Seeing others visibly hate vegetables might make onlookers not like them too

Humans learn which behaviors pay off and which don’t by observing others. Based on this, we can draw conclusions about how to act or eat. In the latter case, people can use each other as guides in determining what and how much to eat. This is called social modeling and is one of the most powerful social influences on eating behavior.

In a new study, British researchers investigated whether observing others’ facial expressions while eating raw broccoli influenced young women’s liking and desire to eat raw broccoli.

“We show that watching others eat a raw vegetable with a negative facial expression reduces adult women’s liking for that vegetable, but not their desire to eat it,” said Dr. Katie Edwards, a researcher at the School of Psychology from Aston University and lead author. of the study published in Frontiers of Psychology. “This highlights the power of observing food aversion on adult eating behavior.”

Watch the broccoli

In the study led by Edwards, just over 200 young women watched a video containing clips of different unknown adults consuming raw broccoli. While eating, the models displayed positive (smiling), neutral or negative (disgust-like) facial expressions. The researchers looked only at women’s responses because gender differences may exist in modeling eating behavior, and the effects of modeling may be different between women and men.

Previous research shows that behaviors are more likely to be imitated if positive consequences are observed, while the opposite is true if negative outcomes are observed.

In the present study, however, this correlation was only partially observed: exposure to models eating broccoli while conveying negative facial expressions resulted in greater reductions in liking ratings, whereas the opposite was true. does not occur. “Seeing others eating a raw vegetable with a positive facial expression did not increase vegetable liking or desire to eat,” Edwards explained.

One possible explanation could be that avoiding any food – whether generally liked or disliked – that seems disgusting may prevent us from eating something that tastes bad or is harmful. Another reason may be that smiling while eating is perceived as an atypical display of appreciation for a certain food.

“This could imply that watching someone eat a raw vegetable with positive facial expressions does not seem to be an effective strategy for increasing adults’ vegetable intake,” Edwards said.

Copy and taste

There is still much to understand about the interaction between obvious pleasure and the taste of food. For example, the researchers focused on adults and, although it was not tested on this occasion, they said that given the power of negative facial expressions and because children tend to be less willing to try vegetables by default, these results could be generalized. to children.

“For example, if a child sees their parent showing disgust while eating vegetables, this could have negative consequences on their acceptance of vegetables,” Edwards pointed out.

In the current study, participants also watched short video clips rather than watching people eat in front of them. This allowed them to observe the dynamic nature of reactive facial expressions, which is more realistic than looking at static images; However, in the future, an important priority will be to examine the effect of the enjoyment of watching live food on eating behavior, the researchers said.

“We also need more research to see if the results of this study translate into actual vegetable consumption by adults,” Edwards concluded.