Intergroup attitudes between meat-eaters and meat-avoiders: The role of dietary ingroup identification

Why might some meat-eaters and meat-avoiders express negative attitudes toward each other? We investigated intergroup attitudes and potential underpinnings of these attitudes across three different dietary groups-veg*ans (vegetarians and vegans), flexitarians (people who restrict their meat intake partially), and meat-eaters-in Turkey (N-Study 1 = 366; N-Study 2 = 450). In both studies, veg*ans showed the greatest ingroup favouritism and reported the highest ingroup identification and perceived discrimination. Meat enjoyment, moral consideration, and perceived veg*an threat (among meat-eaters) predicted dietary ingroup identification in Study 1, whereas perceived discrimination towards one's dietary group was the strongest predictor of identification among all dietary groups in Study 2. Among meat-avoiders, but not among meat-eaters, stronger dietary ingroup identification was associated with more negative outgroup attitudes. Findings are discussed in light of social identity theories and intergroup perspectives.

Automated summary

The study found that there is a strong sense of group identity and perceived discrimination between vegetarians/vegans and meat-eaters, while stronger dietary ingroup identification among meat-avoiders is associated with more negative outgroup attitudes.