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Liking food less: The impact of social influence on food liking evaluations in female students
This 2012 study identified the lack of research examining whether social factors affect ratings for food and drink liking. Two experiments were carried out to test whether instilling the belief that others don’t like a food item influences the individual’s evaluations for food liking. In the first study, participants were exposed to a variety of different social normative information. For example, one group was led to believe that other group members dislike orange juice, while another group may have been manipulated to think that other groups dislike orange juice. Within another third group, it was suggested that the group members were neutral about orange juice. In this first study, the participants’ likings for the orange juice were influenced only by information on social norms involving members of the same group. In study 2, subjects ate a snack food before finding out that two previous participants had either liked or disliked the food. The revelation that others had negative experiences with the food resulted in decreased liking scores for the food. Social influence was evident across both studies. [NPID: social norms, social influence, foods, eating, perception, behaviors, psychosocial, psychology, diet]
Year: 2012
