Intergroup Sensitivity and Promoting Sustainable Consumption: Meat Eaters Reject Vegans’ Call for a Plant-Based Diet

J Lukas Thürmer,Sean M Mccrea,Juliane Stadler

doi:10.3390/su14031741

J Lukas Thürmer, Sean M Mccrea + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031741

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Feb 2, 2022
Citations: 11	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Salzburg, University of Wyoming

Abstract

Reducing meat consumption can make immediate contributions to fighting the climate crisis. A growing minority adheres to meat-free diets and could convince others to follow suit. We argue, however, that recipients’ social identification as meat eaters may impede the effectiveness of such calls (i.e., an intergroup sensitivity effect based on dietary groups). Indeed, meat eaters in our experiment (N = 260) were more likely to reject calls for dietary change from a vegan than from a fellow meat eater. This effect was also evidenced in evaluations of and engagement with an initiative to promote a vegan diet (“Veganuary”), providing some indication for behavioral impact. In contrast, our societal dietary norm manipulation had no consistent effects on observed outcomes. Exploratory moderation analyses show a limited impact of participants’ social identification as meat eaters but highlight the role of peoples’ general willingness to engage in environmentally friendly behavior. We discuss theoretical and practical implications, including how our results challenge existing approaches to promoting a meat-reduced diet.

Highlights

We conducted a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with comment source and presented norm as predictors and the respective dependent variables in turn
When ANOVA assumptions were violated, we used bootstrapping with 3000 samples
We argued that eating meat represents an important part of peoples’ social identity and that calls for reducing meat consumption should be more effective from fellow meat eaters than from vegans

Summary

Introduction

We discuss theoretical and practical implications, including how our results challenge existing approaches to promoting a meat-reduced diet. Das Problem ist, die sind ja militant. Eating meat is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming [1,2,3,4], and the reduction of animal source foods will be necessary to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals [5,6]. Promoting a meat-free or meat-reduced diet is a feasible step towards reaching global sustainability goals [7,8]. We investigate effective ways to promote dietary change via public messages. We focus on the diet of the message source as a key factor determining the effectiveness of calls for a vegan diet.

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