Vegetarians are independent thinkers who are not afraid to “march to the beat of a different drum”

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-05-29 04:00

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People who value personal success, excitement and challenges in life, and control over people and resources are more likely to also be vegetarians, according to international research, and the authors say these differences suggest that people who adopt a vegetarian diet are independent thinkers who are not afraid to “march to the beat of a different drum. The research also found that non-vegetarians are more likely to value other people's welfare, safety and harmony of society, and social cohesion. The researchers analysed data from three studies from the US and Poland in which people were surveyed on their dietary habits, and answered a series of questions on which basic human values were important to the participants. They found that vegetarians found the basic human values of stimulation, achievement, and power to be more important than non-vegetarians, while non-vegetarians found benevolence, security, and conformity to be more important. The researchers say these results are somewhat at odds with how vegetarianism is often discussed.