Ethical Motivation and Vegetarian Dieting: The Underlying Role of Anti-speciesist Attitudes

Abstract

The most common motivation people have for becoming vegetarian is ethical concern about using animals for food. One ideology called speciesism-which entails assigning different moral worth to different species of animals-is thought to play a central role in promoting ethical vegetarianism. Following a vegetarian diet provides a means of opposing speciesism, proclaiming to oneself and the public that humans should not embody an inherently higher moral status than other animals. Yet the extents to which speciesism and dietary motivations exert direct effects on the decision to go vegetarian remain unknown. Through two preregistered studies, I investigated links between speciesism, ethical dietary motivation, and vegetarian status. In Study 1 (N = 576), I found that ethical motivation partially mediated the link between speciesism and vegetarian versus meat-eater status. However, the direct effect of speciesism on vegetarian status remained large, such that rejection of speciesism was a much stronger predictor of participants' vegetarian status than was their reported level of ethical dietary motivation. In Study 2 (N = 201), I found that although vegans reported having greater ethical dietary motivation than vegetarians did, this effect disappeared when controlling for speciesism. Thus, vegans' greater rejections of speciesism explained why they were more ethically motivated than vegetarians were. These studies suggest that beliefs about speciesism may predict certain eating behaviors more robustly than ethical motivation does. Accordingly, in studying eating behavior, it may valuable to consider not only what motivations people report for their food choices but also the ideological notions they bring to the table.

Enabling sustainable food transitions in schools: a systemic approach

“…anthropogenic suffering; human and animal exploitation). These results are consistent with previous findings on the growing consumer awareness about the environmental impacts of the livestock industry (Hopwood et al, 2021;Krizanova et al, 2021;Sanchez-Sabate et al, 2019), as well as the impact that factory farms have on the animals who are used for human consumption (Hartmann and Siegrist, 2020;Mathur et al, 2021;McGuire et al, 2022;Rosenfeld, 2019). Sustainable and ethical consumption orientations have been identified as enablers of increased plant-based eating (Bryant, 2019;Hopwood et al, 2021;Graça et al, 2019).…”

Using Twitter® as source of information for dietary market research: a study on veganism and plant‐based diets

“…Currently, the animal issue and well‐being are subjects of great prominence and widely commented on social networks (Thomas et al ., 2019), as found in the analysed tweets. The ethical issue of animal husbandry is the most common motivation for people to become vegan and products that fit these guidelines can emerge as promising options to serve this emerging audience (Broad, 2018; Rosenfeld, 2019).…”

The Vegan Food Justice Movement

“…Therefore, given this believed human superiority over other nonhuman species, humans are free to use their milk, eggs, skin, and flesh for consumption. On the contrary, individuals who oppose this view of human superiority, or anti-speciesists, may choose a vegan diet as they believe it is unethical to eat meat or use animals (Rosenfeld 2019).…”

“…While a more humane treatment of farm animals might be a step in the right direction, from a utilitarian perspective this approach might be counterproductive as improved animal welfare could make the consumption of animals seem less unethical and therefore increase consumption (Muraille 2018). Ultimately, many advocates against speciesism seek a total abolition of animal agriculture, believing there is no ethical or humane way to exploit an animal for profit and consumption (Rosenfeld 2019).…”