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Scheiber R, Karmasin M, Diehl S. Exploring the Dunning-Kruger Effect in Health Communication: How Perceived Food and Media Literacy and Actual Knowledge Drift Apart When Evaluating Misleading Food Advertising. JOURNAL OF HEALTH COMMUNICATION 2023; 28:707-727. [PMID: 37853725 DOI: 10.1080/10810730.2023.2258085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2023]
Abstract
Marketers often advertise products high in sugar, fat or calories as healthy products. With this potentially misleading information, they can influence eating decisions with negative consequences for human health. Consumers need the ability to uncover misleading food advertising. However, individuals' perceived knowledge and their actual objective abilities often drift apart - a phenomenon which has come to be known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Thus, this study set out to uncover the phenomenon's potential existence in health communication, more precisely in the area of food and media literacy. In a quantitative survey representative of the Austrian population (n = 1000) the Dunning-Kruger Effect (DKE) could be detected: Individuals who were most knowledgeable underestimated their food and media literacy, but - on the positive side - they acted as opinion leaders. Individuals who were least knowledgeable about advertising strategies used to market an unhealthy product as healthy and about the actual nutrition score of the advertised product were most likely to overestimate their own food and media literacy. Worryingly, further concerning consequences emerged, especially for least knowledgeable individuals. The study's results provide important implications for public health campaigns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Scheiber
- Department of Media and Communication Studies, Section Organizational and Health Communication, University of Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria
| | - Matthias Karmasin
- Department of Media and Communication Studies, Section Organizational and Health Communication, University of Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria
| | - Sandra Diehl
- Department of Media and Communication Studies, Section Organizational and Health Communication, University of Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria
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Lianbiaklal S, Rehman V. Revisiting 42 Years of literature on food marketing to children: A morphological analysis. Appetite 2023; 190:106989. [PMID: 37524244 DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2023.106989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2023] [Revised: 07/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/02/2023]
Abstract
Despite the preventive measures taken by the WHO, childhood obesity is still on the rise and is expected to increase by 100% between 2020 and 2035. Food marketing continues to permeate children's environments in numerous ways and influence the food behaviour of children, thus significantly contributing to the rise of obesity. Studies suggest that the literature on the effects of food marketing on children is complex and multidimensional. To fully understand these effects, a comprehensive and systematic approach is required. Nonetheless, existing reviews have focused only on specific aspects and have not comprehensively covered the literature on food marketing to children. Therefore, this review aims to navigate potential research gaps in the existing literature through a comprehensive examination of the literature by using morphological analysis (MA) methodology, the first time in this domain. Using PRISMA, 202 papers were considered eligible for inclusion and further analysed using MA. The articles were categorised into three dimensions to develop the MA framework: Stimuli (Food well-being), Organism, and Response, and 34 variants. The review has presented future research prospects by identifying at least 218 research gaps. With these findings, researchers can further explore the gaps and develop new research questions that could foster an understanding of the multifarious literature. Moreover, these findings can also provide marketers and practitioners with a better comprehension of the current state of the literature and develop more effective strategies for responsible marketing practices and policies.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Lianbiaklal
- Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India.
| | - Varisha Rehman
- Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India.
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Ntoumanis I, Davydova A, Sheronova J, Panidi K, Kosonogov V, Shestakova AN, Jääskeläinen IP, Klucharev V. Neural mechanisms of expert persuasion on willingness to pay for sugar. Front Behav Neurosci 2023; 17:1147140. [PMID: 36992860 PMCID: PMC10040640 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1147140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 03/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction: Sugar consumption is associated with many negative health consequences. It is, therefore, important to understand what can effectively influence individuals to consume less sugar. We recently showed that a healthy eating call by a health expert can significantly decrease the willingness to pay (WTP) for sugar-containing food. Here, we investigate which aspects of neural responses to the same healthy eating call can predict the efficacy of expert persuasion.Methods: Forty-five healthy participants performed two blocks of a bidding task, in which they had to bid on sugar-containing, sugar-free and non-edible products, while their electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. In between the two blocks, they listened to a healthy eating call by a nutritionist emphasizing the risks of sugar consumption.Results: We found that after listening to the healthy eating call, participants significantly decreased their WTP for sugar-containing products. Moreover, a higher intersubject correlation of EEG (a measure of engagement) during listening to the healthy eating call resulted in a larger decrease in WTP for sugar-containing food. Whether or not a participant’s valuation of a product was highly influenced by the healthy eating call could also be predicted by spatiotemporal patterns of EEG responses to the healthy eating call, using a machine learning classification model. Finally, the healthy eating call increased the amplitude of the P300 component of the visual event-related potential in response to sugar-containing food.Disussion: Overall, our results shed light on the neural basis of expert persuasion and demonstrate that EEG is a powerful tool to design and assess health-related advertisements before they are released to the public.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ioannis Ntoumanis
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
- *Correspondence: Ioannis Ntoumanis
| | - Alina Davydova
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Julia Sheronova
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Ksenia Panidi
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Vladimir Kosonogov
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Anna N. Shestakova
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Iiro P. Jääskeläinen
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
- Brain and Mind Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland
| | - Vasily Klucharev
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
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Ntoumanis I, Panidi K, Grebenschikova Y, Shestakova AN, Kosonogov V, Jääskeläinen IP, Kadieva D, Baran S, Klucharev V. "Expert persuasion" can decrease willingness to pay for sugar-containing food. Front Nutr 2022; 9:926875. [PMID: 35967796 PMCID: PMC9366858 DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2022.926875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2022] [Accepted: 07/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have revealed types of eating nudges that can steer consumers toward choosing healthier options. However, most of the previously studied interventions target individual decisions and are not directed to changing consumers’ underlying perception of unhealthy food. Here, we investigate how a healthy eating call—first-person narrative by a health expert—affects individuals’ willingness to pay (WTP) for sugar-free and sugar-containing food products. Participants performed two blocks of a bidding task, in which they had to bid on sweets labeled either as “sugar- free” or as “sugar-containing.” In-between the two blocks, half of the participants listened to a narrative by a dietary specialist emphasizing the health risks of sugar consumption, whereas the remaining participants listened to a control narrative irrelevant to food choices. We demonstrate that the health expert’s narrative decreased individuals’ WTP for sugar-containing food, but did not modulate their WTP for sugar- free food. Overall, our findings confirm that consumers may conform to healthy eating calls by rather devaluating unhealthy food products than by increasing the value of healthy ones. This paves the way for an avenue of innovative marketing strategies to support individuals in their food choices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ioannis Ntoumanis
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Ksenia Panidi
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | | | - Anna N Shestakova
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Vladimir Kosonogov
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Iiro P Jääskeläinen
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia.,Brain and Mind Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland
| | - Dzerassa Kadieva
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Sofia Baran
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Vasily Klucharev
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
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Ha OR, Bruce AS, Killian HJ, Davis AM, Lim SL. Shared Dynamics of Food Decision-Making in Mother-Child Dyads. Front Psychol 2021; 12:695388. [PMID: 34456810 PMCID: PMC8387796 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.695388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
This study explored risk parameters of obesity in food decision-making in mother-child dyads. We tested 45 children between 8–12 years and their biological mothers to measure the decision weights of food health attributes, the decision weights of food taste attributes, self-regulated food decisions, and self-reported self-control scores. Maternal body mass index (BMI), and children's BMI-percentiles-for-age were also measured. We found a positive correlation between children's and their mothers' decision weights of taste attributes in food decision-making. We also found a positive correlation between children's BMI %iles and their mothers' BMIs. Children with overweight/obesity demonstrated lower correlations between health and taste ratings and a lower percentage of self-regulated food decisions (i.e., resisting to eat tasty but unhealthy foods or choosing to eat not-tasty but healthy foods) than children with healthy weight. Our findings suggested that the decision weights of taste attributes and weight status shared similar patterns in mother-child dyads. Also, the findings suggested that establishing dynamics of unhealthy food-decision making may increase the risk of childhood obesity. Helping children to develop the dynamics of healthy food-decision making by increasing the importance of health while decreasing the importance of taste may promote resilience to susceptibility to unhealthy eating and weight gain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oh-Ryeong Ha
- Department of Psychology, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, United States
| | - Amanda S Bruce
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, United States.,Center for Children's Healthy Lifestyles & Nutrition, Kansas City, MO, United States
| | - Haley J Killian
- Department of Psychology, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, United States
| | - Ann M Davis
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, United States.,Center for Children's Healthy Lifestyles & Nutrition, Kansas City, MO, United States
| | - Seung-Lark Lim
- Department of Psychology, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, United States
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