– Factors influencing consumer choices about meat:
– Price
– Appearance
– Source information
– Attitudes towards meat
– Perception of meat in relation to price, health, taste, and ethics
– Importance of meat as human food:
– Highly preferred food
– Traditional high-status food
– Strong positive associations globally
– Cultural traditions associated with meat
– Negative image due to associations with slaughter, death, and blood
– Impact of attitudes on meat consumption:
– Attitudes influenced by price, health, taste, and ethics
– Negative associations decrease pleasure from eating meat
– Increase in disgust may lead to lowered meat consumption
– Effects more pronounced in young women in the West
– Negative associations may result in making meat less noticeable in diets
– Associations with meat consumption:
– Disconnect between consumer and citizen roles
– Negative image associated with slaughter and blood
– Positive cultural associations with meat
– Impact of traditions on meat consumption
– Influence of societal perceptions on meat consumption
– Consumer psychology and meat consumption:
– Interest from consumer psychologists, meat industry, and advocates of reduced meat consumption
– Attitudes affected by price, health, taste, and ethics
– Perception of meat influences consumption
– Negative associations may lead to decreased meat consumption
– Young women in the West are particularly affected by negative associations
The psychology of eating meat is an area of study seeking to illuminate the confluence of morality, emotions, cognition, and personality characteristics in the phenomenon of the consumption of meat. Research into the psychological and cultural factors of meat-eating suggests correlations with masculinity, support for hierarchical values, and reduced openness to experience. Because meat eating is widely practiced but is sometimes associated with ambivalence, it has been used as a case study in moral psychology to illustrate theories of cognitive dissonance and moral disengagement. Research into the consumer psychology of meat is relevant both to meat industry marketing and to advocates of reduced meat consumption.