Study: Social control does not lead to meat abstinence - on the contrary The University of Kassel conducts a study to observe consumer choices with social control5 August 2024 5 August 2024 3 minute read 3 minute read By: By: Kyle Baldwin EuropePeople who are reminded of the environmental consequences of meat consumption are more likely to avoid it - this result of an experiment at the University of Kassel was to be expected. Surprisingly, however, social control does not have this effect. The experiment was conducted by Eva Weingärtner and Prof. Dr. Astrid Dannenberg from the Department of Environmental and Behavioral Economics at the University of Kassel. They asked students to choose which type of sandwich they would like to receive as a gift (as a supposed thank you for completing a task): meat, vegetarian or vegan. However, it is also possible that the prospect of social control provokes a certain rebelliousness in many participants.