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Dieters may try to estimate a meal’s calorie count. Now a study by Northwestern University’s Alexander Chernev finds that even the order in which food is presented—and whether the food is thought of as a vice or a virtue—affects how many calories we think it has. The work will be published in 2011 in the Journal of Consumer Research. [http://bit.ly/aZl9tR]
Study subjects were shown a cheese-steak first, which they guessed had on average 578 calories. Or they saw a virtuous fruit salad first, which they guessed was 311 calories. After which they estimated the same cheese-steak as having 787 calories.
But when first shown the vice of a slice of chocolate cake, which they guessed had 416 calories, subjects estimated that the same cheese-steak wasn’t much worse of a vice, at only 489 calories. So estimates of the cheese-steak calorie content went up when it followed fruit salad, but went down when subjects first considered a slice of cake.
An absurd outcome of this was that subjects estimated a cheesesteak and cake combo as having fewer calories than a fruit salad-cheesesteak one. So remember, when you’re counting calories, you really can’t rely on gut feelings.
—Cynthia Graber
[The above text is an exact transcript of this podcast.]
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis was a fascinating subject of study on the effects of sequence in conditional evaluations. Thanks SA for providing a link to the research paper.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's rather disconcerting to see how seemingly careful analyses of personal options can be so easily misled. I had to take a break for a chocolate snack before continuing.
The researchers seemed to envision that the sequences of estimation of food caloric values would be beneficial in addressing public caloric intake and the growing (sorry) obesity problem in the general population.
However, it occurs to me that those using caloric estimates to determine their selection of foods do not rely on their own assessments but rather data provided with the food item.
I would guess that those who are overeating may be not regularly evaluating any caloric data in selecting their food choices, but rather responding to an assessment of a foods ability to satisfy an immediate need. Others may disagree...
In any case, This certainly demonstrates that reasonably accurate caloric measurement data such be available on restaurant menus so that useful evaluations of meal choices can be performed.
Better yet, perhaps the should be an app for that. If a restaurant's menu including caloric estimates could be quickly scanned into a personal handheld computer, PDA, phone, etc., the consumer could quickly and accurately evaluate several meal combination choices on the basis of a meal image and calorie consumption.
Of course, this research could also be used to refine manipulative marketing methods: perhaps McDonald's would pay for Ben & Jerry's ice cream commercials to always be shown before the Biggest Mac commercial...
This was a fascinating subject of study on the effects of sequence in conditional evaluations. Thanks SA for providing a link to the research paper.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's rather disconcerting to see how seemingly careful analyses of personal options can be so easily misled. I had to take a break for a chocolate snack before continuing.
The researchers seemed to envision that the sequences of estimation of food caloric values would be beneficial in addressing public caloric intake and the growing (sorry) obesity problem in the general population.
However, it occurs to me that those using caloric estimates to determine their selection of foods do not rely on their own assessments but rather data provided with the food item.
I would guess that those who are overeating may be not regularly evaluating any caloric data in selecting their food choices, but rather responding to an assessment of a foods ability to satisfy an immediate need. Others may disagree...
In any case, This certainly demonstrates that reasonably accurate caloric measurement data such be available on restaurant menus so that useful evaluations of meal choices can be performed.
Better yet, perhaps the should be an app for that. If a restaurant's menu including caloric estimates could be quickly scanned into a personal handheld computer, PDA, phone, etc., the consumer could quickly and accurately evaluate several meal combination choices on the basis of a meal image and calorie consumption.
Of course, this research could also be used to refine manipulative marketing methods: perhaps McDonald's would pay for Ben & Jerry's ice cream commercials to always be shown before the Biggest Mac commercial...
Webmaster: please delete duplicate posting.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisInterestingly, I did not intentionally enter the preceding comment twice, as I'd presumed past double posters had done when their comment wasn't immediately displayed by their browser...