No abstract

Unhealthy eating behavior has become a global health risk and thus needs to be influenced. Previous research has found that self-persuasion is more effective than direct persuasion in changing attitudes and behavioral intentions, but the influence of the cultural backgrounds of those being persuaded remains unclear. We conducted two studies to investigate the effectiveness of self-persuasion and direct persuasion techniques in promoting healthy eating intention among different ethnicities in the Netherlands. Native Dutch, Moroccan–Dutch, and Turkish–Dutch participated both online and offline. Participants saw a poster with either a self-persuasion message (“Why would you choose healthier food?”) or a direct persuasion message (“Choose healthier food!”), and were then asked to report their intention to eat healthily in the upcoming month. Significant cultural differences were found between native Dutch and Moroccan–Dutch in Study 1, and between the native Dutch and Turkish-Dutch who participated offline in Study 2. Accordingly, cultural background was found to moderate the relationship between persuasion and healthy eating intention among these groups. These results provided preliminary evidence for the moderation effect of persuasion on healthy eating intention: Self-persuasion appears to be more effective for people with an individualistic background, and direct persuasion appears to be more effective for people with a collectivistic background.

Throughout the lifespan, defining a clear self-view plays a key role in both selfconcept and identity development. Yet, people may encounter problems of selfdefinition when constructing an image of themselves as result of contrasts or ambiguities in their ideas about themselves. In this study, differences in the occurrence and types of self-definition problems were investigated in a sample of 733 Dutch participants, divided into four groups aged 17, 40, 55, and 70 years respectively. To measure self-definition problems, we developed a self-report instrument that investigated a range of problems drawn from two distinct research traditions: self-concept development and identity formation. The results revealed that participants experienced only a modest number of the presented problems. They showed, nevertheless, a clear age pattern: the adolescents distinguished themselves from the adult age groups by their concern with the problem of multiplicity, whereas during adulthood the problem of personal authenticity gave way to that of existential vacuum in old age. This pattern corresponds well with the temporal profile in the dynamics of lifespan development and Erikson's model of ego development.

Samenvatting In de levenslooppsychologie staat de adolescentie te boek als een fase, waarin de gevoeligheid voor inconsistenties in het zelfbeeld hoogtij viert. Uit een empirische inventarisatie naar dergelijke ervaringen bij onder andere 160 17-jarigen bleek enige nuancering op zijn plaats. De adolescenten rapporteerden weliswaar meer zelfconceptieproblemen dan volwassenen deden, maar voor de meerderheid van de adolescenten bleef de schaal en intensiteit van dergelijke problemen zeer beperkt. Als adolescenten zelfconceptieproblemen ervoeren, ging dit overigens wel met een verminderd welbevinden gepaard. Uit de aard van door adolescenten ervaren zelfconceptieproblemen sprak bovendien de persoonlijke behoefte aan een duidelijk omlijnde identiteit.

Genealogy is a popular hobby in the Netherlands nowadays. This article presents findings from a survey of 192 members of the Dutch Genealogical Society. This research focuses on the meanings genealogists attach to the past and on the emotions and activities connected to this. Dutch genealogists associate past and history with positive matters. They perceive the past as a source of knowledge and as a beneficial contrast to the present. They show a specific interest in the period between 1500 and 1900, the respondent's place of residence and region, his or her family life and the life cycle. Most of the genealogists are looking for those sources of information that reinforce an emotional connectedness to the past. Their appreciation of historical knowledge shows the continuity that they experience between the present and the past. Nevertheless many genealogists clearly consider the past as different, as a contrast to the present. Judging by their own definitions of terms, genealogists have more interest for 'past' in the sense of what is close by and small-scale, and therefore almost directly accessible, than for 'history' in the sense of the authorized knowledge from the dominant historical canon. Genealogists are a diverse group. Particularly the level of education and the connectedness with the region and place of residence influence the way in which history is perceived. Gender seems to play only a limited role here. Genealogists with higher levels of education have a broader interest, particularly with respect to larger geographical areas and to topics concerning society at large. Education and a geographical separation with the family past seem to stimulate a stronger development of the traditional notion of historical consciousness in addition to an interest in family history.