HEXACO Personality Traits and Dietary Patterns: Associations in the Context of the Meat Paradox

The meat paradox describes the phenomenon whereby individuals continue to consume meat despite being aware of its negative consequences, such as animal suffering and greenhouse gas emissions. According to Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance, this is possible by the reduction of the negative affect caused by the discrepancy between individual cognitions and behavior. The planned research project examines the influence of the six personality aspects of the HEXACO model on various mechanisms of dissonance reduction in meat consumption. This includes both justification-based strategies and behavioral change, including vegetarianism and willingness to reduce meat consumption. Furthermore, according to former studies, age, gender, and political orientation are important confounding variables and must be collected and controlled. The results could be used for various personality-based interventions with the aim of encouraging people to adopt a lower-meat or even meat-free diet.