When group members go against the grain: An ironic interactive effect of group identification and normative content on healthy eating

Abstract

Three studies were conducted to examine the effect of group identification and normative content of social identities on healthy eating intentions and behaviour. In Study 1 (N = 87) Australian participants were shown images that portrayed a norm of healthy vs. unhealthy behaviour among Australians. Participants' choices from an online restaurant menu were used to calculate energy content as the dependent variable. In Study 2 (N = 117), female participants were assigned to a healthy or unhealthy norm condition. The dependent variable was the amount of food eaten in a taste test. Social group identification was measured in both studies. In Study 3 (N = 117), both American identification and healthiness norm were experimentally manipulated, and participants' choices from an online restaurant menu constituted the dependent variable. In all three studies, the healthiness norm presented interacted with participants' group identification to predict eating behaviour. Contrary to what would be predicted under the traditional normative social influence account, higher identifiers chose higher energy food from an online menu and ate more food in a taste test when presented with information about their in-group members behaving healthily. The exact psychological mechanism responsible for these results remains unclear, but the pattern of means can be interpreted as evidence of vicarious licensing, whereby participants feel less motivated to make healthy food choices after being presented with content suggesting that other in-group members are engaging in healthy behaviour. These results suggest a more complex interplay between group membership and norms than has previously been proposed.

The relationship between social identity, descriptive social norms and eating intentions and behaviors

“…However, Banas and colleagues (Banas, Cruwys, de Wit, Johnston, & Haslam, 2016) reported recently that participants who strongly identified with a norm referent group behaved in a manner that was opposite to the depicted norm. These results suggest that the relationship between social identity and normative effects on eating is complex and that under some circumstances ironic effects may be observed, such that people who identify highly with a social group may engage in behavior contrary to that of other group members (Banas et al, 2016).…”

“…For example, participants who saw a majority descriptive norm conveying that most group members consume sufficient vegetables, subsequently self-reported eating substantially more vegetables than those who saw a minority descriptive norm conveying that only a few group members eat sufficient vegetables, but only when they strongly identified with the norm referent group (Stok Verkooijen, Ridder et al, 2014). However, Banas and colleagues (Banas, Cruwys, de Wit, Johnston, & Haslam, 2016) reported recently that participants who strongly identified with a norm referent group behaved in a manner that was opposite to the depicted norm. These results suggest that the relationship between social identity and normative effects on eating is complex and that under some circumstances ironic effects may be observed, such that people who identify highly with a social group may engage in behavior contrary to that of other group members (Banas et al, 2016).…”

“…To date, most previous research has investigated how existing social identity interacts with group norms on behavior and few studies have investigated whether manipulating norm identification has an effect on norm following behaviors (see Banas et al 2016 for an example). This is important because manipulation of the strength of identity allows for stronger inferences to be drawn about the causal nature of the relationships between eating norms, food intake and norm identification.…”

Social Modeling of Food Intake: No Evidence for Moderation by Identification With the Norm Referent Group

“…For example, participants who saw a majority descriptive norm conveying that most group members consume sufficient vegetables, subsequently self-reported eating substantially more vegetables than those who saw a minority descriptive norm conveying that only a few group members eat sufficient vegetables, but only when they strongly identified with the norm referent group (Stok et al, 2014b). However, Banas et al (2016) reported that participants who strongly identified with a norm referent group behaved in a manner that was opposite to the depicted norm. These results suggest that under some circumstances people who identify highly with a social group may engage in behavior contrary to that of other group members (Banas et al, 2016).…”

“…However, Banas et al (2016) reported that participants who strongly identified with a norm referent group behaved in a manner that was opposite to the depicted norm. These results suggest that under some circumstances people who identify highly with a social group may engage in behavior contrary to that of other group members (Banas et al, 2016). Using a live modeling study design, Cruwys and colleagues found that participants were more likely to model food intake if the normative information was provided by a member of social in-group (a student from the same university), but they were less likely to model if the information is from an out-group (a student from a different university) (Cruwys et al, 2012).…”