{"title":"Meatless but not mindless: Cognitive style, meat exclusion and the role of underlying motives","authors":"Laurent Bègue , Kevin Vezirian","doi":"10.1016/j.foodqual.2025.105496","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Drawing upon previous studies showing that food choices were related to cognitive style, and using a preregistered large-scale national survey (<em>N</em> > 46,000), we replicated the finding that a reflective cognitive style was inversely linked to meat consumption. Moreover, we showed that meat excluders motivated by animal welfare displayed a less reflective cognitive style than those motivated by environmental concern. Self-attributed intelligence (SAI) was similarly related to diet choice and motivation for vegetarianism. SAI was higher among vegetarians/vegans compared to omnivores, and higher among vegetarians/vegans for the environment compared to vegetarian/vegans for animals. These results were independent of participants' gender, age, and education. This study thereby confirmed the relevance of using cognitive style to analyze real-life issues with consequential effects on human activity and planetary health and may inform strategies aimed at increasing the popularity of plant-based diets.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":322,"journal":{"name":"Food Quality and Preference","volume":"129 ","pages":"Article 105496"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Food Quality and Preference","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950329325000710","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"FOOD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Drawing upon previous studies showing that food choices were related to cognitive style, and using a preregistered large-scale national survey (N > 46,000), we replicated the finding that a reflective cognitive style was inversely linked to meat consumption. Moreover, we showed that meat excluders motivated by animal welfare displayed a less reflective cognitive style than those motivated by environmental concern. Self-attributed intelligence (SAI) was similarly related to diet choice and motivation for vegetarianism. SAI was higher among vegetarians/vegans compared to omnivores, and higher among vegetarians/vegans for the environment compared to vegetarian/vegans for animals. These results were independent of participants' gender, age, and education. This study thereby confirmed the relevance of using cognitive style to analyze real-life issues with consequential effects on human activity and planetary health and may inform strategies aimed at increasing the popularity of plant-based diets.
期刊介绍:
Food Quality and Preference is a journal devoted to sensory, consumer and behavioural research in food and non-food products. It publishes original research, critical reviews, and short communications in sensory and consumer science, and sensometrics. In addition, the journal publishes special invited issues on important timely topics and from relevant conferences. These are aimed at bridging the gap between research and application, bringing together authors and readers in consumer and market research, sensory science, sensometrics and sensory evaluation, nutrition and food choice, as well as food research, product development and sensory quality assurance. Submissions to Food Quality and Preference are limited to papers that include some form of human measurement; papers that are limited to physical/chemical measures or the routine application of sensory, consumer or econometric analysis will not be considered unless they specifically make a novel scientific contribution in line with the journal''s coverage as outlined below.