Debt and poverty are vastly growing issues of our society that come with psychological risks. Receiving free debt advice improves well-being psychologically, yet those in debt do not often get this...Show moreDebt and poverty are vastly growing issues of our society that come with psychological risks. Receiving free debt advice improves well-being psychologically, yet those in debt do not often get this help. We argue that the need for autonomy can be an influential construct in the acceptance of free debt advice, given that poverty is accompanied by lower perceived autonomy and that when ones autonomy is endangered, this lowers their tendency to accept help of other kinds. So, we hypothesised that having a higher need for autonomy would indicate lower tendency to accept debt advice. We conducted an online survey with 75 UK citizens in which an implicit measure of the need for autonomy (Picture Story Exercise) as well as a likert scale for accepting debt advice were administered. There was an insignificantly negative correlation between the implicit measure and the acceptance of free debt advice. We speculate that, how dependency/autonomy oriented debt advice was perceived as well as the fact that our participants were not experiencing real life debt, weakened the correlation. As exploratory analysis, the correlation between the explicit measure of need for autonomy (IAF) and likelihood of accepting help was tested. This correlation was also nonsignificant yet positive. We speculate that this could be due to the social desirability bias. Future research should explore the autonomy/dependency orientation of free debt advice to pave the way for increasing the acceptance of debt advice.Show less
More and more people get into debt every year. However, they rarely receive the freely offered services to help them out of debt. Previous research suggests that a person’s high need for autonomy...Show moreMore and more people get into debt every year. However, they rarely receive the freely offered services to help them out of debt. Previous research suggests that a person’s high need for autonomy can be seen as an obstacle to accept help. Hence, this study examines the effect of explicit and implicit need for autonomy on the willingness to accept help when in debt. Participants were asked to fill out an explicit (Index of Autonomous Functioning) and an implicit (Picture Story Exercise) measure for autonomy. Afterwards, a hypothetical scenario in which participants’ likeliness to accept free debt advice was administered. Results suggest that explicitly measured need for autonomy is non-significantly, positively correlated with the willingness to accept the offered help. Contrary, the implicit measure showed a non significant, negative correlation with the help-acceptance of the participants. The discussion revealed that the definition of the need for autonomy differs between the measures, which might influence the discrepancy in results. Additionally, as the form of help was autonomy oriented in the current research, there are strong arguments for a greater influence of need for autonomy on dependency-oriented types of help.Show less
Over half of all households in the UK experienced some type of debt between 2016 to 2018. Being in debt can pose a serious threat to wellbeing. Many of these households are not able to get out of...Show moreOver half of all households in the UK experienced some type of debt between 2016 to 2018. Being in debt can pose a serious threat to wellbeing. Many of these households are not able to get out of debt by themselves. However, many of these households also do not accept the help, often existing of free debt-advice, that is provided to them. Literature from domains such as education suggest that people might not accept help due to their autonomy being limited. This thesis looked into whether this was also the case for the domain of debt. Respondents were asked to fill out a questionnaire, existing of an implicit measure of autonomy and a hypothetical debt letter. After receiving the letter, participants were asked how likely they would be to accept the help (free debt-advice) offered in the debt letter. Surprisingly, many of the participants accepted the help, leading to the rejection of our hypothesis that the need for autonomy could predict help acceptance. The results showed that there was no relationship between the need for autonomy and help acceptance. A possible reason for this finding could be that in the domain of debt, a different barrier against help acceptance, like shame or stigma, is at play.Show less
Research has found that zoo visits can enhance conservation intentions. The current research (N = 200) examined possible explanations for this relationship by conducting correlational research in...Show moreResearch has found that zoo visits can enhance conservation intentions. The current research (N = 200) examined possible explanations for this relationship by conducting correlational research in the form of an online survey. It was expected that positive affective responses towards zoo animals would enhance conservation intentions. Positive affective responses, in turn, were expected to be predicted by proximity to the animals, interaction with the animals, and active animal behavior. The results of this study confirmed all these expectations, but also showed that proximity, interaction, and pacing predicted negative affective responses, which in turn led to higher conservation intentions. This study thus provided a new insight, namely that affective responses in general can enhance conservation intentions. Zoos could stimulate affective responses by enriching the animal habitats, so that the animals show more active behavior, or by enabling consumers to get closer to the animals.Show less
Interpretive signage is the most commonly used channel by zoos to deliver conservation messages to visitors. These signs include aspects of animal biology, lifespan and taxonomy. Research to the...Show moreInterpretive signage is the most commonly used channel by zoos to deliver conservation messages to visitors. These signs include aspects of animal biology, lifespan and taxonomy. Research to the effectiveness of interpretive signage in zoos in influencing visitors’ conservation intentions is inconclusive and the link with attention to these signs has not yet been sufficiently investigated. This study examined the relationship between visitors’ attention to signs and conservation intentions and whether this relationship is mediated by visitor’s conservation attitudes. In a correlational design, 200 participants were asked to recall their last zoo visit and answer questions in an online survey. In line with the expectations, the results showed a positive association between visitors’ attention towards interpretive signage and conservation intentions. Visitors’ attitudes towards conservation partially mediated this relationship. It was concluded that when visitors devote attention to on-site interpretive zoo signage, this type of conservation education can be effective in influencing visitors’ intentions towards nature conservation through its influence on attitudes. Possible explanations for the results are discussed and implications for theory and practice are made.Show less
This study (N = 313) aimed to investigates the influence of (moral) emotional frames in an online discussion on moralization and attitude polarization. It is hypothesized that anger and disgust...Show moreThis study (N = 313) aimed to investigates the influence of (moral) emotional frames in an online discussion on moralization and attitude polarization. It is hypothesized that anger and disgust frames result in more attitude polarization than neutral frames, while anxiety frames are hypothesized to do the opposite. Felt emotions and moralization are hypothesised to mediate the effect, because experiencing moral emotions should makes people moralize an issue, which in turn can cause attitude polarization. However, the results did not support the hypotheses, as the frames did not impact attitude polarization, neither by mediation through moralization and felt emotions.. However, when conveyed emotions were used instead of the frames, anger, disgust and even fear and anxiety predicted attitude polarization through mediation by moralization and felt emotions. The results also indicate that moralization predicts attitude polarization. The study provides opportunities for future research that are elaborated on in the discussion.Show less
Although many gardeners desire a green oasis, most have a concrete jungle. This behavioral misalignment in domestic gardening is an example of the intention-behavior gap. Facilitating factors of...Show moreAlthough many gardeners desire a green oasis, most have a concrete jungle. This behavioral misalignment in domestic gardening is an example of the intention-behavior gap. Facilitating factors of this gap are poorly understood. This study aims to: 1. establish an intention-behavior gap in domestic green gardening, and 2. provide insight in impeding factors in the translation of green intention into gardening behavior. Two inertia-inducing factors were considered: goal conflict and procrastination. I tested whether intending to perform greening activities positively influences garden greening behavior when conflict between garden goals (H1) and procrastinating garden adjustments are low (H2). An online survey was distributed to garden-owners in Leiden (N=146). Multiple Response Analysis confirmed that intention mainly predicts greening behavior whilst leaving 63.6% of variance unexplained, showing a gap. Goal conflict and procrastination were not significant moderators. Strategies to increase garden greening are discussed and future research should continue studying intention-behavior gap moderators.Show less
Simultaneously engaging in multiple media activities is becoming increasingly normal in this digital era. Since distraction and media multitasking are closely related, a new term was created by...Show moreSimultaneously engaging in multiple media activities is becoming increasingly normal in this digital era. Since distraction and media multitasking are closely related, a new term was created by Aagaard (2014) to describe this activity: Distractive Media Multitasking (DMM). As more shopping is done online and e-commerce grows every year, DMM could have effects on the way consumers purchase online. This thesis uses an extensive questionnaire including an online shopping task to determine differences in shopping behaviors between differing levels of DMM. Firstly, it was expected that a higher amount of DMM activities would lead to a higher number of bought products and a lower purchase satisfaction. Secondly, it was expected that a higher experienced distraction due to DMM would lead to a higher number of bought products and a lower purchase satisfaction. No significant results were established. Exploratory research shows that engaging in DMM on multiple devices makes for a higher satisfaction level than engaging in DMM on only one device. Limitations of this study include the limited control of the research setting, while strengths include the examining of different aspects of DMM. Recommendations for future research contain changes to the research design and extensions to investigating additional DMM elements.Show less
Eerder onderzoek heeft aangetoond dat de uitputting van iemands wilskracht afhankelijk is van diens overtuiging of wilskracht gelimiteerd is. Personen die denken dat wilskracht ongelimiteerd is,...Show moreEerder onderzoek heeft aangetoond dat de uitputting van iemands wilskracht afhankelijk is van diens overtuiging of wilskracht gelimiteerd is. Personen die denken dat wilskracht ongelimiteerd is, zouden eenvoudiger impulsen kunnen onderdrukken. Hierdoor zouden ze efficiënter langetermijndoelen kunnen behalen. Wij verwachtten dat mensen met deze overtuiging anderen minder snel om hulp zouden vragen, omdat zij wellicht denken dat ze alles alleen kunnen. Anderen om hulp vragen heeft echter voordelen, die mensen met een ongelimiteerde wilskrachtovertuiging zouden missen. Voor dit onderzoek is daarom onderzocht of mensen met een ongelimiteerde wilskrachtovertuiging anderen minder snel om hulp vragen. Dit is onderzocht door middel van online vragenlijsten, bestaande uit 12 vragen over wilskrachtovertuiging en 12 vragen over anderen om hulp vragen. Deze variabelen bleken zwak gecorreleerd, waarbij toeval niet kon worden uitgesloten. Dit onderzoek kon geen verband aantonen tussen wilskrachtovertuiging en de mate waarin diegene anderen om hulp vraagt. Het verwachte negatieve effect van een ongelimiteerde wilskrachtovertuiging kon zodoende ook niet worden aangetoond. Extra onderzoek rondom dit onderwerp is aanbevolen. Zo kan onderzocht worden welke andere eventuele nadelige bijkomstigheden mensen met een ongelimiteerde wilskrachtovertuiging ervaren.Show less
Whereas financial scarcity has mostly been measured through objective indicators in the past, more recent research provides implications that subjective indicators might be of value in explaining...Show moreWhereas financial scarcity has mostly been measured through objective indicators in the past, more recent research provides implications that subjective indicators might be of value in explaining scarcity effects as well. The current study is a replication of previous research on the effects of financial scarcity on cognitive performance, to examine the role of subjective scarcity. Subjective scarcity is measured through the Personal Inventory of Financial Scarcity (PIFS), objective scarcity through effective household income, and cognitive performance through the Hearts & Flowers (HF) task. Our results, however, do not support relationships between subjective scarcity and cognitive performance, nor between objective scarcity and cognitive performance. This could be accounted to ceiling effects and a lack of control on the HF task, as well as to potential shortcomings in the PIFS as predictor of subjective scarcity. Nonetheless, we deem subjective scarcity as a potential valuable predictor of financial stress, and thus recommend further research on the concept.Show less
Since the use of social media networks has strongly increased, people have the opportunity to easily discuss their opinions (Kim et al., 2013). Discussions on moral issues, such as abortion and...Show moreSince the use of social media networks has strongly increased, people have the opportunity to easily discuss their opinions (Kim et al., 2013). Discussions on moral issues, such as abortion and meat consumption, often take place online. In the current research (N = 310), the effect of moral emotional framing on attitude polarization was examined. It was predicted that moral emotional frames would lead to more attitude polarization compared to nonmoral frames and that this effect was mediated by moralization of the issue. Additionally, it was investigated whether a higher moral identity centrality would lead to a stronger effect of moral emotional frames on moralization. The results only partly supported these expectations. The results showed that the higher someone’s moral identity centrality, the stronger that person tends to moralize issues. Also, moralization was directly and positively related to attitude polarization. This study may serve as a solid basis for future research.Show less
