Meat-eaters’ porky pies
A string of recent studies have revealed the four common rationalisations people use to defend their choice of eating meat. Scientists call them the 4Ns and they cover 90 per cent of the reasons people offer for their meat eating – that it is natural, normal, necessary and nice.
What this means is that they think meat is necessary for their health; normal doesn’t require justification; natural in terms of our evolution; and nice is purely a pleasure-based factor, meaning they enjoy eating it and ‘can’t imagine a meal without meat’.
These studies also discovered that people who eat meat tend to objectify animals and deny the complexity of their needs, are less concerned with animal suffering and are more likely endorse exploitative, domineering ideologies. Men were also more likely to use the 4Ns to justify their meat-eating than women and were less likely to give up meat than women.
Piazza J et al., 2015. Rationalizing meat consumption. The 4Ns. Appetite. 91: 114-128
About the author
Dr. Justine Butler
Justine joined Viva! in 2005 after graduating from Bristol University with a PhD in molecular biology. After working as a campaigner, then researcher and writer, she is now Viva!’s head of research and her work focuses on animals, the environment and health. Justine’s scientific training helps her research and write both in-depth scientific reports, such as White Lies and the Meat Report, as well as easy-to-read factsheets and myth-busting articles for consumer magazines and updates on the latest research. Justine also recently wrote the Vegan for the Planet guide for Viva!’s Vegan Now campaign.
View author page | View staff profile
