Boonstoppel, Merleyn (2025) Meat Dissonance: The Effect of Inconsistencies on Behavioural Change Stabilisation. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
This study examined whether awareness of inconsistencies between meat consumption and biospheric values accelerates the speed of behavioural change stabilisation. Drawing on cognitive dissonance theory and a consistency-based model of behavioural change, it was hypothesised that participants prompted to reflect on their behaviour would experience greater dissonance. Driving faster behavioural change indicated by more change stabilisation. In a ten-day diary study, 76 omnivorous participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental condition (n = 36), involving daily tracking, plant-based informational content, and added reflection and meal planning prompts, or a control condition (n = 40), which received tracking and information only. Measures included daily meat consumption (in portions), perceived dissonance, and biospheric values. A change stabilisation ratio (CSR) was used to assess behavioural stability. Preregistered analyses did not yield statistically significant differences in behavioural stabilisation or dissonance between groups. However, exploratory analyses suggested trends in the hypothesised direction, with the experimental group showing descriptively greater meat reduction and stabilisation. Individual-level dissonance was negatively associated with meat consumption, supporting the general dissonance mechanism. Participants with lower prior knowledge of meat's environmental impact experienced a larger effect of the intervention, supporting the effect of belief challenging information in dissonance arousal. Although no conclusive support was found for the effect of awareness of inconsistencies on the speed of behavioural change stabilisation, directionally consistent differences could suggest support for the hypothesized mechanism. Future studies with larger samples and extended durations are needed to clarify the temporal dynamics of behavioural stabilisation.
| 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 13:36 |
| Last Modified: | 05 Aug 2025 13:36 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5819 |
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