title: Completed egoism and intended altruism boost healthy food choices.
abstract: Based on the self-licensing literature and goal theory, we expected and found that completed (im)moral actions lead to markedly different food choices (Studies 1 & 2) than intended (im)moral actions (Study 2). In Study 1, people more often chose healthy over unhealthy food options when they recalled a completed egoistic action than when they recalled a completed altruistic action. Study 2 confirmed this finding and furthermore showed that the self-licensing effect in food choices is moderated by the action stage (completed versus intended) of the moral or immoral action. This article extends the existing self-licensing literature and opens up new perspectives for changing consumers' food consumption behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Consumer Behavior, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland. Electronic address: christian.weibel@imu.unibe.ch.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weibel
authors.affiliation: Department of Consumer Behavior, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Messner
authors.affiliation: Department of Consumer Behavior, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brügger
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000533:Altruism; D002755:Choice Behavior; D004989:Ethics; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Altruism; Consistent behavior; Egoism; Food choices; Goal theory; Self-licensing