No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Is Meat Sexy? Meat Preference as a Function of the Sexual Motivation System
Abstract
When their sexual motivation system is activated, men behave in ways that would increase their desirability as a mating partner to women. For example, they take greater risks and become more altruistic. We examine the possibility that men's sexual motivation, when elicited, can influence their preference for meat because meat signals status to others, including women—and signalling status is one way to help men achieve their mating goals. We find support for this hypothesis in three studies involving consumption (Study 1) and preference (Studies 2 and 3) for meat. Men's desire for status mediates their liking for meat. In contrast, when their sexual motivation system is activated, women like meat less, possibly since they pursue other strategies such as beauty and health to make themselves desirable to men. Thus, we suggest that evolutionary processes shape food preferences. We discuss the contributions and limitations of our results as well as practical implications for reducing meat consumption—to not only improve one's physical health but food sustainability.
... Generally, the literature suggests that males prefer (and eat) more meat than females, while preferring plantbased proteins less than females [e.g., (2,20,23)]. This preference has evolutionary underpinnings, such that men have the need to position themselves as an attractive mate, heightening one's desire to signal their masculinity to potential partners through meat consumption (24)(25)(26). However, while research explains this phenomenon by broadly focusing on traditional gender norms and societal expectations, recent research suggests there is more nuance in how these norms and expectations influence meat consumption. ...
... While there are many highly visible outlets through which men choose to display their masculinity, including gun support and ownership (48), gambling (49), alcohol/substance abuse (43,50), and vehicle choice (51), one common way in which men do so is through their food choice. Red meat, in particular, is associated with masculinity (28,30) and masculine qualities such as virility and sexual strength (52), mating desirability (24), and status (25). Indeed, red meat consumption is viewed as implicitly and explicitly masculine (53) by both men and women (29,32). ...
... In so doing, we explore the possibility that men high on masculinity stress may be more inclined to choose a meat alternative when it is presented within a masculine product. We include female consumers as a comparison group, as women do not tend to use meat consumption to make themselves desirable to others (24,26). We also seek to rule out "new masculinity" beliefs and traditional masculinity as alternative accounts for the proposed effect. ...
IntroductionThis research integrates literature on masculinity stress—the distress experienced as the result of a perceived discrepancy with male gender norms—with research on goal conflict to examine preferences for plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs). Men experiencing masculinity stress are likely to hold salient a goal of being masculine, which should lead to less preference for PBMAs. However, many of these men simultaneously hold competing goals, such as making ethical food choices, which remain inhibited in favor of the focal masculinity goal. We argue that once men experiencing masculinity stress highlight their masculinity through the selection of a manly product, they satisfy that higher-order goal and are then free to pursue previously inhibited goals, such as making an ethical choice through the selection of PBMAs.Methods
We present the results of three studies supporting these expectations. Study 1 tests the link between masculinity stress and meat (alternative) consumption using consumer search behavior collected from Google Trends, showing that masculinity stress is positively (negatively) correlated with searches for red meat (PBMAs). Study 2 shows that men experiencing masculinity stress are more inclined to choose PBMAs, provided they are presented within a masculine product context. Study 3 presents a parallel mediation model, showing that ethical considerations (as opposed to masculine goals) shape the choice of PBMA preference.Results and discussionWe conclude with a discussion of theoretical implications for the impression management strategies utilized by men experiencing masculinity stress and practical implications for the growing PBMA industry.
... Meat, and particularly red meat, is viewed as a masculine food symbolizing maleness and status (Rozin, Hormes, Faith, & Wansink, 2012;see Appendix). At both implicit and explicit levels (Love & Sulikowski, 2018), and across men and women (Ruby & Heine, 2011;Rozin et al., 2012;Thomas, 2016), meat consumption is associated with masculinity (Vartanian, 2015) and the signaling of masculine qualities like virility, sexual strength, mating desirability, and status (Adams, 2015;Chan & Zlatevska, 2019a, 2019bNath, 2011). Unsurprisingly, then, red meat consumption is significantly higher among men than women (National Cancer Institute, 2019). ...
... Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, some research has treated male responses to food-related stimuli as uniform. However, consistent with emerging work examining within-gender individual differences in masculinity and consumption behavior (i.e., Chan & Zlatevska, 2019a;De Backer et al., 2020;Otterbring, Ringler, Sirianni, & Gustafsson, 2018), we argue that one's drive to demonstrate manhood through masculinized food choice is not homogenous and can be better understood as a function of masculinity stress (Reidy, Berke, Gentile, & Zeichner, 2014. Defined as the on-going distress experienced as a result of a perceived discrepancy with male gender norms, masculinity stress differs from, and adds to, the traditional masculinity construct in important ways. ...
... In other words, men are not homogenous in their preference for meat or, relatedly, the need to display their manliness through meat consumption. Chan and Zlatevska (2019a), for example, show that men whose sexual motivation system is more (vs. less) active prefer and consume more masculine foods as a means of signaling mating desirability. ...
This work explores the effects of masculinity stress—distress arising from a perceived discrepancy with male gender norms—on red meat consumption, which has potentially substantial individual, collective, and ecological consequences. Across three studies, we demonstrate a positive indirect effect of masculinity stress on red meat consumption through beliefs that meat consumption can augment masculinity, an effect which is moderated by one's self-assessed traditional masculinity (study 1). We further demonstrate attenuation of the effect of masculinity stress on red meat preference when a red meat product is associated with an out-group (i.e., women; study 2) and show that this effect does not extend to women. In study 3, we show that the effect of masculinity stress on choice of red meat is attenuated following a masculinity affirmation. We finish with a detailed discussion of implications and directions for future research. Taken together, we provide convergent evidence that masculinity stress is associated with red meat preference, and that this preference can be discouraged by leveraging out-group reference information and masculinity affirmation. In so doing, this research provides a series of contributions to the literatures on meat eating and vegetarianism specifically, as well as gender identity maintenance more broadly.
... Previous experiments have suggested that men's desire to eat meat increases when their sexual motivation system is activated. Eating meat tends to be a kind of expression of the status of men (Bogueva et al. 2020, Chan & Zlatevska 2019, Timeo & Suitner 2018. In contrast, when their sexual motivation system is activated, women prefer meatless meals, possibly since they pursue other strategies such as beauty and health to make themselves desirable to men (Chan & Zlatevska 2019, Modlinska et al. 2020). ...
... Data were collected by surveying a questionnaire format. In evaluating the data, we looked for relationships between quantitative data, samples, and variables (Bryman 2011). The questionnaire was prepared on September 9, 2021 and was designed via Google Forms. ...
In Hungary, very little data is available on vegetarianism,
even though the phenomenon affects many sectors of the economy.
Initially, we intended to examine the impact of vegetarianism on the
agricultural sector when we realized that there was no adequate data
available. Therefore, to collect adequate data on this issue, we compiled a
questionnaire on September 9, 2021. We weighted our data based on the
distribution of gender/age and gender/education level of the country. In our
experiment, involving 1642 Hungarian participants over age 7, 86% of the
respondents were regular meat consumers, 9 % flexitarians, 2 %
pescatarians, 2 % vegetarians, and 1% vegans. The proportion of people
consuming reduced amounts of meat was the highest between ages 46-
60. The proportion of the most radical vegetarian forms is the highest in
the 19–25 age group. The proportion of vegetarians in the Hungarian
population increases with the education level, as it is the highest among
Ph.D. graduates. In the case of the older generation, health motivation,
while in the case of the younger generation, environmental and animal
welfare motivation is crucial in choosing the form of nutrition. The love of
meat's taste and the idea that it is impossible to live a healthy life without
it are the two most important reasons Hungarians consume meat. Current
costs do not influence the choice of meat versus plant nutrition, but
Hungarian society would be sensitive to significant increases in meat
prices. Omnivores would largely give up eating meat due to health
problems, but they are open to laboratory-produced meat. If artificial meat
were offered in supermarkets at affordable prices with the right taste and
texture, 43% of respondents would stop eating meat.
... Biological information from the then-youthful study of disease transmission, which came from concentrated in African, Asian, and Mediterranean nations, ignited the quest for the best weight control plans for individuals. By and large, it carried on seemingly forever (7)(8)(9). Everyday Asian and Mediterranean eating regimens are, for the most part, comprised of plant food varieties. This recommends that a plant-based diet is excellent for your well-being in additional ways than simply giving you enough supplements. ...
Plants were the primary source of food for early humans. Hinduism and Jainism have consistently urged their devotees to continue with a vegan lifestyle. Supporters of the Orphic secrets were the principal individuals to expound on veggie-lover food in the 6th century BC. Pythagoras, a Greek rationalist, is believed to be the organizer behind moral vegetarianism. Several famous people followed the Pythagorean way of life, which affected vegetarian diets until the 19th century. During the Middle Ages, vegan food essentially quit being eaten in India. Various individuals decided to be veggie lovers during the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment. In 1847, India was where the primary vegan culture was framed. In 1908, the International Vegetarian Society was begun, and in 1944, the leading veggie lover society was shaped. Sylvester Graham, John Harvey Kellogg, and Maximilian Bircher-Benner were all notable vegans during this time. Toward the beginning of the 21st hundred years, something changed. Scientists have disproved the old belief that vegetarianism leads to poor nutrition. Instead, they have shown that a vegetarian diet lowers the risk of most modern diseases. Today, vegetarian diets are becoming more popular and accepted all over the world.
... Meat has long been an integral part of traditional German meals and, for many, an important part of their food culture. Although there has been increasing interest in reducing meat consumption in Germany, many social and personal barriers prevent this dietary change, as meat is often perceived as a status symbol [5]. Other reasons are taste preferences, enjoyment and habit [6,7], the social environment, or a lack of awareness of the link between climate change and food consumption [7][8][9]. ...
Consumer acceptance and product development of sustainable, healthy, and tasty plant-based alternative products (PBAPs) are closely interlinked. However, information on consumer perceptions of the sensory profile of plant-based meat, cheese, and milk remains scarce. The study aimed to investigate German consumers’ (1) sensory evaluation of PBAPs and (2) consumers´ motivations and knowledge underlying the purchase of such products. This was analyzed in relation to different dietary styles of consumers (omnivore, flexitarian, vegetarian, vegan). A sample of 159 adults completed two tasks: first, a sensory test in which participants tasted and rated three different PBAPs in two consecutive sessions, and second, a questionnaire on consumption behavior, motivation, and knowledge. Results show few differences between nutrition styles in sensory evaluation of individual product attributes. However, overall liking was rated significantly higher by vegans than by omnivores. All dietary styles reported animal welfare and environmental aspects as the main motivations for consuming PBAPs. Most participants acknowledged that meat and cheese alternatives are highly processed foods and not a fad but are not automatically healthier or more environmentally friendly than their animal-based counterparts. Future research should focus on emerging product segments such as plant-based cheeses to better understand how consumers evaluate PBAPs.
... Further studies found gender differences within the food domain when confronting individuals with primes of other individuals. These primes, for example, increased the preference for meat in males, but not in females (Chan & Zlatevska, 2019). Females were inclined to spend more money on healthy food and less money on unhealthy food, while men were not (Otterbring, 2018). ...
Many adolescent schoolchildren portray an unhealthy eating behavior; consuming large amounts of unhealthy food and only small amounts of healthy food. Nudging has been identified as a promising health behavior influencer to increase healthy food consumption in this target group. The present study analyzed the eating behavior of adolescent schoolchildren, evaluating the effects of a thin body shape nudge. A one-factorial quasi-experimental design was conducted with 91 German high school final-year students. The experimental condition was exposed to a gender-specific nudge in form of a poster. The control condition was not exposed to the poster nudge. All participants tasted blueberries as well as chocolate and the amount of the consumed food was measured. Against our expectations, exposure to the nudge did not improve the eating behavior in adolescents. However, gender, hunger and taste were identified as influential factors. Even though the nudge was not effective, the findings provide useful insights for food providers in school-settings as well as regarding the design and application of a thin body shape nudge in form of a poster as a health intervention for adolescents.
... Further studies found gender differences within the food domain when confronting individuals with primes of other individuals. These primes, for example, increased the preference for meat in males, but not in females (Chan & Zlatevska, 2019). Females were inclined to spend more money on healthy food and less money on unhealthy food, while men were not (Otterbring, 2018). ...
... In this vein, we argue and show that the need to demonstrate masculinity does not influence a general battery of health-behaviors homogenously but, rather, can be better understood by utilizing intra-gender individual differences such as masculinity-related distress. As such, this work adds to the emerging body of literature exploring within-gender differences in the expression of masculinity (e.g., Chan & Zlatevska, 2019;Otterbring et al., 2018). ...
The current research aims to clarify relationships between masculine gender role discrepancy, discrepancy stress, and traditional masculine identity on men's self-reported health-related behaviors. Participants (n = 459 MAge = 34.07 [SD = 12.06]; 56.6% UK, 29.4% US, 14% Canada) recruited through Prolific Academic completed a 2-part study, which temporally separated predictor from criterion measurement. Overall, discrepancy stress negatively mediated the relationship between masculine gender role discrepancy and health behaviors including taking proactive health and safety measures, engaging in healthy social relationships, and engaging in healthy stress management practices. Higher discrepancy stress resulted in fewer positive health-related behaviors. Additionally, discrepancy stress positively mediated the relationship between masculine gender role discrepancy and deleterious mental health outcomes, wherein higher discrepancy stress resulted in more negative mental health experiences. Importantly, traditional masculinity ideology moderated these effects, such that men who were higher (vs. lower) on traditional masculinity ideology were less (vs. more) likely to report positive health-related behaviors, whereas men higher (vs. lower) on traditional masculinity ideology were more likely to report negative mental health outcomes. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
... Similarly, shoppers and-as we argue throughout this article-marketers and policymakers are frequently unaware of the motives shaping their decisions in the food domain. For example, when in a mating state of mind, women want to eat healthier, whereas men want to spend more on expensive foods and beast burgers, with these male consumption patterns being mediated by a desire to display status-a key asset for men in the mating market (Chan & Zlatevska, 2019;Otterbring, 2018). ...
Principally due to unhealthy food choices that people make in grocery stores, almost half of adults worldwide are overweight and obese. Current food retail practices bear some responsibility for such public health issues. This paper argues that numerous attempts to promote healthy eating fail due to neglecting evolutionarily outdated food acquisition mechanisms. To understand underlying motives behind food choices, we distinguish proximate and ultimate explanations of consumer behavior, which complement the traditional approach to studying consumer behavior. Building on the evolutionary mismatch hypothesis and contrasting ancestral versus present-day foraging environments, we discuss how marketing activities exploit evolutionarily old food preferences and elicit unhealthy food choices. We conclude by explaining how to mitigate this harmful trend by applying the law of law’s leverage to facilitate effective strategies to increase healthy food choices. Notably, we show how evolutionary psychology principles can be used to reconcile competing interests between consumers, retailers, and decision-makers responsible for public health policies.
... Such a "match" with what people know also means that a "match" with what they know about a target metaphorically has been shown to increase conceptual fluency. Metaphorical associations offer a basis for people to understand abstract concepts (Chan & Zlatevska, 2019a;2019b;;Lakoff & Johnson, 2008). As an illustration, people represent time-an abstract concept-using metaphors of horizontality (e.g., before/left, after/right). ...
Consumers describe luxury goods as “high-status” goods that are associated with the “upper class.” If these spatial metaphors are valid, then consumers should prefer luxury goods being positioned higher in the visual field in a consumer setting, which would be because of the psychological theory known as “processing fluency.” Fluency occurs when there is a congruence between two concepts, facilitating ease of processing and thereby liking. We test the effect of high (vs. low) spatial positioning for luxury goods in an online retailing context. Across three experiments, we observe that placing luxury goods higher on a website “matches” consumers’ lay associations about such items, with the positive feelings thereby transferring onto the luxury good. The findings demonstrate that locating luxury products at different heights in the visual field can influence product preference. In doing so, we build on existing theory concerning visual perception, spatial metaphors, and processing fluency.
... Some further EP-linked examples may illustrate the latter point. For instance, men in a mating state of mind show a stronger preference for meat, whereas women rather reduce their meat preferences under such circumstances (Chan & Zlatevska, 2019). ...
This guest editorial starts with an introduction to evolutionary psychology (EP) in the marketing domain and delineates some of the building blocks of EP, both generally and when applied to consumer research. While EP is a debated discipline among marketing scholars, with some praising its presence and others perceiving it as patriarchal, politically incorrect, and problematic, a central tenet of this meta-framework is a focus on deep-rooted, ultimate explanations for human behavior. Marketing scholars have traditionally focused on proximate “how” and “what” questions, which are indeed important to address. However, unlike such proximate questions, EP strives to capture the ultimate “why” reasons behind our purchases and product preferences in terms of which adaptive functions they may have in giving us an evolutionary advantage. Having highlighted and exemplified this proximate-ultimate distinction, I then present each state-of-the-art paper included in this special issue. All special issue articles use a variety of EP arguments and theories to elucidate several consumption-relevant phenomena with implications for marketing theory and practice. In closing, I provide a set of suggestions for future EP-based consumer research, meant to make this field flourish further.
... These items were adapted from previous related research(Aspara & Van Den Bergh, 2014;Chan & Zlatevska, 2019;Gal & Wilkie, 2010;Otterbring, 2018;Otterbring & Shams, 2019;Rozin et al., 2012). ...
This study investigated the link between individuals’ 2D:4D digit ratio (a biomarker associated with prenatal testosterone exposure) and their inclination to make masculine food choices. Furthermore, the study investigated whether this potential association would be moderated by consumers’ levels of hunger (vs. satiation). Participants (N = 216; 50% female) made a set of binary food choices between items pretested to be perceived as masculine (vs. feminine) and indicated the lengths of their second (2D) and fourth (4D) digits (i.e., index and ring fingers), which were used to calculate their 2D:4D digit ratios. Additionally, they self-reported their self-perceived gender identity and their subjective sense of hunger (vs. satiation). The results revealed that low, masculine digit ratios had no overall impact on masculine food choices. However, among both men and women and irrespective of their self-perceived gender identity, hungry (vs. satiated) participants with masculine digit ratios made more masculine food choices. Thus, although digit ratios did not act as an antecedent of participants’ general tendency of making masculine food choices, the specific visceral state of hunger interacted with participants’ digit ratios to predict choices of masculine foods. Taken together, these findings expand the knowledge on when and how prenatal exposure to sex hormones may affect consumers’ food preferences and in which specific way a particular visceral state may moderate the link between biologically based factors and consumer choice.
... In general and in Switzerland specifically, men have higher consumption frequencies of meat (Hagmann, Siegrist, & Hartmann, 2019). Meat intake is highly connected to masculinity (Rothgerber, 2013;Ruby & Heine, 2011;Sobal, 2005) and might also be seen as a status symbol in order to create a positive self-image (Chan & Zlatevska, 2019). In order to overcome these traditional to contradict established stereotypes (Funk, Sütterlin, & Siegrist, 2020). ...
Food consumption has a large environmental impact, but the total impact of households can be reduced substantially by changing consumers’ food-related decisions and behaviors. Consumers differ in their motives and willingness to behave in an environmentally-friendly manner with regard to food consumption. Therefore, it is important to identify different types of consumers in order to develop and implement tailored intervention strategies. To identify and describe the different types of food consumers based on detailed behavioral patterns, we distributed a paper-pencil questionnaire and used data of 817 Swiss households. Applying a comprehensive and differentiated approach, self-reported environmentally-friendly food behavior was assessed with regard to different domains and different types of behaviors, which subsequently served as the basis for the consumer segmentation. We also assessed behavior in the mobility and household domains as well as several personality variables and sociodemographics as descriptive measures to characterize the segments on a differentiated basis. Cluster analysis revealed six segments in regard to environmentally-friendly food consumption: meat- and fish-eaters, origin-focused food savers, ambiguous consumers, food waste reducing sharers, renouncement aversives and consequent pro-environmental consumers. After a detailed description and discussion of the six consumer segments, we propose starting points for the development of segment-specific intervention and communication strategies to promote environmentally-friendly food consumption.
... These results are in accordance with other studies, in which women tend to consume less game (Burger 2002), driven by a feeling of disgust created by the perception of animality (Kubberød et al. 2006), in addition to their perception regarding un-ethical hunting production methods and AW conflict (Hoffman and Wiklund 2006), and the cultural conceptual overview defines the hunting practice as a traditionally male hobby/sport (Ljung et al. 2012). It has been observed that the consumption of this type of meat is linked to masculinity; both of the act of this meat consumption itself, together with the hunting practice (Chan and Zlatevska 2019). Moreover, in addition to the AW evaluation regarding game, the unique and strong taste and flavour of this product are more appreciated by men when compared to female subjects (Barr and Chapman 2002;. ...
The modern consumer is now more attentive towards animal welfare practices and this represents an important factor when purchasing meat, whereby ethical, sociological and economic implications are evaluated. In addition, the socio-demographic characteristics of consumers evidence different sensitivities with regard to selection patterns and consumption styles. This study aims to explore the role of Gender in beef meat purchasing preferences, assessing consumer awareness of responsibility towards animal welfare, through the use of cross-tabulation with χ² to test the different behaviour of men and women and the use of principal component analysis and cluster analysis to classify attitudes of choice according to gender. Among the research aims, this study examined consumer attitudes towards certain ‘ethically incorrect’ animal products, as well as their awareness of the institutional responsibility in controlling animal welfare standards during the meat production process. The study conducted in Northwest Italy, involving 512 respondents, shows that women are more sensitive to AW aspects and place trust in those responsible for certification of animal welfare standards, such as veterinarians and consumer associations, and also shows that it is possible to identify an ‘animal welfare sensitive’ profile of meat consumer.
• HIGHLIGHTS
• Modern consumer evaluates ethical, sociological and economic implications in animal friendly meat purchasing process
• Gender affects awareness of the responsibilities of veterinary, public health control bodies and consumer associations to verify animal welfare
• Cluster highlighted consumer differences in perception towards animal welfare
... Women, for instance, are seen as more feminine when they eat smaller portion sizes, and people who want to highlight their morality or intelligence eat more healthy food (Vartanian et al., 2007). Furthermore, recent research has shown that women are more prone to consume healthy food in the presence of a male they consider attractive (Otterbring, 2018) and that men are more prone to consume meat in order to signal status toward a woman as a potential mating partner (Chan and Zlatevska, 2019). From a long-term perspective, stereotypes connected to one's own consumption behavior may also have a greater impact in terms of modifications in self-judgment. ...
Food consumption has a large environmental impact, which could be substantially reduced by decreasing meat consumption. Obstacles to this reduction are the stereotypes connected to a vegetarian diet. The aim of this study was to identify how persons are evaluated with regard to certain characteristics based on the meals they offer friends for a dinner. In an online-experiment with 223 participants, the influence of a menu’s meat component (meat vs. vegetarian menu) and price (low vs. high) on 10 personality attributes ascribed to hosts was investigated. Results show that persons who offer a vegetarian menu are assessed as significantly (p < .005) more trend conscious, alternative, health conscious, and more concerned about animal welfare. For menus of a higher price category, the hosts are seen as stingier. Persons serving a vegetarian menu are perceived as worse hosts only if they offer an inexpensive menu. To reduce meat consumption in social and individual contexts, a positive communication strategy focusing on the positive characteristics and on the role model value of persons who offer vegetarian meals is recommended.
... V = 0.40). This finding is in line with related research (e.g., Chan & Zlatevska, 2019;Hayden et al., 2007;Wilson & Daly, 2004), and supports previous claims that the reward value of seeing an attractive opposite-sex face is stronger for men than for women (Bray & O'Doherty, 2007;Cloutier et al., 2008). It also makes sense from an evolutionary viewpoint, because men tend to value a potential mate's physical attractiveness more than women do (Buss, 1989;Buss & Foley, in press;Li, Bailey, Kenrick, & Linsenmeier, 2002). ...
Faces in general and attractive faces, in particular, are frequently used in marketing, advertising, and packaging design. However, few studies have examined the effects of attractive faces on people's choice behavior. The present research examines whether attractive (vs. unattractive) faces increase individuals’ inclination to choose either healthy or unhealthy foods. In contrast to the beliefs held by most marketing professors, but consistent with visceral state theories, exposure to attractive (vs. unattractive) opposite‐sex faces increased choice likelihood of unhealthy foods. This effect was moderated by self‐view‐relevant attributes and exerted a particularly powerful influence on individuals who were single (vs. in a relationship) and individuals rating themselves as unattractive (vs. attractive). Furthermore, the effect was mediated by arousal, was stronger for men than for women, but did not generalize after exposure to attractive (vs. unattractive) same‐sex faces. As pictorial exposure is sufficient for the effect to occur, these findings have important implications for marketing, advertising, and public health.
... For example, Rozin, Hormes, Faith, and Wansink (2012) demonstrated that men tend to express more positive attitudes than women toward eating red meat, which can be explained by men's desire for power, energy, and strength. Similarly, Chan and Zlatevska (2019) showed that when men feel sexually motivated, they tend to exhibit a greater preference for eating red meat-an act that they expect will enhance their self-perceptions of power, status, and attractiveness to potential mates. Even more strikingly, historical records have revealed that the members of some ethnic communities may kill their prisoners in duels and eat their flesh, as a means to make their victory over opponents palpable and to shock other prisoners (Bloom, 2010). ...
This paper examines the emotional effects of consuming frightening foods or drinks. We argue that in addition to maintaining energy homeostasis and attaining pleasure, a third possible benefit of eating is the enhancement of perceived mastery over that which is eaten. Hence, the intake of frightening foods or drinks should increase a consumer's self‐confidence in dealing with fear. The findings of our three experimental studies confirm our counterintuitive predictions, namely that consuming frightening (vs. nonfrightening) foods or drinks leads to a significant reduction of fears arising from prior experiences of frightening activities and a significant increase in tolerance of prospective frightening activities. In addition, self‐confidence in dealing with fear is shown to significantly mediate the predicted effects of consuming frightening foods or drinks.
... Coffee is the 4th-most consumed beverage in the world today, while tea ranks 2nd (PR Web, 2011). Similar to many other foods and beverages (Chan & Zlatevska, 2019a, 2019bRick & Schweitzer, 2012;Rozin, Hormes, Faith, & Wansink, 2012), coffee and tea likely have psychological meanings (i.e., lay associations). We consider what coffee and tea might mean to people and the implications of these meanings. ...
Coffee and tea are two beverages commonly-consumed around the world. Therefore, there is much research regarding their physiological effects. However, less is known about their psychological meanings. Derived from a predicted lay association between coffee and arousal, we posit that exposure to coffee-related cues should increase arousal, even in the absence of actual ingestion, relative to exposure to tea-related cues. We further suggest that higher arousal levels should facilitate a concrete level of mental construal as conceptualized by Construal Level Theory. In four experiments, we find that coffee cues prompted participants to see temporal distances as shorter and to think in more concrete, precise terms. Both subjective and physiological arousal explain the effects. We situate our work in the literature that connects food and beverage to cognition or decision-making. We also discuss the applied relevance of our results as coffee and tea are among the most prevalent beverages globally.
Images of sexualized women depicted as animals or alongside meat are routinely used in advertising in Western culture. Philosophers and feminist scholars have long theorized that such imagery reflects the lower status of both women and animals (vs. men) in society and argued that prejudiced attitudes towards women (i.e., sexism) and animals (i.e., speciesism) are interconnected, with meat‐eating as a core symbol of masculinity. Addressing these key ideas from ecofeminist theory, we review the psychological evidence on the associations between sexism, speciesism, meat, and masculinity. Research on the animalistic dehumanization of women provides evidence that sexism and speciesism are psychologically entangled and rooted in desires for group‐based dominance and inequality. Furthermore, research on the symbolic value of meat corroborates its masculine value expressing dominance and power, and suggests that men who abstain from meat consumption (e.g., vegans) are feminized and devalued, particularly by those higher in sexism. We conclude that a greater recognition of the interconnected nature of patriarchal gender relations and practices of animal exploitation, including meat‐eating, can help in efforts to improve the status of both women and animals.
Several studies have indicated that a global reduction in meat consumption is inevitable for sustainability and public health, despite the challenges inherent to changing eating habits. The purpose of this article is to pursue a stock-take of consumer behavior with regard to reducing meat consumption through a literature review using bibliometric analysis. The findings show the multidisciplinary nature of the field, which is in full development and with many knowledge gaps. Publications are concentrated in a few dominant journals and originated exclusively in developed countries. Six thematic subareas are central to the theme in question and helped to structure the field. The findings also show that few authors have been recurrent in publications on the subject and that three thematic groups represent promising areas for future research: behavior, sustainability, and interventions. The contributions of this article lie in the fact that helps organizations and researchers achieve a panoramic view of the field, identifying unanswered questions and possible partners for research. From a practical perspective, this research can also support new studies to develop public policies aimed at reducing (or replacing) meat consumption or encouraging enterprises and investments related to alternative products for conventional meat.
Nutrition labels conveying nutrition information using traffic light signals are becoming common, but traffic light signals' effectiveness to help consumers make healthy food decisions is still debated. In the current research, we propose gender differences in the usage of traffic light signals. In Study 1, we presented male and female participants with a nutrition label that we manipulated as either unhealthy or healthy by changing the nutrient amounts, and the nutrition label either had a green or red color frame surrounding it. Although both men and women responded equally to information conveyed in text form, men were more likely to rely on the color to help them assess the target food product's healthiness. We replicated this result in Study 2: Holistic thinking mediated the men's reliance on color labeling schemes when deciding to buy a targeted food product. These results suggest there are differences in the consumer groups (segmented by gender) for whom traffic light signals on food packaging would be beneficial in playing a role in healthy food decision-making. For policymakers, our findings indicate that target consumers need to be considered in nutrition labeling generally.
Purpose
Global meat consumption has increased rapidly, which is of concern, given its contribution to environmental destruction. Within this framework, this article aims to analyse the social determinants in relation to stopping red meat consumption for environmental reasons in Chile, with a focus on gender and social status.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data from a representative national survey, we estimated six logistic regression models to analyse the social determinants that reduce red meat consumption in Chile.
Findings
The results show that social stratification variables (gender, social class, household income and education) are closely linked with choosing to stop eating red meat for environmental reasons. A possible interpretation of these results is the ambiguous status of red meat in contemporary Chilean society and its symbolic link with masculinity.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis may be complemented by future research that distinguishes the environmental aspects, which encourage individuals to stop eating red meat. In addition, asking about meat consumption in an environmental survey, may generate social desirability.
Originality/value
The results contribute to understanding which social factors help stop meat consumption within a strong carnism culture. This is relevant since South America is well known for high meat consumption, and few studies have explored the issue of consumption in these countries.
The dominant evolutionary theory of physical attraction posits that attractiveness reflects physiological health, and attraction is a mechanism for identifying a healthy mate. Previous studies have found that perceptions of the healthiest body mass index (weight scaled for height; BMI) for women are close to healthy BMI guidelines, while the most attractive BMI is significantly lower, possibly pointing to an influence of sociocultural factors in determining attractive BMI. However, less is known about ideal body size for men. Further, research has not addressed the role of body fat and muscle, which have distinct relationships with health and are conflated in BMI, in determining perceived health and attractiveness. Here, we hypothesised that, if attractiveness reflects physiological health, the most attractive and healthy appearing body composition should be in line with physiologically healthy body composition. Thirty female and 33 male observers were instructed to manipulate 15 female and 15 male body images in terms of their fat and muscle to optimise perceived health and, separately, attractiveness. Observers were unaware that they were manipulating the muscle and fat content of bodies. The most attractive apparent fat mass for female bodies was significantly lower than the healthiest appearing fat mass (and was lower than the physiologically healthy range), with no significant difference for muscle mass. The optimal fat and muscle mass for men's bodies was in line with the healthy range. Male observers preferred a significantly lower overall male body mass than did female observers. While the body fat and muscle associated with healthy and attractive appearance is broadly in line with physiologically healthy values, deviations from this pattern suggest that future research should examine a possible role for internalization of body ideals in influencing perceptions of attractive body composition, particularly in women.
Red meat has been an important part of the human diet throughout human evolution. When included as part of a healthy, varied diet, red meat provides a rich source of high biological value protein and essential nutrients, some of which are more bioavailable than in alternative food sources. Particular nutrients in red meat have been identified as being in short supply in the diets of some groups of the population. The present paper discusses the role of red meat in the diets of young infants, adolescents, women of childbearing age and older adults and highlights key nutrients red meat can provide for these groups. The role of red meat in relation to satiety and weight control is discussed as the inclusion of lean red meat in a healthy, varied diet may help weight loss as part of an energy-reduced diet. A summary of the UK advice on the amount of red meat that can be consumed as part of a healthy, varied diet is also provided.
This paper describes the development and validation of a short, reliable, and valid self-report scale to measure status consumption, the tendency to purchase goods and services for the status or social prestige that they confer on their owners. Items were written to reflect the conceptual meaning of the construct. Six studies were conducted to purify the scale and demonstrate its unidimensionality, internal consistency, validity, and freedom from response bias. The resultant scale measures an individual difference construct distinct from social class or materialism. Differences in self-reported status consumption are also shown to be positively correlated with ownership of brands reputed to be higher in status than competing brands.
For agriculture, there are three major options for mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: 1) productivity improvements, particularly in the livestock sector; 2) dedicated technical mitigation measures; and 3) human dietary changes. The aim of the paper is to estimate long-term agricultural GHG emissions, under different mitigation scenarios, and to relate them to the emissions space compatible with the 2 °C temperature target. Our estimates include emissions up to 2070 from agricultural soils, manure management, enteric fermentation and paddy rice fields, and are based on IPCC Tier 2 methodology. We find that baseline agricultural CO2-equivalent emissions (using Global Warming Potentials with a 100 year time horizon) will be approximately 13 Gton CO2eq/year in 2070, compared to 7.1 Gton CO2eq/year 2000. However, if faster growth in livestock productivity is combined with dedicated technical mitigation measures, emissions may be kept to 7.7 Gton CO2eq/year in 2070. If structural changes in human diets are included, emissions may be reduced further, to 3–5 Gton CO2eq/year in 2070. The total annual emissions for meeting the 2 °C target with a chance above 50 % is in the order of 13 Gton CO2eq/year or less in 2070, for all sectors combined. We conclude that reduced ruminant meat and dairy consumption will be indispensable for reaching the 2 °C target with a high probability, unless unprecedented advances in technology take place.
Metaphors are increasingly recognized as influencing cognition and consumption. While these linkages typically have been qualitatively generated, this article presents a framework of convergent quantitative methodologies that can further document the validity of a metaphor. To illustrate this multimethod framework, the authors explore whether there is a metaphoric link between meat and maleness in Western cultures. The authors address this in six quantifiable studies that involve (1) implicit associations, (2) free associations, (3) indirect-scenario-based inferences, (4) direct measurement profiling, (5) preference and choice, and (6) linguistic analysis and conclude that there is a metaphoric relationship between mammal muscle meat and maleness.
Images of scantily clad women are used by advertisers to make products more attractive to men. This "sex sells" approach is increasingly employed to promote ethical causes, most prominently by the animal-rights organization PETA. Yet sexualized images can dehumanize women, leaving an unresolved paradox - is it effective to advertise an ethical cause using unethical means? In Study 1, a sample of Australian male undergraduates (N = 82) viewed PETA advertisements containing either sexualized or non-sexualized images of women. Intentions to support the ethical organization were reduced for those exposed to the sexualized advertising, and this was explained by their dehumanization of the sexualized women, and not by increased arousal. Study 2 used a mixed-gender community sample from the United States (N = 280), replicating this finding and extending it by showing that behaviors helpful to the ethical cause diminished after viewing the sexualized advertisements, which was again mediated by the dehumanization of the women depicted. Alternative explanations relating to the reduced credibility of the sexualized women and their objectification were not supported. When promoting ethical causes, organizations may benefit from using advertising strategies that do not dehumanize women.
To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of prices of healthier versus less healthy foods/diet patterns while accounting for key sources of heterogeneity.
MEDLINE (2000-2011), supplemented with expert consultations and hand reviews of reference lists and related citations.
Studies reviewed independently and in duplicate were included if reporting mean retail price of foods or diet patterns stratified by healthfulness. We extracted, in duplicate, mean prices and their uncertainties of healthier and less healthy foods/diet patterns and rated the intensity of health differences for each comparison (range 1-10). Prices were adjusted for inflation and the World Bank purchasing power parity, and standardised to the international dollar (defined as US$1) in 2011. Using random effects models, we quantified price differences of healthier versus less healthy options for specific food types, diet patterns and units of price (serving, day and calorie). Statistical heterogeneity was quantified using I(2) statistics.
27 studies from 10 countries met the inclusion criteria. Among food groups, meats/protein had largest price differences: healthier options cost $0.29/serving (95% CI $0.19 to $0.40) and $0.47/200 kcal ($0.42 to $0.53) more than less healthy options. Price differences per serving for healthier versus less healthy foods were smaller among grains ($0.03), dairy (-$0.004), snacks/sweets ($0.12) and fats/oils ($0.02; p<0.05 each) and not significant for soda/juice ($0.11, p=0.64). Comparing extremes (top vs bottom quantile) of food-based diet patterns, healthier diets cost $1.48/day ($1.01 to $1.95) and $1.54/2000 kcal ($1.15 to $1.94) more. Comparing nutrient-based patterns, price per day was not significantly different (top vs bottom quantile: $0.04; p=0.916), whereas price per 2000 kcal was $1.56 ($0.61 to $2.51) more. Adjustment for intensity of differences in healthfulness yielded similar results.
This meta-analysis provides the best evidence until today of price differences of healthier vs less healthy foods/diet patterns, highlighting the challenges and opportunities for reducing financial barriers to healthy eating.
Hierarchy is such a defining and pervasive feature of organizations that its forms and basic functions are often taken for granted in organizational research. In this review, we revisit some basic psychological and sociological elements of hierarchy and argue that status and power are two important yet distinct bases of hierarchical differentiation. We first define power and status and distinguish our definitions from previous conceptualizations. We then integrate a number of different literatures to explain why status and power hierarchies tend to be self‐reinforcing. Power, related to one’s control over valued resources, transforms individual psychology such that the powerful think and act in ways that lead to the retention and acquisition of power. Status, related to the respect one has in the eyes of others, generates expectations for behavior and opportunities for advancement that favor those with a prior status advantage. We also explore the role that hierarchy‐enhancing belief systems play in stabilizing hierarchy, both from the bottom up and from the top down. Finally, we address a number of factors that we think are instrumental in explaining the conditions under which hierarchies change. Our framework suggests a number of avenues for future research on the bases, causes, and consequences of hierarchy in groups and organizations.
The current research explores the effects of dissociative reference groups on consumer preferences. Males had more negative evaluations of, and were less inclined to choose, a product associated with a dissociative (i.e., female) reference group than a neutral product (Study 1). This finding was moderated by whether the product was consumed in public or private (Study 2) and public self-consciousness (Study 3). We suggest the mechanism underlying our effects is a desire to present a positive self-image to others. The role of dissociative reference groups in marketing communications is discussed.
We studied mate selection strategies as revealed in heterosexual personal advertisements published in a Brazilian newspaper, analyzing both the ads' content, with respect to the attributes that men and women offered and sought, and predictors of the number of responses that each ad received. Demands made for a prospective partner changed as a function of the age of the advertiser in predictable sex-differentiated ways: women became less demanding as they aged, whereas men became more demanding. The number of responses received by men and women as a function of age followed a similarly sex-differentiated pattern, with older women receiving fewer responses than younger women, and older men receiving more responses than younger men. In general, results of the present study provided support for our predictions. People who used personal advertisements, a relatively recent unconventional way for selecting mates, expressed conventional preferences, suggestive of evolved psychological mechanisms.
This article reports the results of the re-analysis of a substantial set of survey based quantitative data relating to food beliefs, practices and preferences. The particular focus of attention was upon gender contrasts. Several statistically significant differences between men and women were identified. These differences occurred in such areas as views on food and health, the ethical dimensions of food production and food selection, nutritional attitudes and choices, dietary change, food work and body image. Two distinctive patterns emerged, which the authors termed “virtuous” and “robust”, the former exhibiting attitudes more typical of women, and the latter attitudes more typical of men.
This paper reexamines the relationship between status and reproductive success (at the ultimate and proximate levels) using data on sex frequency and number of biological children from representative samples of the U.S. population. An ordered probit analysis of data from the 1989–2000 General Social Survey (GSS) shows that high-income men report greater frequency of sex than all others do. An OLS regression of data from the 1994 GSS shows that high-income men have more biological children than do low-income men and high-income women. Furthermore, more educated men have more biological children than do more educated women. Results also show that intelligence decreases the number of offspring and frequency of sex for both men and women.
The mating mind' revives and extends Darwin's suggestion that sexual selection through mate choice was important in human mental evolution - especially the more 'self-expressive' aspects of human behavior, such as art, morality, language, and creativity. Their 'survival value' has proven elusive, but their adaptive design features suggest they evolved through mutual mate choice, in both sexes, to advertise intelligence, creativity, moral character, and heritable fitness. The supporting evidence includes human mate preferences, courtship behavior, behavior genetics, psychometrics, and life history patterns. The theory makes many testable predictions, and sheds new light on human cognition, motivation, communication, sexuality, and culture.
We examined people's charity contributions while in the presence of an observer of the same sex, opposite sex, or no observer. Inspired by costly signaling theory, we hypothesized that men would be more generous in the presence of a potential mate. Men and women played a number of experimental games in which they could earn money. On completion of these games participants were asked what percentage of their earned money they would be willing to donate to charity. Our results show that men contribute more to charity when observed by a member of the opposite sex than by a member of the same sex or no observer. Conversely, female charity donations did not significantly vary across the three observer conditions. Findings support the notion that men's generosity might have evolved as a mating signal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined the consequences of mate preferences for the processes of assortative mating and sexual selection. In Study 1, 92 married couples (aged 18–40 yrs) completed measures such as the California Psychological Inventory, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and Personal Attributes Questionnaire. Data were used to identify (a) the mate characteristics that were consensually more and less desired, (b) the mate characteristics that showed strong sex differences in their preferred value, (c) the degree to which married couples were correlated in selection preferences, and (d) the relations between expressed preferences and the personality and background characteristics of obtained spouses. Marital preference factors included Religious, Kind/Considerate, Artistic/Intelligent, and Easygoing/Adaptable. Study 2, with 100 unmarried undergraduates, replicated the sex differences and consensual ordering of mate preferences found in Study 1, using a different methodology. Alternative hypotheses are presented to account for the replicated sex differences in preferences for attractiveness and earning potential. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Contemporary mate preferences can provide important clues to human reproductive history. Little is known about which characteristics people value in potential mates. Five predictions were made about sex differences in human mate preferences based on evolutionary conceptions of parental investment, sexual selection, human reproductive capacity, and sexual asymmetries regarding certainty of paternity versus maternity. The predictions centered on how each sex valued earning capacity, ambition— industriousness, youth, physical attractiveness, and chastity. Predictions were tested in data from 37 samples drawn from 33 countries located on six continents and five islands (total N = 10,047). For 27 countries, demographic data on actual age at marriage provided a validity check on questionnaire data. Females were found to value cues to resource acquisition in potential mates more highly than males. Characteristics signaling reproductive capacity were valued more by males than by females. These sex differences may reflect different evolutionary selection pressures on human males and females; they provide powerful cross-cultural evidence of current sex differences in reproductive strategies. Discussion focuses on proximate mechanisms underlying mate preferences, consequences for human intrasexual competition, and the limitations of this study.
Food systems account for 18-20% of UK annual greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs). Recommendations for improving food choices to reduce GHGEs must be balanced against dietary requirements for health.
We assessed whether a reduction in GHGEs can be achieved while meeting dietary requirements for health.
A database was created that linked nutrient composition and GHGE data for 82 food groups. Linear programming was used iteratively to produce a diet that met the dietary requirements of an adult woman (19-50 y old) while minimizing GHGEs. Acceptability constraints were added to the model to include foods commonly consumed in the United Kingdom in sensible quantities. A sample menu was created to ensure that the quantities and types of food generated from the model could be combined into a realistic 7-d diet. Reductions in GHGEs of the diets were set against 1990 emission values.
The first model, without any acceptability constraints, produced a 90% reduction in GHGEs but included only 7 food items, all in unrealistic quantities. The addition of acceptability constraints gave a more realistic diet with 52 foods but reduced GHGEs by a lesser amount of 36%. This diet included meat products but in smaller amounts than in the current diet. The retail cost of the diet was comparable to the average UK expenditure on food.
A sustainable diet that meets dietary requirements for health with lower GHGEs can be achieved without eliminating meat or dairy products or increasing the cost to the consumer.
The Sexual Politics of Meat is Carol Adams’ inspiring and controversial exploration of the interplay between contemporary society’s ingrained cultural misogyny and its obsession with meat and masculinity. First published in 1990, the book has continued to change the lives of tens of thousands of readers into the second decade of the 21st century.
Published in the year of the book’s 25th anniversary, the Bloomsbury Revelations edition includes a substantial new afterword, including more than 20 new images and discussions of recent events that prove beyond doubt the continuing relevance of Adams’ revolutionary book.
Social exchange and evolutionary models of mate selection incorporate economic assumptions but have not considered a key distinction between necessities and luxuries. This distinction can clarify an apparent paradox: Status and attractiveness, though emphasized by many researchers, are not typically rated highly by research participants. Three studies supported the hypothesis that women and men first ensure sufficient levels of necessities in potential mates before considering many other characteristics rated as more important in prior surveys. In Studies 1 and 2, participants designed ideal long-term mates, purchasing various characteristics with 3 different budgets. Study 3 used a mate-screening paradigm and showed that people inquire 1st about hypothesized necessities. Physical attractiveness was a necessity to men, status and resources were necessities to women, and kindness and intelligence were necessities to both.
Earth education is traditionally confined to specific topics: ecoliteracy, outdoor education, environmental science. But in the coming century, on track to be the warmest in human history, every aspect of human life will be affected by our changing planet. Emerging diseases, food shortages, drought, and waterlogged cities are just some of the unprecedented challenges that today’s students will face. How do we prepare 9.5 billion people for life in the Anthropocene, to thrive in this uncharted and more chaotic future?
Answers are being developed in universities, preschools, professional schools, and even prisons around the world. In the latest installment of State of the World, a diverse group of education experts share innovative approaches to teaching and learning in a new era. Topics include systems thinking for kids; the importance of play in early education; social emotional learning; comprehensive sexuality education; indigenous knowledge; sustainable business; medical training to treat the whole person; teaching law in the Anthropocene; and more.
This volume addresses schooling at all levels of development, from preschool to professional. Its lessons can inform teachers, policy makers, school administrators, community leaders, parents, and students alike. And its vision will inspire anyone who wants to prepare students not only for the storms ahead but to become the next generation of sustainability leaders.
Consumer lay theory suggests that women will spend more money than men in the presence of a physically dominant male employee, whereas theories of intrasexual competition from evolutionary psychology predict the opposite outcome. A retail field study demonstrates that male customers spend more money and purchase more expensive products than their female counterparts in the presence (vs. absence) of a physically dominant male employee. This effect has a more powerful impact on male customers who lack bodily markers of dominance (shorter stature or measures linked to lower levels of testosterone). When confronted with other physically dominant (vs. nondominant) men, these male customers are particularly prone to signal status through price or logo size. Their elevated feelings of intrasexual (male-tomale) competitiveness drive them to spend more money on status-signaling, but not functional, products and to prefer and draw larger brand logos. Because pictorial exposure is sufficient for the effect to occur, these findings are not limited to in-store interactions with dominant male employees but have broad implications for marketing and advertising.
Meat consumption is associated with a tension, for example the tension between love of meat and concern about animal welfare or health. Based on the literature we propose four consumer segments that each respond differently to (potential) conflicting thoughts in the context of meat: struggling-, coping-, strategically ignoring-, and indifferent consumers. As proposed we identified the four segments (of which one segment can be divided in two separate segments) in two separate cases (N=1842). This study is the first to identify a group of strategically ignorant consumers for a real life issue (i.e., conflicting experiences regarding meat consumption). The findings indicate that previously labelled indifferent consumers consists of 1) consumers who do not care and, therefore, ignore the issue and 2) consumers who do care but strategically choose to ignore the issue. We discuss the theoretical implications of strategic ignorance and the practical implications for reducing meat consumption.
This book is a broad-ranging and provocative study of the human passion for meat. It will intrigue anyone who has ever wondered why meat is important to us; why we eat some animals but not others; why vegetarianism is increasing; why we aren't cannibals; and how meat is associated with environmental destruction.
The finding that women are attracted to men older than themselves whereas men are attracted to relatively younger women has been explained by social psychologists in terms of economic exchange rooted in traditional sex-role norms. An alternative evolutionary model suggests that males and females follow different reproductive strategies, and predicts a more complex relationship between gender and age preferences. In particular, males' preference for relatively Younger females should be minimal during early mating years, but should become more pronounced as the male gets older. Young females are expected to prefer somewhat older males during their early years and to change less as they age. We briefly review relevant theory and present results of six studies testing this prediction. Study 1 finds support for this gender-differentiated prediction in age preferences expressed in personal advertisements. Study 2 supports the prediction with marriage statistics from two U.S. cities. Study 3 examines the cross-generational robustness of the phenomenon, and finds the same pattern in marriage statistics from 1923. Study 4 replicates Study 1 using matrimonial advertisements from two European countries, and from India. Study 5 finds a consistent pattern in marriages recorded from 1913 through 1939 on a small island in the Philippines. Study 6 reveals the same pattern in singles advertisements placed by financially successful American women and men. We consider the limitations of previous normative and evolutionary explanations of age preferences and discuss the advantages of expanding previous models to include the life history perspective.
Can we better understand modern consumer behavior by examining its links to our ancestral past? We consider the underlying motives for consumption and choice from an evolutionary perspective. We review evidence that deep-seated evolutionary motives continue to influence much modern behavior, albeit not always in obvious or conscious ways. These fundamental motives include: (1) evading physical harm, (2) avoiding disease, (3) making friends, (4) attaining status, (5) acquiring a mate, (6) keeping a mate, and (7) caring for family. We discuss how, why, and when these motives influence behavior, highlighting that many consumer choices ultimately function to help fulfill one or more of these evolutionary needs. An important implication of this framework is that a person's preferences, behaviors, and decision processes change in predictable ways depending on which fundamental motive is currently active. We discuss how consideration of evolutionary motives provides fertile ground for future consumer research, while also helping build bridges between consumer behavior, evolutionary biology, and other social sciences.
Prior research has examined how sexual opposite-sex stimuli impact people's choices and behaviors. However, it is largely unknown whether sexual same-sex stimuli also do so. This research reports an intriguing phenomenon: men who see attractive males take greater financial risks than those who do not. An evolution-based account is proffered and tested across four experiments. In evolutionary history, men have faced greater intrasexual competition in attracting women as a mating partner. Thus, when the average heterosexual man sees males who are more physically-attractive than he is, he is motivated to increase his desirability as a mating partner to women, prompting him to accrue money, and taking financial risks helps him to do so. This research concludes by discussing the implications of the present findings for men today who are constantly bombarded by not only sexual opposite- but also same-sex others, such as images that are commonly used in advertising.
As arguments become more pronounced that meat consumption harms the environment, public health, and animals, meat eaters should experience increased pressure to justify their behavior. Results of a first study showed that male undergraduates used direct strategies to justify eating meat, including endorsing pro-meat attitudes, denying animal suffering, believing that animals are lower in a hierarchy than humans and that it is human fate to eat animals, and providing religious and health justifications for eating animals. Female undergraduates used the more indirect strategies of dissociating animals from food and avoiding thinking about the treatment of animals. A second study found that the use of these male strategies was related to masculinity. In the two studies, male justification strategies were correlated with greater meat consumption, whereas endorsement of female justification strategies was correlated with less meat and more vegetarian consumption. These findings are among the first to empirically verify Adams’s (1990) theory on the sexual politics of meat linking feminism and vegetarianism. They suggest that to simply make an informational appeal about the benefits of a vegetarian diet may ignore a primary reason why men eat meat: It makes them feel like real men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
A content analysis is presented of sole-male images appearing in advertisements obtained from Business Week, Esquire, GQ, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and Sports Illustrated for the year 1993. Only two previous studies have looked exclusively at male images in magazine advertisements. The specific objective of the study was to describe the physical characteristics of the men appearing alone in advertisements. Body characteristics, hairstyles, facial hair, body and head positionings, dimensions of eye contact, clothing styles, and types of adornment were appraised for each male image. The results indicate some uniformity of sole-male images across magazine titles as well as interesting differences. The study establishes a foundation for future research on the portrayal of men in advertising. Suggestions for future research are offered.
The number of responses to personal advertisements can be a good source of information about preferences within the human mate market. From an analysis of responses to 551 advertisements placed by males in a local Lower Silesian (Poland) newspaper and 617 placed by females, we assessed which particular traits influenced the “hit rate” (the number of responses), using the Generalized Linear Model (GLM) with the number of responses as the dependent variable and traits offered by advertisers such as age, education level, place of residence, marital status, height, weight, offered resources, and attractiveness as the independent variables. The traits that appeared to influence the hit rate for advertisements placed by males were, in order of importance, education level, age, height, and resources offered, all of which were positively correlated with the hit rate. In contrast, certain traits advertised by females such as weight, height, education, and stated age were all negatively correlated with the hit rate. Resources offered by men had only a small positive effect and the advertising of general attractiveness by women had no effect at all on the hit rate, suggesting that respondents to personal advertisements rely much more on relatively objective traits, such as achieved education, male height, and female weight, than on those traits which are more open to subjective error or manipulation.
Context: The scarcity of data addressing the health effects of popular diets is an important public health concern, especially since patients and physicians are interested in using popular diets as individualized eating strategies for disease prevention. Objective: To assess adherence rates and the effectiveness of 4 popular diets (Atkins, Zone, Weight Watchers, and Ornish) for weight loss and cardiac risk factor reduction. Design, Setting, and Participants: A single-center randomized trial at an academic medical center in Boston, Mass, of overweight or obese (body mass index: mean, 35; range, 27-42) adults aged 22 to 72 years with known hypertension, dyslipidemia, or fasting hyperglycemia. Participants were enrolled starting July 18, 2000, and randomized to 4 popular diet groups until January 24, 2002. Intervention: A total of 160 participants were randomly assigned to either Atkins (carbohydrate restriction, n=40). Zone (macronutrient balance, n=40), Weight Watchers (calorie restriction, n=40), or Ornish (fat restriction, n=40) diet groups. After 2 months of maximum effort, participants selected their own levels of dietary adherence. Main Outcome Measures: One-year changes in baseline weight and cardiac risk factors, and self-selected dietary adherence rates per self-report. Results: Assuming no change from baseline for participants who discontinued the study, mean (SD) weight loss at 1 year was 2.1 (4.8) kg for Atkins (21 [53 %] of 40 participants completed, P=.009), 3.2 (6.0) kg for Zone (26 [65%] of 40 completed, P=.002), 3.0 (4.9) kg for Weight Watchers (26 [65%] of 40 completed, P<.001), and 3.3 (7.3) kg for Ornish (20 [50%] of 40 completed, P=.007). Greater effects were observed in study completers. Each diet significantly reduced the low-density lipoprotein/high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ratio by approximately 10% (all P<.05), with no significant effects on blood pressure or glucose at 1 year. Amount of weight loss was associated with self-reported dietary adherence level (r=0.60; P<.001) but not with diet type (r=0.07; P= .40). For each diet, decreasing levels of total/HDL cholesterol, C-reactive protein, and insulin were significantly associated with weight loss (mean r=0.36, 0.37, and 0.39, respectively) with no significant difference between diets (P= .48, P= .57, P= .31, respectively). Conclusions: Each popular diet modestly reduced body weight and several cardiac risk factors at 1 year. Overall dietary adherence rates were low, although increased adherence was associated with greater weight loss and cardiac risk factor reductions for each diet group.
Recent research employing a disease-threat model of the psychology of intergroup attitudes has provided preliminary support for a link between subjectively disease-salient emotional states and ethnocentric attitudes. Because the first trimester of pregnancy is a period of particular vulnerability to infection, pregnant women offer an opportunity to further test this association. We explored the expression of intergroup attitudes in a sample of pregnant women from the United States. Consistent with the predictions of the disease-threat model, results from our cross-sectional study indicate that favoritism toward the ingroup peaks during the first trimester of pregnancy and decreases during the second and third trimesters. We discuss this finding in light of the possible contributions of cultural and biological factors affecting ethnocentrism.
Evolutionary theorists suggest that men engage in risk-taking more than women do in part because, throughout human evolutionary history, men have faced greater sexual selection pressures. We build on this idea by testing the hypothesis that risk-taking reflects a male mating strategy that is sensitive to characteristics of a potential mate. Consistent with this hypothesis, the current experiment demonstrated a positive relationship between mating motivation and risk-taking, but only in men who had been exposed to images of highly attractive females. Moreover, risk-taking in men was associated with enhanced memory for attractive female faces, indicating enhanced processing of their attractive facial characteristics. No relationship between mating motivation and risk-taking was observed in men exposed to images of unattractive women, nor was any such relationship observed in women. This experiment provides evidence that psychological states associated with mating may promote risk-taking, and that these effects are sex specific and are sensitive to situational context.
The Ache, whose life history the authors recounts, are a small indigenous population of hunters and gatherers living in the neotropical rainforest of eastern Paraguay. This is part exemplary ethnography of the Ache and in larger part uses this population to make a signal contribution to human evolutionary ecology.
Thisstudy aimed to investigate the role of social comparison processes in women's responses to images of thin-idealize d female beauty. A sample of 126 women viewed magazine advertisements containing full-body, body part, or product im- ages. Instructional set was also manipulated with three levels: control, appearance focus, and social comparison. Mood and body dissatisfaction were measured im- mediately before and after advertisement viewing, while state weight anxiety and the amount of appearance comparison engaged in were measured only after the advertisements. It was found that exposure to either body part or full body images led to increased negative mood and body dissatisfaction, while the amount of com- parison processing was affected by both image type and instructional set. Impor- tantly, regression analyses showed that the effects of image type on mood and body dissatisfaction were mediated by the amount of social comparison reported. It was concluded that the processing in which women engage in response to media images is an important contributor to negative effects. Sociocultural theory provides the most strongly supported theoretical account of the high levels of body image disturbance, body dissatisfac- tion, and disordered eating experienced by many women in Western so- cieties (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999). This model maintains that current societal standards for beauty inordinately emphasize the desirability of thinness, and thinness at a level impossible for many women to achieve by healthy means. In fact, the gap between the average woman's body size and the ideal is now larger than ever be-
We examined the possibility that opinions on the animal rights debate reflect differences in personality. Our survey of 1055 college students compared scores on the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory and other personality measures with scores on the Animal Research Survey. We found people supportive of animal experimentation more likely to be male, masculine, conservative and less empathic than those opposed to it. Animal rights advocates were more likely to support vegetarianism and to be more ecologically concerned. They also indicated less faith in science. Students likely to encounter animal experimentation in their studies (psychology, biology majors) tended to oppose animal experimentation more than others. Intuitive and feeling types were more opposed to animal experimentation than were sensate and thinking types. Extraverted-sensate and extraverted-thinking types were more likely to favor animal experimentation than were extraverted-intuitive and extraverted-feeling types. Implications of these results are discussed.
Gender permeates all aspects of life, including foodlife, and can be examined using singular and multiple models of genderedness. Singular models of masculinity gender-type foods as masculine and feminine, suggesting that men and women “do gender" by consuming gender appropriate foods. Meat, especially red meat, is an archetypical masculine food. Men often emphasize meat, and women often minimize meat, in displaying gender as individuals. Dealing with gender in joint marital food choices requires negotiations about sharing masculine and feminine foods as partner foods in joint meals. Contemporary Western “proper meals” center around meat, creating masculine marital meals that reproduce wider patterns of male dominance. Meat is often a contested food in marriage, with food negotiations conflicting about whether, what types, when, and how much meat is consumed. Multiple models of masculinities suggest that marital meat consumption does not necessarily follow formulaic, hegemonic gender patterns. These plural masculinities offer various adjectival gender scripts that can be selectively invoked in negotiating meals shared between partners. Multiple cultural scripts for strong men, healthy men, wealthy men, sensitive men, and other conceptions of masculinities are employed in marital negotiations about “doing meat.” “Doing marriage” involves negotiating and managing masculinities and femininities in food choices that reflect, reproduce, and oppose a variety of gendered societal food scripts. Both singular and multiple models of masculinity offer insights about meat and marriage.
The importance of meat-eating in human evolution has long been a controversial subject1–4. The best available evidence of hominid activities between 2 and 1.5 Myr ago is the archaeological record from two East African localities, Olduvai Gorge5, Tanzania, and Koobi Fora6, Kenya, which consists of scattered stone artefacts and fragmentary animal bones. The question7,8 of functional association between juxtaposed artefacts and bones would be largely settled if hominid-induced modifications were present on some bones. Comparative analyses of archaeological bone assemblages from Olduvai Gorge and Koobi Fora and of various modern bone assemblages with known taphonomic histories reveal direct evidence of early hominid butchering and marrow-processing activities.
ABSTRACT Individual differences are explicitly connected to social interaction in Darwin's notion of sexual selection Traits that increase the probability of successful reproduction will tend to increase in frequency This process operates partly through differential choice, by one sex, of certain traits in the other According to the parental investment model, females frequently have more stringent criteria for the traits they will accept in a mate because they have a relatively larger investment in each offspring Because human mating arrangements often involve a substantial commitment of resources by the male, it is necessary to invoke a distinction between the selectivity involved during casual mating opportunities and the selectivity exercised when choosing a long-term partner Ninety-three undergraduate men and women rated their minimum criteria on 24 partner characteristics at four levels of commitment In line with an unqualified parental investment model, females were more selective overall, particularly on status-linked variables In line with a qualified parental investment model, males' trait preferences depended upon the anticipated investment in the relationship Males had lower requirements for a sexual partner than did females, but were nearly as selective as females when considenng requirements for a long-term partner