Sarah Evans

It is well known that fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption is a protective factor against chronic health conditions; however, men tend to eat fewer fruit and vegetables than women. Since FV consumption helps prevent chronic diseases and many men do not eat enough, ways to improve the behaviour are needed. It may be that men’s implicit (i.e., automatic) and explicit associations towards healthy foods are different from women’s. Investigating methods of changing men’s associations to healthy foods will inform health campaigns on the content they should use. This study compared the effects of associative learning using picture stimuli (PictureAL) or word stimuli (Word-AL) on automatic associations between apples and snackbars and healthy and unhealthy attributes in 120 men recruited at the University of Alberta campus. Automatic associations were measured by two versions of the Implicit Association Test (IAT). One version used picture-stimuli (Picture-IAT) and the other used word stimuli (Word-IAT). The stimuli used in the Picture-AL and Word-AL matched the stimuli in the Picture-IAT and WordIAT respectively. The target and attribute categories were ‘apple+healthy’ and ‘snackbar+unhealthy’. The moderating effects of healthy-eating schema, changes in explicit associations and the relationship between the associations and actual snack choice between apples and snackbars were also examined. Results showed AL using picture or word stimuli had no differential effects on automatic associations to pictures or words; however, the strength of associations between pictures were moderated by self-schema. Findings were inconclusive on whether the associations to pictures or words are more predictive of food choice behaviour. The implications are discussed in terms of the ReflectiveImpulsive Model and the meaning for health campaigns targeting FV consumption in men. PICTURES VS. WORDS FOR FV PROMOTION MESSAGES iii Preface This is an original work by Sarah Evans. The research project, of which this thesis is a part, received research ethics approval from the University of Alberta Research Ethics Board, Project Name “Strengthening Associations to Pictures vs. Words: The Case for Promoting Fruit and Vegetable Intake To Men”, No. Pro00068085, October 3, 2016. PICTURES VS. WORDS FOR FV PROMOTION MESSAGES i Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Tanya Berry for her continuous support of my Masters study and this research. I am very grateful for her knowledge, patience and being so easy to talk to. You made writing this thesis a truly enjoyable experience. I would like to thank the rest of my thesis committee: Prof. John Spence and Prof. Craig Chapman for their insight and valuable comments on this thesis. Thanks to my lab mates Kim Curtin, Maxine Myre, Lira Yun, and Elaine Ori for the great discussions and company and always making the lab a great place to come to. Thank you to my friends Chelsea and Christina for your unwavering support in every aspect of my lifefrom school to work to home. Lastly, thank you to my family: to my Mom, Dad, brother and grandparents, you made this all possible and I could never have done it without youand to my dog Beau, thanks for getting me outside and always waiting patiently for me to play with you on those long study days. To all of you I am very grateful! PICTURES VS. WORDS FOR FV PROMOTION MESSAGES ii Table of