Gaillard, Amélie (2025) Dining on Dissonance: Modeling Behavioral Change in Response to the Meat Paradox. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Meat consumption significantly contributes to environmental degradation, health issues, and animal suffering, creating a moral conflict for many meat eaters. This phenomenon, known as the meat paradox, is an example of cognitive dissonance. This thesis investigates whether inducing this meat-related cognitive dissonance (MRCD) leads to more unstable patterns of meat consumption change over time, compared to a baseline meat reduction intervention alone. In a 10-day longitudinal experiment (N = 65), participants received either a moral (MRCD) or logistical (control) framing of a meat reduction intervention, and self-reported their meat consumption daily. While participants in the MRCD condition showed slightly higher variability in day-to-day changes in meat intake, no statistically significant differences were observed between groups. Manipulation checks revealed no significant differences in self-reported dissonance, suggesting a potential failure in eliciting sufficient discomfort or possible disengagement. Nonetheless, a bimodal distribution of change variability emerged, suggesting two processes of behavioral change, with more unstable changers in the MRCD group. These findings, while inconclusive, highlight the complexity of dissonance-reduction dynamics and underscore the need for further research into the temporal patterns of behavior change in the context of meat reduction.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Muinos Trujillo, G. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Environmental Psychology (EP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Aug 2025 12:26 |
| Last Modified: | 05 Aug 2025 12:26 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5805 |
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