Ideological and threat predictors of religious and diet-based prejudice in Canada

There is an increasing prevalence of negative attitudes toward vegans and vegetarians in North America. Religious reasons for diet might provide a buffering effect on prejudice towards these groups (MacInnis & Hodson, 2017). In the present thesis (Study 1), the role of socio-political ideology, threat perceptions and religious identity in understanding negative attitudes towards vegans and vegetarians, was investigated. Further, as imagined contact has been found to predict tolerant outgroup attitudes (Miles & Crisp, 2014), the relationship between imagined contact and attitudes towards vegans was studied (Study 2). Study 1 (n=406) and Study 2 (n=137) were both administered to undergraduate samples. In Study 1, religious identity had no buffering effect on attitudes towards vegans/vegetarians. Participants higher on ideology and threat held less favourable attitudes towards vegans and Sikh vegans/vegetarians. In Study 2, participants who imagined interacting with vegans reported liking them more (vs. control). Implications for future research are discussed.