The DOI matches its Crossref record; 43 of the 45 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Efforts to overcome vegetarian-induced dissonance among meat eaters
Abstract
Meat eaters face dissonance whether it results from inconsistency ("I eat meat; I don't like to hurt animals"), aversive consequences ("I eat meat; eating meat harms animals"), or threats to self image ("I eat meat; compassionate people don't hurt animals"). The present work proposes that there are a number of strategies that omnivores adopt to reduce this dissonance including avoidance, dissociation, perceived behavioral change, denial of animal pain, denial of animal mind, pro-meat justifications, reducing perceived choice, and actual behavioral change. The presence of vegetarians was speculated to cause meat eating to be a scrutinized behavior, remind meat eaters of their discomfort, and undermine the effectiveness of these strategies. It was therefore hypothesized that exposure to a description of a vegetarian would lead omnivores to embrace dissonance-reducing strategies. Supporting this hypothesis, participants who read a vignette about a vegetarian denied animal mind more than participants who read about a gluten-free individual. It was also hypothesized that omnivores would be sensitive to individual differences between vegetarians and would demonstrate using dissonance-reducing strategies more when the situation failed to provide cognitions consonant with eating meat or to reduce dissonant cognitions. Four experiments supported this prediction and found that authentic vegetarians, vegetarians freely making the decision to abandon meat, consistent vegetarians, and ant…
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“even just the mention of someone being vegetarian in a short story makes subjects less likely to attribute emotions to animals (Rothgerber, 2014).”
From Conative Dissonance (2026) · cites this paper as Rothgerber, 2014
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Cites
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(1991) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.28-3347 · Cited by 1,406
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Flagged first, then by citations
2 of the 45 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Festinger, 1957, Vol. 2
- Rothgerber, 2014, “But I don't eat that much meat”. Situational underreporting of meat consumption by women, Society and Animals
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Items 201–207 of 207
Associations Between Meat Consumption and Depression Are Small and Unlikely to Be Causal
Tan, N. P., Krämer, M. D., Haehner, P., Bleidorn, W., & Hopwood, C. J. (2026) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/09567976261426226
The suppression of moral engagement in consumer responses to animal slaughter
Fonseca, R. P., Groeve, B. D., Camilleri, L., Godinho, C. I. A., & Prada, M. (2026) · Food Quality and Preference · doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2026.105929
Social identity formation and its influence on behaviors : a study of vegetarian communities
Dominguez, E. S. (2023) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/661b5177zf56fz4c49z9258z86e196f19d95
Escaping from the Meat Paradox: How Morality and Disgust Affect Meat-Related AmbivalencePreprint
Buttlar, B., & Walther, E. (2026) · OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints)
Zou, N., Herrero‐Langreo, A., Fonseca, R. P., & Perussello, C. A. (2026) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su18147102
The silent alarm: Ethical and cognitive discomfort in palliative care decision-making
de Camargo, J. D., & Geber-Junior, J. C. (2026) · Palliative & Supportive Care · doi:10.1017/s1478951526103149
Metadata
- Authors
- Rothgerber, H.
- Affiliations
- Bellarmine University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Rothgerber, Hank
- ORCID
- Rothgerber, Hank
- Venue
- Appetite
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-08
- Volume
- 79
- Pages
- 32-41
- ISSN
- 0195-6663 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2122646351
- Cited by
- 207
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 9.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Appetite (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Law › Animal Law and Welfare
- Keywords
- cognitive dissonance, vegetarian diet, meat consumption, omnivores, self-image, moral inconsistency
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Cognitive Dissonance, Eating, Feeding Behavior, Female, Humans, Male, Meat, Middle Aged, Morals, Diet, Vegetarian, Young Adult
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