Rejecting Responsibility: Low Physical Involvement in Obtaining Food Promotes Unhealthy Eating

Five experiments show that less physical involvement in obtaining food leads to less healthy food choices. The authors find that when participants are given the choice of whether to consume snacks that they perceive as relatively unhealthy, they have a greater inclination to consume them when less (vs. more) physical involvement is required to help themselves to the food; this is not the case for snacks that they perceive as relatively healthy. Further, when participants are given the opportunity to choose their portion size, they select larger portions of unhealthy foods when less (vs. more) physical involvement is required to help themselves to the food; again, this is not the case for healthy foods. The authors suggest that this behavior occurs because being less physically involved in serving one's food allows participants to reject responsibility for unhealthy eating and thus to feel better about themselves after indulgent consumption. These findings add to the research on consumers’ self-serving attributions and to the growing literature on factors that nudge consumers toward healthier eating decisions.