A Motivated Defense of Meat: Biased Perceptions of Meat's Environmental Impact

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Abstract
Reducing meat consumption is a highly effective strategy for living sustainably, yet many consumers do not recognize the effectiveness of this strategy. While this may be due in part to a gap in awareness, consumers may be motivated to see changing meat consumption as a relatively ineffective strategy compared to other, more direct strategies. In two studies, participants who were weakly identified as “meat‐eaters” and who were more concerned about the environment were more willing to reduce their meat consumption. However, perceived effectiveness of meat reduction as a mitigation strategy mediated this relationship, suggesting that internal motivations may drive perceptions of effectiveness. Participants in a community sample also reacted negatively to a message about meat's effectiveness, though this reaction was mitigated by environmental concern.

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