Seasonal cues to food scarcity and calorie cravings: Winter cues elicit preferences for energy-dense foods
Abstract Winter cues signal a scarcity of food. Birds and mammals respond to such environmental cues by consuming more energy. They convert this surplus into body fat that serves as a buffer against impending food shortages. Similarly, humans exhibit higher obesity rates among food-insecure populations. However, to date, it has been unclear whether winter cues qualitatively affect consumers’ food preferences. Results from five studies ( N = 865), with one of them preregistered, show that watching videos depicting winter cues elicits thoughts about energy-dense foods and survival. Such cues elicit higher preferences for energy-dense than low-calorie foods, as verified by meta-analytic eviden…
Anxious and status signaling: Examining the link between attachment style and status consumption and the mediating role of materialistic values
Attachment theory has recently been recognized as a potentially fruitful avenue for studying consumer behavior. However, few studies have examined the relationship between attachment styles and consumer preferences. Based on literature suggesting that individuals with an anxious attachment style have a particularly strong need for attention, we conducted two studies with a total sample of over 2,000 participants, which tested and found that anxiously attached consumers displayed a higher propensity to purchase status-signaling goods than their counterparts with secure attachment styles. This effect was mediated by materialistic values, such that participants with an anxious attachment style…
Viral Viruses and Modified Mobility: Cyberspace Disease Salience Predicts Human Movement Patterns
Humans have a motivational system that influences cognition and behavior to minimize the risk of contact with pathogens whenever cues to disease emerge. The current research examines the relationship between cyberspace disease salience and mobility behavior at the macro and micro levels. Across three studies, we predict and find that people adjust their mobility behavior to minimize the risk of close physical contact with strangers when cyberspace disease salience is high (vs. low). Study 1 examines web searches for terms related to the pandemic to determine relatively high and low disease salience periods in cyberspace. In Study 2, we analyze hourly sales data from five grocery stores and …
Perceived Decrease in Workplace Security Since the Beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Importance of Management Styles and Work-Related Attitudes
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has reduced the sense of security of people in everyday life. The efforts of managers in the workplace to minimize the health risks and economic damage, however, can provide the employees with a greater sense of security. The aim of this study was to identify the types of workplace responses to the pandemic outbreak with respect to the characteristics of employees and their employers accomplishing the differences in subjective sense of workplace security before the pandemic and during the outbreak. Three hundred and thirty-seven Polish employees completed an online survey during the first 2 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Using …