Sweet or not: Using information and cognitive dissonance to nudge children toward healthier food choices
In the interest of public health, it is important to nudge children toward healthier food choices (e.g., beverages with less added sugar). We conducted a field experiment in a peri-urban region in Vietnam to evaluate the effects of information and cognitive dissonance on the food choices of children...
| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Elsevier
2022
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/127819 |
| _version_ | 1855530622648320000 |
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| author | Nguyen, Trang de Brauw, Alan Berg, Marrit van den |
| author_browse | Berg, Marrit van den Nguyen, Trang de Brauw, Alan |
| author_facet | Nguyen, Trang de Brauw, Alan Berg, Marrit van den |
| author_sort | Nguyen, Trang |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | In the interest of public health, it is important to nudge children toward healthier food choices (e.g., beverages with less added sugar). We conducted a field experiment in a peri-urban region in Vietnam to evaluate the effects of information and cognitive dissonance on the food choices of children. Our sample consisted of more than 1200 primary school children, randomly assigned into three groups: control, health information, and health information plus hypocrisy inducement. The third group was intended to raise cognitive dissonance by illustrating the gap between what people know they should do (socially desired behaviors) and what they actually do (transgressions). The results indicate that health information increased the likelihood of selecting milk with less sugar by around 30 %, as compared to the control group. Hypocrisy inducement did not make any additional contribution to healthier food choices. The treatment effects declined when there was a delay between the treatment and the behavioral choice. We discuss the practical implications of our findings for short-term intervention field studies. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace127819 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| publisherStr | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1278192025-10-26T13:01:45Z Sweet or not: Using information and cognitive dissonance to nudge children toward healthier food choices Nguyen, Trang de Brauw, Alan Berg, Marrit van den public health child nutrition food choice experiment peri-urban areas information cognition milk school children intervention child health lab-in-field experiment behavioral economics health information schoolchildren cognitive dissonance experimentation peri-urban agriculture In the interest of public health, it is important to nudge children toward healthier food choices (e.g., beverages with less added sugar). We conducted a field experiment in a peri-urban region in Vietnam to evaluate the effects of information and cognitive dissonance on the food choices of children. Our sample consisted of more than 1200 primary school children, randomly assigned into three groups: control, health information, and health information plus hypocrisy inducement. The third group was intended to raise cognitive dissonance by illustrating the gap between what people know they should do (socially desired behaviors) and what they actually do (transgressions). The results indicate that health information increased the likelihood of selecting milk with less sugar by around 30 %, as compared to the control group. Hypocrisy inducement did not make any additional contribution to healthier food choices. The treatment effects declined when there was a delay between the treatment and the behavioral choice. We discuss the practical implications of our findings for short-term intervention field studies. 2022-12 2023-01-22T18:19:03Z 2023-01-22T18:19:03Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/127819 en https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2021.102047 Open Access Elsevier Nguyen, Trang; de Brauw, Alan; and Van den berg, Marrit. 2022. Sweet or not: Using information and cognitive dissonance to nudge children toward healthier food choices. Economics & Human Biology 47: 101185 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101185 |
| spellingShingle | public health child nutrition food choice experiment peri-urban areas information cognition milk school children intervention child health lab-in-field experiment behavioral economics health information schoolchildren cognitive dissonance experimentation peri-urban agriculture Nguyen, Trang de Brauw, Alan Berg, Marrit van den Sweet or not: Using information and cognitive dissonance to nudge children toward healthier food choices |
| title | Sweet or not: Using information and cognitive dissonance to nudge children toward healthier food choices |
| title_full | Sweet or not: Using information and cognitive dissonance to nudge children toward healthier food choices |
| title_fullStr | Sweet or not: Using information and cognitive dissonance to nudge children toward healthier food choices |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sweet or not: Using information and cognitive dissonance to nudge children toward healthier food choices |
| title_short | Sweet or not: Using information and cognitive dissonance to nudge children toward healthier food choices |
| title_sort | sweet or not using information and cognitive dissonance to nudge children toward healthier food choices |
| topic | public health child nutrition food choice experiment peri-urban areas information cognition milk school children intervention child health lab-in-field experiment behavioral economics health information schoolchildren cognitive dissonance experimentation peri-urban agriculture |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/127819 |
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