Study Special personality among vegans and vegetarians

Makes the type of diet close to our personality?

Are there differences in personality between vegetarians and meat-consuming people? This question researchers tried to elucidate in their current investigation. For this, the experts analyzed the representative data of the Socio-Economic Panel, a repeated survey of more than 12,000 private households in Germany.

Many people living in Germany feed mainly or even exclusively vegetarian or vegan. The proportion of these persons is about six percent of the population. Researchers found that these people have a different personality structure compared to meat eaters. Such people are apparently not only more open to new experiences, they also have an increased political interest and generally greater trust in their fellow human beings. The persons concerned are, according to their own information, also a little less conscientious. Researchers studied the differences in personality more closely and published the results of their study in the journal ScienceDirect.

There are also many people in Germany who refrain from eating meat. Physicians are now investigating whether vegan or vegetarian nourishing people differ in personality traits from meat-eating humans. (Image: sarsmis - fotolia)

Lead individual differences in personality to the decision for a diet without meat?

More and more people are abstaining from eating meat. However, it is not really known whether individual differences in the personality contribute to a decision for a meatless diet, explains the author of the study Tamara Pfeiler. To answer these and other questions on the subject, the researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz analyzed the data of a sample of more than 5,000 people in the so-called SOEP innovation sample.

What kind of people often eat vegan or vegetarian?

A first study in 2014 found that 2.5 percent of respondents described themselves as vegetarians and 0.3 percent defined themselves as vegans. The majority of the people who eat mainly vegetarian or vegan are female, younger and better educated, according to a recent study based on data from the long-term study of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) at DIW Berlin, which is representative for Germany.

Investigation from the year 2015

In a second study in 2015, other people were involved, who only ate predominantly vegetarian or vegan. In this study, 6 percent of participants said that they ate predominantly or exclusively vegetarian (5.4 percent) and vegan (0.6 percent). In this study, the scientists were able to determine that even the predominantly vegetarian and vegan-nourishing people were also more likely to be female, younger and better educated. In addition, those affected had a higher net household income. They were generally more open and liberal and had more confidence in their fellow human beings, but they were less conscientious.

Identified different personality traits were very small

The proportion of vegetarian and vegan eating people may vary, depending on the definition of the vegetarian diet. It has also been noted by scientists that differences in openness, conscientiousness, trust, political interest and conservatism persist when factors such as age, gender and educational attainment are statistically controlled. However, the individual differences between vegetarians and people who also consume meat in their diets are very low, especially for the personality traits, explains the expert Tamara Pfeiler. (As)