Thanks for doing this important work! I think this is one of the most important findings in animal advocacy research, so understanding it deeply and accurately is critical.
My operating model of the underlying psychology is that “slaughterhouse”, “factory farm” and “animal farming” can suggest to varying degrees the idea of “place where animals are treated poorly.” People generally don’t want animals to be treated poorly, so they express support for banning such places. Then, if it’s made clear that, in fact, slaughterhouses are just where animals are killed for meat, this support goes away.
If we think of people as being pro-animal welfare, but also pro-meat, all the data is explainable. As activist, it can be easy to go from “animals are mistreated on farms” to “we shouldn’t eat them,” but for most people I think the more natural response is “The people mistreating them should stop.”
Just wanted to throw this out there, since I think all this data is still consistent with a surprisingly pro-welfare stance of a lot of people :)
Thanks for doing this important work! I think this is one of the most important findings in animal advocacy research, so understanding it deeply and accurately is critical.
My operating model of the underlying psychology is that “slaughterhouse”, “factory farm” and “animal farming” can suggest to varying degrees the idea of “place where animals are treated poorly.” People generally don’t want animals to be treated poorly, so they express support for banning such places. Then, if it’s made clear that, in fact, slaughterhouses are just where animals are killed for meat, this support goes away.
If we think of people as being pro-animal welfare, but also pro-meat, all the data is explainable. As activist, it can be easy to go from “animals are mistreated on farms” to “we shouldn’t eat them,” but for most people I think the more natural response is “The people mistreating them should stop.”
Just wanted to throw this out there, since I think all this data is still consistent with a surprisingly pro-welfare stance of a lot of people :)