Organic food consumers: Does moral threat affect our perceptions of morally driven organic consumers?

Abstract

Centered in unfavorable upward moral comparison, the aim of this project is first to/nanalyze the different theories regarding moral threat from an external view, and then prove that it can also be applied to the conscious organic consumer./nFor this purpose, two experiments were done in two completely different settings in/nBarcelona: (1) BioCultura 2014, a bio fair where conscious consumers and companies and organizations related to the organic sector meet each year, with 82 participants asked to answer a survey while waiting in line for a conference; and (2) an Architecture class from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, with 73 surveys identical to the first experiment answered when students assisted in an exam review class./nOur results concluded that there is in fact a difference when perceiving a moral versus a/nneutral driven man, and that him being moral made participants value him more positively in both experiments, albeit lower in the second experiment. However, adding an extra imperfection manipulation resulted in a higher likeability of the moral person compared to the neutral one.