Cognitive Dissonance and Diet

A look at the inconsistencies between our dietary beliefs and behaviors and the mechanisms used to function with those paradoxes.
- Links and Sources -

Festinger's Experiment:

Footage of Festinger's Experiment:

Foodies Kill their own food - Buzzfeed:

Watch Okja:

[dearauset]

"I don't eat that much meat." -- Mostly said to me by people who eat meat at EVERY MEAL.

[lxschwalb]

"Where do you get your protein?"
"Same place you do, from plants. The only difference is mine doesn't have to go through an animal's digestive system first."

[omgkitcat]

One of my favorite quotes about ominvours loving animals is "You don't love animals, you love pets."

[venusstardustkyojin]

I had a lot of guilt with meat consumption when I was an omnivore and just lied to myself because I thought the difficulty of being vegan outweighed the benefits of being conscious of the suffering and holding myself accountable. I went vegan. I feel so much better in myself. Don't get me wrong, being vegan where I live isn't easy but stopping lying to myself is so much better. I feel like my conscience is clearer. I'm not perfect but I'm trying (got about 20 mins into Okja and was crying my eyes out. I had to turn it off!! I'll try again)

[LexiePersonForever]

you're actually the one who made me go vegan, because i'm someone who sincerely trusts non-biased studies, and when you showed them and broke them down for me it helped a lot. keep up the good work. <3

[AveryCreates]

I shared your channel with my GRANDMA, and she wants to share your videos with my grandpa! This is HUGE, she never wants to hear about veganism!

[dhunter]

Holy shit, that "onions tho" was bril'

[borofreak]

Two other very prominent strategies for coping with Cognitive Dissonance is:

- Forcefully assigning negative (and often untrue) characteristics and attributes to the event/information that is causing your Cognitive Dissonance. "Vegans are skinny and don't get enough vitamins" or "Vegans are so annoying, I'm not listening to them shove their stuff in my face", "Vegan food is WAY more expensive", etc. The event/information becomes less potent for you so you have an easier time disregarding it.

- Artificially downplaying the severity or weight of the other argument/event/information so that it becomes on par or even worse than your current point of view. "Plants have feelings too [so killing animals is now okay]" or "There are vegans who die from their diet [therefore it is worse] is so it is not as good of a diet".

[comfychels]

Mic getting a green screen is the most exciting thing to happen to me all week.

[veganfortheanimals]

One day you'll have to do a video with a black beard and orange head hair and see how many people notice

[mike-]

The hardest part about getting someone to stop eating animal products is that the moment they have some inclination of not feeling absolutely perfect, they blame the diet entirely. Nope nope nope, can't survive without my cow dick stew.

[plantsever]

With my family, I just set an example and remain positive so I can win them over with my endless energy and good health!!! I drive them crazy of course in a good way!! No negativity needed! Maybe I'll wear them down this way...just need to give them time to come to their senses!!!

[piku]

It took me a long time but even as a vegan I still kept buying hygiene products that may have been not CF and vegan cause I was afraid of overpricing. I regret not looking deeper and finding out some stuff isn't that obscure to find and it's actually a good price competitive to mainstream products but my focus was mainly meat, eggs, dairy, honey and basic clothing which is most easy for newer vegans. I found out nearly all mainstream brands test on animals and now I have no excuses, plus it's more eco friendly anyways.

[Lana-ictm]

I swear, mic could be a professor in a Pokemon game.

[WellYourWorld]

Love your work as always. You always hit the relevant topics we all notice and don't always converse deeply about. Thanks for your insight.

[laurieparis]

The longer I'm on this planet, the greater my need for an authentic life. Going WFPB has allowed me to align my beliefs with my diet. All while improving my health.

[VegAnimation]

*But what would you do if you were on a sentient island and there were only ancestors that you could force your lions on, tho?*

[NaomiMordi]

Hi Mic. I think this explains way more than just the eating habits of today. Way more. 😓

[lorrainewilliams]

For years I have wondered why so many people swear they don't eat "carbs", yet eat candy, cake, ice cream, etc. and drink alcohol on a nearly or daily basis. Thank you for explaining cognitive dissonance and food in a way a common person can understand.

And a huge thank you for explaining why to this day people attack me for my diet choices. I try to keep quiet about it, not bring it up, but people how have known me for nearly 10 years still ask the protein question and still get up in my face about what I "can and can't" eat. This video is brilliant.

[katiavione]

I just want to thank you for this video. As a social psychologist, I've been trying to explain this for quite a while, sometimes it takes a lot of time to explain this to people, now I can just refer them to the video. Moreover, this is a very important insight on how we should phrase and shape any type of activism or message promoting a vegan diet. Many people who advocate for a vegan diet think they are doing something good when they are actually reinforcing people's (meat eaters) belief that what they are doing is the right and better thing. Unfortunately this seems to be the case far too often, being more harmful than good.