Might an overweight waitress make you eat more? How the body type of others is sufficient to alter our food consumption
Journal Article (Journal Article)
This paper investigates how people's food choices can be shaped by the body type of others around them. Using a professionally constructed obesity prosthesis, we show that the body type of a (confederate) server in a taste test study was sufficient to alter both the quantity (Experiment 1) and specific choices (Experiment 2) participants made but that chronic dieters and non-dieters exhibited opposite effects. While non-dieters ate more snacks when the server was thin, dieters ate more when the server was heavy. Dieters were also more persuaded by a heavy (vs. a thin) server, choosing both a healthy and unhealthy snack more often when she recommended it to them. We suggest these results may be attributable to identification with the server. © 2010 Society for Consumer Psychology.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- McFerran, B; Dahl, DW; Fitzsimons, GJ; Morales, AC
Published Date
- April 1, 2010
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 20 / 2
Start / End Page
- 146 - 151
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 1057-7408
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1016/j.jcps.2010.03.006
Citation Source
- Scopus