Version 1
: Received: 12 September 2024 / Approved: 12 September 2024 / Online: 13 September 2024 (14:52:43 CEST)
How to cite:
Vanutelli, M. E.; Adorni, R.; Leone, P. A.; Luperini, A.; D’Addario, M.; Steca, P. Who would taste it? Exploring decision-making styles and intention to eat insect-based food among Italian University students. Preprints2024, 2024091056. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.1056.v1
Vanutelli, M. E.; Adorni, R.; Leone, P. A.; Luperini, A.; D’Addario, M.; Steca, P. Who would taste it? Exploring decision-making styles and intention to eat insect-based food among Italian University students. Preprints 2024, 2024091056. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.1056.v1
Vanutelli, M. E.; Adorni, R.; Leone, P. A.; Luperini, A.; D’Addario, M.; Steca, P. Who would taste it? Exploring decision-making styles and intention to eat insect-based food among Italian University students. Preprints2024, 2024091056. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.1056.v1
APA Style
Vanutelli, M. E., Adorni, R., Leone, P. A., Luperini, A., D’Addario, M., & Steca, P. (2024). Who would taste it? Exploring decision-making styles and intention to eat insect-based food among Italian University students. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.1056.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Vanutelli, M. E., Marco D’Addario and Patrizia Steca. 2024 "Who would taste it? Exploring decision-making styles and intention to eat insect-based food among Italian University students" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.1056.v1
Abstract
Background: Although insect-based foods (IBF) have been recently proposed as a way to face climate crisis and starvation, they encounter the aversion from Western countries which perceive fear, disgust, and high risk. The contribution of psychology research to food choices highlighted how decisions are taken not only through reasoned attitudes and goal-directed behavior, but also through more automatic associations (dual-systems models). Methods: In this paper we investigated people’s disposition towards IBF by combining (a) explicit attitudes (as assessed via self-report scales), (b) automatic associations (as measured via indirect measures), (c) intention to taste, and comparing different profiles based on (d) psychological factors, including decision-making style, food neophobia, and trust in science and scientist. A pilot sample of 175 Italian University students participated in the study. Results: The analyses on the general sample highlighted rather negative attitudes. The cluster analysis identified 4 decision-making profiles: “the gut-feeling”, “the suspicious”, “the vicarious”, and “the mind”. It revealed more favorable opinions in “the mind” profile, characterized by a rational decision-making style and high trust in science, and very aversive reactions from “the suspicious” profile, characterized by high food neophobia and low trust in science. Conclusions: The results underline the importance of psychological factors in interpreting people's reactions to IBF and changes in dietary habits based on the decision-making process. They suggest possible strategies to promote eco-friendly diets
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
