Social Psychology Commons^™

Less Meat, Less Heat: Analyzing Meat Consumption Through The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Identity, Past Behavior, And Conservatism, Madeleine Powers

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Meat reduction is a largely underutilized means of combatting climate change that warrants further investigation. The current study utilized an extended model of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to predict intention to eat red meat. In addition to traditional TPB components of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, this study adds to the literature by including meat-eating identity, past meat-eating behavior, and conservatism as predictors of meat consumption intentions. 744 participants were recruited via Mturk and compensated $1 for completing surveys assessing the extended TPB constructs related to meat consumption. The sample was 57% men, and 81% white, …

The Relationships Between Resilience, Care Environment, And Social-Psychological Factors In Orphaned And Separated Adolescents In Western Kenya, Sarah C. Sutherland, Harry S. Shannon, David Ayuku, David L. Streiner, Olli Saarela, Lukoye Atwoli, Paula Braitstein

Internal Medicine, East Africa

The relationships between care environment, resilience, and social factors in orphaned and separated adolescents and youths (OSAY) in western Kenya are complex and under-studied.Survey responses from OSAY living in Charitable Children’s Institutes (CCI) and family-based care settings (FBS) in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya were used to examine the associations between 1) care environment and resilience; 2) care environment and factors thought to promote resilience (e.g. social, family, and peer support); and 3) resilience and these same resilience-promoting factors, using multivariable linear and logistic regressions. This cross-sectional study included 1202 OSAY (50.4% female) aged 10–26 (mean = 16; SD = 3.5). …

Social Environment Changes During Covid-19 Quarantine, Aileen Jimenez

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research project is to understand perceptions of the psychological, behavioral, and social impacts of COVID-19. Students at the University of Mississippi were invited to participate in an online questionnaire administered through Qualtrics. The questionnaire was composed of questions concerning health behaviors, including questions from the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21, Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Scale, Fear of Coronavirus-19 Scale, and the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring study. 274 students participated in the study. Overall, the results of this study suggested moderate distress across the sample, differences in sleep, exercise, and alcohol consumption during quarantine conditions, …

Things Are Getting Worse On Our Way To Catastrophe: Neoliberal Environmentalism, Repressive Desublimation, And The Autonomous Ecoconsumer, Alex Stoner

Journal Articles

The aim of neoliberal environmentalism was to unleash the market to protect the environment; but as it turns out, things are getting worse on our way to catastrophe. Despite persistent failures, neoliberal environmentalism remains prevalent—and apparently without alternative. This paper directs focus on an often-overlooked dimension of this apparent stasis: the nexus of self and society in advanced capitalism, as shown in the linkage between neoliberal environmentalism and the autonomous ecoconsumer. Marcuse’s concept of repressive desublimation is engaged to better understand how environmentalist desire is currently being thwarted in ways that inhibit movement toward socioecological emancipation. The paper provides an …

Sense Of Belonging Increases Performance Expectations Among Women In Stem Fields, Anne Brown, Ariana Gaydon

Undergraduate Research Symposium

This research examines threatening educational environments for women STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) majors. Previous research found that underrepresented groups receive subtle and overt messages that they do not belong in science and academia which leads to lower science identity, lower grades, and switching to a non-STEM major (Ong et al. 2011; Robnett 2016; Rainey et al., 2018). This study used survey data from students (N = 213) from a western university. The results indicate a 2-way interaction between sense of belonging (or the acceptance an individual feels regarding a specific group or environment) and science identity (how …

The Project Talent Twin And Sibling Study: Zygosity And New Data Collection, Carol A. Prescott, Ellen E. Walters, Thalida Em Arpawong, Catalina Zavala, Tara L. Gruenewald, Margaret Gatz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The Project Talent Twin and Sibling (PTTS) study includes 4481 multiples and their 522 nontwin siblings from 2233 families. The sample was drawn from Project Talent, a U.S. national longitudinal study of 377,000 individuals born 1942–1946, first assessed in 1960 and representative of U.S. students in secondary school (Grades 9–12). In addition to the twins and triplets, the 1960 dataset includes 84,000 siblings from 40,000 other families. This design is both genetically informative and unique in facilitating separation of the ‘common’ environment into three sources of variation: shared by all siblings within a family, specific to twin-pairs, and associated with …

Migration And Women’S Relationships To The Land And Food In Myanmar, Allison Joseph

Scripps Senior Theses

Abstract

In the 21st century, Myanmar has become the largest migration source country in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. To achieve its economic and political goals, the government has conducted extensive confiscation and reallocation of communal lands, which has resulted in a growing class of landless and dispossessed citizens. Under the new laws, rural women are disproportionately impacted and more vulnerable to the processes of dispossession, often lacking the rights or resources of their male counterparts to fight for the land of their ancestors. This has resulted in the wide-scale disinheritance of Myanmar’s rural women from their land and food, as …

Sociobiophysicality And The Necessity Of Critical Theory: Moving Beyond Prevailing Conceptions Of Environmental Sociology In The Usa, Alex Stoner

Journal Articles

Today, to perceive the link between society and environment does not require that we engage in an effort of great abstraction. What remains paradoxical is that the intensity and scale of societally induced environmental degradation, which rose to historically unprecedented levels during the latter half of the 20th century, is synchronous with an equally impressive increase in public concern for and attention to the biophysical world. This article examines values-based and traditional Marxist-oriented approaches to environmental sociology in the USA in order to assess whether or not – and if so, how exactly – these approaches help us make sense …

Further Development Of A Model Of Environmental Commitment, Shane Boyd

Theses and Dissertations

Environmental commitment is a concept based on the investment model and interdependence theory literature. Interdependence theory and the investment model were originally geared towards the study of relationship commitment as function of relationship satisfaction and alternatives to being in that relationship. It has since been applied to areas outside of relationship commitment such as environmental commitment. Previous research has demonstrated that environmental commitment can be predictive of environmental behavior, above and beyond several different control variables that captured different aspects of the person-environment relationship (Davis, Le, & Coy, 2011; Davis, Green, & Reed, 2009). This project will strengthen the existing …

The Role Of Emotion In Environmental Decision Making, Hannah Dietrich

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Given the environmental concerns of our planet, it is imperative to consider issues of environmental sustainability. Researchers argue that the most serious environmental problems are not merely issues of science, but that of individual behavior. Solutions, therefore, must consider the role of the individual—how one can change his/her behaviors to be more environmentally conscious. The experience of negative or positive emotions, may impact not only people’s experiences with the environment, but also their tendency to engage in pro-environmental behavior. The present study sought to experimentally investigate the role of emotion and information on pro-environmental behavior change. Results indicate that neither …

An Investigation Of Gender Differences In Pro-Environmental Attitudes And Behaviors, Sonja Plavsic

Honors Scholar Theses

Environmental responsibility has become an increasing concern in today's world. "Green" practices have become the norm with a growth in recycling options on school campuses and in cities, emissions restrictions for cars, and many brands positioning themselves as eco-friendly. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there are gender differences regarding pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors among college students as predicted by socialization and social role theories, ecofeminism, and social norms. Participants were 313 University of Connecticut students (124 male, 189 female) who took part in an online survey measuring their attitudes towards the environment and conservation behavior. This …

A Need For Green: An Approach For Motivating Environmentally Sustainable Practices At The University Of Rhode Island, Alyssa Mason, Mary Vidal

Senior Honors Projects

“Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Meade

Colin Beavan’s No Impact Man details his yearlong experiment to live without creating any environmental impact. As sophomores we were inspired by Beavan’s journey but also skeptical of living a completely no-impact lifestyle as college-students. Although we were motivated to try to live sustainably, our efforts were dormant until our junior year. That year we decided that we would attempt to live up to the standards set forth by Beavan--understanding that some practices would be harder …

Same Environment, Different Affordances: Ecological Analysis Of Four Different Learners In A University Context, Miso Kim, Tae-Young Kim

Dr. Tae-Young Kim (김태영, 金兌英)

This study investigates the subjective realization of objective environmental factors and learners’ agency in constructing their meaning potential. According to van Lier’s (2000, 2002, 2004) ecological perspective, the environment is yet an unrealized set of potential, and affordance is what was felt meaningful to the learner. Also, learners actively construct their terms and conditions of learning with their agency (Lantolf & Pavlenko, 2001). Based on van Lier’s ecological framework, two pairs of students enrolled in two same English classes were recruited. Life history, semi-structured interview, and task recall data revealed that for some students, affordance of the English classroom was …

From College Student To Change Agent: A Triadic Model Of Self-Efficacy, Attribution, And Appraisal, Joshua M. Garrin

Journal of Sustainable Social Change

Beyond their newfound emancipation and opportunities for self-discovery, college students in the young adult stage of development are expected to achieve balance between their autonomous new world and the impending pressures of postgraduation life. The college student must not only reconcile issues related to identity formation, goal pursuits, and career exploration, but is expected to begin the process of identifying and developing the skills required to address salient social themes. How students establish competency beliefs, negotiate controllability over future outcomes, and appraise challenges have deep implications in their capacity to discover their social change “voice.” The following discussion proposes a …

Public Perception Of Risk Management In Environmental Controversies: A U.K. Case Study, Maria Simosi, Peter T. Allen

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Drs. Simosi and Allen focus on issues arising from an environmental dispute in the U.K. Their case study findings are discussed in the context of existing environmental decision-making procedures in the U.K.

Public Participation In Resolving Environmental Disputes And The Problem Of Representativeness, Peter T. Allen

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Dr. Allen, the symposium organizer, reviews recent .efforts to increase public involvement in environmental disputes.