The third presentation for the course "Animals in Human Society: Psychological Perspectives" at the University of New York in Prague.

1. Carnism
Tereza Vandrovcová

2. Carnism
• Melanie Joy (2011). Why We Love Dogs, Eat
Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to
Carnism
• = dominant cultural belief system

3. Why a new term?
• Omnivore = individual who can ingest both plant
and animal matter (but what and why does he
eat?)
• Meat-eater = just a description of a diet (not
beliefs that stand behind)
• Carnivore = individual who requires meat for
survival (predators)
• Carnist = individual who chooses to eat meat of
„edible“ animals based on his or her beliefs
(and/or is raised this way).

4. Vegetarian vs. „meat-eater“
• Do only vegetarians hold an ideology?

5. Some beliefs
• We need to eat animals
• Most animals are kept at family farm / grass fed
• Farm animals are less emotional and intelligent

6. Why haven‘t we named it earlier?

7. • You don‘t see most of those 60 billion animals
on the meadows
• You don‘t see factory farms in the news
Invisibility

8. Images do not reflect the reality

9. Mostly invisible
• Maybe you will meet them at the highway

10. Social and psychological invisibility
• Influence of social conditioning
• We care about all animals as children

11. Psychological numbing
• It is better to become numb toward them
• We need to be sufficiently desensitized before
killing an animal

12. Edible vs. Inedible animals

13. Different perception
• Social construction

14. Cultural differences

15. Cognitive schema
• psych. framework that shapes our beliefs

16. Historical shift
• Norbert Elias (1939): The Civilizing Process
• More and more difficult to see a whole animal

17. Paradox
• Ethology vs. the reality of current agriculture

18. „Meat paradox“
• Steve Loughnan (2010). The role of meat
consumption in the denial of moral status and
mind to meat animals
• 2 experimental groups:
– a) eating beef
– b) eating nuts
• Difference in moral concern and in perceived
cow‘s capacity for suffering

19. Cognitive dissonance
• Leon Festinger (1957)
• Contradiction of beliefs, values or behavior
• Three methods of reduction of discomfort:
– Change behavior or cognition (vegetarian)
– Change the conflicting cognition (numbing)
– Ignore or deny information (ignoring the reality,
cultural justifications)

20. Justifications: „3Ns“
• 3 justifications of carnism
• Eating meat is OK because it is
1) Normal
2) Natural
3) Necessary

21. 1) Eating meat is normal
• It is expected by social norms (in our society)

22. 2) Eating meat is natural
• Humans consumed animals for millenia
• Other animals hunt (but also eat their children...)

23. 3) Eating meat is necessary 1/2
• Protein Myth
• Other health issues...

24. But it is not necessary...
• The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians
of Canada, the British National Health Service,
the Dietitians Association of Australia, the United
States Department of Agriculture, the National
Institutes of Health, the Mayo Clinic and others
agree that well planned, plant-only diet (with an
adequate intake of vitamin B-12) is healthy and
may provide health benefits in the prevention
and treatment of certain diseases
(atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes, hypertension,
and obesity)

25. 3) Eating meat is necessary 2/2
• Overpopulation of animals etc.

26. Free will?
• Was your decision informed?

27. The Cognitive Trio
• Objectification – pork, beef, poultry
• Deindividualization – thousands of them
• Dichotomization – „farm animal“, edible
animal, slaughterhouse = meaning of life

28. Beyond carnism
• Understanding - helps us think more critically
• Standard, present for a long time and considered
normal ≠ automatically the right thing

29. Thank you for your attention
• E-mail: tereza@vandrovcova.cz