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This thesis has the overarching aim to analyze tax policy in four different stages and through a multidisciplinary lens. The first stage of analysis is pertaining to how do reforms come to be: are they defined and pushed by economic forces or rather electoral interests? I do this by taking a political economy approach theoretically and using empirical analysis of electoral and tax reform data. The second stage analyzes what happens when reform passes or is already pushed through as law. Do different countries with different legal cultures and traditions write their laws differently? In this chapter, I use a legal empirical lens to analyze the differences across the EU regarding the legal implementation of the 4th AMLD that sought to make taxes a predicate crime for money laundering. I do this through a proprietary novel dataset of tax crime and money laundering law across the EU. In the third chapter, I go one stage further by analyzing how these laws are implemented by different countries, and especially how they are used by the public authorities in charge. In order to do this, I combine the previously used legal dataset with survey analysis and in-depth interviews; I use a mixed-methods approach that combines correlations with qualitative data interpretation. The fourth and final stage is that of the individual. Once reform has happened, the law has been made, and those responsible for said policy have applied it, how does it affect individual taxpayers or citizens? Through an online experiment with a representative UK sample, I analyze how a mistake on behalf of the tax authority can reduce tax compliance. Therefore getting insights into the importance of proper behavior from tax authorities in order to foster trust on behalf of taxpayers.

Floods have a devastating impact on society, costing thousands of lives and billions of dollars annually. Scientific projections indicate that flood risk is expected to increase in the future, driven by socio-economic growth and climate change. However, managing flood risk is a complex and costly process that requires decision-making with uncertain future conditions under the fear of making irreversible, inefficient choices. To support decision-makers, flood risk assessments provide estimates of the monetary impacts of floods or the economic efficiency of adaptation investments, although they often lack spatial or temporal dynamics. In addition, homeowners also make decisions at an individual level, such as implementing building-level adaptation measures or purchasing flood insurance. Homeowners’ decisions often deviate from rationality, as it is difficult for individuals to estimate the probability and associated damage of a potential flood. This PhD dissertation explores the extent to which we can incorporate the decision-making dynamics of governments, households, and flood insurance into a flood risk assessment at different spatial scales, and how this may improve flood risk management, applied to cases in the US.

Floods have a devastating impact on society, costing thousands of lives and billions of dollars annually. Scientific projections indicate that flood risk is expected to increase in the future, driven by socio-economic growth and climate change. However, managing flood risk is a complex and costly process that requires decision-making with uncertain future conditions under the fear of making irreversible, inefficient choices. To support decision-makers, flood risk assessments provide estimates of the monetary impacts of floods or the economic efficiency of adaptation investments, although they often lack spatial or temporal dynamics. In addition, homeowners also make decisions at an individual level, such as implementing building-level adaptation measures or purchasing flood insurance. Homeowners’ decisions often deviate from rationality, as it is difficult for individuals to estimate the probability and associated damage of a potential flood. This PhD dissertation explores the extent to which we can incorporate the decision-making dynamics of governments, households, and flood insurance into a flood risk assessment at different spatial scales, and how this may improve flood risk management, applied to cases in the US.

Met een enquête is onderzocht welke factoren een rol spelen bij de bereidheid van natuurbezoekers om preventieve maatregelen te willen nemen tegen tekenbeten.

Background and aim Traditional liking ratings are typically seen as an important determinant in eating behavior. However, in order to better understand eating behavior, we need to first better understand (the dynamic and implicit features underlying) liking appraisal. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the effects of food stimuli varying in sensory modality (smell and taste), pleasantness and intensity, on emotional and physiological responses leading up to liking appraisal. Methods Four studies, using healthy participants, were conducted as part of this thesis. In the first study, responses to pleasant versus unpleasant food odors varying in intensity were measured discretely using pleasantness ratings, intensity ratings and non-verbally reported emotions (PrEmo), as well as continuously using facial expressions and autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses. To further explore how explicit and implicit factors contribute to pleasantness appraisal, the same measures were assessed in response to food odors with a wider range of valence. Next, we focused on facial expressions and ANS responses elicited by single sips of breakfast drinks that were equally liked. In the last study, we investigated changes in pleasantness after consuming semi-liquid meals to (sensory-specific) satiety, combined with measures of facial expressions and ANS responses. Results Both non-verbal reported emotions and emotional facial expressions were demonstrated to be able to discriminate between food odors differing in pleasantness and between food odors differing in intensity. In addition to discrete emotional responses, odor valence associated best with facial expressions after 1 second of odor exposure. Furthermore, facial expressions and ANS responses measured continuously were found odor-specific in different rates over time. Results of food odors with a wider range of valence showed that non-verbally reported emotions, facial expressions and ANS responses correlated with each other best in different time windows after odor presentation: facial expressions and ANS responses correlated best with the explicit emotions of the arousal dimension in the 2nd second of odor presentation, whereas later ANS responses correlated best with the explicit emotions of the valence dimension in the 4th second. For food stimuli varying in flavor (breakfast drinks), facial expressions and ANS responses showed strongest associations with liking after 1 second of tasting, as well as with intensity after 2 seconds of tasting. Lastly, we were able to demonstrate that ANS responses, as well as facial expressions of anger and disgust were associated with satiety. Further effects of sensory-specific satiety were also reflected by skin conductance, skin temperature, as well as facial expressions of sadness and anger. Conclusions Both non-verbal reported emotions and emotional facial expressions were demonstrated to be able to discriminate between food odors differing in pleasantness and/or intensity. Explicit and implicit emotional responses, as well as physiological patterns are related to liking appraisals involved in smelling foods. Implicit measures such as facial expressions and ANS responses can provide more multidimensional information for both food odors and tastes than explicit measures and prove to be highly dynamic over time with specific time courses. Early implicit facial and ANS responses primarily reflect emotion arousal, whereas later ANS responses reflect emotion valence, suggesting dynamic unfolding of different appraisals of food stimuli. Furthermore, ANS responses and facial expressions can reflect pleasantness, satiety, and a combination of both: sensory-specific satiety. This suggests that implicit processes play an important role in dynamic liking appraisals with respect to eating behavior.

Background and aim Traditional liking ratings are typically seen as an important determinant in eating behavior. However, in order to better understand eating behavior, we need to first better understand (the dynamic and implicit features underlying) liking appraisal. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the effects of food stimuli varying in sensory modality (smell and taste), pleasantness and intensity, on emotional and physiological responses leading up to liking appraisal. Methods Four studies, using healthy participants, were conducted as part of this thesis. In the first study, responses to pleasant versus unpleasant food odors varying in intensity were measured discretely using pleasantness ratings, intensity ratings and non-verbally reported emotions (PrEmo), as well as continuously using facial expressions and autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses. To further explore how explicit and implicit factors contribute to pleasantness appraisal, the same measures were assessed in response to food odors with a wider range of valence. Next, we focused on facial expressions and ANS responses elicited by single sips of breakfast drinks that were equally liked. In the last study, we investigated changes in pleasantness after consuming semi-liquid meals to (sensory-specific) satiety, combined with measures of facial expressions and ANS responses. Results Both non-verbal reported emotions and emotional facial expressions were demonstrated to be able to discriminate between food odors differing in pleasantness and between food odors differing in intensity. In addition to discrete emotional responses, odor valence associated best with facial expressions after 1 second of odor exposure. Furthermore, facial expressions and ANS responses measured continuously were found odor-specific in different rates over time. Results of food odors with a wider range of valence showed that non-verbally reported emotions, facial expressions and ANS responses correlated with each other best in different time windows after odor presentation: facial expressions and ANS responses correlated best with the explicit emotions of the arousal dimension in the 2nd second of odor presentation, whereas later ANS responses correlated best with the explicit emotions of the valence dimension in the 4th second. For food stimuli varying in flavor (breakfast drinks), facial expressions and ANS responses showed strongest associations with liking after 1 second of tasting, as well as with intensity after 2 seconds of tasting. Lastly, we were able to demonstrate that ANS responses, as well as facial expressions of anger and disgust were associated with satiety. Further effects of sensory-specific satiety were also reflected by skin conductance, skin temperature, as well as facial expressions of sadness and anger. Conclusions Both non-verbal reported emotions and emotional facial expressions were demonstrated to be able to discriminate between food odors differing in pleasantness and/or intensity. Explicit and implicit emotional responses, as well as physiological patterns are related to liking appraisals involved in smelling foods. Implicit measures such as facial expressions and ANS responses can provide more multidimensional information for both food odors and tastes than explicit measures and prove to be highly dynamic over time with specific time courses. Early implicit facial and ANS responses primarily reflect emotion arousal, whereas later ANS responses reflect emotion valence, suggesting dynamic unfolding of different appraisals of food stimuli. Furthermore, ANS responses and facial expressions can reflect pleasantness, satiety, and a combination of both: sensory-specific satiety. This suggests that implicit processes play an important role in dynamic liking appraisals with respect to eating behavior.

The world is currently confronted with environmental problems such as water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and air pollution. A promising way to reduce environmental problems is to encourage consumers towards more sustainable consumption patterns. Pro-environmental consumer choices involve a tradeoff between environmental motives and more personally related motives such as healthiness, convenience, and price. In this dissertation we explore how feeling good about oneself influences pro-environmental decision making. We focus on pride and guilt, which belong to the group of self-conscious emotions. Self-conscious emotions occur when individuals are aware of themselves and reflect on themselves in order to evaluate whether their behaviour is in accordance with their (personal and social) standards. In short, we explore the fundamental way in which pride and guilt guide pro-environmental behaviour via self-reflection. We propose that pride and guilt guide behaviour via a self-regulatory function, meaning that they provide feedback about how one is performing regarding one’s own standards and the perceived standards of others. The emotional feedback is used to guide oneself in accordance with these standards (i.e. self-regulation). Furthermore, we propose that the way one sees the self (who am I in relation to others), affects how individuals evaluate themselves, which in turn affects how pride and guilt are formed and guide behaviour. This thesis has both theoretical implications, as we increase understanding in the function of self-conscious emotions, and practical implications, as understanding the functions of pride and guilt in consumer decision making can be used to develop interventions to promote pro-environmental behaviour among consumers. For a thorough discussion of these implications we refer to the General Discussion. Below we provide a short overview of the findings of the individual chapters. Chapter 2 explores whether and how pride and guilt affect pro-environmental behaviour. Previous studies do not provide clear evidence regarding the effects of pride and guilt on subsequent pro-environmental behaviour. Acting or not acting in a pro-environmental way might induce feelings of pride and guilt respectively, which does not necessarily mean that these emotions guide future pro-environmental choices. Three studies show that pride, and to a lesser extent guilt, guide future pro-environmental choices. Chapter 2 additionally explores how pride and guilt affect pro-environmental behaviour. We propose that pride and guilt influence pro-environmental behaviour by providing information about whether the intended behaviour is in line with one’s standards, and not out of a basic tendency to feel good. Two studies show indeed that only related (endogenous) and not unrelated (exogenous) emotions affect pro-environmental behaviour. These findings imply that pride and guilt affect pro-environmental behaviour via a feedback-function and not via a basic mechanism to feel good. Chapter 3explores howpride and guilt affect pro-environmental behaviour via a feedback-function. Up until now it was not clear how these emotions guide behaviour. The function of pride and guilt is explored in two vested theories: the Norm Activation model (NAM) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Several researchers who use the NAM propose that anticipated pride and guilt are associated with personal norms. However, these researchers have specified the nature of this association in different ways (including direct effects, mediating effects, or moderating effects), and have rarely tested these proposed associations empirically. This chapter shows how the function of pride and guilt within the NAM can be specified. The results support a self-regulatory function of pride and guilt which shows that they mediate the effects of personal norms on pro-environmental behaviour. Anticipated pride and guilt thus guide individuals to behave themselves in accordance with existing standards regarding the environment (i.e. self-regulatory function). Moreover, we integrated the NAM with the TPB and show that the self-regulatory functions of pride and guilt remain present in an integrated NAM-TPB model (Bamberg et al., 2007). Pride and guilt mediate the effects of personal norms, attitudes, and injunctive social norms on intentions. Pride and guilt therefore seem to regulate individual behaviour regarding the environment so as to allow a person to be in accordance with one’s personal and social standards towards the environment. Chapter 4initially explores whether the self-regulatory functions of pride and guilt differ across personally oriented versus pro-socially oriented contexts. Previous studies that explore the self-regulatory function of self-conscious emotions within the TPB show mixed findings regarding the mediating effects of these emotions. This chapter distinguishes between injunctive and descriptive social norms and includes multiple contexts to explore whether this accounts for the mixed findings. Three survey studies show that anticipated pride and guilt regulate behavioural intentions to make them in accordance with attitudes and injunctive and descriptive social norms. Additionally, we show that the self-regulatory function of pride and guilt differs across contexts, which may account for the mixed findings of previous studies. We show preliminary evidence that anticipated self-conscious emotions have a larger mediating effect in altruistic (i.e. organic and fair trade consumption) rather than personally oriented (i.e. healthy consumption) contexts. InChapter 5 we explore whether the self-regulatory function of pride and guilt differs across collectivistic and individualistic countries. Based on previous studies (e.g., Mesquita, 2001), we suggest that the function of emotions might differ due to cultural differences in the construal of the self. We propose that the way one sees the self in relation to others (i.e. self-construal) affects the self-regulatory function of anticipated pride and guilt. Individualistic countries are overrepresented by individuals with a private self (i.e. independent self) meaning that the self encompasses unique individuals with their own personal goals. Collectivistic countries are overrepresented by individuals with a social self (i.e. interdependent self) meaning that the self encompasses family, friends, and important others, and a striving to reach group-based goals. We conducted a survey across eight collectivistic and individualistic countries. As expected the results show that there are no differences across countries in the self-regulatory function of anticipated pride and guilt withinindividualistic and withincollectivistic cultures, but that there are differences betweencollectivistic and individualistic cultures. Individuals from collectivistic countries use more social standards and less personal standards to anticipate pride and guilt. These findings provide a first indication that the function of emotions is more socially driven for individuals from collectivistic rather than individualistic cultures. These findings imply that cultural differences in the function of emotions are associated with cultural differences in self-construal (i.e. independent and interdependent self). Chapter 6explores whether the function of pride and guilt might also vary within individuals due to activating different construals of the self. Previous studies show that contextual cues can activate private versus social selves within an individual. We show that social media can also act as a contextual cue that activates the social self. Moreover, three experiments show that activating the social self increases the effects of guilt on pro-environmental intentions, whereas activating the private self increases the effects of pride on pro-environmental intentions. This finding implies that activating different construals of the self can increase the effects of emotions on intentions. Furthermore, we show that these effects occur because the activation of private versus social selves results in different self-evaluations. Activating the social self makes individuals more sensitive to social norms in self-evaluations that evoke emotions, whereas activating the private self makes individuals more sensitive to attitudes in self-evaluations that evoke emotions. The findings of this chapter imply that guilt is more social in nature than pride. Conclusion. The current thesis shows that pride and guilt guide pro-environmental consumer behaviour via a self-regulatory function. Pride and guilt occur after a self-reflection on personal and social standards related to the environment, and in turn they guide pro-environmental behaviour. This function differs when different employments of the self are activated or cultivated. Thus how one sees oneself through one’s own eyes and through the eyes of others affects the emotions that one experiences, and how these emotions affect subsequent pro-environmental intentions.

Met een enquête is onderzocht welke factoren een rol spelen bij de bereidheid van natuurbezoekers om preventieve maatregelen te willen nemen tegen tekenbeten.

Given the positive influences of entrepreneurship in tems of increasing economic growth and creating jobs, considerable efforts have been made to promote entrepreneurship in both developed and developing countries. Scholars and policymakers are also increasingly interested in the factors which influence the decision to become an entrepreneur and thus understanding why some people decide to start a business while others do not. The research reported in this dissertation therefore explored the factors which influence the entrepreneurial intentions of students in higher education in the developing country of Iran.

The world is currently confronted with environmental problems such as water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and air pollution. A promising way to reduce environmental problems is to encourage consumers towards more sustainable consumption patterns. Pro-environmental consumer choices involve a tradeoff between environmental motives and more personally related motives such as healthiness, convenience, and price. In this dissertation we explore how feeling good about oneself influences pro-environmental decision making. We focus on pride and guilt, which belong to the group of self-conscious emotions. Self-conscious emotions occur when individuals are aware of themselves and reflect on themselves in order to evaluate whether their behaviour is in accordance with their (personal and social) standards. In short, we explore the fundamental way in which pride and guilt guide pro-environmental behaviour via self-reflection. We propose that pride and guilt guide behaviour via a self-regulatory function, meaning that they provide feedback about how one is performing regarding one’s own standards and the perceived standards of others. The emotional feedback is used to guide oneself in accordance with these standards (i.e. self-regulation). Furthermore, we propose that the way one sees the self (who am I in relation to others), affects how individuals evaluate themselves, which in turn affects how pride and guilt are formed and guide behaviour. This thesis has both theoretical implications, as we increase understanding in the function of self-conscious emotions, and practical implications, as understanding the functions of pride and guilt in consumer decision making can be used to develop interventions to promote pro-environmental behaviour among consumers. For a thorough discussion of these implications we refer to the General Discussion. Below we provide a short overview of the findings of the individual chapters. Chapter 2 explores whether and how pride and guilt affect pro-environmental behaviour. Previous studies do not provide clear evidence regarding the effects of pride and guilt on subsequent pro-environmental behaviour. Acting or not acting in a pro-environmental way might induce feelings of pride and guilt respectively, which does not necessarily mean that these emotions guide future pro-environmental choices. Three studies show that pride, and to a lesser extent guilt, guide future pro-environmental choices. Chapter 2 additionally explores how pride and guilt affect pro-environmental behaviour. We propose that pride and guilt influence pro-environmental behaviour by providing information about whether the intended behaviour is in line with one’s standards, and not out of a basic tendency to feel good. Two studies show indeed that only related (endogenous) and not unrelated (exogenous) emotions affect pro-environmental behaviour. These findings imply that pride and guilt affect pro-environmental behaviour via a feedback-function and not via a basic mechanism to feel good. Chapter 3explores howpride and guilt affect pro-environmental behaviour via a feedback-function. Up until now it was not clear how these emotions guide behaviour. The function of pride and guilt is explored in two vested theories: the Norm Activation model (NAM) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Several researchers who use the NAM propose that anticipated pride and guilt are associated with personal norms. However, these researchers have specified the nature of this association in different ways (including direct effects, mediating effects, or moderating effects), and have rarely tested these proposed associations empirically. This chapter shows how the function of pride and guilt within the NAM can be specified. The results support a self-regulatory function of pride and guilt which shows that they mediate the effects of personal norms on pro-environmental behaviour. Anticipated pride and guilt thus guide individuals to behave themselves in accordance with existing standards regarding the environment (i.e. self-regulatory function). Moreover, we integrated the NAM with the TPB and show that the self-regulatory functions of pride and guilt remain present in an integrated NAM-TPB model (Bamberg et al., 2007). Pride and guilt mediate the effects of personal norms, attitudes, and injunctive social norms on intentions. Pride and guilt therefore seem to regulate individual behaviour regarding the environment so as to allow a person to be in accordance with one’s personal and social standards towards the environment. Chapter 4initially explores whether the self-regulatory functions of pride and guilt differ across personally oriented versus pro-socially oriented contexts. Previous studies that explore the self-regulatory function of self-conscious emotions within the TPB show mixed findings regarding the mediating effects of these emotions. This chapter distinguishes between injunctive and descriptive social norms and includes multiple contexts to explore whether this accounts for the mixed findings. Three survey studies show that anticipated pride and guilt regulate behavioural intentions to make them in accordance with attitudes and injunctive and descriptive social norms. Additionally, we show that the self-regulatory function of pride and guilt differs across contexts, which may account for the mixed findings of previous studies. We show preliminary evidence that anticipated self-conscious emotions have a larger mediating effect in altruistic (i.e. organic and fair trade consumption) rather than personally oriented (i.e. healthy consumption) contexts. InChapter 5 we explore whether the self-regulatory function of pride and guilt differs across collectivistic and individualistic countries. Based on previous studies (e.g., Mesquita, 2001), we suggest that the function of emotions might differ due to cultural differences in the construal of the self. We propose that the way one sees the self in relation to others (i.e. self-construal) affects the self-regulatory function of anticipated pride and guilt. Individualistic countries are overrepresented by individuals with a private self (i.e. independent self) meaning that the self encompasses unique individuals with their own personal goals. Collectivistic countries are overrepresented by individuals with a social self (i.e. interdependent self) meaning that the self encompasses family, friends, and important others, and a striving to reach group-based goals. We conducted a survey across eight collectivistic and individualistic countries. As expected the results show that there are no differences across countries in the self-regulatory function of anticipated pride and guilt withinindividualistic and withincollectivistic cultures, but that there are differences betweencollectivistic and individualistic cultures. Individuals from collectivistic countries use more social standards and less personal standards to anticipate pride and guilt. These findings provide a first indication that the function of emotions is more socially driven for individuals from collectivistic rather than individualistic cultures. These findings imply that cultural differences in the function of emotions are associated with cultural differences in self-construal (i.e. independent and interdependent self). Chapter 6explores whether the function of pride and guilt might also vary within individuals due to activating different construals of the self. Previous studies show that contextual cues can activate private versus social selves within an individual. We show that social media can also act as a contextual cue that activates the social self. Moreover, three experiments show that activating the social self increases the effects of guilt on pro-environmental intentions, whereas activating the private self increases the effects of pride on pro-environmental intentions. This finding implies that activating different construals of the self can increase the effects of emotions on intentions. Furthermore, we show that these effects occur because the activation of private versus social selves results in different self-evaluations. Activating the social self makes individuals more sensitive to social norms in self-evaluations that evoke emotions, whereas activating the private self makes individuals more sensitive to attitudes in self-evaluations that evoke emotions. The findings of this chapter imply that guilt is more social in nature than pride. Conclusion. The current thesis shows that pride and guilt guide pro-environmental consumer behaviour via a self-regulatory function. Pride and guilt occur after a self-reflection on personal and social standards related to the environment, and in turn they guide pro-environmental behaviour. This function differs when different employments of the self are activated or cultivated. Thus how one sees oneself through one’s own eyes and through the eyes of others affects the emotions that one experiences, and how these emotions affect subsequent pro-environmental intentions.

Given the positive influences of entrepreneurship in tems of increasing economic growth and creating jobs, considerable efforts have been made to promote entrepreneurship in both developed and developing countries. Scholars and policymakers are also increasingly interested in the factors which influence the decision to become an entrepreneur and thus understanding why some people decide to start a business while others do not. The research reported in this dissertation therefore explored the factors which influence the entrepreneurial intentions of students in higher education in the developing country of Iran.

Hoe bepaal je wat gezonde voeding is? Als je dat al weet, hoe verspreid je die kennis? En waarom is het dat sommige voedingsmiddelen zo verdacht veel op medicijnen lijken?

Hoe bepaal je wat gezonde voeding is? Als je dat al weet, hoe verspreid je die kennis? En waarom is het dat sommige voedingsmiddelen zo verdacht veel op medicijnen lijken?

Het verbeteren van dierenwelzijn vraagt een gedragsverandering van veel verschillende partijen. Veehouders moeten diervriendelijker maatregelen nemen op hun bedrijf, retailers moeten diervriendelijke producten aanbieden en consumenten moeten diervriendelijke producten kopen. De Theory of Planned Behaviour is een veel gebruikt model om gedrag van mensen te doorgronden in allerlei situaties. Behalve inzicht in gedrag geeft het model ook inzicht in mogelijkheden om mensen te ondersteunen bij het veranderen van hun gedrag.

This dissertation is the result of diachronic and comparative anthropological study of rural households in Northeast Madura, Indonesia, carried out on eight separate visits between August 1985 and March 2009. The aim is to bring time-structured data to bear on key questions regarding the evolution of this rural community. My initial research from 1985 to 1987 focused on animal husbandry, household budgets, and time allocation, subjects central to Madurese society that had not been studied since well before Independence. I was interested in understanding more about Madura’s high levels of poverty and notably how sedentary villagers could raise cows using a cut and carry mode of fodder collection in a savannah ecosystem prone to drought and without the benefit of communal grazing lands. The early focus on animal husbandry immediately expanded to cover all productive activities, which in turn raised questions about the value of children. A fertility study was undertaken to confirm what seemed to be unusually low fertility rates in comparison with other parts of Madura and Indonesia. The incoming data from the time allocation study provided a wealth of new questions on household consumption and expenditures, inter-household and inter-generational exchange, and social organization. Patron-client ties, high levels of violence, political, religious and secular networks and growing cash-cropping provided additional focus for intermediate trips to the field and a long-stay in 1995-1996. The study follows the comparative and diachronic research strategy advocated by many ecological anthropologists since Julian Steward. The ecological setting was a harsh one; the interrelationships people entertained with nature appeared to be complex and evolving. It appeared that Madurese agricultural ecology, household economy, fertility, religious practice, interpersonal violence, and other aspects of life would be better viewed as parts of a mutually-interacting system than as discreet elements detached from each other. The thesis adopts a problem-oriented perspective to build an explanatory framework for some of the critical questions regarding Madurese society. For example, I wanted to know what was keeping the Madurese poor, whether the well-known practice of racing bulls in pairs, and competing pairs of cows in beauty and agility contests had other functions in the society, and why Madura was considered a violent society. Historical research provided depth to the analysis to complement a set of one hundred case studies of violence collected in 1995-1996. Detailed analyses of the Madura cases, and the experience of violence in Kalimantan, presented elsewhere, are complemented by the findings from this study of household dynamics and the challenges its members face. For the roots of Madurese violence are found in the critical violent responses people on the edge of poverty can sometimes make when other avenues of redress are blocked. My overall objective is to tie together the specific ecology of the study village, the productive system, the economic challenges and the often dramatic social insecurity to the development, maintenance and transmission of household units over time. In trying to resolve each of the questions, the mechanism and the processes involved are equally, if not more important than solving the different conundrums that motivate the search in the first place. I found that the understanding and explanation of these Madurese cultural phenomena and processes were most parsimoniously advanced by systematic reference to material factors, processes and contingencies, and moreover that Madurese sentiments, values, ideologies and conceptual schemes were largely determined by these material constraints. The ecological approach (including such variants as cultural materialism and human ecology) having often been the subject of considerable controversy in Anthropology over the years, particularly in my home country of France, I devoted a great deal of the Introduction (Chapter One) to explicating the research strategy’s theoretical underpinnings, and notably to addressing the contentious issues of functionalism, teleology, system and holism. In Chapter Two, “Historical Ecology of Madura and Gedang-Gedang,” I discuss the ecological and historical context in which Madurese communities on the island and in the local area of the field site village developed, particularly in light of the demands placed on rural communities by colonial and elite governments through taxes and forced deliveries. One of the effects of this structural violence, colonial wars and security force recruitment was the creation of the image of the violent Madurese, one that they are still trying to shake off. This and the agro-ecological system of maize cultivation and animal husbandry in a savannah ecosystem contribute to the organization of village communities characterized by dispersed settlement of households and household clusters and the development of self-help social institutions. Chapter Three, “Organization and Exploitation of Domesticated Nature” explores the various ways that villagers in Gedang-Gedang and the subdistrict Batuputih perceive and exploit their natural environment. Modalities of access to land are first discussed before examining ways in which locals conceptualize the plant and animal resources at their disposal, and the various uses to which they are put (in appendices). Plant and animal taxonomies are found to be pragmatic and utilitarian, a departure from early ethnoscience theorizing but congruent with more recent formulations. The rest of the chapter deals with the basic income-generating occupations available to villagers, calculating for each the returns to labour with the help of time allocation data and extensive interviews. An effort is made to chart diachronic trends, and show how access to certain high-earning activities is unequal. “Social, Political and Religious Dynamics” (Chapter Four) presents the household concept used in this study and the composition of Gedang-Gedang’s conjugal units and the households they form based on a shared hearth. Religious and ritual structures and practices provide a glimpse of the institutions of social interaction that rhythm daily life in the village. Transitions occurring in the political arena are charted including changes since Reformasi. The chapter ends with an extended discussion of social control, first within the family, then within the wider community. Control is found to be exercised most strikingly, both in the village and in the town of Sumenep, in the practice of demanding and offering work through asymmetrical exchange, though most exchange is symmetrical between equals. Chapter Five on “Households and Process,” deals with households, the location where adaptation takes place in concrete and observable ways. The goal in this chapter is to make the most of the longitudinal and comparative perspectives provided by the research to see through the analysis of actual cases how households develop over time, how they reproduce themselves, and how resilience and vulnerability can come to characterize them at different stages in time. Simple dependency ratios and consumer-producer values for 44 households are plotted over the 24 years of the study to demonstrate the low overall rates found for most households in Gedang-Gedang, with occasional high rates a sign of poverty or crisis. Household consolidation or fission appears usually to be caused by economic and reproductive (child-raising) factors, though in not a few instances conflicts, exacerbated by economic and other inequalities, play a role. Households are plotted on time scales showing progression (or regression) of landholding and livestock over time, and divided into groups of wealthy, poor, or “have enoughs.” The analysis then shifts to examining individual household histories to obtain a more palpable idea of how they develop in specific directions over time. Among the generalities that can be drawn is the importance of labour, particularly the retaining of one’s child in the tanèan and the obtaining of a son- or daughter-in-law that will augment the household’s productive capacity. This ability to retain children and attract their spouses is one that is not equally shared; wealthy households are usually favoured in this regard. Food and other consumption and exchange data augmented with interview data pointed to important variations in nutrition over the yearly agricultural cycle. Exchange of food and other resources in Gedang-Gedang appears to serve principally to cement social relations among kin and neighbours, or to compensate for work done. The data from Gedang-Gedang points to highly symmetric exchange practices, except in the case of “work for food,” religious and ritual exchange. Lifecycle exchanges have the effect of smoothing over the otherwise significant perturbations in the day to day lives of families when members enter and leave the household, be it the result of marriage, birth or death. As it constitutes a form of exchange, the institution of raising prime cows and bulls for competitive purposes is treated in this chapter, highlighting the positive feedback from these sports to village animal husbandry. In concluding the analysis of individual household economic trajectories, Marten Scheffer’s model of the poverty trap (Scheffer 2009) was readily applicable. My presentation of Gedang-Gedang households concluded with Chapter Six on “Fertility.” The data showed very low average fertility for Gedang-Gedang in comparison with other villages studied with similar methods in Madura and Java. The conclusions and indicators from the fertility study in Gedang-Gedang strongly validate the findings of Benjamin White’s well-known study of high fertility in the village of Kali Loro, Central Java, though the contexts differ in key respects. I conclude that the particular ecological and economic context of Gedang-Gedang encourages women to self-regulate fertility rather stringently. The salient elements of this context are the relative paucity of income-producing employment for children, the small size of landholdings, and the particular constraints of cut and carry cow husbandry. In evaluating the hypotheses initially enunciated at the beginning of the study in light of the data collection and analysis it is found that: - Differential adaptation of village households can be accounted for in large part by theories and principles from general ecology. This provides validation for the use of ecological models in anthropology; - Different limiting factors in each part of the village are responsible for different economic adaptations, which evolve as opportunities change; - Time allocation and the use of time-structured data provide information about the behaviour of households and individuals that is not obtainable from classical ethnographic methods, and that has important implications for comparative studies of the value of children; - The poorest households are usually unable to obtain the credit necessary to engage in high risk but potentially high return occupations such as tobacco planting but some poor and almost all other villagers in appropriate agricultural zones do accept high risk under certain circumstances as the only way to obtain high income. Risk avoidance explains the refusal of villagers to plant high yielding varieties of maize; - The propensity of Madurese on the island of Madura to engage in violent interpersonal attacks is best understood in relation to struggles over material resources; - “The rich get richer, the poor get poorer” as a general trend is validated for the village, and the reasons are linked to initial conditions of wealth to a much greater extent than to other personal traits. Providing diachronic and comparative data from a rural Indonesian community, the study contributes to supporting general ecological theories. The study concludes that ecology and anthropology may well work better conjoined than either of them does alone.

Social norms are major drivers of human behaviour and crucial in consumer decision making. Consumers often take expectations and behaviour of others into consideration when they decide what is appropriate and social norms thus profoundly influence their preferences and behaviour.

This thesis presents societal preconditions for Personalized Nutrition Advice (PNA) that result from an everyday-life perspective on this innovative approach. Generally, PNA is regarded as promising, because it provides users with highly specific information on individual health risks and benefits of eating habits and the desirable changes, which may induce a high sense of personal relevance. Rapid developments in interactive computer technology (ICT) and nutrigenomics science are the innovative drivers in this area. Although indicated as promising, the limited impact of personalized advice on eating practices up to now, signals a mismatch with consumers’ everyday life. In our studies, we found that the pursuance of nutrition advices assumes that consumers have a focal concern on health, which is not always the case. Consumers value uncomplicatedness and convenience of healthful eating and the flexibility to eat for pleasure as well. More flexible advice would therefore better match with consumers’ complicated everyday life, in which health is just one of several ambitions, including social ones. A change of eating practices requires the alteration of other practices besides those directly related to the food choice chain. Advice should provide for consumers’ ability to organize healthful eating within existing chains of social practices, including discursive ones. In everyday-life, consumers have to persist in their intentions to eat healthfully vis-a-vis relevant others. In our study, consumers presented themselves as being uncomplicated, to avoid the image of health freakiness. Based on the finding that being someone who makes great effort in relation to healthful eating is a disfavored image, we conclude that for structural change, the healthy choice should become a ‘practically and socially easy choice’. We propose that PNA can contribute to this goal by using an ‘Action Approach’. The basic idea of this approach is that, besides being well-informed and motivated, consumers need to become actively involved in eating for health. By this, we mean that they are able to practically and socially organize their eating practices in order to ensure health benefits. This would involve the stimulation of a process of critical reflection on the uncomplicatedness of healthful eating and the integration of advice on the practical and social organization of changing eating practices towards health. Consumers themselves should become co-designers of this advice, as they are experts on everyday-life problems and solutions which occur when they try to pursue their healthful eating intentions. The integration of a diversity of expertise on social, ethical and practical requirements in early stages of the development process of innovative PNA is essential. Yet, our study showed that actors in diverse societal sectors were reluctant to engage in the development process of ICT and gene-based PNA. Their evidence-based working practices required that first, scientific support on the effectiveness should become available. Based on their expertise on public needs and wants, they called for a request to slow down the innovation process on behalf of the public. Current working life also does not allow for much change in roles and responsibilities, which may be needed to integrate the innovation in working practices of societal actors. In our qualitative study amongst general practitioners (GPs), we found that participants hold rather critical views on nutrition advice, and certainly on the innovative drivers. A lack of robustness, a low match with patients’ needs and equivocalness of nutritional studies were perceived as blocking GPs involvement. The social acceptability of PNA requires a participatory process. But an invitation to join the innovation process does not of necessity elicit pro-active involvement. This requires the stimulation of a critical reflection process on the meaning of ‘evidence’ from the perspectives of concerned actors and the consequences for the innovation processes. Such an exercise should aim at finding solutions, as to overcome the block about involvement. It should also target reflection on the meaning of expertise, keeping in mind the required increasing role of consumers in the design of PNA. In sum, we conclude that the alignment of PNA with societal preconditions is possible if the development process evolves as a participatory process, in which all societal actors are convinced about the valuable contribution their experience and expertise offers to this search for new ways to effectively promote healthful eating.

Om het recreatiegedrag te kunnen monitoren, neemt het Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving (PBL) deel aan het Continu VrijeTijds Onderzoek (CVTO). Voor het CVTO worden wekelijks circa 350 personen van 0 jaar en ouder ondervraagd over hun vrijetijdsactiviteiten in de afgelopen week. Door deze gegevens te analyseren, komt er inzicht hoe en door wie het groen wordt gebruikt. Het bosbezoek is ten opzichte van 2004/2005 afgenomen en ook de gemiddelde duur is afgenomen. Het bezoek aan agrarische gebieden is eveneens afgenomen, maar de gemiddelde duur is ongeveer gelijk gebleven. Het bezoek aan recreatiegebieden is toegenomen, maar de gemiddelde duur is afgenomen. Activiteiten op en aan water, rivier, plas of meer zijn toegenomen, maar de gemiddelde duur is afgenomen. Het bezoek aan natuurgebieden (nat en droog) is gelijk gebleven evenals de gemiddelde duur. Het gemiddelde rapportcijfer voor de aantrekkelijkheid van het landschap direct rond hun eigen woonplaats is een 7,2. Het motief “gezelligheid” wordt gemiddeld het meest genoemd om te gaan recreëren, gevolgd door het motief “even tussen uit”.

This study explores possible explanations for science communication behaviour on the part of researchers. More specifically, it considers which factors impact on the active participation of researchers in science communication.For the purpose of this study, science communication behaviour is defined as communication by academics about their scientific research, in the broadest sense of the word, and to an ‘external’ audience. By this we mean persons or groups outside the confines of the research setting. The audience may be affected by the research or exert an influence on it, but it should not fulfil a necessary role in it. Hence, any interaction with outsiders within the parameters of the research process, e.g. as an integral part of a participatory research approach, shall not be regarded as science communication behaviour. Likewise, communication by academics with their peers is also beyond the scope of the present study, as this is considered to belong to the field of ‘scientific’ communication.This qualitative research project endeavours to identify the determinants of the science communication behaviour of fifteen researchers with the University of Antwerp, mostly professors from an array of academic fields. Their behaviour is characterised primarily by a traditional outlook on the communication process, i.e. in terms of a source, a recipient and a transmitter. Moreover, they usually take no initiative towards participating actively in science communication, though they will participate upon request. The diversity exhibited in their science communication behaviour manifests itself in terms of the communication frequency, target group preferences, and type of science communication activities.Explanations for the science communication behaviour of the researchers were found first and foremost in the aspects of ‘willingness’, ‘permission’ and ‘ability’. These correspond with the principal determinants in Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour, namely attitude, the subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control.With regard to the first aspect, the respondents in the study exhibit a mainly positive attitude towards science communication in general. However, that is not to say that they always communicate equally actively with external audiences, as they may also take into account a variety of critical considerations, which can be grouped into seven categories: 1) the choice of communication content: scientific facts, the scientific process or the consequences of the research, 2) the educational level, the degree of interest and the behaviour of the ‘general’ public, 3) the moment of communication: after research has been concluded or during the actual research process, 4) the manner of communication: by means of transmission or transaction, 5) the simplification of the message, 6) the use of infotainment, and 7) the individual and / or collective responsibility involved. There are also divergent opinions on the motives or reasons to engage in science communication, including the potential benefits to the researchers and their research, to the organisation and science in general, and to society as a whole. We therefore conclude that the group of academic researchers is by no means homogenous insofar as attitude towards science communication is concerned.Second, communication with an external audience requires ‘permission’. In other words, it requires a university management that gives its backing and provides a certain acknowledgment, appreciation and support, as well as a public authority that underscores the significance of science communication. If these aspects are lacking, the positive attitude of the researcher towards science communication may evaporate. Another obstacle originating in the social environment of the researcher is the lack of status of young scholars within the academic milieu, which makes them worry they might damage their career prospects by devoting time to science communication. A further element is criticism from colleagues, superiors or other members of the research team. In addition, there may be organisational factors to consider: the internal regulation of the research institution or the house rules of whoever commissioned the research may prohibit or restrict communication with an external audience. Finally, the internal scientific culture, which tends to emphasise the primacy of research and academic publications, may also undercut researchers’ intention to engage in science communication or affect their positive attitude towards it.Third, the scientist must ‘be able’, i.e. they must possess the necessary skills for science communication. This requires training as well as experience. Whereas most respondents consider themselves to possess the necessary communication skills, they also tend to feel their colleagues lack them. The most frequently cited obstacle is, however, lack of time. The respondents explain that they have many other tasks that take precedence over science communication, including research commitments, educational assignments, fundraising, administrative responsibilities and personnel management. Other bottlenecks are a lack of positive feedback and support in communication with external audiences, the often negative balance between investments in and yield from science communication, and the absence of any perceivable impact of science communication. Finally, the strained relationship with the media is cited as an obstacle or barrier. It is attributed to the different cultures of academia and the media, a primarily negative perception of the media on the part of the scientific community, and anxiety over damaging fallout.Attitude, the subjective norm and perceived behavioural control may each impact separately on the researcher’s behaviour, but they also interact. In other words, they may enhance or suppress one another. For example, the attitude of a researcher may be very positive and yet he or she may fail to exhibit active behaviour due to a lack of communication skills. Conversely, researchers who do not regard science communication as their personal duty may nevertheless choose to participate actively in it because of the appreciation shown by their social environment.In the behavioural model of Ajzen, there are also a number of individual background characteristics that play a determining role. Our research pointed to three significant factors.First and foremost, there is the knowledge paradigm within which the researcher works. The hypothesis substantiated by this study is that a researcher with a positivistic outlook will tend towards a traditional mode of communication; an approach whereby it is assumed that knowledge can be transmitted. The constructivist perspective, on the other hand, maintains that knowledge is constructed through interaction. In this approach, communication is regarded as a transaction. It speaks for itself that constructivists tend to be more at ease with interactive and participatory forms of communication than positivistic researchers are. Our research shows the respondents to have a mainly positivistic attitude and to communicate primarily in a traditional way. This suggests that the knowledge paradigm is an important determinant of how the researcher communicates with external audiences. There is a potential for conflict between the growing trend towards more interactive and participatory science communication and the preferences of researchers whose approach is based on a positivistic knowledge paradigm.A second important background factor is the professional identity of the researcher. This identity is a function of how they perceive their job assignment, their professional motivation, and aspects of their social and personal identity. Our hypothesis is that a researcher’s professional identity can help explain his or her science communication behaviour: if communication is, in one way or another, present in the researcher’s job perception and/or is part and parcel of their professional motivation, then science communication is congruent with their professional identity. An analogous reasoning applies if communicating corresponds with aspects of the researcher’s personal or social identity.The third and final background factor is interaction with society. Our study shows that the presence or absence of an external research orientation has explanatory power for the researcher’s display of active science communication behaviour. In other words, if society is in any way the focus of the researcher’s work, as might be the case in such fields as medicine, sociology or law, then communication with external audiences may be beneficial to the research. Science communication is then a tool which the researcher may apply to enhance his work.It is also noticeable that the barriers or bottlenecks that researchers experience in relation to science communication may present themselves in all of the aforementioned areas. Hence, existing recommendations for encouraging science communication by researchers are equally diverse. However, previous research into these obstacles has restricted itself too much to identifying external environmental barriers and to finding ways of eliminating them. The present doctoral research suggests that the problem is much more complex than that. It is too simple only to look for barriers that are external to the researcher and subsequently to deal with them in an instrumental way. A more comprehensive approach is called for, whereby person-related factors are also studied in order to better understand and possibly adjust the science communication behaviour of the researcher. This requires closer attention to the person of the researcher, and particularly to their perception of scientific knowledge production and attitudes towards their profession and the tasks it entails, as well as the relationship between the research activities and society.Making adjustments to researchers’ personal perceptions is however not an easy proposition and requires a different kind of approach than merely the lifting of barriers. Still, it is our expectation that communication between the researcher and society can be enhanced by combining the elimination of external bottlenecks with behavioural incentives on the one hand and, on the other, through greater emphasis in the training of researchers on diversity of knowledge paradigms, professional identity and the role of society.In sum, our study indicates that the intention and behaviour of researchers in relation to science communication depends on four major clusters of factors, namely attitude, the subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, and a number of person-related background factors. Together, these determinants constitute a complex whole in which contributing factors may enhance or suppress one another. The extent to which each of the determinants comes into play could not be ascertained in this qualitative study. A quantitative research approach might provide better insight into that aspect.

This study explores possible explanations for science communication behaviour on the part of researchers. More specifically, it considers which factors impact on the active participation of researchers in science communication.For the purpose of this study, science communication behaviour is defined as communication by academics about their scientific research, in the broadest sense of the word, and to an ‘external’ audience. By this we mean persons or groups outside the confines of the research setting. The audience may be affected by the research or exert an influence on it, but it should not fulfil a necessary role in it. Hence, any interaction with outsiders within the parameters of the research process, e.g. as an integral part of a participatory research approach, shall not be regarded as science communication behaviour. Likewise, communication by academics with their peers is also beyond the scope of the present study, as this is considered to belong to the field of ‘scientific’ communication.This qualitative research project endeavours to identify the determinants of the science communication behaviour of fifteen researchers with the University of Antwerp, mostly professors from an array of academic fields. Their behaviour is characterised primarily by a traditional outlook on the communication process, i.e. in terms of a source, a recipient and a transmitter. Moreover, they usually take no initiative towards participating actively in science communication, though they will participate upon request. The diversity exhibited in their science communication behaviour manifests itself in terms of the communication frequency, target group preferences, and type of science communication activities.Explanations for the science communication behaviour of the researchers were found first and foremost in the aspects of ‘willingness’, ‘permission’ and ‘ability’. These correspond with the principal determinants in Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour, namely attitude, the subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control.With regard to the first aspect, the respondents in the study exhibit a mainly positive attitude towards science communication in general. However, that is not to say that they always communicate equally actively with external audiences, as they may also take into account a variety of critical considerations, which can be grouped into seven categories: 1) the choice of communication content: scientific facts, the scientific process or the consequences of the research, 2) the educational level, the degree of interest and the behaviour of the ‘general’ public, 3) the moment of communication: after research has been concluded or during the actual research process, 4) the manner of communication: by means of transmission or transaction, 5) the simplification of the message, 6) the use of infotainment, and 7) the individual and / or collective responsibility involved. There are also divergent opinions on the motives or reasons to engage in science communication, including the potential benefits to the researchers and their research, to the organisation and science in general, and to society as a whole. We therefore conclude that the group of academic researchers is by no means homogenous insofar as attitude towards science communication is concerned.Second, communication with an external audience requires ‘permission’. In other words, it requires a university management that gives its backing and provides a certain acknowledgment, appreciation and support, as well as a public authority that underscores the significance of science communication. If these aspects are lacking, the positive attitude of the researcher towards science communication may evaporate. Another obstacle originating in the social environment of the researcher is the lack of status of young scholars within the academic milieu, which makes them worry they might damage their career prospects by devoting time to science communication. A further element is criticism from colleagues, superiors or other members of the research team. In addition, there may be organisational factors to consider: the internal regulation of the research institution or the house rules of whoever commissioned the research may prohibit or restrict communication with an external audience. Finally, the internal scientific culture, which tends to emphasise the primacy of research and academic publications, may also undercut researchers’ intention to engage in science communication or affect their positive attitude towards it.Third, the scientist must ‘be able’, i.e. they must possess the necessary skills for science communication. This requires training as well as experience. Whereas most respondents consider themselves to possess the necessary communication skills, they also tend to feel their colleagues lack them. The most frequently cited obstacle is, however, lack of time. The respondents explain that they have many other tasks that take precedence over science communication, including research commitments, educational assignments, fundraising, administrative responsibilities and personnel management. Other bottlenecks are a lack of positive feedback and support in communication with external audiences, the often negative balance between investments in and yield from science communication, and the absence of any perceivable impact of science communication. Finally, the strained relationship with the media is cited as an obstacle or barrier. It is attributed to the different cultures of academia and the media, a primarily negative perception of the media on the part of the scientific community, and anxiety over damaging fallout.Attitude, the subjective norm and perceived behavioural control may each impact separately on the researcher’s behaviour, but they also interact. In other words, they may enhance or suppress one another. For example, the attitude of a researcher may be very positive and yet he or she may fail to exhibit active behaviour due to a lack of communication skills. Conversely, researchers who do not regard science communication as their personal duty may nevertheless choose to participate actively in it because of the appreciation shown by their social environment.In the behavioural model of Ajzen, there are also a number of individual background characteristics that play a determining role. Our research pointed to three significant factors.First and foremost, there is the knowledge paradigm within which the researcher works. The hypothesis substantiated by this study is that a researcher with a positivistic outlook will tend towards a traditional mode of communication; an approach whereby it is assumed that knowledge can be transmitted. The constructivist perspective, on the other hand, maintains that knowledge is constructed through interaction. In this approach, communication is regarded as a transaction. It speaks for itself that constructivists tend to be more at ease with interactive and participatory forms of communication than positivistic researchers are. Our research shows the respondents to have a mainly positivistic attitude and to communicate primarily in a traditional way. This suggests that the knowledge paradigm is an important determinant of how the researcher communicates with external audiences. There is a potential for conflict between the growing trend towards more interactive and participatory science communication and the preferences of researchers whose approach is based on a positivistic knowledge paradigm.A second important background factor is the professional identity of the researcher. This identity is a function of how they perceive their job assignment, their professional motivation, and aspects of their social and personal identity. Our hypothesis is that a researcher’s professional identity can help explain his or her science communication behaviour: if communication is, in one way or another, present in the researcher’s job perception and/or is part and parcel of their professional motivation, then science communication is congruent with their professional identity. An analogous reasoning applies if communicating corresponds with aspects of the researcher’s personal or social identity.The third and final background factor is interaction with society. Our study shows that the presence or absence of an external research orientation has explanatory power for the researcher’s display of active science communication behaviour. In other words, if society is in any way the focus of the researcher’s work, as might be the case in such fields as medicine, sociology or law, then communication with external audiences may be beneficial to the research. Science communication is then a tool which the researcher may apply to enhance his work.It is also noticeable that the barriers or bottlenecks that researchers experience in relation to science communication may present themselves in all of the aforementioned areas. Hence, existing recommendations for encouraging science communication by researchers are equally diverse. However, previous research into these obstacles has restricted itself too much to identifying external environmental barriers and to finding ways of eliminating them. The present doctoral research suggests that the problem is much more complex than that. It is too simple only to look for barriers that are external to the researcher and subsequently to deal with them in an instrumental way. A more comprehensive approach is called for, whereby person-related factors are also studied in order to better understand and possibly adjust the science communication behaviour of the researcher. This requires closer attention to the person of the researcher, and particularly to their perception of scientific knowledge production and attitudes towards their profession and the tasks it entails, as well as the relationship between the research activities and society.Making adjustments to researchers’ personal perceptions is however not an easy proposition and requires a different kind of approach than merely the lifting of barriers. Still, it is our expectation that communication between the researcher and society can be enhanced by combining the elimination of external bottlenecks with behavioural incentives on the one hand and, on the other, through greater emphasis in the training of researchers on diversity of knowledge paradigms, professional identity and the role of society.In sum, our study indicates that the intention and behaviour of researchers in relation to science communication depends on four major clusters of factors, namely attitude, the subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, and a number of person-related background factors. Together, these determinants constitute a complex whole in which contributing factors may enhance or suppress one another. The extent to which each of the determinants comes into play could not be ascertained in this qualitative study. A quantitative research approach might provide better insight into that aspect.

1) Editors' Introduction: Tourism, gender, embodiment and experience A Pritchard, N Morgan, I Ateljevic and C Harris 2) The body in the tourism industry S Veijola and A Valtonen, University of Lapland, Finland 3) Ambivalent journeys: Writing travel as the feminist stranger in Desert Places S Fullagar, Griffith University, Australia 4) Travelling for masculinity: The construction of bodies/spaces in Israeli backpackers' narratives C Noy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel 5) The emergence of the body in the holiday accounts of women and girls J Small, University of Technology Sydney, Australia 6) Life's a beach and then we diet: Discourses of tourism and the 'beach body' in UK women's lifestyle magazines F Jordan, University of West England, Bristol, UK 7) The sensual embodiment of Italian women M Abramovici, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand 8) Bodies, carnival and honey days: The example of Coney Island C Ryan, University of Waikato Management School, New Zealand, and H Gu, Beijing International Studies University/Beijing Tourism Bureau, China. 9) The embodiment of the macho gaze in South-Eastern Europe: Performing femininity and masculinity in Albania and Croatia I Ateljevic and D Hall, Seabank Associates, UK 10) Encountering scopophillia, sensuality and desire: Engendering Tahiti A Pritchard and N Morgan 11) Consuming exoticism and gendered space in South Africa's The Lost City J van Eeden, University of Pretoria, South Africa 12) Advertisements as tourism space: Learning 'masculinity' and 'femininity' from New Zealand television F Desmarais, University of Waikato, New Zealand 13) Gender posed: The people behind the postcards G Ringer, University of Oregon, USA 14) Travelling beyond the boundaries of constraint: Women, travel and empowerment C Harris and E Wilson, Southern Cross University, Australia 15) Tourism and anonymity: A heterosexual man's interpretation of an Israeli lesbian women's diary Y Poria, Ben Gurion University, Israel 16) Embodying everyday masculinities in heritage tourism(s) D Knox and K Hannam, University of Sunderland, UK 17) In search of lesbian space? The experience of Manchester's Gay Village A Pritchard, N Morgan and D Sedgley, University of Wales Institute, Wales 18) (Un)veiling women's employment in the Egyptian travel business N S El-Sherif Ibrahim, Helwan University, Egypt, A Pritchard and E Jones, University of Wales Institute, UK.

Keywords: landscape experience, philosophy of mind, consciousness, perception, emotion, cultural influence, landscape, placeThe study of landscape experience is dispersed across different scientific disciplines such as environmental psychology, human geography, sociology and anthropology. Each discipline makes valuable but highly selective contributions to our understanding of landscape experience. The aim of this book is to construct a comprehensive theory of landscape experience, one that embraces the disciplinary theories and approaches. The central question is how, by what processes, landscape experiences come into being.

Research Issues and ApproachForced displacement and the response of the international community is one of the most pressing challenges of contemporary times. Whether in dealing with refugees or internally displaced people the international system has been struggling to prevent forced migration, address its consequences and find ‘durable’ solutions (chapter 1). This study concentrates on repatriation policy and practice, which are considered to lack responsiveness to the needs, initiatives and strategies of the displaced as the prime actors (chapter 2 and 3). The assumption addressed in this study is that a better understanding of displaced people’s return planning, and the beliefs, values and motivations underpinning them, is fundamental to developing effective strategies that result in appropriate protection, humanitarian assistance and reintegration support as well as sustainable development for people displaced by conflict.Displaced people are not helpless and passive recipients of ‘well-intended’ aid. Inappropriate generalisations about refugees and other war related displaced people have encouraged ignorance of war-displaced people as conscious and active human beings, strategising their return options and making sense out of often highly complex and dynamic return environments. Displaced people are therefore to be regarded as actors possessing agency, i.e. they are capable of processing social experience and devising ways of coping with life, even under the most extreme forms of coercion. This study therefore emphasises the importance of human agency in informing both repatriation policy and practice.The research presented in this thesis has:1. Explored the factors that have greatest influence on the return decisions of war-displaced people2. Looked into the ability of an actor oriented model to account for, and explain, the dynamic nature of return beliefs and issues informing the decision to return3. Examined the application of the extended Theory of Reasoned Action in terms of increasing the understanding of prospective return behaviour as compared with more traditional models4. Tested the inclusion of the vulnerability concept in enhancing the sensitivity of the model in volatile and hazard prone contexts5. Looked into the appropriateness of an actor oriented formal model in informing both policy and practice.MethodThe Theory of Reasoned Action (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980) was selected as the actor-oriented model of choice to explore war-displaced people’s return decision-making. Most reviews in the field of behavioural research have drawn attention to the TORA as one of the principal theoretical constructs for both the study and prediction of behaviour. The theory has been applied to a wide variety of behavioural domains proving its robust nature, predictive power and its ability to perform in different contexts (section 4.3 presents the rationale for its application to this study). This research presents the first time this theoretical construct has been applied to study the systematic identification of return beliefs and issues taken into account by people displaced by war when making decisions regarding return and repatriation.The information gathered through applying the TORA allows for a detailed explanation of displaced people’s return decision-making (see figure 4.1). At a general level return behaviour is determined by return intent. The principal theoretical assumption underpinning the approach is that attitudes and social normative pressures inform behavioural intent. A third variable, Perceived Behavioural Control was later included in the model to expand the TORA’s ability to address behaviours that are not under the full volitional control of the subjects under study, i.e. the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen, 1985, 1988 and 2005). This study suggests a fourth determinant, Perceived Vulnerability, based on the assumption that it would enhance the sensitivity of the model when dealing with risk prone behavioural contexts. The third level of analysis accounts for attitudes and subjective norms in terms of beliefs about the consequences of return and about the normative expectations of relevant referents. Each successive level of analysis in this sequence provides a more comprehensive account of the factors determining repatriation (reference is made to figure 4.1).One of the components (section 1.3) of this research is to apply the extended TORA model in exploring the return intent of a group of Sudanese refugees sheltered in three camps in western Ethiopia. Another, and related component, is to test the appropriateness of the extended TORA in different forced migration situations by exploring return intent of a group of internally displaced people in the Sudan. The application of the Theory of Reasoned Action within both displacement contexts is described in section 4.4, 6.1 and 9.1. The findings are presented in chapters 6, 7 and 9.Research FindingsResearch Question 1: What factors have greatest influence on the decision to return of Sudanese refugees and IDPs? Are these structurally different?Both the refugee and IDP study demonstrate the influence of attitude over social norms. Return intent, and ultimately return behaviour, was found to be primarily governed by displaced people’s own experience and perspectives regarding return, as opposed to social influences or pressures. The Perceived Level of Control and Perceived Vulnerability, though strongly correlated with general return intent for the refugee study and weakly for the IDP study, are less influential compared with attitude (both variables are strongly correlated with each other indicating that vulnerability expresses a significant perceived lack of control). These findings underline displaced people’s disposition to decide return based on their personal experience and evaluation of the consequences of return (sections 6.4 and 9.3).Various descriptive variables were defined to distinguish between differences in displaced people’s backgrounds and contexts. Generally speaking, refugees’ return planning and strategies were found to be most significantly influenced by:· Camp location· Tribal background· Gender· Type of critical event initiating flight· Flight pattern and length of displacement experience· Knowledge regarding whereabouts of family in the Sudan· Prominent challenge faced by being a refugee· The type of conflict thought to present the main challenge towards future life in the Sudan.The internally displaced study found a much more limited number of variables which registered significantly differences in return intent:· Having or not having an income from a permanent job or daily labour· The expressed level of vulnerability in displacement· The type of benefits associated by residing in or near Khartoum.The difference in the number of diagnostic variables partly reflects the diverse make-up of the refugee study, which was comprised of eight ethnic groups and many different return contexts, as compared with one particular tribal group and return area for the IDP study.Analysis of the refugee data found that, in general, return intent is influenced by the following barriers or blockages presented in decreasing order of influence (section 6.5, appendix 6.6):· Will be conscripted into an armed group· Face hardship and difficulties· Our children will be abducted· Will be repeatedly displaced· Will be arrested· No modern health care services provided· No educational services provided· Our children will not have access to schooling· To rebuild livelihoods better not wait for UN repatriation· Loss of chance for resettlement in western country· Insecurity makes it difficult to have enough to eat.Influential drivers for return were found to be:· Food-secure within a short period of time (less than six months)· Can rely on traditional ways of peacemaking· Collect and consume wild foods to survive· Large household helps to become food secure.Either, a change in the level to which these beliefs are seen to be true or untrue, or a change in the attributed value to these prospective outcomes, affects the intention to return and, therefore, ultimately return behaviour.The IDP study found the following blockages presented in order of decreasing significance (appendix 9.6):· Experience serious food shortages and face hunger· Find that we have become different from those who stayed behind· Face serious shortage of safe and reliable drinking water· Difficulties in constructing our tukuls or shelters· Life will be different from what it used to be before the conflict: ‘life has changed’· If provided, aid is best distributed by our own leaders· Will be suspected· Face repeated displacement· The international community not providing food aid means we might die· Face insecurity in our home area· Half food rations for a year is better than full rations for 6 months.Influential drivers affecting the return decision were found to be:· Children will have access to school· Burial in my home area· Rely on our traditional ways of peacemaking to make and maintain peace· Depend on forest foods and fish for survival following return· Come to own goats or cattle (re-build wealth status)· Half food rations for a year is better than full rations for 6 months.The seventy salient beliefs emitted by the refugees, and the fifty-one by the IDPs, were grouped in a logical way to represent attitudinal dimensions of return behaviour referred to as belief domains or systems. A total of eleven domains were defined: safety & security, health, education, food security, mode of return, peace makers, peace spoilers, culture and integration, processes of change, community based support systems, and humanitarian aid.For both the refugee and IDP study influential barriers informing general return are found in a number of belief domains: safety and security, health, educational and food security. Influential drivers in the traditional community based peace making, food security- and aid-domains. Interestingly only the IDP study found that loss of identity and processes of change are influential in deciding return. It appears that prolonged exposure to an urban lifestyle has formed a deterrent towards return, as the displaced feel that they have changed and therefore life in Abyei will never be the same. However, on the other hand the desire to be buried in one’s homeland forms an influential driver towards return. Both influential beliefs reflect an underlying schism between the older generation who grew up in Abyei and a younger generation having hardly any memory of their home area and a rural livelihood. In a different way this generational divide is also found amongst refugees and is expressed in the popularity of the resettlement option to America, Canada or Australia amongst the younger refugee generation. For them the potential re-settlement option forms a strong barrier against return to the Sudan.It was shown that clustering of all salient return beliefs provided an interesting insight in the general cognitive structures underlying the various belief and value domains that inform decisions to return. Associations of influential beliefs acting as barriers, or drivers with less influential ones, provided an understanding of the complexity and dynamics of the beliefs taken into consideration when deciding return (figure 6.1 in section 6.6 and figure 9.1 in section 9.4).Research Question 2: Can a structured actor-oriented model account for, and give insight into, the dynamic nature of return beliefs and expectations of home that inform displaced people’s decision to return?The findings identified through the data analysis of the refugee and IDP studies underline the importance of recognising the diversity in backgrounds and return contexts over time that exist within war-displaced populations. Application of the TORA construct identified how such differences are reflected in the attitudes, social norms and perceived level of control and vulnerability. The degree to which household heads plan to return, and the type of return beliefs and issues informing the decision to return, showed a very significant variation across different segments of both the refugee and IDP population, as well as across the various return options presented (for the refugee study: return in the 2002/3 dry season, the period 2003-5 and when there is ‘peace’; for the IDP study return in the 2003/4 dry season, following the signing of the peace agreement and return with Abyei presenting a safe and secure home area). The decision-making process of displaced people regarding return was thus found to be both dynamic and context specific.Findings of both studies highlighted the social diversity and diversification of the communities regarding migrational decision-making. Household categories were found to express a diversity of return responses. Generally speaking, and in line with expectations, the intention to return was found to increase over time with peace signalling a strong increase in that intent. This highlights the importance of conflict resolution to the return decision-making of people displaced by war and conflict. Independent of the return option pursued, the return decision of both refugee and IDP household categories was found to be governed foremost by displaced people’s experience and knowledge regarding displacement, and expectations of the return process and context.Analysis of the refugee data demonstrates that prior to peace the security situation and its implications for returnees’ livelihoods are seen as serious obstacles for return. However, provision of aid and services in relatively stable and peaceful areas was found to directly result in a higher return intent, particularly so for those households planning to return to their home village. Findings of the IDP study demonstrated the same pattern, with those planning to return before the signing of a peace agreement preferring the SPLA controlled southern part of their home area. Interestingly, if peace is seen to exist, the provision of aid and services in areas of return no longer affects displaced people’s decision to return: the focus shifts towards social integration issues including community support systems.Both the refugee and IDP studies found that the nature and number of influential return beliefs informing the return-decision change over the return options from barriers to drivers and from beliefs dealing with fulfilment of basic needs and security to socio-culturally connotated beliefs. If peace exists the influential return beliefs informing the decision of both refugees and IDPs form all drivers towards return. The one common influential belief for both groups is the perceived level to which one can rely on traditional mechanisms to manage conflict within their own and across tribal territories (section 6.7 and 9.5).The Subjective Norm (perceived social pressure) registered a strong correlation with stated Intent to return for the refugees studied, independent of the return option pursued. Although, perceived social pressure was also found to strongly influence IDPs’ return decision in the immediate or proximate future, it became a weaker factor once the location (Abyei) was considered a peaceful and safe environment to return to.Regarding the refugee study, both the Perceived Level of Control and Perceived Vulnerability were found to strongly influence the return decision independent of the return option. In general, refugees’ decision to return prior to ‘peace’ reflects both an underlying pre-occupation with threats and hazards in what are perceived as potentially volatile post return environments, as well as a lack of control over the return process itself. Following ‘peace’ return is associated with resilience and increased levels of control. The IDP study found that the perceived level of control and vulnerability only informed the decision to return prior to the peace agreement. Following the signing of the agreement and with Abyei being safe and secure both variables do not significantly inform the return decision. Generally speaking this reflects refugees’ tendency to take issues of vulnerability and control into account when deciding return independent of the return moment itself. For the internally displaced Dinka Ngok this depends on the peace process, following the signing of a peace agreement vulnerability and perceived control no longer influence the decision to return as such.As a structured actor oriented model the TORA was thus found to be able to explain the dynamic nature of return beliefs and issues in informing displaced people’s decision to return.Research Question 3: Will the application of an ‘actor-oriented’ approach lead to a greater understanding of prospective return behaviour than currently applied models on which return management and policy are based?A majority of the studies on displaced people’s attitudes towards repatriation reflect the importance of displaced people’s decision-making in the return or repatriation process (section 4.2). Yet most formal repatriation programmes are conceived by governments and agencies with little reference to, and understanding of, the return decision making process of war-displaced people, their return strategies and in many cases pro-active stand regarding return.Rather than explaining return behaviour as emanating from the external context (socio, economic or political) the TORA explains behaviour by exploring the psychosocial antecedents informing the return decisions of displaced people. The TORA, as a method, encapsulates the concept of human agency by exploring displaced people’s knowledge-, belief-, value- and power-domains which inform the decision to return. Displaced people are not the passive receivers of ‘well intended’ aid but participate and interact with other actors involved in the return process and reconstruction efforts. The beliefs and issues that were found to influence their decision to return reflect both their background and the specific nature of return contexts (chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8, 9).The findings of both the refugee and internally displaced people studies demonstrate that the descriptive utility of the extended Theory of Reasoned Action is a powerful and informative conceptual model. Certainly when compared with the traditional ‘push-pull’ migration theory as well as assimilationist models of migrant integration that still dominate much of the discourse on migration (section 2.1). The TORA directly accounts for the experience of migrants, a failure of former models, for which they have been criticised (section 10.2). The TORA also presents a participatory approach (the elucidation of salient return beliefs and issues across a displaced population during the first stage of the interview process). Lack of participation, due to insufficient time or space, has been a common criticism of repatriation policy and practice. Additionally the TORA’s findings are supported statistically, while more socio-anthropological oriented studies are sometimes critiqued for their biased outcomes, reflecting the personal views and opinions of the researcher, and their lack of representation.Research Question 4: Does the inclusion of the notion of vulnerability enhance the sensitivity of an actor-oriented model in volatile or hazard prone environments?The addition of the ‘Perceived Vulnerability’ variable as an extension of the TORA drew attention to displaced people’s understanding of a potential risk associated with the proposed return. The variable makes it possible to analyse the context specific nature of risk and ability to cope, thus providing an insight into their perception of vulnerability.The refugee study found that the decision to return is very strongly informed by the Perceived Vulnerability variable, independent of the return option pursued (section 6.9). In general, the nature of Perceived Vulnerability expresses vulnerability associated with beliefs in the security and safety-domain before, and following peace resilience associated with beliefs related to the food security-, cultural-, community support- and aid-domains. The case study on Nuer and Anyuak return (chapter 7) illustrated that prospective return areas may present hazardous environments even with return pursued when there is ‘peace’. From a vulnerability perspective the imminent importance of influential Nuer beliefs, such as fear of hostile tribes, and lack of control by a central authority over small firearms at such a point in time highlights the volatility of prospective areas of return. All of these form influential deterrents regarding return.The IDP study demonstrated that the return decision is strongly informed by the Perceived Vulnerability variable for ‘immediate’ return only, i.e. return in early 2004. The decision to return following the signing of a peace agreement and with Abyei presenting a peaceful return environment was not informed by the Perceived Vulnerability variable. However, some individual influential return beliefs were found to be associated with aspects of vulnerability, notably beliefs in the safety-security domain and cultural domain respectively (section 9.5 and table 9.3b and 9.3c).The importance of the Perceived Vulnerability variable is that it draws attention to critical return issues and explains them in terms of the context specific nature of the hazard. Seen as a predictive warning utility the Perceived Vulnerability determinant enables to uphold the voluntary nature of return and to inform appropriate protection and aid programming over and following return, prior to return itself. The Nuer and Anyuak case study also demonstrated its use as an indicator of whether return strategies are based on risk reduction or increased coping capability. Nuer return strategies were found to be primarily informed by the level to which they perceive themselves able to cope with threats posed in post-return environments. The return strategy of the Anyuak was found to be based on a combination of risk reduction and increased coping capability. The case study highlighted the potential of such differentially informed strategies to be dysfunctional in that they are likely to generate conflict in frontier areas where Nuer and Anyuak interests overlap (see section 7.6).Perceived Vulnerability, as a variable of return intent, is numerically expressed in a Vulnerability measure based on a scale ranging from very ‘vulnerable’ to very ‘resilient’. The ‘Perceived Vulnerability’ scale is useful for measuring and comparing expressed vulnerability or resilience levels both within and across displaced populations. The nature of expressed vulnerability or resilience can be explored by looking into the associations with the reasoned return beliefs and expectations of home. This ability makes the extended TORA a potent tool in community-based vulnerability and capacity analysis when considering return behaviour.By using the Perceived Vulnerability reading as a descriptor variable, the return planning and strategies of household categories expressing different levels of vulnerability or resilience in return can be studied. Following the signing of a peace agreement, the IDP study found that households expressing vulnerability in return (as opposed to households who express themselves to be resilient or highly resilient) are prepared to take on the biggest risk, while at the same time they were found least likely to cope with that risk. Further analysis established that the return decision of households expressing vulnerability in return is emotively informed, and does not reflect an analysis of what may constitute critical return beliefs and issues. The findings of the IDP study also indicated that, with increasing levels of resilience, the return decision reflects a critical consideration of reasoned return beliefs and expectations of Abyei. In contrast, independent of the level of vulnerability associated with return, refugee household’s decisions to return when there is ‘peace’ were found to be significantly informed by an analysis of reasoned return beliefs and issues.As a descriptor variable the Perceived Vulnerability determinant proved to be a highly differentiating variable, explaining the level to which refugee or IDP households plan return, the particular sets of return beliefs and expectations of the return context influentially informing the return decision, the nature of vulnerability or resilience expressed in return as well as how the different household categories feel about return (in terms of return beliefs and expectations of home).Destitution amongst vulnerable IDPs is often more pronounced when compared with refugees. Refugees, independent of the level of expressed vulnerability, have recourse to an established system of international protection and assistance which IDPs lack. The importance of the finding that most vulnerable IDPs make an emotively as opposed to reasoned return decision highlights the fact that situations of severe deprivation can induce instances of behaviour that may be counter to the subjects’ underlying beliefs. In a sense one can say that the voluntary nature of return, a key Guiding Principle on Internal Displacement is itself compromised by pronounced levels of destitution in displacement, which can place the most vulnerable particularly at risk on return.The expansion of the TORA with the ‘Perceived Vulnerability’ variable was found to enhance its descriptive utility in exploring the potential for disaster in post –return environments. Both this ability and the findings of the refugee and IDP studies suggest that, in contexts where the elements of threat or fear are associated with the decision in question, this extended version of the TORA will enhance the explanatory power of the model for the study of risk-prone behavioural decisions.Research Question 5: Can a formal theoretical model be suitable for general application to inform repatriation policy and practice?Is the extended TORA as a formal theoretical model suitable for general application to inform repatriation policy and practice? Findings of the refugee and IDP studies suggest a positive answer to this question on three different accounts.First, the value of the extended TORA construct as a model for isolating specific return beliefs and issues. These need to be taken into account in policy and strategy formation in order to inform direct interventions in the field of protection, provision of aid and re-integration support. Also, its descriptive utility is a valuable tool in managing more effectively the nexus between spontaneous return and organised repatriation.Secondly, as an extension to the TORA the Perceived Vulnerability construct enables the exploration of both the importance and nature of vulnerability associated with key migrational decisions. This makes the TORA construct a potent tool for mapping social or community vulnerability in volatile or hazard prone contexts. With vulnerability being a central concept in disaster studies, and a more recent focus as an aspect of world development, the construct of Perceived Vulnerability is a potential tool for the development of disaster policy and practice.Finally, this research has drawn attention to the importance of the level to which the emotively expressed attitude towards the return decision is informed by the analysis of reasoned return beliefs and expectations of home as an indicator of the voluntary nature of return. This is an important finding, as many a repatriation programme or assisted return has been initiated based only on an emotively informed return response. This has led to misguided interventions resulting in a waste of resources at best, and at worst placed returnees at risk. The findings of both refugee and IDP studies suggest that for voluntary return to take place in safety and dignity, the decision to return should to a significant degree reflect a reasoned analysis of pertinent return beliefs and issues.Based on the findings of this study recommendations are made regarding areas where the extended version of the TORA can be applied to inform the development of both policy and practice. To mention the most promising (chapter 10):· Its role in multi-way information systems to enhance communication between the major stakeholders in the management of population return· Compilation of a checklist of beliefs derived from other research into critical return beliefs as a check to make sure that potentially critical return issues are taken note of· Rather than exploring general return planning and strategies, particular belief and value domains may be focused upon, e.g. exploring in-depth the security and safety domain with the purpose of informing protection programming· The need to simplify and deprofessionalise the models’ application in order to make the construct more widely available and cost-effective, e.g. to facilitate its re-deployment to account for changes of return intent over time· Rather than focusing on the institutional interest and need to understand displaced people’s decision-making, attention should be given to the models’ utility in serving ‘direct’ community interest, e.g. as a tool of community learning regarding critical return factors.ConclusionBy applying the extended TORA an understanding of war-displaced people’s return decision is gained which is instrumental to guide humanitarian aid and development interventions that support and build on displaced people’s return strategies. The extended TORA can contribute to the development of both repatriation policy and practice, which enables a genuine and more participatory approach to planning and decision-making. This would result in interventions which take account of the complexity inherent in return and repatriation. Honouring displaced people’s agency allows for taking into account their critical return beliefs and issues. Ultimately, this comes down to the question of respect. Respect for the complexity of what ‘voluntary return’ constitutes in today’s world and, even more important, respect for the people who are forcibly displaced. This means insuring a return to their places of origin in safety and with dignity, not as a favour, but as a fundamental human right.War-affected displacement and its responses by the international community is one of the most pressing challenges of contemporary times. Whether in dealing with refugees or internally displaced people, the international system has been struggling to prevent forced migration, address its consequences and find durable solutions. Repatriation policy and practice, pursued as the durable solution to war induced displacement, are being critiqued for lacking responsiveness to the needs, initiatives and strategies of the displaced as its prime actors. A better understanding of displaced people’s return decisions, and the beliefs, values and motivations underpinning them, is seen as instrumental in developing strategies to deliver effective protection, humanitarian assistance and reintegration support.This thesis explores the return decision-making process of war-displaced communities by taking an actor oriented approach. The Theory of Reasoned Action (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980; Ajzen, 1985, 1988 and 2005) was used to analyse the psycho-social antecedents of displaced people’s decision to return. A ‘Perceived Vulnerability’ variable was suggested as an extension of the model, based on the belief that it would make the model more sensitive to potentially hazard prone or risky behavioural contexts. Two major surveys were undertaken in order to explore the decision-making process of a group of Sudanese refugees and a group of internally displaced people.Both surveys found that the dynamics of return are informed by the changing nature of return beliefs and expectations considered influential by war-displaced people when deciding return. Such issues were found to reflect the social diversity and internal differentiation of war-displaced communities, as well as the diversity of return contexts. The ‘Perceived Vulnerability’ variable enhanced the descriptive value of the model in hazard prone or risky contexts and was found instrumental to analyse the context specific nature of risk and ability to cope with those risks thus providing an insight in displaced people’s perception of vulnerability. The study’s findings suggest that the application of a formal model, such as the Theory of Reasoned Action, can be suitable for informing repatriation policy and practice. As an actor oriented approach, the theory may prove helpful in developing flexible and de-centralised approaches that support and build upon displaced people’s return strategies, as appropriate to complex and dynamic contexts.Keywords: Forced Migration, Humanitarian Aid, Resettlement, Repatriation, Migrational Decision Making, Refugees, IDPs, Sudan, Ethiopia, Theory of Reasoned Action (TORA), Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), Vulnerability, Risk Management