Emotional Eaters: The Effect of Anthropomorphic Messages on Emotions, Support for Meat Tax and Animal Welfare

This study employs a mixed experimental design, combining within-subjects and between-subjects elements with random assignment to one of five groups to examine the effects of animal imagery and species-specific video content on emotions and support for animal welfare policies.
Experimental Conditions
Group 1 (Pure Control Group): Participants receive no animal-related stimuli.
Group 2 (Image-Only Control Group): Participants view images of all six animals and rate their emotional responses to these images.
Group 3 (Real Cow Video + Images): Participants first view a video about cows (with images of real cows), then images of all six animals, and subsequently rate their emotional responses.
Group 4 (Cow Video + Images): Participants view a video about cows (with AI-generated images), followed by images of all six animals and emotional rating.
Group 5 (Real Pig Video + Images): Participants view a video about pigs (with images of real pigs), followed by images of all six animals and emotional rating

Group 1 is pure control group; it does not receive any treatment.
Group 2 views images of six different animals (3 pet and 3 farm animals) and rates the emotions aroused as a result of viewing the images.
Group 3 first views a video about cows (made with images of real cows) and then views the same animal images as in group 2 followed by rating the emotions aroused.
Group 4 first views a video about cows (made with AI-generated images of cows) and then views the same animal images as in group 2 followed by rating the emotions aroused.
Group 5 first views a video about pigs (made with images of real pigs) and then views the same animal images as in group 2 followed by rating the emotions aroused.

The treatment videos include an audio narrating an anthropomorphic message about either cows or pigs, establishing that animals have human characteristics. The videos also include a montage of real or AI-generated images of animals to illustrate the message. The audios of the videos are verbatim identical. Only the names of the animals vary. For group 3 and 5, the images in the video are of real animals and different from those in the video for group 4, where AI-generated images of cows are used.

2024-12-08

2024-12-20

1. Stated support for reduction of VAT on plant-based products from 19% to 7%; indicated by choosing one of the following responses: ‘yes’, ‘no’, or ‘abstain’.
2. Stated support for increase of VAT on meat and meat-based products from 7% to 19%; indicated by choosing one of the following responses: ‘yes’, ‘no’, or ‘abstain’.
3. Stated support for increased share of plant-based products served in public facilities; measured as a continuous variable (on a slider to choose any integer value between 10% and 100% – starting position 50%).
4. Revealed preference: Donating part of a cash lottery prize of 100€ (one winner per treatment, i.e., 1 out of 300) to an animal welfare NGO; measured as a continuous variable (on a slider to choose any integer value between 0% and 100% – starting position 67%). The amount not donated is paid to participants in the form of additional panel points (standard form of payment for participating in survey for panel members).
5. Revealed preference: Willingness-to-pay for a package of high-quality meat-replacement products (content described in detail to participants). Implemented by participation in a lottery (one winner per treatment, i.e., 1 out of 300). Participants decide on which of two prize options they prefer: prize money (5€ or 10€ or 15€ or 20€; randomly displayed) paid in the form of additional panel points (standard form of payment for participating in survey for panel members) or the package of high-quality meat-replacement products worth 25€. The latter will be sent to winners if they choose it over the cash prize.
6. Stated intention to participate in a demonstration for animal welfare; indicated by choosing one of the following responses: Definitely not, Very unlikely, Maybe, Very likely, Definitely, I don’t know/ no answer.
7. Emotional Responses: Participants rate the intensity of ten emotions (Love, Empathy, Happiness, Care, Guilt, Fear, Anger, Sadness, Shame, Concern) induced by the animal images on scales 5-point scales.

This study employs a mixed experimental design, combining within-subjects and between-subjects elements with random assignment to one of five groups to examine the effects of animal imagery and species-specific video content on emotions and support for animal welfare policies.
1. Groups and Treatments:
o Group 1 (Pure Control Group): Participants receive no animal-related stimuli.
o Group 2 (Image-Only Control Group): Participants view images of all six animals and rate their emotional responses to these images.
o Group 3 (Real Cow Video + Images): Participants first view a video about cows (with images of real cows), then images of all six animals, and subsequently rate their emotional responses.
o Group 4 (Cow Video + Images): Participants view a video about cows (with AI-generated images), followed by images of all six animals and emotional rating.
o Group 5 (Real Pig Video + Images): Participants view a video about pigs (with images of real pigs), followed by images of all six animals and emotional rating

2. Outcome Variables:
o Emotional Responses: Participants rate the emotions elicited by the animal images.
o Support for Animal Welfare Policies: Measured through a series of policy-support questions.
o Individual Actions: Items assessing participants’ revealed-preferences and stated-preference for actions related to animal welfare.

The data will be collected by a survey company (Bilendi) in November-December 2024. The sample will include 1,500 German adult participants from the survey panel of the company. The company will contact the participants via email. The participants are requested to provide informed consent to participate in the study. The survey includes an attention/bot check and only those who pass the check are taken through the entire 15-minute survey. The survey company will also screen out all participants that complete the survey in less than 25% of the median time taken to complete the survey.
The sample will include 750 men and women each and the quota for other genders is open. The age range will be 18-74 [18-29 (20\%), 30-39 (20\%), 40-49 (20\%), 50-59 (20\%), 60-74 (20\%)]. The sample will include people with different levels of formal education [Without Abitur (High school diploma): (60\%); With Abitur: (40\%)].
All participants will be meat consumers. This is to check the effectiveness of the videos in enhancing support for animal welfare, specifically among meat consumers.

randomization into treatments is computer based and performed by the survey company
random draws of winners to the lotteries is computer based and performed by the researchers after completion of the survey

individual

No

1,500 individuals

1,500 individuals

300 individuals

As this is the first study we are aware of that uses this combination of intervention types and outcome variables, we have no priors for the variance in the outcome variables.