Psychologist Kendall Erskine has
found that people can become self-righteous snobs about their diets.
“After viewing a few organic foods,
comfort foods, or control foods, participants (on his study) who were exposed
to organic foods volunteered significantly less time to help a needy stranger,
and they judged moral transgressions significantly harsher than those who
viewed nonorganic foods,” he writes in a research paper published by the
Journal of Psychological and Personality Science.
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| Ferocious Eugene Whelan |
Former Agriculture Minister Eugene
Whelan used to say “eating beef makes you ferocious” when he was battling
ranchers opposed to his proposal to put beef production under supply
management.
He had scientists at the Research
Branch searching the research literature to back his claim after the late John
T. Schmidt of the Calgary Herald published Whelan’s comments during a speech
there.
Cartoonists ridiculed Whelan who
never did back down, even after the literature search failed to turn up
anything to back Whelan’s comment.
Kendall did the research and the
professor at Loyala University says “these results suggest that exposure to
organic foods may lead people to affirm their moral identities, which attenuates
their desire to be altruistic.”
