat Consumption (RPMC). The study compared the effectiveness of receiving fourteen daily messages on the health, environment, or health + environment benefits of reduced RPMC, against a no message control con...
This study is set in the framework of task-oriented conversational agents in which dialogue management is obtained via Reinforcement Learning. The aim is to explore the possibility to overcome the typical end-to-end training approach through the integration of a quantitative model developed in the field of persuasion psychology. Such integration is...
The development of online political communication has profoundly changed the way we enter into a relationship with political reality. Some features of the Internet allow us to benefit from political communication by using a fast, intuitive, superficial and emotion-based way of thinking. However, we can also rely on another, slower, more reflective,...
Ragionare su eventi passati per decidere su questioni di rilevanza legale coinvolge una serie di processi cognitivi, emotivi e motivazionali che in certe condizioni possono migliorare la qualità della nostra decisione, mentre in altre possono indurci in distorsioni o addirittura in errori di giudi-zio. Il «senno di poi» è una di queste distorsioni,...
In questo capitolo analizzeremo alcuni dati su come gli elettori guardavano alle elezioni prima del voto e su come questo sguardo è cambiato dopo il voto stesso. Vedremo in che misura si è manifestata la tendenza a ragionare sulle elezioni utilizzando il senno di poi, quali fattori hanno promosso o al contrario arginato questa tendenza, e come essa...
Past research has offered contrasting results regarding the effects of attacks on social judgments. In three experiments, we investigated the effects of counterfactual ("If only...") and non-counterfactual attacks on the morality versus leadership of politicians versus entrepreneurs. First, participants rated morality as the most desirable, but lea...
Taking care of one’s nutrition is crucial to maintain good health, and prevent the most common diseases associated with ageing, but also to remain active and improve one’s well-being and quality of life. Convincing people to follow a bal-anced diet, however, is a rather difficult task. Message framing can be used to im-prove the effectiveness of co...
Messages aimed at changing eating habits of the elderly are often not persuasive. In two studies, we tested the hypothesis that the persuasiveness of messages regarding the effects of meat consumption on health versus well-being would depend on their factual versus prefactual ('if…then…') framing. Different groups of elderly participants were prese...
Quali cambiamenti i nuovi media stanno introducendo nelle modalità di partecipazione dei cittadini alla vita pubblica e politica? Informarsi, discutere e agire collettivamente attraverso i social media aumenta o diminuisce le possibilità di partecipazione?
Il capitolo, a partire da questi interrogativi, intende approfondire da un punto di vista ps...
Through an experiment included in a nationwide survey conducted prior to the 2014 European elections, we investigated whether citizens' agreement with policies dealing with the global issue of climate change depends on how such policies are framed and citizens' identification with the national or supranational entities enacting them. Participants w...
What are the relationships among food, values, and identity? In this chapter, we first analyze the relationships between people’s values and their attitudes towards nutritional choices. Systematic examination of food habits provides evidence that there is a link between meat and vegetable consumption, and the importance given to specific values. Wh...
When attacking others or defending themselves, politicians use communication as a form of impression management, often in subtle and implicit ways. Recourse to counterfactuals may be one of such ways, but the effects of counterfactual communication are so far relatively unexplored. In a series of experimental studies, we investigated the effects of...
Is there a relationship between the food we eat and our values and identity? To answer this question, we must first look at what are the relations between personal values and food choices. We will then take a more in-depth look at the motivations underlying our food choices and how such motivations can change in time.
In two studies, we investigated the framing effects of policy messages regarding climate change. In Study 1, we asked participants to read policy messages that envisioned positive consequences. Messages varied as to their outcome sensitivity (achievement of positive outcomes versus avoidance of negative outcomes), regulatory concern (growth versus...
Two experiments were conducted to compare the effects of different styles of verbal criticism (factual vs. counterfactual) on the perceptions of target, source, and quality of the attack. Counterfactual attacks resulted in more negative overall judgment of the target and ratings of the target’s morality than either factual attacks or no attack. Cou...
Two experiments were conducted to compare the effects of different styles of verbal criticism (factual versus counterfactual) on the perceptions of target, source, and quality of the attack. Counterfactual attacks resulted in more negative overall judgment of the target and ratings of the target’s morality than either factual attacks or no attack....
Previous research has shown that counterfactual thinking (“if only…”) is related to event explanation, blame assignment, and future decisions. Using data from a large-scale electoral panel survey (ITANES), for the first time we investigated the association between pre-election counterfactual thoughts on the national economy and subsequent voting ch...
Research on counterfactuals ("If only...") has seldom considered the effects of counterfactual communication, especially in a defensive context. In three studies, we investigated the effects of counterfactual defences employed by politicians. We assumed that self-focused upward counterfactuals (“If only I…, the outcome would have been better”) are...
In the increasingly diversified environment of political communication, leaders’ popularity may rest not only on the voters’ main sources of political information, but also on the degree of congruence between leader and media communication styles and requirements. Using ITANES Rolling Cross Section (RCS) CAWI survey, conducted on a sample of 8.700...
I contributi presentati in questo numero di In-Mind offrono un quadro sintetico, ma anche chiaro e aggiornato, delle principali direzioni di ricerca verso le quali si stanno indirizzando gli studi psicosociali sulla moralità. Se già da tempo la moralità è al centro dell’attenzione della psicologia dello sviluppo e del ragionamento, è invece relativ...
In the increasingly diversified environment of political communication, leaders’ popularity may rest not only on the voters’ main sources of political information, but also on the degree of congruence between leader and media communication styles and requirements. Using ITANES Rolling Cross Section (RCS) CAWI survey, conducted on a sample of 8.700...
The chapter is aimed at describing four different approaches, each supported by experimental findings, which can be adopted to empower life skills in the elderly. The first approach consists in stimulating aged persons by asking them to carry out some tasks aimed at activating the brain and mental processes which are targeted by the intervention. I...
During debates and interviews, political leaders often have to defend themselves from adversaries and journalists questioning their performance. To fight against these threats, politicians resort to various defensive strategies, either direct or indirect, to draw attention away from their responsibilities or shed a more positive light upon their wo...
Se le si analizza alla luce del ruolo giocato dai leader di partito, le elezioni politiche del 2013 hanno presentato aspetti tanto di continuità quanto di rottura rispetto al passato. Come nelle cinque elezioni politiche precedenti dal 1994, la principale forza del centrodestra ha avuto alla sua guida Silvio Berlusconi, mentre al centrosinistra si...
While counterfactual thinking has been widely investigated, we know much less about how counterfactual (“If . . . then”) statements are employed in political communication. We analysed statements made by politicians during pre-electoral televised broadcasts, to assess whether politicians employ counterfactuals in facework. Counterfactuals were code...
In two experimental studies (conducted in Britain and Italy), participants read about a politician answering to leadership- versus morality-related allegations using either downward counterfactuals (“things could have been worse, if…”) or upward counterfactuals (“things could have been better, if…”). Downward messages increased the perception of th...
Quando comunicano con i cittadini, i politici si propongono di acquisire consenso, promuovere l’immagine di se stessi e del proprio gruppo, e differenziarsi da gruppi avversari e concorrenti. Nel perseguire questi obiettivi sono condizionati dal fatto che la comunicazione politica è prevalentemente mediatizzata e in quanto tale caratterizzata da un...
How do our opinions of politicians depend on what politicians say and what other people tell about them or to them? In the present paper, we will focus on the relations between some subtle and indirect (but widely employed) forms of political communication and the effects they may have on the perception of political candidates. We will especially f...
In two experimental studies (conducted in Britain and Italy), participants read about a politician answering to leadership- versus morality-related allegations using either downward counterfactuals ("things could have been worse, if . . .") or upward counterfactuals ("things could have been better, if . . ."). Downward messages increased the percep...
Candidate personality traits have long been recognized as influential in the determination of voting choice. However, little is understood of how the perception of candidates’ traits influences different categories of voters. Based on a large-scale electoral panel survey (ITANES, ITAlian National Election Studies), the present study investigated wh...
An intriguing question for scholars of collective action is how participants of unsuccessful actions become re-engaged in future collective activities. At an individual level, previous research has shown that after negative outcomes counterfactual thoughts ('if only … ') may serve to prepare for future action. In the current research, we investigat...
Politicians can use counterfactual communication to promote their own representations of past political events, to defend themselves, to attack their adversaries, and, more generally, to influence citizens’ representation of political reality and of politicians. In this chapter, we focus on two main questions: a) What counterfactuals do politicians...
What needs and motivations lead us to be conservative or progressive and how far we are aware of them? What are we looking for in a political leader: competence or morality; decision or communication abilities? How far a politician communicates not only with words, but with getures or voice tone?The volume offers an answer to these and further ques...
Political psychology has gained a central role within applied social psychology, dealing with a series of relevant issues for scholars, citizens, and politicians. What political information captures our attention most? Do the foundations of our voting choice lay in our fidelity to a party, to candidates' traits, or to the government performance? Ca...
The relation between negative political communication and participation is taken into account first. Then the effects of attacks on citizens' judgments of politicans are considered. The various ways through which politicians defend themselves from attacks are then taken into account, as well as the effects on citizens' judgments.