Seminar - May 2017

Mindless Meat Eating: The Role of Cognitive Dissonance and Negative Emotions in the Consumption of Animals

Dr Carolyn Semmler, Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology, University of Adelaide

For our May seminar, the Food Values Research Group is pleased to present Dr Carolyn Semmler.

We consume animals and yet also state that we love, respect and care for them. We buy animal products where we have little knowledge of their providence or how they were produced. Why do humans act in ways that contradict espoused values? What sort of processes might we engage in to keep behaving in this way? How are we successful at 'pulling the wool over our own eyes'? How might strong negative emotions such as disgust, disappointment and anger impact on consumption? This talk will discuss the role of cognitive dissonance in meat consumption and how it may help us to understand the meat paradox. The results of research conducted by Elisha Dowsett, in collaboration with Anna Chur-Hansen, Rachel Ankeny & Heather Bray, will be presented.

When: Wednesday, 3rd of May, 1-2 PM

Where: Ira Raymond Room, Barr Smith Library, North Terrace Campus, University of Adelaide (click here for campus map)

Carolyn Semmler was appointed to a lecturership in the School of Psychology at the University of Adelaide in 2007 after lecturing at Flinders University and completing her PhD in psychology. Her research focuses on how memories can become distorted (and what that means for legal settings), how mood and emotion impact on judgement and decision making and what makes people skeptical of scientific claims, advertising and arguments. Her research (funded via the Discovery Grants program of the Australian Research Council and the National Science Foundation (USA) over the last 8 years) challenges the myths people hold onto about their own cognition.