Edited by Jacy Reese Anthis. Many thanks to Matti Wilks, Chris Bryant, Jacob Peacock, Pegah Maham, Tom Beggs, Marta Wronska, and Jamie Parry for providing feedback.^[1]

Abstract

There is limited research on the effects of animal-free food technologies (AFFT), such as cultured meat and new plant-based foods that accurately mimic animal products, on attitudes toward animal farming. This study found that providing participants with information about AFFT significantly lowered animal farming opposition (AFO) relative to participants who were provided with information about low-technology plant-based foods or about an unrelated topic. The results suggest that including information about AFFT in advocacy materials can be detrimental to attitudinal change. Information about low-technology plant-based foods had no significant effects on AFO relative to information about an unrelated topic, so does not seem to have this downside.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Many animal advocates support the development of new animal-free food technologies (hereafter AFFT), such as new plant-based foods that accurately mimic animal products and cultured meat (that is, products cultured from animal cells without requiring the slaughter of any animals). These technologies have the potential to dramatically displace the consumption of conventional animal products and thereby reduce the harms of animal agriculture.^[2] The market for highly meat-like plant-based products is growing^[3] and the cultured meat market is poised to take off in the coming years.^[4]

Therefore, the market effects of the future mass adoption of AFFT, if it happens as predicted, seem likely positive, but the social effects of today’s discussions of AFFT are less clear. How does discussion of AFFT affect attitudes towards animal farming and AFFT? This question has important implications for the foundational question of whether effectiveness-focused advocates should prioritize working on social change, such as through activism, or on developing better AFFT.^[5] For example, if awareness of AFFT reduces support for policies that restrict animal farming (e.g. a ban on slaughterhouses), perhaps because consumers think the ethical and environmental problems of animal farming will be solved anyway by AFFT, then this is a negative impact of activism that emphasizes AFFT.

The full list of hypotheses for this study and our estimates of the likelihood of particular outcomes are available here. The second tab provides summaries of our views on the foundational questions that we hoped that this study would provide evidence on, before, and after the data was collected.

The effects of AFFT on Animal Farming Opposition

The main aim of this study was to assess whether and to what extent Animal Farming Opposition (AFO) is affected by the provision of information about AFFT.

In this study, AFO was measured through five questions from Sentience Institute’s 2017 and 2019 US surveys, selected based on exploratory factor analysis.^[6] These questions ask about people’s willingness to support bans on animal farming, factory farming, or slaughterhouses, their willingness to join a demonstration against factory farming, and their discomfort with the way animals are used in the food industry.

There are several plausible psychological mechanisms through which AFFT might influence AFO:

• It might increase the cognitive dissonance experienced by omnivores by emphasizing that conventional animal products are made using animals and that alternatives to these products exist.^[7] To reduce this dissonance, omnivores may change the underlying beliefs that are dissonant with the emphasized information, such as by reducing their care for animals.^[8] Alternatively, if emphasizing the availability of AFFT leads omnivores to expect that they will eat fewer animal products in the future,^[9] this might reduce the need for omnivores to engage in these dissonance-reducing strategies. In other words, omnivores might expect to gain the freedom to care about animals, so they might move towards the level of care that they would have in a world where they did not eat animals.
• It might challenge the justifications for animal product consumption. In one survey, the “4 N’s” of meat consumption (“the belief that eating meat is natural, normal, necessary, and nice”) accounted for 83–91% of the top three justifications given by each consumer for why they believe it is acceptable to eat meat.^[10] Awareness of AFFT could reduce confidence in the beliefs that eating animal products is necessary (if AFFT is seen as a viable alternative), nicer than the alternatives (if AFFT are also seen to be similarly enjoyable to consume), or normal (if consumption of AFFT is perceived to be widespread). There is evidence that increased familiarity with AFFTs and perceptions that cultured meat is more widely consumed are associated with stronger intentions to consume them.^[11] Awareness could, however, strengthen the naturalness rationale by suggesting that animal-free alternatives are unnatural.
• It might decrease the extent to which people associate animals with food by disentangling animals with meat, dairy, or egg products. Previous studies have demonstrated that people ascribe lower mental capacities to animals that they consider appropriate for human consumption.^[12] Alternatively, it could increase the association of animals with food by emphasizing that many food products currently contain animals.^[13]
• It might increase people’s optimism that animal farming will end. This could make people less likely to dismiss actions to help animals as only a “drop in the bucket,” making a small contribution to addressing a vast and unsolvable problem. Previous studies have found evidence of a collapse of compassion as awareness of the number of victims increases,^[14] and of proportion dominance, the phenomenon whereby addressing a large proportion of a problem is preferred to making a larger absolute contribution when the proportion of the problem that would be addressed in the latter case is lower.^[15] Alternatively, it could encourage perceptions of the end of animal farming as inevitable, and make people more likely to dismiss actions to help animals as unnecessary.
• It might be viewed as an alternative to animal farming, and thus if participants see it as a good alternative, it makes animal farming seem relatively less appealing and AFO could increase. If participants see AFFT as a bad alternative, it makes animal farming seem relatively more appealing and AFO could decrease. Macdonald and Vivalt (2017) found evidence that changes in beliefs could be contingent upon perceptions of the quality of AFFT, which fits with this mechanism.^[16]

Increased awareness of AFFT could therefore encourage positive or negative changes in AFO.^[17]

Comparison to plausible counterfactuals

AFFT proponents can incorporate information about AFFT into online ads, op-eds, and documentaries, or choose to omit such information and focus on other messaging tactics. Previous research has found evidence that, compared to a no-information control, providing information about conventional animal farming affects attitudes and behaviors towards animals,^[18] but Macdonald and Vivalt (2017) found slightly negative effects of including information about AFFT within messaging about the harms of conventional animal farming.^[19] This suggests that animal advocates should prioritize messaging tactics that do not focus on AFFT, though Macdonald and Vivalt leave some room for optimism that some messaging around AFFT may still be effective.^[20] The present study provides more evidence on this topic using different messaging conditions and outcome measures. Two intervention groups received information about the development of AFFT products and one of the control groups received information about the development of a low-tech plant-based food product. Comparison between these groups reflects the differing effects of some of the messaging strategies available to farmed animal advocates and other AFFT proponents, such as emphasizing “conventional” or “low-tech” animal-free foods.

Food companies and researchers that produce, support, or sell AFFT can actively seek media attention through press releases or choose to share progress towards their goals only with investors and donors.^[21] News items about AFFT will not always compete for space on news sites, televisions, and social media feeds with other content about the harms of animal agriculture; instead, they may compete with mostly unrelated topics.^[22] To the authors’ knowledge, no experiment has evaluated the effects of news articles about AFFT compared to unrelated news content. Indirect evidence on this question has unclear implications. An experiment found that participants who read articles about animal welfare changes “were more likely to intend to reduce their consumption of animal products than participants who read the control articles”^[23] and an observational analysis of the US from 1982 to 2008 showed a negative association between media coverage of farmed animal welfare and meat consumption.^[24] However, there is evidence that increased public awareness of genetically modified foods was linked with increased negative sentiment.^[25] The effects of an overall increase in media reporting of AFFT are therefore unclear. Given that one of the control groups received information about an unrelated news topic, the use of mobile data to prevent traffic jams, this study provides insight into the likely effects of an overall increase in media reporting of AFFT.^[26]

Moderators and correlates

Several demographic and psychological characteristics have been found to predict interest in animal-free food or AFO (though not using the same scale), including gender, age, region, level of education, income, political orientation, food neophobia, distrust in science, preferences for naturalness, the extent to which people attribute mental capabilities to animals, and speciesist attitudes.^[27] This study aims to evaluate how these factors moderate the effects of information about animal-free foods on AFO, which could affect how advocates of AFFT vary their messaging across different targeted audiences.

Cultured meat and meat-like plant-based food may not have identical effects on AFO; including separate intervention groups for each of these product types, as well as for low-tech plant-based foods, allows clearer testing of the effects of all such variations on AFO. The authors are not aware of previous research that distinguishes between the effects of these three product types on AFO.^[28]

Value for further research

Finally, questions of effective animal advocacy and food activism are still relatively neglected research questions, which can be addressed with a variety of research methods.^[29] Researchers have used experiments to test the effect of advocacy messages on short-term reductions in animal product consumption,^[30] but have rarely used them with the explicit purpose of addressing gaps in our understanding of long-term social change, such as shaping behavior and attitudes that seem likely to be most influential in the future of the food system decades or centuries from now.^[31] As such, this experiment also aims to explore the tractability of this research approach.

Methodology

The methodology for this study was pre-registered on the Open Science Framework.^[32]

This survey was hosted on GuidedTrack, a survey platform that uses easily-customizable code. We used Amazon Mechanical Turk workers as our sample pool. We excluded participants from outside the US and participants who failed a comprehension check question or an attention check question, which was partly based on Hauser (2015).^[33] The participants were recruited via Positly, which has additional quality checks on participants, such as blocking duplicate IP addresses and blocking suspicious IP addresses.^[34] We ran separate versions of the survey for different age and gender groups so that our sample was representative of the US for these two demographic characteristics.^[35]

Our calculations suggested that a sample size of around 1500 would be sufficient to detect small effects.^[36] This exceeds the sample size that Cohen (1992) suggests would be needed to detect small effects in a multiple regression with 20 independent variables.^[37]

Participants were assigned to one of two AFFT groups or to one of two control groups using simple randomization, with an equal allocation ratio between the four.

The first intervention group was shown a short article about the development of cultured meat. The second intervention group was shown a similar article about the development of high-tech plant-based meats that accurately mimic meat. The first control group was shown an article about the development of low-tech plant-based foods that do not attempt to accurately mimic meat. The second control group was shown an unrelated article about the use of mobile data to prevent traffic jams.

The articles were chosen to represent plausible media coverage of animal-free food. The articles were developed from those used in previous studies of the effects of variations in the naming of cultured meat.^[38] Word count and reading ease were similar for all four articles.^[39]

The appendix contains the full text of the messages. Participants each saw only one message, followed by the AFO outcome questions, demographic questions, and other relevant psychological measures.

The AFO outcome measures were chosen based on Sentience Institute’s 2017 and 2019 US surveys.^[40] The order in which these AFO outcome measures were presented to participants was randomized.

The demographic questions were chosen to enable cross-comparability with SI’s (2019) US survey.^[41] The questions on distrust in science and food neophobia follow Wilks et al. in adapting questions from Frewer, Scholderer, and Bredahl (2003) and Pliner and Hobden (1992).^[42] The questions on preference for naturalness were also from Wilks et al. (2019).^[43] Following the recommendations of Hays, Hayashi, and Stewart (1989), a five-item measure of socially desirable response set was used.^[44] The questions on attribution of mental capabilities to animals follow Rothgerber’s (2014) adaptation of the scale used by Bastian et al. (2011).^[45] The speciesism scale was developed by Caviola, Everett, and Faber (2018).^[46] The order in which participants saw the questions on these psychological scales and on demographics was randomized, as was the order of the sub-questions within each psychological scale. Before the demographic questions, participants also saw questions about familiarity with animal-free foods, based on the question used by Bryant et al. (2019),^[47] and a question on participants’ intention to change their consumption of animal products.^[48]

Results

The statistical analysis was done with R with code available in the appendix, which was preregistered.^[49] A small number of data cleaning decisions were made following data collection.^[50] For the AFO outcome measures, the mean of question responses was used as the scale. Non-responses and participants who failed the attention or quality checks were excluded. A controlled false discovery rate (FDR) of 0.1 was used, meaning we are 90% sure any given significant result reflects an actual difference in responses, for the 20 tests in the confirmatory analysis.^[51]

After data cleaning, there were 1,502 valid responses.

We constructed a linear model to predict AFO “score.” The regression assessed whether and to what extent the AFO score was affected by 1) whether the participant was shown information about AFFT (either cultured meat or meat-like plant-based meat) or one of the two control groups (low-tech plant-based meat or the use of mobile data to prevent traffic jams), 2) participant demographic variables, using the most common characteristic as the comparison group for categorical variables with three or more categories, and 3) other relevant psychological measures, where the mean of question responses was used as the scale, except for in the five-item measure of socially desirable response set (SDRS), which was analyzed as a score between 0 and 5.

The regression finds that increasing individuals’ awareness of animal-free food technology has significant negative effects on animal farming opposition. The regression coefficient is -0.17 on the 5-point scale.^[52] Several other predictors are significantly correlated with AFO, as shown in table 1.

Table 1: Results of the confirmatory analysis linear regression

Multiple R-squared:  0.5081, Adjusted R-squared:  0.5014

* p < 0.10

** p < 0.05

*** p < 0.01

Exploratory analysis

Variations of the regression with fewer predictors were carried out.^[53] The full results are visible in the results spreadsheet. Participants’ speciesism, food neophobia, preference for naturalness, attribution of mental capabilities to animals, and conservatism are significant predictors of AFO in each regression in which they are included. Whether the participant read an article about AFFT or not is a significant predictor of AFO in all models except for the model including interaction terms between AFFT and food neophobia and between AFFT and preferences for naturalness. Participants’ distrust in science, SDRS, gender, income, ethnicity (other), ethnicity (black), age, education, and region (Northeast) are significant predictors in one or more of the regressions but not in all of the regressions in which they are included. Ethnicity (Asian), ethnicity (Hispanic), ethnicity (Native American), region (Midwest), and region (West) are not significant predictors in any of the models.

When prior familiarity with AFFT was added to the main model, it was significantly positively correlated with AFO. At first glance, this appears to have opposite implications to the main model. However, it seems likely that individuals who have high AFO are more likely to have sought out information about animal-free foods in general, including AFFT, or otherwise have been exposed to this information. Therefore, it seems plausible that high AFO causes higher AFFT awareness, rather than the reverse. As evidence of this hypothesis, awareness of “plant-based foods in general (i.e. vegetarian or vegan food)” was also added to the model. This predictor was found to significantly positively correlate with AFO and awareness of AFFT was no longer significant as a predictor.

When terms are added for the interaction between whether the participant read an article about AFFT or not and food neophobia and between whether the participant read an article about AFFT or not and preferences for naturalness, these interaction terms are not significant.

Additional variations of the regression were carried out that compared more directly between different combinations of treatment groups, as summarized in table 3 below. The full results are visible on the results spreadsheet.

Table 3: Exploratory analysis: Data subsets

* p < 0.10

** p < 0.05

*** p < 0.01

Additional regressions were carried out that checked whether participants’ speciesism, attribution of mental capacities to animals, intention to change their consumption of animal products, or discomfort with the way animals are used in the food industry (one of the five AFO questions) are affected by AFFT awareness. Exposure to the AFFT articles did not have a significant effect on any of these variables. In each of these four models, the adjusted R-squared values are substantially lower than in the main model where AFO was the dependent variable. The full results are visible on the results spreadsheet.

Discussion

Most of our hypotheses were rejected by this study or were inconclusive.

The decision of animal advocates on what information to share in their materials (e.g. online ads, op-eds, documentaries) is complex and based on a wide variety of factors. Since awareness of AFFT appears to reduce AFO, this is evidence against including such information for the purpose of encouraging attitude change, though there are other reasons to include it, such as normalizing AFFT or encouraging investment in the technologies.

Exploratory analysis suggests that increasing awareness or salience^[55] of low-tech plant-based foods did not significantly affect AFO, although prior awareness of plant-based foods was positively correlated with AFO. This suggests that, if animal advocates want to incorporate information about animal-free foods into their materials (e.g. to show an alternative to animal products), they may want to emphasize low-tech products rather than cultured meat or high-tech plant-based products. This conclusion is also supported by Macdonald and Vivalt’s (2017) findings that messaging about the harms of conventional animal farming was significantly less effective at changing “ethical beliefs” if it included information about cultured meat, but that inclusion of information about an “‘animal-free’ meat substitute” had no significant effects on ethical beliefs.^[56] Exploratory analysis suggests that the effects of cultured meat and high-tech plant-based meat on AFO are similar.

Exploratory analysis suggests that information about AFFT has negative effects on AFO regardless of whether it displaces unrelated information or information about low-tech plant-based meat.

As discussed above,^[57] there are numerous psychological mechanisms through which AFFT might influence AFO. Exploratory analysis suggests that exposure to the AFFT articles has no significant effect on participants’ speciesism or attribution of mental capacities to animals, suggesting that participants do not change their underlying beliefs about animals in order to reduce any cognitive dissonance that they might experience as a result of reading the AFFT articles. There are several psychological mechanisms that remain plausible explanations for why awareness of AFFT decreased AFO:

• The AFFT articles could encourage perceptions of the end of animal farming as inevitable, making people more likely to dismiss actions to help animals as unnecessary. This could encourage participants to reduce their cognitive dissonance by adjusting their political views instead of their views about animals. The present study provides some support for this hypothesis. Four out of five of the questions used in the AFO scale assess willingness to support actions to help animals, while the fifth — asking whether participants have “some discomfort with the way animals are used in the food industry” — does not. Exploratory analysis using only this discomfort question as the dependent variable finds no significant effect of increased awareness of AFFT.
• If the AFFT articles encourage the view that animal-free alternatives are unnatural, they could strengthen one of the key justifications for animal product consumption.
• If the AFFT articles encourage a perception that AFFT is currently of low quality, they could make animal farming seem relatively more appealing.
• The AFFT articles could increase the association of animals with food by emphasizing that many food products currently contain animals. This could make animal farming seem like a more necessary part of food production.

Further studies could explore which of these mechanisms best explains why AFFT decreased AFO. Further studies could also test whether the findings of the present study hold in different contexts (e.g. with respondents from outside the US) and with different messaging conditions (e.g. more comparable to those that animal advocates would use).

Sentience Institute’s 2017 and 2019 US surveys identified an increase in AFO between those two years.^[58] The present study provides evidence that this increase is unlikely to have been caused by increases in awareness of AFFT and weak evidence that it could have been caused by increases in awareness and salience of plant-based foods more generally.^[59] An alternative explanation, consistent with other available evidence,^[60] is that awareness of animal welfare reforms such as California’s Proposition 12 (passed in 2018) caused increases in AFO.^[61] Numerous other actions of animal protection, environmental, or public health advocates, as well as broader social trends encouraging moral progress, could also lead to increased AFO over time.

This was the first study to test whether certain psychological characteristics predict AFO. As shown in table 4, the results suggest differences between these characteristics’ correlations with AFO, interest in cultured meat, and vegetarianism.

Table 4: psychological characteristics and their correlations with animal farming opposition, interest in cultured meat, and vegetarianism.^[62]

Given the surprising results, this study encouraged us to update our beliefs on the foundational questions in effective animal advocacy slightly more than expected. For this reason, we also slightly increased our expectations of the value of conducting additional randomized controlled trials and surveys for answering these questions, though running this experiment also took slightly longer than we expected.^[63]

Appendix

Message Texts

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Cultured: the future of food?

PUBLISHED: 20 January 2020

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Dr. Lewis Anderson, a researcher at the University of Stockholm, recently served up a new cultured meat product for taste testing to a panel of chefs.

Cultured meat involves painlessly taking tissue from a live animal, extracting cells from the tissue, and feeding and nurturing them until they multiply many times. Eventually, the cells come together into small strips of muscle about a centimeter long and a few millimeters thick. Thousands of these strips are then layered together to form a meat product. From one tiny piece of tissue can come 45,000 pounds of meat. Researchers like Anderson are confident that cultured products will soon look, taste, and feel exactly like conventional meat.

“We’ve come a long way since cultured foods were first developed and tested,” said Dr. Anderson in a recent interview in his office in Stockholm University. “The costs have come down and the taste and texture have improved.”

“I think really the most important driver is the realization that livestock production has serious issues,” he said. “There are increasing concerns about animal welfare, such as animals being kept in close confinement that prevents them from engaging in natural behaviors. And of course, there are growing concerns about the consequences of industrial farming for the environment and our health.”

As public awareness of cultured meat grows, proponents like Anderson seem hopeful that their products will one day become just as popular as meat grown on animals — perhaps even more so.

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Plant-based: the future of food?

PUBLISHED: 20 January 2020

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Dr. Lewis Anderson, a researcher at the University of Stockholm, recently served up a new plant-based meat product for taste testing to a panel of chefs.

Plant-based meat involves using heme from soy plants, which is what gives it its distinctly meaty flavor. The heme is made using yeast. First, yeast is grown via fermentation. Then, soy leghemoglobin (containing heme) is isolated from the yeast, and added to the other ingredients. Researchers like Anderson are confident that plant-based products will soon look, taste, and feel exactly like conventional meat.

“We’ve come a long way since plant-based foods were first developed and tested,” said Dr. Anderson in a recent interview in his office in Stockholm University. “The costs have come down and the taste and texture have improved.”

“I think really the most important driver is the realization that livestock production has serious issues,” he said. “There are increasing concerns about animal welfare, such as animals being kept in close confinement that prevents them from engaging in natural behaviors. And of course, there are growing concerns about the consequences of industrial farming for the environment and our health.”

As public awareness of plant-based meat grows, proponents like Anderson seem hopeful that their products will one day become just as popular as meat grown on animals — perhaps even more so.

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Plant-based: the future of food?

PUBLISHED: 20 January 2020

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Dr. Lewis Anderson, a chef in Stockholm, recently served up some plant-based dishes for taste testing to a panel of chefs.

Plant-based products sometimes use ingredients like pulses, grains, or mushrooms to fill the same role that meat often plays in a meal. These products add variety to the available plant-based food options, which also include more traditional dishes, like vegetable soups, or meals focused on beans and rice. Though plant-based foods look, taste, and feel different to conventional meat, culinary professionals like Anderson are confident that they can create food that is just as enjoyable, if not more so.

“We’ve continued to develop and improve plant-based foods,” said Dr. Anderson in a recent interview in his office in Stockholm. “There is now a large range of tasty and affordable products available.”

“I think really the most important driver is the realization that livestock production has serious issues,” he said. “There are increasing concerns about animal welfare, such as animals being kept in close confinement that prevents them from engaging in natural behaviors. And of course, there are growing concerns about the consequences of industrial farming for the environment and our health.”

As public awareness of plant-based food grows, proponents like Anderson seem hopeful that their products will one day become just as popular as meat — perhaps even more so.

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Use of mobile data can reduce traffic jams

PUBLISHED: 20 January 2020

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Dr. Lewis Anderson, a researcher at the University of Stockholm, recently conducted a study seeking to use data to achieve reductions in traffic jams.

The study found that using data from mobile phone networks to track the movement of people across the country can help predict where traffic jams are likely to occur, enabling authorities to take preventative measures. The phones provide information via the Global Positioning System (GPS), a network of satellites orbiting the Earth. Signals are intercepted by GPS receivers, which calculate how far away each satellite is based on how long it took for the messages to arrive.

“This is the first time we are using the mobile data to address the regular movements of people within a country, such as on their daily commute,” says Dr. Anderson. “This kind of big data will help with the reduction of traffic jams.”

“I think really the most important motivation for this sort of research is the realization that traffic jams contribute to serious issues,” he said. “Last year, drivers lost an average of just under one week’s worth of time, dealing with slow-moving traffic. This wasted time has financial costs through lost productivity. And of course, this traffic contributes to unnecessary pollution.”

As understanding of movement patterns grows, proponents like Anderson seem hopeful that their work will one day be a part of the solution to the traffic jam problem.

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Guided Track code

Thank you for participating in this survey. Please note that you cannot go back in this survey, so please take your time before clicking on an answer.

Definition:

A /*factory farm*/ is a large industrialized farm, especially one on which a large number of animals are kept indoors in conditions intended to maximize production at minimal cost.

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>>AFOAgreementScale=[["Strongly agree", 7], ["Agree", 6], ["Somewhat agree", 5], ["Somewhat disagree", 3], ["Disagree", 2], ["Strongly disagree", 1], ["No opinion", 4]]

>>AFOLikelyScale=[["Very likely", 7], ["Likely", 6], ["Somewhat likely", 5], ["Somewhat unlikely", 3], ["Unlikely", 2], ["Very unlikely", 1], ["No opinion", 4]]

>>DietIntentions=[["Very likely to increase", 1], ["Likely to increase", 2], ["Somewhat likely to increase", 3], ["Somewhat likely to decrease", 5], ["Likely to decrease", 6], ["Very likely to decrease", 7], ["No opinion", 4]]

>>AgreementScale=[["Strongly agree", 7], ["Agree", 6], ["Somewhat agree", 5], ["Neither agree nor disagree", 4], ["Somewhat disagree", 3], ["Disagree", 2], ["Strongly disagree", 1]]

>>ReverseAgreementScale=[["Strongly agree", 1], ["Agree", 2], ["Somewhat agree", 3], ["Neither agree nor disagree", 4], ["Somewhat disagree", 5], ["Disagree", 6], ["Strongly disagree", 7]]

>>CapacitiesScale=[["1 - animals definitely do not possess", 1], ["2", 2], ["3", 3], ["4", 4], ["5", 5], ["6", 6], ["7 - animals definitely do possess", 7]]

>>FamiliarityScale=[["Not familiar at all", 1], ["Slightly familiar", 2], ["Moderately familiar", 3], ["Very familiar", 4], ["Extremely familiar", 5]]

>>TrueOrFalse=[["Definitely true", 1], ["Mostly true", 0], ["Don't know", 0], ["Mostly false", 0], ["Definitely false", 0]]

>>ReverseTrueOrFalse=[["Definitely true", 0], ["Mostly true", 0], ["Don't know", 0], ["Mostly false", 0], ["Definitely false", 1]]

>>Education=[["Grade 4 or less", 1], ["Grade 5 to 8", 2], ["Grade 9 to 11", 3], ["Grade 12 (no diploma)", 4], ["High school graduate", 5], ["GED or Alternative Credential", 6], ["Some college credit, but less than 1 year of college credit", 7], ["1 or more years of college credit, no degree", 8], ["Associate's degree (for example: AA, AS)", 9], ["Bachelor's degree (for example: BA, BS)", 10], ["Master's degree (for example: MA, MS, MEng, MEd, MBA)", 11], ["Professional degree beyond Bachelor's degree (for example: MD, DDS, DVM, LIB, JD)", 12], ["Doctorate degree (for example: PhD, EdD)", 13]]

>>Income=[["Less than $5,000", 2500], ["$5,000-$9,999", 7500], ["$10,000-$14,999", 12500], ["$15,000-$19,999", 17500], ["$20,000-$24,999", 22500], ["$25,000-$29,999", 27500], ["$30,000-$34,999", 32500], ["$35,000-$39,999", 37500], ["$40,000-$44,999", 42500], ["$45,000-$49,999", 47500], ["$50,000-$54,999", 52500], ["$55,000-$59,999", 57500], ["$60,000-$64,999", 62500], ["$65,000-$69,999", 67500], ["$70,000-$74,999", 72500], ["$75,000-$79,999", 77500], ["$80,000-$89,999", 85000], ["$90,000-$99,999", 95000], ["$100,000-$124,999", 112500], ["$125,000-$149,999", 1375000], ["$150,000-$199,999", 175000], ["$200,000-$249,999", 225000], ["$250,000 or more", 300000]]

*randomize: all

        *page

                *randomize: all

                        *question: *Please rate your level of agreement with the following statement: I have some discomfort with the way animals are used in the food industry.*

                                *answers: AFOAgreementScale

                        *question: *Please rate your level of agreement with the following statement: I support a ban on the factory farming of animals.*

                                *answers: AFOAgreementScale

                        *question: *Please rate your level of agreement with the following statement: I support a ban on slaughterhouses.*

                                *answers: AFOAgreementScale

                        *question: *Please rate your level of agreement with the following statement: I support a ban on animal farming.*

                                *answers: AFOAgreementScale

                        *question: *Suppose a public demonstration against the problems of factory farming occurred near where you live and your friend asked you to come demonstrate with her. If this demonstration fit into your schedule, how likely would you be to join and help demonstrate?*

                                *answers: AFOLikelyScale

                Definition:

                A /*factory farm*/ is a large industrialized farm, especially one on which a large number of animals are kept indoors in conditions intended to maximize production at minimal cost.

*randomize: all

        *page

                *Listed below are a few statements about your relationships with others. How much is /each/ statement TRUE or FALSE for you?*

                *randomize: all

                        *question: *I am always courteous, even to people who are disagreeable.*

                                *answers: TrueOrFalse

                        *question: *There have been occasions when I took advantage of someone.*

                                *answers: ReverseTrueOrFalse

                        *question: *I sometimes try to get even rather than forgive and forget.*

                                *answers: ReverseTrueOrFalse

                        *question: *I sometimes feel resentful when I don't get my way.*

                                *answers: ReverseTrueOrFalse

                        *question: *No matter who I'm talking to, I'm always a good listener.*

                                *answers: TrueOrFalse

        *page

                *To what extent do you agree with the following statements?*

                *randomize: all

                        *question: *Morally, animals always count for less than humans.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *Humans have the right to use animals however they want to.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *It is morally acceptable to keep animals in circuses for human entertainment.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *It is morally acceptable to trade animals like possessions.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *Chimpanzees should have basic legal rights such as a right to life or a prohibition of torture.*

                                *answers: ReverseAgreementScale

                        *question: *It is morally acceptable to perform medical experiments on animals that we would not perform on any human.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

        *page

                *To what extent do you believe that animals and humans have the following mental capacities to the same degree as humans?*

                *randomize: all

                        *question: *Self-control?*

                                *answers: CapacitiesScale

                        *question: *Morality?*

                                *answers: CapacitiesScale

                        *question: *Memory?*

                                *answers: CapacitiesScale

                        *question: *Planning?*

                                *answers: CapacitiesScale

        *page

                *Please rate your level of agreement with the following statements:*

                *randomize: all

                        *question: *I am constantly sampling new and different foods.*

                                *answers: ReverseAgreementScale

                        *question: *I don’t trust new foods.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale        

                        *question: *If I don’t know what is in a food, I won’t try it.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *I like foods from different countries.*

                                *answers: ReverseAgreementScale

                        *question: *Ethnic food looks too weird to eat.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *At dinner parties, I will try a new food.*

                                *answers: ReverseAgreementScale

                        *question: *I am afraid to eat things I have never had before.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *I am very particular about the foods I will eat.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *I will eat almost anything.*

                                *answers: ReverseAgreementScale

                        *question: *I like to try new ethnic restaurants.*

                                *answers: ReverseAgreementScale

        *page

                *Please rate your level of agreement with the following statements:*

                *randomize: all

                        *question: *More often than not, human intervention causes damage to nature.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *The impact of humans on nature is often more serious and wide-ranging than people expect.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *Natural things tend to be healthier than non-natural things.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *Natural medicine is more effective than medicine made in a lab.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *Natural food tastes better than processed food.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *Natural food is safer than processed food.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *Natural medicine is safer than medicine made in a lab.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *Things that are natural are inherently better than things that are not natural.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

        *page

                *Please rate your level of agreement with the following statements:*

                *randomize: all

                        *question: *Scientists are likely to withhold information about food-related issues from the public.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *Information about food-related hazards from scientists is distorted.*

                                *answers: AgreementScale

                        *question: *Scientists feel a responsibility to provide good food-related information to the public.*

                                *answers: ReverseAgreementScale

                        *question: *Scientists are accountable to each other and to the public if mistakes are made in the food-related information provided.*

                                *answers: ReverseAgreementScale

        *page

                *Please ignore the question below and all of the personality items listed; instead select the second option listed (introversion and thinking).*

                *question: *Which of these personality traits best describe you and your personality?*

                        Prefer extraversion, prefer thinking

                        Prefer introversion, prefer thinking

                        Prefer extraversion, prefer feeling

                        Prefer introversion, prefer feeling

                        Other

*page

        *question: *Over the next month, how is your consumption of animal products (meat, dairy, and/or eggs) likely to change?*

                *answers: DietIntentions

*page

        *randomize: all

                *question: *Prior to this survey, how familiar were you with "cultured meat" (also known as "clean meat," "cultivated meat," or "in-vitro meat")?*

                        *answers: FamiliarityScale

                *question: *Prior to this survey, how familiar were you with "plant-based meats" that use heme and other ingredients to mimic the taste of regular meat ("bleeding burgers")?*

                        *answers: FamiliarityScale

                *question: *Prior to this survey, how familiar were you with "plant-based foods" in general (i.e. vegetarian or vegan food)?*

                        *answers: FamiliarityScale

*randomize: all

        *question: *Please state your age (in years).*

                *type: number

        *question: *Please indicate your annual household income before taxes.*

                *answers: Income

        *question: *What is the highest degree or level of school you have completed? If currently enrolled, select the previous grade or highest degree received.*

                *answers: Education

        *question: *Which of the following best describes you?*

                White or Caucasian (not Hispanic or Latino)

                Black or African-American (not hispanic or Latino)

                Asian or Pacific Islander

                Native American, Alaska Native, or Aleutian

                Hispanic or Latino (White or Caucasian)

                Hispanic or Latino (Black or African-American)

                Hispanic or Latino (All other races/multiple races)

                Other

        *question: *What is your gender?*

                Male

                Female

        *question: *Which state do you live in?*

                Alabama

                Alaska

                Arizona

                Arkansas

                California

                Colorado

                Connecticut

                Delaware

                Florida

                Georgia

                Hawaii

                Idaho

                Illinois

                Indiana

                Iowa

                Kansas

                Kentucky

                Louisiana

                Maine

                Maryland

                Massachusetts

                Michigan

                Minnesota

                Mississippi

                Missouri

                Montana

                Nebraska

                Nevada

                New Hampshire

                New Jersey

                New Mexico

                New York

                North Carolina

                North Dakota

                Ohio

                Oklahoma

                Oregon

                Pennsylvania

                Rhode Island

                South Carolina

                South Dakota

                Tennessee

                Texas

                Utah

                Vermont

                Virginia

                Washington

                West Virginia

                Wisconsin

                Wyoming

        *page

                *randomize

                        *group: politicscons

                                *question: *How would you describe your political views?*

                                        *confirm

                                        *name: politicsconservative

                                        *type: choice

                                        Very liberal

                                        Liberal

                                        Moderate

                                        Conservative

                                        Very conservative

                                        No opinion

                        *group: politicslib

                                *question: *How would you describe your political views?*

                                        *confirm

                                        *name: politicsliberal

                                        *type: choice

                                        Very conservative

                                        Conservative

                                        Moderate

                                        Liberal

                                        Very liberal

                                        No opinion

*page

        Thank you for taking part in this study!

        The purpose of this study was to examine people’s reactions to information about new types of animal-free foods and how this affects their attitudes towards animal farming. We are also interested in how these attitudes are affected by a variety of other beliefs and attitudes. This survey was distributed to US residents only.

        Depending on which article you were randomly allocated to receive at the start of this survey, the quotes and characters used in the article may have been fabricated for the purposes of this study.

        This project was conducted by a researcher at Sentience Institute, a think tank that researches moral circle expansion.

        Your participation is greatly appreciated. If you are interested in learning the results of the study once it is completed and the data analysed, or if you have any other concerns or queries, please feel free to contact me at jamie@sentienceinstitute.org. Otherwise, please click the

*program: EndOfActivityButton                

R code

> dat <- read.csv(<file>) # file location here

library(dplyr)

> dat <- mutate(dat, AFO = rowMeans(select(dat, AFOdemo:AFObanAF)))

> dat <- mutate(dat, nature = rowMeans(select(dat, natSafe:natDamage)))

> dat <- mutate(dat, science = rowMeans(select(dat, sciWithhold:sciAccount)))

> dat <- mutate(dat, speciesism = rowMeans(select(dat, specHumans:specExper)))

> dat <- mutate(dat, neophobia = rowMeans(select(dat, neoSampling:neoCountries)))

> dat <- mutate(dat, SDRS = rowSums(select(dat, SDRStook:SDRSeven)))

> dat <- mutate(dat, mentalCap = rowMeans(select(dat, MCcontrol:MCmemory)))

> dat[["compCul"]][is.na(dat[["compCul"]])] <- 0

> dat[["compHT"]][is.na(dat[["compHT"]])] <- 0

> dat[["compLT"]][is.na(dat[["compLT"]])] <- 0

> dat[["compCon"]][is.na(dat[["compCon"]])] <- 0

> dat[["politicscons"]][is.na(dat[["politicscons"]])] <- 0

> dat[["politicslib"]][is.na(dat[["politicslib"]])] <- 0

> dat <- mutate(dat, politics = rowSums(select(dat, politicscons:politicslib)))

> dat <- mutate(dat, AFFT = rowSums(select(dat, compCul:compHT)))

> dat <- mutate(dat, comprehension = rowSums(select(dat, compCul:compCon)))

> dat <- data.frame(dat, stringsAsFactors=TRUE)

> dat <- mutate(dat, AFFT = as.factor(dat$AFFT))

#relevel categorical demographic variables for largest group, substituting “Group” with the categorical demographic variable and “1” with the appropriate category

> dat <- within(dat, group<- relevel(group,ref=1))

#data cleaning

> dat <- filter(dat, comprehension == 1)

> dat <- filter(dat, attention == 1)

> dat <- na.omit(dat, AFOdemo:finished)

#Multiple regression

> fit <- lm(data=dat, AFO ~ AFFT+nature+science+speciesism+neophobia+SDRS+mentalCap+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region)

> p.adjust(summary(fit)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

Exploratory analysis

#Full dataset, new models

> fitAFFTonly <- lm(data=dat, AFO ~ AFFT)

> summary(fitAFFTonly

> p.adjust(summary(fitAFFTonly)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

> fitDemographics <- lm(data=dat, AFO ~ AFFT+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region)

> summary(fitDemographics)

> p.adjust(summary(fitDemographics)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

> dat <- mutate(dat, famAFFT = rowMeans(select(dat, famHT:famCul)))

> fitMinusSimilar <- lm(data=dat, AFO ~ AFFT+nature+science+neophobia+SDRS+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region)

> summary(fitMinusSimilar)

> p.adjust(summary(fitMinusSimilar)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

> dat <- mutate(dat, famAFFT = rowMeans(select(dat, famHT:famCul)))

> fitWithFam <- lm(data=dat, AFO ~ AFFT+nature+science+speciesism+neophobia+SDRS+mentalCap+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region+famAFFT)

> summary(fitWithFam)

> p.adjust(summary(fitWithFam)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

> fitWithBothFams <- lm(data=dat, AFO ~ AFFT+nature+science+speciesism+neophobia+SDRS+mentalCap+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region+famAFFT+famLT)

> summary(fitWithBothFams)

> p.adjust(summary(fitWithBothFams)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

> fitInteractions <- lm(data=dat, AFO ~ AFFT+nature+science+speciesism+neophobia+SDRS+mentalCap+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region+AFFT:nature+AFFT:neophobia)

> p.adjust(summary(fitInteractions)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

#Data subsets: creating the data subsets

> dat <- mutate(dat, noLT = rowSums(cbind(dat$compCul, dat$compHT, dat$compCon)))

> dat <- mutate(dat, noCon = rowSums(select(dat, compCul:compLT)))

> dat <- mutate(dat, culHTonly = rowSums(cbind(dat$compCul, dat$compHT)))

> dat <- mutate(dat, HTLTonly = rowSums(cbind(dat$compHT, dat$compLT)))

> dat <- mutate(dat, conLTonly = rowSums(cbind(dat$compCon, dat$compLT)))

> dat <- mutate(dat, noLT = as.factor(dat$noLT))

> dat <- mutate(dat, noCon = as.factor(dat$noCon))

> dat <- mutate(dat, culHTonly = as.factor(dat$culHTonly))

> dat <- mutate(dat, HTLTonly = as.factor(dat$HTLTonly))

> dat <- mutate(dat, conLTonly = as.factor(dat$conLTonly))

> datNoLT <- filter(dat, noLT == 1)

> datNoCon <- filter(dat, noCon == 1)

> datCulHTonly <- filter(dat, culHTonly == 1)

> datHTLTonly <- filter(dat, HTLTonly == 1)

> datConLTonly <- filter(dat, conLTonly == 1)

> datLowAFFTfam <- filter(dat, famAFFT < 2)

#Data subsets: analyzing the data subsets

> fitNoLT <- lm(data=datNoLT, AFO ~ AFFT+nature+science+speciesism+neophobia+SDRS+mentalCap+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region)

> summary(fitNoLT)

> p.adjust(summary(fitNoLT)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

> fitNoCon <- lm(data=datNoCon, AFO ~ AFFT+nature+science+speciesism+neophobia+SDRS+mentalCap+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region)

> summary(fitNoCon)

> p.adjust(summary(fitNoCon)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

> fitCulHTonly <- lm(data=datCulHTonly, AFO ~ group+nature+science+speciesism+neophobia+SDRS+mentalCap+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region)

> summary(fitCulHTonly)

> p.adjust(summary(fitCulHTonly)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

> datHTLTonly <- within(datHTLTonly, group<- relevel(group,ref="low-tech plant-based meat"))

> fitHTLTonly <- lm(data=datHTLTonly, AFO ~ group+nature+science+speciesism+neophobia+SDRS+mentalCap+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region)

> summary(fitHTLTonly)

> p.adjust(summary(fitHTLTonly)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

> fitConLTonly <- lm(data=datConLTonly, AFO ~ group+nature+science+speciesism+neophobia+SDRS+mentalCap+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region)

> summary(fitConLTonly)

> p.adjust(summary(fitConLTonly)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

> fitLowAFFTfam <- lm(data=datLowAFFTfam, AFO ~ AFFT+nature+science+speciesism+neophobia+SDRS+mentalCap+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region)

> summary(fitLowAFFTfam)

> p.adjust(summary(fitLowAFFTfam)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

#Exploratory analysis: Altered dependent variable

> fitSpeciesism <- lm(data=dat, speciesism ~ AFFT+nature+science+neophobia+SDRS+mentalCap+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region)

> p.adjust(summary(fitSpeciesism)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

> fitMentalCap <- lm(data=dat, mentalCap ~ AFFT+nature+science+speciesism+neophobia+SDRS+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region)

> p.adjust(summary(fitMentalCap)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

> fitDiet <- lm(data=dat, diet ~ AFFT+nature+science+speciesism+neophobia+SDRS+mentalCap+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region)

> p.adjust(summary(fitDiet)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

> fitDiscomfort <- lm(data=dat, AFOdiscomfort ~ AFFT+nature+science+speciesism+neophobia+SDRS+mentalCap+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region)

> p.adjust(summary(fitDiscomfort)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

#standardizing the AFO questions for analysis of a standardized version of the AFO score

> dat <- dat %>%
        mutate(AFOdemoS = scale(AFOdemo))

dat <- dat %>%

mutate(AFObanFFS = scale(AFObanFF))

> dat <- dat %>%

mutate(AFOdiscomfortS = scale(AFOdiscomfort))

> dat <- dat %>%

mutate(AFObanSS = scale(AFObanS))

> dat <- dat %>%

mutate(AFObanAFS = scale(AFObanAF))

> dat <- mutate(dat, AFOS = rowMeans(select(dat, AFOdemoS:AFObanAFS)))

> fitS <- lm(data=dat, AFOS ~ AFFT+nature+science+speciesism+neophobia+SDRS+mentalCap+income+gender+ethnicity+age+politics+education+region)

> p.adjust(summary(fitS)$coefficients[,4], "fdr")

Information visible to participants on Positly’s advert

Participants were given 5 days to join the pilot study and will be given 20 days to join the main experiment.

Activity title for participants:

“Quick survey”

Activity description for participants:

“Participants will be asked to read a short article, then answer some questions about a variety of attitudes and preferences.”

References

Allen, Mary, “Beyond Meat Goes Public, Raises $241 Million” (May 2019), https://www.gfi.org/beyond-meat-ipo.

Allès, Benjamin, Julia Baudry, Caroline Méjean, Mathilde Touvier, Sandrine Péneau, Serge Hercberg, and Emmanuelle Kesse-Guyot, “Comparison of Sociodemographic and Nutritional Characteristics between Self-Reported Vegetarians, Vegans, and Meat-Eaters from the NutriNet-Santé Study,” Nutrients 9, no. 9 (September 2017), 1023.

Anderson, Jo, and Linda Tyler, “Attitudes Toward Farmed Animals in the BRIC Countries,” (September 2018), https://faunalytics.org/attitudes-towards-farmed-animals-bric-countries/.

“‘Clean’ Meat or ‘Cultured’ Meat: A Randomized Trial Evaluating the Impact on Self-Reported Purchasing Preferences,” Animal Charity Evaluators (March 2017), https://animalcharityevaluators.org/blog/clean-meat-or-cultured-meat-a-randomized-trial-evaluating-the-impact-on-self-reported-purchasing-preferences/.

“Models of Media Influence on Demand for Animal Products,” Animal Charity Evaluators, last edited June 2016, https://animalcharityevaluators.org/research/other-topics/models-of-media/.

“How Will Cultured Meat and Meat Alternatives Disrupt the Agricultural and Food Industry,” ATKearney (2019).

“California Proposition 12, Farm Animal Confinement Initiative (2018),” Ballotpedia, accessed May 30, 2020, https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_12,_Farm_Animal_Confinement_Initiative_(2018).

Bartels, Daniel M., and Russell C. Burnett, “A Group Construal Account of Drop-in-the-Bucket Thinking in Policy Preference and Moral Judgment,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 47, no. 1 (2011), 50-7.

Bastian, Brock, Steve Loughnan, Nick Haslam, and Helena R. M. Radke, “Don’t Mind Meat? The Denial of Mind to Animals Used for Human Consumption,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 38, no. 2 (2012), 247-56.

Benjamini, Yoav, and Yosef Hochberg, “Controlling the False Discovery Rate: A Practical and Powerful Approach to Multiple Testing,” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Methodological) 57, no. 1 (1995), 289-300.

Bratanova, Boyka, Steve Loughnan, and Brock Bastian, “The Effect of Categorization as Food on the Perceived Moral Standing of Animals,” Appetite 57, no. 1 (2011), 193–6.

Briggs, Helen, “Artificial meat: UK scientists growing ‘bacon’ in labs” (19 March, 2019), https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47611026.

Brown, Mike, “Lab-Grown Meat: Beyond Burgers, the 7 In-Vitro Foods Coming to Plates” (September 10, 2019), https://www.inverse.com/article/58515-lab-grown-meat-beyond-burgers-the-7-in-vitro-foods-coming-to-plates.

Bryant, Christopher John, “We Can’t Keep Meating Like This: Attitudes towards Vegetarian and Vegan Diets in the United Kingdom,” Sustainability 11, no. 23 (December 2, 2019), https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/23/6844/htm.

Bryant, Christopher John, Keri Szejda, Varun Deshpande, Nishant Parekh, and Brian Tse, “A Survey of Consumer Perceptions of Plant-Based and Clean Meat in the USA, India, and China,” Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 3 (2019).

Caldwell, Krystal, “Welfare Reforms and Meat Consumption” (November 14, 2016), https://mercyforanimals.org/welfare-reforms-survey.

Cameron, C. Daryl, and B. Keith Payne, “Escaping Affect: How Motivated Emotion Regulation Creates Insensitivity to Mass Suffering,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 100, no. 1 (2011), 1-15.

Caviola, Lucius, Jim A. C. Everett, and Nadira S. Faber, “The Moral Standing of Animals: Towards a Psychology of Speciesism,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2018).

Cohen, Jacob, “A Power Primer,” Psychological Bulletin 112, no. 1 (1992), 155-9.

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