Judgment and Decision Making (Jun 2011)

Nudge to nobesity I: Minor changes in accessibility decrease food intake

  • Paul Rozin,
  • Sydney Scott,
  • Megan Dingley,
  • Joanna K. Urbanek,
  • Hong Jiang,
  • Mark Kaltenbach

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1930297500001935
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6
pp. 323 – 332

Abstract

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Very small but cumulated decreases in food intake may be sufficient to erase obesity over a period of years. We examine the effect of slight changes in the accessibility of different foods in a pay-by-weight-of-food salad bar in a cafeteria serving adults for the lunch period. Making a food slightly more difficult to reach (by varying its proximity by about 10 inches) or changing the serving utensil (spoon or tongs) modestly but reliably reduces intake, in the range of 8–16%. Given this effect, it is possible that making calorie-dense foods less accessible and low-calorie foods more accessible over an extended period of time would result in significant weight loss.

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