title: Health on impulse: when low self-control promotes healthy food choices.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Food choices are often made mindlessly, when individuals are not able or willing to exert self-control. Under low self-control, individuals have difficulties to resist palatable but unhealthy food products. In contrast to previous research aiming to foster healthy choices by promoting high self-control, this study exploits situations of low self-control, by strategically using the tendency under these conditions to rely on heuristics (simple decision rules) as quick guides to action. More specifically, the authors associated healthy food products with the social proof heuristic (i.e., normative cues that convey majority endorsement for those products).
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred seventy-seven students (119 men), with an average age of 20.47 years (SD = 2.25) participated in the experiment. This study used a 2 (low vs. high self-control) × 2 (social proof vs. no heuristic) × 2 (trade-off vs. control choice) design, with the latter as within-subjects factor. The dependent variable was the number of healthy food choices in a food-choice task.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In line with previous studies, people made fewer healthy food choices under low self-control. However, this negative effect of low self-control on food choice was reversed when the healthy option was associated with the social proof heuristic. In that case, people made more healthy choices under conditions of low self-control.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Low self-control may be even more beneficial for healthy food choices than high self-control in the presence of a heuristic. Exploiting situations of low self-control is a new and promising method to promote health on impulse.
authors.affiliation: Department of Marketing, University of Groningen.
authors.forename: Stefanie J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Salmon
authors.affiliation: Department of Marketing, University of Groningen.
authors.forename: Bob M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Fennis
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Psychology, Utrecht University.
authors.forename: Denise T D
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: de Ridder
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Psychology, Utrecht University.
authors.forename: Marieke A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Adriaanse
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Psychology, Utrecht University.
authors.forename: Emely
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: de Vet
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult