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Unhealthy food is not tastier for everybody: The “healthy = tasty” French intuition
Abstract
Previous research demonstrated that, for US-Americans, unhealthy food is implicitly associated to tastiness. Based on intercultural differences in food perception between France and USA, our objective is to verify if such differences impact food-related implicit associations, taste evaluations, and food consumption. Our first study demonstrates that the opposite intuition exists in France: unhealthy food is spontaneously associated with bad taste, while healthy food is linked to tastiness. Our second study investigates how the healthy = tasty French intuition influences taste perceptions in a product test conducted in an experimental lab. Results indicate that a neutral food described as healthy is considered tastier, more pleasurable and of better quality than when it is described as unhealthy.
... Given that taste expectation is a primary driver of food choices [114], the findings of Raghunathan et al. suggest that consumers with stronger unhealthy-tasty beliefs are less likely to engage in healthy eating behavior after perceiving a food as healthy. It is worth noting that the opposite intuition is observed in France [115] and other European countries [110]. French participants are more likely to consider healthier (vs. ...
... French participants are more likely to consider healthier (vs. less healthy) foods as tastier [115]. Austrian and German participants tend to associate healthiness with tastiness, although individual differences in the "healthy = tasty intuition" moderate this association [110]. ...
... Moreover, individuals with a stronger healthy-tasty belief are more likely to consume vegetables, which, in turn, are associated with lower BMI [117]. Similarly, highly restrained eaters are less likely to hold the healthy-tasty belief [115]. In sum, participants with stronger healthy-tasty beliefs are more likely to eat healthily after perceiving the food's healthiness. ...
Many consumers today pursue health goals to adopt healthier behaviors, and interest in promoting healthy eating habits in gastronomy is growing. Empirical evidence demonstrates that sensory cues (e.g., food color, food shapes, and background music) influence healthy eating behavior. However, the theoretical understanding of how sensory cues shape healthy food choices remains unclear. Specifically, this study develops the sensory–healthy eating model, a theoretical framework that explains how and when sensory cues influence healthy eating behavior (e.g., food choices and intake). By integrating related theories and empirical findings across interdisciplinary fields, we identify which sensory cues shape healthy eating and the psychological processes through which they operate. The theoretical model proposes that (1) sensory cues evoke cognitive (higher evaluation, lower potency, lower activity) and/or affective responses (positive valence, lower arousal), (2) these responses shape the perceived healthiness of foods based on their characteristics and quantity, and (3) the influence of perceived food healthiness on healthy eating behavior is stronger for consumers with health goals or motives. Our model provides a valuable framework for researchers and practitioners in marketing, food science, and gastronomy to promote healthy eating behavior.
... Consumers report greater enjoyment from fatty, calorie-rich products, so portraying food items as unhealthy can evoke more favorable taste perceptions (Bialkova et al., 2016;Kähkönen & Tuorila, 1998;Liem et al., 2012). However, in challenges to the universality of this belief Werle et al., 2013), some studies offer evidence for the opposite belief that the healthier the food, the tastier it is (healthy = tasty belief). Evidence suggests that framing food as healthful (versus unhealthful) appears to result in more favorable taste perceptions (e.g., Dubé et al., 2016;Haasova & Florack, 2019;Lapierre et al., 2011;Orquin & Scholderer, 2015). ...
... Prior literature offers two complementary explanations Raghunathan et al., 2006;Werle et al., 2013). First, evolutionarily, calorie-rich and sugar-laden foods have been important to human survival because carbohydrates and fat are key sources of nutritional energy. ...
... Despite widespread advocacy for healthier eating, many consumers overconsume energy-dense foods, reflecting an assumption that unhealthy foods are inherently tastier (Raghunathan et al., 2006). However, several investigations offer evidence of an opposing, healthy = tasty belief (Dubé et al., 2016;Haasova & Florack, 2019;Orquin & Scholderer, 2015;Werle et al., 2013). We proposed and tested a theoretical framework that predicts consumer judgments to be in line with healthy = tasty or unhealthy = tasty, depending on the (un)healthfulness of the food category. ...
Despite evidence that people believe that the unhealthier the food, the tastier it is, some studies also suggest the opposing belief—the healthier the food, the tastier it is. A framework is proposed to reconcile this contradiction, and four studies demonstrate that the discrete categorization of foods as healthful versus unhealthful determines which intuition consumers use. When stereotypically unhealthy foods (e.g., candies, ice cream, hot dogs) are encountered, they are automatically categorized as unhealthful and the properties associated with that category (e.g., sweetness, saltiness, fat content) become accessible. Inferences about taste are then based on these properties and the unhealthier the encountered products are (i.e., the higher the sugar and fat content they have), the tastier they are perceived to be (unhealthy = tasty belief). Conversely, when stereotypically healthful foods (e.g., fruits) are encountered, other properties (e.g., freshness, vitamins) become salient, and tastiness is mainly inferred based on these properties, leading to the inference that the healthier these foods are (i.e., the more freshness and vitamins they have), the tastier they are perceived to be (healthy = tasty belief). Marketers and policymakers can leverage these findings to understand better when emphasizing healthiness benefits or hurts taste perceptions.
... Meanwhile, advertisements for healthy foods tend to emphasise their nutritional benefits, appealing to cognitive reasoning for a healthy lifestyle. Nevertheless, in certain cultures, healthier foods are associated with greater taste, such as in France (Werle et al., 2013). Apart from that, unhealthy-tasty intuition's influence can vary depending on consumers' goals and the specific consumption context (Loebnitz & Grunert, 2018;Piqueras-Fiszman & Jaeger, 2015). ...
... Furthermore, this research proposed that changes in product perceptions in repeated exposure are mainly driven by changes in taste associations. This assumption builds on the "unhealthy = tasty intuition" literature (Haasova & Florack, 2019;Raghunathan et al., 2006;Werle et al., 2013) and findings from previous research (Asbridge et al., 2021;De Wijk et al., 2019;Stroebe et al., 2008;Tijssen et al., 2019) suggesting that the short-term goal of indulgence is predominantly (not exclusively) working implicitly, in contrast to the predominantly (not exclusively) cognitively controlled interest of eating healthy. Thus, in repeated exposure, increases in implicit liking should be stronger in response to tasting rather than to the product package. ...
... Finally, prior research suggests cultural differences in consumer reactions to health-related information (Werle et al., 2013) and to plantbased products . Due to the methodology requiring in-person assessment, participants of this study lived in proximity to the laboratory. ...
... However, this expectation of healthiness could potentially hinder the development of the organic wine market, notably in the United States. US consumers have an implicit intuition that healthy items are less tasty, leading them to prefer unhealthy products (Raghunathan et al., 2006), while this intuition is not found in other populations such as the French (Werle et al., 2013). ...
... However, some countries, such as France, have a more comprehensive approach to healthy food communication that is less focused on nutritional content (Wickramasinghe et al., 2021). This difference may explain why the unhealthy = tasty intuition is not found in this population (Werle et al., 2013). ...
... Research in France highlights a unique perspective where certain consumer groups exhibit a "healthy = tasty" intuition, reflecting a prioritization of sensory and social enjoyment in food consumption (Stearns, 1997;Werle et al., 2013). In France, the concept of "eating well" transcends mere nutrition, emphasizing gastronomic pleasure and social connection over health concerns, indicating a hedonic view of food consumption that differs from the utilitarian perspective prevalent in the US (Fischler & Masson, 2008;Werle et al., 2013). ...
Organic labels certify a product's commitment to ecological balance. However, the association between organic products and health benefits can inadvertently promote overconsumption, particularly in the case of alcoholic beverages such as red wine. In research conducted with participants from the United States, we demonstrate that consumers implicitly link organic wine with health and pleasure, which is explicitly reflected in heightened purchase intentions and anticipated consumption volume. Interestingly, our findings indicate that these effects are moderated by label colour. Implicitly, red organic labels are associated with a less healthy but tastier drink than green labels. Explicitly, organic labels overall stimulate higher purchase intentions regardless of their colour. Nevertheless, our results highlight a moderating role of label colour. Compared to green labels, red organic labels elicit increased purchase intentions, driven by greater expectations of tastiness associated with the red label. Additionally, red labels convey a perception of higher alcohol strength and an intention to consume wine in smaller quantities versus green labels. Thus, the use of a red label may signal both pleasure and potential danger, facilitating organic wine sales without necessarily increasing consumption. These findings have implications for marketers and policymakers interested in supporting responsible wine consumption.
... Previous research suggests that unconscious processes influence consumers' reactions to a healthier food choice significantly Raghunathan et al., 2006) and consumers, therefore, do not always behave as they intend. According to the "unhealthy = tasty" intuition, for instance, healthy foods are implicitly often − but not always − perceived as less tasty compared to their unhealthy counterparts (Banovic et al., 2021;Raghunathan et al., 2006;Werle et al., 2013). Raghunathan et al. (2006) speculate that this might date back to the Protestant work ethic whereby one should prioritise necessities over luxuries and must work hard to earn the right to indulge. ...
... All other aspects of the packaging design were kept constant to eliminate any additional influence on participants' reactions. To (Raghunathan et al., 2006;Werle et al., 2013). In ten rounds, they were shown two pictures of snacks sideby-side that were perceived as healthy or tasty by Danish participants (Tønning Tønnesen et al., 2021) and had to choose which one they would prefer ("What do you prefer?"). ...
... Although explicitly the snack in the healthy condition was liked as much as the snack in the tasty condition, implicitly consumers liked the snack in the tasty condition more than the snack in the healthy condition, suggesting that perceived healthiness of the product may carry a negative impact on the implicit attitudes. As a result, consumers can face a trade-off between their health and taste goals without fully realising the existence of this trade-off Raghunathan et al., 2006;Werle et al., 2013). Yet, this trade-off may result in consumers refraining from purchasing the healthy snack and instead acting on the implicit liking for tastier options Raghunathan et al., 2006). ...
... However, recent studies begin to question the universality of such intuition [3], with France being a striking example. When tested in the same IAT paradigm, French participants were found to hold the opposite implicit intuition, namely healthy = tasty [7]. This difference was mainly explained by the French holding a hedonic approach to food, compared to the US holding a more utilitarian/biological one [5,7]. ...
... When tested in the same IAT paradigm, French participants were found to hold the opposite implicit intuition, namely healthy = tasty [7]. This difference was mainly explained by the French holding a hedonic approach to food, compared to the US holding a more utilitarian/biological one [5,7]. ...
... Participants were told to correctly categorize stimuli appearing on the middle of their screens by using only two keys of their keyboards. Irrespectively of the condition, the IAT procedure always followed those previously used [5,7], composed of seven consecutive blocks (see Table 1). However, the presentation order of the congruent and incongruent associations was counterbalanced between participants. ...
Obesity and overweight have drastically increased in developed countries, notably due to the widespread belief that unhealthy foods taste better than healthy ones. In this study, we investigated what kind of relationship do Japanese people hold between health and taste, using a classic IAT paradigm. Results indicate that participants hold the opposite implicit intuition, that is healthy = tasty. This intuition was stronger when pictures of universal (vs. domestic) foods were used, suggesting different perception of the two cuisines. These results shed new lights on the use of IAT with food, and may contribute to public health cares and to the food industry.
... Methodologically, these studies differ from the research confirming the unhealthy-tasty intuition by asking respondents to rate products on two separate scales assessing healthiness and tastiness, rather than explicitly measuring the unhealthy-tasty intuition [e.g., (15)]. The study of Werle et al. (35) reports a positive relationship between healthiness and taste for French consumers measured with an implicit association test. Accordingly, cultural differences need to be considered when investigating the unhealthy-tasty intuition. ...
... In two studies, Austrian and German consumers associated healthy products with a good taste. Findings from Werle et al. (35) and Haasova and Florack (21) acknowledge the relevance of cultural differences when exploring the unhealthy-tasty intuition. ...
... Nevertheless, one way to overcome the ineffectiveness of health claims in promoting healthy behavior might be the stimulation of taste expectations via health inferences. Despite the prevalence of the unhealthy-tasty intuition, studies measuring taste expectations and health inferences on separate scales (in contrast to studies that directly ask respondents if they associated healthy food with having less taste) report a positive correlation between perceptions of healthiness and tastiness (20,21,35). In support of this, a recent study showed that organic labeling prompts both, health inferences and favorable taste expectations and that the positive effect on taste expectations is mediated by health inferences (58). ...
Introduction
Increasing obesity rates around the globe have challenged policymakers to find strategies to prompt healthier eating habits. While unhealthy eating takes place in many different contexts, dining out is a context where individuals often choose an unhealthy option despite the availability of healthier alternatives. One possible explanation for this behavior is the unhealthy-tasty intuition, which refers to the belief that unhealthy food is tastier than healthy food. Nevertheless, many policymakers and restaurant managers follow the – in this context – counterintuitive approach of using health claims to nudge people towards more healthy eating choices or habits.
Methods
The current research employs an online experiment with 137 participants and investigates how health claims and sensory claims impact on the purchase intention of healthy options for desserts. Furthermore, it explores how health inferences and taste expectations mediate the intention to purchase.
Results and discussion
Findings from the online experiment confirm that health claims prompt positive health inferences, while also stimulating unfavorable taste expectations, resulting in a lower intention to purchase. Surprisingly, we found no effect of a sensory claim on taste expectations. The findings of our experiment contradict the unhealthy-tasty intuition by revealing a significant positive correlation between taste expectations and health inferences. While both health inferences and taste expectations impact positively on purchasing intentions for the health-claim condition, the indirect effect of taste expectations was stronger than the indirect effect of health inferences.
... However, this "unhealthy = tasty" belief varies among people and is linked to healthy eating behaviors (e.g., Briers et al., 2020;Mai & Hoffmann, 2015). Differences in the belief have also been observed across cultures (Jo & Lusk, 2018;Werle et al., 2013) and social classes . The most astonishing finding is that the belief can deviate from the correlation of healthiness and taste ratings for larger sets of food items without any additional health labels, where the correlation between both food attributes is often positive (Haasova & Florack, 2019a;Jo & Lusk, 2018). ...
... Previous research has shown that a significant proportion of individuals hold the belief that food classified as unhealthy is expected to be more palatable than food classified as healthy (Garaus et al., 2023;Garaus & Lalicic, 2021;Raghunathan et al., 2006). However, this belief is neither universal nor held by all individuals in all social contexts (Jo & Lusk, 2018;Werle et al., 2013). Furthermore, it is inconsistent with the finding that ratings of healthiness and taste of a large set of food items are often positively or uncorrelated, but rarely negatively correlated (Haasova & Florack, 2019a;Jo & Lusk, 2018). ...
... Employing the Implicit Association Test (IAT) (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995;Greenwald et al., 1998), these studies show that consumers are slower to process information when healthy products are paired with enjoyable words compared with when unhealthy products are paired with enjoyable words. However, research in France indicates that the presence of the UTIs is context-and culture-dependent (Werle et al., 2013). ...
... Second, the prominent studies eliciting implicit attitudes to test for the UTI use very generic stimuli such as raw broccoli, apples, French fries, or potato chips Raghunathan et al., 2006;Werle et al., 2013). ...
This study investigates the implicit and explicit health–taste tradeoffs that consumers make in response to sugar‐reduction claims on chocolate cereals. We collect implicit measures through an Implicit Association Test, explicit perceptions of health and taste properties, and statements regarding product liking and purchase intention through a questionnaire. Based on a path analysis, we assess the relative strength of the indirect effects of sugar‐reduction claims mediated by health and taste perceptions, as well as the direct effects on purchase intention. The results indicate that sugar‐reduction claims decrease taste perceptions, increase health perceptions, and have only minor negative effects on product liking, but increase purchase intentions. Most participants show an implicit “unhealthy = tasty” intuition, which can be offset by moderate to high health consciousness. The implications for marketing and policymakers are twofold. First, our study shows that sugar‐reduction claims are effective in addressing the original target group of health‐conscious consumers. Second, our results suggest that the health–taste tradeoff is not prohibitively detrimental to purchase intentions among less health‐conscious consumers. Potential instruments to increase the market share in this segment are discussed [EconLit Citations: I18, D12, D83].
... Previous research on intuitions suggests that individual differences as well as food characteristics influence the decision-making process. For instance, the magnitude and valence of the "healthy = tasty" heuristic, that is associating food healthiness with food taste, varied with food characteristics and individual differences [25][26][27]. Specifically, Haasova and Florack [25] argued that one source of the "healthy = tasty" heuristic is the use of similar cues for both people's healthiness and tastiness judgements. With regard to a potential "healthy = sustainable" heuristic, people might use actual food healthiness, sustainability, and the degree of plant-based meal content as cues for judging both their sustainability and healthiness (see also [28]). ...
... Fourth, the sample consisted mainly of students and thus, findings might not generalize to other groups, for example, with lower education. Fifth, the study was conducted in Germany and it is possible that there exist cross-cultural differences (cf., [27,50]). Last, actual meal sustainability was assessed via the indicators material consumption and GHG emissions. ...
Research has found an association between the perceived sustainability and healthiness of foods and meals between individual consumers. The current study aimed to investigate whether the association between perceived sustainability and healthiness on the individual level is rooted in reality. Moreover, we investigated whether meal or individual characteristics affect this association. In total, 5021 customers of a public canteen rated the sustainability and healthiness of 29 meal options. For determining the actual environmental sustainability and healthiness scores, exact recipes of each meal were analyzed using the NAHGAST algorithm. Results showed a substantial association between perceived sustainability and healthiness at the individual level. However, this perceived relation was unrelated to the overlap between the actual environmental sustainability and healthiness scores of the meals. Moreover, this “healthier = more sustainable” perception was unrelated to other meal characteristics (e.g., vegan content) or individual characteristics (i.e., gender, eating style). However, this association was slightly higher in older than in younger participants. The present study shows in a real-world setting that food consumers seem to evaluate the sustainability and healthiness of meals based on a simple “healthy = sustainable” heuristic which is largely independent of the actual overlap of these dimensions. Future research is needed to shed more light on the nature, sources, and consequences of this heuristic.
... One possible explanation for why emphasizing the health benefits of water may increase desire for water is that people may experience positive affect when imagining the positive long-term consequences of drinking water for their health. Previous research suggests that health information may increase perceptions of tastiness of foods and drinks, particularly if the product is neutral and if individuals attach importance to health-related aspects of eating [39,40]. This may also explain why ratings of anticipated health benefits were lower for the bottled water after being immersed in health-focused ads compared to control ads: While health is an inherent characteristic of water, deep processing of the health benefits of water may have triggered simulations of reward. ...
... In this case, perceiving water as healthier may influence perceptions of how tasty the water is, or how rewarding it will be to consume the water. This is consistent with previous research suggesting that health and taste perceptions are closely related [39,40] and that emphasizing the rewarding aspects of healthy foods in language increases the desire to consume them in that moment [18,19]. Whether this effect holds for foods and drinks that are more or less appealing than the rather neutral product water, may be an interesting question for future studies. ...
Background
Despite its numerous health benefits, consumers’ daily water consumption is below recommend levels while soft drink consumption remains high. Previous research has shown that the degree to which drinks are cognitively represented in terms of consumption and enjoyment (i.e., through simulations of consumption and reward) predicts desire and intake. Here, we examined whether simulation-enhancing advertisements that frame water in terms of consumption and reward change cognitive representations and increase motivation for a fictitious bottled water.
Methods
In three pre-registered online experiments (Nexp1 = 984; Nexp2 = 786; Nexp3 = 907), UK participants viewed three advertisements that either highlighted the rewarding consumption experience of water (e.g., “Refresh all your senses with this smooth, cool water”; simulation-enhancing ads), the health consequences of drinking water (e.g., “This water takes care of your health”; health-focused ads), or control ads. We assessed cognitive representations of the bottled water with a semantic feature production task, and we coded the words used as consumption and reward features or positive long-term health consequences features. We assessed motivation through ratings of the attractiveness of the water (Exp. 1 only), desire to drink it, and willingness to pay for it (WTP).
Results
In line with our hypotheses, participants represented the bottled water more in terms of consumption and reward after viewing simulation-enhancing advertisements, and more in terms of positive long-term health consequences after viewing health-focused advertisements. There was no direct effect of advertisement condition on motivation ratings. However, significant indirect effects showed that simulation-enhancing advertisements increased desire and WTP through the proportion of consumption and reward features, whereas health-focused advertisements increased motivation through an increase in the proportion of positive long-term health consequences features. The effects through consumption and reward were stronger.
Conclusions
These findings are consistent with research suggesting that the experience of immediate reward from drinking water underlies intake. Public health interventions should emphasize the enjoyment of drinking water, rather than the long-term health benefits.
... The AEBQ, recently developed and based on the well-known Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) [23], assesses a broad array of eating traits related to appetite and food acceptance. More specifically, this questionnaire includes 35 [22]. The AEBQ has been translated into several languages, including French, and was found to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing eating traits in different adult populations [22,[24][25][26][27][28]. ...
... Thus, those who show more pronounced interests in food and enjoy eating may appreciate a variety of nutrient-dense foods. Interestingly, a study of cultural differences in food perceptions in France versus the United States indicates that Americans tend to associate unhealthy food with tastiness and gustatory pleasure, whereas in France healthy food is perceived as tastier and more gratifying [35]. ...
Background
Eating behaviors may contribute to differences in body weight and diet over time. Our study aims to examine how eating behaviors of young adults relate to their current weight status and dietary patterns and to explore longitudinal associations with eating behaviors in early childhood.
Methods
Study participants are young adults (n = 698) taking part in the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development. At age 22, eating behaviors were assessed using the Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire. Dietary patterns were derived from information collected by food frequency questions. Weight status was based on self-reported data. Information on eating behaviors in childhood had been collected when participants were 2.5 to 6 years old. Pearson’s correlations were used to determine associations between adult eating behaviors and body mass index. Simple and multivariate linear regression analyses were used to examine associations between eating behaviors and dietary patterns at age 22, and longitudinal associations with behaviors in early childhood. Ordinal logistic regression analyses were used to assess associations between overeating and fussy eating in childhood and weight status at age 22.
Results
Body mass index was positively correlated with Emotional overeating, Enjoyment of food, and Food responsiveness and negatively correlated with Satiety responsiveness, Emotional undereating, Slowness in eating and Hunger. A Healthy dietary pattern was positively associated with both Enjoyment of food and Hunger, and negatively associated with Food fussiness. Inversely, a Beverage-rich dietary pattern was negatively associated with Enjoyment of food and positively associated with Food fussiness. A Protein-rich pattern was positively associated with Enjoyment of food, while a High energy density pattern was positively associated with Food fussiness. Young adults with higher scores for fussy eating in early childhood were more likely to manifest Food fussiness and Emotional undereating, and less likely to adopt a Healthy dietary pattern. Young adults with higher scores for overeating in early childhood were less likely to show traits such as Slowness in eating and more likely to be overweight.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that eating behaviors in childhood have long-term influence on diet and weight status, thereby reinforcing the importance of early interventions that promote healthy eating.
... It would be important to assess how one-trait and all-encompassing sustainable labels influence food consumption. Given that the self-benefits assessed in the present research were health-related and healthiness does not always positively affect consumption (Raghunathan et al., 2006;Werle et al., 2013), the effects on consumption may diverge from the ones observed in the present work. Future work is warranted to test how sustainable labels affect actual food consumption. ...
... Poor food environment can influence a child's poor food selections. In that respect, fatty or sweet foods are more likely to be chosen by children because such foods are usually tastier (Werle et al., 2013). This study intended to assess the food environment in school children towards poor choices of food items found in school as a significant contributing factor to such choices. ...
Introduction: The study focused on examining the overall food environment influencing the dietary choices of school children in public primary schools in Morogoro Municipality. Four primary schools—Magadu, SUA, Mlimani, and Kikundi—were purposively sampled to represent the broader school landscape in the municipality. SUA and Mlimani were in urban and peri-urban areas, Magadu represented peri-urban settings, and Kikundi was in the town center. Data collection involved administering a structured questionnaire to 97 school children, selected through convenient sampling based on their availability on the day of data collection. Results showed that most children were aware of healthy foods (62.9%) but demonstrated lower awareness of unhealthy foods (52.6%). Only 52% of children brought food from home, while the majority purchased items from vendors around the school premises. The most consumed junk foods included biscuits (83.5%), chips (75.3%), chocolates (74.2%), and fried buns (72.2%). Notably, school regulations or bylaws governing the sale of food to children were absent. Discussion: The findings suggested that children were more conscious of healthy foods than unhealthy options, possibly leading them to consume the latter unknowingly. The study emphasized the prevalence of unhealthy food consumption among school children and highlighted the absence of regulatory measures in place. Addressing these issues could promote healthier dietary habits among school children in Morogoro Municipality.
... Thus, although labels with nutritional values can inform consumers efficiently about the healthiness of food products, their efficacy in promoting healthier decisions may be limited (Ikonen et al., 2020). Telling people that a particular food is not a healthy choice may make the food less tempting for some people (Werle et al., 2013); for others, the knowledge that a food product is a high-calorie "junk food" can even increase their craving (Raghunathan et al., 2006). In an eye-tracking study by , participants were tasked with relocating their gaze away from food depictions as fast as possible. ...
Background: Diets high in added sugar can promote the development of overweight. Especially during the Holiday season, when high-sugar food is abundant, people overeat and gain more weight than during other times of the year. The present study with mobile eye-tracking glasses (Pupil Labs Invisible) investigated how sugar content information affects food preference (liking/wanting) and visual attention (where and how long one is looking) in a buffet-like situation.
Methods: Fifty-eight participants who were well acquainted with the local Christmas traditions and foods (38 female, 19 male, one diverse; mean age = 25 years, SD = 6.3 years; mean body mass index = 22.2 kg/m2, SD = 3.2 kg/m2) were presented with four cookies and two non-food items (wrapped presents) in a free viewing task. Two of the displayed cookies were ‘Christmas cookies’ (cookies that are traditionally eaten only during the Holiday season) and two cookies had no Christmas association. The cookies were either labeled as cookies made with or without sugar, resulting in a 3 (Category: cookies with sugar, cookies without sugar, non-food) by 2 (Christmas association: yes, no) repeated-measures design.
Results: Analyses of variance indicated that participants reported higher wanting and liking for cookies with sugar, particularly Christmas cookies (interaction effect for wanting: p = .047, ηp2 = .059; interaction effect for liking: p = .017, ηp2 = .084). Sugar-free cookies were fixated more often (p = .028; d = 0.35) and shorter (p < .001; d = 0.64) than sugar cookies.
Conclusion: Assuming that cookies are sugar-free reduced the reported preference for this product, which was associated with a more detail-oriented (critical) viewing pattern. The study's findings have potential implications for public health and can aid in developing targeted interventions to promote healthier food choices during festive periods. The new strategies should not focus on the sugar content of foods.
... Past studies proposed that the unhealthy = tasty belief varies between different cultures. Specifically, in cultures in which food is generally associated with pleasure and enjoyment, people more likely hold positive healthy = tasty beliefs (Werle et al., 2013). Our findings offer an additional explanation that consumers in some cultures might develop positive healthy = tasty beliefs because healthy food may be more frequent in these cultures. ...
... Increasing convenience (time savings, ease of preparation, energy savings, etc.) adds value to the final product, which translates to a higher price [107], and healthy foods are perceived as more expensive [102]. In some cultures, there is an intuition that healthy foods are not tasty [108,109]. Consumers have even reported this belief with a low food pleasure orientation [110]. ...
Current consumption drivers, particularly those related to health and wellbeing, have been influencing trends for the lower consumption of cereals, particularly rice, due to their typical high glycaemic index (GIs) and consequent impacts on obesity. To satisfy this consumer concern, more food innovations that promote healthy eating habits are required. Such innovations must be consumer-oriented to succeed, understanding the dynamics of consumer habits and responding to consumer expectations. This study explored these habits, from acquisition to consumption practices, and the expectations of the European market from the perspective of the major European consumer, Portugal, to obtain insights that support the development of low glycaemic index (GI) rice products. A mixed-methods approach was applied. For the first quantitative questionnaire, 256 Portuguese rice consumers aged 18-73 years were recruited. Twenty-four individuals were selected according to their gender and rice consumption profiles for in-depth interviews. The results confirmed that rice was the main side dish for the participants and was mainly consumed at home, cooked from raw milled rice. The drivers of consumption differ according to the provisioning process stage. In the acquisition stage, participants reported benefits from the rice's dynamic market by comparing products on price, brand, and rice types. In the preparation stage, participants reported the adequacy of the recipe and occasion, while in the consumption stage, participants enhanced their sensory preferences, depending on the rice dish. Although the GI concept was unknown to half of the participants, it was perceived as interesting and positive for healthy eating. Consumers showed concern about the taste and naturalness of the product, preferring it to be as close to a homemade dish as possible. The negative perceptions we verified were interpreted to be due to a lack of knowledge about the GI concept. Therefore, awareness actions and informative campaigns are recommended to promote low-GI rice products.
... In the reviewed literature, participants frequently described healthy foods which are lower in fat, sugar, and salt as less tasty while preferring unhealthy foods, even though they knew of the health effects of a poor diet. This observation is consistent with a study conducted in an US American population [82], while the perception that healthy foods are tastier dominated in a French cohort [83], indicating that sociocultural factors may influence attitudes toward healthy eating. We only observed the perception that unhealthy foods taste better in studies from English-speaking countries; therefore, results may not be transferable to other high-income countries. ...
Background
Understanding how individuals currently perceive healthy eating is essential for developing food policies and dietary recommendations that improve the health and well-being of populations. The purpose of this qualitative evidence synthesis was to systematically outline the views and understandings of healthy eating, focusing on how foods are classified as healthy and unhealthy and what meanings are attached to food and eating by the general adult population in high-income countries.
Methods
A systematic search of four electronic databases was conducted and yielded 24 relevant primary qualitative studies of generally healthy, community-dwelling adults.
Results
Thematic synthesis of the included studies identified three analytic themes: constructions of healthy and unhealthy eating, considerations on dietary recommendations, and meanings attached to food and eating. Study participants generally understood what constitutes a healthy and unhealthy diet which was in line with dietary recommendations, but those of lower socioeconomic status exhibited gaps in nutrition knowledge. Participants expressed diverse opinions on dietary recommendations, including skepticism and a lack of trust. Food and eating were associated with various meanings, including pleasure, stress relief, and feelings of guilt. Moral, health, and sociocultural considerations also played a role in dietary behaviors.
Conclusions
The findings suggest that improving population diet requires considering how dietary recommendations are phrased and communicated to ensure that healthy eating is associated with pleasure and immediate well-being. This review provides valuable insights for developing consumer-oriented, practicable, and acceptable food policies and dietary recommendations that effectively improve population health and well-being.
... Further studies could explore taste perception after each new information is given. Furthermore, (Werle, Trendel, & Ardito, 2013) highlighted the importance of how an underlying culture and associated product assumptions vary between cultures. This study was limited to participants that self-identified themselves as "White/Caucasian" and was limited to one site location located in Northwest Arkansas. ...
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts comprise almost 30% of total poultry sales and poultry remains US consumers' protein of choice. This research sought to determine whether consumers of chicken would pay a premium for a smoked chicken breast that was healthier and produced with less of a negative impact on the environment. Two balanced consumer panel groups were presented with information on the two value prospects of smoked chicken prepared with liquid smoke. The order of presentation of the health claims and the environmentally friendly claims were reversed to measure the impact of the order of presentation on consumers' willingness to pay. An Nth type auction showed that health claims elicited a greater premium; the highest average premium was approximately $7 including the baseline price following the health claims for the liquid smoked chicken. The order of presentation of the information did not affect the results. Consumers are willing to pay more for chicken that is deemed healthier and prepared with environmentally friendly ingredients.
... Although research has shown that unhealthy foods are generally assumed to taste good (Raghunathan et al., 2006), recent research has shown that healthy foods, such as fruit and vegetables, made people happier than unhealthy snacks (Franja et al., 2021) and accounted for the largest share in happiness after eating (Wahl et al., 2017). Moreover, Werle et al. (2013) have shown that unhealthy food is not tastier than healthy food for everybody. Thus, there seems to be individual variation in liking of healthy versus unhealthy foods, which might affect the relationship between an intuitive eating style and dietary healthiness. ...
An intuitive style in eating decision‐making, for example, basing decisions on one's gut feeling, has been related to a less healthy diet, whereas deliberately deciding what to eat, such as making plans about eating behavior, has been related to a healthier diet. The present study investigated whether nutrition knowledge, food preferences, and habit strength for healthy and unhealthy eating moderate these relationships. In total, 1245 participants took part in a preregistered cross‐sectional online survey. Results revealed that neither nutrition knowledge, nor liking of healthy or unhealthy foods, nor habit strength for healthy or unhealthy eating interacted with the preference for intuition or deliberation in eating decision‐making in affecting dietary intake (βs ≤ |.06|; ts ≤ |2.11|; ps ≥ .035). Instead, including the potential moderating variables in analyses rendered the effect of a preference for intuition largely non‐significant. In contrast, the positive effect of a preference for deliberation was largely stable even when including the potential moderating variables. Thus, the present study confirms the general health‐promoting effect of a preference for deliberation in eating decision‐making. In contrast, results speak in favor of a generally minor role of a preference for intuition for healthy or unhealthy eating.
... Besides, our research broadens the application of consumer lay belief theory in the agricultural products field. While most previous studies have discussed competing lay beliefs separately, such as the "unhealthy 5 tasty" (Haasova and Florack, 2019;Mai and Hoffmann, 2015;Raghunathan et al., 2006) and the "healthy 5 tasty" (Werle et al., 2013), our research explores more nuanced perspectives concerning how competing lay beliefs about the visual appearance and the naturalness of produce interact and provide a path to attenuate the misapplication of lay beliefs "unaesthetic/unattractive 5 tasteless and unhealthy" by identifying "natural 5 tasty and healthy". Our research also offers practical guidance to marketers on how and why the "natural" appeal may function in the marketplace and especially in increasing the competitiveness of unaesthetic produce. ...
Purpose:
Individuals, organizations, firms, and governments have been making strenuous effort to promote sustainable and green consumption. However, it is noticeable that a large amount of unattractive produce is ruthlessly discarded and wasted around the globe, resulting in unsustainable consumption behavior, harming long-term business development, and breaking the harmonious relationship between humans and nature. Therefore, to increase consumer literacy toward unaesthetic produce, this research investigates the pivotal role of "natural" labeling in increasing purchase intention toward visually unattractive fruits and vegetables.
Design/methodology/approach: By recruiting participants from one of the largest online crowdsourcing platforms (the Credamo), this research conducts three online experimental studies (with two pilot studies) to test three hypotheses based on the cue utilization theory and the lay belief theory.
Findings: The results show that unattractive produce with the "natural" label could significantly increase consumers' purchase intention compared with those without specific labels. The results also reveal that consumers' lay beliefs that natural foods are perceived to be tastier and healthier mediate the positive effects of "natural" labeling (vs no specific labeling) on willingness to purchase.
Originality/value: This research explores competing lay beliefs about unattractive produce. It identifies the positive effects of lay beliefs "natural 5 tasty and healthy" through "natural" labeling appeal, thus attenuating the misapplication of lay beliefs "unattractive 5 tasteless and unhealthy" and broadening the application scope of consumer lay belief theory. The findings also contribute to the cue literature by manifesting the positive consequences of the "natural" label playing as a cognitive cue in priming lay beliefs about naturalness. In addition, it also paves a positive way for business practitioners and marketers to develop the produce industry sustainably.
... However, not all studies find this 141 unhealthy = tasty intuition. The French study of Werle et al. (2013) and a survey in three different 142 countries (USA, China and Korea) (Jo, 2018) found the opposite healthy = tasty intuition. It is thus 143 possible that the unhealthy = tasty intuition is not universally strong (or even present) in all 144 consumers. ...
An increasing number of studies investigate the effect of front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labels on consumer choice without considering differences in consumer preferences for product attributes. This study used a choice-based conjoint analysis to test consumers' preferences for four product attributes (5 levels of a FOP nutrition label, absence/presence of a nutrition claim, brand (unfamiliar, private label or premium) and 5 levels of price) when they coexist (n = 1156). As the consumer preferences showed distinct patterns (multimodality), consumers were subsequently clustered based on how a FOP nutrition label (Nutri-Score) influenced their food choices. Three consumer segments were identified, each valuing the Nutri-Score label differently. The label effectively seems to nudge one segment towards healthier choices (n = 456), while in contrast, another segment is unexpectedly steered toward unhealthier food choices by the label (n = 343). The third segment is only consistently nudged by the FOP label's extremes (n = 357). The segments also differ in their preferences for other product attributes (brand and price), health involvement, and self-reported understanding and use of the Nutri-Score, but not in the measured socio-demographic variables (age, sex, education, social class), dieting or smoking habits. In summary, consumers vary in their food label preferences, and studies that pool consumers may fail to capture these nuances, leading to biased results. This study shows that FOP labels do not steer all consumers toward healthier choices and may even have adverse effects for some. This suggests combining different policies and marketing strategies to reach all consumer segments.
Objective
Implicit associations, i.e., automatically activated attitudes and intuitions, may contribute to isolated food choices and body weight. Studies of food‐related implicit associations have yielded mixed results and have not explored their role in eating behaviors or dietary patterns. We examined implicit associations toward the palatability and acceptability (vs. shame) of healthy food and their relationships with self‐reported eating behaviors (eating in absence of hunger) and dietary patterns (fruit, vegetable, and sugar‐sweetened beverage consumption) and socioeconomic indicators.
Methods
Two US samples (i.e., Palatable Food, n = 11,504; and Acceptable Food, n = 12,128) from Project Implicit Health were analyzed. Implicit associations were measured with Implicit Association Tests. Linear and logistic regressions examined associations of implicit and related explicit self‐reported responses (perceived healthy eating and acceptability of healthy food, respectively) with eating behaviors, dietary patterns, and socioeconomic indicators.
Results
One‐sample t tests revealed health‐favoring implicit palatability and acceptability associations. Implicit associations predicted healthier self‐reported eating behaviors and dietary patterns independent of explicit responses. There were inconsistent associations with socioeconomic indicators.
Conclusions
Health‐favoring implicit food‐related associations uniquely contribute to healthier eating behaviors and dietary patterns. These health‐favoring associations could be a promising, yet underrecognized, target to promote healthier diets in the United States.
Purpose
This research tests how the social context of meals influences the sense of responsibility for serving healthy meals and food choices, taking into account the role of gender.
Design/methodology/approach
An online between-subject scenario experiment was conducted with parents of young children (under 12 years old) in Flanders, Belgium ( N = 288, 67.4% women). Participants envisioned serving and consuming food in three social contexts: alone, with core family members, or with peers.
Findings
The social context in which meals take place significantly influences participants’ sense of responsibility for serving healthy meals, which influences their food choices. Moreover, the influence of the social context varies by gender. Women feel more responsible for serving healthy meals than men when eating alone or among core family members. Men feel more responsible for serving healthy meals when eating with others, irrespective of whether these others are core family members or peers, than when eating alone.
Practical implications
One’s sense of responsibility serves as a significant positive determinant in making healthy food choices. However, this sense is context dependent. In a family context, and irrespective of gender, sense of responsibility correlates only weakly to moderately with the perceived healthfulness of food choices. Consequently, the question arises as to whether emphasizing responsibility is the most effective strategy for promoting healthy food choices.
Originality/value
This paper provides new insights into how the social context shapes parents’ sense of responsibility for serving healthy meals and how this, in turn, affects food choices.
Growing evidence suggests that resource scarcity can severely impede individuals’ cognitive capacity, resulting in sub-optimal decision making. Few experimental studies investigate whether food deprivation as a form of resource scarcity influences decisions in other non-hunger related domains. We examine the effect of short term fasting on cognitive capacity by exogenously manipulating individuals’ fasting time in a laboratory experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three treatments: 1) 3-hour fast; 2) 12-hour fast; and 3) control, in which participants were not required to fast and consumed a protein shake upon arriving to the lab. Following the manipulation, participants completed the Raven’s Progressive Matrices test which measures cognitive function. Although we find null treatment effects on cognitive ability, our results provide evidence that short term fasting does not directly inhibit cognition.
People make about 200 decisions a day about what food to consume and when to consume it. Given the sheer number of food-related decisions people face in their lifetime, it is understandable that even those best equipped with resources—whether cognitive, financial, or emotional—to make good food choices may nonetheless find themselves making maladaptive decisions about what to eat. In this chapter, we address two main issues in the marketing literature related to food consumption. First, we challenge a paternalistic view of maladaptive food consumption. Second, we discuss the limitations of traditional consumer behavior methodologies around food choice measurement that may limit marketing scholars’ ability to derive insights and make recommendations for a population that is, ultimately, heterogeneous and diverse. We then consider what a more holistic approach to food consumption research might look like, including explorations of intersectionality between race and culture before closing with questions that we hope will inspire future thinking and research for academics, marketing practitioners, and policy-makers.
Overweight or obesity, often linked to excessive consumption of unhealthy foods, increases the risk of developing various chronic diseases. The present study aims to systematically investigate the effect of suffering from objectification on a preference for indulgent food. We found across five studies (Chinese participants, N = 1011) that individuals who endure a higher level of objectification exhibit a greater intention to consume indulgent foods, employing a longitudinal survey (Study 1) and a series of fully controlled experiments (Studies 2a-3). Specifically, Study 1 revealed a positive association between experiencing objectification and the consumption of indulgent foods. Studies 2a-2c further demonstrated a causal relationship between experiencing objectification and a preference for indulgent food using different manipulation paradigms and measurements. In Study 3, we replicated this effect and further tested the mediating role of emotional distress in the process. Taken together, our findings suggest that objectification, as an inconspicuous interpersonal maltreatment, heightens individuals’ emotional distress and then fosters their preference for indulgent food.
Using structure-mapping theory, this research examines the efficacy of fusion metaphors in health campaigns aimed at changing consumer attitudes. Two experiments show that using fusion metaphors can have unintended consequences: Although these metaphors are meant to highlight the negative attributes of a target product, such as tasty but unhealthy food, they can inadvertently make the source product, such as a pack of cigarettes, appear more appealing. This poses challenges in effectively promoting health and may undermine the intended message of the campaign. This research brings both theoretical and managerial contributions by identifying the product attributes on which fusion metaphors are based.
Purpose
Scholars have noted the impact of advertising on unhealthy food consumption. However, a systematic literature review (SLR) on this topic is currently lacking. This study aims to find, analyze and synthesize prior literature to set the stage for future researchers and practitioners. It also uncovers research gaps, suggests potential research questions and presents a conceptual framework for use in future research.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper catalogs and synthesizes topic-related literature by using the time-tested SLR methodology. It identifies and analyzes 99 relevant studies that have addressed the impact of advertising on unhealthy food consumption. Research profiling of the selected studies supported the synthesis of key themes in the extant literature.
Findings
The authors identify three key thematic foci: a) viewer attributes pertaining to excessive unhealthy food consumption, b) advertisement attributes pertaining to excessive unhealthy food consumption and, c) unhealthy food consumption regulation. Within these themes, the authors also identify some subthemes, presenting specific advertising and viewer attributes that contribute to unhealthy food consumption. The authors further develop a conceptual framework based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, summarizing the findings of the study. This could aid future researchers and practitioners in their design of certain strategies.
Research limitations/implications
The study uncovers various gaps in the extant literature and suggests potential areas that can be examined by scholars. From a practical perspective, the study recommends certain actionable strategies for policymakers, helping customers to achieve the long-term goal of obesity reduction.
Practical implications
From the perspective of practice, the study recommends certain actionable strategies for policymakers helping customers achieve the long-term goal of obesity reduction.
Originality/value
The current study makes a novel contribution to the research on advertising and unhealthy food consumption by identifying theme-based research gaps in the existing literature, mapping those with potential research questions and presenting a conceptual framework based on the S-O-R model. Based on the findings, the study also proposes five potential research models examining diverse aspects of advertising and unhealthy food consumption to guide interested scholars and practitioners to shape the future research discourse.
Background
Despite its numerous health benefits, consumers’ daily water consumption is below the recommend level while soft drink consumption remains high. Previous research has shown that the degree to which drinks are cognitively represented of in terms of consuming and enjoying them (i.e., through simulations of consumption and reward) predicts desire and intake. Here, we examined whether simulation-enhancing advertisements framing water in terms of consumption and reward changes cognitive representations and increases motivation for a fictitious bottled water.
Methods
In three pre-registered online experiments (Nexp1 = 984; Nexp2 = 786; Nexp3 = 907), UK participants viewed three advertisements that highlighted either the rewarding consumption experience of water (e.g., “refresh all your senses with this smooth, cool water”), health consequences of drinking water (e.g., “this water takes care of your health”), or control advertisements. We assessed cognitive representations of the bottled water with a Feature Listing task, and we coded the words used as consumption and reward features or positive long-term health consequences features. We assessed motivation by measuring attractiveness of the water (only in Exp. 1), desire to drink it, and willingness to pay for it (WTP).
Results
In line with our hypotheses, participants represented the bottled water more in terms of consumption and reward simulation features after viewing simulation-enhancing advertisements, and more in terms of long-term positive health consequences features after viewing health-focused advertisements. There was no direct effect of advertisement condition on motivation. However, significant indirect effects showed that simulation-enhancing advertisements increased desire and WTP through the proportion of consumption and reward features, whereas health-focused advertisements increased motivation through an increase in the proportion of positive long-term health consequences features. The effect through consumption and reward was stronger.
Conclusions
These findings are in line with research suggesting that experiencing immediate reward from drinking water underlies intake. Public health interventions should emphasize enjoyment, rather than long-term health benefits.
Childhood obesity is a major problem worldwide and a key contributor to adult obesity. This research explores caregivers’ lay beliefs and food parenting practices, and their long-term, intergenerational effects on their children’s food consumption and physiology. First, a cross-cultural survey reveals the link between parents’ belief that tasty food is unhealthy (Raghunathan, Naylor, and Hoyer 2006) and the use of extrinsic rewards to encourage their children to eat healthily, with adverse downstream consequences for the children’s body mass indices. Next, two studies demonstrate the mechanism by which this strategy backfires, as providing extrinsic rewards ironically increases children’s unhealthy food consumption, which in turn leads to an increase in their body mass indices. The final two studies demonstrate potential solutions for public policy and health practitioners, either by manipulating “unhealthy = tasty” beliefs directly or by breaking the association between these food beliefs and the use of extrinsic rewards through an intervention.
A large body of literature has supported the idea that both food-intrinsic sensory attributes (e.g., taste, aroma, etc.) and food-extrinsic attributes (e.g., origin, health claims etc.) play a crucial role in consumers’ purchase intentions. However, it is still uncertain how the presence of health claims in the era of high prevalence of diseases and viruses (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic) might impact sensory attributes, and therefore shape consumers’ purchase intentions. Thus, the aim of the study is to (i) investigate the impact of health claims presented to the consumers along with the sensory attributes on their purchasing intentions, and (ii) examine to what extent sensory attributes mediate the relationship between the presence of health claims and consumers’ purchasing intentions. For that purpose, sensory analysis of a healthy food product (extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)) was conducted to examine consumers’ interest in health claims in two scenarios: an informed scenario without health claims (n = 102) and an informed scenario with health claims (n = 105). The findings from a Structural Equation Model using STATA software suggest that the presence of health claims positively affects purchase intentions for EVOO. The sensory attributes taste and aftertaste partially mediate the relationship between the presence of health claims and consumers’ purchasing intentions. Furthermore, consumers rated the sensory attributes higher in the presence of health claims. Therefore, the food industry should focus on ways to improve consumers’ sensory and health perspectives by producing not only healthier food products with health claims but also tastier products than the ones available in the market. Moreover, food companies and marketers can make health claims more effective by targeting consumers’ preferences and developing marketing campaigns using claims that are essential for promoting extra-virgin olive oil.
In this chapter, you will learn the relationship between attitudes and behavior, how to measure attitudes, how to change attitudes, and what implicit attitudes are and how to measure them. You will learn the following theories and models: Three-Component Model, Theory of Planned Behavior, Fishbein Model, Elaboration-Likelihood Model, and MODE Model.
People are increasingly eating out in restaurants, where meals tend to be higher in calories, less nutritious, and contain more meat. In this paper, we argue that differences in the motivational processes behind people's food choices could help to explain why food choices made in restaurants are typically unhealthier and less sustainable than at home. Using online survey data from 301 Dutch respondents, we compared the influence of stable personal values and transient food choice motives on the healthiness and sustainability of meals chosen in a hypothetical choice task, which was geared to the home and restaurant consumption contexts. As expected, respondents opted for unhealthy and meat-based meals more often in the restaurant than the home context. Conservation values related negatively and self-transcendence values positively to choosing sustainable meals both in the home and in the restaurant context, although the relation with self-transcendence values was significantly weaker in the restaurant context. Also, taste and social eating were considered more important for choosing restaurant meals, while health was a more important motive for food choices at home. Finally, model comparisons revealed that motives were better predictors of healthy meal choices in both contexts, while the influence of values and motives on sustainable meal choices was more similar. In conclusion, the results from the present study enhance our understanding of differences between choosing home and restaurant meals by providing an account of the values and motives associated with the healthiness and sustainability of home and restaurant meal choices.
In reporting Implicit Association Test (IAT) results, researchers have most often used scoring conventions described in the first publication of the IAT (A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998). Demonstration IATs available on the Internet have produced large data sets that were used in the current article to evaluate alternative scoring procedures. Candidate new algorithms were examined in terms of their (a) correlations with parallel self-report measures, (b) resistance to an artifact associated with speed of responding, (c) internal consistency, (d) sensitivity to known influences on IAT measures, and (e) resistance to known procedural influences. The best-performing measure incorporates data from the IAT's practice trials, uses a metric that is calibrated by each respondent's latency variability, and includes a latency penalty for errors. This new algorithm strongly outperforms the earlier (conventional) procedure.
Though eating and taste are central to social and moral order, we know little about the mundane practices that socialize children into the world of food. This study pioneers direct observation of the practices involved in socializing taste. Utilizing Bourdieu's distinction between ‘the taste of necessity’ and ‘the taste of luxury/freedom ‘, it examines the discourse of taste that prevails at the dinner tables of middle‐class Caucasian American and Italian families. Across these families, food is depicted as nutrition, a material good, a reward, and pleasure. American families gave high priority to food as nutrition, a material good, and reward and low priority to food as pleasure; whereas Italian families gave priority to food as pleasure over all other qualities. American families devoted their dinner conversation to what children must eat for physiological and moral reasons, while the Italian families concentrated on what children and adults want to eat. Overwhelmingly, American children could obtain what they wanted to eat only after they finished what they must eat (dessert as reward). In addition, Italian adults encouraged children to express individual tastes as part of what it means to have a personality (child qua person); while at the American dinner table, adults typically treated the tastes of children as generically distinct (child qua child) from those of adults.
À en croire les Américains, quand il s'agit de leur alimentation, les Français font preuve d'une étrange rigidité : ils mangent à heure fixe, veulent que les repas soient réglés comme papier à musique et passent toujours des heures à table.
Ce qui choque les Français, c'est que les Américains mangent à toute vitesse, souvent en travaillant, presque toujours en faisant autre chose et d'une façon bien peu conviviale.
Voici une grande enquête internationale sur les attitudes vis-à-vis de l'alimentation, du corps et de la santé, réalisée plusieurs années durant, sur plus de 7 000 personnes. Une véritable radiographie, précise et fouillée, des "mangeurs" contemporains dans six pays occidentaux et quatre langues.
Au-delà de l'apparente homogénéisation des goûts et de l'émergence d'un marché planétaire de la pizza et du hamburger, une plongée passionnante au coeur de nos différences culturelles.
The influence of food type on the restrained eating pattern was examined. In Study 1, subjects rated the degree to which each of 149 foods were dietary permissable or dietary forbidden. The number of avoided foods correlated positively with restraint score. Study 2 compared Herman and Mack's (1975) 1- and 2-milk shake preloads to two nonforbidden preloads of equivalent calories. Food type, and not perceived calories, was found to be the element of the preload required to cause disinhibition among restrained eaters, both within the experiment and outside the experimental setting. Study 3 examined the effects of anticipated consumption (varying food type and calories) on the restrained eating pattern. Only restrained eaters anticipating a forbidden food (whether high or low in calories) were disinhibited. The restrained literature was reconsidered in light of the forbidden food hypothesis.
An implicit association test (IAT) measures differential association of 2 target concepts with an attribute. The 2 concepts appear in a 2-choice task (2-choice task (e.g., flower vs. insect names), and the attribute in a 2nd task (e.g., pleasant vs. unpleasant words for an evaluation attribute). When instructions oblige highly associated categories (e.g., flower + pleasant) to share a response key, performance is faster than when less associated categories (e.g., insect & pleasant) share a key. This performance difference implicitly measures differential association of the 2 concepts with the attribute. In 3 experiments, the IAT was sensitive to (a) near-universal evaluative differences (e.g., flower vs. insect), (b) expected individual differences in evaluative associations (Japanese + pleasant vs. Korean + pleasant for Japanese vs. Korean subjects), and (c) consciously disavowed evaluative differences (Black + pleasant vs. White + pleasant for self-described unprejudiced White subjects).
For human beings, food is a critical contributor to physical well being, a major source of pleasure, worry and stress, a major occupant of waking time and, across the world, the single greatest category of expenditures. This is a first study of the way food functions in the minds and lives of people from four cultures. Adults and college students from Flemish Belgium, France, U.S.A. and Japan were surveyed with questions dealing with beliefs about the diet-health link, worry about food, the degree of consumption of foods modified to be "healthier" (e.g. reduced in salt or fat), the importance of food as a positive force in life, the tendency to associate foods with nutritional vs. culinary contexts, and satisfaction with the healthiness of one's own diet. In all domains except beliefs about the importance of diet for health, there are substantial country (and usually gender) differences. Generally, the group associating food most with health and least with pleasure is the Americans, and the group most food-pleasure-oriented and least food-health-oriented is the French. In all four countries, females, as opposed to males, show a pattern of attitudes that is more like the American pattern, and less like the French pattern. In either gender, French and Belgians tend to occupy the pleasure extreme, Americans the health extreme, with the Japanese in between. Ironically, the Americans, who do the most to alter their diet in the service of health, are the least likely to classify themselves as healthy eaters. We conclude that there are substantial cross-cultural differences in the extent to which food functions as a stressor vs. a pleasure. These differences may influence health and may partially account for national differences in rates of cardiovascular diseases (the "French paradox").
In reporting Implicit Association Test (IAT) results, researchers have most often used scoring conventions described in the first publication of the IAT (A.G. Greenwald, D.E. McGhee, & J.L.K. Schwartz, 1998). Demonstration IATs available on the Internet have produced large data sets that were used in the current article to evaluate alternative scoring procedures. Candidate new algorithms were examined in terms of their (a) correlations with parallel self-report measures, (b) resistance to an artifact associated with speed of responding, (c) internal consistency, (d) sensitivity to known influences on IAT measures, and (e) resistance to known procedural influences. The best-performing measure incorporates data from the IAT's practice trials, uses a metric that is calibrated by each respondent's latency variability, and includes a latency penalty for errors. This new algorithm strongly outperforms the earlier (conventional) procedure.
Telephone interviews of 6000 representative adults from France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA, included two items on attitudes to variety. One had to do with whether the respondent preferred a choice of 10 versus 50 ice cream flavors. Ten choices were preferred by a majority of respondents from each country except the United States. A second item asked whether one expected a small or large menu choice in an upscale restaurant. A majority in all countries expected the small number of choices, but this expectation was lowest in the UK and USA. High variety expectations and preferences were weakly positively correlated (r=0.19). There was no substantial relation between a variety of demographic variables and variety preferences or expectations, except that older people were less inclined to prefer the high (50) variety in ice cream choices (r=0.28). The results suggest that the US, and the UK to some extent, focus on providing choices that cater to individual differences in preferences, whereas the continental European countries are more attached to communal eating values.
Across four experiments, the authors find that when information pertaining to the assessment of the healthiness of food items is provided, the less healthy the item is portrayed to be, (1) the better is its inferred taste, (2) the more it is enjoyed during actual consumption, and (3) the greater is the preference for it in choice tasks when a hedonic goal is more (versus less) salient. The authors obtain these effects both among consumers who report that they believe that healthiness and tastiness are negatively correlated and, to a lesser degree, among those who do not report such a belief. The authors also provide evidence that the association between the concepts of "unhealthy" and "tasty" operates at an implicit level. The authors discuss possibilities for controlling the effect of the unhealthy = tasty intuition (and its potential for causing negative health consequences), including controlling the volume of unhealthy but tasty food eaten, changing unhealthy foods to make them less unhealthy but still tasty, and providing consumers with better information about what constitutes "healthy."
Due to the efforts of the modern health media and food industry some foods have been praised as healthful while at the same time others have been criticized as promoters of disease and obesity. Does this categorical thinking concerning foods influence judgements of the weight-enhancing properties of foods? In the present study, a group of snack names that were shown to possess positive reputations for health (e.g., raisins) along with snack names that were more disreputable in terms of wholesomeness (e.g., potato chips) were rated in terms of their capacity to promote weight gain. The results indicated that lower-calorie-disreputable snacks were always perceived to promote greater weight gain than much higher-calorie-reputable snacks. Further, fat content rather than sugar or carbohydrate content best predicted the respondents’ ratings. The good versus bad message that we have assimilated concerning food may be contributing to our weight troubles.
Purpose and Methods
This paper examines the social cognitive processes that regulate people's eating behavior. Specifically, we examine how eating behavior can be regulated by reflective, deliberative processes as well as automatic and habitual processes. Moreover, we consider how these processes operate when people are not only initiating a change in behavior but also maintaining the behavior over time.
Results and Discussion
Decomposing action control and behavior change into a 2 (reflective, automatic) × 2 (initiation, maintenance) matrix offers a useful way of conceptualizing the various determinants of eating behavior and suggests that different intervention strategies will be needed to target particular processes during respective phases of behavior change. The matrix also helps to identify key areas of intervention development that deserve attention.
In a first experiment, subjects verbalizing the stream of consciousness for a 5-min period were asked to try not to think of a white bear, but to ring a bell in case they did. As indicated both by mentions and by bell rings, they were unable to suppress the thought as instructed. On being asked after this suppression task to think about the white bear for a 5-min period, these subjects showed significantly more tokens of thought about the bear than did subjects who were asked to think about a white bear from the outset. These observations suggest that attempted thought suppression has paradoxical effects as a self-control strategy, perhaps even producing the very obsession or preoccupation that it is directed against. A second experiment replicated these findings and showed that subjects given a specific thought to use as a distracter during suppression were less likely to exhibit later preoccupation with the thought to be suppressed.
Part of the "French paradox" can be explained by the fact that the French eat less than Americans. We document that French portion sizes are smaller in comparable restaurants, in the sizes of individual portions of foods (but not other items) in supermarkets, in portions specified in cookbooks, and in the prominence of "all you can eat" restaurants in dining guides. We also present data, from observations at McDonald's, that the French take longer to eat than Americans. Our results suggest that in the domain of eating, and more generally, more attention should be paid to ecological factors, even though their mechanism of operation is transparent, and hence less revealing of fundamental psychological processes. Ironically, although the French eat less than Americans, they seem to eat for a longer period of time, and hence have more food experience. The French can have their cake and eat it as well.
Theoretically, low correlations between implicit and explicit measures can be due to (a) motivational biases in explicit self reports, (b) lack of introspective access to implicitly assessed representations, (c) factors influencing the retrieval of information from memory, (d) method-related characteristics of the two measures, or (e) complete independence of the underlying constructs. The present study addressed these questions from a meta-analytic perspective, investigating the correlation between the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and explicit self-report measures. Based on a sample of 126 studies, the mean effect size was .24, with approximately half of the variability across correlations attributable to moderator variables. Correlations systematically increased as a function of (a) increasing spontaneity of self-reports and (b) increasing conceptual correspondence between measures. These results suggest that implicit and explicit measures are generally related but that higher order inferences and lack of conceptual correspondence can reduce the influence of automatic associations on explicit self-reports.
Humans are biologically adapted to their ancestral food environment in which foods were dispersed and energy expenditure was required to obtain them. The modern developed world has a surplus of very accessible, inexpensive food. Amid the enormous variety of different foods are "super" foods, such as chocolate, which are particularly appealing and calorie dense. Energy output can be minimal to obtain large amounts of food. In terms of education (eg, in nutrition and risk-benefit thinking) and environment design, modern cultures have not kept pace with changes in the food world. Overweight and worrying about food result from this mismatch between human biological predispositions and the current food environment. The French have coped with this mismatch better than Americans. Although at least as healthy as Americans, they focus more on the experience of eating and less on the health effects of eating. They spend more time eating, but they eat less, partly because of smaller portion sizes. French traditions of moderation (versus American abundance), focus on quality (versus quantity), and emphasis on the joys of the moment (rather than making life comfortable and easy) support a healthier lifestyle. The French physical environment encourages slow, moderate social eating, minimal snacking, and more physical activity in daily life.
One hundred and thirty-four non-dieting participants spent 5 min thinking aloud under three different conditions. Participants either suppressed or expressed thoughts of eating chocolate, or verbalised with no further instructions. After thinking aloud, all participants took part in a taste preference task where they tried two brands of chocolate and answered questions about their preference. Unbeknownst to participants the variable of interest was the amount of chocolate eaten, not their preference. Results indicated an interaction between condition (suppression vs. expression vs. control) and gender. Both male and female participants showed a behavioural rebound effect, consuming significantly more chocolate after suppression than participants in the verbalise only control group. However, in the expression group, a clear difference between males and females was manifested, while females ate a similar amount of chocolate in the expression and verbalise only control groups, males ate the most chocolate in the expression group and this was significantly greater than the amount eaten after suppression or the verbalise only control group.
Our objective was to investigate whether people who use internal cues of satiation when eating a meal are likely to weigh less than people who instead rely on external cues. In addition to exploring the role that internal and external cues play in meal cessation, this study raises an overlooked explanation of the French paradox.
A demographically-matched student sample of 133 Parisians and 145 Chicagoans completed a brief survey on meal cessation that asked the extent to which they agreed with statements associated with internal cessation cues and statements with external cessation cues. Their answers to these were compared across BMI levels and across countries.
Normal-weight people indicated that they were more likely to be influenced by internal cues of meal cessation (p = 0.043), while overweight people indicated that they were more influenced by external cues (p = 0.005). Similarly, while the French were influenced by internal cues of meal cessation (p < 0.001), Americans were more influenced by external cues (p < 0.001).
This research revisits Schachter's externality hypothesis and suggests that one's over-reliance on external cues may prove useful in offering a partial explanation of why BMI might vary across people and potentially across cultures. Relying on internal cues for meal cessation, rather than on external cues, may improve eating patterns over the long term.
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