Beyond one's own convictions, being vegetarian is a sign of virtue signaling, therefore, as demonstrated Benoit Monin, psychologist at Stanford University, the simple presence of a vegetarian, as a kind of moral beacon, can influence an omnivorous person.
Monin thus demonstrated that people who eat meat can feel morally inferior in the presence of vegetarians, since they anticipate that they will end up making some kind of moral reproach to them.
They don't need to say anything
The most surprising thing is that the simple fear of reproach affects the carnivore: it is not necessary for the vegetarian to make the comment or reproach effective: its simple existence, from the point of view of a person who eats meat, It's already morally irritating..
Therefore, mutatis mutandis, a meat eater also feels special pleasure when a vegetarian is caught violating his moral code and eats a good plate of chops, for example. As abounds in it Richard H. Smith in Schadenfreude:
The discovery of this type of deceptive and hypocritical behavior is a gratifying event. We are not as inferior as they tried to make us believe; now we can assume the opposite stance of moral superiority. Naturally, this turnaround in the situation makes us feel good.
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The news
The simple presence of a vegetarian can inhibit an omnivore
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.