Social influence in the formation of enduring preferences.

Effectiveness of trained peer models to encourage food acceptance in preschool children

“…For example, some studies find girls to be more responsive than boys to peer models of food acceptance (Hendy & Raudenbush, 2000), whereas others report no gender differences (Marinho, 1942;Birch, 1980). Some research suggests that older models are effective (Duncker, 1938;Brody & Stoneman, 1981), but other research finds no age effects except that child models of food acceptance are more effective than adult models (Marihno, 1942;Hendy & Raudenbush, 2000).…”

“…Although the effectiveness of peer models has been evaluated in a number of other contexts (Schunk, 1987;Harris, 1995), surprisingly little experimental research has been conducted on the use of trained peer models to influence food acceptance of children during preschool lunch (Birch, 1980;Brody & Stoneman, 1981;Hendy & Raudenbush, 2000) or during other preschool contexts such as story time (Duncker, 1938;Marinho, 1942).…”

An effective procedure for changing food preferences in 5–7-year-old children

“…Children's preferences shifted (a) after being exposed to peers who exhibited preferences which differed from their own or (b) after they had heard a story featuring a hero who expressed a strong preference for a particular food. Marinho (1942) demonstrated that such social effects were greater and more persistent in the case of foods for which the children did not have a strong initial preference. In a study conducted with children aged 1-2 and 3-4 years by Harper & Sanders (1975), where each child observed his (or her) mother and a stranger eating a particular food, subjects' eating behaviours were more influenced by their mothers than by the strangers, and the changes were greater when the children observed a food being eaten (by mother or stranger) rather than simply having the food presented to them.…”

The socio-cultural context of eating and food choice

“…Early studies by Duncker (1938) showed that children preferred a food if it was chosen by admired others, and Duncker (1938) and Marinho (1942) showed that children would prefer a food that was preferred by a fictional hero. More systematic investigations by Leann Birch and her colleagues followed on this early work.…”