VEG*NS’ AND OMNIVORES’ RECIPROCAL ATTITUDES: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL DOMINANCE ORIENTATION, INGROUP IDENTIFICATION, AND ANTICIPATED REPROACH

Previous research has investigated the existence of and reasons for the commonplace prejudice omnivores hold against vegetarians and vegans (“veg*ns”), with only a couple of recent studies also examining the other way round. Two studies, ran in different contexts, aimed to assess and compare omnivores’ and veg*ns’ attitudes toward each other and to identify the social psychological factor explaining them. Study 1 (N = 216, Italian) showed that veg*ns’ attitudes toward omnivores were more negative than the reverse and that this difference was fully explained by veg*ns’ stronger identification with the ingroup and higher perceptions of reproach from the outgroup, even if omnivores’ higher levels of social dominance orientation (SDO) worsened their attitude toward the outgroup. Study 2 (N = 200, mostly from UK) aimed to confirm these findings in a different context, also measuring implicit attitudes. Results replicated Study 1 findings at an explicit level. Interestingly, veg*ns’ and omnivores’ implicit attitudes toward each other were equally positive and were not predicted by the same mediators associated with explicit attitudes, i.e., ingroup identification, anticipated reproach and SDO. The implications of the results for both theory and practice are discussed.