Promoting a Reduction in Meat Consumption: An Initial Study on the Efficacy of a Commitment Strategy

The current study employed an ABA design with a control group to assess the effectiveness of a commitment strategy in reducing meat consumption among university students (n=70). Participants who were randomly assigned to the commitment condition did not consume significantly less meat than participants in the control group, t (48)=.74, p=.47. 79% (n=19) of participants in the control group decreased their meat consumption from baseline to treatment phase, compared with 96% (n=27) of participants in the treatment group. Additionally, when both groups were collapsed, all participants reduced meat consumption from baseline to treatment phase t (51)=8.6, p<.001. Participants' scores on the Motivation Towards the Environment Scale, a measure of self-determined motivation towards environmental behavior, were not significant predictors of meat consumption behavior before or during the intervention, t(67)= -.26, p=.80, t(51)=.53, p=.60. Implications and directions for future research are discussed within the paper.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Department dc:contributor.department

Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Williams, Neville Farley

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Geller, E. Scott

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Bray, Bethany C.
• Cooper, Lee D.

• environmental behavior
• behavior change
• meat consumption
• commitment

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-10292010-112852

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/45327