Facing it: assessing the immediate emotional impacts of calorie labelling using automatic facial coding

Abstract

Although there has been a proliferation of research and policy work into how nudges shape people's behaviour, most studies stop far short of consumer welfare analysis. In the current work, we critically reflect on recent efforts to provide insights into the consumer welfare impact of nudges using willingness to pay and subjective well-being reports and explore an unobtrusive approach that can speak to the immediate emotional impacts of a nudge: automatic facial expression coding. In an exploratory lab study, we use facial expression coding to assess the short-run emotional impact of being presented with calorie information about a popcorn snack in the context of a stylised ‘Cinema experience’. The results of the study indicate that calorie information has heterogeneous impacts on people's likelihood of choosing the snack and on the emotions they experience during the moment of choice which varies based on their level of health-consciousness. The information does not, however, affect the emotions people go on to experience while viewing movie clips, suggesting that the emotional effects of the information are short-lived. We conclude by emphasising the potential of automatic facial expression coding to provide new insights into the immediate emotional impacts of nudges and calling for further research into this promising technique.

Seeing the nudge from the trees: The 4S framework for evaluating nudges

“…Ultimately, both literatures deal with heterogeneity, and investigate different vectors by which a sample may be stratified to reveal novel results, beyond initially statistically significant findings. Indeed, in instances where two subsamples "cancel" each other out, the effect of an intervention on the whole sample may appear insignificant (e.g., Laffan et al, 2021;Schultz et al, 2007); but this may mask a more complex story with important consequences for welfare. Thunström (2019) investigates the welfare effects of calorie label nudges on food decisions.…”

“…First , the personalized nudging literature has highlighted the so‐called “problem of heterogeneity,” (Sunstein, 2012, p. 6) which argues that different people cannot be assumed to respond to the same nudge in the same way, and that making this assumption may harm individuals (Bryan et al, 2021; Mills, 2022; Peer et al, 2020; Sunstein, 2012, 2022). Second , a behavioral welfare literature has emerged to explore the question of whether nudges actually benefit individuals, and in probing such a question, has begun to uncover interesting results about who benefits and who suffers as a result of nudge interventions (Brown et al, 2022; Bulte et al, 2020; Lades & Delaney, 2022; Laffan et al, 2021; List et al, 2022; Thunström, 2019; Thuström et al, 2018; Tor, 2020).…”

“…For instance, several authors (Entwistle, 2021; John et al, 2022; Sunstein, 2017; Tor, 2020) have dissected the policy suitability of nudging from the perspectives of why nudges fail? There is also a growing body of work incorporating welfare evaluations into nudges when reflecting upon effectiveness (Brown et al, 2022; Bulte et al, 2020; Laffan et al, 2021; List et al, 2022; Thunström, 2019; Thunström et al, 2018), as well as population heterogeneity (Mills, 2022; Sunstein, 2022). Furthermore, as behavioral public policy has matured and the “low hanging fruit” has been picked, there has been increasing interest in scaling interventions to achieve greater impact (Al‐Ubaydli et al, 2017, 2021; Castleman, 2021; Sanders et al, 2018; van der Linden & Goldberg, 2020).…”

Behavioural public policies for the social brain

“…For example, and Michie & West (2013) have reviewed behaviour change theories that encompass the role of social and physical environments, applications of which have shown how these environments can prime people to perform certain behaviours (Kay et al, 2004) or affect human well-being (Bitner, 1992;Stedman, 2003;Chu et al, 2004;Vischer, 2007;Lee & Brand, 2010), sometimes by fostering smarter heuristics (Gigerenzer & Gaissmaier, 2011). There is also work acknowledging the role of contextual factors and situated environments in changing human behaviours (Rauthmann et al, 2015a(Rauthmann et al, , 2015bLahlou, 2018;Lades et al, 2021;Laffan et al, 2021aLaffan et al, , 2021b. Recently, Schmidt has pointed that using a systems approach 'can support the development of improved choice infrastructure, contributing to BPP problem-solving efforts by helping practitioners create conditions that are more conducive to the success of behavioural solutions ' (2022, p1).…”

“…Recently, Schmidt has pointed that using a systems approach 'can support the development of improved choice infrastructure, contributing to BPP problem-solving efforts by helping practitioners create conditions that are more conducive to the success of behavioural solutions ' (2022, p1). Similarly, scholars have also turned towards a discussion of how human emotions drive behaviour change (Laffan et al, 2021a(Laffan et al, , 2021bRela, 2022) or how interpersonal relationships and social cues affect behaviour (Heider, 2013;Ju et al, 2021). This growing evidence base points towards the importance of the 'social complex'which we use throughout to refer to material and immaterial properties of the social environment which surrounds us.…”