How food overconsumption has hijacked our notions about eating as a pleasurable activity

The negative effects of overconsumption of food have been extensively studied, with a focus on overweight and negative food attitudes. In this overview, we argue that this negative perspective has spilled over to food consumption in general, which is in contrast with eating as a pleasurable activity that contributes to people's well-being. We review four areas of research that have recently emerged: (de)moralization of food consumption, moderate eating for pleasure, intuitive and mindful eating, and the social benefits of eating. Throughout these four themes, it becomes clear that there needs to be a clear distinction between overconsumption of food, bearing negative consequences, and normal levels of food consumption. The latter is positively associated with enjoyment, contentment, and our social and psychological well-being

Misperceived eating norms: Assessing pluralistic ignorance in the food environment

The current food environment communicates the social norm that it is normal to consume large amounts of unhealthy and unsustainable foods. However, it is unknown whether people endorse this norm because they agree with it, or whether they endorse it because they overestimate the degree to which other people agree with this norm – a phenomenon that is labeled as ‘pluralistic ignorance’. We examined the possible presence of pluralistic ignorance by corroborating previous pluralistic ignorance literature in the food environment among a large representative sample of community residents (N = 433). In addition, we aimed to better assess pluralistic ignorance by comparing multiple dimensions, including how participants perceived themselves and other people in the importance, frequency, normalcy, and intentions of consuming healthy and sustainable food. We analyzed the perceptions with paired t-tests and our findings show that participants considered themselves to be healthier and more sustainable eaters than other people on all four dimensions. However, they did not think that other people were eating unhealthy or unsustainable. Participants themselves held low intentions to eat more healthily or sustainably and believed others had similar low intentions. Together, these findings reveal that there is a discrepancy between the perception of oneself and others regarding healthy and sustainable eating norms, which may suggest pluralistic ignorance. However, it is unclear whether this discrepancy would actually influence behavior, as suggested by the pluralistic ignorance literature, since people consider themselves healthier and more sustainable consumers who may not adjust their standards to perceptions of other people. We speculate they may use this discrepancy as justification in order to be complacent. In the discussion we consider these implications and next steps for future researc

Personal values, motives, and healthy and sustainable food choices: Examining differences between home meals and restaurant meals

People are increasingly eating out in restaurants, where meals tend to be higher in calories, less nutritious, and contain more meat. In this paper, we argue that differences in the motivational processes underlying people’s food choices could help to explain why food choices made in restaurants are typically unhealthier and less sustainable than at home. Using online survey data from 301 Dutch participants, we compared the influence of stable personal values and transient food choice motives on the healthiness and sustainability of meals chosen in a hypothetical choice task, which was geared to the home and restaurant consumption contexts. As expected, participants opted for unhealthy and meat-based meals more often in the restaurant than the home context. Conservation values related negatively and self-transcendence values positively to choosing sustainable meals both in the home and in the restaurant context, although the relation with self-transcendence values was significantly weaker in the restaurant context. Also, taste and social eating were considered more important for choosing restaurant meals, while health was a more important motive for food choices at home. Finally, model comparisons revealed that motives were better predictors of healthy meal choices in both contexts, while the influence of values and motives on sustainable meal choices was more similar. In conclusion, the results from the present study enhance our understanding of differences between choosing home and restaurant meals by providing an account of the values and motives associated with the healthiness and sustainability of home and restaurant meal choices

Make it a habit: how habit strength, goal importance and self-control predict hand washing behaviour over time during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective: Hand washing has been at the core of recommendations and guidelines that aim to curb infectious diseases in general, and COVID-19 in particular. As hand washing comes down to an individual’s behaviour, we aimed to study how individual psychological variables influence hand washing over time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Over the course of 20 weeks, participants answered questions about their hand washing behaviour, goal importance, habit strength and self-control. Participants from an experimental and a control condition completed a baseline and final measurement, and the experimental condition was invited to bi-weekly measurements through reminders. Main outcome measure: Hand washing behaviour over the past 14 days was assessed by self-report at baseline and final measurement, and additionally repeatedly over the course of 20 weeks in the experimental condition. Results: Hand washing behaviour decreased over time, but this decrease was buffered by habit strength and goal importance. The decrease was smaller in the experimental condition that received reminders every 2 weeks. Conclusion: Sending personal reminders on hand washing behaviour contributes to hand washing behaviour. Moreover, taking habit strength and goal importance, and to a lesser extent self-control into account is important when designing interventions to promote hand washing behaviour

Reducing cardiometabolic risk in adults with a low socioeconomic position: protocol of the Supreme Nudge parallel cluster-randomised controlled supermarket trial

This erratum describes changes made in our previously published study protocol [1], as the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to insurmountable challenges in feasibility to maintain the original design. The planned start of participant recruitment for the trial coincided with the first COVID-19 lockdown in the Netherlands starting March 16 2020. As a result, the start of the study was postponed by 11 months. The continued/renewed lockdown hampered face-to-face contact and thus some planned physical measurements. These circumstances required adaptation to remote data collection methods, revision of recruitment goals and of the primary study outcomes, and inclusion of additional study sites to secure adequate participant inclusion rates. Therefore, below we present the revised methodology of the Supreme Nudge parallel cluster-randomised controlled supermarket trial. All changes made to the original protocol were reviewed and approved by the Medical Ethics Review Committee of VU University Medical Center (reference number: 2019.334) prior to implementation

Something old, something new: when people favor novelty over familiarity and how novelty affects creative processes

This dissertation shows that besides our inherent preference for the safe and comfortable familiar, we also want something new from time to time. This preference seems to relate to context, motivational states, and the way we process novel and familiar stimuli. Possibilities for exploration, growth, and development offered by novel stimuli may appeal to us sometimes. While shifting between these two preferences, we are constantly being steered by our chronic as well as situationally induced motivations, social factors, and even perceptual variables, such as color. Furthermore, novelty can help us in creative processes, but can also work against us, depending on the kind of creativity we pursue. Summarizing, the studies demonstrate the value, characteristics, and effects of novelty, and add valuable insights to existing theory and the existing framework of empirical research on this subject

The 'Operational' Definition of Self-Control

Self-control is a hot topic across disciplines. As such, consensus on defining self-control is critical for advancing both scientific progress as well as societal impact of research findings. Specifically, the emergence of initiation as a self-control component, and the notion of effortless and strategic self-control, give rise to the question whether and how to distinguish self-control from self-regulation. In this paper, I propose an operational definition of self-control, based on converging definitions from the literature as well as on the emergence of new perspectives on self-control. The TOTE-model (Test-Operate-Test-Exit) of self-regulation will serve as a basis for this definition as it gives clear guidance for the inclusion of self-control as a component of, but not synonymous to self-regulation. Ultimately, an ‘operational’ definition is proposed in which self-regulation entails scaffolding for goal pursuit, including setting standards, and monitoring discrepancies, whereas self-control entails everything that one does in the ‘operate’ phase. This perspective allows for inclusion of traditional as well as contemporary research on self-control, and can provide direction for future studies

Positioning self-control in a dual-systems framework

In this chapter we will discuss different perspectives on how self-control can be positioned in dual-system theories of information processing and behavior. Self-control has been defined as one’s capacity or ability to overrule one’s inner, impulsive responses, as well as to interrupt undesired behavioral tendencies (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998; Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004). However, this definition lacks an essential aspect, and a necessary component of self-control: the notion that a long-term goal is involved that makes it ‘worth’ inhibiting those impulses that can be rewarding in the shorter term (Carver & Scheier, 1981; De Ridder, Lensvelt-Mulders, Finkenauer, Stok, & Baumeister, 2012). Recently, definitions of self-control therefore also include the ability to resolve self-control dilemmas (De Ridder, Kroese, Gillebaart, & Adriaanse, 2016; Fujita, 2011; Myrseth & Fishbach, 2009), and different strategies for handling self-control dilemmas have been a novel self-control research focus (Ent, Baumeister, & Tice, 2015; Gillebaart, Schneider, & De Ridder, 2015; Myrseth & Fishbach, 2009). Self-control dilemmas are situations in which competing behavioral tendencies exist, fostering a (response) conflict that has to be resolved by acting on one of these tendencies