Using if-then planning to change attitudes towards meat

Abstract

Abstract In the present research, we investigated whether processing if-then plans as content in advertisements could induce changes in attitudes towards meat. If-then planning has conventionally been used as a self-regulation strategy in the field of goal attainment, but more current research has suggested that the underlying mechanisms that make them effective in goal attainment can also enable them to be effective in changing attitudes. In two experiments (N = 124), participants either processed content in an advertisement presented as an if-then plan or the same information formulated differently (control). We predicted that processing if-then plans would create associative links between meat and a negative concept, biasing the attitude construction more negatively and resulting more negative attitudes towards meat. In both experiments we hypothesized that participants who processed if-then plans would have more negative attitudes towards meat in comparison to the control condition. Results found no significant differences in attitudes towards meat. This research contributes to a better understanding of the potential of if-then planning as a method to change attitudes. Due to meat being an attitudinal object that might be affiliated with stronger habitual behavior than other food types, we suggest that future research investigates this method with less habitually associated attitude objects. Keywords: attitude change, behavioral change, implementation intentions, self-regulation