Peggy J. Liu

A test of different menu labeling presentations.

Chain restaurants will soon need to disclose calorie information on menus, but research on the impact of calorie labels on food choices is mixed. This study tested whether calorie information presented in different formats influenced calories ordered and perceived restaurant healthfulness. Participants in an online survey were randomly assigned to a menu with either (1) no calorie labels (No Calories); (2) calorie labels (Calories); (3) calorie labels ordered from low to high calories (Rank-Ordered Calories); or (4) calorie labels ordered from low to high calories that also had red/green circles indicating higher and lower calorie choices (Colored Calories). Participants ordered items for dinner, estimated calories ordered, and rated restaurant healthfulness. Participants in the Rank-Ordered Calories condition and those in the Colored Calories condition ordered fewer calories than the No Calories group. There was no significant difference in calories ordered between the Calories and No Calories groups. Participants in each calorie label condition were significantly more accurate in estimating calories ordered compared to the No Calories group. Those in the Colored Calories group perceived the restaurant as healthier. The results suggest that presenting calorie information in the modified Rank-Ordered or Colored Calories formats may increase menu labeling effectiveness.

The use of sports references in marketing of food and beverage products in supermarkets

OBJECTIVE Food marketing has been identified as a significant driver of the childhood obesity epidemic. The purpose of the present study was to (i) conduct a content analysis of the types of sports references that appear on supermarket food and beverage products and (ii) assess each products nutritional and marketing profile. DESIGN This was a descriptive study. Every product featuring sports references on the packaging was purchased in two major supermarkets during 2010. A content analysis was conducted and nutritional evaluations were made based on the Nutrient Profile Model, a validated nutrition model. Marketing data were obtained from The Nielsen Company. SETTING Two major supermarkets in Connecticut, USA. SUBJECTS Food and beverage products (n 102) were selected from two supermarkets. RESULTS The 102 products (fifty-three foods and forty-nine beverages) had sports references as part of their packaging: 72·5 % featured a character exercising, 42·2 % were endorsed by a professional sports entity and 34·0 % were child-targeted. The median nutrition score for food products was 36 (1 = unhealthiest and 100 = healthiest; scores of ≥63 are considered healthy according to this model). More than two-thirds of beverages (69·4 %) were 100 % sugar-sweetened. Children saw significantly more commercials for these products than adults. CONCLUSIONS Companies place sports figures on food and beverage products that are child-targeted and unhealthy.

Vice-Virtue Bundles

We introduce a simple solution to help consumers manage choices between healthy and unhealthy food options: vice-virtue bundles. Vice-virtue bundles are item aggregates with varying proportions of both vice and virtue, holding overall quantity constant. Four studies compare choice and perceptions of differently composed vice-virtue bundles relative to one another and to pure vice and pure virtue options. Although multiple consumer segments can be identified, results suggest that people overall tend to prefer vice-virtue bundles with small 1 4 to medium 1 2 proportions of vice rather than large 3 4 proportions of vice. Moreover, people generally rate vice-virtue bundles with small vice proportions as healthier but similarly tasty as bundles with larger vice proportions. For most individuals, choice patterns are different from those predicted by variety-seeking accounts alone. Instead, these findings provide evidence of asymmetric effectiveness of small vice and virtue proportions at addressing taste and health goals, respectively. Data, as supplemental material, are available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.2053 . This paper was accepted by Yuval Rottenstreich, judgment and decision making.

‘How many calories are in my burrito?’ Improving consumers’ understanding of energy (calorie) range information

OBJECTIVE Energy (calorie) ranges currently appear on menu boards for customized menu items and will likely appear throughout the USA when menu-labelling legislation is implemented. Consumer welfare advocates have questioned whether energy ranges enable accurate energy estimates. In four studies, we examined: (i) whether energy range information improves energy estimation accuracy; (ii) whether misestimates persist because consumers misinterpret the meaning of the energy range end points; and (iii) whether energy estimates can be made more accurate by providing explicit information about the contents of items at the end points. DESIGN Four studies were conducted, all randomized experiments. SETTING Study 1 took place outside a Chipotle restaurant. Studies 2 to 4 took place online. SUBJECTS Participants in study 1 were customers exiting a Chipotle restaurant (n 306). Participants in studies 2 (n 205), 3 (n 290) and 4 (n 874) were from an online panel. RESULTS Energy ranges reduced energy misestimation across different menu items (studies 1-4). One cause of remaining misestimation was misinterpretation of the low end points meaning (study 2). Providing explicit information about the contents of menu items associated with energy range end points further reduced energy misestimation (study 3) across different menu items (study 4). CONCLUSIONS Energy range information improved energy estimation accuracy and defining the meaning of the end points further improved accuracy. We suggest that when restaurants present energy range information to consumers, they should explicitly define the meaning of the end points.

Patient and Family Attitudes about an Eye Donation Registry for Research

Abstract Purpose: There is a shortage of human eye tissue available for scientists, and it is unknown how willing ophthalmic patients are to donate their eyes for research. Therefore, we assessed eye patient and family member attitudes regarding the establishment of an eye donation registry for research purposes. Materials and Methods: Surveys were distributed to consecutive patients attending the clinics of an academic ophthalmology practice over a period of 8 days. This survey consisted of questions about demographic information of the participant, attitudes regarding eye donation and attitudes regarding a registry for research-specific eye donation. An additional nested survey was administered to family members who accompanied survey participants. Results: A total of 207 patients and 76 accompanying family members returned their respective surveys. Of the patients, 55% indicated that they would consider joining a proposed eye donation registry for research, 30% were undecided and 15% would not consider joining (n = 193). Over 95% of family members indicated that they would support their relative’s decision to enroll in the registry (n = 74). Of the potential donors, 41% indicated they would most prefer to learn about the registry from their eye doctor and 37% from a pamphlet (n = 180). Conclusions: A majority of patients with eye disease and their family members support the idea of establishing an advance-directive eye donation registry for research. This registry for research donors could be incorporated into the current eye donation registry. Such an addendum would bridge the current disconnect between ophthalmic patients who want to donate their eyes for research on their disease (and are ineligible to donate for corneal transplantation) and scientists who need more human eye tissue for experimentation.

Exploring the relationship between varieties of variety and weight loss: When more variety can help people lose weight

Prior research has indicated that greater dietary variety in a single eating episode increases caloric intake, contributing to weight gain and obesity. This study presents a novel conceptual framework for investigating dietary variety across the entire diet according to time frame (cumulative vs. daily), aggregation level (overall vs. episode-specific), and categorization level (individual foods vs. food groups). This framework is used to assess how naturally occurring dietary variety relates to weight loss among overweight/obese women enrolled in a 16-week trial to achieve weight loss. Acknowledging this is a first exploratory attempt to test such relationships using correlational analyses, the authors uncover several key findings. First, whereas cumulative overall variety was not associated with weight loss, daily overall variety was positively associated with weight loss. Second, this relationship was strongest for variety during breakfast and afternoon snacks and was particularly driven by consuming greater vegetable variety. Overall, the authors develop a novel conceptual framework for investigating variety, and through application to a unique data set, uncover novel findings countering some existing theories about how dietary variety relates to weight loss success.

Sharing Extraordinary Experiences Fosters Feelings of Closeness

Every social relationship begins somewhere. Yet, little is known about which initial encounters bring people closer. This article investigates whether feelings of closeness are shaped by the type of experience shared between two individuals. Using different procedures and stimuli, we find that one determining factor is whether unacquainted individuals initially share a relatively more ordinary or extraordinary experience: more extraordinary (vs. ordinary) experiences facilitate greater closeness between unacquainted individuals (Studies 1a-1c). We also find that this closeness-fostering effect does not occur for interactions between well-acquainted individuals (Study 2), when there is presumably little discomfort associated with the interaction. Furthermore, this effect appears to be driven by more extraordinary experiences’ capacity to absorb individuals’ attention (Study 3). Thus, we suggest that extraordinary experiences foster feelings of closeness because they direct unacquainted individuals’ attention toward the extraordinariness of the experience and away from the discomfort of initial interactions.

Moderation by Extremes: Biases in Reward Perceptions Drive Compromise Effects in Financial Bundles

Considerable research demonstrates a “compromise effect” showing preference for “middle” options. Yet, in the context of bundles, the “middle” option in a choice set can be composed in multiple ways. First, a bundle may include only purely moderate options (e.g., individual stocks moderate in both risk and reward). Alternately, a bundle may include equal numbers of both extreme alternatives (e.g., half high-risk/high-reward and half low-risk/low reward stocks), such that moderate attribute levels exist in the aggregate, but not for any single item. Using stock and lottery portfolios, we find that compromise effects are stronger when consumers are offered middle options that bundle extremes together. This occurs because the bundle-of-extremes is erroneously viewed as more potentially rewarding, but not more risky than a bundle-of-pure-moderation. Importantly, exposing people to simulated information about potential outcomes, such that consumers can better recognize potential downsides of the bundle-of-extremes option, mitigates this preference.

Behavioral economics and diabetic eye exams

Diabetic retinopathy is a common microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus and is the leading cause of new blindness among working-age adults in the United States. Timely intervention to prevent vision loss is possible with early detection by regular eye examinations. Unfortunately, adherence to recommended annual diabetic eye exams is poor. Public health interventions have targeted traditional barriers to care, such as cost and transportation, with limited success. Behavioral economics provides an additional framework of concepts and tools to understand low screening rates and to promote regular diabetic eye exams for populations at risk. In particular, behavioral economics outlines biases and heuristics that affect decision-making and underlie pervasive barriers to care, such as not viewing diabetic eye exams as a priority or perceiving oneself as too healthy to need an examination. In this review, we examine the literature on the use of behavioral economics interventions to promote regular diabetic eye exams. From the results of the included studies, we outline how concepts from behavioral economics can improve eye examination rates. In particular, the default bias, present bias, and self-serving bias play a significant role in precluding regular diabetic eye examinations. Potential tools to mitigate these biases include leveraging default options, using reminder messages, providing behavioral coaching, applying commitment contracts, offering financial incentives, and personalizing health messages. When combined with traditional public health campaigns, insights from behavioral economics can improve understanding of pervasive barriers to care and offer additional strategies to promote regular preventive eye care for patients with diabetes.

The Gift of Psychological Closeness: How Feasible Versus Desirable Gifts Reduce Psychological Distance to the Giver

Gift-giving is a common form of social exchange but little research has examined how different gift types affect the psychological distance between giver and recipient. We examined how two types of gifts influence recipients’ perceived psychological distance to the giver. Specifically, we compared desirable gifts focused on the quality of the gift with feasible gifts focused on the gift’s practicality or ease of use. We found that feasible (vs. desirable) gifts led recipients to feel psychologically closer to givers (Studies 1-4). Further clarifying the process by which receiving a desirable versus feasible gift affects perceived distance, when recipients were told that the giver focused on the gift’s practicality or ease of use (vs. the gift’s overall quality), while holding the specific features of the gifts constant, they felt closer to the gift-giver (Study 5). These results shed light on how different gifts can influence interpersonal relationships.