Exposure to Models' Negative Facial Expressions Whilst Eating a Vegetable Decreases Women's Liking of the Modelled Vegetable, but Not Their Desire to Eat

Overview

Journal Front Psychol

Date 2024 Jan 26

PMID 38274690

Authors

Katie L Edwards

Jason M Thomas

Suzanne Higgs

Jacqueline Blissett

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Introduction: Food enjoyment can be conveyed through facial expressions. Observing others' enjoyment of food has been found to influence adults' desirability of liked and disliked food. Exposing adults to other eaters enjoying nutritious foods that are typically disliked (e.g., vegetables) could enhance the consumption of vegetables by young adults. However, this remains to be examined in young adult populations. This study examined the effect of models' facial expressions towards raw broccoli on young adult women's change in liking and change in desire to eat a modelled vegetable (raw broccoli) and a non-modelled vegetable (cucumber).

Methods: Young adult women ( = 205) were randomised to watch a video of unfamiliar adult models eating raw broccoli with a positive, negative, or neutral facial expression. Participants' change in liking and change in desire to eat the modelled and non-modelled vegetable was examined.

Results: Observing models conveying negative facial expressions whilst eating raw broccoli resulted in a statistically significant reduction in liking ratings of broccoli, but not cucumber. There was no effect of models' facial expressions on the change in desire to eat foods.

Discussion: These findings suggest that watching others express a negative facial expression whilst eating a raw vegetable reduces women's liking of the modelled vegetable, in the absence of a significant change to their desire to consume these foods. This highlights the power of others' negative facial expressions on food liking. Further work is needed to establish the effect of others' facial expressions on vegetable intake.

References

Larson N, Laska M, Story M, Neumark-Sztainer D . Predictors of fruit and vegetable intake in young adulthood. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2012; 112(8):1216-22. PMC: 3402589. DOI: 10.1016/j.jand.2012.03.035. View

Barthomeuf L, Rousset S, Droit-Volet S . Emotion and food. Do the emotions expressed on other people's faces affect the desire to eat liked and disliked food products?. Appetite. 2008; 52(1):27-33. DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2008.07.002. View

Edwards K, Thomas J, Higgs S, Blissett J . Exposure to models' positive facial expressions whilst eating a raw vegetable increases children's acceptance and consumption of the modelled vegetable. Appetite. 2021; 168:105779. DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105779. View

Mello Rodrigues V, Bray J, Fernandes A, Luci Bernardo G, Hartwell H, Secchi Martinelli S . Vegetable Consumption and Factors Associated with Increased Intake among College Students: A Scoping Review of the Last 10 Years. Nutrients. 2019; 11(7). PMC: 6682864. DOI: 10.3390/nu11071634. View

Nelson M, Story M, Larson N, Neumark-Sztainer D, Lytle L . Emerging adulthood and college-aged youth: an overlooked age for weight-related behavior change. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2008; 16(10):2205-11. DOI: 10.1038/oby.2008.365. View

Craigie A, Lake A, Kelly S, Adamson A, Mathers J . Tracking of obesity-related behaviours from childhood to adulthood: A systematic review. Maturitas. 2011; 70(3):266-84. DOI: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2011.08.005. View

Cruwys T, Bevelander K, Hermans R . Social modeling of eating: a review of when and why social influence affects food intake and choice. Appetite. 2014; 86:3-18. DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2014.08.035. View

Curtis V . Why disgust matters. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2011; 366(1583):3478-90. PMC: 3189359. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0165. View

Robinson E, Higgs S . Liking food less: the impact of social influence on food liking evaluations in female students. PLoS One. 2012; 7(11):e48858. PMC: 3498255. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0048858. View

10.

Boeing H, Bechthold A, Bub A, Ellinger S, Haller D, Kroke A . Critical review: vegetables and fruit in the prevention of chronic diseases. Eur J Nutr. 2012; 51(6):637-63. PMC: 3419346. DOI: 10.1007/s00394-012-0380-y. View

11.

Horio T . EMG activities of facial and chewing muscles of human adults in response to taste stimuli. Percept Mot Skills. 2003; 97(1):289-98. DOI: 10.2466/pms.2003.97.1.289. View

12.

Hoffman A, Salgado R, Dresler C, Faller R, Bartlett C . Flavour preferences in youth versus adults: a review. Tob Control. 2016; 25(Suppl 2):ii32-ii39. PMC: 5127592. DOI: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-053192. View

13.

Soussignan R, Schaal B, Boulanger V, Garcia S, Jiang T . Emotional communication in the context of joint attention for food stimuli: effects on attentional and affective processing. Biol Psychol. 2014; 104:173-83. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2014.12.006. View

14.

Soussignan R, Schaal B, Jiang T . Watching happy faces potentiates incentive salience but not hedonic reactions to palatable food cues in overweight/obese adults. Appetite. 2018; 133:83-92. DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2018.10.024. View

15.

Dinnella C, Morizet D, Masi C, Cliceri D, Depezay L, Appleton K . Sensory determinants of stated liking for vegetable names and actual liking for canned vegetables: A cross-country study among European adolescents. Appetite. 2016; 107:339-347. DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2016.08.110. View

16.

Barthomeuf L, Droit-Volet S, Rousset S . How emotions expressed by adults' faces affect the desire to eat liked and disliked foods in children compared to adults. Br J Dev Psychol. 2012; 30(Pt 2):253-66. DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-835X.2011.02033.x. View

17.

Winpenny E, van Sluijs E, White M, Klepp K, Wold B, Lien N . Changes in diet through adolescence and early adulthood: longitudinal trajectories and association with key life transitions. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2018; 15(1):86. PMC: 6131755. DOI: 10.1186/s12966-018-0719-8. View

18.

Thomas J, Liu J, Robinson E, Aveyard P, Herman C, Higgs S . The Effects of Liking Norms and Descriptive Norms on Vegetable Consumption: A Randomized Experiment. Front Psychol. 2016; 7:442. PMC: 4811971. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00442. View

19.

Wardle J, Cooke L . Genetic and environmental determinants of children's food preferences. Br J Nutr. 2008; 99 Suppl 1:S15-21. DOI: 10.1017/S000711450889246X. View

20.

Robinson E, Blissett J, Higgs S . Changing memory of food enjoyment to increase food liking, choice and intake. Br J Nutr. 2012; 108(8):1505-10. DOI: 10.1017/S0007114511007021. View