University of Twente Student Theses
Towards Sustainability by Changing the Moral Standing of Animals : The Influence of Raising Awareness About Animal Cognition and Emotion on Animal Product Consumption Habits and Meat-Eating Justifications
Hehn, Lukas (2024) Towards Sustainability by Changing the Moral Standing of Animals : The Influence of Raising Awareness About Animal Cognition and Emotion on Animal Product Consumption Habits and Meat-Eating Justifications.
|
PDF
499kB |
| Abstract: | Animal product consumption has wide-ranging negative effects on the environment and animal welfare. To resolve these issues, the general amount of consumed animal products needs to be decreased. While aiming to change these consumption patterns, it is crucial to understand which psychological mechanisms are involved. This research investigated the effect of an intervention on participants' behavioural intentions regarding animal product consumption and actual consumption behaviour, as well as their meat-eating justifications. In the two-part study (N = 590 and N = 546), participants either received a video intervention educating about animals' cognitive and emotional abilities or received no intervention. Following the results, participants who received the intervention intended to reduce their animal product consumption more strongly than the control group (Part 1). For the pre- and post-measurement, the statistical tests displayed a discrepancy regarding the effect of the intervention on animal product consumption (Parts 1 and 2). Additionally, the intervention did not influence participants' meat-eating justifications. However, participants in the intervention group tended to agree less to religious statements justifying meat consumption. This indicates that appealing to religious beliefs and values might provide an opportunity to accomplish a dietary shift towards consuming fewer animal products. Participants who consumed more meat also tended to agree to different justifications more strongly to justify their meat consumption (Part 2). Based on this, this research provides a potentially valuable step towards understanding how to change the application of mechanisms underlying animal product consumption, which is crucial towards developing more sustainability and animal welfare. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Programme: | Psychology BSc (56604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/100043 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
Show download statistics for this publication
Show download statistics for this publicationRepository Staff Only: item control page