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Disgust and the Human Ecology of Insect Consumption: Examining the Barriers to Anthropo-Entomophagy
Abstract
With growing threats to food security worldwide, academic and popular literature has increasingly highlighted the prospect of using insects, given the attractive nutritional profile and productive efficiency of many species, as a protein source for humans. This project adopts anthropological and psychological perspectives to understand both the acceptance of and reluctance to using insects as food, as they continue to be traditional foodstuffs in many cultures. To do so, the project overviews in-depth case studies of traditional insect consumption in Mexico, Japan, and New Guinea. To complement this ethnographic inquiry, survey responses from adults in the United States and India are analyzed to help identify predictors of willingness to consume insects. Integrating these secondary and primary research insights underscore the prominence of disgust as a mediating factor in the acceptability of insect foods. Implications for policymakers and future researchers to transform attitudes and verify sustainability are discussed, given this prevalent cultural and psychological barrier.
... Insects and their consumption preferences differ from one area to another that is why in most communities, people do not use all the available edible insects (Fischer and Steenbekkers, 2018). According to Chan (2014) familiarity with entomophagy increases consumer readiness to adopt insects as food. ...
The utilization of edible insects as food and feed is not a new concept, it is a practice that has been part of the tradition of many communities around the world. They have been primarily used as supplementary food in most African countries. However, there has been a significant decline in the consumption of insects over the years, especially among young people. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the knowledge on entomophagy and the utilization of insects among the youth. The study revealed that the majority of youth had limited knowledge about consumption, nutrition, harvesting, preparation and use of edible insects as livestock feed. From the Chi-square analysis it was observed that age and education level have a significant relationship to the familiarity of consumption of edible insects, P=0.014 and P=0.009 respectively. The results also show that there is a significant association between awareness on the nutritional value of insects with age and education level, P=0.001 and P=0.009 respectively. Logistic regression analysis was used to find the association between demographic characteristics, knowledge and the utilization of edible insects. The results revealed that education level, age and knowledge have an impact on the utilization of edible insects. Lack of knowledge contribute to the unwillingness of youth to consume insects. It is noticeable that indigenous knowledge on entomophagy is slowly disappearing with the shift in eating habits and changes in the socio-economic environments. As such, it is imperative that indigenous knowledge is preserved and educational interventions are done to raise awareness on the benefits of entomophagy in order to improve the utilization of insects among the youth.
... In order to overcome acceptance challenges of insect-based foods, extent of perceptibility should be minimised thus increasing the acceptability of edible insects [14,15]. It is considered a good way to serve insects in a masked form as insect flour or protein extract as suggested by Hartmann and Siegrist [16]. ...
Acanthoplus discoidalis is an insect that has potential use in new product development because of its nutritional quality. This study focused on function properties of A. discoidalis flour. Protein solubility, bulk density, water and oil holding capacity and foaming and emulsifying properties were determined. Protein solubility values of A. discoidalis protein extract at different temperatures were minimum at pH 5. After sieving of the ground flour, the highest retention yields for both the oven dried and sun dried insect flour were observed at mesh size 150µm thus, 47 % and 45 % respectively. Bulk density ranged from 52.33 to 82.67g/mL. Water holding capacity values ranged from 236 to 183.73g/g. A comparison between the water holding capacity with relation to mesh size revealed that the finer the flour, the lower the water binding capacity. No significant difference (p < 0.05) was observed between water holding capacity of the protein isolate and oven dried A. discoidalis flour ground to 500µm. Oil holding capacity of A. discoidalis flour ranged from 110.57 to 179.67g/g. Significant differences (p < 0.05) for oil holding capacity were observed between air dried and sun dried flour samples. Foaming capacity values of A. discoidalis flour ranged from 4 to 33.83%. Foaming capacity decreased with an increase in mesh size for both the oven dried and sun dried flour samples. No significant difference (p < 0.05) was observed between foaming stability of the protein isolate and that of sun dried flour ground to 300 and 500µm. Emulsion capacity and emulsion stability values ranged from 43.33 to 84.07% and 24.73 to 41.83% respectively. The obtained results could be valuable to industries that would want to take up A. discoidalis in their formulation of improved foods and feeds. Insect flours are rich in protein, good extenders, good thickeners and good gelling agents.
... The scientific study of entomophagy is rather new, and it has been studied through the lens of psychology and anthropology (Looy, et al., 2014;Chan, 2014), sustainability (Glover & Sexton, 2015;Looy, et al., 2014;Runze, 2017;Katayama, et al. 2008;Gahukar, 2011;Mishra & Omkar, 2017) and more recently from a consumer behavior perspective (Menozzi, Sogari, Veneziani, Simoni, & Mora, 2017;Megido, et al. 2013;Sogari, Menozzi & Mora, 2017). Building on previous research and, given the novelty of entomophagy in the Western culture and its potential importance as an alternative source of food, the purpose of this paper is to analyze consumers' attitudes towards entomophagy and their intentions to engage in the practice of entomophagy. ...
As human population continues to rise there is a growing demand for resources to feed the planet. One solution is to introduce edible insects into human diets. Entomophagy – the practice of using insects for human consumption – is a sustainable practice that is currently being engaged by various cultural groups around the globe. Despite its many advantages, entomophagy is barely accepted in Western cultures. Ingesting insects is unappetizing to the majority of western consumers who show a strong implicit negative association and attitude towards all insects. This study uses the knowledge-attitude-behavior model as a framework to understand how – based on their subjective knowledge about entomophagy – consumers develop value perceptions of entomophagy (attitudes) and, eventually, intentions to consume (behaviors). In order to evaluate the complexity of value perceptions towards entomophagy, we used Sheth et al’s theory of consumption values and market choices. Results suggest that subjective knowledge positively affects four value perceptions (functional, social, emotional and epistemic value) explaining high percentages of their variance. Support was also found for the positive effect of emotional value and epistemic value on intentions to use and for functional and epistemic value on positive word-of-mouth.
We provide systematic evidence for the range and importance of hedonic reversals as a major source of pleasure, and incorporate these findings into the theory of benign masochism. Twenty-nine different initially aversive activities are shown to produce pleasure (hedonic reversals) in substantial numbers of individuals from both college student and Mechanical Turk samples. Hedonic reversals group, by factor analysis, into sadness, oral irritation, fear, physical activity/exhaustion, pain, strong alcohol-related tastes, bitter tastes, and disgust. Liking for sad experiences (music, novels, movies, paintings) forms a coherent entity, and is related to enjoyment of crying in response to sad movies. For fear and oral irritation, individuals also enjoy the body's defensive reactions. Enjoyment of sadness is higher in females across domains. We explain these findings in terms of benign masochism, enjoyment of negative bodily reactions and feelings in the context of feeling safe, or pleasure at "mind over body". In accordance with benign masochism, for many people, the favored level of initially negative experiences is just below the level that cannot be tolerated.
A 500-pound tuna is caught of the coast of New England or Spain, flown thousands of miles to Tokyo, sold for tens of thousands of do liars to Japanese buyers...and shipped to chefs in New York and Hang Kong? That's the manic logic of global sushi.
Negative attitudes toward invertebrates are a deep-seated, visceral response among Western peoples. These internalized aversions toward insects and other terrestrial arthropods, both in general and specifically as a food source, subtly and systemically contribute to unsustainable global foodways. Insect cuisine is, for Westerners, emblematic of the alien, a threat to our psychological and cultural identity. Yet failure to embrace entomophagy prevents us from seeing the full humanity of those of other classes, races, and cultures, and leads to agricultural and food policy decisions that fail in their objectives to improve nourishment for all people. Key to enabling the world’s peoples to live sustainably with the land are: (1) awareness of the psychological and cultural barriers to a more insect-positive perspective (2) embracing insects as a desirable food resource, (3) understanding the processes by which those barriers are constructed, their negative consequences, and (4) identifying strategies for transforming our attitudes.
Scientists have used educational presentations and "bug banquets" to alter widespread negative attitudes toward invertebrates. In this article, the authors explore whether such presentations have a measurable affect on attitudes. Junior high, high school, and university students completed an attitude survey focusing on invertebrates in general and as a food source. Half of each age group then experienced an educational bug banquet presented by the authors. Several weeks later, all participants again completed the survey. Results suggest that educational bug banquets have complex and subtle effects on attitudes that may depend on age, but they may help prepare people to respond more positively in future encounters with these species.
Comparing food taboos across 78 cultures, this paper demonstrates that meat, though a prized food, is also the principal target of proscriptions. Reviewing existing explanations of taboos, we é nd that both functionalist and symbolic approaches fail to account for meat' s cross-cultural centrality and do not reè ect experience-near aspects of food taboos, principal among which is disgust. Adopting an evolutionary approach to the mind, this paper presents an alternative to existing explanations of food taboos. Consistent with the attendant risk of pathogen transmission, meat has special salience as a stimulus for humans, as animal products are stronger elicitors of disgust and aversion than plant products. We identify three psychosocial processes, socially-mediated ingestive conditioning, egocentric empathy , and normative moralization , each of which likely plays a role in transforming individual disgust responses and conditioned food aversions into institutionalized food taboos.
One of the most interesting aspects of Japanese culture is its ability to adopt and integrate new customs, while maintaining many older and even uncommon customs. This phenomenon is seen easily in the variety of Japanese restuarants. Along with computer-aided waitresses in Denny'sstyle restaurants, and the pizza, spaghetti, and burger chains, are traditional noodle shops, yakitori and eel grill restaurants, and sushi bars.
L'entomophagie est largement répandue parmi de nombreuses Premières Nations, lesquelles voient à la récolte du savoir écologique traditionnel touchant les cycles biologiques des insectes et les interactions plante-insecte. Dans l'Amazonie, la culture des larves de charançons des palmiers et barbirostres (Rhynchophorus palmarum et Rhinostomus barbirostris) fournit un supplément alimentaire important aux régimes de nombreux groupes autochtones. Cette étude a été faite avec le peuple jotï de l'Amazonie vénézuélienne et nous avons examiné leur savoir écologique traditionnel (SET) en lien avec le palmier (Oenocarpus bacaba) et les interactions avec les charançons. Nous avons également vérifié de quelle façon les Jotïs utilisent leur SET pour optimiser le rendement de la culture des charançons des palmiers. Ils manipulent les palmiers afin d'induire des changements dans la division des ressources et la compétition pour celles-ci qui se présentent de façon naturelle entre les différentes espèces de charançons. Cela leur permet d'accroître la récolte de leurs espèces de charançons préférées. Nous avons pu établir que le SET des Jotïs était conforme aux résultats scientifiques quant au cycle biologique du charançon ainsi que pour les interactions palmier-charançon. Notre étude a permis d'identifier diverses avenues de recherche qui pourront offrir des solutions aux problèmes agricoles comme les infestations des plantations de palmier par les charançons des palmiers. Nous soulignons aussi l'importance de comprendre et de conserver le savoir écologique traditionnel ainsi que ses pratiques surtout en ce qui a trait à des organismes peu étudiés tels que le charançon des palmiers.
Psychological research involving scale construction has been hindered considerably by a widespread lack of understanding of coefficient alpha and reliability theory in general. A discussion of the assumptions and meaning of coefficient alpha is presented. This discussion is followed by a demonstration of the effects of test length and dimensionality on alpha by calculating the statistic for hypothetical tests with varying numbers of items, numbers of orthogonal dimensions, and average item intercorrelations. Recommendations for the proper use of coefficient alpha are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
With a growing world population and increasingly demanding consumers, the production of sufficient protein from livestock, poultry, and fish represents a serious challenge for the future. Approximately 1,900 insect species are eaten worldwide, mainly in developing countries. They constitute quality food and feed, have high feed conversion ratios, and emit low levels of greenhouse gases. Some insect species can be grown on organic side streams, reducing environmental contamination and transforming waste into high-protein feed that can replace increasingly more expensive compound feed ingredients, such as fish meal. This requires the development of costeffective, automated mass-rearing facilities that provide a reliable, stable, and safe product. In the tropics, sustainable harvesting needs to be assured and rearing practices promoted, and in general, the food resource needs to be revalorized. In the Western world, consumer acceptability will relate to pricing, perceived environmental benefits, and the development of tasty insect-derived protein products. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Entomology Volume 58 is December 03, 2013. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/catalog/pubdates.aspx for revised estimates.
Throughout history humans have manipulated their natural environment for an increased predictability and availability of plant and animal resources. Research on prehistoric diets increasingly includes small game, but edible insects receive minimal attention. Using the anthropological and archaeological literature we show and hypothesize about the existence of such environmental manipulations related to the procurement of edible insects. As examples we use eggs of aquatic Hemiptera in Mexico which are semi-cultivated by water management and by providing egg laying sites; palm weevil larvae in the Amazon Basin, tropical Africa, and New Guinea of which the collection is facilitated by manipulating host tree distribution and abundance and which are semi-cultivated by deliberately cutting palm trees at a chosen time at a chosen location; and arboreal, foliage consuming caterpillars in sub-Saharan Africa for which the collection is facilitated by manipulating host tree distribution and abundance, shifting cultivation, fire regimes, host tree preservation, and manually introducing caterpillars to a designated area. These manipulations improve insect exploitation by increasing their predictability and availability, and most likely have an ancient origin.
We prepared a consolidated list of edible and therapeutic insects used in Arunachal Pradesh (N.E. India) by two tribal societies (i.e., the Nyishi of East Kameng and the Galo of West Siang). The list is based on thorough, semi-structured field-interviews with 20 informants of each tribal group. At least 81 species of local insects, belonging to 26 families and five orders of insects, namely Coleoptera (24 species), Orthoptera (17 species), Hemiptera (16 species), Hymenoptera (15 species) and Odonata (9 species), are being used as food among members of these two indigenous societies. However, Nyishi use overall more species of insects as food than Galo people do and consume mostly Coleoptera and Hemiptera; amongst the Galo, on the other hand, Odonata and Orthoptera dominate. The selection of the food insects amongst the Nyishi and Galo is dictated by traditional tribal beliefs as well as the taste and availability of the insects. Depending on the species, only particular or all developmental stages are consumed. Some food insects may be included in the local diet throughout the year, others only when seasonally available. Commonly specimens are being prepared for consumption by roasting, frying or boiling. Twelve species of insects are deemed therapeutically valuable by the locals and are being used by the tribes investigated to treat a variety of disorders in humans and domestic animals. Members of the Galo use a greater number of insect species for remedial purposes than the Nyishi. With the degradation of natural resources, rapid population growth, and increasing influence of 'westernization', the traditional wisdom of entomophagy and entomotherapy is at risk of being lost. There is thus an urgent need to record the role insects play as components of local diets and folk remedies and to assess insect biodiversity in the light of these uses.
Disgust is an evolved psychological system for protecting organisms from infection through disease avoidant behaviour. This 'behavioural immune system', present in a diverse array of species, exhibits universal features that orchestrate hygienic behaviour in response to cues of risk of contact with pathogens. However, disgust is also a dynamic adaptive system. Individuals show variation in pathogen avoidance associated with psychological traits like having a neurotic personality, as well as a consequence of being in certain physiological states such as pregnancy or infancy. Three specialized learning mechanisms modify the disgust response: the Garcia effect, evaluative conditioning and the law of contagion. Hygiene behaviour is influenced at the group level through social learning heuristics such as 'copy the frequent'. Finally, group hygiene is extended symbolically to cultural rules about purity and pollution, which create social separations and are enforced as manners. Cooperative hygiene endeavours such as sanitation also reduce pathogen prevalence. Our model allows us to integrate perspectives from psychology, ecology and cultural evolution with those of epidemiology and anthropology. Understanding the nature of disease avoidance psychology at all levels of human organization can inform the design of programmes to improve public health.
The current article provides a guideline for conducting factor analysis, a technique used to estimate the population-level factor structure underlying the given sample data. First, the distinction between exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) is briefly discussed; along with this discussion, the notion of principal component analysis and why it does not provide a valid substitute of factor analysis is noted. Second, a step-by-step walk-through of conducting factor analysis is illustrated; through these walk-through instructions, various decisions that need to be made in factor analysis are discussed and recommendations provided. Specifically, suggestions for how to carry out preliminary procedures, EFA, and CFA are provided with SPSS and LISREL syntax examples. Finally, some critical issues concerning the appropriate (and not-so-appropriate) use of factor analysis are discussed along with the discussion of recommended practices. RESUME El presente artículo provee una guía para conducir análisis factorial, una técnica usada para estimar la estructura de las variables a nivel de la población que subyacen a los datos de la muestra. Primero, se hace una distinción entre análisis factorial exploratorio (AFE) y análisis factorial confirmatorio (AFC) junto con una discusión de la noción de análisis de componentes principales y por qué este no reemplaza el análisis de factores. Luego, se presenta una guía acerca de cómo hacer análisis factorial y que incluye decisiones que deben tomarse durante el análisis factorial. En especial, se presentan ejemplos en SPSS y LISREL acerca de cómo llevar a cabo procedimientos preliminares, AFE y AFC. Finalmente, se discuten asuntos clave en relación con el uso apropiado del análisis de factores y practicas recomendables. Palabras clave: Análisis factorial confirmatorio y exploratorio, LISREL, análisis paralelo, análisis de componentes principales, SPSS.
Insects as a major animal group possess enormous biodiversity and form a colossal biomass in nature that generally is wasted. Insects offer us many benefits, including their use in human and animal nutrition, in medicine, religion, art, and handicrafts. Also, they are efficient recyclers of organic matter and provide a source of economic gain for the poor through their commercialization. Even if insects are considered by developed nations as an emergency and non-conventional food of low prestige, they are part of the daily diet of the larger part of humanity, that conceive them as a healthy, nutritious and savory meal, constituting sometimes the only significant source of protein of good quality. Up to date we have recorded around 2000 different edible insect species in the world. Because of their high nutritive value and ubiquitous presence, insects present a potential sustainable food source for humans. Once was select suitable species and develop appropriate breeding methods, insects can provide a reliable and sustainable source of high-quality animal protein.
Edible insects, a traditional food all over the world, are highly nutritious with high fat, protein and mineral contents depending on the species and thus represent a noteworthy alternative food and feed source and a potential substitute e. g. for fishmeal in feed formulae. Research is required to develop and automatize cost-effective, energy-efficient and microbially safe rearing, harvest and post harvest processing technologies as well as sanitation procedures to ensure food and feed safety and produce safe insect products at a reasonable price on an industrial scale especially in comparison to meat products. In addition, consumer acceptance needs to be established. Potential and challenges along the production chain of insects for food and feed are discussed based on published data and future research needs are derived from recent literature.Industrial relevance textWith the increasing demand in alternative protein sources world-wide, insects represent an innovative food and feed source rich in high quality protein as well as other beneficial nutritional ingredients such as fat, minerals and vitamins. Despite traditional knowledge about insects and their harvest in the wild, for the industrial mass production of safe insects and insect products for consumption and for processing into food and feed, the development of rearing, harvest as well as post-harvest technologies is required.
Insects and terrestrial invertebrates are presumed to have consistently contributed to the diet of our ancestors and it is estimated that 1386 insects are still adopted worldwide for human nutrition. As elsewhere in the tropical world, insects are a part of the diet of Irian Jaya populations. The distribution of insect food consumption on the western side of New Guinea island follows different patterns, according to the environment and to population subsistence economy.In the forest biome of the periferic mountain areas, many different insect species are collected in small numbers, mainly by women and children. Insect collection occurs by chance but probably helps these subjects, the most vulnerable to possible food‐shortages, to complement their diet with some extra proteins and fats.In the western lowlands, a complex cultural system is centered around the traditional staple: sago (Metroxylon sagu and rumphii). The pit of this palm, which grows spontaneously in the swampy forest plains, contains a high amount of starch and is easily gathered by the local people. A beetle (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus papuanus) is strictly linked to the sago palm and oviposits especially on damaged or felled specimens. Villagers manage the sago palms in order to increase palmworm oviposition and to collect a consistent number of larvae about 6 weeks later. This ancient sago culture, favoured by an abundant and reliable resource, has developed a rich ceremonial life connected with sago larvae consumption.Ecologic, economic and cultural factors influencing the variety of insect consumption modalities are taken into account. The development of local, small‐scale invertebrate breeding systems can contribute to the development of sustainable, renewable resources and protect tropical forests from degradation.
In Japan, the most popular edible insect is a grasshopper, Oxya yezoensis or O. japonica. It is consumed in large amount even at present. The grasshopper is rich in proteins. Mixtures of river‐living insect larvae are highly esteemed as favorite foods. The larvae and pupae of a wasp, Vespula lewisi, are consumed in considerable amounts. Pupae and female adults after oviposition of Bombyx mori are also consumed. The pupae are rich in nutrients. All of these insects are cooked with soy sauce and sugar, and are sold as canned foods. In addition to these insects, the larvae of cerambycid beetles are eaten by preference in countryside. Larvae of the dobsonfly, Protohermes grandis (Neuroptera) has been consumed as a traditional medicine.
Insects form an important part of the diet for the people of New Guinea. Most are collected opportunistically, but the grub of sago weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus papuanus is produced sustainably for the market. Butterflies, especially birdwings are ranched by villagers in both Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya and marketed overseas. Conservation projects have been initiated in New Guinea to protect the birdwing butterflies and to provide econonmic incentives for the landowners.
Through questionnaires and interviews with American university students, an inclusive set of psychological categories of substances rejected as food is delineated. Substances are rejected primarily because of: disliked sensory characteristics (distastes); anticipated negative consequences of ingestion (danger); offensiveness of the idea of what something is (disgust); or classification of something as not edible (inappropriate). This classification confirms a prior, preliminary taxonomy derived through a different technique, and expands and elaborates that taxonomy. The extent to which each type of rejection is focussed on the substance‐in‐mouth varies across categories. Dangerous substances are rejected in the mouth and in the body (post‐ingestional stages). Disgusting substances are rejected in the environment (pre‐ingestional stages), in the mouth and in the body. Distastes are rejected only when in the mouth. When taught this taxonomy, subjects could readily and consistently categorize a wide range of substances.
As the global population continues to rise, and attempts to increase arable land area come in sharp conflict with the necessity to retain forests on one hand and pressures of urbanization on the other, the wave of global food shortage that has hit the world recently is likely to hit us again and again.The increasing pressure on land is making meat production from macro-livestock less sustainable than ever before. To add to the diminishing pastures and broadening demand-supply gap of food grains are the shortages arising due to the diversion of some of the food crops for biofuel production. There is also an increasing use of fodder for generating biomass energy. The result is that even as the demand for animal protein keeps on rising with the swelling global population, there is every possibility that attempts to meet this demand would face serious crises in the coming years. The adverse impacts of global warming are conspiring to make the situation even worse than it otherwise would have been.The present review brings home the fact that one of the possible ways to get around this problem is to extend the practice of entomophagy – use of insects as human food. As of now entomophagy is practiced in some regions and some cultures, but, by-and-large, the bulk of global population stay away from it. It is even looked down in several cultures and forbidden in some others. The review brings out the irrationality of omitting edible insects from human diet given the generally higher quality of nutrition they contain as compared to food based on macro-livestock. This aspect, coupled with much lesser consumption of energy and natural resources associated with insect-based protein production, makes entomophagy an option which deserves urgent global attention.The authors highlight the relatively stronger sustainability of animal protein production by way of insect farming because, pound to pound, the production of insect protein takes much less land and energy than the more widely consumed forms of animal protein. It is estimated that over a thousand insect species are already a part of human diet and the nutrition offered by several of the species matches or surpasses that which is contained in traditional non-vegetarian foods. The paper also deals with the relevance of entomophagy as a potentially more ecologically compatible and sustainable source of animal protein than the red and the white meat on which most of the world presently depends. In the emerging global pattern based on an expanding share of renewable energy sources, entomophagy fits in as a renewable source of food energy for the future.
As part of research on mass-rearing the cricket Acheta domesticU0.21 for the NRC chick diet compared with $2.55 for Patton's no. 16; these costs exclude the cost of labor for mixing the diets. Performance of crickets on the laboratory-prepared diets was somewhat better than performance on the commercial diets. The food conversion efficiency of crickets at 30"C or higher was found to be higher than reported for broiler chicks and pigs and much higher than those reported for sheep and cattle.
a b s t r a c t The Disgust Scale (DS; Haidt, McCauley, & Rozin, 1994) is the most widely used instrument for assessing disgust propensity (i.e., individual tendency to experience disgust). Yet, psychometric evaluations of the DS are scarce while the literature shows that the reliability of its subscales are unacceptably low. Recently, it was suggested to reduce the number of subscales (Olatunji, Sawchuk, de Jong, & Lohr, 2007a). This study is a first exploration of this reduced three-factor solution in an independent sample. In study I, we examined whether a three-factor solution improves psychometric properties of the DS. Stu-dents from Maastricht University (N = 535) and the University of Groningen (N = 432) completed the DS. In study II, the DS was revised by dropping redundant items and revising its scoring format. The DS-R was administered to students from the University of Groningen (N = 472) and Ghent University (N = 41) to study its psychometric properties. The revisions improved the psychometric features of the DS, and showed that the DS-R is a valid and reliable index to establish core disgust, animal-reminder disgust, and contamination.
Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a relatively new website that contains the major elements required to conduct research: an integrated participant compensation system; a large participant pool; and a streamlined process of study design, participant recruitment, and data collection. In this article, we describe and evaluate the potential contributions of MTurk to psychology and other social sciences. Findings indicate that (a) MTurk participants are slightly more demographically diverse than are standard Internet samples and are significantly more diverse than typical American college samples; (b) participation is affected by compensation rate and task length, but participants can still be recruited rapidly and inexpensively; (c) realistic compensation rates do not affect data quality; and (d) the data obtained are at least as reliable as those obtained via traditional methods. Overall, MTurk can be used to obtain high-quality data inexpensively and rapidly.
© The Author(s) 2011.
Environmental cycles and human factors have altered ecosystems throughout the world. Natural resources have acquired high value because they are important to life and the survival of human beings. Among these resources are edible insects. They have many important features and, to date, up to 2086 species are consumed by 3071 ethnic groups. Rural people, who primarily search, gather, fix, commercialize and store this important natural resource, do not exterminate them. This is because rural people exploit only the central part of the insects' population curves. Nonetheless, some species are overexploited. Anthropo-entomophagy (eating of insects by humans) constitutes a major source of nutrition and these foods are eaten in 130 countries, with the African and American continents being the most entomophagous until now. It exists in protocultures (care is given to the edible insect species) and formal cultures, such as in Mexico, which date back to prehisphanic times. According to anthropologists the “saving gene theory” is based on insect ingestion, which, since the Paleolithic era, has given human beings reproductive success. The evolution of anthropo-entomophagy has been achieved in many ways, from the point of view of collection, fixing, marketing and consumption, and for the insects' organoleptical qualities. The sustainability of these species is fundamental; therefore, it is necessary to take certain measures for species conservation. In Mexico, more than 100 species of edible insects have been tested for their sustainability over 500 years, from the Spanish conquest to the present.
With an increasing human population and environmental degradation, the world faces a major problem in providing adequate animal based proteins. Many traditional societies have used or still use insects as a protein source, while westernized societies are reluctant to use insects, despite being the major consumers of animal proteins. We now need to consider insects as a source of food for humans in a manner that acknowledges both the role of entomophagy in indigenous societies and the need for westernized societies to reduce the size of their environmental footprint with regard to food production. The situation on continents such as Africa, Asia, and Central and South America has some parallels to Australia in that there are two forces in operation: the sustainable traditional use of edible insects and the “westernization” of these societies leading to a movement away from entomophagy. However, the potential to reach a compromise is greater in these continents because entomophagy is already accepted. The major challenges will be establishing sustainable production systems that include food safety and security as well as environmental protection. Whether this will happen or not will depend upon: (i) a major change in attitude in westernized societies towards entomophagy; (ii) pressure to conserve remaining habitats in a sustainable manner; (iii) economic impetus to develop food production systems that include insects; and (iv) an acknowledgement that achieving adequate nutrition on a global basis will involve different diets in much of the developed world.
The techniques used by the Sanio-Hiowe of Papua New Guinea to produce edible starch from the sago palm (Metroxylon sp.) are described. Input-output analysis demonstrates that this is a highly productive subsistence technology; nevertheless, the Sanio-Hiowe economy is characterized by an absence of intensification. This is ascribed to functional consequences of dependence on hunting and gathering in the interior. In coastal and riverine habitats, other societies using sago supplemented by fishing or horticulture can more fully exploit the potential of sago as a basis for economic intensification and a more sedentary life.
Differences in familiarity with food products may influence how information about the risks and benefits about foods is used in forming risk and benefit perceptions. In two experimental studies, the risk and benefit perceptions of student participants, for four foods (familiar or unfamiliar) were assessed. In experiment 1, participants had the option to voluntarily request information (N = 106). In experiment 2, participants were involuntarily exposed to varying amounts of risk and benefit information (N = 235). In the first experiment, risk and benefit perceptions for unfamiliar foods were the result of an ad hoc affect or attitude being formed from whatever information about a food was presented first. The second experiment confirmed these results. The asymmetry between risk and benefit perception can be understood in terms of prior attitude and primacy effects. The greater importance of risk information in the development of risk perception is shown, compared to the greater importance role of familiarity with foods for benefit perception. It is argued that risk and benefit perceptions associated with foods may be dependent on different psychological processes. Risk perception is more likely to be derived from deliberative information processing. Benefit perception is derived from heuristic information processing and personal experience.
We developed a self-report measure of sensation seeking, a dispositional risk factor for various problem behaviors. In two studies, we administered the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS) to more than 7000 adolescents. Study 1 participants completed a paper-and-pencil form of the BSSS in mass-testing sessions. Psychometric analyses of the resultant data revealed suitable item characteristics and internal consistency of responses to the items across age (13–17 years), sex, and ethnic categories. Study 2 participants, who completed the BSSS individually in an interview format, also provided data on their perceptions of and experiences with licit and illicit drugs as well as a series of additional risk and protective factors. Scores on the full BSSS correlated inversely with negative attitudes toward drug use and positively with drug use; sensation seeking as measured by the BSSS was a particularly strong predictor of the intention to try marijuana in the future. BSSS scores were reliably and predictably associated with other risk and protective factors.
We describe the development of a reliable measure of individual differences in disgust sensitivity. The 32-item Disgust Scale includes 2 true-false and 2 disgust-rating items for each of 7 domains of disgust elicitors (food, animals, body products, sex, body envelope violations, death, and hygiene) and for a domain of magical thinking (via similarity and contagion) that cuts across the 7 domains of elicitors. Correlations with other scales provide initial evidence of convergent and discriminant validity: the Disgust Scale correlates moderately with Sensation Seeking (r= - 0.46) and with Fear of Death (r= 0.39), correlates weakly with Neuroticism (r = 0.23) and Psychoticism (r= - 0.25), and correlates negligibly with Self-Monitoring and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Extraversion and Lie scales. Females score higher than males on the Disgust Scale. We suggest that the 7 domains of disgust elicitors all have in common that they remind us of our animality and, especially, of our mortality. Thus we see disgust as a defensive emotion that maintains and emphasizes the line between human and animal.
Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a crowdsourcing system in which tasks are distributed to a population of thousands of anonymous workers for completion. This system is increasingly popular with researchers and developers. Here we extend previous studies of the demographics and usage behaviors of MTurk workers. We describe how the worker population has changed over time, shifting from a primarily moderate-income, U.S.-based workforce towards an increasingly international group with a significant population of young, well-educated Indian workers. This change in population points to how workers may treat Turking as a full-time job, which they rely on to make ends meet.
Gabriel et al. proposed solutions to two paradoxes raised by Levins and Ginzburg in the logistic equation. The resolution of these two paradoxes lies in the distinguishing of two concepts in ecological studies: carrying capacity and population equilibrium. I focus on the contradiction raised by the first model of Ginzburg's paradox and metapopulation framework with the traditional concept of carrying capacity. By the clarification of these two concepts and defining the carrying capacity as the environment's maximal load, the paradox will not arise. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Vegetarianism, the practice of abstaining from eating meat, has a recorded history dating back to ancient Greece. Despite this, it is only in recent years that researchers have begun conducting empirical investigations of the practices and beliefs associated with vegetarianism. The present article reviews the extant literature, exploring variants of and motivations for vegetarianism, differences in attitudes, values and worldviews between omnivores and vegetarians, as well as the pronounced gender differences in meat consumption and vegetarianism. Furthermore, the review highlights the extremely limited cultural scope of the present data, and calls for a broader investigation across non-Western cultures.