Spontaneous verbal descriptions of vegans, non-vegan vegetarians, and omnivores and relationships between these descriptions and perceivers' diets.

Participants, 672 US collegians, listed four words/terms that first came to mind when thinking of vegans, non-vegan vegetarians, and omnivores. Participants generated 1264 unique descriptors, which two sets of raters, who were blind to the source of the descriptors, rated on 10 dimensions that inclu...

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Main Authors: John B Nezlek, Catherine A Forestell, Harini Krishnamurti
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2023-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0293899&type=printable
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author John B Nezlek
Catherine A Forestell
Harini Krishnamurti
author_facet John B Nezlek
Catherine A Forestell
Harini Krishnamurti
author_sort John B Nezlek
collection DOAJ
description Participants, 672 US collegians, listed four words/terms that first came to mind when thinking of vegans, non-vegan vegetarians, and omnivores. Participants generated 1264 unique descriptors, which two sets of raters, who were blind to the source of the descriptors, rated on 10 dimensions that included the valence of the descriptors (i.e., positive, negative). A series of multilevel models in which descriptors were nested within persons, found that descriptors referring to environmental issues and health were used more frequently when describing both vegans and vegetarians than when describing omnivores. Descriptors referring to deviance, lifestyle, and politics were used more frequently when describing both vegans and vegetarians than when describing omnivores. Overall, vegans were viewed more negatively than vegetarians who were viewed more negatively than omnivores. These differences were moderated by the extent to which participants restricted meat from their diet. Those who restricted meat from their diets to a greater extent had more negative perceptions and fewer positive perceptions of omnivores, whereas they had more positive perceptions of vegans and vegetarians, and fewer positive perceptions of omnivores. The present study is the first to use spontaneous verbal reports to examine attitudes and perceptions of people based on their eating habits. The results suggest that dietary habits can serve as a basis for social identity, which in turn affects perceptions of others.
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spelling doaj.art-54df067c93d743478f0ebf97c3efc4532023-12-24T05:33:27ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-011812e029389910.1371/journal.pone.0293899Spontaneous verbal descriptions of vegans, non-vegan vegetarians, and omnivores and relationships between these descriptions and perceivers' diets.John B NezlekCatherine A ForestellHarini KrishnamurtiParticipants, 672 US collegians, listed four words/terms that first came to mind when thinking of vegans, non-vegan vegetarians, and omnivores. Participants generated 1264 unique descriptors, which two sets of raters, who were blind to the source of the descriptors, rated on 10 dimensions that included the valence of the descriptors (i.e., positive, negative). A series of multilevel models in which descriptors were nested within persons, found that descriptors referring to environmental issues and health were used more frequently when describing both vegans and vegetarians than when describing omnivores. Descriptors referring to deviance, lifestyle, and politics were used more frequently when describing both vegans and vegetarians than when describing omnivores. Overall, vegans were viewed more negatively than vegetarians who were viewed more negatively than omnivores. These differences were moderated by the extent to which participants restricted meat from their diet. Those who restricted meat from their diets to a greater extent had more negative perceptions and fewer positive perceptions of omnivores, whereas they had more positive perceptions of vegans and vegetarians, and fewer positive perceptions of omnivores. The present study is the first to use spontaneous verbal reports to examine attitudes and perceptions of people based on their eating habits. The results suggest that dietary habits can serve as a basis for social identity, which in turn affects perceptions of others.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0293899&type=printable
spellingShingle John B Nezlek
Catherine A Forestell
Harini Krishnamurti
Spontaneous verbal descriptions of vegans, non-vegan vegetarians, and omnivores and relationships between these descriptions and perceivers' diets.
PLoS ONE
title Spontaneous verbal descriptions of vegans, non-vegan vegetarians, and omnivores and relationships between these descriptions and perceivers' diets.
title_full Spontaneous verbal descriptions of vegans, non-vegan vegetarians, and omnivores and relationships between these descriptions and perceivers' diets.
title_fullStr Spontaneous verbal descriptions of vegans, non-vegan vegetarians, and omnivores and relationships between these descriptions and perceivers' diets.
title_full_unstemmed Spontaneous verbal descriptions of vegans, non-vegan vegetarians, and omnivores and relationships between these descriptions and perceivers' diets.
title_short Spontaneous verbal descriptions of vegans, non-vegan vegetarians, and omnivores and relationships between these descriptions and perceivers' diets.
title_sort spontaneous verbal descriptions of vegans non vegan vegetarians and omnivores and relationships between these descriptions and perceivers diets
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0293899&type=printable
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