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From mood to food and from food to mood: A psychological perspective on the measurement of food-related emotions in consumer research
... Most previous studies reported that consumers' emotions are a mental state that is evoked by environmental stimuli [64], and Mauss and Robinson (2009) further reported that mental states can be measured via either a dimensional scheme (e.g., valence and arousal) or a discrete list of emotional words (e.g., anger, joy, and pleasure) [63]. Köster and Mojet (2015) indicated that the emotions that are evoked by recalling previous consumption experiences were a crucial determinant of making a decision to repurchase a product [65]. Given the various features of consumers' emotions while consuming foods and beverages [66], a number of psychological and sociological stimuli have been validated to be correlated with the bi-directional influence between food intake and emotion [67]. ...
... Most previous studies reported that consumers' emotions are a mental state that is evoked by environmental stimuli [64], and Mauss and Robinson (2009) further reported that mental states can be measured via either a dimensional scheme (e.g., valence and arousal) or a discrete list of emotional words (e.g., anger, joy, and pleasure) [63]. Köster and Mojet (2015) indicated that the emotions that are evoked by recalling previous consumption experiences were a crucial determinant of making a decision to repurchase a product [65]. Given the various features of consumers' emotions while consuming foods and beverages [66], a number of psychological and sociological stimuli have been validated to be correlated with the bi-directional influence between food intake and emotion [67]. ...
... This paper aims to investigate the antecedents of repurchase behavior towards creative tea beverages via the dual process model. Recalling the viewpoints supported by Köster and Mojet (2015) [65], both the emotions and the memories which convey the cognitive characteristics of a previous food consumption experience have been revealed to be crucial determinants of consumers' repurchase intention. Inheriting Smith's (1994) tourism product layer framework [73], the creativity of cuisine products has been employed as the internal driving force that influences consumers' perceptions due to the potential to bring superior value to consumers [39]. ...
This paper aimed to explore the potentiality of creative tea beverages as a new tourism attraction and the determinants of tourists’ repurchase intention towards creative tea beverages using the dual process theory. The structural–causal relationship among these constructs was examined using structural equation modeling with the data collected from 478 tourists with previous experience of consuming creative tea beverages. The results support the conclusion that the creativity and quantity of the information about tea beverages spread by electronic word-of-mouth significantly contributes to evoking consumers’ emotions, and the evoked emotions significantly influence consumers’ repurchase intention towards tea beverages. Furthermore, other-oriented face constructs also play a crucial role in determining consumers’ repurchase intention. Theoretical and marketing implications are also discussed in this paper.
... Segmentation of focus groups participants, i.e. how participants of focus groups are grouped together, can be made on the basis of gender, age, social status and other characteristics according to the aim of study but demographic criteria seem to affect food-evoked emotions less than food consumption habits, ways of dealing with the products and the expectations of their benefits [39] . Therefore, unless the focus of the study demands otherwise, focus groups should be segmented based on food consumption and purchase criteria. ...
... The emotions, evoked by remembering a product, are essential in the expectations that guide repurchase decisions. What is remembered is what influences our later food choice decisions [39] . An interesting finding is that feelings of discontent seem to grow over time and positive feelings seem to wear off with repeated exposure [39] . ...
... What is remembered is what influences our later food choice decisions [39] . An interesting finding is that feelings of discontent seem to grow over time and positive feelings seem to wear off with repeated exposure [39] . Using food names or pictures to elicit emotions is a quick, easy, and economical method, allowing for the use of online questionnaires and the participation of more people. ...
There is rising research interest in consumers’ emotions elicited by foods. To this end, emotion lexicons as part of food-evoked emotion measurement methods have been developed. Though there are various methods and techniques for emotion measurement, verbal self-report on behalf of the consumer has been identified as the most direct means of assessing the experience of emotion. The focus of this review is mapping the development of lexicons of food-evoked emotions, and their implementation in questionnaires to identify gaps and opportunities in research and methodologies currently developed. The emotion lexicon and emotion measurement questionnaires of the last decade have been reviewed, including adaptations, and presented in a systematic way according to approach, method and technique used, and objectives of study. The manuscript is structured in such a way that it can be used both as an in-depth review of the subject and as a tool for new and future users of lexicon applications for the assessment of consumer responses. The categorization presented is useful in emotion lexicon development, product development, and marketing, in food and consumer studies in general. This review provides experts and non-experts interested in working with emotions with categorizations, available options with their advantages and disadvantages for each step of the process, from developing a food-related emotion lexicon and designing an emotion measurement questionnaire to implementing the tool and analyzing the data.
... Cette dynamique de l'expérience produit peut également apparaitre lors de souvenirs plus anciens, dans lesquels les facteurs émotionnels ont une forte influence sur les choix et les comportements alimentaires. Comme l'expliquent Köster & Mojet (2015), les souvenirs des situations évoquées par l'expérience de consommation, plus que ceux liés à la nature de la nourriture elle-même, peuvent être en lien étroit avec des souvenirs d'enfance ou d'occasions particulières survenues plus tardivement dans la vie. Ces souvenirs ne surgissent néanmoins que lors d'expériences alimentaires suffisamment proches de l'expérience originelle. ...
... changement d'épice, changement de texture) seront facilement détectés, conduisant à une surprise agréable, ou inversement, perturberont le souvenir, conduisant l'individu à une déception ou à une insatisfaction. Les émotions évoquées par le souvenir du produit sont essentielles dans la construction des attentes qui guideront les décisions de retour vers ce produit (Köster & Mojet, 2015). ...
... Pourtant lorsqu'un changement de comportement alimentaire est nécessaire, les facteurs situationnels rendent souvent difficile la mise en place des pratiques alimentaires recommandées . Parmi les facteurs contextuels par exemple, l'influence de l'état émotionnel sur les choix et les comportements alimentaires joue un rôle important dans les facteurs de développement de l'obésité où la consommation alimentaire intervient pour réduire les émotions fortes et désagréables (Köster & Mojet, 2015). ...
Dans l’étude du comportement alimentaire, la prise en compte du contexte de consommation au sein du cadre expérimental assure la capacité des données collectées à être généralisées au fonctionnement humain dans son monde réel. À travers cette thèse, nous testons la validité de l’outil de « réalité virtuelle » à amener le consommateur, par une activité-sensorimotrice en reconstruction numérique de l’épisode de consommation, à un comportement représentatif de sa réalité. Pour évaluer cet outil, nous nous en référons à l’état de présence du consommateur, son sentiment d’existence au sein de l’environnement virtuel (d’être là où il agit). Nous examinons cette immersion virtuelle, dans, sa forme (enrichissement perceptif du contexte), son contenu (identification du réel à reproduire), jusqu’à la crédibilité globale de l’expérience de consommation (intégration de l’aliment au monde virtuel). Les résultats de six études sont ici présentés. En définitive, la réalité virtuelle se présente comme un outil méthodologique valide pour recontextualiser le cadre expérimental des sciences « sensorielles et consommateurs ». Malgré son caractère numérique, elle apporte un fort sentiment de présence, l’illusion « physique » d’un lieu, dans une interaction cross-modale guidée par la modalité visuelle. Cette forte illusion la mène au niveau d’un environnement physiquement reconstruit. Sur un plan plus global, l’enrichissement perceptif assure ici le contrôle de l’immersion dans un épisode précis de consommation. Nous identifions également des clés de lecture du contexte réel pour la sélection des éléments à implémenter. Ces éléments clés entourant le scénario de consommation favoriseront l’évocation de ce qui ne peut être recréé. L’intégration de l’aliment au monde virtuel soulève de nouveaux défis, mais cette technologique est en constante évolution. Sur une catégorisation « physique » de l’aliment, nous validons ici l’intégration d’aliments solides « non-déformables », tel que les « cookies », au monde virtuel, pour une expérience fidèle de dégustation. La réalité virtuelle mérite néanmoins encore un temps de développement, pour se généraliser à une plus vaste diversité alimentaire. Ainsi, elle s’ouvrira à de nouvelles perspectives, telles que celles de rétablir le dialogue avec le consommateur, plus en amont, en phases de conception des produits alimentaires.
... Word-based questionnaires have been commonly used in several research fields for this purpose. However, their questionable ecological validity [2,3], the ambiguity between selected emotion words and the actual emotion experienced [4], poor understanding of terms listed in questionnaires [2], and the inability to capture intuitive and automatic emotional evoked associations [3], have prompted the need to develop non-verbal methods. ...
... Word-based questionnaires have been commonly used in several research fields for this purpose. However, their questionable ecological validity [2,3], the ambiguity between selected emotion words and the actual emotion experienced [4], poor understanding of terms listed in questionnaires [2], and the inability to capture intuitive and automatic emotional evoked associations [3], have prompted the need to develop non-verbal methods. ...
... As mentioned above, it has been suggested that self-reported measures of emotional response are better captured along dimensions rather than specific states [1]. Although verbal methods would also meet this premise [29][30][31][32], these do not capture automatic emotional evoked associations [3]. On the contrary, emoji, being images that reflect expressions commonly used in people's interactions [6], would have the ability to intuitively provide this information [6,7]. ...
Background
Emoji are pictograms frequently used in social networks capable of expressing emotions. These tools can provide insights into people's behavior that could not be obtained with the use of textual communication. Recently, emoji have been introduced to various research fields as successful alternatives to word-based questionnaires for measure emotional responses. The objective of this study was to preliminarily evaluate the discriminating ability and relationship of these tools with different occlusal conditions/malocclusions.
Methods
Online surveys were applied to adult individuals ( n = 201; mean age = 27.4 ± 5.7; 37.3% males, 62.7% females). Subjects issued acceptance scores (10-point scale) and expressed their emotional status using a 30- emoji list in relation to nine occlusal conditions: C1–crowding, C2–anterior open bite, C3–interincisal diastema, C4–increased overjet + deep bite (Class II div. 1), C5–anterior crossbite (Class III), C6–ideal occlusion, C7–unilateral posterior crossbite, C8–anterior open bite plus bilateral posterior crossbite plus crowding, and C9–deep bite (Class II div. 2). Cochran's Q and McNemar tests were used to compare the frequencies of choice of emoji between conditions. Correspondence analyses were applied to assess the association between occlusal conditions and emoji . Kendall's correlation coefficient was calculated to evaluate the relationship between mean acceptance scores and frequency counts of each emoji .
Results
The frequency of choice between conditions showed a significant difference for 25 of the 30 emoji ( P < 0.05), indicating an adequate discriminating ability of these tools. Emoji were grouped predominantly based on their emotional valence (positive/negative) and arousal/activation (high/low). Positive emoji were associated with the most accepted conditions ( i.e. , C6, C3), while negative emoji with the most rejected ones ( i.e. , C8, C1, C2). Although only weak, positive correlations between acceptance and positively valenced emoji , and negative correlations between acceptance and negatively valenced emoji were observed ( P < 0.05).
Conclusions
Emoji have an adequate discriminatory ability and would allow determining emotional profiles in the face of different occlusal conditions. Further research is necessary to consolidate the use of these tools in an instrument that allows measuring emotional responses.
... Their results revealed that each cultural group (Korean, Chinese and English-speaking-Western consumers) evaluated nuttiness in soymilk based on similar criteria, which avoided misunderstandings in sensory attributes caused by conceptual differences across culture. Köster and Mojet (2015) recommended the use of non-verbal methods, such as PrEmo (a tool used to measure the emotions evoked by materials) in cross-cultural research in order to overcome language differences in the use of emotional terms. ...
... Their results revealed that each cultural group (Korean, Chinese and English-speaking-Western consumers) evaluated nuttiness in soymilk based on similar criteria, which avoided misunderstandings in sensory attributes caused by conceptual differences across culture. Köster and Mojet (2015) recommended the use of nonverbal methods, such as PrEmo (a tool used to measure the emotions evoked by materials), in cross-cultural research in order to overcome language differences in the use of emotional terms. ...
This thesis has clearly demonstrated that cow diet influences the volatile and sensory characteristics of selected dairy products, which subsequently effects sensory perception on a cultural basis influenced by product familiarity. The benefits of optimising volatile extraction techniques on a product specific basis were clearly demonstrated along with using multiple techniques in order to achieve the most representative volatile profile as possible. Combining volatile analysis with olfactometry and / or sensory techniques enables a more comprehensive understanding of factors influencing sensory perception and choice that can be utilised for product quality, improvement and marketing.
... It is worth noting that while the food image samples located on the positive side of the X-axis (F1, "valence"-related) were separated over a wider range of the Y-axis (F2, "arousal"related), those located on the negative side of the X-axis were distributed within a narrower range of the Y-axis. This result is in line with a previous study asserting that activation (arousal) can be the main discriminating factor in positive emotions [61]. On the other hand, since these observations also suggest that the food image samples used in this study did not elicit a wide range of arousal levels when rated with negative valence dimension, a further study using test samples with a wider range of arousal levels should be conducted to confirm the interpretation of this result. ...
... However, when a single response option was provided, participants tended to focus more on emotion terms of negative valance, resulting in no significant difference between the SR and MR conditions in those pairs of emotion terms (Figures 3 and 7). Previous studies regarding the structure of emotions in general included negative emotion terms more than positive emotion terms [61,67], and individuals tend to remember negative emotions or experiences more than positive ones. Thus, when participants were asked to select one pair of emotion terms only, they were more likely to characterize their emotional responses to food image samples using negative pairs of emotion terms. ...
In 2020, a single-response-based, valence × arousal circumplex-inspired emotion questionnaire (CEQ) was developed. Using a between-participants design, previous studies have found that a multiple response (MR) condition better discriminated test samples (e.g., written food names) based on their evoked emotions than a single response (SR) condition. This research, comprising Studies 1 and 2, aimed to determine the effect of response conditions (i.e., SR vs. MR) on emotional responses to food image samples, using a within-participants design. In Study 1, 105 Korean participants were asked to select a pair of emotion terms (i.e., SR condition) or select all pairs representing their evoked emotions (i.e., MR condition) from a list of 12 pairs of emotion terms of the CEQ, in response to the 14 food images. Both SR and MR conditions were tested within a remote (online) session. To minimize both a potential carry-over effect of the “within-participants design” and an influence of environmental factors in the remote testing, Study 2 asked 64 U.S. participants to do so over two separated sessions on two different days in a controlled laboratory setting. In both Studies 1 and 2, participants selected the CEQ’s emotion-term pairs in the MR condition more frequently than in the SR condition, leading to the MR condition’s higher capacity to discriminate test samples. While the configurations of the correspondence analysis biplots drawn in the SR and MR conditions were similar, those in the MR condition were more likely to be similar to the configurations of the principal component analysis biplots drawn from the ratings of valence and arousal for food image samples. In conclusion, this study provides robust empirical evidence that the MR condition can perform better in capturing sample differences in food-evoked emotions, while the SR condition is also effective in characterizing emotional profiles of test samples. Our findings will provide practical insights to sensory professionals, enabling them to effectively leverage the CEQ or its variants when measuring food-evoked emotions.
... Therefore, the results indicate that eating contexts that are inappropriate to the meal should be omitted when aiming to stimulate food consumption in older people. Furthermore, the marginal positive effects on appetite may be expected when optimizing the physical eating context [1,[42][43][44][45][46]. ...
... A comparison between the influences of these datacollecting approaches could be of interest in future studies. Moreover, in the interest of ensuring result reliability, Likert scales with fewer points were chosen to render the scales easier for older participants to use; 9-point scales were applied to measure consumer liking and 7-point scales were chosen for the measurements of feelings [42,44,48]. ...
Immersive virtual reality (VR) videos can replicate complex real-life situations in a systematic , repeatable and versatile manner. New product development trajectories should consider the complexities of daily life eating situations. The creation of immersive contexts of a product with varying levels of appropriateness could be a useful tool for product developers in evaluating the extent to which context may influence food acceptance and eating behavior. This study explored virtual reality (VR) as an efficient context-enhancing technology through evaluations of protein-enriched rye breads and compared the effects of a VR-simulated congruent (VR restaurant) and incongruent (VR cinema) contexts on the acceptance in older consumers. A total of 70 participants were immersed in the two VR contexts and a neutral control context in a randomized order. The responses indicating the desire and liking for rye breads were measured, and the extent of immersion during context exposure was assessed by levels of the sense of presence and engagement. Im-mersive VR induced positive sensations of presence and a heightened level of engagement. The VR restaurant and neutral contexts were perceived as more appropriate for consuming rye breads and induced higher desire and liking for rye breads, which supported the notion of the alignment of congruent contexts with food desire and liking. The study provides new perspectives, practical methodologies, and discoveries in regard to the creation and application of VR-immersed contexts in food product evaluation. Moreover, it focused on a consumer segment (older consumers) that has seldom been investigated in previous relevant studies. The findings suggest that immersive VR technology, as a tool for evaluating contextual factors, is important for new product development. The good user experience among older consumers further indicated the potential value of VR as a context-enhancing tool for product development.
... It has been demonstrated that food cues in the environment affect consumer behavior through the emotions that they evoke (12,13). Thus, emotions can help us to understand consumers' food experiences and choices (14,15). ...
... In view of the emotional effects on consumer behavior (12,13), policy makers may want to consider evidence on emotional responses to UPF and UMPF when developing and testing public health strategies to promote healthy and sustainable food environments. Food environments include the physical spaces where consumers engage with food systems to make decisions about acquiring and consuming UPF and UMPF (11,66,67). ...
Background
Ultra-processed foods (UPF) are becoming extensively available in the food environments. UPF are industrial formulations that are designed to maximize palatability and consumption through a combination of calorie-dense ingredients and chemical additives. UPFs are also aggressively marketed, which may make them more attractive than unprocessed/minimally processed foods (UMPF). Since consumers' purchase decisions are guided by food-evoked emotions, we aimed to provide evidence that UPF visual cues trigger higher emotional responses and approach motivation than UMPF visual cues, with potential impacts on individuals' intention to consume the UPF over the UMPF.Methods
Participants (n = 174; 144 women; mean age = 20.7 years; standard deviation = 4.35) performed two tasks. In the first task, 16 pictures of foods (8 UPF and 8 UMPF), and 74 pictures from other affective categories, were presented. After viewing each picture, the participants rated it along two basic dimensions of emotion through the Self-Assessment Manikin scale: pleasantness and arousal. In the second task, the participants viewed the same food pictures, and they rated their intention to consume the foods depicted in the pictures. Each picture was plotted in terms of its mean pleasantness and arousal ratings in a Cartesian plane, which resulted in an affective space.ResultsPictures of UPF and UMPF were positioned in the upper arm of the boomerang-shaped affective space that represents approach motivation. Pictures containing UPF triggered higher approach motivation and intention to consume than pictures containing UMPF. We also found a stronger association between emotional responses and intention to consume UPF relative to UMPF.Conclusion
These results shed new light on the role of ultra-processed foods evoked emotions that contribute to less healthy and sustainable food environments.
... Taste elicits robust hedonic responses, encompassing sensations of pleasure or displeasure and distinct qualities such as sweetness, sourness, saltiness, bitterness, and umami. It is widely acknowledged that the hedonic aspects of taste trigger emotional responses, ultimately influencing food consumption behavior, consumer preferences, and the acceptance of food products [1]. While the qualitative attributes of taste are primarily assessed through explicit means, involving subjective ratings of perceived taste quality, rather than implicit measurements [2], the hedonic dimension of taste can also be implicitly assessed through physiological reactions, in addition to subjective (explicit) measurements, such as self-reported overall liking using a nine-point hedonic scale. ...
Previous studies have established the utility of facial expressions as an objective assessment approach for determining the hedonics (overall pleasure) of food and beverages. This study endeavors to validate the conclusions drawn from preceding research, illustrating that facial expressions prompted by tastants possess the capacity to forecast the perceived hedonic ratings of these tastants. Facial expressions of 29 female participants, aged 18–55 years, were captured using a digital camera during their consumption of diverse concentrations of solutions representative of five basic tastes. Employing the widely employed facial expression analysis application FaceReader, the facial expressions were meticulously assessed, identifying seven emotions (surprise, happiness, scare, neutral, disgust, sadness, and anger) characterized by scores ranging from 0 to 1—a numerical manifestation of emotional intensity. Simultaneously, participants rated the hedonics of each solution, utilizing a scale spanning from −5 (extremely unpleasant) to +5 (extremely pleasant). Employing a multiple linear regression analysis, a predictive model for perceived hedonic ratings was devised. The model’s efficacy was scrutinized by assessing emotion scores from 11 additional taste solutions, sampled from 20 other participants. The anticipated hedonic ratings demonstrated robust alignment and agreement with the observed ratings, underpinning the validity of earlier findings even when incorporating diverse software and taste stimuli across a varied participant base. We discuss some limitations and practical implications of our technique in predicting food and beverage hedonics using facial expressions.
... Many prior studies associate mental or emotional state with eating behaviors [57]. A plethora of studies have proposed similar ideas saying mood could influence food choice [22,43,68]. ...
The interplay between mood and eating has been the subject of extensive research within the fields of nutrition and behavioral science, indicating a strong connection between the two. Further, phone sensor data have been used to characterize both eating behavior and mood, independently, in the context of mobile food diaries and mobile health applications. However, limitations within the current body of literature include: i) the lack of investigation around the generalization of mood inference models trained with passive sensor data from a range of everyday life situations, to specific contexts such as eating, ii) no prior studies that use sensor data to study the intersection of mood and eating, and iii) the inadequate examination of model personalization techniques within limited label settings, as we commonly experience in mood inference. In this study, we sought to examine everyday eating behavior and mood using two datasets of college students in Mexico (N_mex = 84, 1843 mood-while-eating reports) and eight countries (N_mul = 678, 329K mood reports incl. 24K mood-while-eating reports), containing both passive smartphone sensing and self-report data. Our results indicate that generic mood inference models decline in performance in certain contexts, such as when eating. Additionally, we found that population-level (non-personalized) and hybrid (partially personalized) modeling techniques were inadequate for the commonly used three-class mood inference task (positive, neutral, negative). Furthermore, we found that user-level modeling was challenging for the majority of participants due to a lack of sufficient labels and data from the negative class. To address these limitations, we employed a novel community-based approach for personalization by building models with data from a set of similar users to a target user.
... Food is a feast when consumed during celebrations, and it is also a mourning meal at funerals or last rites (Cann, 2018;Lee, 2007). When one is stressed, excited, or experiencing any other heightened emotion about any personal event, it affects their behaviour towards food (Köster & Mojet, 2015). They could either overeat or not eat at all (Christensen, 1993;Rutledge & Linden, 1998;Sproesser et al., 2014). ...
This article explores how certain food and the stories linked to the same are capable of evoking feelings of comfort and security. Food binds people together. The rituals and practices surrounding food inspire and sustain the association of various memories, experiences and emotions. The area of food studies is especially interested in how these linkages translate into the practice of nourishment. The narratives surrounding comfort food take on a cross-cultural flavour in the videos from Beryl Shereshewsky’s YouTube channel. This article analyses these narratives through the lens of Symbolic Interactionism to explicate how these food narratives bring people together from across the world by evoking the universal needs of food and comfort. Consequently, it is seen that even though it is true that the experience of consuming comfort food is extremely personal, it is also rendered as a universal phenomenon through the narratives that are created and shared.
... By taking the time to appreciate the taste and aroma of specialty coffee, baristas and coffee roasters can cultivate a sense of presence and focus that can reduce stress and promote mindfulness. The scent of coffee has also been linked to positive emotions, with studies showing that the smell of coffee can reduce stress and improve mood; the sensory experience of preparing and consuming specialty coffee can be a powerful tool for promoting mental health and wellbeing in the specialty coffee industry (Kanjanakorn & Lee, 2017;Köster & Mojet, 2015). ...
This article takes a unique approach to explore specialty coffee consumption's potential benefits and risks on mental health and well-being by incorporating personal observations of coffee professionals and enthusiasts in Saudi Arabia. The author conducted a literature review of peer-reviewed articles and conversed with local coffee professionals to gain a deeper understanding of the role of specialty coffee culture in promoting social connections and community engagement. The author found that the specialty coffee culture in Saudi Arabia is overgrowing, focusing on sustainability, ethical sourcing, and social responsibility. The sensory experience of preparing and consuming specialty coffee was observed to have therapeutic effects, promoting mindfulness and relaxation. However, the author also identified the potential risks of excessive coffee consumption, including caffeine addiction, disrupted sleep patterns, and anxiety. The article concludes that maintaining a balanced and moderate approach to coffee consumption is crucial to avoid these harmful effects. Overall, this article offers a fresh and insightful perspective on specialty coffee's complex and multifaceted impact on mental health and well-being, providing valuable insights for coffee professionals, enthusiasts, and researchers alike.
... This is not just limited to food but also drinks, as fasting people drink nearly half more fluids than those not fasting within the fasting period (Kerimoglu et al., 2010). These habits (dietary restriction during the daytime and excessive eating at night) may seem to be a risk for the later development of eating disorders, which have been found to affect mental well-being (Köster & Mojet, 2015). However, most studies examining the effects of RIF on disordered eating behavior showed no significant relationship between the two (Chia et al., 2018;Düzçeker et al., 2021;Erol et al., 2008). ...
Introduction:
Muslims fast every year during the month of Ramadan from dawn until dusk. This study examined mental well-being and correlating factors among Nigerian adults who observed Ramadan intermittent fasting (RIF).
Methods:
A validated generalized anxiety disorder-2 and Patient Health Questionnaire-2, the four-item spiritual well-being index, and the Islamic intrinsic religiosity questionnaire were used to collect data about mental well-being (depression, anxiety), spirituality, and intrinsic religiosity through a web-based survey between the May 9, 2021 (27th of Ramadan, 1442) and the June 4, 2021 (29th of Shawwal, 1442). We studied the mental well-being of respondents over a period of 4 weeks before Ramadan (BR) and during the 4 weeks of Ramadan between the April 12, 2021 and the May 12, 2021(DR). Multinomial regression analysis was used to determine the factors associated with depression and anxiety. This research did not receive any grant or funding.
Results:
A total of 770 adult Nigerians who observed RIF study were included in this cross-sectional study. When compared to mental well-being BR, observing RIF by Nigerian adult respondents was associated with a significant improvement in their mental well-being. A higher proportion of respondents felt less depressed DR (61.3% vs. 56.5%. < .001). Interest and pleasure in doing things improved DR than BR (p= 0.007) and respondents felt less nervous and anxious (60.7% vs. 57.1%, respectively; p <.001). Mental well-being was independently associated with sociodemographic characteristics, physical activity, and perceived relationships.
Conclusions:
This study found significant improvement in mental well-being DR compared to BR despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The effect of RIF on mental well-being needs further research with multicentric studies among different sets of ethnic populations.
... También se ha observado (Boon et al., 2002) que cuando se presenta un estilo de alimentación restrictivo la cantidad de alimentos que se ingiere aumenta en situaciones de estrés o intensidad de algún estado emocional. Por otro lado, cuando la motivación para comer por estímulos emocionales es constante y asociada a emociones negativas como miedo, tristeza, disgusto e ira, esto es la ingesta emocional/comer emocional (Arrow, et al., 1995), esta conducta se asocia a la obesidad tanto en adultos (Köster & Mojet, 2015), como en niños (Farrow, et al. 2015;D'Autume, et. al. 2012). ...
Durante la vida de la mujer se presenta la mens-
truación, la cual puede presentar alguna alteración en su
ciclo menstrual como puede ser el Síndrome Premenstrual
(SPM) o el Trastorno Disfórico Premenstrual (TDPM). Ac-
tualmente, el SPM es una alteración muy común, ya que
afecta entre el 20-40% de las mujeres en edad reproducti-
va y solo un porcentaje menor llega a presentar TDPM. El
SPM se caracteriza por una serie de signos y síntomas que
se vinculan a un conjunto de alteraciones físicas, emocio-
nales, cognitivas y de comportamiento con la presencia de
malestar, irritabilidad, depresión y fatiga que afectan las
actividades cotidianas de la mujer. Hoy en día no existe un
tratamiento específico para tratar el SPM, sin embargo, la
alimentación saludable y el ejercicio son piezas clave para
el control y disminución de signos y síntomas, que a su vez
se verá reflejado en la calidad de vida de la mujer.
... También se ha observado (Boon et al., 2002) que cuando se presenta un estilo de alimentación restrictivo la cantidad de alimentos que se ingiere aumenta en situaciones de estrés o intensidad de algún estado emocional. Por otro lado, cuando la motivación para comer por estímulos emocionales es constante y asociada a emociones negativas como miedo, tristeza, disgusto e ira, esto es la ingesta emocional/comer emocional (Arrow, et al., 1995), esta conducta se asocia a la obesidad tanto en adultos (Köster & Mojet, 2015), como en niños (Farrow, et al. 2015;D'Autume, et. al. 2012). ...
A principios de la década de los 90’s, se comen-
zó a estudiar la inclusión de la educación socioemocional
en el sistema de enseñanza básica, la cual se planteó como
una necesidad educativa a mediados de 1993, ya que la
incorporación de este elemento ayudaría a mejorar la aten-
ción educativa de los alumnos. El primer paso que llevó a
concretar la inclusión de este factor fue, principalmente,
la reforma educativa que la SEP, desde la Subsecretaría de
Enseñanza Básica, que se impulsó en el año de 1993; donde
se logró que los temas emocionales quedarán insertos en el
currículo actual. La atención que se le dio a este aspecto en
los programas de estudio se logró por el Acuerdo Nacional
para la Modernización de la Educación Básica (ANMBE) y
a la descentralización del sistema educativo, lo que signi-
ficó una transformación en los programas de estudio (Zo-
rrilla, 2002).
... Indeed, it is a widely held and shared belief that food can help manage an emotional state by evoking an immediate sense of well-being and relaxation. However, it is equally clear that this associative schema, when applied with rigidity and regularity or in a dysregulated manner, can lead to states of psychophysical decompensation characterized by an inability to recognize and modulate negative emotional states, such as anxiety, sadness, anger and stress [3][4][5][6][7][8]. From this perspective, anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge eating disorder (BED), which are part of the nutrition and eating disorders cluster (DSM-V: APA, 2013) [9], are complex pathologies that affect both mental state and physical functioning [10]. ...
This article summarizes the results of studies in which functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed to investigate the neurofunctional activations involved in processing visual stimuli from food in individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge eating disorder (BED). A systematic review approach based on the PRISMA guidelines was used. Three databases-Scopus, PubMed and Web of Science (WoS)-were searched for brain correlates of each eating disorder. From an original pool of 688 articles, 30 articles were included and discussed. The selected studies did not always overlap in terms of research design and observed outcomes, but it was possible to identify some regularities that characterized each eating disorder. As if there were two complementary regulatory strategies, AN seems to be associated with general hyperactivity in brain regions involved in top-down control and emotional areas, such as the amygdala, insula and hypothalamus. The insula and striatum are hyperactive in BN patients and likely involved in abnormalities of impulsivity and emotion regulation. Finally, the temporal cortex and striatum appear to be involved in the neural correlates of BED, linking this condition to use of dissociative strategies and addictive aspects. Although further studies are needed, this review shows that there are specific activation pathways. Therefore, it is necessary to pay special attention to triggers, targets and maintenance processes in order to plan effective therapeutic interventions. Clinical implications are discussed.
... Food is one of the most common visual pieces of content shared on all social media platforms. There has been a strong association between the food people eat and how it affects people's moods and feelings in many ways [74]. Previous research has found that people eat to relieve stress, depression, anxiety, and other harmful emotional strains [75,76]. ...
Background:
Twitter has become a dominant source of public health data and a widely used method to investigate and understand public health–related issues internationally. By leveraging big data methodologies to mine Twitter for health-related data at the individual and community levels, scientists can use the data as a rapid and less expensive source for both epidemiological surveillance and studies on human behavior. However, limited reviews have focused on novel applications of language analyses that examine human health and behavior and the surveillance of several emerging diseases, chronic conditions, and risky behaviors.
Objective:
The primary focus of this scoping review was to provide a comprehensive overview of relevant studies that have used Twitter as a data source in public health research to analyze users’ tweets to identify and understand physical and mental health conditions and remotely monitor the leading causes of mortality related to emerging disease epidemics, chronic diseases, and risk behaviors.
Methods:
A literature search strategy following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) extended guidelines for scoping reviews was used to search specific keywords on Twitter and public health on 5 databases: Web of Science, PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar. We reviewed the literature comprising peer-reviewed empirical research articles that included original research published in English-language journals between 2008 and 2021. Key information on Twitter data being leveraged for analyzing user language to study physical and mental health and public health surveillance was extracted.
Results:
A total of 38 articles that focused primarily on Twitter as a data source met the inclusion criteria for review. In total, two themes emerged from the literature: (1) language analysis to identify health threats and physical and mental health understandings about people and societies and (2) public health surveillance related to leading causes of mortality, primarily representing 3 categories (ie, respiratory infections, cardiovascular disease, and COVID-19). The findings suggest that Twitter language data can be mined to detect mental health conditions, disease surveillance, and death rates; identify heart-related content; show how health-related information is shared and discussed; and provide access to users’ opinions and feelings.
Conclusions:
Twitter analysis shows promise in the field of public health communication and surveillance. It may be essential to use Twitter to supplement more conventional public health surveillance approaches. Twitter can potentially fortify researchers’ ability to collect data in a timely way and improve the early identification of potential health threats. Twitter can also help identify subtle signals in language for understanding physical and mental health conditions.
... Food intake is not only influenced by biological and physical needs, but also by the emotional state of an individual [1] . Recent developments in the food-behavioural science have accelerated interest towards the novel discipline of food mood connection, which studies the link between an individual's mood and food choices [2] . ...
Emotional eating, defined as the tendency to eat for coping with negative emotions, has been associated with cardiometabolic disorders. Lifestyle behaviours such as eating habits, sleep quality, and perceived stress may influence emotional eating tendency. However, these associations remain to be investigated within the socio-culturally diverse Indian context. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the prevalence of emotional eating and the association of sociodemographic, eating habits, sleep quality and perceived stress with emotional eating behaviour among 18-60-year-old adults (n=1210), enrolled from pan-India. The participants completed an online survey incorporating the Emotional Eater Questionnaire, questions on Eating Habits, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Perceived Stress Scale. More than two-third (70.4%) of the participants reported to be low, emotional, or very emotional eaters. Total emotional eaters compared to non-emotional eaters reported significantly lower overall healthy eating habits score, higher global PSQI scores and higher perceived stress scores (p < 0.001). Young adulthood (p = 0.001), obesity (p < 0.001), lower healthy eating habits (p = 0.050), and high (p = 0.009) to moderate (p = 0.025) perceived stress were observed to be significantly associated with emotional eating behaviour. The findings raise concerns over the high pan-Indian prevalence of emotional eating which warrants close attention from policymakers to address this emerging health challenge. Improving eating habits, body weight status and perceived stress levels may present potential targets for interventions.
... In the literature, it is unclear whether attitudes, in general or for GMFs, are a factor involved in valuation or a mediator, modifying the weights for an individual's factors during valuation. [12,[47][48][49][50][51]. Nevertheless, the broad attitude association weights measured by IATs are compatible with assessing attitudes in a limited fashion, whereby the D-score, depending on the direction of your attitude (either positive or negative), could represent the attitude-association for each participant in a consumer research study. ...
One of the challenges in understanding real-world (market) behavior for controversial technologies, like genome-editing technologies, is the assessment of the validity and predictive power of participant explicit measurements (ex. surveys). Individuals tend to tune their beliefs about the risks of potentially harmful activities towards the views of the people they commonly interact with (Leiserowitz, 2005). If individual explicit responses can be impacted by environmental expectation, explicit responses may not be representative of real-life preferences. Therefore, assessment of factors influencing marketing behavior on genetically-modified foods (GMFs), using a variety of approaches, can ascertain the level of internal validity in explicit responses in marketing analysis. For the German market, an individual’s acceptance and willingness to pay for GMFs may be influenced by their knowledge of genome-editing technologies and attitudes (Albarracin & Shavitt, 2018; Huffman et al. 2007; Klein et al. 2009; Lusk et al., 2015; Wunderlich & Gatto, 2015). Using neuroscientific approaches to measure attitudes towards GMFs indirectly, such as the single-category implicit association test and functional magnetic resonance imaging, this study attempts to address the representativeness and predictive power of the explicit attitudes for GMF against affective behavioral and neurological correlates for consumer willingness to pay.
References:
Albarracin, D., and Shavitt, S, 2018. Attitudes and Attitude Change. ARP, 69, 299–327.
Huffman, W. E., Rousu, M., Shogren, J. F., and Tegene, A., 2007) The effects of prior beliefs and learning on consumers’ acceptance of genetically modified foods. JBEO, 63(1), 193–206.
Klein, A., Zapilko, M., Menrad, K., and Gabriel, A., 2009. Consumer acceptance of genetically modified rapeseed-oil: A discrete-choice-experiment. In GEWISOLA, Agrar- und Ernährungsmärkte nach dem Boom, Kiel, 1–13.
Leiserowitz, A. A., 2005. American Risk Perceptions: Is Climate Change Dangerous? RA, 25(6), 1433–1442.
Lusk, J. L., Crespi, J. M., Cherry, J. B. C., McFadden, B. R., Martin, L. E., and Bruce, A. S. 2015. An fMRI investigation of consumer choice regarding controversial food technologies. FQP, 40, 209–220.
Wunderlich, S., and Gatto, K.A., 2015. Consumer Perception of Genetically Modified Organisms and Sources of Information. ANIRJ, 6(6), 842–851.
... Food and emotions have been a topic of interest for many years, initially often through a desire to understand how feelings and moods influence decisions about what to eat and drink [1]. In the last few decades, another stream of emotion research has gained prominence-understanding how our feelings and moods are influenced by what we eat and drink [2]. ...
Check-all-that-apply (CATA) questions have become the most common tool for product sensory characterization with consumers and the question format is increasingly being used in emotion questionnaires. This is because CATA questions are simple for research participants, deliver reproducible results, and reliably elicit emotional associations to products and other food-related stimuli. This protocol explains how to implement questionnaires with emotion words as the CATA terms and how to analyze the generated data. Drawing on the more extensive literature on CATA questions in sensory product characterizations with consumers, methodological issues related to how CATA question implementation can influence the results are also covered.Key wordsCheck-all-that-apply questionsCATAEmotionsConsumer researchQuestionnaires
... Few researchers have integrated relevant constructs into the comprehensive framework in culinary tourism. Based on the analyses of advantage in culinary tourism development, a model to understand how tourists' perception of a destination's food image can influence their evaluation of the food experience and their behavioral intentions has should be investigated [25]. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to discuss the role of food destination image into revisit intention. ...
In culinary tourism, the perception into destination food image is the most important component for destination marketing plan. Therefore, the quantitative method was applied to confirm role of destination food image in Vietnam by analyze the tourist’s opinion on TripAdvisor. Moreover, to understand new insights into tourist behavior in the destination choice, the qualitative method explore the bidirectional causal relationship between the destination food image and perceived value that eventually contributes to revisit intention. The findings contribute to identify destination image theory value in tourism research, especially in the context of tourists’ local food experiences. Finally, this study provides insight into how to built destination food image, especially cognitive food image is extremely crucial and necessary when Vietnam intend to build an attractive food destination that perceived by tourist as well as the development of marketing strategies for culinary tourism in Vietnam.
... Despite their popularity, word-based emotion evaluation questionnaires have received several criticisms about their validity, arguing that consumers may select emotional terms even when they do not feel them and that they rarely use words to spontaneously express their emotional responses to products [94][95][96]. To elicit more ecologically valid responses and to consider the increased use of electronic media, the use of "emojis", as partial substitutes for written language, has emerged as an alternative to convey a wide range of meanings, from hedonic reactions to the product to emotional and conceptual associations [81,[96][97][98]. ...
Beer is one of the most consumed alcoholic beverages in the world; its consumption and preference are evolving from traditional industrial beers of low complexity to novel craft beers with diverse flavour profiles. In such a competitive industry and considering the complexity of consumer behaviour, improvement and innovation become necessary. Consequently, consumer science, which is responsible for identifying the motivation behind customer preferences through their attitudes, perception and behaviour, has implemented strategies ranging from simple hedonic measurements to several innovative and emerging methodologies for a deeper understanding of the variables that affect the product experience: sensory, affective and cognitive. In this context, we offer a review inspired by previous research that explores some of the quantitative and qualitative methods used in consumer studies related to beer consumption, ranging from traditional approaches (acceptability, purchase intention, preference, etc.) to techniques that go beyond acceptability and allow a different understanding of aspects of consumer perception and behaviour (segmentation, expectations, emotions, representation, etc.). Also, innovative applications (contexts, immersive technologies and virtual reality, implicit measures, etc.) and current trends related to consumer science (Internet, social media, pairing, product experience, etc.) are addressed.
... Designing studies to elicit food memories can be challenging, as past studies have noted that memories are not only difficult to detect in attainment but are also uneasy to retrieve through one's repository (e.g., Köster & Mojet, 2015). To rectify, this study employed ethnographic methods while using cooking with participants as a method of inquiry. ...
In this study, the author conceptualizes food memories as a form of intangible cultural heritage: an immaterial inheritance enacted and ritualized in everyday foodways. Informed by Marcel Proust's literary writings on food and memory alongside David Sutton's gustemology, this study investigates how a community's local residents construct food memories as forms of intangible cultural heritage. The author conducted a fifteen-month qualitative inquiry with eight local families in Oklahoma, United States. Specifically, the author applied a series of ethnographic methods and cooking as inquiry: a qualitative method using foodmaking as a collaborative activity during the fieldwork. Findings show food memories entail a narrative structure revolving around five constructs: people and communality, foodmaking and the body, sense and synesthesia, emotional reveries, and evocative sceneries. Contributions related to areas of intangible cultural heritage, food memories, gustemology, and practice are discussed.
... Laureati et al. (2015) and Guinard (2001) explained that the methodology chosen for use with children should be adapted to their cognitive, physical, and social stage of development. Graphic tools are considered child-friendly because they are intuitive and are hence suitable for population groups with reduced reading capability; they also require low cognitive effort (Comesaña et al., 2013;Köster & Mojet, 2015;Toet et al., 2018). ...
This study aimed to evaluate the dimensional and semantic meanings of emoji in the absence of context as well as in a food-related context. The effects of age and gender on this perception were also identified in both situations. After a pre-selection task, 312 children (6–12 years) participated in a survey in which the dimensional and semantic meanings of emoji were evaluated in one of two situations. The dimensional meaning was reported as valence and arousal dimensions using a 100-unit visual analogue scale. The semantic meaning was measured by selecting child-friendly emotion terms in a check-all-that-apply question.
The results show that the dimensional meaning of emoji was context-dependent. The evocation of a food-related context made emoji more extremely valenced, whereas no specific trend was identified for arousal. Gender and age influenced the dimensional meaning of emoji, but only for individual icons. Girls in the study rated specific neutral and negative emoji more negatively than boys. Younger children (6–8 years) perceived individual active emoji as more arousing than their older peers (9–12 years). Moreover, the semantic meaning of emoji was context-dependent, and specific groups of emoji also differed depending on the age of the participants. In this regard, secondary semantic meanings proved to be influenced by these factors, whereas main semantic meanings were stable. Multivariate analysis indicated that the associations established between emotion word categories and emoji were mainly influenced by valence and the power dimension rather than arousal.
... This research includes combinations of the following keywords: "sensory science", "consumer science", "sensory evaluation", "sensory analysis", "discrimination", "affective", "descriptive", "hedonic", "method", "technique", and "test". The most recent and relevant (regarding the identification of sensory evaluation methods) books and articles were selected (Adjei, 2017;Aguiar et al., 2018;Bi, 2006;Delarue et al., 2015;Dijksterhuis & Piggott, 2000;Drake, 2007;Kaneko et al., 2018;Kemp et al., 2018;Köster & Mojet, 2015;Lawless & Heymann, 2010;Lestringant et al., 2019;Lim, 2011;Herbert L. Meiselman, 2021;Murray et al., 2001;Stone et al., 2012;Valentin et al., 2012;Varela & Ares, 2012;Visalli & Galmarini, 2022). The list of methods was finally completed based on the authors' knowledge, resulting in a total of 102 sensory evaluation methods filed in a public data repository . ...
The emergence of open science makes it necessary to formalize data and knowledge in a way that adheres to the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles. The objective of this work was to lay the foundations for such a FAIRization of sensory data. After an explanation of the rationale, the main characteristics of sensory evaluation methods were identified, and a data-centric typology of the different types of measures was proposed. This typology enabled us to classify the sensory evaluation methods regardless of whether they were used in “sensory only” or “consumer-centric product-focused” research. To complete this conceptual typology, minimal information standards have been defined to help in the reporting and interpreting of sensory evaluation data. These standards include a data format and metadata related to sensory evaluation measures. Based on the typology and metadata, several aspects related to sensory data aggregation were discussed, and examples were presented to demonstrate the interest of such a grouping of datasets. The outputs of this work were intended to be implemented in the “sensory evaluation measures” branch of TransformON, a food ontology. Thus, this work opens up new perspectives related to the use of ontologies for data-driven research related to food sustainability. Moreover, it invites the sensory science community to adopt a broader perspective regarding sensory measures.
... Maintaining emotional coherence between subjective and physiological reactivity to foods among older adults might help to maintain better nutritional status, thereby contributing to the quality of health and life among older adults. Our results also imply that assessing facial corrugator EMG activity to complement subjective hedonic responses to foods could be beneficial for older patients who have difficulty reporting accurate subjective experiences, given the importance of the positive influence of food on emotions [48]. ...
Background:
Subjective-physiological emotional coherence is thought to be associated with enhanced well-being, and a relationship between subjective-physiological emotional coherence and superior nutritional status has been suggested in older populations. However, no study has examined subjective-physiological emotional coherence among older adults while tasting food. Accordingly, the present study compared subjective-physiological emotional coherence during food consumption among older and younger adults.
Methods:
Participants consumed bite-sized gel-type foods with different flavors and provided their subjective ratings of the foods while their physiological responses (facial electromyography (EMG) of the corrugator supercilia, masseter, and suprahyoid, and other autonomic nervous system signals) were simultaneously measured.
Results:
Our primary findings were that (1) the ratings of liking, wanting, and valence were negatively correlated with corrugator EMG activity in older and young adult participants; (2) the positive association between masseter EMG activity and ratings of wanting/valence was weaker in the older than in the young adult group; and (3) arousal ratings were negatively correlated with corrugator EMG activity in the older group only.
Conclusions:
These results demonstrate commonalities and differences in subjective-physiological emotional coherence during food intake between older and young adults.
... Measuring only the sensory appeal of food products is often discovered to be insufficient [22,24,25]. Therefore, analyzing emotions together with sensory acceptability (liking) of food products has proved to achieve a better understanding of consumers' food choices [23,[25][26][27]. Food is an emotionally charged stimulus, generating both positive (e.g., joy) and negative (e.g., guilt) emotions. ...
Consumers having a strong unhealthy = tasty (UT) belief are less likely to choose healthy food even though they recognize its health benefits, because they assume healthy food to be unpalatable. The aim of this study was to profile consumers according to their UT belief and specify the strength of the belief among a demographically representative consumer group. The other aim was to investigate the effect of UT belief on expectations of two food products representing either an unhealthy or a healthy image. A total of 1537 consumers participated in the online survey. The scale-based (1–7) mean for UT belief was 3.27 and related positively to male gender and food pleasure orientation and negatively to general health interest. The results indicate that a strong UT belief correlates with positive expectations of unhealthy food and with negative expectations of healthy food. UT belief seemed to increase expected food-associated guilt, but other strong food-related attitudes (health interest with unhealthy food and pleasure orientation with healthy food) reduced this effect. In practice, understanding the relationship between UT belief and personal factors and attitudes, and the importance of this belief to food expectations can assist in finding the tools to encourage consumers towards healthier food choices.
... Nevertheless, it is thought that the measurement of the emotions elicited by food products could contribute to the understanding of children's preferences and food choices in the same manner that it was reported for adults(Dalenberg et al., 2014).Laureati et al. (2015) outlined that the methodology chosen to be used with children should be adapted to their cognitive, physical and social stage of development. Considering this, the traditional verbal self-questionnaires used in sensory testing might not be appropriate to children (specially young children) due to their reduced capability of reading and to the high cognitive effort that questionnaires demand(Köster & Mojet, 2015). On the contrary, methods that involve cognitive, physiological and/or behavioural expressions could be an alternative to evaluate conscious and unconscious emotional responses without the limitation of traditional methods(Kaneko et al., 2018).Facial expressions are the most studied type of behavioural expression for the study of emotions(Coppin & Sander, 2016). ...
... More researchers are investigating the relationship between a food products' sensory attributes and its emotional profile [15]. Emotional aspects are connected to consumers' sensory experiences-this could influence their food preference [16]. Researchers such as Robin have aimed to link specific emotions to sensory properties; respondents had to link the emotions with the basic tastes (bitter, sweet, salty, sour) [17]. ...
This research measured consumers’ emotions and change in emotion to the specific sensory taste properties and attitudes of chocolate-based biscuits. The sample size involved 216 respondents from South Africa (n = 106) and Switzerland (n = 110). Respondents tasted chocolate-based biscuits and completed an online questionnaire. The increase in consumers’ levels of guilt after chocolate-based biscuit consumption and the contribution of a chocolate taste and craving attitude to consumers’ subsequent positive emotions and change in positive emotions could help food and consumer scientists to understand the link between emotions and the sensory descriptors of chocolate-based biscuits. Investigating the association between the emotional responses and sensory attributes of sweet baked products could benefit product developers when formulating food products for specific target markets and aid in the understanding of the emotional profile of food products.
... Verbal self-reporting surveys are the most common technique used to measure food-associated emotional responses, due to their easiness in terms of application, cost-effectiveness, and discriminative power [52]. However, they present several shortcomings, including (i) generally, emotions are difficult to verbalise [53]; (ii) the lexicon of emotions varies across cultures and languages, especially for foods [44]; and (iii) verbalising emotions might obstruct the food experience itself [51]. To overcome some of these barriers, we use the PrEmo2, which is a cross-cultural validated tool [54]. ...
p>This work examines the associated emotions of consumers transmitted from extrinsic attributes (fat‐related nutrition claims (full‐fat, low‐fat, and fat‐free) and ingredient features (plain, berries, and double chocolate chunk)) labelled on yoghurt packages. It differentiates by consumption context (health versus indulgent) at the time of the survey and studies the relationship between the associated emotions (e.g., positive versus negative) attached to extrinsic attributes and the actual choices. The research was conducted in the Netherlands in 2019, with 209 regular consumers of yoghurt. Participants were divided into two treatments according to each consumption context and a control group (no context); they were instructed to imagine purchasing yoghurt to consume it as a healthy snack or as a dessert or received no instructions. After choosing their preferred option from a discrete choice experiment, participants indicated how the choice made them feel from a list of emotions. The results revealed significant differences between positive emotional profiles for choosing healthy (low‐fat) yoghurts with berries and negative profiles for choosing less healthy alternatives (full‐fat) with double chocolate chunk sensory features. The findings from a random parameter logit model showed that participants who continuously chose the same type of yoghurt in all choice tasks selected mostly positive rather than negative emotions. The overall findings suggest that the associated emotions affect yoghurt choices. However, the emotions were mainly affected by the consumption context.</p
... Their results revealed that each cultural group (Korean, Chinese and English-speaking-Western consumers) evaluated nuttiness in soymilk based on similar criteria, which avoided misunderstandings in sensory attributes caused by conceptual differences across culture. Köster and Mojet (2015) recommended the use of nonverbal methods, such as PrEmo (a tool used to measure the emotions evoked by materials), in cross-cultural research in order to overcome language differences in the use of emotional terms. ...
Countries with an established dairy tradition consume milk, milk powder, yoghurt and butter directly or as an ingredient; however, in countries without this tradition the lack of familiarity and unknown expectations can be challenging to overcome. Therefore, having a better understanding of the volatile properties that influence their sensory appeal can aid overcoming these challenges. This review focusses on traditional and novel sensory methods used to research milk, milk powders, yoghurt and butter as well as the extraction techniques used in gas chromatography mass spectrometry and gas chromatography olfactometry to identify volatiles in these products that influence sensory perception. Sensory and Volatile Analysis of milk, dairy powders, yoghurt and butter.
... Food taste and emotion are highly linked, and they can influence each other [22]. In this study, the satiating and energizing effects were specifically investigated using a line scale. ...
Pecan is one of the top five most widely consumed tree nuts, and pecan nut quality is a major factor for consideration in breeding better pecan cultivars for use by producers. However, the pecan industry faces a hurdle to evaluate its nutmeat taste, and there has so far been limited evaluation of consumer attitudes toward pecan nutmeat. This study aimed to investigate the consumer (n = 198) hedonic rating, diagnostic sensory attribute intensity, and emotional response for 14 pecan samples, consisting of native/seedling and improved varieties. The results showed all kernels received positive hedonic scores (>5, 9-point hedonic scale) for overall acceptance and the acceptability of size, interior color, typical-pecan flavor, and raw-nut flavor. The primary sensory attributes (intensities > 5.0, 0–10 line scale) were typical-pecan and raw-nut flavors, followed by buttery flavor, sweetness, and astringency. Kernel off-flavors were not perceived in general. For 20 emotion-associated terms, the intensity of the satiating effect was medium, while the energizing effect was lower. The major emotional responses were healthy, satisfied, and comfort, followed by calm, interested, premium, and relaxed. Kernel variety difference was significant (p ≤ 0.05) for all these measured variables. Consumer overall acceptance toward pecan kernels was driven by the acceptability of flavor and interior color, flavor intensities, no off-flavors, and positive emotional responses; kernel size was not an impactful factor. The six most preferred varieties were 86TX2-1.5, Pawnee, Barton, 1997-09-0012, 1991-01-0026, and Harris Super. This study is the first to use consumer input to assess nut quality and consumption preference and will be foundational to ongoing breeding programs to develop new pecan cultivars that will better meet consumer preferences and expectations, and therefore will be accepted by the processing industry and growers.
... In addition, the majority of studies on the effect of emotional state or context focus on the instantaneous effect on food pleasantness. However, Köster and Mojet (2015) argued that the role of memory is probably much more important than the "first impression" experience that is commonly investigated. They emphasized that products should be tested for the emotions they evoke before, during, a few hours after, and a week (or even longer) after consumption, to obtain a more complete picture of the experience of the product. ...
Experimental setups that probe consumers’ underlying feelings, purchase intentions, and choices. The Topic Editors are honoured to present 14 multidisciplinary contributions that focus on successful implementations of physiological and neuroscientific measures in the field of cognitive psychology, marketing, design, and psychiatry.
Keywords: preference formation, neuroscience, physiology, evaluative processing, consumer behavior
The rapid diffusion of new technological innovations resulted in lack of knowledge about how luxury and technology may be successfully combined. This chapter aims to provide clarity over the phenomenon of new technological integration in luxury through a comprehensive and systematic literature review. The study considers a corpus of 1196 original contributions through the combination of two established machine learning algorithms (LDA and hierarchical clustering). The analyses sheds light on a structured classification of the various streams of current research and a list of promising emerging trends in the field of fashion, tourism, real estate, and food, together with a focus on minor topics such as luxury wellness, healthcare, automotive, and the most prominent consumers-related variables to be investigated.KeywordsLuxury marketingNew technologiesTechnology managementArtificial IntelligenceInternet of ThingsMachine learningBlockchainData analysis
Emotions and food products are intimately related. Individuals’ emotions modulate eating behaviors, and negative emotions may induce food disorders. On the other hand, the consumption of food or drink products may trigger different emotional states in individuals. Thus, the relationship between food or drink products and emotion is dynamic and complex. In this chapter, after describing the strong link between food products and emotions and the role of associative learning, we propose a definition of emotion and feelings. The chapter mainly focuses on the measure of verbal emotional responses triggered by food products. This measure refers to feelings, or the conscious verbalization of the emotional response. Although the unconscious emotional response related to physiological and behavioral responses should not be underestimated and is described, the chapter provides a broader review on a methodology developed to measure food-elicited feelings in consideration of cross-cultural differences. A series of examples is presented to illustrate the use of this methodology in sensory and consumer test settings for food product development. We also propose that investigations should be undertaken into the effects of changing the product label, packaging, and color on consumer emotional expectations and on the overall emotional response when the product is experienced. Finally, examples of research conducted in ecological settings and virtual environments are provided.Key wordsEmotionsFeelingsFoodsExpectationCulture
Background
different studies revealed strong correlation between smoking cessation and a worsening of the diet, whose consequence include loss of appetite, weight loss, etc.
Objective
the objective of FoodRec project is to exploit technology to monitor the dietary habits of people during their smoke quitting process, catching relevant changes which can affect the patient health and the success of the process. This work was an uncontrolled pre-test post-test open pilot study in which an interdisciplinary group created an app for food recognition (FoodRec) to monitor their mood status and dietary habits during the test period.
Methods
participants used the FoodRec App for two consecutive weeks for usability and suitability assessment. Tests included 149 smokers involved in a smoke quitting process, aged between 19 and 80. For the quantitative test, data were analyzed regarding users features, meals uploads, mood states and drink intakes. For the qualitative test, a user evaluation test of the app has been performed with four assignments being carried out on a group of 50 participants.
Results
the App was perceived as extremely user-friendly and lightweight. It also turned out to be useful in the perception of users’ dietary habits and helpful in relieving the stress of a food intake reduction process.
Conclusion
this work investigated the role and impact of the FoodRec App in a large international and multicultural context. The experience gained in the current study will be used to modify and refine the large international RCT protocol version of the app.
Sensory perception occupies an important position in the cosmetic, perfume, and food industries due to its use at artisanal and industrial levels. Therefore, research on the development of the characteristic desired color and flavor would provide several vital sensory attributes that consumers expect. Moreover, flavor‐enhanced foods and beverages have been shown to be more appealing as used singularly or in combination to create flavorful mixtures for the benefit of beverages, foods, and products. This chapter highlights the importance of sensory perception in relation to consumers and flavor perception with an emphasis on oral food processing behavior, flavor receptors, food choice, and psychology.
Olfaction and vision are both senses that impact our pre-consumption perception and intake of food and beverages. As compared to the visual system, the olfactory system has preferential access to cortical and subcortical areas involved in affective processing, altering behavior following the emotional experience. Most of the studies linking visual, olfactory, and affective information have been conducted in the lab (e.g., affective priming), sometimes questioning the ecological validity of the findings. Olfactory affective matching is a paradigm based on which an affective stimulus (for instance, a food odor) evokes an emotion that influences responses to a stimulus presented subsequently (for instance, an object). Here, we describe an olfactory affective matching protocol originally developed to test how children match odors with social visual information to assess odor-induced behavioral choices. This protocol was devised to be deployed in a citizen science setting, yet it can be used to explore affective food experiences with small adaptations in the laboratory and for other age groups.
Children are thought to prefer homogeneous and simple textures that are easy to manipulate in the mouth. Although scientific research has been done on children's acceptance for food textures, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the emotional response elicited by textures in this group of population. Physiological and behavioural methods could be an appropriate approach to measure food-evoked emotions in children since they require a low cognitive effort and allow a real-time measure. In this regard, a study that combined the measure of skin conductance response (SCR) and facial expressions was conducted: (i) to provide a first insight into food-evoked emotions induced by liquid food products that only vary in texture, (ii) to capture the emotional response evoked by the observation, olfaction, manipulation, and consumption of the products, and (iii) to overcome methodological drawbacks that are frequently associated to these methods. To achieve these goals, 50 children (5-12 yrs old) evaluated three liquids designed to only vary in texture (from slightly thick to extremely thick), following four sensory tasks: observation, olfaction, manipulation, and consumption. After each sample was tasted, children rated liking with a 7-pt hedonic scale. Facial expressions and SCR were monitored during the test, and they were analysed as action units (AUs) and basic emotions as well as changes in SCR. Results showed that the extremely thick liquid was less liked by the children and induced a more negative emotional response, whereas the slightly thick liquid was more liked and evoked a more positive emotional response. The combined method used in this study showed good discrimination ability among the three samples tested, obtaining the best discrimination during the manipulation task. The codification of the AUs located in the upper side of the face allowed us to measure the emotional response evoked by the consumption of the liquids, without the artifacts caused by the oral processing of the products. This study provides a child-friendly approach to be used during the sensory evaluation of food products in a broad range of sensory tasks minimising the methodological drawbacks.
To understand the whole experience evoked by food stimuli, qualitative approaches can be used, including introspection and interview. Here, we present a protocol aimed at collecting the emotional experience provoked by odors using a semi-guided interview. The subjects’ verbalizations can then be transcribed and organized with dedicated software to draw a portrait of food-related emotions for the olfactory modality, but also for other senses such as vision or taste by adapting the protocol. Altogether, these subjective data are a complement to standard ratings or choice within a list of emotions, and they can help better understand the variety and the context surrounding the affective responses to food.Key wordsSubjectivityQualitative methodsOlfactionDiscourse analysis
The act of eating is known for being associated with a rich spectrum of emotions, from disgust to joy, and many contemporary methods have been proposed for their measurement. Most of them are based on a stimulus–response paradigm, considering the food or drink characteristics as stimulating variables, and collect data through face reading, physiological sensors, or questionnaires. Although food and drink properties (physical and chemical) are essential parameters of consumers’ experience and emotional responses, they are not sufficient to explain emotions, feelings, and preferences in natural consumption situations. Because personal, social, physical, and environmental factors play a major role in the emotional status of consumers, complementary experiment means are needed to control most contextual variables in an eating environment. Living labs offer ideal conditions both to set a large number of environmental parameters and to measure responses in real-life usage situations. In the food domain, experimental restaurants are places where researchers and food designers can interact and observe consumer responses in natural eating environments with external variables under control. The present paper describes a short protocol for measuring participants’ emotions during a meal in such an experimental restaurant where contextual cues can be controlled.Key wordsLiving LabContextExperienceReal-life testingFood and drinksEmotions
Food sensory cues are prominent sources of emotions. The advancement of functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) allows to noninvasively examine the human brain activation related to food-evoked affective experiences. This chapter describes a step-by-step protocol for assessing brain response in relation to emotions evoked by olfactory food cues (food odors) in humans.Key wordsFood odorPleasantnessFunctional magnetic resonance imagingProtocol
This study aimed to identify a group of emoji appropriate to describe food experiences in studies with schoolchildren and to evaluate their applicability expressing food-evoked emotions in terms of sample discrimination. The effect of liking, product category, and the nature of the food stimuli regarding emoji’s performance was also examined. To achieve these goals two studies were performed with a total of 249 schoolchildren aged from 6 to 12.
As a result, 14 facial emoji were associated to seven varied evoked contexts. The study of their applicability showed that all emoji had individual discrimination ability when samples were evoked as food names, but not for food images. Positive emoji were frequently selected to represent the emotional response evoked by liked and very liked products, while neutral and negative emoji were associated to neutral and disliked products. The Correspondence Analysis (CA) suggested that the 14 emoji appropriate to describe food experiences were able to discriminate the emotion profiles elicited by samples from the same product category as well as samples with equivalent liking scores, but only when they evoked a different arousal response.
This research expands the existing knowledge on children’s and preadolescent’s interpretation and uses of facial emoji in the food domain to a younger group (over the age of 6). It also provides relevant information about the influence of product-dependent variables on emoji’s applicability (i.e. product category, expected liking, and the food stimulus’ nature), which could be relevant to researchers interested in using emoji as a research tool.
With increasing global health and wellness product needs, pecan oil is getting popular in recent years. Although considered a gourmet oil because of its unique sensory and nutritional values, there is no publication focusing on consumer attitude toward pecan oil. This study, for the first time, investigated consumer acceptance, sensory quality, and emotional response to five pecan oils from native and improved varieties, with a comparison to an olive oil. All five pecan oils had positive hedonic ratings (>5, with a 9‐point hedonic scale) for overall acceptance and the acceptance of oil flavor, raw‐nut flavor, and thickness, while the olive oil was rated slightly lower than 5 for these attributes. Pecan oils had higher intensities in raw‐nut flavor, but lower in overall oil flavor, fatty flavor, astringency, and thickness compared to olive oil. Off‐flavor was not perceived in pecan oils, whereas it was perceived in olive oil. The six oils did not show significant differences in satiating effects; however, olive oil was rated lower in energizing effects than pecan oils, which showed a significant variety difference (p ≤ 0.05). Consumer overall acceptance was significantly, positively driven by energizing effects, followed by the acceptability of raw‐nut flavor, thickness, and oil flavor; off‐flavors were negative drivers. Results obtained from this study add direct pecan oil consumer insight: an asset for pecan growers, pecan processing industry, and pecan oil marketers.
Neuroscientific approaches have become increasingly important in understanding how our bodies respond emotionally and physically to experiences. Our brains may be the best window into understanding the consumer experience with brands and products. Methodologies from the neuroscientific and psychological fields are being used more and more often in consumer and marketing research for predicting innovations for product and communication success. In this chapter, we will explore the different types of neuroscientific and behavioral science research approaches best suited for innovation in product development and communications research.
Este estudio cuantitativo explora como las actitudes y las normas subjetivas hacia el mercado de la moda por parte de la generación Z influyen en la intención de compra. Se analiza la inteligencia emocional, la percepción de calidad y el género como variables independientes de las actitudes y la inteligencia emocional de las normas subjetivas. Los hallazgos mostraron que la Teoría de Acción Razonada (TRA) explica la intención de compra en el mercado de la moda por parte de la generación Z. Los hallazgos revelaron que el género no influye en el desarrollo de actitudes, las cuales son generadas por la percepción de calidad y la inteligencia emocional. Por su parte, las normas subjetivas no son inducidas por la inteligencia emocional. Esta investigación contribuirá las empresas del mercado de la moda a generar estrategias de mercado específicas para impulsar la intención de compra por parte de la generación Z.
To explore the presence of predatory food and beverage marketing in different neighborhoods in New York City (NYC), this study describes the methodology of an outdoor environmental scan of the physical environment. The study was conducted in four NYC neighborhoods over a three-week period, in which pairs of trained researchers canvassed designated neighborhoods to document the presence of food and beverage marketing using photographs taken on digital smart phone devices. Commercial areas in the vicinity of NYC Public Schools and NYC Housing Authority campuses located in four neighborhoods with the highest and lowest nutrition related health indicators were studied: South Bronx, Pelham Throggs Neck, Upper West Side, Chelsea/Greenwich Village. Advertisements were coded against 50+ indicators to quantify pertinent variables including the frequency and content of food and beverages advertised and all forms of predatory marketing observed. Comparisons of prevalence and content of food and beverage advertisements and predatory marketing were made across neighborhoods with the highest and lowest health indicators, using chi-squared analysis, and a significance level of p < 0.05. This article demonstrates a disproportionate presence of predatory marketing in low income NYC neighborhoods with negative health outcomes compared to wealthier neighborhoods. Further, this paper demonstrates the benefits and limitations of using an environmental scan methodology to assess predatory food and beverage marketing in a large urban area such as NYC.
A growing body of consumer research studies emotions evoked by marketing stimuli, products and brands. Yet, there has been a wide divergence in the content and structure of emotions used in these studies. In this paper, we will show that the seemingly diverging research streams can be integrated in a hierarchical consumer emotions model. The superordinate level consists of the frequently encountered general dimensions positive and negative affect. The subordinate level consists of specific emotions, based on Richins' (Richins, Marsha L. Measuring Emotions in the Consumption Experience. J. Consum. Res. 24 (2) (1997) 127–146) Consumption Emotion Set (CES), and as an intermediate level, we propose four negative and four positive basic emotions. We successfully conducted a preliminary test of this second-order model, and compare the superordinate and basic level emotion means for different types of food. The results suggest that basic emotions provide more information about the feelings of the consumer over and above positive and negative affect. D 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Comfort eating, that is eating induced by negative affect, has been a core theme of explanations for overeating and obesity. Psychobiological explanations and processes underlying comfort eating are examined, as well as its prevalence in clinical and nonclinical populations, to consider who may be susceptible, whether certain foods are comforting, and what the implications for treatment may be. Comfort eating may occur in a substantial minority, particularly in women and the obese. Human and animal theories and models of emotional or stress-induced eating show some convergence, and may incorporate genetic predispositions such as impulsivity and reward sensitivity, associated with dopamine dysregulation underlying incentive salience. Comfort eaters show vulnerability to depression, emotional dysregulation and a need to escape negative affect and rumination. During negative affect, they preferentially consume sweet, fatty, energy-dense food, which may confer protection against stress, evidenced by suppression of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis response, although activation of the hypothalamic– pituitary–adrenal axis may itself drive appetite for these palatable foods, and the risk of weight gain is increased. Benefits to mood may be transient, but perhaps sufficient to encourage repeated attempts to prolong mood improvement or distract from negative rumination. Cognitive behavioural treatments may be useful, but reliable drug therapy awaits further pharmacogenomic developments.
Neuroscience research over the past few decades has reached a strong consensus that the amygdala plays a key role in emotion processing. However, many questions remain unanswered, especially concerning emotion perception. Based on mnemonic theories of olfactory perception and in light of the highly associative nature of olfactory cortical processing, here I propose a sensory cortical model of olfactory threat perception (i.e., sensory-cortex-based threat perception): the olfactory cortex stores threat codes as acquired associative representations (AARs) formed via aversive life experiences, thereby enabling encoding of threat cues during sensory processing. Rodent and human research in olfactory aversive conditioning was reviewed, indicating learning-induced plasticity in the amygdala and the olfactory piriform cortex. In addition, as aversive learning becomes consolidated in the amygdala, the associative olfactory (piriform) cortex may undergo (long-term) plastic changes, resulting in modified neural response patterns that underpin threat AARs. This proposal thus brings forward a sensory cortical pathway to threat processing (in addition to amygdala-based processes), potentially accounting for an alternative mechanism underlying the pathophysiology of anxiety and depression.
Ever since William James, psychologists of emotion have tended to view affective states as intrinsically conscious. We argue that nonconscious affect also exists, and focus specifically on the possibility of unconscious "liking". We present evidence that positive and negative affective reactions can be elicited subliminally, while a person is completely unaware of any affective reaction at all (in addition to being unaware of the causal stimulus). Despite the absence of any detectable subjective experience of emotion, subliminally induced unconscious "liking" can influence later consumption behaviour. We suggest that unconscious "liking" is mediated by specific subcortical brain systems, such as the nucleus accumbens and its connections. Ordinarily, conscious liking (feelings of pleasure) results from the interaction of separate brain systems of conscious awareness with those core processes of unconscious affect. But under some conditions, activity in brain systems mediating unconscious core "liking" may become decoupled from conscious awareness. The result is a genuinely unconscious emotion.
Our senses have developed as an answer to the world we live in (Gibson, 1966) and so have the forms of memory that accompany them. All senses serve different purposes and do so in different ways. In vision, where orientation and object recognition are important, memory is strongly linked to identification. In olfaction, the guardian of vital functions such as breathing and food ingestion, perhaps the most important (and least noticed and researched) role of odor memory is to help us not to notice the well-known odors or flavors in our everyday surroundings, but to react immediately to the unexpected ones. At the same time it provides us with a feeling of safety when our expectancies are met. All this happens without any smelling intention or conscious knowledge of our expectations. Identification by odor naming is not involved in this and people are notoriously bad at it. Odors are usually best identified via the episodic memory of the situation in which they once occurred. Spontaneous conscious odor perception normally only occurs in situations where attention is demanded, either because the inhaled air or the food smell is particularly good or particularly bad and people search for its source or because people want to actively enjoy the healthiness and pleasantness of their surroundings or food. Odor memory is concerned with novelty detection rather than with recollection of odors. In this paper, these points are illustrated with experimental results and their consequences for doing ecologically valid odor memory research are drawn. Furthermore, suggestions for ecologically valid research on everyday odor memory and some illustrative examples are given.
Background
Aromas have been associated with physiological, psychological affective and behavioral effects. We tested whether effects of low-level exposure to two ambient food-related aromas (citrus and vanilla) could be measured with small numbers of subjects, low-cost physiological sensors and semi-real life settings. Tests included physiological (heart rate, physical activity and response times), psychological (emotions and mood) and behavioral (food choice) measures in a semi-real life environment for 22 participants.
Results
Exposure to ambient citrus aroma increased physical activity (P <0.05), shortened response times in young participants (P <0.05), decreased negative emotions (P <0.05), and affected food choice (P <0.05). Exposure to ambient vanilla aroma increased projected introvert emotions (P <0.05). All effects were small relative to estimated effect sizes.
Conclusions
The test battery used in this study demonstrated aroma-specific physiological, psychological and behavioral effects of aromas with similar appeal and intensities, and similar food-related origins. These effects could be measured in (semi-) real life environments for freely moving subjects using relatively inexpensive commercially available physiological sensors.
This paper sketches a procedure to reduce the failure rate of new food products in the market by providing better pre-launch decision criteria. The method also offers considerable potential for the improvement of internal collaboration between the different departments (marketing, R&D and production) involved in new product development. The procedure is based on a thorough diagnostic analysis of previous flops by a team of people involved in the development of the failed product, led by an impartial expert. This first part discusses the diagnostic questions to be asked and the most frequent causes of flops.
The addictions model of obesity claims that individuals gain excess weight due to their dependence on and inability to control the intake of certain food substances. The dependence and lack of control over these food substances is undergirded by, according to the addictions model, the psychoactive properties of foods. The article reviews the literature on the purported psychoactive effects of foods and concludes that although, under certain circumstances, some food substances may have subtle effects on mood and behavior, the effects of food are quite different from that of psychoactive drugs such as nicotine and alcohol. Therefore, the food addictions model is unlikely to provide a fruitful paradigm for understanding the complex problem of obesity.
In an effort to find a simplemethod tomeasure implicit and unconscious emotional effects of food consumption,
a number of methods were compared in an experiment in which 3 groups of at least 24 subjects were each exposed
to a pair of yoghurts of the same brand and marketed in the same way, but with different flavours or fat
content. Themethods used were eye tracking of the packaging, face reading during consumption, a newemotive
projection test (EPT) and an autobiographical reaction time test based onmood congruency. In the emotive projection
test the subjects rated photographs of others on 6 positive and 6 negative personality traits after having
eaten the yoghurt. It showed clear differences in two of the three pairs of yoghurt. The autobiographical congruency
test failed to reach significance although all findingswent in the same direction as the ones in the EPT. Liking
and familiarity with the products were also measured and the fact that they were not related to the emotional
effectswas established. Eye tracking showed effects of familiarity when the measurements before and after consumption
of the yoghurts were compared. The results of the face reading test are not reported due to technical
difficulties. Although liking itself was not correlated with the emotional effects in the emotive projection test,
shifts in liking caused by consumption of the product did, indicating the emotional importance of pleasant surprise
or disappointment in the confrontation between the expected and the actual experience of the product.
Sensory differences in the fruit flavours had no effects on the emotional reactions, but change in fat content
did, while vanilla flavour had a strong positive emotional effect.
This paper sketches a procedure to reduce the failure rate of new food products in the market by providing better pre-launch decision criteria. The method also offers considerable potential for the improvement of internal collaboration between the different departments (marketing, R&D and production) involved in new product development. The procedure is based on a thorough diagnostic analysis of previous flops by a team of people involved in the development of the failed product, led by an impartial expert. This first part discusses the diagnostic questions to be asked and the most frequent causes of flops.
In an effort to find a simple method to measure implicit and unconscious emotional effects of food consumption, a number of methods were compared in an experiment in which 3 groups of at least 24 subjects were each exposed to a pair of yoghurts of the same brand and marketed in the same way, but with different flavours or fat content. The methods used were eye tracking of the packaging, face reading during consumption, a new emotive projection test (EPT) and an autobiographical reaction time test based on mood congruency. In the emotive projection test the subjects rated photographs of others on 6 positive and 6 negative personality traits after having eaten the yoghurt. It showed clear differences in two of the three pairs of yoghurt. The autobiographical congru-ency test failed to reach significance although all findings went in the same direction as the ones in the EPT. Liking and familiarity with the products were also measured and the fact that they were not related to the emotional effects was established. Eye tracking showed effects of familiarity when the measurements before and after consumption of the yoghurts were compared. The results of the face reading test are not reported due to technical difficulties. Although liking itself was not correlated with the emotional effects in the emotive projection test, shifts in liking caused by consumption of the product did, indicating the emotional importance of pleasant surprise or disappointment in the confrontation between the expected and the actual experience of the product. Sensory differences in the fruit flavours had no effects on the emotional reactions, but change in fat content did, while vanilla flavour had a strong positive emotional effect.
One hundred and fifty-two subjects, divided into eight groups, were exposed to a room with a low concentration of either orange or lavender and to an odorless room. In a careful double-blind procedure, neither the subjects nor the experimenters were made aware of the presence of the odors in the experimental conditions. Later they were asked to indicate how well each of 12 odor stimuli, including the experimental and control odors, befitted each of 12 visual contexts, including the exposure rooms. At the end of this session they rated the pleasantness and the familiarity of the odors, and identified them by name. Finally they were debriefed and asked specifically whether they had perceived the experimental odors anywhere in the building. The results of four subjects who answered positively to the latter question were omitted. The results confirm the earlier finding that non-identifiers implicitly link odor and exposure room, whereas identifiers do not show such a link. It is suggested that episodic information is an essential constituent of olfactory memory and that its function is comparable to that of form and structure in visual and auditory memory systems.
Consumer-oriented quality is an important issue in the food industry. Consu-mers differ in their sensitivities, in their food habits and in their ways of eating. Even the same individual is a different consumer depending on his age, the roles he plays in life and the situations he encounters. Who then is the consumer and what is the quality he wants ? The life style approaches encoun-te¬red in market research are often gross simplifications. A situational appro-ach, specifying the adequacy of products for different occasions and the frequency and importance of these occasions in the life of different individuals is propo¬sed. To test this approach new and different methods are needed.
Résumé
La notion d'une qualité qui est orienté par le consommateur est importante dans l'industrie alimentaire. Les consommateurs diffèrent en sensibilité et en habitudes alimentaires. De plus, le même individu est un consommateur différent selon son âge, les rôles qu'il joue dans la vie et les situations dans lesquelles il se trouve. Mais alors, qui est ce consommateur et quelle est la qualité désirée ? Les approches "Style de Vie" des marqueteurs sont souvent des simplifications grossières. On propose une approche "situationnelle", qui spécifie l'adéquati¬on des produits pour différentes occasions et la fréquence et l'importance de ces occasions dans la vie de différents individus. Pour tester cette approche des méthodes nouvelles sont à développer.
Objectives. Two studies examined the cognitive regulation of restrained eaters' eating behaviour. It was hypothesized that restrained dieters should have more restraint-related cognitions in the presence of food stimuli than unrestrained eaters, whereas restrained non-dieters should occupy an intermediate position. The correlation between cognition and consumption should be zero for unrestrained eaters and negative for restrained eaters.
Design. Participants currently dieting or not dieting and of high or low restraint status (median split) were presented in Study 1 with high and low calorie food words and asked to list their thoughts. In Study 2, participants listed thoughts following a taste test. In both studies diet and restraint status were related to restraint relevant thoughts. In Study 2 thoughts were also related to actual consumption.
Methods. Participants were female students; restraint status was measured with the Restraint Scale; current diet status was assessed with one question. Fifty-two unrestrained eaters, 38 restrained non-dieters and 18 restrained dieters participated in Study 1; 33 unrestrained eaters, 19 restrained non-dieters and 11 restrained dieters participated in Study 2.
Results. Food stimuli elicited more eating control, weight- and shape-related thoughts in restrained dieters than in unrestrained eaters, with the restrained non-dieters occupying an intermediate position. Consistent with predictions, the cognition-consumption correlation was zero for unrestrained eaters and negative (trend) for restrained dieters. Contrary to prediction, this correlation was positive for restrained non-dieters.
Conclusions. Results show that cognitions play an important role in the regulation of the eating behaviour of restrained individuals. They further suggest that the cognitive regulation of food intake in restrained eaters may be based on different mechanisms in dieters as compared to non-dieters.
This essay assesses the two most significant changes in psychology over the past century: the attempt to localize psychological phenomena in restricted brain sites and the search for genetic contributions to behavior and psychopathology. Although there are advantages to these new developments, they are accompanied by some questionable assumptions. Because the investigators in these domains often relate variation in their biological measures to variation in personality traits evaluated with questionnaires, an analysis of the unique properties of the verbalreport questionnaires is presented. It is suggested that future research on human personality should try to combine semantic reports with behaviors and biological data in order to arrive at more fruitful constructs.
© 2007 Association for Psychological Science.
Product researchers often use a variety of data sets for the same set of products. They include formulations, consumer ratings, expert panel ratings, and instrumental measures. Although there are attempts to inter-relate these measures, for the most part, it is rare to include all sets of data in one general model, and then estimate the profile of one subset of variables using the profile of another subset of variables. This paper shows how the researcher can integrate formulations, consumer data, expert panel data, and instrumental measures using a set of equations created from the same set of independent variables. These variables may be systematically arrayed by experimental design, or created from principal components factor analysis. In order to inter-relate two profiles, the researcher sets one profile as the target or goal and then systematically explores the combinations of ingredients (or factor scores). The researcher looks for that combination that generates an expected profile lying ‘close’ to the goal profile.
Consumer products are perceived via sensory aspects that stimulate emotional responses. A small number of emotion lexicons for food have been developed, and these emotion instruments for general consumption experience might not uncover the deeper and distinct emotions created by specific products, especially those consumed primarily for pleasure (e.g., coffee). The objective of this study was to develop an emotion lexicon that could be used to identify and describe feelings that occur during coffee drinking. In first part of the study, focus groups of coffee drinkers were held to generate emotion terms related to coffee drinking. The terms generated were further refined by 48 coffee drinkers using check-all-that-apply scale with two coffee samples. The final list comprised of 86 items, 47 generated by coffee drinkers and 39 terms from the Essence Profile® (King & Meiselman, 2010). In the second part, six coffees were tested with 94 consumers using the developed lexicon. The emotion questionnaire was administered twice – before and during coffee drinking on a 5-point scale. Overall acceptability of the samples was also asked in the study. The consumers were clustered into 6 clusters using the overall acceptability scores. Stepwise regression analysis with forward selection was done on the entire data set, by each consumer cluster, and by each coffee sample to identify the important emotion terms, which resulted in the selection of 44 emotion terms out of which 17 terms were from the Essence Profile®. It is evident that a complex product like coffee may need a specific emotion lexicon to uncover more information about how different coffee samples impact emotional responses in diverse coffee drinkers.
Emotions evoked by products mainly enhance the pleasure of buying, owning, and using them. More recently, food-elicited emotion is increasingly becoming critical for product differentiation as many food products are produced with similar characteristics, packaging, and price. Attempts to measure emotions have been done in the psychology and sociology fields, but measurement of food-elicited emotions is more recent and not well established. This review paper discusses emotion lexicon development, measurement of food-elicited emotions, some factors affecting emotional responses to foods, how emotions affect eating behavior, and how this information can be utilized for marketing and increasing acceptability of foods.
After a thorough diagnostic analysis of a recent flop, including the verification of its possible causes and eventual repair of the product as described earlier (1), attention is given to the formulation of a new communal protocol for the formation of product development teams and steps to be taken to avoid future flops and to create successful new products. The method includes instruction of the team in new approaches and tests to achieve better predictive power and testing these procedures on the development of a new product. This protocol may also be used to (re-)evaluate the possibilities of "misses", i.e. products created, but never launched, because they were either never tested or tested with inadequate methods.
Olfactory information seems to play a special role in memory due to the fast and direct processing of olfactory information in limbic areas like the amygdala and the hippocampus. This has led to the assumption that odors can serve as effective retrieval cues for autobiographic memories, especially emotional memories. The current study sought to investigate whether an olfactory cue can serve as an effective retrieval cue for memories of a stressful episode. A total of 95 participants were exposed to a psychosocial stressor or a well matching but not stressful control condition. During both conditions were visual objects present, either bound to the situation (central objects) or not (peripheral objects). Additionally, an ambient odor was present during both conditions. The next day, participants engaged in an unexpected object recognition task either under the influence of the same odor as was present during encoding (congruent odor) or another odor (non-congruent odor). Results show that stressed participants show a better memory for all objects and especially for central visual objects if recognition took place under influence of the congruent odor. An olfactory cue thus indeed seems to be an effective retrieval cue for stressful memories.
We define ‘feeling’ as the subjective, affective experience of an emotion or a mood. People seek out feelings that are positive because it is rewarding for them to do so. It follows that manufacturers of branded goods should be concerned about the feelings that predispose consumers to buy their products and also about the feelings that their products help consumers to attain, perpetuate, enhance, diminish or dissipate, in pursuit of reward. Towards this end, practical procedures are required that will allow researchers to capture the prevailing feelings that individuals are experiencing at a particular moment in time and to track the transitions induced by products, brands, advertising etc. In order to develop and apply such research tools, researchers need an appropriate and well-focused lexicon through which they can access and explore feelings.
With the rapid proliferation of new products into the marketplace, understanding emotional responses may offer a differential advantage beyond traditional hedonic measures. The objectives of this study were: to determine if emotional data provide discrimination beyond that obtained from hedonic response; to compare the effectiveness of a published predefined lexicon with that generated by the consumer; and, to evaluate the effectiveness of CATA approach compared to intensity scaling as used in EsSense Profile. To this end, the hedonic and emotional response to commercial blackcurrant squash was investigated comparing two different approaches: EsSense Profile™, in which subjects rated a predefined emotion lexicon, and check-all-that-apply (CATA) of a consumer defined (CD) lexicon. Both approaches yielded emotional data that clearly discriminated across the products more effectively than the hedonic scores. Both EsSense and CD-CATA data produced similar emotional spaces and product configurations. In each method, a two dimensional structure (pleasantness vs. engagement/activation) was observed within the product space which corresponded to published circumplex models of emotional response. However, the latter observation was more evident in the CD-CATA approach. The consumer defined lexicon provided a rich and more balanced list of positive and negative emotions specific to the product category although it did lack some terms found to be differentiating on the EsSense lexicon. Also the qualitative nature of the data obtained from CD CATA, limited the extent of the statistical analysis, making it difficult to make the clear inferential conclusions obtained with EsSense Profile. For future emotional studies a hybrid approach, whereby the emotion lexicon is developed combining consumer input and published emotion lists, and is then used to evaluate products using a rate-all-that-apply (RATA) procedure, is proposed.
The study of emotions associated with foods continues to gain momentum within the Sensory Science field. A number of questionnaire methods have been published, but there is a lack of detailed advice on how to use and/or implement these methods. This paper addresses a number of methodological decisions for the EsSense Profile® (King & Meiselman, 2010), a method developed to measure emotions associated with foods, and more generally, on how to measure emotions in a product development context. The results of 28 tests (Central Location Tests (CLT) and Internet Surveys) demonstrate (1) the impact of questionnaire format on hedonic and emotion responses by evaluating the results of eight internet surveys comparing the following: (1a) types of questionnaire (check all that apply versus rating scale), (1b) order of emotions (alphabetical versus random), and (1c) position of emotions with respect to overall acceptability question (before or after acceptability); (2) the difference in response when testing a product name, the aroma of the product or the flavor of the product; (3) the impact of number of samples on emotion respo