Data in Brief (Dec 2021)
Replication dataset: the effect of compassion, biological sex, and gender identity threat on jerky choice
Abstract
When it comes to food choices, high levels of trait compassion should decrease a person's likelihood to choose meat compared to a plant-based alternative [1–4]. Because meat advertising often threatens masculinity, for men, this effect is expected to be moderated by gender identity threat. The data provided with this article were collected online from 1,350 participants to conduct a replication of study 1 in “The taste of compassion: Influencing meat attitudes with interhuman and interspecies moral appeals” [5]. The original study reports that men with high trait compassion [6] are significantly less likely to choose a vegetarian jerky–and more likely to choose a meat jerky instead–if masculinity is threatened. The replication is successful if the age range of participants between the two studies is matched. The size and direction of the effect tested in the replication study is comparable to that in the original study. This outcome suggests that the formation and the processing of meat attitudes depend on life stage, and it points to additional avenues for research in the fields of nutrition, social psychology, marketing, and consumer behavior. Additional variables in the dataset (e.g., items of the composite trait compassion variable, meat avoidance intent, social identity based on diet, and dietary pattern adherence [7–11]) may be used to develop and/or test hypotheses relating to meat attitudes and food-related choice behaviors. A print-out of the survey instrument, the dataset including scale items, and a script to perform the analysis are provided.
