6533b821fe1ef96bd127ac9d
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Crisis communication, anticipated food scarcity, and food preferences: Preregistered evidence of the insurance hypothesis
Tobias OtterbringNorman P. LiJacob Dalgaard ChristensenMichał FolwarcznyValdimar Sigurdssonsubject
Consumption (economics)0303 health sciencesNutrition and DieteticsPublic economics030309 nutrition & dieteticsdigestive oral and skin physiologyClimate changeEconomic shortage04 agricultural and veterinary sciences040401 food science03 medical and health sciencesIntegrative physiology0404 agricultural biotechnologyBusinessSensory cueFood scarcityDiabetes obesityFood ScienceCrisis communicationdescription
Abstract Whereas large-scale consumption of energy-dense foods contributes to climate change, we investigated whether exposure to climate change-induced food scarcity affects preferences toward these foods. Humans’ current psychological mechanisms have developed in their ancestral evolutionary past to respond to immediate threats and opportunities. Consequently, these mechanisms may not distinguish between cues to actual food scarcity and cues to food scarcity distant in time and space. Drawing on the insurance hypothesis, which postulates that humans should respond to environmental cues to food scarcity through increased energy consumption, we predicted that exposing participants to climate change-induced food scarcity content increases their preferences toward energy-dense foods, with this effect being particularly pronounced in women. Three experiments—including one preregistered laboratory study—confirm this notion. Our findings jointly demonstrate that receiving information about food shortages distant in time and space can influence current food preferences.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-07-01 | Food Quality and Preference |