Consumption stereotypes and self-perception: Does choosing to eat a healthy or an unhealthy food affect mood and views of the self?
Published: 2006
Language: eng
Number of pages: 69
ISBN-13: 9780494214022
Description: Previous research has shown that people make negative judgements about others based on what they eat (this has been termed "consumption stereotypes"). It is possible that people may pass judgements on themselves based on what they choose to eat. The effects of consumption stereotypes on self-perception were examined. Females were either assigned to eat or chose to eat an apple or a chocolate bar. Subjects rated themselves on mood, state self-esteem, and a set of bipolar adjectives after being assigned/choosing their snack and again after eating their snack. Results showed that subjects who chose the apple had higher self-esteem after choosing their snack and a better mood after eating their snack, compared to all other experimental groups. A second experiment was performed in order to replicate the findings from previous studies on consumption stereotypes and person-perception. The results did not confirm findings from previous studies; raters did not perceive targets who chose the chocolate bar more negatively on the bipolar adjective scale. However, we did find that on the mood and state self-esteem measures, in which raters were asked to put themselves in the shoes of the target, raters perceived the target who chose the chocolate bar as having the best mood and the highest self-esteem.
Notes: Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-03, page: 1688.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2006.

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