Is this food healthy? The impact of lay beliefs and contextual cues on food healthiness perception and consumption

Is this food good for your health? Understanding how people assess the healthiness of food is crucial because their judgments can influence their eating habits and portion sizes, which may contribute to obesity and other health issues. However, people often struggle to interpret health information, relying instead on their instincts or common beliefs to form an opinion. This article by Chan & Zhang (2022) reviews recent research on how individuals use sensory cues (e.g., appearance, taste) and cognitive cues (e.g., nutrition labels, price) to assess food healthiness and how these perceptions influence their eating behavior. The article concludes by exploring future possibilities for studying common beliefs and food perception. [NPID: food health, sensory cues, cognitive cues, nutrition label, price, food consumption, food evaluation, health problems, lay beliefs, food perception]

Year: 2022

Reference: Chan, E., & Zhang, L. S. (2022). Is this food healthy? The impact of lay beliefs and contextual cues on food healthiness perception and consumption. Current Opinion in Psychology, 46, 101348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101348

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