Does organic food make people more judgmental?

A study released this week suggests that exposure to
organic food may make people judge things more harshly and
be less altruistic.

“After viewing a few organic foods, comfort foods, or
control foods, participants 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,” said the abstract of the
study published in the Journal of Psychological &
Personality Science.

Dave Ross, host of 97.3 KIRO FM Ross and Burbank Show, said
he can affirm the study’s results in observing his own
organic-eating sister.

“I don’t think my youngest sister would hate me for saying
so, but I think it’s fair to say that she is probably the
more judgmental sibling of the family,” said Ross,
describing his sister as a near vegan who only eats eggs
from chickens she raises herself on her farm in upstate
New York.

In the study, participants were asked questions regarding
scenarios like lawyers prowling the ER for injury suit
clients, or second cousins having sex. Those subjects
exposed to organic foods responded with a higher level of
objection to these situations on a scale of one to seven.

Kendall Eskine, an assistant professor from Loyola
University in New Orleans, the school that conducted the
study, told the TODAY Show that, “There’s
a line of research showing that when people can pat
themselves on the back for their moral behavior, they can
become self-righteous.”

Host Dori Monson said he totally understands
this idea, and compares organic food eaters’ moral
evaluation of themselves to that of Prius drivers.

“Certainly there are many very, very nice people who drive
Priuses. But there are a lot of people who, the Prius is
their moral badge of honor that they wear so proudly,”
said Monson.

“They’re so proud of themselves,” said Ross and Burbank
co-host Luke Burbank of organic eaters. “They think
they’re doing their part.”

But is the stricter stance on moral judgments a pre-existing condition
of the people that choose the Prius, or the organic food,
or is it the food and environmentally-friendly vehicle
that brings them to that moral position?

Burbank points out it’s kind of a chicken and the egg
situation.

“Do people tend to go toward organic food because they’re
already a little bit, let’s say ‘high minded and kind of
impressed with their own good judgment,’ or is it the
consuming of the organic stuff that turns people into a
little bit more snootier folks?”

“This study just says organic food turns people into
jerks. My guess is jerks are predisposed to buying
organic,” Monson said.

For Ross, though, what he found most notable in the
study was not what organic food does to people, but the
leniency of people who eat comfort food.

“Why is this story packaged as organic food lovers being
more judgmental, instead of brownie lovers think it’s OK
for lawyers to prowl in the ER, or think it’s OK for
second cousins to marry?” said Ross. “That’s the story
here.”

By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor