The Meat Paradox: Investigating Cognitive Dissonance and Strategies to Oppose It

Abstract

The conflict between the belief that eating meat
holds harmful effects, and the actual behaviour of
eating meat, can lead to cognitive dissonance. The
present study aims to investigate the dynamics of
this dissonance, and ways to oppose it. To test
whether omnivores experience cognitive
dissonance, participants filled out an Animal Care
Scale and an Animal Consumption Scale. A Pearson
R correlational analysis was used to determine
whether cognitive dissonance was present. There
was no significant correlation between the ACaS
and the ACoS. The differences between groups
were however significant. Furthermore, several
strategies to oppose cognitive dissonance have been
identified.