Judgment and Decision Making (Jun 2011)

Nudge to nobesity II: Menu positions influence food orders

  • Eran Dayan,
  • Maya Bar-Hillel

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1930297500001947
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6
pp. 333 – 342

Abstract

Read online

“Very small but cumulated decreases in food intake may be sufficient to have significant effects, even erasing obesity over a period of years” (Rozin et al., 2011). In two studies, one a lab study and the other a real-world study, we examine the effect of manipulating the position of different foods on a restaurant menu. Items placed at the beginning or the end of the list of their category options were up to twice as popular as when they were placed in the center of the list. Given this effect, placing healthier menu items at the top or bottom of item lists and less healthy ones in their center (e.g., sugared drinks vs. calorie-free drinks) should result in some increase in favor of healthier food choices.

Keywords