Lisa Simpson...

 

"Lisa the Vegetarian"

Lisa decides to become a vegetarian. Making the connection between her love of animals and eating meat triggers this life-changing decision. Except that Lisa is only eight years old and her home and family environment is, as usual, unsupportive of her metacognitive, cognitive, affective, motivational processes. In other words, becoming a vegetarian is a big family issue because everyone’s favorite meals are porkchops and steaks, and everyone’s favorite social events are organizing barbecues or eating out at restaurants such as” The Krusty Burger” and “The Frying Dutchman”. Her brother and father mock her, singing "You don't win friends with salad!"

Lisa strives to change her diet exerting primary control. Primary control refers to the human attempt to change their environment in order to fulfill internal needs or to attain desired outcomes. Exerting primary control stems from underlying self-efficacy beliefs. Lisa’s self-efficacy beliefs or beliefs in her ability to stay a vegetarian are little by little eroded when confronted with others’ hostile reactions. Negative emotions ensue but Lisa persists in clinging to her diet goals in a few different ways. For instance, she finds out that Apu, her friend, who manages a gas station, is vegetarian, and has a secret organic garden. That gives her new hope but after a few more attempts to convince others to let her be, she gives up to the pressure of the carnivorous society in which she lives. She loses primary control and resorts to secondary control which means that she accepts to fit in the environment as it is without trying to change it and letting go of her internal needs and motivations. Apu helps her in this endeavor, and the lesson she learns is that “While it is okay to have your own views, you should tolerate other people's views instead of bringing them down.”. Secondary control is a way to restore one's perception of control. 

While exerting secondary control, she strives to understand why people eat meat and she even finds plausible reasons for that. Together with her goals, her interpretations change. For instance, when she goes to Apu’s store, she grabs and eats a hotdog without trying to think of what she is doing. In a funny twist of plot, Apu, asks her if she likes his tofu hot dogs.