A recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research reveals a disturbing new trend in our food choices: vicarious dieting. What is vicarious dieting? It's the act of looking at healthy food choices on the menu, and then ordering junk food instead.The authors of this new study are Keith Wilcox (City University of New York), Beth Vallen (Loyola College), Lauren Block (City University of New York), and Gavan J. Fitzsimons (Duke University).
Healthy Items on Menu = Bad Food Choices
According to the authors of this study, the presence of healthy items on the menu may actually increase the chances that consumers will order unhealthy foods. For instance, in one study high-control participants (meaning people who normally exercised good self-control) were presented with three side-dishes:
- French fries
- chicken nuggets
- baked potato
Participants were told that all side dishes were the same price, and were asked to choose a dish. As predicted, most avoided French fries, the least-healthy item on the menu.
However, when a salad was added to the list of side-dishes, the participants were significantly more likely to choose the fries. Weird, no? It gets even stranger. For participants with low self-control, the opposite effect happened. Go figure.
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Photo credit: Freshly made french fries
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