Publication
Why so defensive? Negative affect and gender differences in defensiveness toward plant-based diets
| dc.contributor.author | Hinrichs, Kim | |
| dc.contributor.author | Hoeks, John | |
| dc.contributor.author | Campos, Lúcia | |
| dc.contributor.author | Guedes, David | |
| dc.contributor.author | Godinho, Cristina | |
| dc.contributor.author | Matos, Marta | |
| dc.contributor.author | Graça, João | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-07-13T12:23:57Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-07-13T12:23:57Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2022-12 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Evidence consistently shows that men (compared to women) tend to be more attached to meat consumption, less willing to follow plant-based diets, and overall more likely to express defensiveness toward plant-based eating. This study expands knowledge on the meat-masculinity link, by examining whether negative affect toward plant-based eating helps explain why these gender differences occur. Young consumers (N = 1130, 40.4% male, aged 20–35 years, USA) watched a video message promoting plant-based diets and completed a survey with three relevant expressions of defensiveness toward plant-based eating, namely threat construal, psychological reactance, and moral disengagement. Exposure to the messages did not impact gender differences in defensiveness compared to a control condition. Nonetheless, male consumers scored higher than female consumers in all measures of defensiveness (irrespective of experimental manipulation), with negative affect toward plant-based eating partly or fully mediating the associations between gender and defensiveness. Overall, these findings suggest that: (a) male defensiveness toward plant-based eating may be partly explained by negative affect, which is linked to a greater tendency to perceive reduced meat consumption as a threat and a limitation to one's freedom, and an increased propensity to deploy moral disengagement strategies such as pro-meat rationalizations; but (b) exposure to communication products promoting plant-based diets does not necessarily heighten male defensiveness toward plant-based eating (i.e., this study found no evidence of a “boomerang effect”). Future research on the topic could test whether affect-focused strategies may help decrease defensiveness to plant-based eating. | pt_PT |
| dc.description.version | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion | pt_PT |
| dc.identifier.doi | 10.1016/j.foodqual.2022.104662 | pt_PT |
| dc.identifier.eid | 85133180543 | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 0950-3293 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/38184 | |
| dc.identifier.wos | 000832995300005 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | pt_PT |
| dc.peerreviewed | yes | pt_PT |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Affect | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Gender differences | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Meat consumption | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Plant-based diets | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Reactance | pt_PT |
| dc.title | Why so defensive? Negative affect and gender differences in defensiveness toward plant-based diets | pt_PT |
| dc.type | journal article | |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
| oaire.citation.title | Food Quality and Preference | pt_PT |
| oaire.citation.volume | 102 | pt_PT |
| rcaap.rights | openAccess | pt_PT |
| rcaap.type | article | pt_PT |