title: Eww she sneezed! Contamination context affects children's food preferences and consumption.
abstract: Does contextual information about disgust influence children's food consumption and subjective experience of taste? Three- to eight-year-old children (N = 60) were presented with two identical foods, yet children were led to believe that one food had been contaminated by sneezing and licking, while the other was clean. When given the opportunity to eat the foods, 5- to 8-year-old children consumed more clean food and rated the clean food's taste more positively; younger children did not distinguish between the foods. The relation between contamination and subjective taste held even among children who ate both foods and had direct evidence that they were identical. These data indicate that children's consumption behavior and food preferences are influenced by information external to foods themselves.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, 5848 S. University Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, USA. Electronic address: jmdejesus@uchicago.edu.
authors.forename: Jasmine M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: DeJesus
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1202 W. Johnson St., Madison, WI, 53706, USA.
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shutts
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, 5848 S. University Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
authors.forename: Katherine D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Kinzler
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D005506:Food Contamination; D005518:Food Preferences; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013649:Taste
keywords: Contamination; Disgust; Eating; Food selection; Social cognition