Recognizing Multiple Divers of Impact
Most things are more complex than they seem at first.
Take, for example, the impacts of alternative protein availability.
At first, we might think that the only impact alt proteins have is to directly reduce the consumption of animal products: classic supply and demand. If someone eats a Beyond Burger instead of a beef burger, then they reduce their demand for cows killed—which eventually leads to fewer animals killed for food, when enough people do this.
But if we look a little closer, we can also see psychological dynamics at play.
There has been research done into cognitive dissonance that shows that when we hold conflicting beliefs—like "I eat animals," "eating animals causes a lot of suffering," and "I am a good person who doesn't cause unnecessary suffering"—we'll often change the facts in our minds to reduce the conflict.
If people are committed to eating animals, perhaps because they don't know about alternatives or they think that eating animals is necessary, then they sometimes alter another belief to be less conflicting. In this case, the easiest belief to change may be "eating animals causes a lot of suffering".
To resolve the conflict, people might convince themselves that eating animals doesn't cause a lot of suffering. Now, there's no contradiction—voila, cognitive dissonance reduced!
Getting someone to eat plant-based foods can help shift that psychological equation. As soon as there's wiggle room for "I eat animals" to change (and for "eating animals is necessary" to seem less true), then suddenly there's also room for "eating animals causes a lot of suffering" to become true again.
This might be one reason why (anecdotally) it seems that some people become more convinced of animal ethics after they've already dabbled in vegetarianism for other reasons (health, environment, etc.). Once you stop eating animals, even for a brief period of time, cognitive space opens up for you to hold truer beliefs about animals and to feel more confident in your ability to change your behavior.
And this is just one aspect of the psychological side. There's a lot more we could look at.
Keep your eyes open for the multitude of factors that could contribute to impact. It's often not as simple as might first appear—and understanding the variables involved will help make us better advocates.
