Following the claim by some anthropologists and sociologists that 1 symbolic meaning of meat is a preference for hierarchical domination (C. J. Adams, 1990; N. Fiddes, 1989; D. D. Heisley, 1990; J. Twigg, 1983), the authors compared the values and beliefs of vegetarians and omnivores in 2 studies conducted in New Zealand. They compared the full range of vegetarians and omnivores on right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, human values, and consumption values. The participants tending toward omnivorism differed from those leaning toward veganism and vegetarianism in 2 principal ways: The omnivores (a) were more likely to endorse hierarchical domination and (b) placed less importance on emotional states. Accordingly, the acceptance or rejection of meat co-varied with the acceptance or rejection of the values associated with meat; that finding suggests that individuals consume meat and embrace its symbolism in ways consistent with their self-definitions.

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The present studies provide support for a functional approach to instrumental and terminal values and the value‐attitude‐behaviour system. Study 1 surveyed individuals’ human values, the type of meaning to which they prefer to attend in products (i.e. utilitarian or symbolic), and how they choose to evaluate the products (i.e. a piecemeal or affective judgement). The study found that individuals who favoured instrumental to terminal human values showed a predisposition to attend to the utilitarian meanings of products and make piecemeal judgements. In contrast, individuals who favoured terminal over instrumental values preferred symbolic meanings, affective judgements, and human values in general. Study 2 found that individuals who favoured instrumental to terminal values had stronger instrumental attitudes towards cars and sun‐glasses. The results suggest that: psychological functions are not limited to attitudes or human values but span the breadth of the value‐attitude‐behaviour system; that two such psychological functions are instrumental and expressive; and that instrumental and terminal values serve instrumental and expressive functions, respectively.

We suggest that consumers assess the taste of a food or beverage by comparing the human values symbolized by the product to their human value priorities. When there is value-symbol congruency, they experience a better taste and aroma and develop a more favorable attitude and behavior intention; incongruence has the opposite effect. Participants in two taste tests were told the correct identity of a product or misinformed. Participants who endorsed the values symbolized by the product (that they thought they were tasting) evaluated the product more favorably. The implications for marketing strategy, self-congruity theory, and the assimilation effect are discussed. (c) 2008 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb), continues to be one of the most prevalent infectious diseases in the world. There is an upward trend in occurrence due to emerging multidrug resistant strains and an increasingly larger proportion of immunocompromised patient populations as a result of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome pandemic. The complex and often deadly combination of multidrug resistant M. tb (MDR-M. tb) along with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) puts a significant number of people at high risk for pulmonary and extra-pulmonary TB without sufficient therapeutic options available. Natural killer (NK) cells and macrophages are major components of the body’s innate immune system, contributing significantly to the body’s ability to synergistically inhibit the growth of M. tb in immune compromised individuals lacking a sufficient T cell response. Direct mechanisms of control are largely through the secretory products perforin, granulysin, and granzymes, as well as multiple membrane-bound death receptors that facilitate target directed lysis. NK cells also have a role in indirectly stimulating an immune response through activation of macrophages and monocytes with multiple signaling pathways, including both reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species. Glutathione (GSH) has been shown to play a part in inhibiting the growth of intracellular M. tb through bacteriostatic mechanisms. Enhancing cellular GSH through several cytokines and N-acetyl cysteine has been shown to increase these effects, at least in part, through their action on NK cells. Taken together, there is substantial evidence for a mechanistic correlation between NK cell activity and functionality in combating M. tb in HIV infection mediated through adequate GSH production and use.