The psychology of meat consumption and human–animal relations
The distance we keep between the animal and the meal.
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Most people care about animals and most people eat them. This strand studies the psychological work that keeps those two facts from meeting — and what happens to consumption when that work is interrupted.
Dissociation is built into how meat reaches us
How meat is presented, prepared and talked about determines how easily it is eaten. Processing, naming and plating all increase willingness to eat by reducing empathy for the animal and disgust at the product. The effect is not a quirk of individual squeamishness — it is engineered into the supply chain, and a systematic review establishes how consistently it appears across the literature.
Interrupting it changes behaviour
Cross-cultural experiments show that exposure to unprocessed meat moderates the effect of dissociation, and that cuteness alters consumption — animals perceived as cute become harder to eat. Field-style work testing daily reminders about the animal-welfare, environmental and health consequences of meat measures what actually shifts consumption rather than merely attitudes.
Measuring it properly
The Passive and Active Meat-Animal Dissociation Scale gives the field an instrument that separates dissociation people are handed from dissociation they actively perform — a distinction that matters for designing interventions, and one taken up in applied work on shifting diets by strengthening the association between animal products and living beings.
- 7Papers in this strand
- 4Journals & publishers
- 2016–Active since
Papers in this strand
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From carnivore to conscientious: Shifting diets by strengthening consumers’ association of animal products with living beings
Routledge · forthcoming · Meat & human–animal relations
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Development of the passive and active meat-animal dissociation scale (mads)
Psychology of Human-Animal Intergroup Relations · 2024 · Meat & human–animal relations
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Daily reminders about the animal-welfare, environmental and health consequences of meat and their main and moderated effects on meat consumption
Cleaner and Responsible Consumption · 2022 · Meat & human–animal relations
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Dissociating meat from its animal origins: A systematic literature review
Appetite · 2020 · Meat & human–animal relations
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The effects of dissociation on willingness to eat meat are moderated by exposure to unprocessed meat: A cross-cultural demonstration
Appetite, 120 · 2018 · Meat & human–animal relations
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Too sweet to eat: Exploring the effects of cuteness on meat consumption
Appetite, 120 · 2018 · Meat & human–animal relations
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Meat eaters by dissociation: How we present, prepare and talk about meat increases willingness to eat meat by reducing empathy and disgust
Appetite, 105 · 2016 · Meat & human–animal relations
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‘They're eating our pets!’: When disgust and perceived cruelty combine to heighten prejudice
British Journal of Social Psychology, 65 · 2026 · Intergroup relations
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
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Jonas R. Kunst's research on human-animal relations examines the so-called "meat paradox" — how people who care about animal welfare continue to eat meat by psychologically dissociating the product from the living animal. This work has been covered by Vice, Aftenposten, and Psychologie Heute, and provides insights into how cognitive dissonance operates in everyday moral decision-making.
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Yes, though modestly and under specific conditions. Experiments show that exposure to unprocessed meat moderates the effect of dissociation, and that cuteness alters consumption — animals perceived as cute become harder to eat. Work testing daily reminders about the animal-welfare, environmental and health consequences of meat measures what shifts actual consumption rather than stated attitudes, which is the harder and more informative test. The broader implication is that dissociation is not a fixed trait but a state the food environment produces, and can therefore be designed differently.
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