Do ethics classes influence student behavior? Case study: Teaching the ethics of eating meat.

Area of Science:

• Philosophy
• Behavioral Science
• Ethics Education

Background:

• The impact of ethics education on real-world behavior is understudied.
• Previous research often relies on self-reported data, which may be unreliable.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of a standard university ethics course on students' actual moral choices.
• To utilize non-self-report, non-laboratory behavioral measures to assess impact.

Main Methods:

• 1332 students were assigned to an experimental group (ethics of eating meat) or a control group (ethics of charitable giving).
• Intervention involved reading articles, optional videos, and 50-minute discussions.
• Behavioral data collected via 13,642 food purchase receipts from campus restaurants before and after the intervention.

Main Results:

• Meat product purchases decreased by 7% in the experimental group (52% to 45%) but remained unchanged in the control group (52%).
• Ethical opinions shifted, with 43% in the experimental group finding factory-farmed meat unethical, versus 29% in the control group.
• Voucher redemption for measuring food choice was too low for statistical analysis.

Conclusions:

• Ethics of eating meat instruction was associated with a reduction in meat purchases among university students.
• Ethical opinion also shifted towards greater concern regarding factory-farmed animal products.
• The specific instructional element driving the behavioral change remains undetermined.