Have you been fooled? Here’s some interesting food psychology.
- Big servings. Given a big bucket of popcorn, people ate 34% more than people given a small bucket.
- Fancy Name. Sales jumped 27% when foods were given titles like “Succulent Italian Seafood Filet” (instead of “Seafood Filet”) or “Belgian Black Forest Cake” (instead of “Chocolate Cake”).
- More variety, more calories. People ate 40% more if they had choice of candy that came in 6 different colors than ones in 4 colors.
- Plateware matters. When served a brownie on china plate, people rated food tasting better than on paper plate.
- Food on the Table. Men ate 29% more (women 10% more) if serving dish was left on the table rather than the counter.
- Who set the pace? People ate more when they sat at the table with someone who ate quickly than someone who ate slowly.
- How much did I eat? People ate fewer chicken wings if they could see the bones of the wings they’d already eaten than if the bones were whisked away.
- Healthy restaurant? People who believed Subway meals were healthy underestimated the calories in Subway meals more than they underestimated calories in McDonald’s meals.
- Health halo. If a bag of M&M’s trail mix was labeled “low-fat,” people ate more than if the label didn’t say “low-fat.”
- Exercise rewards. People ate more at dinner (especially dessert) after they went on a “scenic walk” than after they went on an identical “exercise” walk.
(Adopted from Nutrition Action)
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