Extending Expectancy Theory to Food Intake: Effect of a Simulated Fast-Food Restaurant on Highly and Minimally Processed Food Expectancies

Abstract

Unhealthy diets are widespread and linked to a number of detrimental clinical outcomes. The current preregistered experiment extended expectancy theory into the study of food intake; specifically, we tested whether a fast-food restaurant affects food expectancies, or the emotions one expects to feel while eating highly processed foods (e.g., pizza) and minimally processed foods (e.g., carrots). Participants ( N = 200, mean age = 18.79 years) entered a simulated fast-food restaurant or a neutral space, completed questionnaires, and engaged in a bogus taste test. The simulated fast-food restaurant increased positive highly processed food expectancies ( d = 0.29). Palatable eating coping motives scores did not moderate the effect; however, this clinically relevant pattern of eating behavior was associated with greater positive highly processed food expectancies. In addition, there was an indirect effect of the fast-food restaurant on ad libitum food intake through positive highly processed food expectancies. Reducing positive highly processed food expectancies may improve diet, which may broadly affect health.

A randomized experiment of the effects of food advertisements on food-related emotional expectancies in adults

“…Participants were recruited August 11th–12th, 2020 via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk for “A Study on Advertisements and Beliefs” in which they would, “watch and rate the effectiveness of four short advertisement clips and complete some questionnaires about beliefs, feelings, and typical behaviors.” A power analysis conducted in G*Power Version 3.1.9.6 with the following parameters determined a sample size of 788 participants: one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with four groups, power = 0.90, α = 0.05, and a small expected effect size (Cohen’s d = 0.29). The expected effect size was based on prior work demonstrating exposure to a simulated fast-food restaurant increased positive highly-processed food expectancies ( Cummings et al, 2021 ). The power analysis yielded a sample size of 608 but, due to available research funds, 180 participants were added to mitigate anticipated non-compliance.…”

“…A power analysis conducted in G*Power Version 3.1.9.6 with the following parameters determined a sample size of 788 participants: one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with four groups, power = 0.90, α = 0.05, and a small expected effect size (Cohen's d = 0.29). The expected effect size was based on prior work demonstrating exposure to a simulated fast-food restaurant increased positive highly-processed food expectancies (Cummings et al, 2021). The power analysis yielded a sample size of 608 but, due to available research funds, 180 participants were added to mitigate anticipated non-compliance.…”

“…In a cross-sectional study, stronger expectancies that one will feel positive emotions while eating highly processed foods and negative emotions while eating minimally processed foods were associated with greater intake of highly processed foods ( Cummings et al, 2020 ). In a randomized experiment, increasing expectancies that one would feel positive emotions while eating highly processed food increased intake of those foods at the expense of minimally processed foods ( Cummings et al, 2021 ).…”

“…In support of this hypothesis, being in a bar versus neutral space led college students to have greater positive alcohol expectancies ( Monk and Heim, 2013 ; Wall et al, 2000 , 2001 ). Being in a simulated fast-food restaurant caused college students to have greater positive highly-processed food expectancies ( Cummings et al, 2021 ), yet no other situational influences on food-related emotional expectancies have been explored.…”

What drives consumer expectations for institutional food? Identifying antecedents of normative and predictive expectations in baby boomers

“…Previous studies have demonstrated that expectancy theory can be used in various contexts beyond the workplace, for example, in investigating pro‐environmental behavior (Kiatkawsin & Han, 2017), tourism and hospitality (Abrate et al, 2021), consumer boycotts (Barakat & Moussa, 2017), and food consumption (Talwar et al, 2021). Cummings et al (2021) argued that translating principles from expectancy theory into food consumption is an emerging area of research that has potential to improve public health issues.…”