Stereotypes About Vegetarians and Vegans in a Meat- Eating Culture
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The healthy, yet unhealthy choice: stereotypes about vegetarians and vegans in a meat- eating culture Marija Brankovića* and Anastasija Budžaka aFaculty of Media and Communications, Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia * [email protected] Stereotypes about vegetarians and vegans influence behavior toward these groups, as well as decisions about consumption of animal products in general, affecting the health and wellbeing of humans and other animals, as well as the environment. We extend the existing research with a study of stereotypes in a non- WEIRD meat-eating culture based on content analysis of open-ended responses (Study 1) and ratings on the competence and warmth dimensions (Study 2). We also sought to predict the positivity of stereotypes by the general attitude to animals, perception of vegetarianism as a threat to local traditions, and the anticipated moral reproach of vegetarians toward meat-eaters. We found that stereotypes about vegetarians are ambivalent, while stereotypes about vegans are more clearly negative, both to a greater extent among meat-eaters compared with vegetarians/vegans and among men compared with women. The open-ended responses were most frequently related to health, both good and poor health, and secondly to moral values, empathy, and commitment as well as unfavorable social traits. References to masculinity/femininity were not prominent in the spontaneous responses and neither was the general domain of competence, although both groups are ascribed relatively high competence when explicitly asked. While meat-eaters mostly relate vegetarianism and veganism to health, those who themselves are vegetarian or vegan most readily relate these choices to empathy and moral values, as well as free- mindedness. Perceptions of vegetarianism as a threat, as well as one’s general level of speciesism predicted stereotype positivity. We discuss how future cross-cultural research can benefit from the categories of traits we derived from the open-ended analysis and the implications of the findings for shaping public communications. Keywords: vegetarians, vegans, stereotypes, vegetarianism threat, speciesism, moral reproach Meat consumption habits are notoriously resistant to change (McDiarmid, Douglas, & Campbell, 2016), especially when people think that plenty of meat is necessary and normal (Piazza et al. 2015). Critical insights have been made into the issue of animal production and meat consumption in contemporary society, both ethically and for its negative environmental (Hedenus, Wirsenius, Daniel, & Johansson, 2014) and health-related impacts (Tilman & Clark, 2014). Researchers suggest that the protection of the environment is dependent upon not only 1 technological innovation but also on changes in human beliefs and patterns of behavior related to support for animal production and meat consumption (Hedenus et al., 2014). To promote more sustainable and healthier consumption habits it is essential to better understand their psychosocial correlates. One of the important psychological determinants of readiness to reduce one’s meat intake could be the social image and beliefs about people who do not consume meat. Previous research suggests that negative views of activists can be related to reduced willingness to adopt the behaviors promoted by activists (Bashir, Lockwood, Chasteen, Nadolny, & Noyes, 2013) and this was unrelated to the domain of activism. Specifically, in the domain of prospective vegetarianism and the willingness to reduce one’s meat intake, one of the perceived barriers could be a negative social image of vegetarians and vegans (Lea and Worsley, 2003; Rosenfeld, 2018). For instance, Lea and Worsley (2003) established that 10% of the participants associated a negative social image with the vegetarian diet which they recognized as a barrier to choosing this diet, and this percentage was higher (25%) among men. Furthermore, as a specific minority group in most contexts, vegetarians and vegans are possible targets of prejudice and discrimination. Indeed, research suggests that both vegetarians and vegans can be evaluated more negatively than several common prejudice target groups and several other nutritional outgroups (McInnis & Hodson, 2015). Content analyses of media portrayals of these groups suggest that they are mostly cast in an unfavorable light (Cole & Morgan, 2011). Expectedly, vegetarians and vegans report having experienced discrimination (Torti, 2017; Twine, 2014). There is little research on the wellbeing of these groups, but a few studies do suggest a relation between vegetarianism and lowered well-being, including more negative social experiences (Forstell & Nezlek, 2018; Nezlek, Forestell, & Newman, 2018). We aimed to investigate the stereotypes about vegetarians and vegans, as the two most relevant nutritive groups defined by abstaining from meat (vegetarians) and other animal-based food products (vegan). Our studies contribute by a diverse methodological approach in studying stereotypes, as we combine the classical content analyses of open responses with self-rating measures of warmth and competence dimensions of stereotypes. This approach allowed a comprehensive study of various traits and characteristics since it is an open-ended and exploratory rather than the based on a priori determined attributes. We also explored how stereotype contents vary between male and female participants, as well as between meat-eaters and non-meat eaters. We further investigated whether stereotype positivity is predicted by 2 gender, one’s general attitude to animals, perception of vegetarianism as a threat to local traditions and worldviews, and the anticipated moral reproach of vegetarians toward meat-eaters. With the present studies, we contribute to the growing literature on vegetarianism (Amiot & Bastian, 2015; Rosenfeld, 2018; Ruby, 2012; Serpell, 2009) introducing a cross-cultural perspective, since the studies were conducted in a less well-studied context, that is, Serbia and the Western Balkans. Serbia is a region typically described as in-between the individualist West and the collectivist East, thus a context culturally different from both typically Western and Eastern countries (Hofstede, 2001; Muthukrishna et al., 2020). 1.1. Contents of stereotypes about vegetarians and vegans Previous studies revealed that several characteristics are stereotypically related to one being vegetarian or vegan, some of which are more closely related to one’s moral values and sensitivity to the suffering of animals, while others reflect more general personality and social traits. For instance, Ruby and Heine (2011) revealed that profiles including information about an individual’s vegetarian diet are rated as more virtuous and less masculine compared to those with omnivore diets. The latter effect was more pronounced in male than female participants. The lowered perception of masculinity related to vegetarian-vegan diets is a typical finding, and it could be explained by the association between meat and healthiness and strength (Lowe & Sulikowski, 2018; Rothgerber, 2013). A recent study conducted in Switzerland found that hosts offering vegetarian rather than meat- based meals were rated as more health-conscious, caring about animal welfare, but also trend- conscious (as opposed to old-fashioned) and alternative (vs. bourgeois) (Funk, Sütterlin, & Siegrist, 2020). Another study applied a more differentiated list of characteristics that participants attributed to either a vegetarian, insect, or meat burger consumer (Hartmann, Ruby, Schmidt, & Siegrist, 2018). They found that vegetarians were rated as more conscious of their health, animal welfare, and the environment, but also as more disciplined, more moral, more introverted, more educated, skinnier, and more athletic, compared to omnivores, also as less tolerant. Judge and Wilson (2015) asked their participants to envision a future in which the whole society will be plant-based, vegetarian, or vegan. Participants expected that people would be more conscious of the environment and animal welfare, but also more communal, that is, more caring and empathetic, socially connected, and socially conscious. A smaller number of 3 participants also expected a shift toward more morality, self-control, and less aggressiveness. Some participants also perceived a higher level of moral judgment in such future societies, which a few also interpreted as an absence of the possibility of choice. However, this was not recorded as one of the dominant expectations. Most previous studies thus investigated the contents of stereotypes by including a more or less elaborate list of specific traits whereas there are even fewer studies that studied the contents of stereotypes in an open-ended manner. Burgess and associates (Burgess, Carpenter, & Henshaw, 2014) asked their participants to state the characteristics they associated with vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores. They report a range of associations, for instance, that vegetarians are perceived as healthy, lacking protein, hipsters, animal lovers, while vegans are also perceived as animal rights activists, thin, weak, and strict. However, the authors did not report the specific frequencies of these responses, so they mostly illustrate the width of the associations rather than allow a more precise understanding of the contents of stereotypes. Minson and Monin (2012) elicited and recorded three spontaneous word associations to vegetarians, which they analyzed in terms of positivity as well as contents, i.e.