Domains of Motivation in Men and Women for Initiating and Terminating Procreation in an Evolutionary Perspective

Domains of Motivation in Men and Women for Initiating and Terminating Procreation in an Evolutionary Perspective. Menelaos Apostolou & Maria Hadjimarkou. Marriage & Family Review, https://doi.org/10.1080/01494929.2017.1414723

ABSTRACT: Children require considerable resources such as time and money to be raised. Still, despite the heavy costs involved, most people do decide to have children, a fact that raises the question of what motivates them to do so. Moreover, after having one or more children, people decide not to have additional ones, even though they might still be fertile. This raises the question of what motivates people to terminate procreation. The present paper aims to address these questions using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. In Study 1, we used in-depth interviews and open-ended questionnaires that lead to the identification of 66 reasons for which people have children and 23 reasons for which people stop having children. In Study 2, we used principal component analysis that classified these reasons in broader motivation domains, 15 for procreating and 4 for terminating procreation. Sex differences were examined in each domain. By placing procreation in an evolutionary framework, this study aims to provide a deeper understanding of the motives that drive people toward and away from the process of having children.

KEYWORDS: motives for having children, motives for stop having children, procreation, reasons for having children

Despite reporting neutral explicit attitudes towards consensual nonmonogamy, young men and women demonstrated a strong automatic preference for monogamy

Young men and women’s implicit attitudes towards consensually nonmonogamous relationships. Ashley E. Thompson, Aaron J. Bagley & Elle A. Moore. Psychology & Sexuality, https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2018.1435560

ABSTRACT: Recent research has revealed some inconsistencies in the traditionally negative attitudes towards consensual nonmonogamy (CNM; sexually and/or emotionally nonexclusive romantic relationships), with some adults reporting fairly neutral attitudes. These inconsistencies may be related to the effects of socially desirable responding when adopting self-report (e.g. explicit) measures. Thus, the current study assessed young men and women’s implicit attitudes towards CNM (using the Implicit Association Test) in order to bypass issues associated with social desirability bias. The results from 204 college students (81 men, 123 women) revealed that, despite reporting neutral explicit attitudes towards CNM, young men and women demonstrated a strong automatic preference for monogamy (mean D score = 0.71; SD = 0.32). Furthermore, the relationship between explicit and implicit attitudes was clarified by assessing the extent to which participants were likely to engage in socially desirable responding. Implicit and explicit attitudes towards CNM were more closely related among those less likely to evidence social desirability bias as compared to those who were more likely to fall prey to this bias. These findings highlight the importance of assessing implicit attitudes and provide evidence of the strong social stigma surrounding CNM.

KEYWORDS: Consensual nonmonogamy, implicit attitudes, gender differences, social desirability

Brave, health-conscious, and environmentally friendly: Positive impressions of insect consumers

Brave, health-conscious, and environmentally friendly: Positive impressions of insect food product consumers. Christina Hartmann et al. Food Quality and Preference, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2018.02.001

Highlights
•    Insect food product consumers were seen as health-conscious, eco-friendly, and brave.
•    Consumers of vegetarian alternatives were perceived as more moral but less tolerant.
•    Insect and vegetarian menus were evaluated as healthier then the meat menu.
•    Insect-based meat alternative was evaluated as healthy as a vegetarian alternative.

Abstract: Prior results suggest that people who follow a vegetarian diet or consume meat alternatives, such as insects, might be perceived negatively. In two experimental studies, both the shopping list method and a vignette approach were used to assess underlying impressions of these consumer groups. The aim of the first study was to explore how someone with insect-based or vegetarian burgers on their shopping list is perceived compared to someone purchasing beef burgers. Study participants (N = 598) were randomly assigned to one of three shopping list conditions and evaluated the owner of the list on 16 bipolar attributes (e.g., disciplined, health-conscious, popular). In the second study, a new set of participants (N = 617) was randomly assigned to one of three conditions. They read a short description about a hypothetical person who either chose a lunch menu with insect schnitzel, vegetarian schnitzel or pork schnitzel to elicit an evaluation of this person. The same personality attributes as in Study 1 were assessed. The results of both studies showed that consumers of insect and vegetarian products were perceived as more health-conscious, environmentally friendly, imaginative, brave, interesting, and knowledgeable than meat consumers. Notably, the vegetarian and insect alternatives were evaluated as healthier than the meat option. Given the relatively positive image of people who consume alternatives to traditional meat proteins identified in the present study, the social influence of people who visibly consume such products may be high.

Keywords: Insects; Vegetarian; Impressions; Shopping list; Vignette study; Alternative proteins; Personality