The psychology of meat consumption: an investigation of attitudes, identity and norms

Food is given increasing attention worldwide, especially for what its safeness, and production impacts on the quality of human life and environment (Expo 2015). Among all types of food, meat is the one that endorses more meanings than any other. However, the claim of meat, has risen considerably over the years, causing major consequences on health and the environment, at both personal and social level. This PhD thesis analyzes factors related to attitudes towards eating meat, with a specific focus on identity and norms, using a quali-quantitative approach. A qualitative study has been carried out to examine in depth psychological drivers and social contexts of meat in diets and lifestyles, focusing on their evolution and changes over lifetime. Fourteen life histories interviews were then analyzed using thematic analysis. Subsequently, two parallel quantitative studies investigated factors influencing meat consumption at present-day, in a broader sample (264 Italians and 237 Britons). With that aim, a survey has been conducted using a made to purpose questionnaire integrating core aspects of the Identity and Norms theories with the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), which allow to explore the role and the interaction of social variables (e.g., group norms, social identification) and individual variables (e.g., Self-identity). The Life Histories thematic analysis proved to be a useful and effective method in collecting information and deeply seated factors affecting meat consumption and related practices. It revealed its complexity and the influential role of individuals, society, cultures and rituals. Interestingly, on the personal side, Self-identity and social norm emerge as key psychological factors. The multiple regression analysis for the Italian sample showed that the TPB components accounted for 20% of the variance in eating meat. As expected, these results provided support for intention, perceived behavioral control and Self-identity as statistically significant predictors of meat eating behavior. As far as intention is concerned, the whole model explained nearly 40% of the proportion of the variance of an individual’s intention to eat meat. In this case, results provided support for perceived behavioral control, and Self-Identity as statistically significant predictors of intention to eat meat. Instead, for the Britons, the same model explained nearly 60% of the proportion of the variance of a meat eating behavior and almost 80% of the variance of intention to eat meat. Specifically, these results provided support for intention and healthy-eater identity as predictors of meat eating behavior, whilst attitudes, perceived behavioral control, healthy-eater identity and Self-identity as meat eater were statistically significant predictors of intention to eat meat. Unexpectedly, the role of social variables (e.g., group norms, social identification) were not significant in both samples. This PhD project produced an advancement in the knowledge of psychological factors behind meat consumption, with particular reference to the Italian context. The strategic choice of integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches allowed to overcome intrinsic limitations of both, thus allowing an articulate, in-depth vision of attitudes, identity and norm. Results may offer interesting benefits for new information strategies targeting psychological variables, such as those above and provide new insights for the study of food and eating behaviors in non-clinical contexts.