Learning to Dislike Chocolate: Conditioning Negative Attitudes toward Chocolate and Its Effect on Chocolate Consumption.

Yan Wang,Lei Wang,Xianghua Cui,Dingyuan Zhang,Yuan Fang,Guosen Wang,Jinglei Zhu

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01468

Abstract

Evaluative conditioning (EC) procedures can be used to form and change attitudes toward a wide variety of objects. The current study examined the effects of a negative EC procedure on attitudes toward chocolate, and whether it influenced chocolate evaluation and consumption. Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental condition in which chocolate images were paired with negative stimuli, or the control condition in which chocolate images were randomly paired with positive stimuli (50%) and negative stimuli (50%). Explicit and implicit attitudes toward chocolate images were collected. During an ostensible taste test, chocolate evaluation and consumption were assessed. Results revealed that compared to participants in the control condition, participants in the experimental condition showed more negative explicit and implicit attitudes toward chocolate images and evaluated chocolate more negatively during the taste test. However, chocolate consumption did not differ between experimental and control conditions. These findings suggest that pairing chocolate with negative stimuli can influence attitudes toward chocolate, though behavioral effects are absent. Intervention applications of EC provide avenues for future research and practices.

Highlights

Humans have a strong preference for high-fat foods which might readily lead to overconsumption of caloric-dense foods in the current food-rich environment (Cohen and Farley, 2008)
The present study examined whether attitudes toward chocolate and consumption of chocolate can be influenced through an Evaluative conditioning (EC) procedure wherein chocolate images were paired with negative stimuli
Results revealed that participants in the experimental condition showed more negative explicit and implicit attitudes toward chocolate images, compared to participants in the control condition

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Humans have a strong preference for high-fat foods which might readily lead to overconsumption of caloric-dense foods in the current food-rich environment (Cohen and Farley, 2008). Participants in the experimental condition were less likely to choose snacks as opposed to fruits, and the effect of the EC procedure on food choice behavior was partially mediated by changes in implicit attitudes. Another study paired smoking-related stimuli with positively versus negatively valenced stimuli and found that this manipulation affected implicit attitudes toward smoking, which led to changes in explicit attitudes and self-reported smoking behavior (Magurean et al, 2015). These studies suggested that EC procedures might affect food consumption. We further predicted that chocolate evaluation and consumption would be influenced

Participants

Procedure

EC Procedure

RESULTS

DISCUSSION

ETHICS STATEMENT