Development of the Passive and Active Meat-Animal Dissociation Scale (MADS)
Many individuals like eating meat but condemn causing harm to animals. Dissociating meat from its animal origins is one way to avoid the cognitive dissonance this ‘meat paradox’ elicits. While the significance of meat-animal dissociation for meat consumption is well-established, a recent literature...
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| Format: | Article |
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PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology
2024-08-01
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| Series: | Psychology of Human-Animal Intergroup Relations |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5964/phair.12975 |
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| author | Nora C. G. Benningstad Hank Rothgerber Jonas R. Kunst |
| author_facet | Nora C. G. Benningstad Hank Rothgerber Jonas R. Kunst |
| author_sort | Nora C. G. Benningstad |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Many individuals like eating meat but condemn causing harm to animals. Dissociating meat from its animal origins is one way to avoid the cognitive dissonance this ‘meat paradox’ elicits. While the significance of meat-animal dissociation for meat consumption is well-established, a recent literature review suggested that it consists of two distinct tendencies. First, people may differ in the degree to which they passively disassociate meat from its animal origins. Second, they may differ in the extent to which they actively dissociate to decrease dissonance. By developing and validating a scale in three pre-registered studies using samples of American and British meat-eaters, the present investigation aimed to quantitatively establish whether these two proposed tendencies constitute distinct constructs with different relations to dietary preferences, meat-related cognition, and affect. Study 1 (n = 300) provided initial support for a normally-distributed scale with two orthogonal dimensions that were systematically and differently related to a range of individual differences and dietary preferences. In Study 2 (n = 628), both dimensions were non-responsive to short-term cues that highlight the animal-meat link but predicted dietary preferences independent of them. Finally, Study 3 (n = 231) showed that the dissociation dimensions predict dietary preferences even in people working in the meat industry who have long-term exposure to cues that connect meat with its animal origins. Together, the results of the three studies supported the notion that people’s dissociation tendencies can be divided into two qualitatively distinct tendencies. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f3d853d40e29402f97b5b64a1c0ba9f1 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2750-6649 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-08-01 |
| publisher | PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Psychology of Human-Animal Intergroup Relations |
| spelling | doaj-art-f3d853d40e29402f97b5b64a1c0ba9f12025-08-20T01:55:08ZengPsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for PsychologyPsychology of Human-Animal Intergroup Relations2750-66492024-08-01310.5964/phair.12975phair.12975Development of the Passive and Active Meat-Animal Dissociation Scale (MADS)Nora C. G. Benningstad0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7955-107XHank Rothgerber1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1692-0157Jonas R. Kunst2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5319-1256Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, NorwayDepartment of Psychology, Bellarmine University, Louisville, KY, USADepartment of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, NorwayMany individuals like eating meat but condemn causing harm to animals. Dissociating meat from its animal origins is one way to avoid the cognitive dissonance this ‘meat paradox’ elicits. While the significance of meat-animal dissociation for meat consumption is well-established, a recent literature review suggested that it consists of two distinct tendencies. First, people may differ in the degree to which they passively disassociate meat from its animal origins. Second, they may differ in the extent to which they actively dissociate to decrease dissonance. By developing and validating a scale in three pre-registered studies using samples of American and British meat-eaters, the present investigation aimed to quantitatively establish whether these two proposed tendencies constitute distinct constructs with different relations to dietary preferences, meat-related cognition, and affect. Study 1 (n = 300) provided initial support for a normally-distributed scale with two orthogonal dimensions that were systematically and differently related to a range of individual differences and dietary preferences. In Study 2 (n = 628), both dimensions were non-responsive to short-term cues that highlight the animal-meat link but predicted dietary preferences independent of them. Finally, Study 3 (n = 231) showed that the dissociation dimensions predict dietary preferences even in people working in the meat industry who have long-term exposure to cues that connect meat with its animal origins. Together, the results of the three studies supported the notion that people’s dissociation tendencies can be divided into two qualitatively distinct tendencies. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.https://doi.org/10.5964/phair.12975animalsconsumer behaviormeat-animal dissociationmeat consumptionmeat paradox |
| spellingShingle | Nora C. G. Benningstad Hank Rothgerber Jonas R. Kunst Development of the Passive and Active Meat-Animal Dissociation Scale (MADS) Psychology of Human-Animal Intergroup Relations animals consumer behavior meat-animal dissociation meat consumption meat paradox |
| title | Development of the Passive and Active Meat-Animal Dissociation Scale (MADS) |
| title_full | Development of the Passive and Active Meat-Animal Dissociation Scale (MADS) |
| title_fullStr | Development of the Passive and Active Meat-Animal Dissociation Scale (MADS) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Development of the Passive and Active Meat-Animal Dissociation Scale (MADS) |
| title_short | Development of the Passive and Active Meat-Animal Dissociation Scale (MADS) |
| title_sort | development of the passive and active meat animal dissociation scale mads |
| topic | animals consumer behavior meat-animal dissociation meat consumption meat paradox |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5964/phair.12975 |
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