Specialty coffee consumption intervention illustrates the utility of behavior feedback messages

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Despite having similar amounts of caffeine, “specialty” coffee drinks (SCDs; e.g., lattes and frappes) contain nearly 10 times as many calories and cost nearly double the price compared to more traditional coffee drinks (e.g., brewed and iced coffee). The current study examined the efficacy of generic and personalized behavior feedback messages to reduce participants' intention to consume SCDs, as well as the moderating effects of Need for Cognition (NC; i.e., one's willingness and tendency to engage in critical thinking; Cacioppo & Petty, 1989) on this intervention. Furthermore, participants' immediacy of likelihood-to-reduce their SCD consumption was also analyzed. Participants completed an online survey that included one of four behavior feedback messages (personalized feedback, generic feedback with a memory prompt, generic feedback without a memory prompt, and no message), pre- and post-intervention measures of SCD consumption and likelihood to reduce their consumption, and the NC Scale (Cacioppo, Petty, & Fao, 1984). Although each of the three behavior feedback messages were successful at reducing SCD consumption intention compared to the no message control, no moderating effect of NC was established. Furthermore, NC predicted both post-intervention specialty coffee consumption intention and likelihood of reducing consumption “in the next few days,” but in a surprising manner. Although further investigation into the application of behavior feedback and the moderating effects of NC are necessary, these data suggest that behavior feedback, whether generic or personalized, may be a useful dietary intervention for high-cost, high-calorie coffee consumption.