Callous Carnivores: Do only jerks eat meat?
Research on personality studies show higher level of meat consumption among those individuals with lower levels of compassion and lower pro-environmental attitudes. Other work has gone further into exploring the personalities of meat-eaters, finding significant associations with dark triad personality traits (i.e. Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy), and greater expression of social dominance orientation, self-centredness, and entitlement.
SOPHIE ATTWOOD: Much has been written on the link between the ‘OCEAN’ model and diet, with personality, particularly higher neuroticism and lower conscientiousness, associated with… poorer dietary habits… This model states that each of us are a mixture of high and low scores on five core personality traits — openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism — and this mix leads us to act in predictable ways…
It seems that these specific personality characteristics leave us prone to more impulsive eating, as food is used to salve negative emotions… For example, people with higher openness tend to eat less red meat — the type of meat that is worse for the environment — while those who are more conscientious are more likely to adopt sustainable, plant-rich diets.
Conversely, it’s the extraverts amongst us who consume more meat overall, while those who score lower on agreeableness — the aforementioned ‘jerks’ of the world — report more barriers to consuming plant-based diets, including greater attachment to meat and lower pro-environmental attitudes. On the other hand, vegans usually rate much higher on agreeableness compared to omnivores.
Drilling into these associations, researchers have explored which specific sub-facets of these traits explain dietary differences, concluding that the intellectually explorative nature of high-openness individuals makes them more willing to try new dietary trends, including going vegan or sampling novel proteins.
Conversely, higher meat consumption among those with lower agreeableness appears to stem from lower levels of compassion, whilst the agreeableness sub-facet of “politeness” plays a lesser role in preferences for meat.
Other work has gone further into exploring the personalities of meat-eaters compared to vegetarians, finding significant associations with dark triad personality traits (i.e. Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy), and greater expression of social dominance orientation, self-centredness, and entitlement.
While these associations may be interesting, the question remains as to whether they are worth knowing if our personalities represent a fixed and enduring orientation to the world? If we can’t change who we are, how can we possibly change what we eat?
One clear application here is in how we adapt the ways we “sell” plant-based foods to different personality profiles… For example, as extraverts may be eating more meat during social gatherings or when dining out with friends, we could target these occasions specifically, working to emphasize how non-meat choices can be shared and enjoyed with others…
Equally, as those who score lower on agreeableness are less prone to empathize with others, traditional persuasive messages that highlight the health or societal benefits of dietary shifts are unlikely to work. Instead, marketing meat-free diets in terms of their clear benefits to the self, or otherwise highlighting the decision to change diet as a way to assert personal dominance or affirm self-identity may prove more effective…
Given the accumulation of research to show that our personalities influence our dietary choices, it is a factor that should be considered more extensively as part of our ongoing efforts to promote healthier, more sustainable diets for all. SOURCE…
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