Abstract
This paper investigates how people's food choices can be shaped by the body type of others around them. Using a professionally constructed obesity prosthesis, we show that the body type of a (confederate) server in a taste test study was sufficient to alter both the quantity (Experiment 1) and specific choices (Experiment 2) participants made but that chronic dieters and non-dieters exhibited opposite effects. While non-dieters ate more snacks when the server was thin, dieters ate more when the server was heavy. Dieters were also more persuaded by a heavy (vs. a thin) server, choosing both a healthy and unhealthy snack more often when she recommended it to them. We suggest these results may be attributable to identification with the server.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 146-151 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Journal of Consumer Psychology |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2010 |
Keywords
- food choice
- identification
- obesity
- priming
- social influence
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Applied Psychology
- Marketing