Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T17:53:50.439Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Are consumers wilfully ignorant about animal welfare?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

E Bell ,
F Bailey Norwood  and
JL Lusk
E Bell
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Oklahoma State University, 308 Agricultural Hall, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA
F Bailey Norwood*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Oklahoma State University, 426 Agricultural Hall, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA
JL Lusk
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, 403 W State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Wilful ignorance is a documented human behaviour whereby people deliberately avoid information. Although much work has documented consumer attitudes toward farm animal welfare, few studies have questioned whether people even want to know how farm animals are raised. Using an internet survey of 1,000 subjects from the US state of Oklahoma, it is shown that around one-third admit to being wilfully ignorant regarding pork production. One-third also chose to look at a blank screen rather than a picture of how pregnant hogs are housed. Avoidance of guilt is shown to be a motivator for this behaviour.

Keywords

animal welfareconsumer attitudesconsumer preferencesgestation crateswine productionwilful ignorance
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , November 2017 , pp. 399 - 402
Copyright
© 2017 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

References

Bénabou, R and Tirole, J 2016 Mindful economics: the production, consumption, and value of beliefs. Journal of Economic Perspectives 39: 141–164. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.30.3.141CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, JB, Lusk, JL and Norwood, FB 2009 How closely do hypothetical and laboratory experiments predict field behavior? American Journal of Agricultural Economics 91: 518–534. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8276.2008.01242.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epley, N and Dunning, D 2000 Feeling ‘holier than thou’: are self-serving assessments produced by errors in self- or social pre-diction? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79: 861–875. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.6.861CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eurobarometer 2005 Attitudes of Consumers Towards the Welfare of Farmed Animals. European Commission: Brussels, BelgiumGoogle Scholar
Golman, R, Hagmann, D and Loewenstein, G 2017 Information avoidance. Journal of Economic Literature 55(1): 96–135. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20151245CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lusk, JL and Norwood, FB 2010 Direct v indirect questioning: an application to the well-being of farm animals. Social Indicators Research 96: 551–565. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9492-zCrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKendree, MGS, Croney, CC and Widmar, NJO 2014 Effect of demographic factors and information sources on United States consumer perceptions of animal welfare. Journal of Animal Science. 92: 3161–3173. https://doi.org/10.2527/jas.2014-6874CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Onwezen, MC and van der Weele, CN 2016 When indiffer-ence is ambivalence: Strategic ignorance about meat consumption. Food Quality and Preference 52: 96–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2016.04.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smithson, K, Corbin, M, Lusk, JL and Norwood, FB 2014 Predicting state-wide votes on ballot initiatives to ban battery cages and gestation crates. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 46:107–124. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1074070800000663CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thunström, L, Nordström, J, Shogren, JF, Ehmke, M and van't Veld, K 2016 Strategic self-ignorance. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 52: 117. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11166-016-9236-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thunström, L, Veld, K, Shogren, JF and Nordström, J 2014 On strategic ignorance of environmental harm and social norms. Revue D’économie Politique 124: 195–214. https://doi.org/10.3917/redp.242.0195CrossRefGoogle Scholar