Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 7, 2025
07:07
Errors as a Means of Reducing Impulsive Food Choice
Published on: June 5, 2016
8.9K
Digital Nudging for Online Food Choices.
Mathias Jesse1, Dietmar Jannach1, Bartosz Gula2
1Department of AI and Cybersecurity, University of Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria.
Frontiers in Psychology
|January 6, 2022
Summary
Digital nudges can guide online food choices towards healthier options. A hybrid nudge, combining defaults and social information, effectively increases selection and reduces decision time without impacting user satisfaction.
Area of Science:
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Behavioral Economics
- Digital Health
Background:
- Online recipe sites often promote popular, but less healthy, food choices.
- Existing research on nudging primarily focuses on physical environments, with limited understanding of online food selection behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effectiveness of digital nudges in influencing online food choices.
- To analyze the impact of different nudges (highlighting, defaults, social information, warnings) on user behavior, decision time, satisfaction, and confidence.
Main Methods:
- Conducted two user studies to evaluate the effects of various digital nudging strategies.
- Compared the impact of individual nudges against a hybrid nudge combining defaults and social information.
Main Results:
- A hybrid nudge significantly increased the selection of nudged food items.
- The hybrid nudge also potentially decreased decision-making time.
- No negative effects on user satisfaction or confidence were observed with the hybrid nudge.
Conclusions:
- Digital nudges are effective in steering online food choices.
- The type of digital nudge significantly influences its impact.
- Hybrid nudges combining defaults and social information show promising results for promoting healthier online food selections.
Related Concept Videos
01:30Regulation of Food Intake
820
Short-term regulation of food intake primarily involves neural signals from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, blood nutrient levels, and GI tract hormones. Communication between the gut and brain via vagal nerve fibers plays a significant role in evaluating the contents of the gut. Clinical studies have shown that protein ingestion produces a more prolonged response in these nerve fibers compared to an equivalent amount of glucose. Additionally, the activation of stretch receptors caused by GI...
820
01:52Persuasion Strategies
40.4K
Researchers have tested many persuasion strategies, including the foot-in-the door and the door-in-the-face techniques, in a variety of contexts. Ultimately, the principles are effective in selling products and changing people’s attitude, ideas, and behaviors (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004).
40.4K
01:23Dietary Connections
58.0K
In biological systems, most metabolic pathways are interconnected. The cellular respiration processes that convert glucose to ATP—such as glycolysis, pyruvate oxidation, and the citric acid cycle—tie into those that break down other organic compounds. As a result, various foods—from apples to cheese to guacamole—end up as ATP. In addition to carbohydrates, food also contains proteins and lipids—such as cholesterol and fats. All of these organic compounds are used...
58.0K
01:31Confirmation Biases
7.4K
The confirmation bias is the tendency to focus on information that confirms our existing beliefs and ignore information that is inconsistent with our expectations. For example, if you think that your professor is not very nice, you notice all of the instances of rude behavior exhibited by the professor while ignoring the countless pleasant interactions he is involved in on a daily basis. Have you ever fallen prey to the confirmation bias, either as the source or target of such bias?
7.4K
00:52Social Proof
29.2K
Social proof is a form of persuasion based on comparison and conformity. People compare their behavior and actions to what others are doing and will change to conform to do what their peers do.
29.2K
01:25Motivational Bias
96
Cognitive bias results from limitations in thinking and information processing, leading to systematic errors in judgment. Conversely, motivational bias stems from personal desires or emotions, causing distortions in perception to align with self-interest. Motivational bias influences how individuals perceive and attribute causes to events, often shaped by personal needs, goals, and self-esteem preservation. This bias can distort judgment, leading to inaccurate assessments of success, failure,...
96