The Gluten-free Stereotype and Dating
Is there a stereotype of those who are Gluten-free? Are people less likely to date others if they are Gluten-free?
A gluten-free diet excludes the protein gluten, which is found in grains such as wheat, barley, rye and triticale (a cross between wheat and rye; Mayo Clinic, 2017). The best way to adhere to the diet is to consume products that naturally do not contain gluten such as fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, beans, legumes and nuts (Celiac Disease Foundation, n.d.).
We found that people who adhere to a Gluten-free diet tend to be perceived as having positive and negative attributes such as being high-maintenance, picky, demanding, complaining and judgmental, yet healthy, self-disciplined, understanding and energetic. The gluten-free diet is also associated with ratings of femininity and lead to more negative judgments of males than females (Aloni, Geers, Coleman & Milano, 2019).
Current projects focus on understanding the conditions that would lead people to be more or less interested in dating others who are gluten-free.
The Vegan Stereotype and Dating
Is there a stereotype of Vegans? Are people resistant to dating vegans?
Veganism is a diet and lifestyle which excludes products which are wholly or partially derived from animals such as meat, eggs and dairy (Vegan Society, 2018). There are many health and environmental benefits to adopting a vegan diet (Willett et al., 2019), but less than 2% of the population is vegan (The Vegetarian Resource Group, 2016). One reason why people are resistant to adopting a vegan diet is that following this diet is stigmatizing (Markowski & Roxburgh, 2019).
Current projects seek to better understand the content of the vegan stereotype and better understanding the conditions of when people would be more or less interested in dating or affiliating with vegans.
Relationships in the Classroom
How to foster effective discussions in the classroom in-person or online?
This line of work related to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning has focused on identifying best practices for fostering students’ critical thinking skills through meaningful discussions (Aloni & Harrington, 2019). We have focused on the role of Socratic Questions for fostering discussions between students ( Harrington & Aloni, 2013). In another line of work we have examined the effectiveness of assigning students to discussion roles on their perceptions of the effectiveness of class discussions (Aloni, 2016).