The Role of Cognitive Styles and Sociodemographic Characteristics in Consumer Perceptions and Attitudes Toward Nonhuman Animal Welfare

Abstract

Given the increasing importance of exploring consumers' concerns about the welfare of farmed animals, a survey questionnaire was designed to investigate the role of cognitive styles along with sociodemographic characteristics in consumers' perceptions about nonhuman animal welfare (AW) and their willingness to pay for animal-friendly products. The results revealed that the survey respondents were concerned about AW and had negative perceptions of the way animals were treated. They showed positive attitudes toward some actions to be taken for improving AW and strongly agreed to pay more for animal-friendly products. Consistent with previous studies, results revealed significant associations between sociodemographics and concern toward AW. However, some observed differences were highlighted by cognitive styles rather than by sociodemographic characteristics. These results indicate a significant link between cognitive styles and perceptions and attitudes toward AW, which may outweigh previously found sociodemographic differences and fuel the contemporary debate on AW.

Keywords::

• animal welfare
• cognitive styles
• consumer attitudes
• empathizing
• systemizing