Use of Psychology and Behavioral Economics to Promote Healthy Eating

Abstract

Understanding the psychology of how people make decisions can shed light on important factors contributing to the cause and maintenance of public health problems like obesity. This knowledge can and should inform the design of government and private-sector public health interventions. Several insights from psychology and behavioral economics that help explain why people are particularly vulnerable to the current food environment are discussed. These insights fall into the following categories: the influence of starting points (status quo bias and anchoring effects); communicating health information (simplicity and framing); and unintended consequences of policy interventions (compensation, substitution, and the peanuts effect). The paper discusses opportunities for improving the design of food policies and interventions by altering default options, providing the public with simple and meaningful nutrition information, carefully constructing the framing of public health messages, and designing food policies to minimize unintended consequences, such as compensation and substitution.

Ordering patterns following the implementation of a healthier children's restaurant menu: A latent class analysis

“…For example, if children were likely to order French fries and additional a la carte sides, interventions aimed just at reducing French fry intake would miss other important meal characteristics. LCA can also detect ordering patterns that represent a small, but meaningful subgroup of the study population, which can help avoid potential unintended consequences of interventions by enabling interventionists to tailor programs to reach all members of the population .…”

Physical activity counseling in primary care: Insights from public health and behavioral economics

“…The framing of choices has been found to have a paramount impact on decision making, particularly when making the intertemporal trade‐off between “should” and “want” behaviors . Highlighting the positive attributes of the “should behaviors” (eg, physical activity) rather than the negative ones is an important factor that can change the current status quo . Thus the public health message delivered to patients encouraging them to engage in physical activity should be positive and simple .…”

“…102 For example, First Lady Michelle Obama's initiative to combat childhood obesity, "Let's Move!," was a good example of a positive and simple message. 102,103 In addition, physical activity should be framed as a fun activity (eg, "go out there, choose an activity you like, such as dancing or soccer, and have fun") rather than an obligatory activity (eg, "you need to meet guidelines, because it's important for improving your health"). 26 In addition, a recent study by Grinstein and Kronrod underscored the importance of not only what is said in the health message but also how the message in conveyed.…”

Traffic-light labels and financial incentives to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage purchases by low-income Latino families: a randomized controlled trial

“…(9) In particular, point-of-purchase strategies used in supermarkets, corner stores, and worksite cafeterias such as choice architecture (10,11) and traffic-light labels (12) have been shown to be effective for promoting healthier food choices. Previous work in Latino food stores has shown that in-store environmental factors such as placement and promotion strategies are associated with increased fruit and vegetable purchases among Latino shoppers.…”