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Healthy or tasty: the impact of fresh starts on food preferences

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Abstract

Consumers’ food decisions are at least partially determined by decision context. This research examined the role of a ubiquitous but neglected context—the time point of decision making. We explored whether and how a temporal landmark signaling a fresh start (e.g., the first day after a holiday, the start of a new year, or the beginning of a semester) influences consumers’ food preferences. Across three studies, this research reveals that fresh starts have a powerful influence on consumers’ food decisions. Specifically, consumers are more likely to choose healthy but less tasty food (vice food) rather than tasty but less healthy food (vice food) when a fresh start is salient (versus non-salient; Study 1). We found that self-control resources are responsible for this effect (Study 2). We also tested the boundary condition and found that the effect occurs only when the dietary goal is consistent with the primary goal (Study 3). Study 4 provides real world support for our findings by comparing Google searches for "healthy food" on the starts of temporal periods to usual days. This research contributes to knowledge of the factors driving consumers’ food decisions and thus has significant implications for consumers’ well-being.

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Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Yu Yu: ideas; formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims; development or design of methodology; data analysis; original draft preparation.

Hongyan Yu: conceptualization; formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims; supervision; writing- reviewing and editing.

Bingcheng Yang: methodology,writing- reviewing and editing

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business, Sun Yat-Sen University, No 135, Xingang West Road, Haizhu District, Guangzhou, 510275, China

    Yu Yu & Hongyan Yu

  2. Guizhou University of Finance and Economics, Guiyang, China

    Bingcheng Yang

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  1. Yu Yu
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Correspondence to Yu Yu.

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Appendices

Appendix A Calendar pictures in study 1

Calendar in the fresh start condition:

figure a

Calendar in the control condition:

figure b

Appendix B Bread pictures in study 2

figure c

chocolate cream bread

figure d

whole wheat bread

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Yu, Y., Yu, H. & Yang, B. Healthy or tasty: the impact of fresh starts on food preferences. Curr Psychol 42, 25292–25307 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03600-2

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