A social norms approach to encourage healthier eating

Obesity is major current health concern and encouraging healthier eating is a national and global priority. However, making healthful food choices is not easy in an environment in which high calorie foods are all too easily available and highly visible. Psychological research has demonstrated that how we behave is strongly influenced by our perceptions of how other people behave in similar situations and by the opinions of others about what is appropriate behaviour in a given context. In relation to eating behaviour, people look to others as a guide for how much to eat and the presence of other people in eating situations can guide food selection. This suggests that one way of encouraging healthier eating would be to provide information about the healthy eating habits of others. This approach has been used successfully to reduce unhealthy consumption of alcoholic drinks but has yet to be applied to eating behaviour. To address this, and to provide evidence to help develop a new intervention to promote healthier eating, we will conduct experiments in which we will first expose people to posters and flyers that provide information about the healthy eating behaviour of others and then we will assess actual food selection in a simulated café environment. We predict that we can promote healthier food selection in these experiments, and then we will implement the most effective strategy in a catering outlet. The effect on actual food purchases of employees at the University of Birmingham will be assessed. These studies fit under ESRC strategic priority on health and wellbeing and will advance our understanding of the role of social norms in changing health behaviours and provide a basis for novel healthy eating interventions.

This project will benefit academic researchers particularly those in the area of health and social psychology. Groups in the UK and in the USA and elsewhere conduct research on this and related-topics, so they are likely to benefit from this research. The research will also contribute to the development and wider adoption of novel methods based on social norm approaches to increase healthy behaviours. The research will contribute to the training of a skilled researcher with wide knowledge and expertise in both experimental studies and interventions. The results will also be of interest to health professionals and policy makers as well as the general public. Economic and societal impacts include improvements in health and well-being. Given the health costs associated with unhealthy eating patterns it is important to explore new avenues for improving the Nation's diet. Wide dissemination of the results (see pathways to impact plan) will ensure that a range of stakeholders are reached and beneficiaries of this project are not be limited to those in the UK.