Clinical trial NCT04704726: Examining Essentialistic Beliefs About Food
Official title: Examining Essentialistic Beliefs About Food
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Adults
Lead sponsor: Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation
Sponsor class: OTHER_GOV
First posted: 2021-01-12
Enrollment: 600
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 21
Maximum age (years): 65
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Participants will be recruited from the general public of Singapore aged between 21-65 years old, through Dynata (a market research company).

Brief summary: This project seeks to test whether people maintain essentialistic beliefs about food (foods as having immutable underlying 'essences' that contribute to the food's attributes and properties). Currently, there are studies on essentialistic beliefs on topics such as: race, genes, and natural objects. However, there is limited research applying the concept of essentialism to food. In addition, in food studies, participants' perception and acceptability of foods were being explored but what remains unknown is whether they have any degree of essentialistic beliefs towards food which influences their perception and acceptability of food.

Therefore, the aim of this study is to gain in-depth knowledge and understanding on whether people maintain essentialistic beliefs about food, and determine whether these beliefs may be associated with attitudes and expectations of foods that vary in their levels of processing.

Detailed description: Objectives:

1. To gain in-depth knowledge and understanding on whether people maintain essentialistic beliefs about food (foods as having immutable underlying 'essences' that contribute to the food's attributes and properties).
2. To determine whether these beliefs may be associated with attitudes and expectations of foods that vary in their levels of processing.
3. To explore the perceptions of essentialistic transference: The belief that the essence of a food is transferred to a person who consumes the food, which manifests the properties of the food in the consumer (E.g., the belief that people who have a diet of eating fast-running animals are also fast runners).

Study Design:

This study involves 2 parts: Study 1A \& Study 1B.

Study 1A:

300 participants in Singapore, aged between 21-65 years old will be recruited to do an online survey on Qualtrics. Participants would first rate their baseline appetite before proceeding to the survey. For this study, the food categories will be: Milk, Rice, Carrot and Chicken. There will be a total of 7 different kinds of foods varying in the levels of processing per category and the images of these foods will be presented in a randomized order. Participants will rate their perceptions of the properties of foods (e.g. nutritiousness, naturalness, familiarity, liking, taste, stereotypical trait, and processing) on a scale that ranges from "Not at all" to "Very much".

After rating their perceptions of the properties of foods, participants will complete questionnaires measuring: Essentialistic beliefs about food (EFS: 6-point scale from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree"), perceptions of essentialistic transference (ETS: 6-point scale with 2 opposite traits as anchors e.g. "Very Irritable" to "Very good-natured"), nutrition knowledge (NKS: 6-point scale from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree"), importance of food naturalness (FNS: 6-point scale from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree") and consumers' fears towards food technology (FTNS: 7-point scale from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree").

Study 1B:

300 participants in Singapore, aged between 21-65 years old will be recruited to do an online survey on Qualtrics. Participants would first rate their baseline appetite before proceeding to the survey. For this study, the food categories will be: Fish, Orange, Napa Cabbage, Peanut and Beef. There will be a total of 7 different kinds of foods varying in the levels of processing per category and 2 foods-in-name (e.g. Vuna and Impossible burger), and the images of these foods will be presented in a randomize order. Participants will rate their perceptions of the properties of foods (e.g. nutritiousness, naturalness, familiarity, liking, taste, stereotypical trait, and processing) on a scale that ranges from "Not at all" to "Very much".

After rating their perceptions of the properties of foods, participants will complete questionnaires measuring: Essentialistic beliefs about food (EFS: 6-point scale from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree"), perceptions of essentialistic transference (ETS: 6-point scale with 2 opposite traits as anchors e.g. "Very Irritable" to "Very good-natured"), nutrition knowledge (NKS: 6-point scale from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree"), importance of food naturalness (FNS: 6-point scale from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree") and consumers' fears towards food technology (FTNS: 7-point scale from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree").

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* 21-65 years old

Exclusion Criteria:

* None

Primary outcomes:
measure: Consumers' perceptions of food
timeFrame: Baseline measure
measure: Essentialistic beliefs about food (food as having immutable underlying 'essences' that contribute to the food's attributes and properties)
timeFrame: Baseline measure
measure: Perceptions of essentialistic transference
timeFrame: Baseline measure
measure: Nutrition knowledge
timeFrame: Baseline measure
measure: Perception towards the importance of food naturalness
timeFrame: Baseline measure
measure: Consumers' fears towards food technology
timeFrame: Baseline measure
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Singapore
country: Singapore
facility: Singapore
Study officials:
affiliation: Bobby_Cheon@sics.a-star.edu.sg
name: Bobby Cheon, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: