I’ll have what she’s having: the impact of model characteristics on children’s food choices

Abstract

The current research investigates children's use of social categories in their food selection. Across three studies, we presented preschoolers with sets of photographs that contrasted food-eating models with different characteristics, including model gender, race (Black, White), age (child or adult), and/or expression (acceptance or rejection of the food). Children were asked to pick between the photographs to choose which food they would like for snack. Results demonstrated that preschoolers prefer foods being eaten by models with positive over negative expressions, foods being eaten by child over adult models, and foods being eaten by child models of the same gender as themselves over models of the other gender. This work connects with previous research on children's understanding of social categories and also has important practical implications for how characteristics of a food-eating model can affect children's willingness to try new foods.

Early emerging system for reasoning about the social nature of food

“…However, these studies did not consider the importance of social aspects of food choice. Eating is inherently social, and the foods that people eat are embedded in cultural systems (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). Thus, although infants may not be skilled at reasoning about perceptual or nutritional properties of foods, they may instead be skilled at thinking about the relationship between food choice and social identity.…”

“…Additionally, this social-cognitive system is importantly flexible such that infants can use their own social experiences, such as their sociolinguistic background, to determine what social input is relevant to constraining their generalization of food preferences. Constraining generalization of food preferences to people who belong to the same social group may be specific to humans and could arise because, for humans, food choice and eating behaviors are fundamentally social experiences (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18).…”

Low-income women's conceptualizations of emotional- and stress-eating

“…This may be one route via which using food to regulate emotion or reward oneself following a difficult or stressful day becomes a learned behavior in children. Furthermore, modeling powerfully shapes children’s eating behaviors (Birch, 1980; Frazier, Gelman, Kaciroti, Russell, & Lumeng, 2012; Lumeng, Cardinal, Jankowski, Kaciroti, & Gelman, 2008). Thus, children may learn these behaviors from adults who model using food to manage emotion or stress.…”

Aprendizagem socialmente mediada: Vieses cognitivos na \"superimitação

“…A literatura a respeito de diferenças sexuais na aprendizagem social sugere que crianças tendem a imitar mais adultos do mesmo sexo (Perry & Bussey, 1979), possivelmente como forma de aprender a se comportar "apropriadamente" de acordo com as definições sociais e culturais de gênero. Há resultados que indicam que esta tendência a copiar indivíduos do mesmo sexo pode atuar sobre a preferência por novos objetos (Shutts, Banaji & Spelke, 2009) e por alimentos (Frazier, Gelman, Kaciroti, Russell & Lumeng, 2011). Entretanto, não temos conhecimento sobre qualquer evidência acerca destas diferenças na aprendizagem motora relacionada à manipulação de objetos.…”

“…Futuros experimentos podem manipular esta variável para investigar um possível viés relacionado à "cópia de indivíduos semelhantes ao observador" (Shutts et al, 2009;Frazier et al, 2011;Taylor, 2013), inclusive de forma isolada de informações sobre a competência ou confiabilidade de um modelo. Um possível efeito do sexo dos informantes nas condições "alodeclaradas" e sua interação com o sexo do modelo também fornecem oportunidades para investigações futuras.…”