Of Meat and Men: Sex Differences in Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Toward Meat

Modern attitudes to meat in both men and women reflect a strong meat-masculinity association. Sex differences in the relationship between meat and masculinity have not been previously explored. In the current study we used two IATs (implicit association tasks), a visual search task, and a questionna...

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Published in:Frontiers in psychology Vol. 9; p. 559
Main Authors: Love, Hamish J., Sulikowski, Danielle
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 20.04.2018
Subjects:
hunting
implicit attitudes
masculinity
meat
Psychology
visual search
meat
masculinity
hunting
visual search
implicit attitudes
ISSN:1664-1078, 1664-1078
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Modern attitudes to meat in both men and women reflect a strong meat-masculinity association. Sex differences in the relationship between meat and masculinity have not been previously explored. In the current study we used two IATs (implicit association tasks), a visual search task, and a questionnaire to measure implicit and explicit attitudes toward meat in men and women. Men exhibited stronger implicit associations between meat and healthiness than did women, but both sexes associated meat more strongly with 'healthy' than 'unhealthy' concepts. As 'healthy' was operationalized in the current study using terms such as "virile" and "powerful," this suggests that a meat-strength/power association may mediate the meat-masculinity link readily observed across western cultures. The sex difference was not related to explicit attitudes to meat, nor was it attributable to a variety of other factors, such as a generally more positive disposition toward meat in men than women. Men also exhibited an attention bias toward meats, compared to non-meat foods, while females exhibited more caution when searching for non-meat foods, compared to meat. These biases were not related to implicit attitudes, but did tend to increase with increasing hunger levels. Potential ultimate explanations for these differences, including sex differences in bio-physiological needs and receptivity to social signals are discussed.
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Edited by: X. T. (Xiao-Tian) Wang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China
Reviewed by: Hui Jing Lu, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong; Jolene H. Tan, Max Planck Institute for Human Development (MPG), Germany; Sydney Heiss, University at Albany (SUNY), United States
This article was submitted to Evolutionary Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology
ISSN:1664-1078
1664-1078
DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00559