The Role of State and Trait Emotional Empathy Toward Animals in the Associations of Dissociation and Meat Consumption

Abstract

Many people enjoy eating meat but dislike the harming of animals that it entails. Dissociating meat from its animal origins has been identified as a powerful way to avoid cognitive dissonance resulting from this ‘meat paradox’. Extending previous research, this study examined the effect of dissociation on meat consumption and elucidate the role of state and trait emotional empathy toward animals in the associations of dissociation and meat consumption. Using a between-subjects design, participants were randomly allocated to dissociation-blocking condition or dissociation condition and completed measures of trait emotional empathy, state emotional empathy and positivity toward meat consuming. Results showed that dissociation-blocking was associated with reduced positivity to meat consuming. State emotional empathy mediated the association between dissociation and meat consumption and trait emotional empathy moderated the direct effect of dissociation on meat consumption, exactly, among participants who scored lower in trait emotional empathy, the effect of dissociation on meat consumption was significant, while among those who scored high in trait emotional empathy, the effect of dissociation on meat consumption was insignificant. To conclude, the present study demonstrated the effect of dissociation on meat consumption and further revealed the mediation effect of state emotional empathy and the moderation effect of trait emotional empathy in the associations between dissociation and meat consumption, which provided a unique insight into the relationship between dissociation and meat consumption.