title: Using self- and direct persuasion to reduce food waste: Consumer food waste and values

authors: Nel, Jasmine

subjects: Food waste

abstract: With a growing population and an increase in food waste, research is needed to examine consumer behaviour and the effectiveness of marketing strategies to reduce household food waste. I examined the effectiveness of persuasion on participants' intentions to reduce their food waste, controlling for the influence of environmental values. Based on the sample of food waste from 481 United States MTurk participants, I experimentally manipulated message framing using self-persuasion (n = 181), direct persuasion (n = 150), and no persuasion (n = 150). With the results showing ceiling effects across conditions, I was unable to confirm the effectiveness of self-persuasion (M = 96.42), direct persuasion (M = 96.12), or no persuasion (M = 96.18) on intentions to reduce food waste. Further analysis revealed that self persuasion significantly and positively predicted the intent to reduce food waste for participants who reported strongly endorsing self transcendence (altruistic and biospheric) values, but not for those who endorsed self enhancement (egoistic) values. Direct persuasion significantly and negatively predicted intentions to reduce food waste for participants who reported strongly endorsing self enhancement values. My study contributes towards sustainable marketing research. The results provide marketers with information about adapting marketing approaches to suit the behavioural preferences of consumers. In addressing the limitations of this research, I advised that future researchers follow the recommendations in this study to contribute to achieving sustainable behaviour change.

text: Using self- and direct persuasion to reduce food waste: Consumer food waste and values With a growing population and an increase in food waste, research is needed to examine consumer behaviour and the effectiveness of marketing strategies to reduce household food waste. I examined the effectiveness of persuasion on participants' intentions to reduce their food waste, controlling for the influence of environmental values. Based on the sample of food waste from 481 United States MTurk participants, I experimentally manipulated message framing using self-persuasion (n = 181), direct persuasion (n = 150), and no persuasion (n = 150). With the results showing ceiling effects across conditions, I was unable to confirm the effectiveness of self-persuasion (M = 96.42), direct persuasion (M = 96.12), or no persuasion (M = 96.18) on intentions to reduce food waste. Further analysis revealed that self persuasion significantly and positively predicted the intent to reduce food waste for participants who reported strongly endorsing self transcendence (altruistic and biospheric) values, but not for those who endorsed self enhancement (egoistic) values. Direct persuasion significantly and negatively predicted intentions to reduce food waste for participants who reported strongly endorsing self enhancement values. My study contributes towards sustainable marketing research. The results provide marketers with information about adapting marketing approaches to suit the behavioural preferences of consumers. In addressing the limitations of this research, I advised that future researchers follow the recommendations in this study to contribute to achieving sustainable behaviour change.

year: 2022

title: Sexual Desire in Women Presenting for Antiandrogen Therapy

authors: Conaglen, Helen M.

subjects: antiandrogen therapy

abstract: Women presenting with hirsuties/polycystic ovary syndrome have increased production of androgens. Clinical lore suggests that these women may have increased sexual desire. Treatment of hirsuties commonly involves antiandrogen therapy, a form of therapy with a potential for reducing sexual desire. The present study investigated sexual desire in 29 hirsute women aged 19 to 43 years presenting for therapy. We conducted a questionnaire appraisal of the women’s sexual desire, body and self-esteem, and affect at baseline, 3 months, and 12 months and compared the data with a control group of 30 nonhirsute women of similar mean age. Those in the treatment group also had their Ferriman and Gallwey scores and body mass indices calculated at baseline and end of study for those in the treatment group. We determined hormone levels for those in the treatment group with baseline blood tests. Our hypotheses were that the hirsute women would experience different levels of sexual desire than the control group prior to therapy and that therapy would have a demonstrable effect on the self-reported sexual desire of these women. The study demonstrated that women with hirsuties had mean levels of sexual desire and body esteem that were significantly lower than the control group women. During the year-long course of therapy, the sexual desire levels of the hirsute women decreased progressively, while their self-esteem increased. The women’s Ferriman and Gallwey scores fell, indicating diminishing hirsutism. These findings provide empirical data upon which clinicians can base advice to patients seeking therapy.

text: Sexual Desire in Women Presenting for Antiandrogen Therapy Women presenting with hirsuties/polycystic ovary syndrome have increased production of androgens. Clinical lore suggests that these women may have increased sexual desire. Treatment of hirsuties commonly involves antiandrogen therapy, a form of therapy with a potential for reducing sexual desire. The present study investigated sexual desire in 29 hirsute women aged 19 to 43 years presenting for therapy. We conducted a questionnaire appraisal of the women’s sexual desire, body and self-esteem, and affect at baseline, 3 months, and 12 months and compared the data with a control group of 30 nonhirsute women of similar mean age. Those in the treatment group also had their Ferriman and Gallwey scores and body mass indices calculated at baseline and end of study for those in the treatment group. We determined hormone levels for those in the treatment group with baseline blood tests. Our hypotheses were that the hirsute women would experience different levels of sexual desire than the control group prior to therapy and that therapy would have a demonstrable effect on the self-reported sexual desire of these women. The study demonstrated that women with hirsuties had mean levels of sexual desire and body esteem that were significantly lower than the control group women. During the year-long course of therapy, the sexual desire levels of the hirsute women decreased progressively, while their self-esteem increased. The women’s Ferriman and Gallwey scores fell, indicating diminishing hirsutism. These findings provide empirical data upon which clinicians can base advice to patients seeking therapy.

year: 2003

title: Taking Taniwha seriously

authors: Kingsbury, Justine

subjects: intercultural understanding

abstract: Taniwha are powerful water creatures in te ao Māori (the Māori world/worldview). Taniwha sometimes afect public works in Aotearoa New Zealand: for example, consultation between government agencies and tangata whenua (the people of the land) about proposed roading developments sometimes results in the route being moved to avoid the dwelling place of a taniwha. Mainstream media responses have tended to be hostile or mocking, as you might expect, since on the face of it the dominant western scientifc worldview has no place for beings like taniwha. However, in the 2020s, there appears to be an increased willingness to engage with te ao Māori. In this spirit, this paper proposes a way for non-Māori to begin to take taniwha more seriously, taking as its starting point the work of Dan Hikuroa on the practical usefulness of taniwha pūrākau (traditional narratives) in encoding information about natural hazards. The focus of this paper is narrow, but aspects of the strategy it proposes may be generalisable both to other aspects of te ao Māori and to other bicultural and multicultural contexts.

text: Taking Taniwha seriously Taniwha are powerful water creatures in te ao Māori (the Māori world/worldview). Taniwha sometimes afect public works in Aotearoa New Zealand: for example, consultation between government agencies and tangata whenua (the people of the land) about proposed roading developments sometimes results in the route being moved to avoid the dwelling place of a taniwha. Mainstream media responses have tended to be hostile or mocking, as you might expect, since on the face of it the dominant western scientifc worldview has no place for beings like taniwha. However, in the 2020s, there appears to be an increased willingness to engage with te ao Māori. In this spirit, this paper proposes a way for non-Māori to begin to take taniwha more seriously, taking as its starting point the work of Dan Hikuroa on the practical usefulness of taniwha pūrākau (traditional narratives) in encoding information about natural hazards. The focus of this paper is narrow, but aspects of the strategy it proposes may be generalisable both to other aspects of te ao Māori and to other bicultural and multicultural contexts.

year: 2022-11-10