ABSTRACT
In studies conducted in the US and Poland, vegans, non-vegan vegetarians, pescatarians, and omnivores described how they perceived they were treated by others as a function of their diet. We found that vegans thought that others treated them more negatively because of their diets than vegetarians or pescatarians did, and pescatarians thought that others treated them less negatively than vegans and vegetarians did. In Study 1 (N = 96), we found that vegans, vegetarians, and pescatarians thought that others treated them more negatively because of their diet than omnivores did. Moreover, perceptions of negative treatment were positively related to how much participants’ diets differed from an omnivorous diet. We replicated these findings in Study 2 (N = 1744), and we also found that vegans, vegetarians, and pescatarians thought that others treated them more positively in some ways compared to omnivores. In Study 3 (N = 1322), we found that differences in perceptions of negative treatment by strangers among vegans, vegetarians, and pescatarians were larger than differences in perceptions of treatment by friends and family members.
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As noted in the text, all data and materials are available via the Open Science Foundation.
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The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/b93fv.
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Notes on contributors
John B. Nezlek
John B. Nezlek is a Professor at SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, and the College of William & Mary. His research interests include vegetarianism as a social psychological construct and prosociality.
Catherine A. Forestell
Catherine A. Forestell is an Associate Professor at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, USA. Her research interests include development of food preferences in children and psychological determinants of eating behaviors in adults
Joanna Tomczyk
Joanna Tomczyk is a doctoral student at SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw. Her research interests include the effects of gratitude on well-being and vegetarianism.
Marzena Cypryańska
Marzena Cypryańska is an Assistant Professor at SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland, and she is Director of Center for Climate Action and Social Transformation (4CAST) at SWPS. Her research interests include climate change mitigation and prosociality.