Abstract The dichotomous divide between vegetarians and omnivores seems clear: Omnivores eat meat, whereas vegetarians do not. Yet classifying people dichotomously as vegetarian or omnivorous overlooks a distinct group of people who limit their meat intake but still include some meat in their diets: a group of “mostly vegetarian” dieters called flexitarians (a term combining the words, “flexible” and “vegetarian”). Despite the estimated prevalence of flexitarianism in the United States hovering at approximately 20% to 30% of the population, we have little knowledge about how flexitarians construe their food choices. Through a preregistered study (N = 718), we identified psychological differences between flexitarians and full vegetarians as well as predictors of flexitarians’ openness to going fully vegetarian. Across all tests, social identity aspects of meat avoidance emerged as significant factors, over and above what motivations participants reported for avoiding meat. Findings suggest that social identity phenomena offer insights into how meat-avoiders construe not only their current, but also their prospective, food choices.

中文翻译：

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从大部分素食者到完全素食者：避免吃肉和社会认同的表达

摘要 素食者和杂食者之间的二分法似乎很清楚：杂食者吃肉，而素食者不吃。然而，将人们二分类为素食者或杂食者忽略了一个独特的人群，他们限制肉类摄入量但仍然在他们的饮食中加入一些肉类：一群“主要是素食者”的节食者称为弹性素食者（一个术语结合了“灵活”和“素食主义者”）。尽管估计弹性素食主义在美国的流行率徘徊在大约 20% 到 30% 的人口中，但我们对弹性素食主义者如何解释他们的食物选择知之甚少。通过一项预先注册的研究（N = 718），我们确定了弹性素食者和完全素食者之间的心理差异，以及弹性素食者对完全素食持开放态度的预测因素。在所有测试中，除了参与者报告的避免吃肉的动机之外，避免肉类的社会认同方面成为重要因素。研究结果表明，社会认同现象提供了关于肉类避免者如何不仅解释他们当前，而且还解释他们未来的食物选择的见解。