Situating desire: Situational cues affect desire for food through eating simulations

Grounding Motivation for Behaviour Change

“…Future research could attempt to test this account directly, for example by examining the causal role of simulations in these behaviours. In recent work, for example, we have shown that situational cues causally affect desire through consumption and reward simulations (Papies et al, 2022), and other work shows that people often perform habitual behaviours because they are rewarding (Dutriaux, Clark, et al, 2021). Thus, it seems possible that situational cues trigger frequently performed behaviours, or habits, through reward simulations, and relatedly, that habitual behaviours can also be experienced as desires.…”

“…As an example, perceiving a food image or a situation where one often eats a food can trigger simulations of the taste, mouthfeel, and enjoyment of eating it, leading to bodily preparations to eat (i.e., salivation), desire, and possibly motivated actions to obtain the food. Indeed, we have seen in some of the experiments describe above how this process operates (Papies et al, 2022).…”

“…And do consumption simulations play a role in these effects, such that situational cues contribute to simulations of eating and enjoying a food or drink? A recent set of experiments was designed to directly examine these questions, and tested whether situational information affects desire for appetitive stimuli through eating simulations (Papies et al, 2022). In a series of experiments, participants were shown food stimuli either in a congruent background (e.g., a bowl of tomato soup on a dinner table; cucumber slices in the kitchen), in an incongruent background (e.g., a bowl of tomato soup in a cinema; a bowl of cucumber slices in a bar), or with no background (e.g., a bowl of tomato soup in front of a white background; a bowl of cucumber slices in front of a white background).…”

“…In some of the other experiments reviewed above, we have used self-report rating scales to assess participants' eating or drinking simulations (Keesman et al, 2016;Papies et al, 2022;. Here, participants indicate on a scale to what degree for example seeing a food or reading a food label makes them think about eating it, or makes them imagine specific aspects of the food, such as its taste or mouthfeel.…”

“…When the contemplated behaviour change involves moving away from established habits within familiar contexts, it is likely that there are many cues that remind an individual of their habitual behaviours. Since habitual behaviours are typically performed with an expectation of reward (Dutriaux, Clark, et al, 2021;Kruglanski & Szumowska, 2020;, such external cues will likely trigger reward simulations, which may create desire (Papies et al, 2021(Papies et al, , 2022. Thus, the contemplated new behaviour must produce more appealing outcome simulations overall than the habitual behaviour, if it is to be initiated.…”