Скачать или смотреть Harnessing Moral Psychology to Reduce Meat Consumption

Poster presentation of "Harnessing Moral Psychology to Reduce Meat Consumption" by Joshua May and Victor Kumar.

Abstract: Why does meat consumption remain high, despite increased awareness of its negative impact on animal welfare? Weakness of will is part of the explanation: acceptance of the ethical arguments doesn’t always motivate changes in dietary habits. However, we draw on scientific evidence to argue that many consumers aren’t fully convinced that they morally ought to reduce their meat consumption. We then identify two key psychological mechanisms that lead people to resist the ethical reasons. First, through motivated reasoning people rationalize that animals don’t suffer or that their suffering matters little. Second, through social proof people take the behavior of others in their community as evidence that meat consumption is normal, natural, and necessary. Finally, we provide recommendations for how to harness these psychological mechanisms to encourage reductions in meat consumption. A central lesson is that durable social change on this issue requires socially-embedded reasoning.