Consumption Stereotypes and Impression Management: Food Intake

Abstract

People form impressions of others based on how much those others eat—we refer to these judgments as “consumptions stereotypes”. For example, people who eat large amounts of food are often viewed as more masculine and less feminine than are people who eat small amounts of food. Given the existence of these consumption stereotypes, people can use their food intake as a means of conveying a particular impression to others. For example, if you want to appear more feminine, then you could eat a smaller meal. In this chapter, we review the research on consumption stereotypes related to how much food a person eats, as well as evidence that amount of food that people eat is influenced by their motivation to convey particular impressions to others.