A matter of preparation
Investigating the differential effects of disassembling and cooking on meat-related perceptions and conflict
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19590398 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Benjamin Buttlar (0000-0003-2660-9204, Universität Trier), L Albert Hahn (0000-0001-5989-5396, Leibniz Institute for Psychology), Lena Hahn, Monique Chambon (0000-0002-4884-0880, University of Amsterdam) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 4 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-29 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Psychology of Human-Animal Intergroup Relations (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2750-6649 • E-ISSN: 2750-6649 |
| Publisher | Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.5964/phair.17919 |
| OpenAlex | W4415653709 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 34 |
Food preparation plays a key role in shaping how people perceive meat: It helps people to dissociate meat from its animal origin and allows them to eat meat without experiencing conflict. However, experimental research in this area mostly disregards or confounds two food preparation steps: disassembling and cooking. To test how disassembling and cooking affect perceptions about meat dishes, we conducted secondary analyses of a sample of omnivores from a U.S.-representative dataset ( N = 1,189). In this study, participants indicated meat perceptions (self-report) in response to a picture of one meat dish that varied in the degree of disassembling (i.e., whole parts vs. chopped/minced) and cooking (i.e., raw vs. cooked). Leveraging this experimental setup, multi-level analyses revealed that disassembling and cooking reduced compassion elicited by meat dishes. Disassembling also decreased general emotional arousal, while cooking reduced negative evaluations, conflict experiences in felt ambivalence, and specific negative emotions such as disgust and anger, while increasing valence perceptions more generally and the desire to eat the dish. Moreover, psychological network analyses showed that the relations of meat-related perceptions with each other do not differ significantly between food preparation steps. By offering nuanced insights into how food preparation affects conflict experiences as well as other affective and attitudinal meat-related perceptions, this research offers various theoretical and practical implications. We therefore discuss key considerations for future research on meat-related perceptions and identify when and which interventions may be most necessary and effective in encouraging reduced meat consumption
Behaviour change · Disgust · Food preparation · Perception · Raw meat · Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact · Food Waste Reduction and Sustainability · Organic Food and Agriculture
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Food for thought
| Highly cited | No |
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